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  • Images capture Cori Bush and Ayanna Pressley's emotional reaction as Derek Chauvin was found guilty for the murder of George Floyd

    The congresswomen were seen tearfully embracing after a jury found Derek Chauvin guilty on all three charges in the death of George Floyd.

  • Chauvin wrote attorney’s number on hand in case of guilty verdict, report says

    Judge revokes Chauvin’s bail and he will remain in police custody until his sentencing, which is scheduled for June.

  • She Claimed Her 8-Year-Old Granddaughter Ran Away. Then Cops Found a Body in Her Car.

    Gem County Sheriff's Office/Ada County Sheriff's OfficeConnie Ann Smith, of Emmett, Idaho, reported her 8-year-old granddaughter missing on April 12, telling police she’d run away.Three days later, little Taryn Summers was found—stuffed inside a garbage bag in the backseat of the grandma’s black Lexus, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Monday.Authorities have now charged Smith with failing to notify law enforcement of death and destruction of evidence. During her Monday afternoon arraignment, Gem County Prosecuting Attorney Erik Thompson called the case “egregious” and said additional charges could be filed soon.“This is a huge devastation and loss to my sister, my family, and I and we are completely heartbroken to lose a family member at such a young age and in such a tragic way. Taryn had a personality twice her size and was a very funny and smart little girl who could always make everyone laugh,” Jennifer Sexton, Summers’ aunt, wrote in a GoFundMe campaign. “Taryn is so loved and was a bright light taken in such an evil way from this world way too soon, and she will be greatly missed.”Did Bigfoot Murder Three People in the Woods of California?While authorities have only identified the child found inside Smith’s car as “TS,” family members have confirmed her identity. Last week, the Gem County Sheriff’s Office announced it had discovered a body believed to be Taryn’s, with details matching those in the affidavit. The affidavit also lists Smith as the grandmother and custodian of “TS,” and says Smith has a son whose last name is Summers. The 54-year-old is the owner of the property where the little girl was reportedly last seen.Authorities say that when officers arrived at Smith’s house after she’d reported Summers missing, they discovered a piece of the carpet had been cut out. Smith allegedly told police she’d removed the carpet and burned it after the had child “defecated” on it.The affidavit states that police ultimately learned that earlier in the day, Smith had been seen driving from a preschool with Summers sleeping in the backseat. Smith admitted the girl was still asleep when they arrived home and that she carried her into a bedroom.On April 14, police and Idaho state forensics investigators returned to search the home again—and found a “small brown spot” on the bedroom wall they believed to be blood.After several searches around Smith’s property, investigators gained access to Smith’s Lexus—after she initially told police she “did not know where the key (was) for the vehicle.”Inside, they found Summers’ body in a black trash bag on the floor. Investigators said the little girl had vomit on her shirt and in her hair. Smith was then arrested on April 15, according to online court records.“In reviewing the probable cause affidavit, the alleged conduct is disturbing,” Judge Tyler Smith said during Smith’s hearing on Monday, before ordering an $800,000 bond. “Report that the child was missing. Ultimately the discovery of the deceased child on the property, I believe two days later. The potential penalty, depending on the conclusion of the investigation, could be severe.”Smith’s attorney did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.Authorities also noted that Summer was not the only relative connected to Smith who’s gone missing. The Gem County Sheriff’s Office said that 16-year-old Tristan Conner Sexton went missing in September 2020 and 14-year-old Taylor Summers disappeared in October. Both teens have since been located and were not in danger.All three children lived in Smith’s house after being moved from their mother’s house in 2019 after testing positive for hard drugs, according to EastIdahoNews. “Law enforcement has been in contact with Taylor and does not believe her to be in danger at this time. Family has been in contact with Tristan Sexton and law enforcement does not believe him to be in danger at this time,” Gem County Sheriff Donnie Wunder said on Thursday. “I want to thank everyone for their concern and support during the last few days.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Derek Chauvin's defense focuses on reasonable doubt in a closing argument that compares the murder case to baking cookies

    Attorney Eric Nelson told jurors they must consider all the facts and circumstances Chauvin had to assess when he used force on George Floyd.

  • Who is Derek Chauvin, the officer charged with murdering George Floyd?

    He was on the Minneapolis police force for nearly 20 years and had previously documented incidents of using force with arrestees

  • Twelve U.S. states urge Biden to back phasing out gas-powered vehicle sales by 2035

    The governors of a dozen U.S. states including California, New York, Massachusetts and North Carolina called on President Joe Biden on Wednesday to back ending sales of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035, a dramatic shift away from fossil fuels. Biden's $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan calls for $174 billion in spending and tax credits to boost electric vehicles (EVs) and charging networks but does not call for phasing out gasoline-powered passenger vehicles. In a letter that was seen by Reuters, the governors, which also include those of Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington State and Rhode Island, urged Biden to set standards "to ensure that all new passenger cars and light-duty trucks sold are zero-emission no later than 2035 with significant milestones along the way to monitor progress."

  • Clippers' Kawhi Leonard out against Portland on Tuesday night and longer

    The sore right foot that sidelined the Clippers' Kawhi Leonard last week will knock him out of Tuesday night's game at Portland and beyond.

  • Tucker Carlson calls support for George Floyd an ‘attack on civilisation’

    Fox News host uses show to question validity of Derek Chauvin verdict, asking: ‘Can we trust the way this decision was made?’

  • Syria Chemical-Attack Deniers Admit Links to WikiLeaks and Russia

    Anas Alkharboutli/GettyA group of British academics was secretly in contact with Russian diplomats in four separate embassies as they worked to undermine evidence that Bashar al-Assad was using chemical weapons against his own people, according to emails seen by The Daily Beast.The documents were obtained as part of a sting operation on one member of the group that was disclosed last month by the BBC and The Times of London. Paul McKeigue, a Professor of Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics at the University of Edinburgh’s College of Medicine, was duped into sharing the inner workings of the so-called Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media by emails from someone calling himself “Ivan,” who implied he was a Russian intelligence officer.The Working Group consists of a handful of university professors (none with any expertise in Syria or the Middle East), who have spent years suggesting that the Assad regime has been framed for war crimes in an elaborate conspiracy consisting of Syrian rebels, White Helmet rescue workers, and the American and British intelligence services. Moreover, the Working Group alleges that conspiracy has been systematically laundered through journalists, academics and human rights workers who they believe to be CIA or MI6 agents.Some of these completely unproven theories have been taken up enthusiastically on social media and used to sow disinformation about Assad’s war crimes.In an apparent effort to further the conspiracy theories, McKeigue was all too happy to collude with someone he thought was one of Vladimir Putin’s spies.In the emails with “Ivan,” McKeigue boasted about his interactions with Russian officials, a journalist who worked for the Russian state media and WikiLeaks, which “very likely knew it was assisting a Russian intelligence influence effort” during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to a Senate Subcommittee on Intelligence report.McKeigue told “Ivan” in February that WikiLeaks had helped him secure free legal advice from one of Julian Assange’s personal lawyers, Melinda Taylor.The emails claim that Taylor had been communicating with the British epidemiologist since at least September 2019, when she sent him a lengthy “legal advice memorandum” detailing ways to make litigious claims against the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an intergovernmental body that seeks to implement the worldwide ban on the stockpiling and use of chemical weapons such as sarin gas, which suffocates its drooling and vomiting victims to death.McKeigue refers to the memorandum as one way of conducting “lawfare” against the chemical watchdog—a term typically invoked to mean frivolous or harassing litigation. He said Taylor provided him with the memorandum, pro bono, to advance claims of impropriety among members of the OPCW.According to the emails, the advice memorandum also led to Taylor’s husband, Geoffrey Roberts, representing Brendan Whelan, a former OPCW employee who went rogue and criticized the group’s investigations, leaking material to WikiLeaks.McKeigue told “Ivan” that he could reach Whelan via Alexander Shulgin, Russia’s ambassador to the Netherlands and its permanent representative to the OPCW.“Brendan keeps in contact with your embassy in Den Haag,” McKeigue wrote. “So if you wanted someone to make an introduction (for one of your diplomats, not in a covert role) to Melinda [Taylor] and Geoff [Roberts], this would be a possible route. Brendan knows them better than I do.”McKeigue, Taylor and Roberts declined to comment to The Daily Beast.The emails also show that Taylor corresponded with McKeigue to discuss the secret location of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), an NGO that has compiled documentary evidence of war crimes in Syria carried out by the Assad regime and ISIS. Some of their evidence was used in the first successful Syrian war crimes prosecution in Germany.It was CIJA that orchestrated the sting on McKeigue when they grew frustrated by the Working Group’s fixation on undermining evidence against Assad. CIJA was running the “Ivan” account all along.In the correspondence collected by the NGO, McKeigue outlined to his presumed Russian intelligence contact “complicated lines of communication” between the Working Group and a network of Russian Foreign Ministry officials in four separate embassies around the world: The Hague, New York, London, and Geneva. Russian diplomats, he noted, had been corresponding with members of the Working Group for a presentation at a January 2020 Arria formula meeting of the UN Security Council, convened by Russia in order to sow skepticism about the OPCW’s still-pending investigation.McKeigue wrote that he worked personally with Stepan Ankeev, an official at the Russian embassy in London, to put the plan in motion, while his Working Group associates kept in touch with other Russian diplomats in other countries. “But in the end it all worked out okay,” McKeigue wrote. “The only other diplomatic communication we have had is with Sergey Krutskikh in Geneva, who is Vanessa’s contact but has occasionally passed information to the Working Group via Piers.”“Piers” refers to Piers Robinson, the founder of the Working Group and an outspoken commentator on Syria on Twitter. “Vanessa” is Vanessa Beeley, perhaps the most prominent and controversial member of the Working Group. A former waste management consultant turned blogger, Beeley became a fixture on RT, the Russian government’s English language propaganda network, for her willingness to add all manner of unsubstantiated and imaginative allegations about the Syria conflict.She has repeatedly accused the White Helmets, an internationally funded rescue organization, of staging chemical attacks in Syria otherwise attributed to the Assad regime.Beeley and Robinson’s purported contact in Switzerland, Sergey Krutskikh, is secretary to Russia’s mission at the UN. He is also the son of a better-known Russian diplomat, Andrey Krutskikh, who was appointed early last year as the first director of Russian Foreign Ministry’s newly minted Department of International Information Security, which coordinates with European countries on cybersecurity.McKeigue also boasted to his supposed Russian handler about his work with state media employees at Ruptly, a streaming video platform based in Germany, which is funded by the Kremlin.The British academic was given screen captures from a database of sensitive personal details on activists and war crimes witnesses collected through interviews conducted on the ground in Syria by Ruptly staff. McKeigue passed the details on to “Ivan,” despite the apparent threat to these people.After a while, McKeigue decided that his contact at Ruptly was insufficiently loyal to the cause and asked “Ivan” to investigate him.Nerma Jelacic, the CIJA’s director of external relations and a member of the sting op, told The Daily Beast that the disclosure that Russian diplomats and state-run media outlets were working with the Working Group helped to explain why this otherwise obscure collection of academics had managed to make headlines around the world. “These networks would have remained nothing more than a bunch of marginalized ideologues and conspiracists,” Jelacic said.She added, “Russia’s disinformation campaigns about Syria would be far less effective if they had to rely solely on statements from the Russian foreign and ministries rather than on what Westerner academics and self-described ‘whistleblowers’ have said.”McKeigue’s correspondence with “Ivan” has been passed to British authorities. The University of Edinburgh continues to insist his commentary on Syria has been undertaken as a private citizen and not on behalf of the institution; it affirms McKeigue’s right to free expression.Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International U.K. Campaigns Manager, told The Daily Beast: “Syrian victims and their families who have endured many horrors [deserve justice]. These individuals, quite disgracefully, are trying to deny Syrians these rights. They won’t succeed.”This piece is part of a joint investigation between The Daily Beast and Newlines magazine who have a more detailed analysis here.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Derek Chauvin news – live: George Floyd killer’s new mugshot revealed as Merrick Garland orders police review

    Follow latest updates from Minneapolis

  • Teen's death puts focus on split-second police decisions

    Thirteen-year-old Adam Toledo dropped the gun he'd been holding, turned and began raising his hands just as the officer had commanded. The graphic video that became the latest tragic touchstone in the nation’s reckoning with race and policing puts a microscope on those split-second decisions with far-reaching and grave consequences. Investigators are still sorting through exactly what happened, but the shooting has raised difficult questions about why the boy wasn't given more time to comply and whether the deadly encounter could have been prevented in the first place.

  • 'I feel vindicated': Floyd supporters praise guilty verdict

    Chauvin was convicted of murder on Tuesday in the arrest of George Floyd, a milestone in the fraught racial history of the United States and a rebuke of law enforcement's treatment of Black Americans.The 12-member jury found Chauvin, 45, criminally liable in Floyd's death last year after considering three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses, including bystanders, police officials and medical experts. Deliberations began on Monday and lasted just over 10 hours.In a confrontation captured on video, Chauvin, who is white, pushed his knee into the neck of Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020, as he and three fellow officers arrested Floyd, who was accused of using a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes at a grocery store.Chauvin had pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree unintentional murder involving "intentional infliction of bodily harm," third-degree unintentional "depraved mind" murder involving an "act eminently dangerous to others," and second-degree manslaughter involving a death caused by "culpable negligence."

  • Joe Biden celebrates ‘some justice’ for George Floyd as AOC calls conviction not enough

    President says it was ‘really important’ that former police officer found guilty on all counts

  • Ma’Khia Bryant: Ohio police tell bystanders ‘blue lives matter’ after girl shot dead as Chauvin verdict delivered

    Force releases body camera footage showing moment teenager was killed

  • George Floyd news: Jury retires in Chauvin trial as judge says Maxine Waters could overturn verdict

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  • TikTok sued for billions over use of children's data

    The case is being brought on behalf of millions of children by England's former children's commissioner.

  • Georgia Faith Leaders to Urge Boycott of Home Depot Over Voting Law

    A major coalition of Black faith leaders in Georgia, representing more than 1,000 churches in the state, will call on Tuesday for a boycott of Home Depot, arguing that the company has abdicated its responsibility as a good corporate citizen by not pushing back on the state’s new voting law. The call for a boycott, led by Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, who oversees all 534 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia, represents one of the first major steps to put significant economic pressure on businesses to be more vocal in opposing Republican efforts in Georgia and around the country to enact new restrictions on voting. “We don’t believe this is simply a political matter,” Jackson said. “This is a matter that deals with securing the future of this democracy, and the greatest right in this democracy is the right to vote.” Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Home Depot, Jackson said, “demonstrated an indifference, a lack of response to the call, not only from clergy, but a call from other groups to speak out in opposition to this legislation.” While boycotts can be challenging to carry out in ways that put meaningful financial pressure on large corporations, the call nonetheless represents a new phase in the battle over voting rights in Georgia, where many Democrats and civil rights groups have been reluctant to support boycotts, viewing them as risking unfair collateral damage for the companies’ workers. But the coalition of faith leaders pointed to the use of boycotts in the civil rights movement, when Black voters’ rights were also threatened, and said their call to action was meant as a “warning shot” for other state legislatures. “This is not just a Georgia issue; we’re talking about democracy in America that is under threat,” said the Rev. Timothy McDonald III, pastor of the First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta. “We’ve got to use whatever leverage and power, spiritual fortitude that we have, including our dollars, to help people to understand that this is a national campaign.” Home Depot’s headquarters are in Georgia, and it is one of the largest employers in the state. But while other major Georgia corporations like Coca-Cola and Delta have spoken out against the state’s new voting law, Home Depot has not, offering only a statement this month that “the most appropriate approach for us to take is to continue to underscore our belief that all elections should be accessible, fair and secure.” While not publicly wading into the fray, one of the company’s founders, Arthur Blank, said in a call with other business executives this month that he supported voting rights. Another founder, Ken Langone, is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump. Jackson said that the faith leaders were calling for four specific actions from Home Depot: speaking out against the Georgia voting law, publicly opposing similar bills in other states, offering support for the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in Congress, and backing litigation against the Georgia law. Not all voting rights groups are on board with a boycott. “I can’t fully support a boycott within Georgia,” said Aunna Dennis, executive director of the Georgia chapter of Common Cause. “The boycott hurts the working-class person. But corporations do need to be held accountable on where they put their dollars.” Faith leaders acknowledged concerns from state leaders, both Democratic and Republican, about the impact of boycotts, but felt the stakes were high enough. “It is unfortunate for those who will be impacted by this, but how many more million will be impacted if they don’t have the right to vote?” said Jamal H. Bryant, senior pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia. “And so in weighing it out, we understand, tongue in cheek, that this is a necessary evil,” Bryant said. “But it has to happen in order for the good to happen.” This article originally appeared in The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company

  • Nicola Sturgeon accused of 'dodging scrutiny' after refusing to appear on BBC Question Time

    Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of "dodging scrutiny" of her record in government after refusing to appear on a special Holyrood election edition of BBC Question Time. The leaders of all the other main parties in the Scottish Parliament have agreed to take part in Thursday's show, which will feature questions from a virtual audience. But Ms Sturgeon declined to appear and the SNP instead sent her party deputy, Keith Brown, in her place. The show will be broadcast a fortnight before polling day for the May 6 election, with polls showing the Nationalists on course for a landslide. Opposition sources said they had been told to expect an all-leaders show, and that Ms Sturgeon had initially agreed to take part before pulling out. On April 12, a member of the BBC Question Time team emailed a party press office saying they were “inviting Scottish Party leaders to take part in the show”, including the SNP. The Tories said the First Minister was trying to “weasel” out of Question Time by sending in her “lackey”. However, the SNP vehemently denied that Ms Sturgeon had ever agreed to participate. She has taken part in two TV debates in the campaign so far and faced difficult moments in the first when challenged by members of the public over why she had tabled an Independence Referendum Bill in the middle of a pandemic. In the second she admitted that "I think we took our eye off the ball on drug deaths" after being pressed over Scotland's record drug death tally, which is the highest in Europe and around three-and-a-half times worse than England and Wales. Annie Wells, a Scottish Tory candidate, said Ms Sturgeon did not want to face more questions about her record on drug deaths, jobs, schools or another separation referendum. She said: “The SNP are at it with their pathetic excuses. As early as March 8, BBC bosses were telling the Scottish Conservatives they wanted all five party leaders. Question Time clearly asked for Nicola Sturgeon and they’ve been forced to accept her lackey instead. “Trying to weasel their way out of this is an embarrassment. The SNP should own this – they are afraid of scrutiny and Nicola Sturgeon is scared of facing direct challenges from voters.” Alistair Carmichael, the Scottish Liberal Democrat campaign chair, said: "After a shaky campaign where she has been repeatedly taken to task for her failings on education, care homes and social care, Nicola Sturgeon has now gone AWOL. "This was pitched to us in the Liberal Democrats as an event for party leaders. Despite what SNP spin doctors might say, it is obvious that they are trying to protect Nicola Sturgeon’s reputation from further damage caused by SNP failures."

  • Stacey Abrams condemns ‘racial animus’ in GOP-backed bills to restrict ballot access

    ‘If the effect is deleterious to the ability of people of colour to participate in elections, then that is problematic and that is wrong,’ Abrams says

  • Nashik: Oxygen leak leaves 22 Covid-19 patients dead in India

    The accident in an Indian hospital happened when an oxygen tank was refilling the storage tank.