U.S.ReutersChauvin's lawyers call officer in previous arrest to the stand as first witness
Lawyers for Derek Chauvin on Tuesday began presenting their case in the former Minneapolis policeman's murder trial, calling to the stand a now-retired officer who pulled over a car in which Floyd was a passenger in 2019 - a year before his deadly encounter with Chauvin. Chauvin's lead attorney, Eric Nelson, argued in court filings that the earlier arrest supported his defense that a drug overdose may have caused Floyd's death in May 2020, not a lack of oxygen caused by Chauvin kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, as prosecutors charge. Nelson showed the jury a video taken by a body-worn camera during the May 6, 2019, traffic stop in which Floyd became distressed as the officer, Scott Creighton, pointed a gun at him and ordered him out of a car.
WorldAxiosIran to enrich uranium to 60% in response to apparent Israeli attack
Iran has informed the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it will begin 60% uranium enrichment, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters as he arrived to Vienna on Tuesday for a second round of nuclear talks. Why it matters: This will be Iran's most severe violation of the 2015 nuclear deal since the Trump administration withdrew from the agreement in 2018. The announcement comes in response to the explosion at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, for which Iran blames Israel.
U.S.Associated PressNTSB: Pilot error likely caused vintage bomber's fatal crash
The pilot, Ernest “Mac” McCauley, reported a problem with one of the engines shortly after takeoff, and the plane crashed into a maintenance building and burst into flames during a landing attempt. The NTSB said the flight data indicated that the landing gear was extended too early, adding drag that slowed the plane, and it was traveling too slow on its return to the airport. The B-17 could likely have overflown the approach lights and landed on the runway had the pilot kept the landing gear retracted and accelerated to 120 mph until it was evident the airplane would reach the runway,” the NTSB said.
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Brooklyn Center, Minn., police release footage of Daunte Wright shooting, chief says he believes officer mistakenly grabbed gun instead of Taser
During a press conference on Monday, Brooklyn Center, Minn. released bodycam video of the police shooting of Daunte Wright. Police Chief Tim Gannon said he believes the officer who shot Wright intended to use her Taser, but mistakenly grabbed her firearm.
PoliticsThe WeekBiden gets positive GOP reviews after infrastructure meeting, a hard no on corporate tax hike
President Biden hosted a bipartisan group of eight lawmakers in the White House on Monday evening to discuss his $2.25 trillion American Jobs Plan, and Republican attendees said afterward the president seemed genuinely interested in their input. "I'm prepared to negotiate as to the extent of my infrastructure project, as well as how we pay for it," Biden said in the two-hour Oval Office meeting. "Everyone acknowledges we need a significant increase in infrastructure."
U.S.TheGrioCity manager fired after calling for ‘due process’ in police shooting of Daunte Wright
In an emergency meeting Monday, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott was given authority over the city's police department. Curt Boganey, city manager of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, has been fired in the wake of the police shooting death of Daunte Wright. At an emergency meeting Monday afternoon, the Brooklyn Center City Council voted 3-2 to give authority over the police department to Mayor Mike Elliott.
HealthAxiosModerna says its COVID-19 vaccine has not led to blood clots following J&J reports
Moderna released a statement Tuesday reassuring people of the safety of its coronavirus vaccine hours after the FDA recommended pausing the administration Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccines due to reported cases of "extremely rare" blood clots. What they're saying: After over 64.5 million doses administered globally, a comprehensive assessment using data through March 22 "does not suggest an association with" blood clots in the brain or veins, Moderna said. The big picture: The Centers for Disease Control and FDA made its recommendation on the J&J shot "out of an abundance of caution" after six women developed blood clots within two weeks of receiving the shot.
WorldDefense NewsUS Army building up force in Europe with two new units
The U.S. Army is sending two new units to Europe — a Multidomain Task Force and a Theater Fires Command — in a much anticipated move The two formations, making up about 500 soldiers, will arrive “in the coming months,” according to a statement from U.S. Army Europe and Africa released April 13. This will bring 750 family members to U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden in Germany. The MDTF unit is set up to activate on Sept.
WorldAssociated PressAnalysis: Iran's powerful Guard faces scrutiny after attacks
The recent sabotage at Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility is just the latest setback for the country's Revolutionary Guard, though the paramilitary force is rarely publicly criticized due to its power. Its forces failed to stop both an earlier attack at Iran's Natanz facility and the assassination of a top scientist who started a military nuclear program decades earlier. In the wake of the attack, Iran announced Tuesday it would begin enriching uranium at 60% purity, the highest level its program has ever reached.
U.S.NBC NewsVenomous viper bites worker at San Diego Zoo
A venomous snake bit an employee at the San Diego Zoo on Monday, officials said. The incident occurred while a wildlife care specialist was caring for an African bush viper in a non-public area, according to the zoo, NBC San Diego reported. “Although the San Diego Zoo cares for a number of venomous reptiles, incidents like this are very rare, and the snake was contained at all times with no risk of an escape,” the zoo said in a statement.
U.S.AxiosObama: Daunte Wright shooting shows "just how badly we need to reimagine policing"
Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday stressed that the U.S. needs to "reimagine policing and public safety" after Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a Minneapolis officer this weekend. The big picture: Following nationwide protests in the wake of George Floyd's death last year, local police reforms were proposed on a scale not seen since the inception of the Black Lives Matter movement. In Minnesota on Monday, a second night of protests over the police shooting of Daunte Wright unfolded in Brooklyn Center, as a large crowd defied a curfew and pleas from city leaders to go home.
WorldBBCTaiwan: 'Record number' of China jets enter air zone
Taiwan has said a record number of Chinese military jets flew into its air defence zone on Monday. The defence ministry said 25 aircraft including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers entered its so-called air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Monday. The incursion is the largest in a year and comes as the US warns against an "increasingly aggressive China".
WorldArchitectural DigestThe World’s 9 Most Expensive Home Listings Currently on the Market
These fantastical houses range from a 64,000-acre Texas ranch to an oceanside estate in the south of France Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
CelebrityThe TelegraphCrumbling former home of Queen and Prince Philip in Malta undergoes multi-million pound restoration
The garden is overgrown, the walls are collapsing and the stonework is crumbling, but a dilapidated townhouse in Malta where a young Prince Philip once lived with the then Princess Elizabeth is undergoing a multi-million pound restoration. Villa Guardamangia, on the outskirts of the Maltese capital Valletta, is to be returned to how it looked when it was home to the royal couple in what they said was one of the happiest periods of their lives. The restoration, expected to take at least five years, will enable it to be opened as a museum and underscores the connection between the royal family and Malta, which gained independence in 1964.
TechnologyCBS NewsSoftware fix planned for Mars helicopter
The long-awaited maiden flight of an experimental $80 million mini helicopter carried to Mars by the Perseverance rover is on hold while engineers test software to resolve a glitch that cropped up Friday during a pre-flight test, NASA announced Monday. If all goes well, the team hopes to determine a new flight date next week. Engineers initially expected to clear the Ingenuity helicopter for launch Sunday on a 30-second up-and-down flight to verify the 4-pound drone can, in fact, autonomously lift off, hover and land in the ultra-thin atmosphere of Mars.
U.S.INSIDERBlack Army officer pepper-sprayed by police said he thought he could be murdered as officers gave quickly changing commands
A uniformed Black Army officer was held at gunpoint and pepper-sprayed during a traffic stop. Second lieutenant Caron Nazario filed a lawsuit against the 2 Virginia officers involved. In a complaint, Nazario said they gave conflicting orders and he was worried he would be murdered.
WorldThe TelegraphDavid Cameron Greensill scandal: Why is there an independent investigation?
The Government has launched an independent review into Greensill Capital, the collapsed financial firm for which David Cameron lobbied ministers. Labour has led calls for an inquiry after it emerged that Mr Cameron had privately lobbied ministers, including Chancellor Rishi Sunak, to win access to an emergency coronavirus loan scheme for his employer, Lex Greensill. Allegations also surfaced that Mr Greensill, an Australian financier, was given privileged access to Whitehall departments when Mr Cameron was in No 10.
HealthLexington Herald-LeaderBeshear temporarily halts use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine in Kentucky
Asking for calm, Gov. Andy Beshear said Kentucky will immediately halt its rollout of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine while federal health officials assess its risk, but he doesn't expect the pause to last long. Beshear's decision comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control earlier on Tuesday issued a joint statement asking states to immediately pause use of the single-dose vaccine, after six women developed serious blood clotting within roughly two weeks of getting their dose. In trying to contextualize the information further, Kentucky Public Health Commissioner Steven Stack said, “The relative risk of harm from COVID-19 enormously outweighs the risk of any potential harm from a vaccine.”
U.S.INSIDERBrooklyn Center Police Chief says 'we train with our handguns on our dominant side and our Taser on our weak side,' casting doubt on 'accidental discharge' theory
But right-handed police officers are trained to carry a Taser on the opposite side of their belt. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. According to Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon, the officer who shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop was trained to carry her sidearm on the right side of her duty belt and her Taser on the left.
EntertainmentArchitectural Digest14 Ways to Do Memphis Without Doing Memphis
You don't have to commit to full-on maximalism to make a statement Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldThe Daily BeastTop Kremlin Mouthpiece Warns of ‘Inevitable’ War With U.S. Over Another Ukraine Land Grab
All-out cyberwarfare, nation-wide forced blackouts, and the targeted disruption of internet services—for one of the Kremlin's top propagandists, all of those tactics are fair game in what she describes as a fated war-to-come against the U.S. “War [with the U.S.] is inevitable,” declared Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of the state-funded Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik, who believes the conflict will break out when, not if, Vladimir Putin moves to seize more territory from Ukraine. As Russia's military buildup on Ukraine's doorstep mounts, Kremlin loyalists have been urging for even more overt aggression and bloodshed in the campaign to annex Ukraine's Donbas region.
U.S.The IndependentOfficer who shot Daunte Wright was training new recruit at time of shooting
The Minnesota police officer who shot fatally 20-year-old Duante Wright after reportedly mistaking her gun for a taser was training a new recruit at the time of the shooting. Kimberly Potter, 48, was identified on Monday night as the officer who pulled the trigger. Ms Potter was working as a field training officer on Sunday in Brooklyn Center north of Minneapolis.
EntertainmentAssociated PressTwo books based on '1619 Project' coming out in November
Two books based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project” will be released this fall, with contributions from Jesmyn Ward, Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi, and dozens of others authors and journalists. “The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story” expands upon the New York Times Magazine publication from 2019 that centers the country's history around slavery and led to a Pulitzer for commentary for the project's creator, Nikole Hannah-Jones. “Born On the Water” is a volume for young people, based on a student's family tree assignment, with words by Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson and illustrations by Nikkolas Smith.
U.S.USA TODAY13 investigations, no court-martials: Here's how the US Navy and Marine Corps quietly discharged white supremacists
For decades, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have quietly kicked out some of the worst white supremacists in their ranks, offering them administrative discharges that leave no public record of their hateful activity, a USA TODAY review of Navy documents found. The documents, obtained via a public-records request by the open-government advocacy group American Oversight, detail 13 major investigations into white supremacist activity in the Navy and Marine Corps over more than 20 years. They show a pattern in which military leaders chose to deal with personnel involved in extremism by dismissing them in ways that would not attract public attention.
U.S.INSIDERHarvey Weinstein's attorneys say he shouldn't face trial in LA because he's lost teeth and is legally blind
Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Harvey Weinstein's lawyers say the disgraced film producer shouldn't be extradited to Los Angeles to face sexual assault and rape charges because his health is deteriorating. Weinstein's lawyers say the 69-year-old has lost at least four teeth, is nearly legally blind, and has a myriad of other heath issues that should keep him in a prison in upstate New York, where he's serving 23 years on a conviction of third-degree rape and forcible sexual assault of two women.
“There’s no ‘both sides of the debate’ when it comes to active voter suppression.”
“Companies that do this ooze contempt for their own customers and employees who are not in the leftmost quarter of opinion.”
“The truth is that Fortune 500 companies were never taking moral stances from the goodness of their corporate hearts.”
“The truth is, the companies hold the cards…If companies stick to their guns, Georgia is likely to back down as well.”
“When a company folds to the unfounded outrage of a few misinformed nuts, they are forever at the mob’s beck-and-call.”