IMPORTANT | | | Bad Boys | Probe Into Minneapolis PD Reveals Racist Policing, No Accountability An investigation launched after the murder of George Floyd concluded that the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in racist practices and used fake social media accounts to target Black people and organizations. In a report released Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights said the police department has a “culture that is averse to oversight and accountability” and fails to discipline officers for misconduct. Interviews and body camera footage also revealed officers “consistently use” slurs against suspects, witnesses and their own colleagues. Meanwhile, former officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of Floyd’s murder last year, has appealed to overturn the verdict. (Sources: NYT, NPR) |
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| | Data Wars | Russian Hackers Assault Virtual Front Line in Ukraine Invasion Microsoft released a report yesterday describing Moscow’s “relentless and destructive” cyberattacks during its invasion of Ukraine. The company said there have been more than 237 operations, including ongoing ones that “threaten civilian welfare,” along with an increase in disinformation and espionage. Worryingly, security analysts say a major target for hackers is data collection on Ukrainian citizens. A recent attack breached Ukraine’s National Call Center, which held data from hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. Shortly before the invasion, hackers breached a national database of car insurance policies, giving the Kremlin a trove of personal information useful for locating and targeting civilians. (Sources: AP, Microsoft) |
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| | No Mercy | Singapore Faces Backlash After Execution of Disabled Man Authorities in Singapore are defending their decision to execute a Malaysian man convicted of drug trafficking, despite international pleas for clemency. Campaigners argued that Nagaenthran Dharmalingam should be spared on the grounds that he was intellectually disabled and therefore protected under international human rights laws. But Singapore, which has some of the world’s harshest punishments for narcotics offenses, maintained that “he knew what he was doing.” Nagaenthran, who was arrested with 42 grams of heroin in 2009, said he was coerced into carrying the package. He was hanged Wednesday after a court dismissed a last-minute challenge from his mother. (Sources: The Guardian, Reuters) |
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| | Nosedive | Boeing Regrets Air Force One Deal With Trump CEO David Calhoun said Wednesday that the company expects to lose $1.1 billion on a deal his predecessor made with former President Donald Trump. The contract for two new 747-8 planes — modified with military avionics, advanced communications and self-defense systems — was renegotiated in 2018 after Trump tweeted complaints about their steep price tag. The new contract, however, left Boeing footing the bill for inflation and unexpected costs. “Those have impacted us fairly severely,” Calhoun explained to investors, describing the deal as “a very unique set of risks that Boeing probably shouldn't have taken.” He added, “But we are where we are.” (Sources: BBC, CNN) |
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| | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: A small step. NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins has become the first Black woman on the International Space Station crew. (Source: Space) Europe cracks down. The EU has taken legal action against member state Hungary for breaching the bloc’s democratic standards. (Source: DW) Do it yourself. Apple has finally launched a long-awaited service that lets consumers fix common problems with their iPhones using official repair kits. (Source: TechCrunch) |
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| | INTRIGUING | | Breakthrough | Researchers Find Genetic Cause of Lupus A new study in Nature has identified a specific gene as one cause of lupus, an incurable and often debilitating autoimmune disease that affects 5 million people worldwide. By sequencing the genome of Gabriela, a Spanish 7-year-old with unusually severe lupus, scientists isolated a mutation in gene TLR7, which normally helps fight viruses. Gabriela’s was overactive, though, attacking normal cells. While TLR7 isn’t the only gene implicated in lupus, lead researcher Carola Vinuesa says it’s “likely to be a central hub.” She hopes that blocking TLR7’s pathway could lead to new treatments for patients with lupus and other systemic autoimmune diseases. (Source: Science) |
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| | Grinnell and Bear It | Iowa College Becomes First Fully Unionized University in US Student workers at Grinnell College, a private liberal arts school, voted 321-6 Tuesday to expand the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers to include all hourly undergrad employees. Grinnell students first organized in 2016 under Obama-era National Labor Relations Board rules that allowed workers at private universities to unionize — and undergrads at several other private schools are considering similar moves, including Kenyon College, where residential advisers are striking over unfair labor practices. Meanwhile, national union organizers hope that campus activism will help boost the broader labor movement, which has gained traction recently with young workers at Amazon and Starbucks. (Sources: Teen Vogue, The Scarlet and Black) |
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| | Cold Case | Skulls Found at Mexican ‘Crime Scene’ Date to A.D. 900 When police in the town of Frontera Comalapa — a notoriously dangerous area near the Guatemalan border — found a pile of 150 human skulls in a cave in 2012, they believed they’d found a major crime scene. But after a decade of analysis, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History announced yesterday that the skulls date to sometime between A.D. 900 and 1200. Experts believe the heads were severed in ritual decapitations and would have been displayed on a trophy rack called a “tzompantli.” Archaeologist Javier Montes de Paz suggested that similar future finds should be sent to anthropologists rather than police. (Source: AP) |
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| | And the Winner Is... | Olivia Wilde Served Legal Papers on Stage at Film Convention Normally when celebs are handed sealed envelopes on stage it’s happier news. But last night when Wilde was interrupted during a CinemaCon presentation about her upcoming thriller Don’t Worry Darling, the “personal and confidential” envelope turned out to be child custody documents from her ex. Jason Sudeikis, the father of Wilde’s two children, claims he “had no prior knowledge” that the papers would be served so publicly. After an unidentified woman slid the envelope onto the stage, the Booksmart director initially thought it was an unsolicited script and opened it on the spot. CinemaCon promised to reevaluate its security procedures. (Sources: Deadline, EW) |
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| | | Packing a Punch | Women’s Bout to Headline Madison Square Garden in Boxing First When Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor enter the ring Saturday night for the undisputed lightweight title fight, it’ll be the first time in the arena’s 140-year history that a women’s boxing match is the headliner. “We have to fight 10 times harder than the men,” Serrano said. “We are fighting for the acknowledgement, we are fighting for equality.” While Taylor and Serrano are guaranteed seven-figure purses, payouts for female fighters still lag far behind what men make. But analysts hope Saturday’s bout — “women’s boxing’s first true super fight” — will give the sport a boost both inside and outside the ring. (Sources: Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports) |
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