Ex-US police officer convicted of murder in George Floyd case
Former Minneapolis policeman Derek 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, guilty of all charges including second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter 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 US$20 bill to buy cigarettes at a grocery store.
Chauvin, wearing a grey suit with a blue tie and white shirt as well as a light-blue pandemic-related face mask, nodded and stood quickly when the judge ruled that his bail was revoked after the verdict was read.
J&J to resume vaccine roll out in Europe after regulatory review
Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday (April 20) it will resume rolling out its Covid-19 vaccine in Europe after the region's medical regulator said the benefits of the shot outweigh the risk of very rare, potentially lethal blood clots.
Europe's health regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), on Tuesday recommended adding a warning about rare blood clots with low blood platelet count to the vaccine's product label and said the benefits of the one-dose shot outweigh its risks.
Use of the J&J vaccine was temporarily halted by US regulators last week after rare brain blood clots combined with a low blood platelet count were reported in six women, prompting the company to delay its rollout in Europe.
Apple packs iPad Pros with faster chips, jumps into tracking tags
Apple announced on Tuesday a range of new computers, a paid podcasting service and devices for finding lost items, signaling the continued expansion of its once-simple product line into more and more corners of customers' lives.
The new US$30 (S$40) AirTags, tiny devices that can be attached to items such as keys and wallets to locate them when they are lost, were applauded by analysts as a likely hot-seller that would also keep the company's more than one billion customers locked into its products.
A new iPad Pro tablet, featuring the same Apple-designed processor that powers the company's more recent Mac computers, has keyboard and trackpad options that help make it a full-blown alternative to traditional laptops and desktops.
Luxury groups want to let consumers use blockchain to verify goods
Luxury groups LVMH and Prada along with Cartier announced on Tuesday they are joining forces on a blockchain that will allow consumers to authenticate their goods.
Called the Aura Blockchain Consortium, the initiative will offer a secure method for consumers to access information about to a product's history, including the materials used and craftmanship.
Luxury groups have long worried about fake copies of their products, and they are keen to let customers know about how they are made in order to build their brands.
Football: Europe's rebel Super League edges towards collapse
Europe's rebel soccer league crumbled just 48 hours after a dozen of the continent's elite teams triggered an outcry from the sport's authorities, politicians and fans with their controversial plan.
The six English clubs involved all pulled out of the project late on Tuesday (April 20), with Manchester United saying it had "listened carefully to the reaction from our fans, the UK government and other key stakeholders."
Manchester City had been the first to go, while a person familiar with the matter said Chelsea was withdrawing amid a protest from fans at its London stadium. Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool also followed.
