Microsoft teams up with US military
The Pentagon has awarded a $22 billion contract for 120,000 pairs of Microsoft’s augmented realty goggles.
The Pentagon has awarded a $22 billion contract for 120,000 pairs of Microsoft’s augmented realty goggles.
Vice President Kamala Harris, delivering remarks on the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was found guilty in the death of George Floyd, said there's still work to be done. President Joe Biden spoke next. "Today, a jury in Minnesota found former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd last May," Biden said.
Several universities and colleges across the country reached out to students to provide campus support and resources while deliberations were still ongoing in the Derek Chauvin trial. Princeton University, Penn State, Syracuse, Boston University, Northwestern University, Grinnell College, Binghamton University and Columbia College Chicago are among the universities that have reached out to their student communities, listing mental health resources and virtual community spaces to help students and faculty process a trial that has sent shockwaves across the country.
Derek Chauvin's conviction on all three charges stemming from the May 25, 2020, death of George Floyd could lead to a sentence that lasts decades -- and to another court battle. Chauvin will learn his fate in eight weeks, when Judge Peter Cahill hands down punishment to the former police officer who was found guilty on Tuesday of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Under Minnesota sentencing guidelines, for a person with no criminal history, each murder charge carries a presumptive sentence of 12 1/2 years, while a manslaughter conviction has a presumptive sentence of four years.
George Floyd's brother says he's "able to breathe again" after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts for Floyd's death. "I feel relieved," one of his brothers, Philonise Floyd, said at a Tuesday news conference. Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
As the verdicts were being read in the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin on Tuesday evening in Minneapolis, 56 Black members of Congress huddled together on Capitol Hill holding their collective breath. The Congressional Black Caucus, gathered to watch the verdicts handed down, then came to the cameras, with Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, telling reporters that while the group "certainly" agrees with the guilty verdicts, this is "just a first step." "We will fight continuously for all of those who died or have been injured senselessly by law enforcement," Beatty said.
For activists, advocates and communities of color, the urgency behind the need for police reform does not end with the guilty verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was found guilty on all charges after kneeling on George Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes, the killing caught on camera. The graphic images of Floyd's murder ignited a movement across the country, forcing the nation to begin to reckon with how people of color are treated at the hands of law enforcement.
After 18 years, Kobe Bryant's long-held partnership with Nike has come to an end. Vanessa Bryant, the late basketball star's widow, and the Kobe Bryant estate confirmed on Monday that the contract would not be renewed after his five-year, post-retirement contract ended April 13. "Kobe and Nike have made some of the most beautiful basketball shoes of all time, worn and adored by fans and athletes in all sports across the globe," Vanessa Bryant told ESPN.
In what legal experts called a rarity for the criminal justice system, George Floyd played a major role in the trial of the man prosecutors allege killed him. Jurors saw and heard Floyd up close, in multiple videos, begging for his life up until his final breath. The jury in the high-profile case announced on Tuesday afternoon that it had reached a unanimous verdict finding Chauvin guilty on the charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
After weeks of steady declines following the winter surge, which claimed 200,000 lives in the 10 weeks between mid-December and late-February, many states are currently reporting increasing case and hospitalization numbers. Readers can hover over the map of the U.S. to see case, hospitalization and death data on the state level. "I think we're way too high to be thinking that we've won this race," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House coronavirus response team briefing on April 7.
House Democrats on Tuesday successfully killed a privileged resolution brought forth by Republicans that would have censured Rep. Maxine Waters for comments she made in Minnesota calling on protestors to "get more confrontational" if former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is not convicted of murdering George Floyd. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy filed the resolution on the House floor Tuesday afternoon and Democrats immediately moved to table it, which stops the resolution from proceeding further, effectively killing it. "I hope that we are going to get a verdict that says, 'guilty, guilty, guilty,' and if we don't, then we cannot go away,” Waters told reporters over the weekend while joining protestors in Minnesota.
The backlash to the announcement on Sunday that 12 of soccer's biggest teams would be forming their own breakaway European Super League has been nothing short of seismic. Each of the teams involved are household names in the U.S. -- with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United leading the charge. The other clubs to have signed on to the competition are Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Inter, Milan and Juventus.
The State Department has updated its travel warnings to better reflect the advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it said, meaning that as of Tuesday, approximately 80% of countries are now a "Level 4: Do Not Travel" on its advisory. "In light of those risks, the Department of State strongly recommends U.S. citizens reconsider all travel abroad," it said in a new notice Monday. Several countries, such as India, are seeing enormous spikes in cases of COVID-19, and the World Health Organization has reported that the average number of cases reported daily worldwide is now higher than it has ever been.
Partisan divides were on full display Tuesday morning as the Senate Judiciary Committee discussed a wave of restrictive voting legislation introduced in statehouses across the country and federal legislation that would standardize voting laws. Republicans across 47 states have introduced 361 voting-related bills in their legislative sessions this year with the premise of restoring confidence in elections -- setting off outrage from Democrats and advocacy groups who are dubbing the trend "The New Jim Crow." The title of Tuesday's hearing was "Jim Crow 2021: The Latest Assault on the Right to Vote."
One employee was killed and two others were injured in a shooting allegedly carried out by a coworker at an office of a Stop & Shop supermarket in West Hempstead, New York, on Tuesday, police said. Police said the suspect, 31-year-old Gabriel Dewitt Wilson, was apprehended Tuesday afternoon following an hourslong search. The suspect, whose job is to collects carts in the supermarket lot, is alleged to have used a "small handgun," police said.
Hearkening back to the boycotts during the civil rights movement and apartheid, Georgia faith leaders representing over 1,000 Georgia churches have called for a nationwide boycott of Home Depot, accusing the largest company based in the Peach State of standing on the sidelines in the voting rights battle playing out not just in Georgia, but across the country. "A boycott is not something we wanted to do, but now it is something that we must do," Bishop Reginald T. Jackson said in a statement read during a press conference Tuesday. Jackson, the movement's leader and head of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church’s sixth district that includes over 500 AME churches in Georgia, could not attend the event outside a Home Depot in Decatur.
President Biden weighed in on his hopes for a verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the first time Tuesday, after speaking with George Floyd's family at the start of jury deliberations. "I’m praying the verdict is the right verdict, which is -- I think it’s overwhelming, in my view," Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. Biden did not explicitly say whether the "right verdict" is guilty or not guilty.
Newly reelected president of Chad, Marshal Idriss Déby Itno, died Tuesday on the battlefield in clashes with rebels, according to the Chadian army. One of Africa's longest-ruling leaders, Déby was injured on the front line in the Kanem region where rebel groups took control of the territory, Chad's presidential office told ABC News.
Apple's first event of the year took place on Tuesday afternoon and featured a slew of new announcements from the tech giant, including the unveiling of AirTags, the launch of its most advanced iPad Pro yet, a new purple hue for the iPhone and more. The cryptically named "Spring Loaded" event kicked off at 1 p.m. ET from Apple's Cupertino, California, headquarters and the all-digital show was broadcast on the company's website. As expected, the keynote announcement was the unveiling of the company's most advanced iPad Pro, featuring Apple's in-house M1 chip.
YouTube beauty vlogger James Charles has lost the ability to make money off videos on the platform after underage fans accused him of sending them inappropriate messages. At least 15 underage fans have alleged Charles sent them nude pictures, demanded explicit photos in return or pressured them into sexual conversations since 2019, YouTube announced Monday, explaining why Charles' channel was demonetized. The company confirmed to "GMA" that Charles violated its "creator responsibility policy" and has been removed from its YouTube Partner Program.
Venmo announced Tuesday that it will let users buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly in its app as digital currency goes more mainstream. The cryptocurrency offerings include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Darrell Esch, the company's senior vice president and general manager, said the feature "is a new way for the Venmo community to start exploring the world of crypto, within the Venmo environment they trust and rely on as a key component of their everyday financial lives."