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The family of Daunte Wright expressed their grief and shock after he was shot dead by a white police officer in Minnesota last Sunday. His mother, Katie Wright, said it was impossible for her to imagine justice for her son’s death. ‘We’re never going to be able to see our baby boy again,’ she said. Wright’s father, Aubrey, said: ‘He was a good kid. And the way he was killed, he did not deserve that. Can you blame my son for being scared of the police?’

Potter shot and killed Daunte Wright, 20, during traffic stop in what her chief said was a case of her confusing her Taser with a gunThe former Minnesota police officer charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist, during a traffic stop made her first court appearance on Thursday as the Wright family called for “full accountability” for his death.Kim Potter, wearing a plaid shirt, confirmed her presence during a brief online hearing and waved to the judge from a table in her lawyer’s office. Potter, 48, was not asked about the shooting or her intended plea. Continue reading...

Fast-paced vaccine rollout and $1.9tn Covid relief package helped give president strong ratingA fast-paced vaccine rollout and the $1.9tn coronavirus relief package have helped to give Joe Biden a strong approval rating as he nears his 100th day in office, research published on Thursday has found.The new president had the backing of 59% of respondents in a wide-ranging Pew Research Center study that compared his performance with that of other recent incumbents in their early days in the White House. Continue reading...

Both sides will make closing arguments on Monday and the case over the death of George Floyd will then go to the juryDerek Chauvin declined to testify in his murder trial over the killing of George Floyd as the defence wrapped up its case after just two days of testimony.Chauvin invoked his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination as he sacrificed the chance to explain to the jury why he kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes and for his lawyers to paint a more sympathetic picture of the police officer. But he also avoided a minute interrogation of his actions and thinking by the prosecution’s cross-examination. Continue reading...

Sharp rise in consumer spending, falling unemployment claims and strong earnings from largest companies boost marketsUS stock markets hit record highs again on Thursday boosted by a sharp rise in consumer spending, falling unemployment claims and strong earnings from some of the largest US companies.The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 256 points in morning trading, passing 34,000 for the first time after a slew of good news about the economy. The S&P also hit an intraday high. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Moritsugu appointed as Asian American and Pacific Islander senior liaison as part of effort to combat rise in anti-Asian hateThe White House announced on Wednesday that Erika Moritsugu will serve as the administration’s Asian American and Pacific Islander senior liaison and deputy assistant to the president.The appointment is a part of multiple initiatives Joe Biden announced last month to address the dramatic increase in hate-related incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). Continue reading...

Former Republican House speaker called the Texas senator ‘Lucifer in the flesh’

Vance said states should ‘do whatever else is necessary to fight these goons’ after CEOs joined call to discuss voting restrictionsThe author of Appalachian memoir Hillbilly Elegy, author JD Vance, has resigned from the board of a company that uses green technology to mass-produce food in the region, days after sending some controversial tweets.Vance was an early investor in AppHarvest, a mega-greenhouse company that produced its first tomatoes this year at a 300-employee facility in Morehead, Kentucky, the Herald-Leader reported. Continue reading...

The change in tone from corporations based in the state has been dramatic but activists want to see words backed by actionHappy Thursday,Over the last two weeks, corporations across America have grown increasingly vocal in publicly stating their opposition to legislation that makes it harder to vote. Continue reading...

Cariol Horne’s pension and benefits reinstated after her dismissal for stopping use of dangerous restraint against suspectA judge in New York has overturned the firing of a long-serving Black former police officer who fought with a white colleague as he placed a suspect in a chokehold.State supreme court judge Dennis Ward praised Cariol Horne’s intervention during the 2006 incident, which led to her dismissal by the City of Buffalo two years later and a lengthy legal fight for compensation. Continue reading...

Miles Jackson killed after officers conducted pat-down and found gun in his waistband, prompting standoff inside hospital roomOfficers conducting a routine pat-down of a man in a hospital emergency room found a gun in his waistband, spurring a struggle over the weapon and a standoff that ended in officers killing him, according to police body-camera footage released on Wednesday.Officers had been searching Miles Jackson, a black man, at the hospital on Monday in preparation for a custody exchange over warrants he had out for his arrest. Jackson began to struggle with the two officers after one of them felt the gun, video showed. Continue reading...

Police said Kimberly Potter meant to fire her stun gun, not her handgun. Plus, Biden expected to expel 10 Russian diplomats over cyber attacks

For the many Americans imprisoned in dangerous, cramped conditions, the pandemic is not over – it remains murderous

It’s a mistake to think that this trial has the potential to serve as some sort of sea change in American policingThe trial of Derek Chauvin over the murder of George Floyd is of enormous importance in very specific ways. It is, most importantly, an opportunity for Floyd’s family and friends to gain some semblance of justice for his killing, if a guilty verdict against Chauvin is what justice looks like for them. It’s also, of course, significant for Chauvin himself, who probably faces more than a decade in prison if convicted. And it’s important to people who see the murder trial as a proxy for the larger history of police in the United States brutalizing and killing Black people in egregiously disproportionate ways – often with total impunity. On the last point, a guilty verdict against Chauvin would be significant simply for its novelty. Police officers in the United States who kill people are rarely charged with a crime; they are more or less never convicted of one.Related: Derek Chauvin trial: defense claims bad heart and drug use killed George Floyd Continue reading...

Yang’s position has put a target on his back, and as the race is beginning to heat up, he finds himself attacked on all sidesTwo days before Andrew Yang announced he was running to be New York City’s next mayor, he made a remarkable admission.As Covid-19 ravaged the city – more than 50,000 people have succumbed to the virus – the tech entrepreneur had left town, retreating to his second home north of New York. Continue reading...

From trade wars and deglobalisation to ageing populations and populist politics, there’s no shortage of inflationary threats on the horizonThere is a growing debate about whether the inflation that will arise over the next few months will be temporary, reflecting the sharp bounce-back from the Covid-19 recession, or persistent, reflecting demand-pull and cost-push factors.Several arguments point to a persistent secular increase in inflation, which has remained below most central banks’ annual 2% target for more than a decade. The first holds that the US has enacted excessive fiscal stimulus for an economy that already appears to be recovering faster than expected. The additional $1.9tn (£1.4tn) of spending approved in March came on top of a $3tn package last spring and a $900bn stimulus in December, and a $2tn infrastructure bill will soon follow. The US response to the crisis is thus an order of magnitude larger than its response to the 2008 global financial crisis. Continue reading...

The more than 200 anti-trans bills under consideration across the country are not about youth sports, but about attacking and eradicating the most vulnerableI wasn’t always an NFL player. Professional athletes aren’t born – despite popular opinion – we are built. Yes, there are those of us who have athletic traits and given the time and opportunity can hone them into a mastery of our craft, but we aren’t born. Many professional athletes know someone along the way, a sister, a peer, a teammate who was just as talented as them, if not more so, but didn’t make it. Ninety-nine out of a hundred times the reason athletes of similar ability don’t go the same distance or don’t make the leap from amateur to professional is circumstance and opportunity, two things that in our day and age – unlike mastery of a sport – you are born into. After the past few weeks, most trans children including those who have immense potential to be great athletes or, at the very least, find love and joy in sports, can’t even pick up a ball without legislation telling them they don’t belong. Being born Black, queer, trans or of any marginalized community puts you behind the starting line of any race, even when you might need that love and community more than we imagine.I grew up in Dallas, Texas, to a single mother who worked three jobs to put food on the table and clothes on my back. I woke up early in the morning to find my mother had already left for work, and when I returned from school, she would call me from another job and ask me about my day, ask me how much homework I had, tell me what was in the fridge and how to reheat it, and tell me that she loved me. Though my mother was a teenager when I was born, she went above and beyond to raise me. But there was one thing I was missing, one thing that all kids need: an opportunity. Continue reading...

Wright, who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police, is remembered by friends and family as a witty, popular, ‘charismatic kid’Daunte Wright became a father while he was still a teenager, and seemed to relish the role of a doting young dad, his family and friends said.A family photograph shows a beaming Wright holding his son, Daunte Jr, at his first birthday party. Another shows Wright, wearing a mask and his son wearing a bib with the inscription, “Always hungry”. Continue reading...

A nearly century-long effort to explicitly enshrine gender equality in the United States constitution may finally be coming to a headWith renewed attention on anti-discrimination policies following the #MeToo movement and a record number of women serving in Congress, a nearly century-long effort to explicitly enshrine gender equality in the United States constitution may finally be coming to a head.If the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) were incorporated into America’s founding document, it would represent a huge victory for women and people across the gender spectrum, whose fundamental rights are too often tied to partisan disagreements. Continue reading...

This week’s roundup also features plenty of football nostalgia, Shannon Courtenay and the art of trailer racing1) Nostalgia aplenty in this weekend’s Premier League fixtures. West Ham play Newcastle nearly 35 years to the day since John Lyall’s Hammers walloped them, three different goalies and all, 8-1. Spurs visit Everton, whom they thrashed 4-1 on the opening day of the 1984-85 season – Everton went on to win the title – and by whom they were thrashed 4-1 in the semi-finals of the 1994-95 FA Cup. Leeds host Liverpool, a fixture that yielded the famous ruck between Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan during the 1974 Charity Shield and which was settled, in August 1995, by Tony Yeboah’s thunder-expletive.2) The world snooker championship begins on Monday, so let’s relive Alex Higgins’ unbelievable 69 break from his semi-final against Jimmy White in 1982 and his 135 to clinch the title. Here’s frame 24 of the 1992 final between Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White, featuring the former’s famous broon, part one and part two; and Ronnie O’Sullivan’s frankly revolting 92 against Ali Carter in the 2012 final. In this year’s qualifiers, Louis Heathcote produced this piece of wizardry: Continue reading...

Oclo in Florida exploiting fears around new virus strains by selling chlorine dioxide, despite FDA warnings against fraudulent ‘cures’Peddlers of industrial bleach who urge Americans to drink the fluid as a “miracle cure” for cancer, HIV/Aids and other diseases have begun touting the product illegally as a treatment for the latest variants of Covid-19.Chlorine dioxide, a powerful bleaching agent used in textile and paper manufacturing, is being compounded and sold out of a makeshift laboratory in Miami, Florida. The company, Oclo Nanotechnology Science, is playing on fears of the new strain of the coronavirus discovered in the UK, which is now spreading rapidly and widely through the US. Continue reading...

After so long in lockdown, I’d rather sniff my dates than talk about our rich inner livesGod help me, I’m dating again. I thought about this with reverent anticipation for so long and now it’s here. Of course, I have forgotten how to speak, and what an attractive woman is supposed to wear, and how many messages a day it is legal to send to someone you fancy.There are, unsurprisingly, several differences between dating now and dating before I spent months on end living alone, becoming eccentric and fundamentally intolerant of other people. One of them is that I have lost all interest in the traditional dating foreplay of trading cultural interests with the object of my desire. Continue reading...

House panel backs legislation to examine slavery and discrimination since 1619, and recommend education and remediesA panel of US lawmakers has advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves by approving legislation that would create a commission to study the issue.After an impassioned debate, the House judiciary committee voted by 25-17 to advance the bill late on Wednesday, marking the first time that it has acted on the legislation. Continue reading...

Proposal, aimed at breaking up a conservative majority on the court, is predicted to draw opposition from RepublicansDemocrats are planning to introduce a bill to expand the supreme court – proposing to add four justices to the US’s highest court. Continue reading...

Ben Crump, attorney for the family of Daunte Wright, said he could not believe that a white police officer could shoot and kill Wright just miles from where former cop Derek Chauvin was on trial for murdering George Floyd. ‘I cannot even believe it,’ Crump said. ‘If ever there was a time in America when the police should be on their best behaviour, it should be now, and especially in Minnesota.’

Dr David Fowler, testifying for the defense, also said vehicle exhaust may have played a part in Floyd’s deathA leading forensic pathologist has told the Derek Chauvin trial that George Floyd was killed by his heart condition and drug use.Dr David Fowler, testifying for the defence, also introduced the idea that vehicle exhaust may have played a part in Floyd’s death by raising the amount of carbon monoxide in his blood and affecting his heart. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has declared that it is time ‘to end America’s longest war’, announcing that nearly 10,000 US and Nato troops would return home in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Biden said he was the fourth US president to serve in office during the US-led fight against the Taliban. ‘I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth,’ he said

New initiative to become more inclusive for its workers, who will have more autonomy when dressing for workDisney employees will now be able to have visible tattoos and more freely express themselves with their clothes and haircuts as a result of a new initiative from the company to become more inclusive for its workers and visitors.Josh D’Amaro, Disney Parks chairman, said a 16-month focus group of employees suggested adding “inclusion” to the company’s core values, saying the new key element will be “essential to our culture and leads us forward”. Continue reading...

Financier who defrauded thousands of investors through a multibillion-dollar Ponzi schemeWhen, in 2008, Bernie Madoff was revealed as the world’s biggest ever conman, the general reaction was: “Bernie who?” Outside Wall Street, he was almost unknown. But investors around the world, most of whom had never heard the name Madoff, soon discovered they were victims of his $65bn Ponzi – or circular money – scheme.An undiscerning fraudster, Madoff, who has died in prison aged 82, conned relatives, close friends, longstanding clients and charities as well as supposedly savvy banks and fund managers. There was no advertising. It was all by word of mouth: personal recommendations from well-rewarded Madoff middlemen at country clubs, golf courses and marinas. The pitch was exclusivity. The fund was closed – but maybe he would let you in. Continue reading...

Covid restrictions hit Islamic centers reliant on individual donations hard but GoFundMe appeals have had mixed resultsThe building facade is deteriorating. The heating system is a fire hazard. When it rains outside, it also rains inside – a plastic container near the prayer area collects water. Masjid An-Noor, a mosque serving the Muslim community of Bridgeport, Connecticut, for over 30 years, is barely holding on – and it is part of a trend of mosques across America facing dire financial problems during the Covid-19 pandemic.In April last year, as states across America went into lockdown, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was just beginning. The holy month is a time when mosques open their doors each night, welcoming members and guests for iftar – a communal meal to break the day’s fast. It’s also one of the most fruitful times of year for fundraising, particularly for local mosques, which cover the majority of expenses through individual donations. Continue reading...

Meaningful change would be holding law enforcement to the same impossible standard that athletes are duty boundThirty-three weeks. That’s how long it had been since the Milwaukee Bucks walked away from a playoff game against the Orlando Magic. That boycott – hatched after police in Wisconsin shot an unarmed black man named Jacob Blake – started out as a surprise to the Orlando Magic only to become news to the world as other NBA, WNBA, MLB and NHL teams and the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament took timeouts, too. “We are expected to play at a high level, give maximum effort and hold each other accountable,” the Bucks said in a statement explaining their boycott. “We are demanding the same from our lawmakers and law enforcement.”For a single summer weekend America was denied its escape into sports and couldn’t blame the blackout dates on Covid. It felt like a turning point. But now? It feels like turning circles. Continue reading...

Can Rafael Nadal’s uncle transfer his winning touch to a new protégé, four years after his last triumph at Roland Garros?In professional tennis, comebacks are as present as the air we breathe. Players return to competition on a whim, coaches inevitably find their way back to the circus and no one seems to be gone for too long. Still, few returns have resonated as strongly as that of the past week.Four years after his tearful final stanza as coach of his nephew, Rafael Nadal, as they clinched their 10th Roland Garros title in 2017, on Monday Toni Nadal returned to the ATP. However, when he took his spot in the Monte Carlo stands it was not in his old seat. He will now attempt to help guide the 20-year-old Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime to the top of the sport. Continue reading...

‘Voting is the lifeblood of our democracy,’ says the double-page letter published in the New York Times and Washington PostAmazon, BlackRock, Google, Starbucks, billionaire investor Warren Buffett and hundreds of other companies published a letter on Wednesday condemning “discriminatory legislation” designed to hinder voting rights in the US.The letter – the biggest statement yet from corporate America – follows weeks of heated debate over corporate opposition to a series of Republican-sponsored bills that critics charge will restrict voting rights in states across the US. Continue reading...

Inspector general report describes old and faulty equipment, inadequate training and intelligence that had few set standardsA blistering internal report by the US Capitol police describes a multitude of missteps that left the force unprepared for the 6 January insurrection – riot shields that shattered upon impact, expired weapons that couldn’t be used, inadequate training and an intelligence division that had few set standards.Related: Republicans are in a messy divorce with big business. Democrats could benefit | Andrew Gawthorpe Continue reading...