News

The jury said it has reached a verdict on its second day of deliberations in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder and manslaughter after kneeling on the neck of a dying George Floyd during an arrest last May.

The verdict will be read aloud in court between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. local time (2030 GMT to 2100 GMT), the court said. The jury deliberated for four hours on Monday and resumed on Tuesday morning.

The 12 sequestered jurors have considered three weeks of testimony from 45 witnesses, including bystanders, police officials and medical experts, along with hours of video evidence in the most high-profile U.S. case involving accusations of police misconduct in decades.

Continue reading “Jurors reach verdict in Chauvin trial in Minneapolis”

U.S. President Joe Biden’s interim regulators are wasting no time unraveling Wall Street-friendly measures introduced under former Republican President Donald Trump, using quick-fix legal tactics.

They have spiked or stalled more than a dozen contentious Trump-era measures that critics said eroded consumer protections, weakened enforcement, and curbed investors’ ability to push for environmental, social and governance (ESG) changes.

Rather than embarking on the lengthy process of rewriting the rules, the agencies have in many instances used speedy legal tools, according to lawyers, consumer groups, and a review by Reuters. These include delaying unfinished rules, issuing informal guidance, rescinding old policy statements or issuing new ones, and choosing not to enforce existing rules.

Continue reading “Biden’s agencies reverse Trump’s Wall Street-friendly rules”

The White House is trying to craft a series of executive actions for President Joe Biden to sign to try to limit gun violence, hoping they cannot be quickly dismantled in court, according to aides and gun safety groups.

Among the measures being considered – and strongly encouraged by activists – is one directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to reinterpret existing law on untraceable “ghost guns.”

So-called “ghost gun” kits are self-assembled from parts purchased online or at gun shows and are increasingly associated with crimes. But they are not classified as firearms and so can be legally sold without serial numbers or background checks.

Continue reading “Biden White House tries to craft gun executive orders that can’t be undone”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday discussed taking up a major new gun rights case involving a National Rifle Association-backed challenge to a New York state law that restricts the ability of residents to carry concealed handguns in public.

It was among the cases on the agenda at the private weekly conference of the justices. There is heightened concern about gun violence in the United States following a pair of mass shootings in a span of a week, one in Georgia and the other in Colorado, that killed a total of 18 people.

Two gun owners and the New York affiliate of the NRA, an influential gun rights group closely aligned with Republicans, are asking the justices to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling throwing out their challenge to a policy that requires a state resident to show “proper cause” to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun outside the home.

Continue reading “U.S. Supreme Court weighs taking up major gun rights case”

New York’s attorney general filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to shut down the cryptocurrency platform Coinseed Inc for allegedly defrauding thousands of investors, including by charging hidden trading fees and selling “worthless” digital tokens.

Attorney General Letitia James said Coinseed traded cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin without registering as a broker-dealer, and sold “CSD” tokens without authorization to raise money for its mobile application startup.

James also sued Coinseed Chief Executive Delgerdalai Davaasambuu and Chief Financial Officer Sukhbat Lkhagvadorj, saying they overstated the midtown Manhattan-based company’s management experience, while Lkhagvadorj misrepresented himself as a former Wall Street trader.

Continue reading “New York sues to shut down ‘fraudulent’ Coinseed crypto platform”