George Floyd, Johnson & Johnson, Philip Roth: Your Tuesday Evening Briefing

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/briefing/george-floyd-johnson-johnson-philip-roth.html

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Good evening. Here’s the latest.

1. Guilty on all counts.

Derek Chauvin was found guilty of two counts of murder in the death of George Floyd, whose final breaths last May under the knee of Mr. Chauvin, then a Minneapolis police officer, set off worldwide protests.

Mr. Chauvin, who was also found guilty of third-degree manslaughter, had his bail revoked and was taken into custody. Sentencing will take place in eight weeks. He faces up to 40 years in prison but is likely to receive far less time. Here’s how his sentencing could unfold.

The decision came swiftly, just a day after lawyers gave their closing arguments, the culmination of three weeks of raw witness testimonies in one of the most watched trials in decades. Among them was a young woman who used her cellphone to videotape the arrest of Mr. Floyd. The video sparked possibly the largest wave of protests in American history.

“I’m feeling tears of joy, so emotional,” Mr. Floyd’s brother Philonise Floyd told CNN. “This right here is for everyone who’s been in this situation, everybody.”

Watch the immediate reaction from outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis.

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who together called the Floyd family after the verdict, plan to make joint remarks tonight.

2. Johnson & Johnson will resume its vaccine rollout in Europe after regulators said the benefits outweighed the risks of rare blood clots.

The European Medicines Agency said a warning should be added to the Covid-19 vaccine indicating a possible link to the clots, which were found in seven women in the U.S., but did not recommend that the vaccine be pulled from use. It was the first indication that the vaccine might get back on track as a crucial component in the global inoculation campaign.

Johnson & Johnson decided to delay its rollout in the E.U. last week after U.S. regulators called for a pause. An advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to make a recommendation on Friday.

3. A string of Israeli strikes over the past year has shown how vulnerable Iran is to espionage and sabotage.

In less than nine months, a commander of Al Qaeda given refuge in Tehran was killed, Iran’s chief nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, above, was machine-gunned on a country road, and two explosions rocked a nuclear facility, all of which intelligence officials said were carried out by Israel.

The attacks have exposed embarrassing security lapses, including an effective network of collaborators inside the country, and left Iran’s leaders looking over their shoulders as they pursue negotiations with the Biden administration aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement.

4. President Idriss Déby of Chad died in a clash with insurgents a day after his re-election. He held power over three decades.

Mr. Déby, who ruled Chad with an iron fist for three decades, was considered by the West to be crucial in the fight against Islamic extremist groups like Boko Haram in Central Africa, enjoying the support of France and the U.S. despite accusations of human rights violations.

Many questions surrounded Mr. Déby’s death, including how exactly he was killed and what he was doing visiting an area where conflict was raging, if indeed he was. Mr. Déby’s son, Mahamat Idriss Déby, will take over as the head of a new military council that will rule for 18 months before new elections are held, a spokesman said.

5. Big Tech is facing a global tipping point.

Never before have so many countries, including China, the U.S., Britain, India and Russia, moved with such vigor at the same time to limit the power of a single industry. While nations and tech firms have jockeyed for primacy for years, the latest actions could reshape how the global internet works.

Apple said it would release its anticipated iPhone software update next week. A new privacy feature — which requires apps to get explicit permission from users before tracking them across other apps — has many companies worried, most notably Facebook. Apple also unveiled new products, including a new high-end iPad and iMac desktop computer.

6. Could getting too little sleep increase your chances of developing dementia?

A large new study found that middle-aged people who sleep six hours or less a night may be more likely to develop dementia in their late 70s. It followed nearly 8,000 people in Britain for about 25 years, beginning when they were 50 years old.

The study offers some of the most persuasive findings yet about sleep and cognitive decline, and the elusive “chicken or egg question” of whether the sleep problem or the pathology comes first.

7. Plans for a European soccer Super League are on the brink of collapse.

Manchester City withdrew from the project, and within hours, Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool all signaled they, too, would withdraw from the multibillion-dollar plan that would have remade European soccer. Above, protesters in London on Monday.

The Super League, announced on Sunday, was set to be an alliance of a dozen to 20 of the world’s best, richest and most popular teams. But amid growing internal revolt, political threats and fan outrage, it appears to be falling apart. Gianni Infantino, the president of world soccer’s governing body, FIFA, delivered a short but powerful message: “Either you are in, or you are out.”

8. Millions of people are flying again. To help understand the risks, we visualized how air flows through a plane.

Air is refreshed roughly every two to three minutes — a higher rate than in grocery stores and other indoor spaces, experts say. But that doesn’t mean flights are completely safe. For example, if someone sneezes and passengers nearby aren’t wearing masks, even if briefly to eat a snack, the sneezed air could increase their chances of inhaling particles. The potential for exposure may be just as high, if not higher, in the airport terminal.

9. The new Philip Roth biography contains everything you’d ever want or need to know about Philip Roth — except for his own writing.

So Taffy Brodesser-Akner, a Times Magazine writer, narrowed his 31 books down into an essential reading list. Bottom line: “My god, you are so lucky if you get to read these for the first time,” says Taffy. Read our review of the new biography by Blake Bailey.

We also reviewed “The Man Who Lived Underground” by Richard Wright, appearing for the first time today after publishers rejected it in the 1940s. The novel, about an innocent Black man forced to confess to the murder of a white couple, is still an urgent chronicle of the Black experience in America, writes our reviewer.

10. And finally, what makes a country happy?

Just ask Finland, which for the fourth consecutive year was named the happiest country in the world by the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The annual survey uses data from interviews of more than 350,000 people in 95 countries, with questions like, “Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?” and “Were you treated with respect all day yesterday?”

The top 10 countries, which include the four other Nordic countries, have different political philosophies than in the U.S., No. 14 on the list. What makes Finland so special? It is far from perfect — far-right nationalism is on the rise and unemployment is high — but its public school system is among the best in the world, child care is affordable, college is free and its universal health care system is good.

Hope you find something to smile about tonight.

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