Putin warns Ukraine allies against intervention | First Thing

Russian leader says any country that intervenes will be hit with ‘lightning-fast’ retaliation as UK calls for more support for Kyiv. Plus, global measles cases surge by 80% in a year

Good morning.

Vladimir Putin has threatened allies of Ukraine that if any country were to intervene in the war, it would be hit with “lightning-fast” retaliation.

The British defence secretary has said the UK supports pushing Russia completely out of Ukraine, saying Putin may order his troops to dig in and become a “cancerous growth” in the country.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of “energy blackmail” against Europe after its decision to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria.

Global organisations and volunteers are rushing to get emergency contraception into Ukrainian hospitals as reports of rapes continue to rise, particularly in the east.

Stopping and arresting Black people at a higher rate.

Using force more often on people of color.

A culture where racist language is tolerated.

Who will be involved in the consent decree? It will include input from residents, officers and city staff among others.

What other immediate changes did the report suggest? Stronger accountability of officers’ conduct, improving training and better communication with the public about critical incidents such as officer-involved shootings.

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Republicans in Congress give McCarthy standing ovation for defense of leaked audio – live

Joe Biden has delivered a moving eulogy to Madeleine Albright, telling mourners at her funeral in Washington DC that the former secretary of state “turned the tide of history”.

The president was among about 1,400 masked attendees at Washington National Cathedral service honouring the top diplomat from the Bill Clinton administration who died last month at the age of 84.

With her humanity and her intellect, she turned the tide of history.

Her story was America’s story. She loved to speak about America as the indispensable nation. To her, the phrase was never a statement of arrogance, it was about gratitude.

That’s why there was nothing she loved more than swearing in new citizens to this great nation of ours. She’d light up reminding them that she once stood where they stood. Having gained the blessings of liberty she wanted nothing more than the share them around the globe.

To Madeleine, from my perspective, there was no higher mission, no greater honor, than to serve this great experiment of freedom known as the United States of America.

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MPs criticise ‘top-down’ approach to UK-US trade talks

Fears grow in UK that any proposals could downgrade workers’ rights despite assurances on both sides

Britain’s trade talks with the US are moving ahead with only “minimal” input from workers, small businesses and thinktanks, according to MPs who accused the UK trade secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, of shielding her department from outside scrutiny.

Conservative and Labour MPs on the trade select committee also said scrutiny of a deal struck with Australia and New Zealand was in danger of being “rushed through” parliament before they could make an assessment of its impact on imports and exports to and from the Commonwealth countries.

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Trump testifies he hired bodyguard after seeing his ‘bravery’ in a fight

Ex-president also testifies that thrown tomatoes can be lethal, after activist sues over his treatment by Trump security

Donald Trump has revealed in sworn testimony that he hired Matthew Calamari, later a senior executive in the Trump Organization at the time an activist alleges he was roughed up by Trump’s security team, as a bodyguard after seeing him demonstrate “bravery” in a fight at a tennis competition.

Trump discussed Calamari in a deposition for a civil lawsuit brought by Efrain Galicia, the activist who alleged the incident occurred while he was protesting outside Trump Tower in 2015.

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Trump appeals against judge’s contempt order and $10,000-a-day fine

Ex-president found to be in contempt after failure to comply with subpoena in New York state attorney general’s fraud investigation

Donald Trump is appealing the contempt of court order he received from a Manhattan judge that fines him $10,000 a day for failing to comply with a subpoena, according to documents filed Wednesday.

The contempt order was issued in the civil investigation by New York state attorney Letitia James into the former president’s business practices. On 7 April, James asked Judge Arthur Engoron to hold Trump in contempt of court for not turning over documents and information she had subpoenaed as part of the investigation.

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Elon Musk engages with tweets criticising Twitter staff

Acquisition agreement allows Musk to tweet about deal but not to disparage firm or its representatives

Elon Musk has engaged with tweets criticising Twitter employees despite promising not to “disparage” the company or its representatives while he completes the deal to acquire the social media platform.

The world’s richest man agreed to restrictions on his tweets as part of a 95-page agreement covering his $44bn acquisition filed on Tuesday.

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Judge orders man who defaced Pride mural to write essay on Pulse shooting

Judge says he needs more time to determine a punishment and orders Alexander Jerich to write 25-page essay on 2016 massacre

A Florida judge has ordered a man who defaced an LGBTQ+ Pride mural to write a 25-page essay about the 2016 Pulse gay nightclub shooting.

Last June, the city of Delray Beach in south Florida unveiled a rainbow mural at an intersection on the fifth anniversary of the attack, in which a gunman killed 49 people at the club in Orlando.

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Republican can’t list himself as ‘The Patriot’ on ballot, state rules

State lawmaker claims it’s his nickname – but he struggles to spell it and opponent says he doesn’t use it

A state Republican lawmaker who wanted to refer to himself as “The Patriot” on the ballot can’t use that nickname, the Oklahoma Election Board has ruled.

Sean Roberts can still run for Oklahoma labor commissioner, but he can’t refer to himself using that nickname on the ballot, the board decided Monday.

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Parched southern California takes unprecedented step of restricting outdoor watering

The resolution will limit watering to just one day a week, affecting millions in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties

Southern California officials declared a water shortage emergency Tuesday, and adopted new unprecedented restrictions on outdoor watering that will impact millions of people living in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties.

Metropolitan water district of southern California’s resolution will limit outdoor watering to just one day per week for district residents supplied by a stressed system of canals, pipelines, reservoirs and hydroelectric power plants called the State Water Project, which supplies water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.

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Twitter takeover: EU and UK warn Elon Musk must comply or face sanctions

EU commissioner raises hate speech concerns as UK draws attention to penalties in online safety bill

The UK and EU have warned that Twitter must comply with new content rules or face sanctions that range from fines to a total ban, as concerns were raised that hate speech will increase on the platform under the ownership of Elon Musk.

The world’s richest man has agreed a $44bn (£34bn) deal to buy the social media network, which will hand control of a platform with 217 million users to a self-confessed “free speech absolutist”.

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More than half of Americans have had Covid, including three of four children

A CDC report showed a striking increase in those with coronavirus antibodies between December and February

More than half of Americans show signs of a previous Covid-19 infection, including three out of every four children, according to a new report released on Tuesday.

The findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) come after researchers examined blood samples from more than 200,000 Americans and looked for virus-fighting antibodies made from infections, not vaccines. They found that signs of past infection rose dramatically between December and February, when the more contagious Omicron variant surged through the US.

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Alphabet revenue falls short as YouTube and TikTok battle for users

Supply issues, inflation and war in Ukraine fuel Google parent company’s first-quarter struggles

Alphabet’s first quarter revenue fell below analysts’ expectations on Tuesday, as the company confronts supply chain problems, inflation concerns, and fallout from the war in Ukraine.

In its quarterly earnings report, Google’s parent company said it had made a quarterly profit of $16.436bn, or $24.62 per share, missing expectations of $25.76 per share.

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Republican Madison Cawthorn cited for carrying gun in his bag at airport

North Carolina congressman faces misdemeanor criminal charge after gun spotted at security screening checkpoint

The far-right North Carolina Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn is facing a misdemeanor criminal charge after police at an airport in his home state said they found a gun in his bag Tuesday.

Police at Charlotte Douglas international airport handed Cawthorn, 26, a municipal citation accusing him of possessing a dangerous weapon on city property, officers said in a statement.

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Time running out to reach Iran nuclear deal, warn experts

Letter signed by former diplomats says Iran close to developing nuclear weapons capability

Leading former diplomats including seven ex-UK foreign and defence ministers have warned the Iran nuclear talks are heading to “corrosive stalemate devolving into a cycle of increased nuclear tension” and urged Tehran and Washington to show more flexibility.

Year-long talks in Vienna on reviving the deal and for the US, which was pulled out of the agreement by Donald Trump, to lift sanctions on Iran have in effect ground to a halt in a dispute over whether the west will lift the foreign terrorist organisation designation, and sanctions, against the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

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Gen William Cooley sentenced for sexual misconduct in first-ever US Air Force trial

Military judge rules Cooley must forfeit $54,550 in pay and face a public reprimand for forcibly kissing his sister-in-law in 2018

A two-star general in the US air force who was convicted over the weekend of abusive sexual contact for forcibly kissing his sister-in-law following a family cookout in 2018 must forfeit $54,550 in pay and face a public reprimand, a military judge ruled Tuesday.

Gen William Cooley received that sentence, military officials confirmed in a statement, after becoming the first-ever general to face a military trial in the American air force’s 75-year history.

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‘No sign Putin is serious’ about Ukraine negotiations, says Blinken – as it happened

The vice-president Kamala Harris has tested positive for Covid-19, her office has announced.

A statement from Harris’s press secretary Kirsten Allen said:

Today, vice-president Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on rapid and PCR tests. She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice-president’s residence.

She has not been a close contact to the president or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules. She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The vice-president will return to the White House when she tests negative.

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California police detain three in baby kidnapping as grandma unloaded car

Police say baby Brandon Cuellar, who has since been found, was taken from home at about 1pm on Monday

A 3-month-old baby who was kidnapped from his San Francisco Bay Area home was found Tuesday and three suspects were detained, police said.

The baby, Brandon Cuellar, was taken to a hospital as a precaution, the San Jose police department announced on Twitter, without saying where the boy was located.

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Could Elon Musk’s Twitter plans prove a costly mistake?

Analysis: Experts warn against reinstating banned accounts and neglecting moderation

Welcome back Donald Trump, Katie Hopkins, David Icke and Alex Jones? These are just some of the Twitter accounts that could be reinstated if the platform’s new owner-in-waiting, “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk, practices what he preaches.

All of those accounts have been permanently suspended from the platform for infractions that include, most notoriously, the former US president’s alleged support for the Capitol riot on 6 January last year. Their reinstatement now appears to be back in play given that the world’s richest man has agreed a $44bn (£35bn) takeover of the platform that banned them and has stated that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy”.

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Viola Davis says ‘critics absolutely serve no purpose’

Oscar-winning actor hits back at critics over negative reviews of her performance as Michelle Obama in drama series The First Lady

Viola Davis has responded to widespread criticism of her latest performance by stating that critics “serve no purpose”.

The Oscar-winning actor has received negative feedback from both critics and on social media for playing Michelle Obama in the Showtime series The First Lady. In an interview with the BBC, Davis called the response “incredibly hurtful”.

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Civil rights group counts record tally of antisemitic incidents in US

Anti-Defamation League counts 2,717 incidents of harassment, assault and vandalism in 2021 – highest since it began counting

A Jewish civil rights organization’s annual tally of antisemitic incidents in the US reached a record high last year, with a surge that coincided with an 11-day war between Israel and the Hamas militant group, according to a report released Tuesday.

The Anti-Defamation League counted 2,717 antisemitic incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism in 2021, a 34% increase over the previous year and the highest number since the New York City-based group began tracking such incidents in 1979.

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