Author: CNN

CNN
 — 

Progressive and State Farm, two of America’s largest auto insurers, are refusing to write policies in certain cities for some older Hyundai and Kia models that have been deemed too easy to steal, according to the companies.

Several reports say the companies have stopped offering insurance on these vehicles in cities that include Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri. The insurance companies did not tell CNN which cities or states were involved.

The Highway Loss Data Institute released insurance claims data last September that confirmed what various social media accounts had been saying: Some 2015 through 2019 Hyundai and Kia models are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of similar age, because many of them lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles in those years, according to the HLDI.

Specifically, these SUVs and cars don’t have electronic immobilizers, which rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key really belongs to that vehicle. Without the right key, an immobilizer should do just that – stop the car from moving.

Immobilizers were standard equipment on 96% of vehicles sold for the 2015-2019 model years, according the HLDI, but only 26% of Hyundais and Kias had them at that time. Vehicles that have push-button start systems, rather than relying on metal keys that must be inserted and turned, have immobilizers, but not all models with turn-key ignitions do.

Stealing these vehicles became a social media trend in 2021, according to HLDI, as car thieves began posting videos of their thefts and joyrides and even videos explaining how to steal the cars. In Wisconsin, where the crimes first became prevalent, theft claims of Hyundais and Kias spiked to more than 30 times 2019 levels in dollar terms.

“State Farm has temporarily stopped writing new business in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically,” the insurer said in a statement provided to CNN. “This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry.”

Progressive is also cutting back on insuring these cars in some markets, spokesman Jeff Sibel said in an emailed statement.

“During the past year we’ve seen theft rates for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles more than triple and in some markets these vehicles are almost 20 times more likely to be stolen than other vehicles,” he wrote. “Given that we price our policies based on the level of risk they represent, this explosive increase in thefts in many cases makes these vehicles extremely challenging for us to insure. In response, in some geographic areas we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models.”

Progressive continues to insure those who already have policies with the company, he said. Progressive is also providing them with advice on how to protect their vehicles from theft.

Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, said it was very unusual for auto insurers to simply stop writing new policies on a given make or model of vehicle.

“They generally want to expand their market share depending on where they’re doing business,” he said.

Hyundai and Kia operate as separate companies in the United States, but Hyundai Motor Group owns a large stake in Kia and various Hyundai and Kia models share much of their engineering.

Engine immobilizers are now standard on all Kia and Hyundai vehicles, the companies said in separate statements. Both automakers also said they are developing security software for vehicles that were not originally equipped with an immobilizer. Kia said it has begun notifying owners of the availability of this software, which will be provided at no charge. Hyundai said its free software free update will be available next month.

Hyundai also said it is providing free steering wheel locks to some police departments around the country to give local residents who have Hyundai models that could be easily stolen. Hyundai dealers are also selling and installing security kits for the vehicles, the company said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the cost of Hyundai security kits.

The Memphis police chief deserves credit for doing her part to charge the five former officers involved in Tyre Nichols’ police beating death with crimes — and also now must take accountability and help rebuild community trust, the city council chair said Saturday.

“Starting with the head of the police department all the way down to the recruits in the class right now, they have a vast responsibility to go out into this community to rebuild trust,” Martavius Jones told CNN’s Jim Acosta.

“It’s going to be incumbent upon them to be visible, to listen,” added Jones, noting he was the “lone” council member to vote against Cerelyn “CJ” Davis’ confirmation as chief but is “willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.” 

The civil rights attorney representing Nichols’ family also applauded Davis for arresting and, with Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy, charging the five Black officers within 20 days of Nichols’ vicious encounter with officers near his home.

“When you see police officers commit crimes against citizens, then we want you to act just as swiftly and show, as the chief said, the community needs to see it,” Ben Crump said. “But we need to see it, too, when it’s White police officers.”

Some background: Davis took charge of the Memphis Police Department only 20 months ago. Known nationally as an advocate for police reform, she touted big plans, including forging new ties with community leaders and working to reduce violent crime — with hopes to elicit trust in law enforcement in Tennessee’s second-most populous city.

Now, Tyre Nichols’ beating death puts her leadership to a crucial test.

Read more about Davis here.

CNN
 — 

Tyre Nichols. Monterey Park. Half Moon Bay.

Three new entries in America’s roster of tragedy burst from obscurity to their haunting moment in the media spotlight and exemplified societal undercurrents of violence, injustice and grief.

A week that began with the nation reeling from more mass shootings ended with the release of a video capturing the beating of yet another Black man pulled over for a police traffic stop who ended up dead.

Nichols, a 29-year-old from Memphis, became the latest victim suddenly introduced to millions of Americans after his death. A grand jury Thursday returned murder indictments against five since-fired police officers involved in his arrest. With tensions rising in Tennessee and further afield, the city of Memphis released body camera and surveillance video of the arrest on Friday evening. The footage drew stunned reaction from law enforcement experts and outrage from officials, including President Joe Biden.

In California, meanwhile, grieving families are processing the horror that suddenly pitches a town or city into the public eye and epitomizes an epidemic of lone gunmen unleashing massacres in everyday places where people trusted they were safe.

At a dance studio on Saturday night in Monterey Park, 11 people between the ages of 57 and 76 were killed celebrating Lunar New Year. Unbelievably, on Monday, it happened again. Seven innocent people died in a mass shooting that unfolded at a mushroom farm and near a trucking facility. The community’s sense of peace was “destroyed by senseless death,” California Assemblymember Marc Berman said.

Aside from the brutal, sudden arrival of needless death, this week’s shootings and the aftermath of the loss of another young man are not linked. But there is a sense that the rituals of anger and mourning after such horrors are familiar. A fresh batch of relatives is thrust into the gauntlet of interviews and news conferences as well as the political melees often stirred by tragic incidents. They are like new characters reciting the same lines of anger and disbelief in an endless cycle of loss.

The trauma afflicting California and Memphis this week also touches on areas in which a polarized political system has failed, repeatedly, to make progress to stop such tragedies from happening. The rituals after mass shootings – of politicians expressing condolences, liberals demanding gun reform and conservatives deflecting blame from lax firearms laws – lead almost always to not much being done.

A similarly politicized debate over police reform delivers futility after almost every incident of apparent brutality. After a spate of deaths of young Black men at police hands, a bipartisan attempt to address officer conduct foundered in 2021 and has little chance of a revival in now-divided Washington. Caricatured arguments over whether Democrats want to “defund” the police – many do not – and the amped-up politics around guns effectively paralyze any hope of change.

The tragedy of Tyre Nichols is deepened by its familiarity. He was taken to the hospital after his arrest on January 7 and died three days later from injuries sustained when he was taken into custody. After his family and attorneys met with police and viewed videos of his arrest, momentum steadily built for accountability as the story generated local and then national headlines. It all led up to Thursday’s indictments.

The face of Nichols is now smiling out from a photo on every television station or news website. His name has joined those of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Daunte Wright and countless others who in death rose to prominence and became examples of America’s struggles against police brutality. Others like Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin, more broadly, have become casualties of societal and individual racism.

It’s important that these names are remembered – given both the individuals they were and the unresolved national pain they represent. Prominent civil rights and wrongful death attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci made this point in a statement issued on behalf of the Nichols family on Thursday.

“This young man lost his life in a particularly disgusting manner that points to the desperate need for change and reform to ensure this violence stops occurring during low-threat procedures, like in this case, a traffic stop,” they wrote.

“This tragedy meets the absolute definition of a needless and unnecessary death. Tyre’s loved ones’ lives were forever changed when he was beaten to death, and we will keep saying his name until justice is served.”

Yet it’s haunting that millions of Americans who never met Nichols only now know him in death. It’s a dehumanizing trend that victims become metaphors for a social blight or political failures and their lifetimes are fitted into established narratives when they can no longer write their own stories. That’s why an anecdote about Nichols – like how he loved to rush out in the evenings to take snapshots of sunsets – is so important to restoring a piece of his humanity.

The release of the video on Friday, which had officials from Biden on downwards warning against a violent reaction, offered new insight into Nichols’ death. As will the prosecution of the five former officers. A trial will also likely feature context about a challenging public order and crime situation in Memphis, intensive police tactics and how conditions set off a chain of events where a routine traffic stop could end so awfully.

Unlike many recent incidents where young Black men have been disproportionately impacted in encounters with White police officers, the case in Memphis involved five Black officers.

But CNN political analyst Bakari Sellers said that the incident nevertheless underscored a criminal justice system that was failing.

“For many of us, we haven’t been critical necessarily of the race of the officer whether or not they are White, Black, Hispanic or otherwise, but it’s the system. And what you are seeing over and over, again and again, is a system that perpetuates violence against people of color,” Sellers said on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”

Each of the five police officers has been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression. While each played a different role in the incident, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said, “The actions of all of them resulted in the death of Tyre Nichols, and they are all responsible.”

But lawyers for two of the men cautioned that the full facts of the case are yet to emerge. “No one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die,” said William Massey, who is representing Emmitt Martin, one of the former officers. “Justice means following the law and the law says that no one is guilty until a jury says they’re guilty.”

Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay in California now join the roll call of cities whose notoriety is burned into America’s consciousness by mass shootings, including Columbine, Newtown, Uvalde, Parkland, San Bernardino and others too numerous to count.

Everyone who died represents a crushing individual tragedy, a family severed and future memories obliterated by an assailant armed with a gun.

Valentino Marcos Alvero, 68, hoped to retire in a year and return home to the Philippines, but in the meantime loved to “dance around the house,” his son Val Anthony Alvero said. Mymy Nhan, 65, also loved to dance and for years went to the studio in Monterey Park where she died, a family statement said.

While the mass shootings left a pall of fear and loss over the Golden State, there was one ray of light epitomized by 26-year-old Brandon Tsay, who wrestled with the Monterey Bay shooter in another dance studio in Alhambra, eventually disarming him and potentially averting even greater carnage. Biden called Tsay on Thursday to thank him for “taking such incredible action in the face of danger.”

“I don’t think you understand just how much you’ve done for so many people who are never going to even know you,” the president told a modest Tsay, according to a transcript.

“You are America, pal. You are who we are. … America’s never backed down, we’ve always stepped up, because of people like you.”

Overall, though, it was a harrowing week in which the grief never seemed to stop, best summed up in a tweet by California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Tragedy upon tragedy.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic videos and descriptions of violence.

CNN
 — 

The newly released videos of Tyre Nichols’ police beating captured the brutality that his family and authorities had already foreshadowed: He was punched and kicked while being restrained. He pleaded to go home and repeatedly yelled for his mom.

And after the beating, while Nichols lay slumped and motionless against a car, officers walking around on scene ignored the 29-year-old Black man.

The videos consist of three shorter body camera clips and one roughly 31-minute video taken from a utility pole camera, which appears to capture most of the violence that unfolded just steps from Nichols’ home in Memphis.

The videos show portions of both the initial traffic stop on the night of January 7 and a second altercation just minutes later, after Nichols fled the first location on foot. Nichols required hospitalization after the encounter and died on January 10.

“What you’re seeing is a fairly significant number of officers who are failing at arrest and control tactics and making up for it with brutality,” said CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller.

Law enforcement analysts who viewed the clips were troubled by a range of actions – and inactions – during the encounter, from the beating by a group of officers to the length of time it took for someone to render aid to a motionless Nichols.

The videos leave many questions unanswered, including the reason for the stop, which the officers do not explain in the clips. Memphis police initially said Nichols was pulled over for suspected reckless driving, but police chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis told CNN on Friday authorities have not been able to “substantiate that” claim.

The clips also do not answer why authorities used such force on Nichols, who did not appear to fight back, and why they felt compelled to confront him twice.

But the videos do shed light on just how violent the fatal confrontation was. Here are some key revelations:

Videos from the encounters capture multiple officers threatening Nichols with violence while he appears to comply with their commands or is already on the ground.

A body camera video that captures the initial encounter between Nichols and police shows the officer getting out of his car with his gun drawn and captures an officer yelling for Nichols to “Get the fuck out of the car.”

Nichols is heard saying, “I didn’t do anything,” and later, as he gets on the ground, “All right, I’m on the ground.”

An officer yells at him, “Bitch, put your hands behind your back before I… I’m going to knock your ass the fuck out.”

Nichols says, “I’m just trying to go home.”

While officers yell commands, Nichols repeatedly responds that he is on the ground and is heard saying he didn’t do anything, before running away as an officer deploys his Taser.

At the second encounter, where the beating occurs, a body camera captures an officer yelling at Nichols, “I’m going to baton the fuck out of you,” while Nichols is on the ground and not fighting back. An officer is also heard asking “Do you want to be sprayed again,” while Nichols is on the ground and yelling for his mom.

The video taken from a remotely controlled camera on a neighborhood utility pole shows Memphis officers continuously hitting Nichols at least nine times, without visible provocation.

“The pole cam video is the one that really justifies the charges,” said former Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey, a CNN law enforcement analyst. “Nobody trains for that. These guys are acting so far outside of bounds that … you really can’t explain it. … One officer kicked him so hard and so much that he’s limping around.”

In the pole video, an officer is seen shoving Nichols on the pavement with what appears to be his leg or knee. Nichols is then pulled up by his shoulders and kicked in the face twice, then later is hit in the back with what appears to be a nightstick. Seconds later, he’s hit again.

Once he’s pulled to his feet, officers are seen hitting Nichols in the face multiple times while other officers are restraining his hands behind his body.

Nichols is seen falling to his knees – and less than a minute later, an officer appears to kick him.

When officers let go of Nichols, he rolls on his back and is then dragged along the pavement and propped up in a sitting position against the side of a car, where he remains largely ignored by the officers on scene.

According to one of the body camera videos released, while Nichols is slumped next to the car unattended, officers appear to say at least two officers pepper sprayed him and another tased Nichols.

“No one is doing anything to help him. It goes back to the failure to act, the failure to care and the overall obliviousness of the officers that are just standing around,” said former New York police Lt. Darrin Porcher.

Paramedics appear to show up on scene about 10 minutes into the video.

Roughly 23 minutes pass from the time Nichols appeared to be subdued after the beating before a stretcher arrives on scene.

“It’s horrific to watch,” said CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. “There’s all sorts of different injuries he may have suffered. So many of the injuries to the head, you saw kicks to the head, you saw these blows to the head, punches to the head, that’s obviously very concerning.”

What could happen in situations like that, Gupta added, is that the brain could begin to swell and there could be internal bleeding.

“That’s why this timing is so critical because if the brain is swelling – he still seemed like he was talking at some point but he was obviously getting worse – the brain starts to swell when you’re not getting enough oxygenated blood to the brain anymore and that’s what causes the big problem and what can lead to death.”

“He’s just laying there, obviously in critical condition at this point.”

And paramedics aren’t particularly equipped to help someone with those kinds of internal injuries, said Dr. Kendall Von Crowns, chief medical examiner in Tarrant County, Texas. The focus should have been on getting Nichols to the hospital for emergency surgery or a transfusion as soon as possible.

“We’re talking minutes,” he said. “He really needs to be treated right away.”

Besides the excessive violence, what troubled Porcher was that “no officer was willing to intervene and say stop,” he told CNN on Friday night.

“There’s a point where you have to intercede and say either ‘Stop’ or physically step between the officer that’s assaulting the person and that actual individual. And that didn’t happen,” Porcher said.

According to Memphis Police Department policies, officers have a duty to intervene.

“Any member who directly observes another member engaged in dangerous or criminal conduct or abuse of a subject shall take reasonable action to intervene,” according to a policy page of the department.

Five Memphis officers, who are also Black, were fired earlier this month for violating police policies and were each charged with second-degree murder, among other charges.

Two fire department employees who were part of Nichols’ “initial patient care” were relieved of duty “while an internal investigation is being conducted,” department public information officer Qwanesha Ward told CNN’s Nadia Romero.

After the video release, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said he launched an internal investigation into the conduct of two deputies “who appeared on the scene following the physical confrontation.” Both deputies “have been relieved of duty” pending the investigation’s outcome, the sheriff said.

CNN
 — 

Two people were wounded in a shooting attack in Jerusalem on Saturday, emergency services say, the day after a gunman killed at least seven people near a synagogue in the city.

The two men injured in the City of David area of Jerusalem on Saturday, one aged 22 and one in his 40s, are father and son, according to police. A 13-year-old who police say shot and wounded the pair was “neutralized and injured” by “two passers-by carrying licensed weapons.”

Tensions in Israel and the Palestinian territories remain high after Friday’s shooting, which police chief Yaakov Shabtai described as “one of the worst terror attacks in the past few years.” The shooter in that attack was also later killed by police forces, according to police.

“As a result of the shooting attack, the death of 7 civilians was determined and 3 others were injured with additional degrees of injury,” police said.

Five of the shooting victims were pronounced dead at the scene, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency rescue service said: four men and a woman. Five people were transported to hospitals, where another man and woman were declared dead. Among the wounded is a 15-year-old boy, the MDA said.

The attack occurred around 8:15 p.m. local time on Friday, near a synagogue on Neve Yaakov Street, according to a police statement.

Shabtai said the gunman “started shooting at anyone that was in his way. He got in his car and started a killing spree with a pistol at short range.” He then fled the scene in a vehicle and was killed after a shootout with police forces, police said.

Police identified the gunman as a 21-year-old resident of East Jerusalem, saying in a statement that he appeared to have acted alone. East Jerusalem is a predominantly Palestinian area of the city, which was captured by Israel in 1967.

Referring to Saturday’s attack, a community leader said the 13-year-old suspected shooter knew a 16-year-old Palestinian who died of gunshot wounds a day earlier. Jawad Siam, director of the Silwanic non-profilt organization in East Jerusalem, told CNN the suspect’s family denied their 13-year-old son was responsible for the Saturday attack, which happened close to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Silwan, East Jerusalem.

According to Siam, the 13-year-old suspect was a neighbor of a 16-year-old Palestinian who died of gunshot wounds in hospital overnight Friday. The 16-year-old was shot Wednesday by Israeli police.

Of the two wounded Saturday, the 22-year-old man is now in a serious but stable condition, anesthetized and ventilated in the intensive care unit, while his 47-year-old father is in a moderate and stable condition.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged people against revenge attacks on Friday night. “I call on the people not to take the law into their own hands. For that purpose we have an army, police and security forces. They act and will act according to the cabinet instructions,” he said.

Meanwhile, the European Union on Saturday urged Israel to only use lethal force as a “last resort.”

“The European Union fully recognises Israel’s legitimate security concerns, as evidenced by the latest terrorist attacks, but it has to be stressed that lethal force must only be used as a last resort when it is strictly unavoidable in order to protect life,” the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said Saturday in a press release.

Borrell also stressed that the bloc is “very concerned by the heightened tensions in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.”

“We call on both parties to do everything possible to de-escalate the situation and to restart security coordination, which is vital to prevent further acts of violence,” he concluded.

Friday’s incident came one day after the deadliest day for Palestinians in the West Bank in over a year, according to CNN records.

On Thursday, Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians and wounded several others in the West Bank city of Jenin, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, prompting the Palestinian Authority to suspend security coordination with Israel. A tenth Palestinian was killed that day in what Israel Police called a “violent disturbance” near Jerusalem.

Overnight, on Friday morning local time, Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza strip after rockets were fired towards Israel.

Israel’s controversial National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the scene of the attack on Friday evening, telling people who were chanting angrily that “it cannot continue like this.”

“I can tell you, [the people chanting] you are right. The burden is on us. It cannot continue like this,” Ben Gvir, who also leads the far-right Jewish Power party, said.

Some people on the scene were chanting support for Ben Gvir, saying “You are our voice, we support you.”

CNN’s Hadas Gold and team, who were also at the scene of Friday night’s shooting, heard what sounded like celebratory gunfire and car horns honking from the nearby predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina.

The White House condemned the “heinous terror attack” at a synagogue in Jerusalem on Friday and said the United States government has extended its “full support” to Israel, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

The US State Department also condemned the “apparent terrorist attack” in Jerusalem “in the strongest terms.”

“This is absolutely horrific,” said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel. “Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those killed and injured in this heinous act of violence.”

Patel said no change to the schedule of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming trip to Egypt, Israel and the West Bank was expected.

US second gentleman Doug Emhoff joined the Biden administration in denouncing the mass shooting on Friday that killed at least seven people. “This is a terror attack. This is murder,” Emhoff said to reporters after touring the Oskar Schindler Enamel Factory in Krakow, Poland.

“This is something that is horrible. These were people who were just praying in a temple, living their everyday lives, and were murdered in cold blood and it’s not acceptable.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky added his voice to those condemning the deadly shooting near a synagogue in Jerusalem on Friday, saying that one of those killed in the attack was a Ukrainian national.

“We share (Israel’s) pain after the terrorist attacks in Jerusalem. Among the victims is a (Ukrainian) woman. Sincere condolences to the victims’ families. The crimes were cynically committed on the Intl Holocaust Remembrance Day. Terror must have no place in today’s world. Neither in (Israel) nor in (Ukraine),” Zelensky said in a tweet.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates called for an end to escalation in tensions.

In a statement released on Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned “the situation between Palestinians and Israelis will slide into further serious escalation,” and the “Kingdom condemns all targeting of civilians, stressing the need to de-escalate, revive the peace process and end the occupation.”

Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also warned of the “severe risks of the ongoing escalation” between Israel and Palestine, calling for “provocative measures in order to avoid falling into a vicious circle of violence that worsens the political and humanitarian situations and undermines de-escalation efforts and all chances of reviving the peace process.”

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation condemned and rejected “all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability in contravention of human values and principles.”

Egypt and the UAE have normalized ties with Israel. Saudi Arabia has not.

France, Germany and the UK also condemned the shooting. “I am appalled by reports of the terrible attack in Neve Yaakov tonight. Attacking worshippers at a synagogue on Erev Shabat is a particularly horrific act of terrorism. The UK stands with Israel,” Neil Wigan, the British ambassador in Israel wrote on Twitter.

The French embassy in Israel tweeted that the incident was “all the more despicable as it was committed on this day of international remembrance of the Holocaust.”

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres also condemned Friday’s deadly attack, his spokesman said.

“It is particularly abhorrent that the attack occurred at a place of worship, and on the very day we commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day,” he said.

Guterres also expressed worry “about the current escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory,” urging all “to exercise utmost restraint.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz offered their condolences to the victims’ families following the two attacks. Scholz said Saturday that he was “deeply shocked” by the “terrible” attacks in Jerusalem in the past 24 hours.

Russia on Saturday urged all parties to show “maximum restraint” after the wave of deadly violence. “We perceive this development of events with deep concern. We call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and prevent further escalation of tension,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

CNN
 — 

Belarusian-born Aryna Sabalenka defeated Elena Rybakina in three sets to win a thrilling women’s Australian Open final Saturday, becoming the first player competing under a neutral flag to secure a grand slam.

Amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, tournament organizer Tennis Australia required Russian and Belarusian players to compete as neutrals.

Outplayed in the opening set, Sabalenka came from behind to overpower the reigning Wimbledon champion 4-6 6-3 6-4 in a remarkable turnaround in Melbourne.

Breaking Rybakina’s serve in the seventh game of a tense third set proved to be the crucial breakthrough for the fifth seed, whose venomous serve and intense groundstrokes ultimately paved the way for her success.

A nervous start from Sabalenka – she made five double faults and won only four points on the second serve in the first set – made it seem as if it would be a routine second grand slam for Rybakina as she secured the first set in 34 minutes.

But Sabalenka found accuracy as well as power in the second and third sets, with Rybakina faltering at crucial stages. The Russian-born Kazakh, who is also a big hitter, saw off three championship points but sent a forehand long on the fourth. Sabalenka fell to the ground, reduced to tears on wining her maiden major.

She celebrated by climbing to the players’ box where her coach, Anton Dubrov, could be seen sobbing into a towel.

“I’m still shaking and super nervous,” she told the spectators in her on-court speech before the presentation.

On receiving the trophy from Billie Jean King, Sabalenka thanked the American great for her pioneering work for the women’s game, and went on to thank her team, whom she described as the “craziest on tour.”

“We’ve been through a lot of downs last year,” she said. “We worked so hard, you guys deserve this trophy, it’s more about you than about me. Thank you so much for everything you do for me. I love you.”

Minsk-born Sabalenka was competing in her first grand slam final, having previously lost three major semifinals. Serving first, she opened the match with a double fault as nerves clearly played a part on an occasion such as this. She later admitted that she tactically didn’t “play my best” in the first set.

In the second set she targeted the Rybakina forehand and broke early for a 3-1 lead. When Rybakina threatened to break back immediately, as she had done in the first set, Sabalenka held firm, overcoming another double fault to further extend her lead at 4-1 before going on to clinch the set with an ace.

After an impressive second set from Sabalenka, the match entered a tense third set decider. Initially the pair went toe-to-toe, both having the bravery to go for their shots, to maintain the power, but it was Sabalenka who eventually broke through, ending an entertaining final with 17 aces and 51 winners.

“I need a few more days to realize what happened,” Sabalenka told Eurosport.

“I’m just super happy and proud. There’s so many things in my head. I’m not on this planet right now. It’s kind of relief, I’ve been in the top 10 but I didn’t have a grand slam trophy yet and it’s been really tough to get it, every slam was super emotional.

“It’s relief, it’s a joy, I’m just proud of myself, of everyone.”

Asked how she would celebrate, Sabalenka said, laughing: “Probably eating everything that I couldn’t this week.”

Rybakina was ranked 25th in the world coming into this tournament – a position which belies her talent and success – and she began the tournament playing on the outside courts.

Her failure to break into the top 10 stemmed mainly from the fact that ranking points from last year’s Wimbledon were removed because of the tournament’s decision to ban Russians and Belarusians from playing.

Reaching the final in Melbourne – where she defeated three former grand slam winners along the way in Iga Światek, Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka – will no doubt help her rise up the rankings.

“Hopefully we are going to have many more battles,” Rybakina told Sabalenka during the trophy presentation. “It was a good year for me and hopefully next year I am going to have the same result and (do) even better.”

CNN
 — 

Mo Salah was Liverpool’s figurehead, his goalscoring prowess the capstone of a team accustomed to winning trophies.

But, like the rest of his team, Salah is “suffering” this season because of the constant disruption to Liverpool’s attack, scoring just once in his last six appearances, manager Jurgen Klopp said in a press conference on Friday.

Injuries to key players – Salah has played just 343 minutes alongside likely fellow starters Luis Diaz and Darwin Núñez – have only heightened the loss of Sadio Mané to Bayern Munich last season, breaking up Liverpool’s cohesive offensive unit.

“It was a well-drilled machine the front three; everything was clear what we were doing,” Klopp said. “Everyone suffers, that’s clear. It is specific, offensive play that requires a lot of work and a lot of information, and not always obvious information.”

This season, Salah has scored seven goals in 19 Premier League games, unlike in 2021/22 when he contributed 23 goals and won the Golden Boot.

Lying in ninth in the Premier League having scored fewer goals, conceded more, and won fewer points than any of the previous seven seasons at this stage under Klopp’s tenure, Liverpool’s problems run deeper than just Salah’s misfiring form.

“Mo has scored hundreds of goals in recent years and when you don’t score the first thing people think about is that, but that is not our problem at the moment,” Klopp added.

“We started the season with Harvey [Elliott] in the half position, with Hendo [Jordan Henderson] it is different, and now it is Naby [Keïta]. So things are different all the time but usually you have a real basis to build on and that is what we don’t have.”

As Klopp seeks to kickstart Liverpool’s floundering season, he hopes that January signing Cody Gakpo can offer an alternative offensive option.

“Now we have Cody [Gakpo], obviously a really important asset, a connector; he can play the wing and the centre as well,” Klopp said.

Liverpool next take to the field against Brighton in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday.

(CNN) — This week in travel news, we bring you fish head pie, “devil’s dung,” mummified crocodiles and a cane toad named Toadzilla. Also, we want to hear your craziest, wildest travel stories.

Tell us your hair-raising adventures

We want to hear your most hair-raising travel stories with a happy ending, where you lived to tell the tale and now have a blockbuster yarn. Send us a short summary by email, and we could be in touch to turn it into a CNN story to share with the world ([email protected]).

Cutting-edge cuisine

Wild world

Egyptian treasures

European islands where you can escape the world

Bring Your Own Bottle

In case you missed it

Disney’s Splash Mountain fans are grabbing up all the souvenirs they can.

There’s an Alpine hotel with an international border running through its rooms.

Top image: Cornish delicacy Stargazy Pie (Anabel Dean).

CNN
 — 

It’s been almost three weeks since a traffic stop in Memphis led to a violent arrest and, three days later, the death of the 29-year-old Black driver.

Tyre Nichols was hospitalized after he was pulled over on January 7, police have said. Five Memphis Police Department officers, who also are Black, were fired after an internal investigation and are facing criminal charges, including second-degree murder.

Key questions remain unanswered as the nation – already alert to how police sometimes treat people of color, especially following the mass protests of 2020 – waits for police to release footage of the incident.

Here’s what we know:

On January 7, around 8:30 p.m., Memphis officers pulled over a vehicle for suspected reckless driving, according to a statement from Memphis police.

“A confrontation occurred” between officers and the vehicle’s driver – later identified as Nichols – who then fled on foot, according to Memphis police. Officers apprehended him and “another confrontation occurred,” resulting in Nichols’ arrest, police said.

The incident happened a few blocks away from his home, Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis told CNN’s Don Lemon on Friday.

“We’ve looked at cameras, we’ve looked at body-worn cameras, even if something occurred prior to this stop, we’ve been unable to substantiate that at this time,” Davis said.

“We’ve taken a pretty extensive look to determine what the probable cause was and we have not been able to substantiate that,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that something didn’t happen, but there is no proof.”

Also unclear are who was involved in the initial police encounter, how far Nichols fled on foot, how officers apprehended him, how long these “confrontations” lasted, or why officers felt compelled to confront Nichols twice.

Beyond police body camera footage, police looked at surveillance cameras around the city at businesses – anything that could help paint a picture about what happened prior to the traffic stop, Davis said.

After the officers stop Nichols’ car, there is a physical interaction involving Nichols as the officers are trying to get him out the car, but it’s still unknown what the original reason was for the stop, the chief said.

From the beginning of the encounter, the chief said, the officers involved were riled up. “The escalation was already at a high level,” Davis said.

The nature of the traffic stop was very aggressive with loud communication, and it escalated from there, she said.

During the initial altercation involving several officers, pepper spray was deployed, and Nichols ran, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said at a Thursday news conference.

Nichols got away, but the officers “found him again at another location and at that point there was an amount of aggression that is unexplainable,” he said.

“There was another altercation at a nearby location at which the serious injuries were experienced by Mr. Nichols,” Mulroy continued. “After some period of time of waiting around afterward, he was taken away by an ambulance.”

“I heard him call out for his mother, for his mom,” Davis said, referring to the video. “Just the disregard for humanity … That’s what really pulls at your heartstrings and makes you wonder: Why was a sense of care and concern for this individual just absent from the situation by all who went to the scene?”

There then was an “elapsed period of time” before getting medical help for Nichols after he was injured during the traffic stop by Memphis police officers, Mulroy said.

“After some period of time of waiting around afterward, he was taken away by an ambulance,” he said.

On January 10, three days after the stop, Nichols died due to injuries sustained in the “use-of-force incident with officers,” according to a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation statement.

Nichols suffered “extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating,” according to preliminary results of an autopsy commissioned by attorneys for his family.

“We can state that preliminary findings indicate Tyre suffered extensive bleeding caused by a severe beating, and that his observed injuries are consistent with what the family and attorneys witnessed on the video of his fatal encounter with police on January 7, 2023,” attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement.

CNN has asked Crump for a copy of the autopsy commissioned by the family, but he said the full report is not yet ready. Officials have also not released Nichols’ autopsy.

After its internal investigation, Memphis police identified and fired five officers involved in the traffic stop due to their violation of multiple department policies.

Officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr. and Justin Smith were terminated for failing in their “excessive use of force, duty to intervene, and duty to render aid,” the department said in a statement.

Martin III, Smith, Bean, Haley and Mills, Jr. have each been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression, according to both Shelby County criminal court and Shelby County jail records.

The Memphis Police Association, the union representing the officers, declined to comment on the terminations beyond saying that the city of Memphis and Nichols’ family “deserve to know the complete account of the events leading up to his death and what may have contributed to it,” according to a statement.

All five officers have been released on bond.

In a joint news conference Thursday afternoon, Blake Ballin, an attorney for Mills, and William Massey, Martin’s attorney, said they have not yet watched the video of the police encounter.

“No one out there that night intended for Tyre Nichols to die,” Massey said.

Ballin described Mills as a “respectful father,” who was “devastated” to be accused in the killing.

Other officers’ attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Davis “expected serious charges, I really did,” the chief said. “Actually the charges that were placed, at least the administrative charges, were probably the most severe that I’ve seen in my career, but they were absolutely appropriate,” Davis said.

It’s still unclear what role each officer played in the incident.

There is no evidence now that the officers involved had acted this way in the past, Davis said, adding police are “taking a deeper dive into previous arrests, previous video camera footage.”

It’s unclear to what extent those employees were taking care of Nichols and what type of aid was rendered, if any at all.

Davis said her assessment is that the EMTs “failed to render proper care.”

“They began to render care and concern but it was long after several minutes, which was concerning for all of us that we see a number of failures where individuals did not exercise the amount of care that we are responsible for.”

“During a period of time before the EMS services arrived on scene, Fire is on scene. And they are there with Tyre and the police officers prior to EMS arriving,” Nichols’ family attorney Antonio Romanucci told CNN, adding there were “limitations” on how much he could say.

While she has met the officers, the chief said she didn’t know them personally. From her impressions of them, she said they seemed like other officers, and were respectful when they saw her, but what she saw in the video was more of a “groupthink mentality” where no one took a step to intervene.

Two Memphis Fire Department employees who were part of Nichols’ “initial patient care” have been “relieved of duty,” pending the outcome of an internal investigation, department Public Information Officer Qwanesha Ward told CNN’s Nadia Romero.

Officers with the Memphis Police Department went to the home of RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mother, between 8 and 9 p.m. on January 7 to tell her about Nichols’ arrest, his mother told Lemon Friday.

Officers told Wells her son was arrested for a DUI, pepper sprayed and tased. Because of that, they said he was going to the hospital and would later be taken to booking at the police station, she said.

“They then asked me was he on any type of drugs or anything of that nature because they were saying it was so difficult to put the handcuffs on him and he had this amount of energy, superhuman energy,” she said. “What they were describing was not my son so I was very confused.”

Officers said she couldn’t go to the hospital, Wells said, and when asked where her son was, they said he was “nearby” but wouldn’t tell her exactly where.

“Now that I’m actually putting things together, I believe they were trying to cover it up when they first came to my door,” she said.

Around 4 a.m. ET, Wells said a doctor called to summon her to the hospital to see her son.

 “The doctor proceeded to tell me that my son had went into cardiac arrest and that his kidneys were failing,” she said. “This doesn’t sound consistent to somebody being tased or pepper sprayed,” as the police had told her.

 “When my husband and I got to the hospital and I saw my son, he was already gone,” Wells said. “They had beat him to a pulp.”

 Wells described the horrific injuries her son had when she saw him in the hospital.

 “He had bruises all over him. His head was swollen like a watermelon. His neck was busting because of the swelling. They broke his neck. My son’s nose look like a S,” she said. “They actually just beat the crap out of him. And so when I saw that, I knew my son was gone, the end. Even if he did live, he would have been a vegetable.”

Nichols was the baby of his family, the youngest of four children and he loved being a father to his son, his family said.

He was a “good boy” who spent his Sundays doing laundry and getting ready for the week, his mother, RowVaughn Wells, said.

“Does that sound like somebody that the police said did all these bad things?” Wells said. “Nobody’s perfect OK, but he was damn near.”

Nichols moved to Memphis before the Covid-19 pandemic and got stuck there when things shut down, his mother said.

When he wasn’t working the second shift at FedEx, Nichols enjoyed photography and skateboarding, something he had been doing since he was 6.

Nichols had Crohn’s disease, a digestive issue, and was a slim 140 to 145 pounds despite his 6-foot-3-inch height, his mother said.

On January 18, the Department of Justice said a civil rights investigation was opened into Nichols’ death.

Acknowledging the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s ongoing efforts, the US Attorney’s office “in coordination with the FBI Memphis Field Office and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, has opened a civil rights investigation,” US Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, Kevin G. Ritz said, declining to provide further details.

The Memphis police chief condemned the actions of officers involved.

“I was outraged, it was incomprehensible to me, it was unconscionable,” Davis said. “I felt that I needed to do something and do something quickly. I don’t think I’ve witnessed anything of that nature in my career.”

Davis said the video showing the beating of Tyre Nichols is as bad, if not worse, than the 1991 video showing the Los Angeles Police beating of Rodney King, a motorist whose savage encounter with police sparked outrage after footage was released.

“I was in law enforcement during the Rodney King incident and it’s very much aligned with that same type of behavior,” she said. “I would say it’s about the same, if not worse.”

“You’re going to see acts that defy humanity, you’re going to see a disregard for life, duty of care that we’re all sworn to, and a level of physical interaction that’s above and beyond what is required in law enforcement,” she said of the footage.

“I’m sure, as I said before, individuals watching will feel what the family felt and if you don’t, you’re not a human being.”

CNN has obtained portions of the police scanner audio leading up to Nichols’ arrest. Portions of the audio are inaudible, but you can hear a brief part of the conversation between an officer and the dispatcher.

An officer can be heard saying, “We got one Black male running,” and giving instructions to “run that car registration tag and see what’s the address,” followed by what sounds like Nichols in distress.

It’s not clear where this audio fits in the sequence of the incident or which officer is speaking.

Family attorneys did watch the video on Monday and described it as “heinous.” Nichols was tased, pepper-sprayed and restrained, Crump said, and he, too, compared it to the LAPD beating of Rodney King.

Crump described the video as “appalling,” “deplorable” and “heinous.” He said Wells, Nichols’ mother, was unable to get through viewing the first minute of the footage after hearing Nichols ask, “What did I do?” At the end of the footage, Nichols can be heard calling for his mother three times, the attorney said.

Nichols fled from the police, according to Rodney Wells, his stepfather, because he was afraid.

“Our son ran because he was scared for his life,” Rodney Wells said Monday. “He did not run because he was trying to get rid of no drugs, no guns, no any of that. He ran because he was scared for his life. And when you see the video, you will see why he was scared for his life.”

Rodney Wells didn’t want his wife to see the video, but attorneys asked that she try to watch as much of it as possible.

“She heard one word and had to leave out of the room,” Rodney Wells said. “And that was when they initially pulled him out of the car. He said, ‘What did I do?’” 

In Rodney Wells’ own words, this is what is on the video:

“He said, ‘What did I do? Why are y’all doing this to me? What did I do?’ and they proceeded to snatch him out of the car and was trying to wrestle him to the ground. And he got scared. So he was athletic enough to get out of their situation and run, and he was trying to run home, because he was three blocks from the house when they stopped him,” Wells continued.

“And when I saw the police officer, you know, they have this little, like, stick, this metal thing that they pull out … I saw them pull that out and started beating my son with it. And I saw officers hitting on him, I saw officers kicking him. One officer kicked him like he was kicking a football, a couple of times,” Wells told Lemon.

“But the most telling thing about the video to me was the fact that it was maybe ten officers on the scene and nobody tried to stop it or even after they beat him and they propped him up against the car, no one rendered aid to him whatsoever. They walked around, smoking cigarettes like it was all calm and like, you know, bragging about what happened,” the stepfather said.

“He was sitting there, and then he slumped over. And an officer walked over to him and said, ‘Sit back up,’ while he’s handcuffed. So, he had to – they prop him back up, and he slumped over again, and they prop him back up again, but no one was rendering aid,” he continued.

“I saw some fire department people come out there and they just walked around and nobody showed him any aid, and they supposed to be trained in first aid. By the time the paramedic truck pulled up, that’s when we couldn’t see anything because the paramedic truck blocked the camera,” Rodney Wells said.

Nichols’ family wants the officers charged with murder, family attorney Romanucci told CNN’s Erin Burnett Wednesday evening.

Video footage of the incident will be released on YouTube in four parts, showing the initial stop, the stop near Nichols’ home and body-worn camera footage of the individuals at the scene, sometime after 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Davis confirmed.

In timing the release, “we thought about schools, we thought about businesses and we felt like Friday afternoon if there were individuals [who] decided they wanted to peacefully protest, at least other individuals would have gone home, schools would be out and it wouldn’t be as disruptive as it would have been if we released it on … on a Wednesday afternoon.”

“A lot of the people’s questions about what exactly happened will, of course, be answered once people see the video,” Mulroy told CNN’s Laura Coates on Tuesday night, noting he believes the city will release enough footage to show the “entirety of the incident, from the very beginning to the very end.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled RowVaughn Wells’ first name.

CNN
 — 

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Friday that he had been previously unaware classified documents were at his Indiana home but that “mistakes were made” and he takes full responsibility.

Pence said during remarks at Florida International University that he had thought “out of an abundance of caution, it would be appropriate to review (his) personal records” kept at his Carmel, Indiana, residence after revelations that classified documents had been found at President Joe Biden’s private office and residence dating to his time as vice president.

CNN first reported that a lawyer for Pence found last week about a dozen documents marked as classified at the former vice president’s home. The former vice president had directed his lawyer, Matt Morgan, who has experience handling classified material, to conduct the search.

The discovery came after Pence had repeatedly said he did not have any classified documents in his possession.

Pence said Friday that they determined there was a “small number of documents marked classified or sensitive interspersed in my personal papers,” and that they “immediately” secured the documents. They then notified the National Archives, turned over the documents to the FBI and communicated the finding to Congress, he said.

“And while I was not aware that those classified documents were in our personal residence, let me be clear: Those classified documents should not have been in my personal residence. Mistakes were made. And I take full responsibility,” he said.

The FBI and the Justice Department’s National Security Division have launched a review of the documents and how they ended up in Pence’s house. It is not yet clear what the documents are related to or their level of sensitivity or classification.

Classified records are supposed to be stored in secure locations. And under the Presidential Records Act, White House records are supposed to go to the National Archives when an administration ends.

Pence said Friday that there was a “thorough review” of all the documents held in the Office of the Vice President and the vice president’s DC residence at the end of the Trump-Pence administration. “And I’m confident that was conducted in a professional manner,” he said.

He also said that he directed his counsel to “fully cooperate” in any investigation and later told reporters: “I welcome the work of the Department of Justice in this case.”

Biden’s team discovered classified documents at his Washington, DC, think tank office in November. Biden has said they immediately notified the National Archives, which then notified the Department of Justice, but the discovery was not made public for weeks. Materials were also found at Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, residence.

The FBI retrieved hundreds of documents from former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence and resort last summer after he failed to comply with a subpoena to hand them over.

A special counsel has been named to both the Biden and Trump cases.

In the wake of the classified document discoveries at Pence, Biden and Trump’s homes, the National Archives formally asked former presidents and vice presidents to re-check their personal records for any classified documents or other presidential records, CNN first reported.

“I think now’s the time when we just ought to rededicate ourselves to greater diligence,” Pence told reporters on Friday, adding that he would “welcome a broader discussion in the Congress, and in the public debate about classified documents.”

This story has been updated with additional details.