10 things you need to know today: April 9, 2015

1. Tsarnaev convicted on all 30 counts for Boston Marathon bombing

A jury took just 11 hours on Wednesday to find Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three people and wounded 260. Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted on all 30 counts against him, including conspiracy, using a weapon of mass destruction, and the murder of MIT police officer Sean Collier three days after the bombings. Seventeen of the counts against the confessed killer carry the possibility of the death penalty. The jury will reconvene next week to consider Tsarnaev's sentencing.

Boston Herald

2. White officer fired after being charged in fatal shooting of black motorist

The North Charleston, South Carolina, police department fired officer Michael Slager on Wednesday, a day after he was charged with murder for the fatal shooting of 50-year-old Walter Scott. The white officer was caught on cellphone video shooting Scott, who was black, eight times in the back as he ran away after a traffic stop. The man who captured the shooting on video — Feidin Santana — said Scott and Slager struggled but Slager was in control, and Scott ran to get away from the officer's stun gun.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Voice of America NBC News

3. Iran says no final nuclear deal unless sanctions are lifted the same day

Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, said Thursday that he would only sign a final nuclear agreement with the U.S. and five other world powers if they lifted all sanctions the same day. "We want a win-win deal for all parties involved in the nuclear talks," Rouhani said in a televised speech. Negotiators agreed to the framework for a deal last week in Switzerland, and are working toward a June 30 deadline for a final version that the U.S. and other nations say will prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Reuters

4. Iran sends military ships to waters near Yemen

Iran sent a destroyer and another naval vessel to the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, raising tensions as Saudi Arabia leads an air campaign against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The U.S. has increased its support for the Saudi-led coalition with weapons, intelligence, and now aerial refueling of coalition warplanes. Saudi Arabia imposed an air and maritime blockade of after Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled as rebels closed in two weeks ago.

The Associated Press

5. Obama to call for end to anti-gay "conversion" therapy

President Obama is expected this week to call for an end to "conversion" therapy aiming turn gay, lesbian, and transgender youths straight. The White House said in a statement released Wednesday that the move was intended to prevent the therapy's "potentially devastating effects." The statement was posted online next to a petition signed by 120,000 people in honor of Leelah Alcorn, a 17-year-old transgender youth who threw herself in front of a truck after leaving a suicide note saying religious leaders had pressured her to revert to being a boy.

The New York Times

6. U.S. soldier dies after insider shooting by Afghan in uniform

An Afghan soldier killed one American counterpart and wounded two others on Wednesday. The killer opened fire on a group of U.S. troops after a meeting between a U.S. embassy official and Afghan provincial leaders in Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. American troops returned fire, killing the Afghan soldier. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. There were at least four such insider attacks by Afghan security forces in 2014.

USA Today

7. Rand Paul clashes with reporters on first day after launching presidential campaign

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had a series of combative exchanges with reporters on Wednesday in the first day after announcing that he was running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. First, Paul pushed back against conservative Fox News host Sean Hannity for suggested he flip-flopped by turning hawkish on Iran after saying in 2007 that it was "ridiculous" to see Tehran as a threat. When another reporter asked him about flip-flops, he said, "That isn't journalism."

The Washington Post

8. Ferguson voters elect two new black city council members

Ferguson, Missouri, Mayor James Knowles declared Wednesday that the city had reached a "milestone" after a surge in voter turnout helped two new black candidates win spots on the city council. The change came weeks after the Justice Department found that Ferguson's police and courts had systematically singled out African Americans for harsh treatment. Ferguson is two-thirds black, but has only had two other African Americans on its six-member city council in the its 120-year history.

Reuters

9. Secret Service manager suspended after assault allegation

The Secret Service put a senior supervisor, Xavier Morales, on leave last week after a woman who reported to him accused him of making unwanted sexual advances and grabbing her at the office after they returned from a party on March 31. The woman said Morales relented after a struggle. The woman told police and Secret Service investigators that Morales had told her he was in love with her and wanted to have sex. Morales, through an agency spokesman, declined to comment.

The Washington Post

10. University of Michigan reverses course on American Sniper cancelation

The University of Michigan reversed course late Wednesday and pledged to show a previously canceled screening of American Sniper — the biopic about the late Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle — on campus. The screening was originally cut after nearly 300 students signed a petition complaining that the film "sympathized with a mass killer" and "not only tolerates but promotes anti-Muslim" propaganda. A university official said that canceling the film went against freedom of expression. "The movie will be shown at the originally scheduled time and location," she said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The outcome of the American Sniper screening was originally misreported. The article has since been fixed. We regret the error.

The Washington Times Fox News