10 things you need to know today: April 21, 2015
Italy makes arrests over a deadly shipwreck, Lelisa Desisa and Caroline Rotich win the Boston Marathon, and more
- 1. Captain and crew member of capsized migrant ship arrested
- 2. Six Baltimore officers suspended as city investigates Freddie Gray's death
- 3. Lelisa Desisa repeats Boston Marathon win two years after bombing
- 4. Airstrike kills 19 in Yemen's capital
- 5. Blue Bell pulls ice cream over Listeria risk
- 6. Iran charges Washington Post journalist with espionage
- 7. Morsi gets 20 years in prison for charges related to protester deaths
- 8. Indonesian court sentences American couple for Bali murder
- 9. AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd pleads guilty in murder threat case
- 10. Small paper takes prestigious public-service Pulitzer Prize
1. Captain and crew member of capsized migrant ship arrested
Italy has arrested the Tunisian captain and a Syrian crew member of the overloaded ship that capsized off the coast of Libya, killing hundreds of migrants, prosecutors said Tuesday. The United Nations refugee agency said interviews with survivors indicated that 800 people had died. The European Union on Monday expanded its rescue effort, and plucked hundreds of refugees from two other boats. EU diplomats are preparing for a Thursday summit on stopping a surge in human smuggling voyages launching from politically unstable Libya.
2. Six Baltimore officers suspended as city investigates Freddie Gray's death
Six Baltimore police officers have been suspended as the city investigates the Sunday death of a 25-year-old black man, Freddie Gray, who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody, city officials said Monday. Gray, who was not a suspect in any crime, ran from police, and was tackled by an officer. Video of the arrest did not show how he was injured, but he was rushed to a hospital, and died a week later. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake called for calm as investigators try to determine what happened.
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3. Lelisa Desisa repeats Boston Marathon win two years after bombing
Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and Caroline Rotich of Kenya won the Boston Marathon on Monday. Desisa also finished first in the storied race two years ago when it was struck by a deadly bombing. Then, he famously gave his medal to the grieving city. "This medal," he said, smiling, "is mine to keep." Rotich came out on top in the women's field with a dramatic mile-long sprint to the finish, crossing the line in 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 55 seconds, four seconds ahead of Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia.
The Boston Globe The New York Times
4. Airstrike kills 19 in Yemen's capital
Saudi-led airstrikes hit weapons caches in Yemen's capital of Sanaa on Monday, triggering the most powerful explosions since the start of the coalition's campaign against Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels. At least 19 people were killed in the strike, and many more were believed buried in rubble. The Pentagon said Monday the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt had been moved off the coast of Yemen, meaning nine warships are now in place to intercept shipments of Iranian arms to the Houthis.
5. Blue Bell pulls ice cream over Listeria risk
Blue Bell Creameries recalled all of its ice cream products on Monday after Listeria was detected in some half gallons of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. The company had been gradually pulling its frozen desserts from shelves for weeks before taking the more drastic action. Blue Bell CEO and President Paul Kruse said the company would keep its products "off the market until we can be confident that they are all safe."
6. Iran charges Washington Post journalist with espionage
Iran is charging Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian with espionage, "collaborating with hostile governments," and two other serious crimes, Rezaian's attorney said after her first meeting with him on Monday. Rezaian was arrested nine months ago, but the specific charges were not clear until the attorney, Leila Ahsan, got a look at the indictment. Rezaian also is accused of illegally collecting classified information. The charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years.
7. Morsi gets 20 years in prison for charges related to protester deaths
The Cairo Criminal Court on Monday sentenced former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison on Tuesday for the deadly response to protests three years ago. Morsi, an Islamist, was Egypt's first democratically elected leader, but the military overthrew him after millions of people took to the streets demanding his resignation. Judge Ahmed Youssef dropped murder charges against Morsi, but sentenced him to prison over unlawful detentions and the government's "show of force."
8. Indonesian court sentences American couple for Bali murder
An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced an American man, 21-year-old Tommy Schaefer, to 18 years in jail for the murder of his girlfriend's mother, Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62. Wiese-Mack was beaten to death in a Bali hotel room, and her body was found stuffed in a suitcase. Wiese-Mack's daughter, 19-year-old Heather Mack, was convicted by the same court of helping Schaefer, and sentenced to 10 years.
9. AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd pleads guilty in murder threat case
Longtime AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty on a charge that he threatened to kill a former employee fired after a solo album failed to sell well, a court in Tauranga, New Zealand, said Tuesday. Rudd also pleaded guilty to drug possession. According to court documents, Rudd told an associate in September that he wanted one of the fired employees "taken out," then later offered the same associate $150,000 plus "a motorbike, one of his cars, or a house."
10. Small paper takes prestigious public-service Pulitzer Prize
The Charleston, South Carolina, Post and Courier — a paper with a daily circulation of just 85,000 — won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for public service on Monday for a series of stories on deaths resulting from domestic abuse. In the arts categories, the award for best novel went to Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See), best non-fiction book went to Elizabeth Kolbert (The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History), and the drama prize went to Stephen Adly Guirgis (Between Riverside and Crazy).
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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