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

(Image credit: AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth))

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1. Ex-cop indicted on murder charge for Walter Scott killing
2. HSBC to eliminate 50,000 jobs
3. Supreme Court sides with White House on Jerusalem passports
4. Pentagon ups estimate of labs that got anthrax to 66
5. Protesters demand firing of Texas cop involved in pool-party incident
6. Bush picks campaign manager ahead of announcement on 2016 presidential race
7. Cleveland citizens to ask court for arrest of officers in Tamir Rice killing
8. South Korea reports seventh death in MERS outbreak
9. Apple unveils its streaming music service
10. Arizona, Houston, and Colorado make shortstops first 3 MLB draft picks

published 9 June 2015

1. Ex-cop indicted on murder charge for Walter Scott killing

A grand jury indicted former South Carolina police officer Michael Slager on a murder charge Monday for the fatal shooting of Walter Scott after a traffic stop. Scott had a broken taillight. Slager, who is white, shot Scott, who was black, in the back as he ran away after a brief foot chase in North Charleston. A bystander captured the shooting on video. "Today was just an example that if you just keep the faith, even in the darkest times, you'll see the light," said Chris Stewart, a Scott family attorney.

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, announced Tuesday that it would cut up to 50,000 jobs — about 20 percent of its workforce — through 2017. The restructuring is designed to save $5 billion a year and restore profit growth. Half of the cuts will come from closing branches and other consolidating moves, and the other half from selling HSBC's Turkey and Brazil operations. "HSBC is a big bank to move and they’re definitely moving in the right direction," said Chris White of Premier Fund Managers Ltd. in England.

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The Supreme Court on Monday struck down a law aiming to let American parents of children born in Jerusalem get passports saying they were born in Israel. The high court's majority said it was up to the president — not Congress — to make such a call. "Jerusalem's political standing has long been, and remains, one of the most sensitive issues in American foreign policy," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for five justices in the 6-3 majority. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito Jr. dissented.

The Pentagon on Monday raised its tally of labs that were mistakenly sent live anthrax samples to 66. The labs that received the anthrax are located in 19 states and Washington, D.C. The new estimate is up from a Wednesday estimate of 51 laboratories in 17 states, Washington, D.C., and three foreign countries. The samples were sent from an Army lab in Utah, where workers irradiated the anthrax. The process was supposed to kill the samples but it did not work.

Hundreds of protesters on Monday called for the city of McKinney, Texas, to fire a police officer caught on video throwing a black teenage girl in a swimsuit to the ground and drawing his gun after a disturbance at a pool party. Cpl. Eric Casebolt, who is white, has been placed on administrative leave while the department investigates the Friday incident, which has fueled public anger over the treatment of minorities by police. The NAACP called for an investigation of the McKinney police department.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) shook up his staff on Monday, a week ahead of his expected June 15 announcement of his 2016 presidential bid. Bush picked Republican strategist Danny Diaz as his campaign manager. That job had been expected to go to another aide, David Kochel. Diaz' promotion was seen as an indication that the exploratory phase of Bush's bid did not go as well as planned. He has raised more than $100 million since December but fallen in polls as the GOP field grew.

Cleveland community leaders plan Tuesday to ask a judge to order the arrest of the police officers involved in the November killing of Tamir Rice, a black 12-year-old shot dead while carrying a toy gun in a park. The case was turned over to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor last week to determine whether to put it before a grand jury, but a little-used Ohio law lets people with "knowledge of the facts" file affidavits with the court and request a hearing, bypassing local prosecutors and secretive grand juries.

South Korea reported eight new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Tuesday, bringing the total number of people infected in the outbreak to 95. The country's health ministry also said a seventh patient had died. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has ordered a national campaign to stop the disease from spreading. South Korea's outbreak — second only to Saudi Arabia's — began in May when an infected businessman returned from the Middle East.

Apple on Monday officially announced the impending launch of its own streaming service, Apple Music. Subscribers will be able to stream songs from the iTunes Store, and access curated playlists and a 24/7 global radio station called Beats 1. Apple, which acquired nascent streaming service Beats Music from Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre one year ago, will introduce the service in 100 countries on June 30. Users will get it free for three months, then pay $9.99 a month, or $14.99 a month for families of up to six.

The Arizona Diamondbacks took Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson in the first pick of the Major League Baseball draft on Monday night. The Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies also picked shortstops in the No. 2 and No. 3 picks, marking the first time shortstops had gone one-two-three in the draft. Houston took LSU's Alex Bregman, and Colorado took Florida high schooler Brendan Rodgers. In all, eight shortstops went in the 36-pick first round, tying a record.

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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.