10 things you need to know today: May 12, 2016

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1. Brazilian Senate votes to put President Rousseff on trial
2. Ryan and Trump head into meeting aiming to unite GOP
3. Former North Charleston police officer indicted for fatal shooting
4. Judge finds Planned Parenthood shooting suspect incompetent to stand trial
5. Investigation finds arson caused deadly 2013 fire in Texas
6. Three bombings kill 93 in deadliest day in Baghdad this year
7. Italian lawmakers approve same-sex unions
8. Trump, under mounting pressure, promises to release tax returns after audit
9. George Zimmerman auctioning gun used to kill Trayvon Martin
10. Climbers reach Mount Everest summit for first time in two years

published 12 May 2016

1. Brazilian Senate votes to put President Rousseff on trial

Brazil's Senate voted Thursday to suspend President Dilma Rousseff and launch an impeachment trial against her for allegedly borrowing from state banks to hide a budget deficit. Critics say she was covering up problems to win reelection two years ago. Rousseff's popularity has plummeted as Brazilians express anger over corruption. "Having been assaulted by incompetence and wrongdoing, Brazilians expect punishment," Green Party Sen. Alvaro Dias said. Through the trial, which could last six months, Vice President Michel Temer will replace Rousseff.

House Speaker Paul Ryan is meeting with Donald Trump on Thursday in a bid to unite the Republican Party ahead of this fall's elections. The two have traded jabs in recent days, with Ryan saying he was not ready to endorse Trump for president, and the presumptive GOP nominee countering that he wasn't ready to support Ryan's legislative agenda. Trump also is meeting with other leading Republicans in Washington as he takes on the role of the party's 2016 standard-bearer.

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A grand jury on Wednesday indicted former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager on a rare civil rights charge for the fatal shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black motorist who was running away after a traffic stop. The grand jury said Slager, who is white, had deprived Scott of his constitutional right to be free from police using unreasonable force. Slager also was charged with obstructing justice for saying he fired as Scott came toward him. A video captured by a witness showed Scott fleeing when he was shot.

A Colorado judge said Wednesday that Robert Lewis Dear was not competent to stand trail for a shooting rampage that left three people dead and nine wounded at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic last year. Dear, 57, once yelled in court that he is a "warrior for the babies," and he told police he expected to be thanked for what he did "by all the aborted fetuses at the gates of heaven." Dear faces 179 counts, including eight first-degree murder charges. The decision means he will be sent to a mental health institution for treatment.

Federal investigators said Wednesday that a 2013 explosion that killed 15 people at a Texas fertilizer plant was caused by a "criminal act" of arson. The blast occurred 20 minutes after a fire was reported at the West Fertilizer Company facility. Twelve of the people killed were first responders. Another 160 people were injured, and 500 homes were destroyed in the surrounding neighborhood. No arrests have been made. The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said the disaster was "one of the most destructive" it has ever investigated.

The death toll from three Wednesday car bombings in Baghdad has risen to 93, making the day the deadliest in the Iraqi capital this year. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the separate attacks, which also left 165 wounded. The largest bomb killed at least 63 people at an outdoor market in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. The attacks demonstrated that ISIS remains a threat in the seat of the government's power despite the Islamist extremist group's recent battlefield losses.

Italy's Parliament on Wednesday overwhelming gave final approval to a law recognizing civil unions between same-sex partners. The rest of Europe has already granted gay couples many of the rights of straight married couples, but the issue was the subject of an extended battle in Italy, largely due to opposition from the Catholic Church. Gay rights activists celebrated the bill's approval, but expressed disappointment that a provision allowing gay couples to adopt had to be dropped to ensure the bill would pass.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would release his tax returns after an IRS audit is completed, but warned this may not happen before the November election. The promise came as Trump faces mounting pressure to release the returns, but he has said "there's nothing to learn from them." Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee, said on Facebook Wednesday that it's "disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters."

George Zimmerman is auctioning off the 9mm pistol he used to kill Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in 2012. The auction goes live at 11 a.m. Thursday at gunbroker.com with an opening bid of $5,000. Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer in his Florida neighborhood, was acquitted of manslaughter and murder in 2013. The auction entry, signed in Zimmerman's name, calls the gun "a piece of American history." "I'm a free American," Zimmerman told a Florida TV station. "I can do what I want with my possessions."

Nine Nepalese guides on Wednesday became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest after deadly avalanches kept climbers away in 2014 and 2015. The guides fixed ropes for clients preparing attempts to reach the top. Early Thursday, the first foreign climbers reached the world's highest peak in a team that included two British climbers, a Mexican climber, and three Nepalese guides. Last year's climbing season was cut short when an earthquake caused an avalanche that killed 19 climbers at base camp.

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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.