10 things you need to know today: May 5, 2023

Russian drones attacked Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Thursday

(Image credit: Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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1. Russian drones attack Kyiv as Moscow accuses U.S. over Kremlin strike
2. Jury finds 4 Proud Boys, including ex-leader, guilty of seditious conspiracy
3. Serbian police arrest suspect in 2nd mass shooting in 2 days
4. E. Jean Carroll's lawyers rest their case against Trump
5. Report: Thomas' GOP-donor friend paid relative's private-school tuition
6. N.Y. governor calls for 'consequences' after homeless man's death in chokehold
7. N.C. lawmakers approve 12-week abortion ban
8. Biden authorizes sanctions against anyone threatening Sudan stability
9. Biden discusses AI concerns with tech leaders
10. Royal family practices ahead of King Charles' coronation

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 5 May 2023

1. Russian drones attack Kyiv as Moscow accuses U.S. over Kremlin strike

Russian drones attacked Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, on Thursday. Residents who rushed to air raid shelters said the drones struck sooner after the alarms were sounded than usual. Ukrainian forces shot down at least one drone. It was the fourth such assault in as many days. It was not immediately clear how many drones were involved, or how many Ukraine managed to destroy. Moscow on Thursday accused the United States of being behind two drones that hit the Kremlin in what Russia said was an assassination attempt targeting President Vladimir Putin. The U.S. and Kyiv denied responsibility.

A jury on Thursday found four members of the far-right Proud Boys, including former leader Enrique Tarrio, guilty of seditious conspiracy for trying to block certification of President Biden's election victory in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The four — Tarrio, Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean, and Zachary Rehl — also were convicted of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. The jury acquitted another member of the group, Dominic Pezzola, on the seditious conspiracy charge and the jury split on his obstruction charge. Pezzola was caught on video smashing a window with a Capitol Police shield. He confessed on the stand and was convicted of stealing the shield, as well as assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.

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Serbian police on Friday arrested a suspect near Belgrade in connection with the country's second mass shooting in as many days. A gunman firing an automatic weapon from a moving car killed eight people and wounded at least 14 others on Thursday, a day after a seventh-grade student killed nine people at his Belgrade school in the country's worst mass shooting in years. Police arrested the suspect in the Thursday shooting after an overnight manhunt that involved more than 600 police officers. Officers stopped cars at checkpoints and used a helicopter and drones to track down the suspect, a 21-year-old man identified only by the initials U.B. Residents said they locked themselves in their homes while police looked for the gunman.

Writer E. Jean Carroll's attorneys on Thursday rested their case in her rape and defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump on Thursday. Trump told reporters in Ireland the allegations were bogus and that he would travel to New York to "confront" his accuser, who says Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. "I'm going back to New York," Trump said. "I was falsely accused by this woman, I have no idea who she is. It's ridiculous." Trump's lawyers announced they would rest their case without calling any witnesses, but U.S District Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would give Trump until Sunday to ask to reopen the case so he could testify.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' friend and benefactor Harlan Crow, a real estate magnate and Republican donor, paid the boarding school tuition of Thomas' grandnephew, a boy Thomas once said he was raising "as a son," ProPublica reported Thursday in its latest scoop on gifts the justice received from Crow but didn't report. Tuition at the Georgia's Hidden Lake Academy cost more than $6,000 monthly. The Washington Post reported that conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for Thomas' wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work a decade ago. He specified there should be "No mention of Ginni, of course," on the paperwork. Leo said none of Ginni Thomas' work had anything to do with issues before the Supreme Court.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on Thursday said a video showing the death of a homeless man choked by a passenger in a New York City subway car was "horrific," and "there have to be consequences." A coroner on Wednesday ruled the death of Jordan Neely, who was Black, a homicide. Police detained the man who choked him, a former Marine who appeared to be white, but released him. He has not been publicly identified. Witnesses said Neely had been yelling at passengers on a northbound F train in Manhattan before the former Marine and two other men held him down. On Wednesday, hundreds of people demonstrated on a subway platform calling for an arrest.

North Carolina legislators on Thursday approved a ban on most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The Senate voted 29-20 to approve the measure, which the state House approved Wednesday. Republicans have a narrow new supermajority in both chambers, which will be tested after an expected veto by Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat. Cooper released a video on Twitter urging North Carolinians to pressure four Republicans who campaigned on promises to protect reproductive rights, and urge them to vote with Democrats to uphold a veto. North Carolina currently allows abortion up to 20 weeks. The new restrictions would affect women across the South, as many have traveled to North Carolina for abortions as other states increase restrictions.

President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against anyone who threatens "the peace, security, and stability" of Sudan, saying the conflict between rival military factions in the northeast African nation "must end." The army, led by de facto Sudanese leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been fighting for control of the country against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy, Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is known as Hemedti. The conflict has halted a planned transition toward democracy after the two generals worked together to topple a civilian prime minister in 2021. "The violence taking place in Sudan is a tragedy — and it is a betrayal of the Sudanese people's clear demand for civilian government and a transition to democracy," Biden said.

President Biden met Thursday with CEOs of Microsoft, Google-parent Alphabet, and other tech companies to discuss the dangers of artificial intelligence technology. Companies are rushing to introduce apps like ChatGPT and exploring the potential of AI to do everything from making medical diagnoses to writing legal briefs. Biden told the executives that they need to address concerns about the risks AI poses to users and national security, the White House said. The participants in the meeting had a "frank and constructive discussion" about the importance of transparency and evaluating safety, the White House said. "We're surprisingly on the same page on what needs to happen," said Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

Britain's royal family rehearsed Thursday at Westminster Abbey for the crowning ceremony of King Charles and Queen Camilla, scheduled for Saturday. London officials have lined the streets with flags ahead of the coronation and Sunday block parties. The BBC predicts hundreds of thousands of people will crowd into the city to witness the celebration. But forecasters warn the festivities could be dampened by rain, with showers on Saturday and heavier downpours on Friday and Sunday. "Crossing fingers for the weather!" Prince William, King Charles' elder son, told well-wishers during a Thursday visit to the Dog & Duck Pub in Soho with his wife, Kate Middleton.

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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.