Fwd: NYT Now: Your Wednesday Briefing

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From: NYTimes.com <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
Date: Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 12:26 PM
Subject: NYT Now: Your Wednesday Briefing
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View in Browser | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. Wednesday, April 8, 2015 Wednesday, April 8, 2015 nytnow.com » Enjoy this newsletter? Get continuous updates on today's most important stories with the NYT Now app for iPhone. Download now. Video shows a police officer in North Charleston, S.C., shooting an apparently unarmed man after a scuffle at a traffic stop.  Reuters Your Wednesday Briefing By ADEEL HASSAN Good morning. Here's what you need to know: • Murder charges for officer in black man's death. A white police officer who shot a black man in South Carolina after a traffic stop has been charged with murder after the review of video recorded by a bystander. The video shows the officer shooting the apparently unarmed man in the back as he tried to run away. The F.B.I. and the Justice Department have begun separate investigations. • Al Qaeda's gains in Yemen. An affiliate of Al Qaeda is making a broad expansion into the increasingly chaotic country, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said today. The U.S. is expediting deliveries of weapons to Saudi Arabia, a sign of deepening involvement in the Saudi-led military effort against Houthi rebels, who receive financial support from Iran. • Elections in the Midwest. Voters in Ferguson, Mo., elected two black candidates to the City Council on Tuesday, but rejected several who had the direct backing of protest activists, in the first local election since a black teenager was shot to death by a white police officer last year. Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, the former White House chief of staff, was easily re-elected Tuesday night in a runoff election. And Wisconsin's bitter political divide was on display in Tuesday's ballot for the State Supreme Court. • Kansas limits abortion method. Anti-abortion groups are hoping today that other states will follow Kansas' lead in restricting or altering the most common technique for second-trimester abortions. Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, signed the legislation, which will most likely face a court challenge. A similar bill appears likely to pass in Oklahoma, and others have been proposed in Missouri, South Carolina and South Dakota. • South Sudan's suffering. The United Nations says that more South Sudanese are seeking shelter at its bases after more than a year of civil war. Peace talks between rival factions collapsed last month. More than seven million people are at risk of hunger and disease there, rivaling in scope the humanitarian emergencies caused by the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. • Storm watch. Large hail, damaging winds and a number of tornadoes are possible in the Midwest today and Thursday, forecasters say. MARKETS • Wall Street stock futures are positive. European markets are mixed. Asian indexes finished higher, with Hong Kong stocks leaping to a seven-year high. • The Federal Reserve releases the minutes of its March meeting today, which may give details about the growth it wants to see before it nudges up interest rates. • The prime minister of Greece is in Moscow today to meet Russia's president, who is trying to use charm and money to assert influence in Europe. • Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to buy the BG Group for almost $70 billion. It would be the first energy supermerger in a decade. NOTEWORTHY • A 10th crown for Connecticut. Connecticut won its 10th N.C.A.A. women's basketball championship in 20 years, with a 63-53 victory over Notre Dame on Tuesday night. • Diet supplement dangers. Popular weight-loss and workout supplements contain a chemical nearly identical to amphetamine, a powerful stimulant, and pose health dangers, a new study says. • Maya Angelou's stamp. It turns out that the quote on the new postage stamp honoring the poet, which we told you about on Tuesday, originated with another writer. • A television landmark. Today is the 25th anniversary of the debut of David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" on ABC. The mystery drama was canceled after its second season but its influence endures. Showtime was planning a revival in 2016, but Mr. Lynch said this week that he would not direct any episodes after a disagreement about the show's budget. • "Nightly News" loses its lead. NBC's "Nightly News," which is without its suspended anchor, Brian Williams, has lost the weekly ratings competition for the first time since 2009. ABC's "World News Tonight" is now No. 1. • Pretend it's spring. It doesn't feel like baseball weather in much of the U.S., but that doesn't matter much if you're watching from home: Red Sox at Phillies, 7:05 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2; Cardinals at Cubs, 8 p.m. Eastern, MLB; Padres at Dodgers, 10 p.m. Eastern, ESPN2. BACK STORY President Obama is heading to Jamaica today for talks with Caribbean leaders. Then he's off to Panama City, where he'll join about three dozen other leaders at the Summit of the Americas. It's a glittering moment for Panama, but 2016 is shaping up to be bigger still. That's when a third set of Panama Canal locks opens, allowing "supermax" container ships to squeeze through the 100-year-old shortcut from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. The expansion is expected to double the volume of goods making the almost 50-mile crossing, with much of the traffic coming from or going to U.S. ports along the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast. Panama wasn't the first choice for a canal. A U.S. Senate resolution favored Nicaragua in 1835, and that's what the American public and government originally wanted. The plan lost out, eventually, but some 19th-century dreams never die. Chinese construction teams have recently begun work on a $50 billion canal across Nicaragua that could be three times the length of Panama's. Your Morning Briefing is published weekdays at 6 a.m. Eastern and updated on the web all morning. What would you like to see here? Contact us at briefing@nytimes.com. Want to get the briefing by email? Here's the sign-up. ADVERTISEMENT FOLLOW NYTNOW @NYTNOW NYT Now app for iPhone Now the news keeps up with you Available on the App Store Get more NYTimes.com newsletters » | Sign Up for the Morning Briefing newsletter » ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's NYT Now newsletter. As a member of the TRUSTe privacy program, we are committed to protecting your privacy. (....)| Privacy Policy | Contact | Advertise Copyright 2015 The New York Times Company | 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018