Monday, April 26 top stories
It is Monday, April 26. Hope your weekend was good. I got my second vaccine yesterday, so far I feel good. Here are today’s top stories.
The head of the European Union said Americans who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can visit the EU this summer. There are talks between the U.S. and the EU on how to make vaccine certificates acceptable as proof of immunity for visitors. It will be an easier process because the three vaccines widely used in the U.S. are already approved by European medical authorities, including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The Wall Street Journal reported that scientists in the U.S. and China announced that they made embryos that combined human and monkey cells for the first time.
This picture is a macaque monkey embryo and the spots in red are human stem cells.
The WSJ said scientists are creating “chimeras,” which are experimental creations by injecting human cells into mice, rats, pigs, and cows. The scientists’ goals are to eventually be able to grow human organs for transplants, study human illnesses, or to test new drugs.
Scientists said the embryos can’t survive longer than 19 days and that they never intend to create a living chimera. Still, the fact that human cells can survive in animal environments have raised ethical concerns.
A Stanford University bioethicist said “as long as it is an embryo in a dish we are not concerned, but if you actually try to gestate a human-monkey chimera, and bring it to term then the issues get more significant.”
On Friday night in New York City, a 61-year-old Asian man, Yao Pan Ma, was collecting cans when a man suddenly shoved at him and stomped at his head. Ma is in the hospital and was in a coma. The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is investigating to see if Ma was targeted because of his race. They haven’t identified the suspect. CBS News reported that dozens of people marched in Manhattan to show support for him. A GoFundMe set up for Ma and his family brought in about $85,000 in donations.
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President Joe Biden said he formally recognizes the deaths of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire 106 years ago in modern-day Turkey as genocide. Biden issued the statement on Saturday, which is Armenian Remembrance Day.
ABC News explained that starting in 1915, the Ottoman Turks deported around 2 million Christian Armenians and that 1.5 million of them are estimated to have been killed.
ABC News said previous U.S. presidents avoided using the word “genocide” because it would cause problems with the Turkish government, who views the Armenian deaths as a part of bloody clashes during World War I. There is a religious aspect to this because the Ottomans were Muslim while the Armenians were Christian.
After Biden issued his statement, Turkish President Erdogan said they “reject and denounce” Biden’s designation and said it would only open a deep wound.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Department of Justice will open an investigation on the Louisville (KY) Metro Police Department and its patterns and practices to determine if the department has violated the Constitution or federal law.
Three officers with the police department shot and killed Breonna Taylor in a botched raid a little over a year ago. All three officers were fired. One of the officers was indicted for shooting into a neighboring apartment, but none received charges for Taylor’s death.
There were many protests and demands for justice for Breonna Taylor during the Black Lives Matter movement. The AG Garland announced a similar investigation on the Minneapolis Police Department last week, so it is a second DOJ civil rights investigation on a city police department that has been announced in a week.
A private company is now doing a hand recount of more than 2 million ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona. The state Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, ordered the recount based on unfounded concerns of ballot fraud. The company is called Cyber Ninjas. The results may come by mid-May or later. Former President Trump called on the Arizona governor to provide security for the ballot counters. The recount is controversial because of concerns with ballot privacy. There have already been three reviews of the ballots in Maricopa County that showed Biden ahead by over 45,000 votes.
That is all the top news stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asian-man-hospitalized-attack-harlem-new-york-city/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/creation-of-first-human-monkey-embryos-sparks-concern-11619442382