A full panel of 12 jurors has now been selected to decide Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, the first for a former American president and a crucial challenge to his bid to regain the Oval Office. Several more alternate jurors still need to be chosen, but the judge overseeing the case indicated that opening statements could begin on Monday.
The dozen New Yorkers who were sworn in today by Justice Juan Merchan will, at the end of a six-week trial, be asked to render a verdict that could help shape the remainder of the 2024 campaign. Trump is facing 34 felony charges and up to four years in prison, in what might be his only criminal trial before Election Day.
Those stakes caused some drama today. Two jurors were excused from the case: Prosecutors had raised questions about the credibility of answers given by one; the other said she had developed concerns about her identity becoming public, which she feared would compromise her fairness.
The dismissals appeared to rankle the judge, Juan Merchan, who wants to keep the proceedings on schedule. He instructed reporters to no longer divulge prospective jurors’ employers, a decision that some media law experts questioned. He also said he would consider next week whether Trump had repeatedly violated his gag order, as prosecutors said.
The U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran
President Biden today announced sanctions aimed at disrupting Iran’s ability to produce the kind of drones that it used to attack Israel, imposing financial restrictions on companies involved. The American sanctions will also try to block lucrative exports by Iran’s steel industry, officials said.
Britain also announced news sanctions and the European Union planned to follow suit. Several Western leaders have been looking for ways to punish Iran while urging Israel not to retaliate in a way that could inflame a wider war. My colleagues reported last night that the U.S. was caught off guard when Israel killed several senior Iranian commanders in an airstrike in Syria.
In other news from the Middle East, Qatar is now questioning its role as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas.
Biden sees Chinese exports as a threat to his agenda
President Biden is weighing new and higher tariffs on Chinese technologies that his administration considers threatening to nascent yet crucial American industries like electric-vehicle production and solar-panel manufacturing.
The president yesterday called for higher tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. But unions, manufacturing groups and some economists say the administration may need to do much more to ensure that the U.S.’s vast industrial investments are not swamped by lower-cost Chinese versions of the same emerging technologies.
In related news, the U.S. will give Micron up to $6.1 billion to build semiconductor plants in New York and Idaho.
Millions will miss HPV shots after a production issue
The drugmaker Merck said it would not be able to deliver millions of doses of the HPV vaccine that it had been contracted to provide to low- and middle-income countries this year. It cited “a manufacturing disruption.” More than 10 million girls, mostly in Africa, will not receive their shots, and about 1.5 million of them will most likely never receive them because they will soon be too old to qualify.
The delay is a big setback for countries that had already waited years to begin vaccinating girls against a virus that causes an estimated 90 percent of cervical cancers.
Michael Douglas enjoyed being Benjamin Franklin
For eight months of filming in France, Michael Douglas donned 18th-century formal wear and oozed charm to portray the most worldly of America’s founders, Benjamin Franklin. The new series, now on Apple TV+, covers Franklin’s time persuading the monarchy of Louis XVI to bankroll a nascent American republic.
Douglas, 79, called it “the best production that I have ever been involved with.”
He also found it educational: Until the show, he said, he did not realize how significant a role the French played in U.S. independence.
Keith Haring’s legacy is not at a museum
Almost everyone is familiar with the artwork of Keith Haring — those unmistakable pulsating lines — even if they couldn’t name him. And yet, 34 years after his death, the most likely place you’ll encounter his art now is not the museum, but the mall.
Haring, whom Andy Warhol described as “an advertising agency unto himself,” took from graffiti the goal of maximum exposure. “My contribution to the world is my ability to draw,” Haring once wrote. “I will draw as much as I can for as many people for as long as I can.”
A world record attempt in Times Square
Tunde Onakoya, a Nigerian chess master, is playing nonstop in New York City’s Times Square. His plan: to play through the night and nearly all of tomorrow to break the Guinness world record for the longest chess marathon, which currently stands at 56 hours.
Onakoya is streaming the attempt online and asking viewers to donate to Gift of Chess and Chess in Slums Africa, organizations that aim to use the game to lift children out of poverty.
Have a persistent evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
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