1. Alex Murdaugh
Alex Murdaugh, the 54-year-old disgraced South Carolina attorney whose trial garnered national attention, was found guilty Thursday of murdering his wife and son. After more than a month of listening to dozens of witnesses, jurors took less than three hours to convict Murdaugh on all four counts that he was facing – two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in the commission of a violent crime. Murdaugh kept a stony face when the verdicts were read while his only remaining son could be seen wiping tears from his eyes. The verdict came after a six-week trial revealed shocking details involving brutal gore, extensive financial wrongdoing and the defendant’s own lies. Murdaugh is scheduled to be sentenced this morning.
2. Royal eviction
Prince Harry and Meghan have been asked to vacate the residence gifted to them by the late Queen Elizabeth II. “We can confirm The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been requested to vacate their residence at Frogmore Cottage,” their spokesperson told CNN. The statement followed a report in the British newspaper The Sun that claimed the pair were being evicted from the property, which is owned by the Crown Estate, and that it had since been offered to Prince Andrew, one of King Charles III’s brothers. According to The Sun, the couple was reportedly asked to leave the property days after the release of Harry’s memoir “Spare” in January. The book features a litany of rebukes, criticisms and grievances from his time as a senior member of the royal family.
3. Drag show ban
Tennessee has become the first state this year to restrict drag show performances. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law Thursday to limit “adult cabaret performances” on public property so as to shield them from the view of children, threatening violators with a misdemeanor and repeat offenders with a felony. The Tennessee measure is the first of nearly a dozen such bills presently working their way through GOP-led state legislatures. Republicans say the performances expose children to sexual themes and images that are inappropriate – a claim rejected by advocates who say the proposed measures are discriminatory against the LGBTQ community and could violate First Amendment laws. The law is set to go into effect on July 1.
4. Metaverse
Democratic senators are urging Meta not to market its metaverse app to teens between the ages of 13 and 17, arguing the technology could harm young users’ physical and mental health. The lawmakers, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, wrote a letter to company CEO Mark Zuckerberg citing concerns around teen users joining digital communities through the use of virtual reality headsets. “Your plans to imminently pull these young people into an under-researched, potentially dangerous virtual realm with consequences for their physical and mental health is unacceptable,” they wrote. The calls for caution come as social media platforms have faced years of scrutiny over their impact on young users, including their potential to lead teens down harmful rabbit holes.
5. Greece
Protesters are clashing with police in the capital of Athens as new details emerge about the fatal train collision that killed at least 57 people in central Greece on Tuesday. Authorities released audio in which a train driver involved in one of the country’s worst train crashes in recent years was told to ignore a red light. In the wake of the tragedy, a train station master has been charged with mass deaths through negligence and causing grievous bodily harm through negligence. Upon arrest, he blamed the collision on a technical fault, though he later admitted to “making a mistake.” Meanwhile, search and rescue operations at the site of the crash will continue today, officials said, as relatives of those missing await news regarding their loved ones.
Source: edition.cnn.com