India rebukes Modi’s divisive politics. Boeing makes third attempt to launch two astronauts on its space capsule. And two jurors were dismissed in a Minnesota fraud case after an alleged $120,000 bribe.
Here’s what to know today.
India’s PM Modi receives a stunning rebuke at the polls
Until now, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had seemed unstoppable. That all came to an end as votes were counted yesterday, when the supermajority his party cadres had promised never materialized, and his Hindu nationalist party failed to secure even a simple majority on its own. Although his other partners helped push the alliance over the halfway line, with Modi expected to helm the country for a historic third term, that final victory still felt like a defeat.
Perhaps the most telling defeat was in the constituency housing Modi’s flagship campaign promise of the controversial $217 million Hindu temple, which he inaugurated right before the elections kicked off. “It’s rejection of a politics of hate,” said Rajeev Bhargava, director of the Institute of Indian Thought at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. “Ordinary Hindus and Muslims have lived together peacefully and they don’t like divisions being created,” he said.
But the election’s outcome is not cemented yet — parties are known to jump alliances whenever convenient and yesterday, Rahul Gandhi, leader of the biggest opposition party, did not rule out the possibility of making a government. If he succeeds in chipping away enough of them to switch over, Modi’s rule could end after all.
Read more about the factors that contributed to Modi’s shocking rebuke at the polls here.
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Boeing’s third attempt to launch astronauts into space
Boeing will try again this morning to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Starliner capsule for a key test flight that could pave the way for routine flights with NASA. On Saturday, the company had been set to launch NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita Williams to the International Space Station but called it off with less than four minutes to go before liftoff. A first attempt on May 6 was also scuttled.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is prepared to conduct a fourth, uncrewed test flight of its Starship megarocket, with a launch scheduled tomorrow morning. The test flight is meant to demonstrate technologies and techniques that will be key on future missions to the moon. Science reporter Denise Chow lays out the plans for both missions.
Prosecution revisits Hunter Biden’s spending and drug use in trial’s opening statements
The cross-examination of the first witness in the Hunter Biden trial resumes today after a day of opening statements, during which a prosecutor argued that no one, including the president’s son, should be “above the law.” Hunter Biden is charged with three counts tied to possession of a gun while using narcotics. He has pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution and defense yesterday presented dueling stories about how Hunter Biden came to purchase a handgun in 2018. Prosecutor Derek Hines alleged that Hunter Biden was a high-functioning drug addict who “chose to illegally own a firearm.” Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell acknowledged that he “bought a small handgun” but suggested that prosecutors would not be able to prove that he “knowingly violated the law.”
FBI agent Erika Jensen was the prosecution’s first witness. She introduced some evidence, including text messages, bank records and passages from the audiobook version of Hunter Biden’s memoir. Here are more takeaways from Day 2 of the trial.
In a tense moment outside the courtroom, the defendant’s wife confronted former Trump White House aide Garrett Ziegler, who was involved in the effort to make public the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop. “You have no right to be here, you Nazi piece of s—,” Melissa Cohen-Biden told Ziegler.
2 jurors dismissed in fraud case after alleged $120K bribe
Two jurors in a $40 million Minnesota fraud case were replaced as the panel weighs the fate of seven people accused of misusing millions of dollars in federal funds during the pandemic. One juror was allegedly offered a bribe of almost $120,000 in cash over the weekend if the juror agreed to find the defendants not guilty. The juror reported the incident to police.
The second juror was removed yesterday after a family member asked them if they were being sequestered because of the alleged bribe.
The seven people on trial are accused of receiving more than $40 million, which they spent on personal luxuries such as real estate and vehicles, according to a criminal complaint. They are among a total of 70 people charged in a $250 million fraud scheme involving Feeding Our Future, a nonprofit dedicated to providing meals to low-income families in need. Here’s what else to know.
FDA panel declines to recommend MDMA as a new PTSD treatment
The Food and Drug Administration advisory panel declined to recommend the approval of MDMA, the drug commonly known as ecstasy or molly, as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. The decision was a major setback for advocates who have long pushed to include psychedelics in treating mental health disorders, though the FDA will have the final say in August.
The two votes, one for the treatment’s efficacy and one for its safety, reflect a struggle to balance the need for new PTSD treatments — one hasn’t been approved in more than two decades — against serious concerns about the data submitted by drugmaker Lykos Pharmaceuticals. A recent analysis from FDA scientists cast doubt on how the study was conducted. Allegations of sexual misconduct also raised concerns.
Politics in Brief
New Jersey House primary: Rep. Rob Menendez won his primary in a race that was overshadowed by his father’s ongoing corruption trial.
Montana Senate primary: Montana’s marquee Senate race is set, as Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican entrepreneur Tim Sheehy won their primaries.
Trump trial aftermath: Attorneys for Donald Trump asked Judge Juan Merchan to lift a gag order against the former president now that his hush money trial has concluded.
Israel-Hamas war: The House voted to impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court for its move to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials charging them with war crimes.
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Staff Pick: Who invented butter chicken: Kundan or Kundan?
Consider me basic, but butter chicken is one of my favorite Indian dishes. I would even call it India’s brand ambassador. So when I heard that one restaurant chain was suing another over its origins in Delhi, I had to dig in. Both say it was their ancestor named Kundan who invented the rich tomato-based curry. But the question is, which one? When I visited one of the restaurants and spoke with customers there, they didn’t really care who made it, they just wanted the best one.— Mithil Aggarwal, reporter
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
Fruit fly season has arrived. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to bug-proof your space. And if you want to keep your home free of dust and clutter, too, check out these Amazon cleaning gadgets that NBC Select’s editors say are actually worth buying.
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