News Wrap: Drugmakers seek regulatory approval for new COVID vaccine

Read the Full Transcript

• Judy Woodruff:

  In the day's other news: New warnings surfaced about potential causes and effects of climate change.

  The U.N. Environment Program projected intense wildfires could increase 50 percent by the end of the century. And the International Energy Agency said energy sector emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas, are 70 percent higher than governments claim.

  We will examine both reports after the news summary.

  A new tropical cyclone battered storm-ravaged Madagascar today. It blasted the southern coast of the island nation in the Indian Ocean in the early morning hours, with winds gusting nearly 120 miles an hour. Initial reports indicated extensive damage. Madagascar is still recovering from three other powerful storms in the last month that killed nearly 200 people.

  Drug makers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline will seek U.S. and European approval for a new COVID vaccine. They say two doses proved 75 percent effective at preventing moderate to severe sickness.

  Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revoked emergency police powers today, now that trucker protests over COVID restrictions have ended.

  A jury in Louisville, Kentucky, has begun hearing the only criminal case stemming from Breonna Taylor's fatal shooting by police. Former Officer Brett Hankison fired 10 shots, but none hit Taylor. Instead, he's accused of endangering neighbors when bullets tore into their apartment.

  Today's opening statements offered sharply different takes on Hankison's actions.

• Barbara Whaley, Kentucky Assistant Attorney General:

  You will hear that the defendant claimed that he saw into the doorway, the front door, and he claimed that he saw a shooter in there with an AR rifle. You will learn that there was no AR rifle in apartment four. There was one pistol, a Glock 43X .9-millimeter.

• Stewart Matthews, Attorney For Brett Hankison:

  He was attempting to defend and save the lives of his brother officers, who he thought were still caught in what they call the fatal funnel in that doorway.

  Brett Hankison was justified in what he did. And everything he did on that scene out there before during and after the shooting occurred was logical, was reasonable, was justified, and made total sense.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Police burst into Breonna Taylor's apartment on a no-knock narcotics search in March of 2020. Her boyfriend opened fire, thinking they were intruders, and two officers shot back, killing Taylor. The city paid $12 million in a civil settlement.

  New government data shows deaths of pregnant women in the U.S. rose during the pandemic's first year. The decades-long trend might have worsened as women delayed health care due to COVID. The National Center for Health Statistics Reports that the death rate for pregnant Black women was nearly triple that of whites.

  A pair of prosecutors investigating former President Trump and his business dealings resigned today in New York. The Manhattan district attorney's office confirmed it. The New York Times reported that they quit because their boss, the new DA, questioned pursuing a case against Mr. Trump. The prosecutors have already brought tax fraud charges against the Trump Organization.

  The U.S. Justice Department has discontinued its so-called China initiative. A top official said today that efforts to fight Chinese cyber-crime will no longer be grouped under that name. Opponents claimed that the Trump era initiative unfairly targeted Chinese academics in the U.S. and fostered anti-Asian bias.

  And on Wall Street, stocks retreated again on fears that a Russian attack on Ukraine is imminent. Major indexes slumped 1 to 2.5 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 464 points to close at 33131. The Nasdaq fell 344 points. The S&P 500 fell 79.

Improved audio player available on our mobile page