Top eight today

Top eight stories for today including Ukrainian President Voloydymyr Zelenskyy on Monday accused Russian troops of allegedly killing hundreds of civilians in towns and villages outside Kyiv before they withdrew in recent days; The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday in favor of a Brooklyn man whom police tackled and handcuffed after a relative mistook his infant daughter’s diaper rash for sexual abuse; Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson would not have received a hearing if Republicans controlled the Judiciary Committee and more.

National

Graham says the quiet part out loud with warning to Dems on future nominations

Digging an even deeper partisan hole for the Supreme Court appointment process, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Monday that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson would not have received a hearing if Republicans controlled the Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., questions Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. At left is Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and at right is Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Dad arrested over bad case of diaper rash prevails at high court

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday in favor of a Brooklyn man whom police tackled and handcuffed after a relative mistook his infant daughter’s diaper rash for sexual abuse.

(Image by Mylene2401 from Pixabay via Courthouse News)

Regional

Church liability for predator priests fought at top Massachusetts court

The Supreme Court of Massachusetts, the state at the epicenter of a sex abuse scandal that has engulfed the Catholic Church for the past two decades, seemed eager Monday to shred one diocese’s immunity defense against claims from a former altar boy.

Attorney Michael McDonough is pictured here at oral arguments Monday, April 4, 2022, before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He said letting an alleged victim of priestly abuse sue over internal church disciplinary procedures would mean that the court was “trading its judicial robes for those of a pontiff." (Screenshot via Courthouse News)

Judge orders LA sheriff to testify about deputy gangs

A Los Angeles County judge on Monday ordered Sheriff Alex Villanueva to testify under oath on the subject of “deputy secret societies” — rogue gangs of officers — as part of an investigation by the Office of Inspector General.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva comments on the investigation of the shooting of two deputies during a news conference at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles on Sept. 17, 2020. (Damian Dovarganes/AP)

International

Russia accused of civilian massacres outside Kyiv

Ukrainian President Voloydymyr Zelenskyy on Monday accused Russian troops of allegedly killing hundreds of civilians in towns and villages outside Kyiv before they withdrew in recent days.

A woman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on Sunday. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Far-right Orban reelection delivers a big blow to EU

Viktor Orban, the longtime prime minister of Hungary and a pro-Kremlin politician seen as an existential threat to the liberal democratic values of the European Union, won a resounding victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán addresses cheering supporters during an election night rally in Budapest, Hungary, on April 3, 2022. Early partial results in Hungary’s national election are showing a strong lead for the right-wing party of pro-Putin nationalist Orbán as he seeks a fourth consecutive term. (Petr David Josek/AP)

Bolivia tells World Court there’s no basis for Chile’s water claims

Bolivia told the U.N.’s high court on Monday that Chile has “no reasonable basis” to claim access to a cross-border waterway.

Chile and Bolivia argue before the International Court of Justice over rights to the Silala River at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, on April 1, 2022. (Photo courtesy of the International Court of Justice)

New molecule synthesis method could result in faster vaccine responses next pandemic

A team of scientists in Copenhagen have developed a tool they say will accelerate vaccine and other pharmaceutical response to pandemics one million times over, while keeping costs at a minimum.

A new tool speeds up development of vaccines and other pharmaceutical products by more than one million times while minimizing costs, per the scientists who developed it. The method uses soap-like bubbles as nano-containers. With DNA nanotechnology, multiple ingredients can be mixed within the containers. (Photo courtesy of Nikos Hatzakis/University of Copenhagen)