US: Man found guilty of murdering Indian-origin student

Agencies
June 17, 2018

Washington, Jun 17: A man in the US has been convicted of the first-degree murder of an Indian-origin student after four years of untiring efforts by his family to seek justice, according to a media report.

When Southern Illinois University student Pravin Varughese was found dead in 2014 after being missing for five days, authorities in Carbondale initially declared it as a tragic accident.

Varughese's cause of death at that time was reported as environmental hypothermia, Chicago Tribune reported.

The family of the 19-year-old student from Morton Grove was simply unwilling to accept that.

His relatives pushed for further investigation, had an independent autopsy performed that conflicted with the local coroner's findings and filed suit against Carbondale and its police chief, who was fired soon after.

A 12-person jury on Thursday found Gaege Bethune, a southern Illinois man, guilty of the first-degree murder of Varughese.

"Pravin's day finally came. He can rest in peace now," Pravin's mother, Lovely Varughese said.

During investigations, Bethune, who was 19 at the time, told police that he gave Varughese a ride on the night of February 12, 2014 after a party, and the two drove around while Varughese was allegedly looking to buy cocaine.

Bethune said that at some point he got into a fight with Varughese.

The prosecution said the two had been fighting over money, and alleged Bethune landed several punches to Varughese's head and face that led to Varughese running into the woods, where he later died.

Jurors deliberated for seven hours before returning a verdict, according to WSIL.

They found Bethune guilty of one count of murder that hinged on the state arguing Bethune caused great bodily harm to Varughese and that his death was "a direct and foreseeable consequence," The Southern Illinosian reported.

He was found not guilty on a second murder charge that accused Bethune of robbing the victim, according to the newspaper.

Bethune now faces 20 to 60 years in prison. A sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

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News Network
March 31,2020

Washington, Mar 31: The United States has performed over one million coronavirus tests so far, said President Donald Trump on Monday.

"Today, we reached a historic milestone in our war against coronavirus. Over 1 million Americans have now been tested, more than any other country by far, not even close," Trump said during a press briefing.

US Health Secretary Alex Azar said that approximately 100,000 samples are tested for coronavirus daily.

The number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases within the United States surpassed 150,000 and the death toll has reached 2828, according to Johns Hopkins University. 

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Stockholm, Jan 4: “I’m not the kind of person who celebrates birthdays,” Greta Thunberg said as she turned 17 on Friday, marking the occasion in inimitable style - with a seven-hour hour protest outside the Swedish parliament.

The climate activist braved winter conditions in her native Stockholm to continue the weekly Friday School Strike for the Climate campaign that helped catapult her to international fame.

“I stand here striking from 8am until 3pm as usual ... then I’ll go home,” Thunberg, Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2019, told Reuters.

“I won’t have a birthday cake but we’ll have a dinner.”

It’s been a busy 12 months for Thunberg, who crisscrossed the globe by car, train and boat - but not plane - to demand action on climate change.

“It has been a strange and busy year, but also a great one because I have found something I want to do with my life and what I am doing is having an impact,” she said.

When she was 15, Thunberg began skipping school on Fridays to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament to push her government to curb carbon emissions. Her campaign gave rise to a grassroots movement that has gone global, inspiring millions of people to take action.

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News Network
May 19,2020

Washington, May 19: As the scientists across the world are struggling to develop a vaccine for combating coronavirus, US drugmaker Moderna announced on Monday (local time) that the phase I trial of its Covid-19 vaccine has shown positive early results.

The company is hopeful that it's vaccine could be available to the public as early as January next year. Several firms across the world are in the race to develop a vaccine for the deadly virus which has claimed over 3 lakh lives worldwide.

CNN citing Dr. Tal Zaks, Moderna's chief medical officer reported that "if future studies go well, the company's vaccine could be available to the public as early as January".

"This is absolutely good news and news that we think many have been waiting for for quite some time," Zaks was quoted as saying.

Moderna, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts announced that the vaccine developed neutralising antibodies to the virus at levels reaching or exceeding the levels seen in people who have naturally recovered from Covid-19, reported CNN.

These will be followed by phase 2 trials and phase 3 trials, which Moderna plans to start in July.

President Donald Trump had on Friday said that that the United States will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, under 'Operation Warp Speed', by the end of this year.

"I have very recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine and this data made me feel even more confident that we'll be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020 and we will do the best we can," Trump had said at a press conference at the White House on Friday.

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