The widow of Kobe Bryant has published the names of Los Angeles police officers who she said shared graphic photos of the scene of her husband’s death in a helicopter crash last year. Vanessa Bryant is suing the police department for negligence and invasion of privacy. “We will refrain from trying this case in the media” the Los Angeles police chief said in response. Basketball star Bryant died with his daughter and seven others in the crash. On Wednesday Vanessa Bryant, 38, posted on Instagram the names of four police officers.

She says they took graphic pictures of the nine people who died in the crash close to Calabasas, California, in January last year. She alleges that one of the officers shared with a bartender photos of Kobe Bryant’s body and the others distributed “gratuitous photos of the dead children, parents, and coaches”.(BBC)…[+]

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, has said that if Covid vaccine supplies in Europe do not improve, the EU “will reflect whether exports to countries who have higher vaccination rates than us are still proportionate”. Post-Brexit disagreements between the EU and the UK have been heightened by the diplomatic row over the export of the vaccines. The European Council president, Charles Michel, claimed last week that the UK had imposed an “outright ban” on the export of vaccines and their components – there is no ban though, and his claim was dismissed by the government as “completely false”. But Mrs von der Leyen says the EU is still waiting for exports from the UK, and it wants reciprocity.(BBC)…[+]

Brazil is experiencing a historic collapse of its health service as intensive care units in hospitals run out of capacity, its leading health institute, Fiocruz, has warned. Covid-19 units in all but two of Brazil’s 27 states are at or above 80% capacity, according to Fiocruz. In Rio Grande do Sul state there are no intensive care beds available at all. The warning came as the country registered its highest daily death toll yet with 2,841 dying within 24 hours. That figure constitutes a large jump from the previous high of 2,286 on 10 March.(BBC)…[+]

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s party has won the most seats in parliamentary elections, exit polls suggest.This will be Mr Rutte’s centre-right VVD party’s fourth term, despite his government resigning in January over a child welfare fraud scandal. The VVD is projected to win 36 out of 150 seats, while centre-left D66 is predicted to have 27 seats, and far-right PVV is expected to have 17. The final results are due to be announced at 01:00 (00:00 GMT). Meanwhile the centre-right Christian CDA is expected to win 14 seats, Labour (PvdA) nine seats, and green Groenlinks are projected to have eight seats. Turnout was high, at 82.6%. After finding out they were predicted to have the second-highest number of seats, D66’s campaign leader told Dutch broadcaster NOS that the party’s leader Sigrid Kaag jumped on the table with happiness.(BBC)…[+]

French MPs have voted to back a new law that would set the age of consent at 15 and prohibit sex with relatives aged under 18. It is expected to pass in the Senate and will give France an age of consent for sexual relations for the first time. It comes after a series of sexual abuse scandals that shook the country. Supporters say it will make it easier to prosecute both historical and recent cases of sexual abuse. The bill was passed unanimously by politicians in the National Assembly on Monday night. President Emmanuel Macron’s government has said that after final approval in the spring, it wants the bill to come into force quickly. “No adult will be able to take advantage of the consent of a minor,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said on Monday. “We do not touch children,” he added. Currently French law means consent can be accepted as legally meaningful for sexual relations at any age, including in cases of children having sex with adults, or between blood relations.

The US drug company Moderna has begun studying its Covid-19 vaccine in children aged six months to 11 years old. Moderna is the first US manufacturer to test its vaccine on infants. The company plans to enrol some 6,750 children in the US and Canada for the trial. The inoculation of children and young people is seen as critical to achieving the level of herd immunity necessary to halt the pandemic. While the risk of children becoming seriously ill from the virus is smaller than for adults, there is still a risk of transmission – especially among teenagers.

At least 58 people have been killed in Niger after attacks near the border with Mali, the government has said. Gunmen opened fire on four vehicles that were bringing people back from a market in the Tillabéri region.

No group has claimed the attacks, which happened on Monday. However, there are currently two jihadist campaigns in Niger – one in the west near Mali and Burkina Faso, and another in the south-east on the border with Nigeria.

In a statement read out on public television, the Niger government said that “groups of armed, still unidentified individuals intercepted four vehicles carrying passengers back from the weekly market of Banibangou to the villages of Chinedogar and Darey-Daye”. “The toll from these barbarous acts [is] 58 dead, one injured, a number of grain silos and two vehicles burned, and two more vehicles seized,” it added.(BBC)…[+]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party has had its worst-ever election result in two key regional votes seen as tests ahead of September’s general election. The Christian Democrats have historically enjoyed firm support in Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate and had led opinion polls. But early results show a marked drop widely blamed on public anger at the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Mrs Merkel is due to step down in September, after 16 years in office. The CDU’s poor performance is the first major test for Armin Laschet, who was elected party leader in January. The 60-year-old centrist, however, is not guaranteed to be the party’s candidate for chancellor in the election on 26 September. His rival for the role is Markus Söder, leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party the CSU. The party aims to have the matter settled by late May.(BBC)…[+]

Women must feel their complaints about violence are “properly heard”, the PM has said, after concern about how a vigil for Sarah Everard was policed. Boris Johnson said footage of officers forcibly removing a number of women from the event was “distressing”. He added it was “fundamental” that women felt listened to and he was “going to make sure that happens”. Asked if he still had confidence in Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, Mr Johnson said: “Yes I do.” “The reality is that the country is united still in shock and grief about what happened to Sarah Everard and we must do everything we can to find the answers,” Mr Johnson said. “I think the fundamental issue that we have to address as a country, and as a society and as a government is that … women in particular must feel that when they make serious complaints about violence, about assault, that they are properly heard. “We are going to make sure that that happens.” The prime minister’s comments come after criticism that a new policing bill does not go far enough to address violence against women and girls.