THE FORCE IS STRONG IN JAPAN
2 POLICE SHOOTING CASES GO TO TRIAL THIS WEEK
Court trials are underway this week for two white police officers accused of murdering black motorists during separate traffic stops in 2015 — videotaped incidents that have helped fuel a firestorm of racial tension across the USA.
Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of Michael Slager, 34, who is charged with a state murder count in the April 2015 shooting death of Walter Scott, 50, in North Charleston, S.C.
Slager, a former North Charleston police officer, also faces three charges, including a civil rights violation, in federal court.
Meanwhile, former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing, 26, is expected to testify in his own defense at his murder trial. Tensing is charged with murder in the shooting death of Sam DuBose, 43, during a July 2015 traffic stop in a Cincinnati neighborhood near the UC campus. — Mark Nichols
MORNINGS PROVE DEADLIEST FOR DROWSY DRIVERS
Drowsy driving-related roadway fatalities spike in the early morning hours, with 6 to 7 marking the deadliest span, according to a study by Sleep-Junkie, a web- site focused on improving sleeping habits.
The hours just before and after — 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. — were the second and third most fatal times, according to the report, which used National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.
The revelation dispels the myth that the sleepy-driver threat peaks in the nighttime hours, said Sleep-Junkie project manager Carly Johnson.
— Ryan W. Miller
MOSUL BATTLE INTENSIFIES AS SHIITE MILITIAS JOIN FRAY
Thousands of Shiite militia members joined Iraqi and Kurdish forces Sunday in the unrelenting military march on Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and site of what could be the Islamic State’s last territorial stand in the country.
Mosul is a Sunni city, adding to the complicated nature of war in the battle-scarred, Shiite-majority nation.
Kurdish peshmerga forces said Sunday they had cleared six villages north and east of Mosul and had taken control of several major roads and landmarks.
From the south and west, gun trucks and humvees flying the banners of Shiite militias along with Iraqi flags filled the highways, Reuters reported.
— John Bacon