World
Prosecutors urge rejection of ex-cop's bid to dismiss civil rights conviction in George Floyd murder
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal prosecutors urged a judge Friday to reject former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin’s attempt to overturn his civil rights conviction in the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
Chauvin filed his motion in federal court in November, saying new evidence shows that he didn’t cause Floyd’s death, and alleging ineffective counsel by his defense lawyer. He said he never would have pleaded guilty to the charge in 2021 if his attorney had told him about the idea of two doctors, who weren’t involved in the case, who theorized that Floyd did not die from Chauvin’s actions, but from complications of a rare tumor.
Floyd, who was Black, died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, kneeled on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes on the street outside a convenience store where Floyd tried to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death touched off protests worldwide, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.
Chauvin asked U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson, who presided over the federal case, to throw out his conviction and order a new trial, or at least an evidentiary hearing. Chauvin filed the motion from prison without a lawyer.
In a response filed Friday, lawyers from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division urged Magnuson to deny the request without a hearing.
They pointed out that Chauvin knowingly and voluntarily waived his appeal rights when he changed his plea to guilty. And they said he failed to show that his attorney’s performance was deficient, even if the outside doctors had contacted him and even if the attorney did not tell Chauvin. They said the evidence proved that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death.
“The claims Defendant argues that counsel failed to raise are baseless, and counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to raise baseless claims,” they wrote.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Chauvin’s appeal of his state murder conviction in November, a few days after Chauvin filed his motion to overturn his federal conviction. He is recovering from being stabbed 22 times by a fellow inmate at the federal prison in Tucson, Arizona, in late November. He is serving his 20-year federal civil rights and 22 1/2-year state murder sentences concurrently.
Hungarian parliament passes amendment that would remove President Sulyok, appointed under ex-Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Published On 14 Jul 2026
Hungary’s parliament has approved a constitutional amendment to remove President Tamas Sulyok from his largely ceremonial position, the latest move to dismantle the power of figures associated with former Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The measure, passed on Monday with 139 votes in favour and only six opposing, would immediately bring an end to Sulyok’s term in office and pave the way for parliament to elect a new president.
list of 3 itemsend of listRecommended Stories
Hungarians voted out the right-wing nationalist Orban in April, with new Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s Tisza Party winning in a landslide. The election result ended 16 years of power for Orban’s Fidesz party, which had come to dominate many aspects of the country.
Since Magyar’s victory, he has sought to erode that power, including by removing the current president. The constitutional amendment also introduces a series of judicial reforms, creates a body to investigate alleged financial abuses under the previous government, and imposes a 12-year term limit on lawmakers.
Sulyok now has five days to sign the constitutional amendment passed by parliament. Magyar has said that parliament will launch an impeachment procedure against Sulyok if he does not sign it.
The president and other members of Fidesz boycotted Monday’s parliamentary session.
Sweeping away the old order
The parliament elected Sulyok, a former chief of the Constitutional Court of Hungary, in February 2024. He was nominated to replace Katalin Novak, who resigned after pardoning a man convicted of covering up child sexual abuse.
But days after Magyar’s centre-right Tisza Party won a two-thirds parliamentary super-majority in April, the new prime minister declared Sulyok “unworthy to embody the unity of the Hungarian nation” and demanded that he leave office once the new government was formed.
In June, after the deadline to resign had passed, Magyar branded the president a “puppet” of Orban and promised to strip him and other holdovers from office by constitutional means. Weeks later, he unveiled a reform programme, dubbed “Operation Cleansing Fire”, which seeks to install a new constitution, purge state institutions and establish an anticorruption office.
While the presidency is a largely symbolic post, it is empowered to approve laws and can refer them to the Constitutional Court for review, raising fears that Sulyok might use his presidential powers to stymie Tisza’s ambitious reform agenda.
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The United Kingdom on Monday blamed an Iran-linked proxy group for a string of antisemitic arson attacks targeting British Jewish sites, prompting the government to ban Tehran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and impose sweeping new powers to crack down on foreign-backed sabotage.
British officials said the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right (IMCR) publicly claimed responsibility for seven attacks this year targeting Jewish and Israeli-linked locations, as well as a Persian-language media outlet critical of Iran’s government. According to the U.K. government, members of the IRGC’s elite Qods Force were “almost certainly” directing the group’s operations across Europe.
The attacks included fires at synagogues, Jewish charity ambulances and other Jewish community sites in London. No injuries were reported.
DESANTIS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO USE NEW STATE LAW TO TARGET DOZENS OF ALLEGED TERRORIST GROUPS
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts a reception with the Jewish community to discuss efforts to tackle antisemitism, at Downing Street, in London, July 13, 2026. (Reuters/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool)
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the new measures send a clear message to foreign adversaries seeking to sow violence.
“We will never let Britain be a playground for states who want to spread fear, division and violence on our streets,” Starmer said. “Anyone acting on behalf of those who threaten our national security should be in no doubt that there is no place for you in Britain.”
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer discusses efforts to tackle antisemitism at Downing Street in London, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Suzanne Plunkett/Pool Photo via AP)
If Parliament approves the designations later this week, anyone carrying out acts of sabotage — including arson — on behalf of the IRGC, IMCR or Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps could face life imprisonment. Supporting or assisting the groups could carry prison sentences of up to 14 years.
The British government said the new authorities, created under the National Security (State Threats) Act 2026, will make it easier for prosecutors to secure convictions because they will no longer have to prove a direct foreign government connection in every case.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood accused both Tehran and Moscow of relying on criminal proxies to conduct hostile operations inside the United Kingdom.
“Iran and Russia are using proxies and thugs to do their dirty work on our shores,” Mahmood said. “I have rapidly designated three groups so those working for them will be tracked down and put behind bars.”
ISRAEL FORTIFIES BORDER WITH JORDAN AS IRAN SEEKS NEW TERROR PATH
The government said IMCR emerged online earlier this year and has also claimed responsibility for attacks on synagogues in Belgium and the Netherlands. British intelligence officials say Iran-backed proxy groups have increasingly recruited members of criminal organizations to carry out sabotage, intimidation and physical attacks across Europe, often targeting Jewish communities and Iranian dissidents.
Charred remains of ambulances belonging to Hatzola, a Jewish community organization, which were set on fire in an incident that the police say is being treated as an antisemitic hate crime, in London, March 23, 2026. (Hannah McKay/Reuters)
According to the U.K., MI5 identified at least 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots against individuals in Britain over the past year. The government has already sanctioned more than 550 Iranian-linked individuals and entities and has pledged £250 million ($334,662,500) over three years to strengthen security for Jewish communities, including increased protection for synagogues, schools and community centers.
Britain also designated Russia’s GRU Volunteer Corps, saying the group acts as a proxy for Russian military intelligence by recruiting individuals online to conduct sabotage, arson and other hostile operations.
The crackdown comes just weeks after two Romanian men were sentenced to prison for stabbing a journalist working for a Persian-language television station in London, an attack a British judge said was carried out on behalf of the Iranian state.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Iran did not immediately comment on Monday’s announcement, according to The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
-
Technology6 minutes agoWhy careful people still end up on data broker sites
-
Business12 minutes agoNetflix to add videos from digital publishers to its homepage
-
Entertainment18 minutes agoTom Segura and Christina Pazsitzky split after 18 years of marriage
-
Lifestyle24 minutes agoLike ‘rotten flesh’? Thousands rush to whiff double corpse flower at Huntington
-
Politics30 minutes agoPreliminary report reveals cause of death for Sen. Lindsey Graham
-
Sports42 minutes agoLife after LeBron: Austin Reaves embracing new role on new-look Lakers roster
-
World54 minutes agoHungary’s parliament votes to oust president in latest anti-Orban move
-
News1 hour agoA guard punched him on camera. It was still nearly impossible for him to sue
