A woman accused of refusing to wear a face mask in an Uber taxi and then assaulting the driver with pepper spray in San Francisco has been arrested. Malaysia King, 24, is facing charges including violating the city’s health and safety laws, police said. Ms King is one of three passengers captured in dashcam footage, one of whom appears to cough over the driver. Police said that a second suspect, 24-year-old Arna Kimiai, had informed them that she would hand herself in. “We’re glad to hear that Ms Kimiai intends to do the right thing,” said Lt Tracy McCray of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), adding: “We hope it happens promptly.” The SFPD said that Ms King was arrested on Thursday with the assistance of Los Angeles police officers. It said the investigation into the incident on the afternoon of Sunday 7 March was ongoing.

Two brothers involved in the Brussels suicide bombings murdered an elderly man earlier to see what killing was like, according to a Belgian report. Ibrahim El-Bakraoui blew himself up at Zaventem airport in 2016, murdering 11 people. His brother Khalid left another 20 dead at a metro station. The pair told fellow attackers they had shot dead Paul-André Vanderperren, 76, on the street at random, De Morgen newspaper reports.

Vanderperren was murdered in 2014. He was shot while returning home from a cafe in the Jette area of Brussels after watching his football club Anderlecht on TV on a Sunday night. His murder has never been solved. Brussels prosecutors appealed for witnesses in May 2018 to try to determine who killed him but they have told the BBC they closed the case in October 2020. Vanderperren’s widow told De Morgen she was told last year via her lawyers that the Bakraoui brothers had almost certainly been linked to the crime. “I’m still left with plenty of questions but in a way it’s a relief,” she is reported as saying.(BBC)…[+]

President Joe Biden has said he is hopeful that America can “mark independence” from Covid-19 on 4 July if people get vaccinated. In his first primetime address as president, Mr Biden said he would order states to make all adults eligible for vaccinations by 1 May. Current measures prioritise people by age or health condition.

Mr Biden was speaking exactly a year to the day after the outbreak was classified a global pandemic. Half a million Americans have since died – more than the death toll from World War One, World War Two, and the Vietnam War combined. Schools have been closed, businesses shuttered and people kept apart. Last year many Americans were forced to forgo the elaborate parades, fireworks displays and parties that feature in the national holiday on 4 July, which marks independence from Britain. In his speech, President Biden said he did not expect large events to be able to go ahead, but he hoped small groups could meet again. “If we do this together, by 4 July, there is a good chance you, your family and friends can get together in your backyard or in your neighbourhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day,” he said. “After a long, hard year, that will make this Independence Day truly special – where we not only mark our independence as a nation but we begin to mark our independence from this virus.”(BBC)…[+]