About 75 potential jurors in the case of a former Minneapolis police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Australian woman answered written questions Monday about their own backgrounds and experiences with people of Somali heritage.

Prosecutors and attorneys for Mohamed Noor will use the questionnaires as they start winnowing the jury pool down to 12 jurors and four alternates. Direct questioning of the jurors begins Wednesday.

Noor, 33, is charged in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond in a case that drew international attention, cost the police chief her job and forced major revisions to the Minneapolis Police Department’s policy on body cameras. Damond was killed after she called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home.

President Donald Trump is suggesting he will defer until after 2020 his push for a Republican health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Trump tweeted late Monday that Congress will vote on a GOP plan after the elections, “when Republicans hold the Senate & win back the House.”

Trump’s effort to repeal former President Barack Obama’s health care law narrowly failed in the Senate in 2017. And while Republicans gained Senate seats last fall, there’s no indication that GOP senators want another fight over repealing “Obamacare,” particularly not those up for re-election next year.

New Zealand lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of new gun restrictions during the first stage of a bill they hope to rush into law by the end of next week.

The bill would ban the types of weapons a gunman used to kill 50 people at two mosques last month.

The bill was backed by both liberals and conservatives, with only a single lawmaker from the 120 that sit in Parliament voting against it. The vote was the first of three that lawmakers must pass before the bill becomes law.

Samantha HoangLong can be reached at hoan1058@stthomas.edu.