Family of Elizabeth Pollard, 64, of Marguerite, Pennsylvania, say she has not been seen since Monday
Authorities fear a grandmother who disappeared while looking for her cat may have been swallowed up by a sinkhole that recently opened up in a western Pennsylvania village.
Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole in Marguerite on Tuesday morning but detected nothing. A second camera lowered into the hole showed what could have been a shoe.
Continue reading...Several climbing-related items which police believe belonged to the trio found, as bad weather will likely delay search efforts until Thursday
Rescue teams looking for three climbers who went missing on New Zealand’s highest mountain have expressed “grave concerns” over the party’s welfare in the rugged terrain, as bad weather hampers search efforts for the second day in a row.
US nationals Kurt Blair, 56, and Carlos Romero, 50, and a Canadian man flew by helicopter on Saturday to a camp on Aoraki Mount Cook with plans to summit the 3,724 metre (12,218 ft) mountain.
Continue reading...Hakeem Jeffries calls for ‘high level of compassion’ towards people in prison after president pardoned son Hunter
The top Democrat in the US House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, has called on Joe Biden to pardon some “working-class Americans” after the president faced criticism for pardoning his son Hunter.
“During his final weeks in office, President Biden should exercise the high level of compassion he has consistently demonstrated throughout his life, including toward his son, and pardon on a case-by-case basis the working-class Americans in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unjustly aggressive prosecutions for nonviolent offenses,” Jeffries said in a statement.
Continue reading...Florida sheriff cites ‘gravity’ of responsibility days after Trump taps him to lead Drug Enforcement Administration
Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Chad Chronister, said on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from consideration.
“Over the past several days, as the gravity of this very important responsibility set in, I’ve concluded that I must respectfully withdraw from consideration,” Chronister, a Florida sheriff, said in a social media post.
Continue reading...Canadian government scrambles to ward off tariffs as prime minister briefs politicians on meeting with Trump
Canada’s federal government has redoubled its efforts to ward off potentially disastrous tariffs from its closest ally, but provincial leaders have hinted at divergent strategies in response to the protectionist threat from president-elect Donald Trump.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, convened a rare, in-person meeting with his political rivals on Tuesday to brief them on a surprise meeting with Trump at his Florida resort over the weekend.
Continue reading...Device inflates before eating and contracts afterwards, simulating the effects of having a meal, say scientists
From weight loss jabs to vibrating pills, the obesity crisis has spawned myriad innovations to help people shed pounds.
Now scientists have overhauled the humble gastric balloon – producing a device that both inflates and deflates to keep it effective for longer.
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Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen in Paris on Saturday with incoming US president Donald Trump set to attend the ceremony marking the resurrection of the Gothic masterpiece five years after a devastating fire.
The Republican confirmed Monday he had accepted an invitation from French president Emmanuel Macron to attend the grand re-opening of the 850-year-old edifice which was nearly lost to flames in April 2019.
Continue reading...Hannah Kobayashi disappeared voluntarily as she sought to ‘step away from modern connectivity’, LA police say
A Hawaii woman who vanished after landing in Los Angeles three weeks ago disappeared voluntarily as she sought to “step away from modern connectivity” and was last seen crossing into Mexico, police said at a news conference.
Hannah Kobayashi, 30, appeared unharmed as she walked alone with her luggage into a tunnel at the San Ysidro crossing about 125 miles (201km) south-east of Los Angeles around noon on 12 November the day after her family reported her missing, LA police said Monday. Authorities made the discovery after reviewing surveillance video from the US Customs and Border Protection late on Sunday.
Continue reading...Lawrence Hecker, 93, is set to receive a life sentence after admitting to attacking boy in church bell tower
Shortly before a jury was supposed to be chosen for his trial on criminal charges of kidnapping and raping a boy in the mid-1970s, the self-acknowledged serial child molester and retired Roman Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker pleaded guilty on Tuesday morning.
The 93-year-old is scheduled to receive a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment on 18 December in New Orleans’s state criminal courthouse, where it has been rare for a Catholic clergyman to be charged – much less convicted – in connection with the church’s decades-old clerical molestation scandal.
Continue reading...The four- and five-month-year-old girls were in a car when it was stolen earlier that day and are now safe
A man was shocked to discover two babies abandoned in a ditch when he went outside to collect a package in front of his Indianapolis home.
Robert Deane had only walked a few steps outside the front door of his home when he noticed two car seats in a ditch. As he got closer to investigate, he found two baby girls who were kidnapped earlier on Monday morning while inside of a stolen vehicle.
Continue reading...Questions have also been raised over reports the embattled former Fox News host mismanaged two veterans groups
Questions continued to dog Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, on Monday following reports he was twice ousted from previous organisations he led over financial mismanagement and improper behavior, with reporters asking him directly if he had an alcohol problem.
Hegseth, 44, who was visiting Capitol Hill to drum up support for his troubled nomination, did not respond when a journalist asked “Do you have an alcohol problem?” as he arrived for a meeting with Republican senators.
Continue reading...Acquisition of Pittsburgh-based steel producer by Japanese company has faced opposition from steelworkers and Biden
Donald Trump said on Monday that he intends to block Japan’s Nippon Steel’s $14.9bn bid to acquire US Steel in a move that will fuel further fears about a global trade war when the Republican returns to the White House next month.
“I am totally against the once great and powerful U.S. Steel being bought by a foreign company, in this case Nippon Steel of Japan” the US president-elect said in a statement on Monday, adding: “Through a series of Tax Incentives and Tariffs, we will make U.S. Steel Strong and Great Again, and it will happen FAST! As President, I will block this deal from happening. Buyer Beware!!!”
Continue reading...People waiting in Tapachula by Guatemala border fear Trump’s election could worsen crisis and spur northward flight
Outside the migration office, Tito subtly pointed out the watchful human smugglers leaning against a wall.
They had already tried to sell their services to Tito, who was on his way to the US but, like everyone else there, found himself stuck in Tapachula, a town in southern Mexico that has become a global way station.
Continue reading...US president remembers ‘stolen men and women and children brought to our shores’ and lauds American investment in country
Joe Biden addressed America’s history of enslavement in a speech on Tuesday at Angola’s National Museum of Slavery, calling it “our nation’s original sin” during a trip in which he also lauded recent US investment in the region.
“We remember the stolen men and women and children who were brought to our shores in chains, subjected to unimaginable cruelty,” Biden said, as the sun set over the water behind him.
Continue reading...State can enforce law against those who harbor or transport a minor across state lines without parental consent
Idaho can enforce a first-of-its-kind “abortion trafficking” law against those who harbor or transport a minor to get an abortion out-of-state without parental consent, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.
But the San Francisco-based 9th US circuit court of appeals in its ruling blocked a part of the law that prohibits “recruiting” a minor to get an abortion.
Continue reading...Biden administration broadens limits on Chinese access to advanced microchip technology, with Donald Trump expected to go even further
The US has announced new export restrictions targeting China’s ability to make advanced semiconductors, drawing swift condemnation from Beijing.
Washington is expanding efforts to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China that can be used in advanced weapons systems and in artificial intelligence.
Continue reading...Christopher Collings was convicted of sexually assaulting nine-year-old in 2007 and leaving her body in sinkhole
Missouri’s governor on Monday denied clemency for Christopher Collings, a death row prisoner facing execution for sexually assaulting and killing a nine-year-old girl and leaving her body in a sinkhole.
Collings, 49, is scheduled to receive a single injection of pentobarbital at 6pm CT on Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, for the 2007 killing of fourth-grader Rowan Ford. It would be the 23rd execution in the US this year and the fourth in Missouri.
Continue reading...Kathaleen McCormick in Delaware rules Musk not entitled to vast sum despite Tesla shareholders voting to reinstate it
A judge ruled on Monday that Tesla chief executive Elon Musk is still not entitled to receive a $56bn compensation package even though shareholders of the electric vehicle company had voted to reinstate it six months ago.
The ruling by the Delaware judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the court of chancery, follows her January decision that called the pay package excessive and rescinded it, surprising investors. The decision cast uncertainty over Musk’s future at the world’s most valuable carmaker. Tesla’s board argued the enormous payment scheme was necessary to keep Musk involved in the company, an argument that the billionaire, already the world’s richest man, echoed.
Continue reading...Investment banker has donated regularly to conservative causes although not always in favor of the president-elect
Donald Trump announced on Monday he has picked investment banker and Republican mega-donor Warren Stephens to serve as ambassador to the UK.
“Warren has always dreamed of serving the United States full time,” wrote Trump in a social media post. “I am thrilled that he will now have that opportunity as the top Diplomat, representing the U.S.A. to one of America’s most cherished and beloved Allies.”
Reuters contributed reporting
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President-elect Donald Trump - as we reported earlier - responded angrily to Joe Biden’s pardon.
But he himself pardoned several allies and friends in own final days in office among the 70 people granted clemency in 2021.
Continue reading...