Central American country says its president spoke with Pete Hegseth to confirm terms of cooperation
Guatemala has requested US military cooperation spanning access to equipment, training and experts to assist Guatemalan operations against drug trafficking, the country’s president, Bernardo Arévalo, said on Thursday.
The joint plans stopped short of US military operations on Guatemalan soil and fall within existing bilateral agreements, the government noted.
Continue reading...Canada prime minister urges greater economic cooperation between the two countries in speech delivered in New York
Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney has called for a new relationship with the United States to “help make America great again”.
In a speech delivered in New York on Thursday, Carney said that there should be a “true partnership” that reimagines cooperation in specific sectors challenged by global competition.
Continue reading...White House made lengthy post about gorilla shot dead at Cincinnati zoo after a toddler entered his enclosure in 2016
The White House has posted on social media a tribute to mark Thursday’s 10th anniversary of the death of a figure it called “a true patriot”.
The hero was not a human, however; it concerned the infamous case of the 400lb western lowland gorilla that had been named Harambe, which was shot dead at the Cincinnati zoo after a toddler entered his enclosure and interacted with the animal.
Continue reading...States with abortion bans are turning away from medications to a wait-and-see approach, with care falling below standards
Abortion restrictions in the US have made it more difficult to access care for miscarriages, a new study stays.
The new research found that since the June 2022 Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v Wade, pregnancy care has fractured along state lines; it’s getting increasingly harder to access healthcare for miscarriages in US states with abortion restrictions.
Continue reading...Rare albino buffalo spared due to security concerns over unusual level of public interest in 700kg animal
A rare albino buffalo in Bangladesh nicknamed “Donald Trump” for its distinctive blond tuft has been spared from Eid al-Adha sacrifice after a last-minute government intervention, according to a home ministry official.
The nearly 700kg (1,543lb) animal had already been sold for ritual slaughter when authorities stepped in, citing security concerns after a surge of public interest before Thursday’s festival.
Continue reading...President makes comments after reports Iran and Oman have discussed jointly charging a toll for ships. Plus, how ‘balcony solar’ could help fight rising energy costs
Good morning.
In a casual aside during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Donald Trump threatened to “blow up” Oman, a US ally, if it failed to “behave” over the reopening the strait of Hormuz.
What is the latest on a deal to end the war? Negotiations are continuing but the US earlier this week struck Iranian targets, reportedly killing four members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which prompted an apparent Iranian retaliatory attack on an American airbase in Kuwait.
What is happening inside Iran? Internet restrictions were partially lifted this week, revealing increasing anger from Iranians over rapid food price inflation.
What is the humanitarian toll of the war? More than 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced in the latest round of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, which began in March. At least 3,213 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start of the war, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The office of Israel’s prime minister reported that 23 Israeli soldiers and a defence contractor had been killed in or near southern Lebanon, and two civilians had been killed in northern Israel.
What is life like inside Israel’s “yellow line”? The Guardian’s William Christou, in Kfarchouba, Lebanon, spoke to the villagers living in fear of nightly raids and daytime bombings from the Israeli military occupying their land.
Continue reading...US president tells cabinet Tehran is delaying in hope of better terms after November congressional elections
Donald Trump has accused Iran of trying to stall on making a peace agreement by running down the clock before November’s US midterm elections in the hope of getting better terms.
“They thought they were going to out-wait me, you know, ‘We’ll out wait him, he’s got the midterms,” the US president told a meeting of his cabinet at the White House on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Igor Lytvynchuk is scheduled to appear in court on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal
The lawyer for a tourist accused of hurling a rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal says his client was trying to protect sea turtles and has since been assaulted, threatened and doxed.
Igor Lytvynchuk, 38, of Covington, Washington, is scheduled to appear in court in Honolulu on Wednesday on charges of harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal.
Continue reading...Authorities say no hope for survivors after tank containing a chemical solution ruptured and killed one person
Crews were set to resume searching on Wednesday for nine workers at a Washington state paper mill where a tank imploded, but authorities said there was no hope of finding any more survivors.
One person was confirmed dead and nine people were reported injured on Tuesday after a tank at Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co in Longview imploded, releasing a highly destructive chemical mixture called “white liquor”. But nine other workers remained missing.
Continue reading...The Park Slope Food Coop boycott vote follows tensions and rifts among members and larger community
Members of a storied food co-operative in Brooklyn have voted to boycott about a dozen products from Israel and Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine – capping years of contentious debate over a conflict half a world away that has threatened to rip apart a landmark institution for liberal New Yorkers.
The Park Slope Food Coop vote, which took place Tuesday night during a three-hour virtual meeting attended by about 7,000 of the co-operative’s 17,000 members, follows months of dueling campaigning that one local rabbi opposed to the boycott described as a “proxy war”. The boycott is supposed to impact some brands of tahini, peppers and persimmons as well as other products. Sixty-seven percent of participants voted in favor of the boycott.
Continue reading...Nearly 200 people killed in Trump administration’s deadly campaign as strikes draw widespread condemnation
The US military launched another strike Tuesday on a vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one man and leaving two survivors.
Video posted on social media by US Southern Command shows a boat speeding through water before exploding into flames. Southern Command said it “immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivors”.
Continue reading...Race had wide implications for Trump’s strength heading into midterms, where Paxton will face Democratic candidate James Talarico
Ken Paxton, the Donald Trump-backed Texas attorney general, triumphed over incumbent John Cornyn in the Republican primary runoff for senator. His victory signals that even a scandal-plagued candidate can win over the deep red state with the support of the president.
“After a public service career lasting more than four decades and 18 consecutive campaign wins, tonight we’ve come up short in this primary runoff,” Cornyn said shortly after the race was called. “I’ve always supported the GOP ticket. I intend to do so again this general election.”
Continue reading...Tehran condemns ‘definitive violation’ but announces no specific reprisals as negotiations near decisive stage
A proposed peace agreement between Iran and the US seemed to remain on the table on Tuesday despite US bombings of Iranian targets.
The Iranian foreign ministry denounced the US attack – aimed at missile launchers and efforts to lay fresh mines in the strait of Hormuz – as “an act of bad faith” and “a definitive violation of the ceasefire” and said it would not leave aggression unanswered. But it did not pull out of the talks that were continuing under the joint mediation of Pakistan and Qatar.
Continue reading...Panel of three judges says congressional map was drawn to intentionally discriminate against Black voters
Alabama cannot use a new Republican-friendly map in this year’s midterm elections because it was drawn to intentionally discriminate against Black voters, a panel of three federal judges ruled on Tuesday.
The decision blocks Alabama from using a congressional map lawmakers passed in 2023 but never went into effect because the same court found it was drawn with intent to discriminate. Alabama was eventually ordered to adopt a map with two majority-Black districts that both elected Democrats. After the US supreme court gutted a major provision of the Voting Rights Act in a case called Louisiana v Callais in April, Alabama took the extraordinary step of moving its imminent congressional primary and sought to use the 2023 congressional map this year.
Continue reading...Kentucky conservative says ‘I haven’t made a final decision about which office to seek, if I run’
Thomas Massie is planning his comeback.
The conservative Kentucky congressman filed to run again for the US House of Representatives in 2028, less than a week after losing to Donald Trump’s hand-picked challenger Ed Gallrein 55-45 in a bruising primary.
Continue reading...Police responded to reports of gunfire at store in town of Scottsbluff, and found the culprit to be a dog
Police responding to reports of a shotgun blast at a convenience store sounds like the opening of countless American crime movies, but when cops in Nebraska responded to a recent such call they found an unusual culprit: a dog.
Local TV station KNOP News 2 reported that police in the town of Scottsbluff were called out to a local store recently after reports of a blast involving a shotgun.
Continue reading...One of the last stars of the bebop generation, Rollins was an genius of melodic invention and improvisation, working with Davis, Monk, Coltrane and others
Sonny Rollins, one of the greatest jazz saxophonists of all time, has died aged 95.
His death was announced on his website on Monday, “with deep sorrow and profound love”. His publicist Terri Hinte also confirmed the news.
Continue reading...Fifa approached Mexico after US declined to host Iran squad despite it playing group games in the United States
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, said on Monday her government agreed to allow the Iranian national football team to stay in Mexico during the World Cup, adding that the US did not want to host the team.
The team will still play its group stage matches in the US but its base has been moved to Tijuana, Mexico, just south of San Diego, California, a move that Iran’s football federation announced recently and that was formally confirmed by Fifa, the sport’s governing body, on Monday.
Continue reading...US officials credit overnight cooling and monitoring for stabilising tank after leak fears triggered mass evacuation
Firefighters contending with an overheating tank of hazardous chemicals in southern California said they had eliminated the threat of the tank exploding in an overnight operation, Orange county fire officials said on Monday.
The damaged chemical tank in southern California had cracked over the weekend, which authorities were hopeful would relieve pressure and reduce the risk of an explosion.
Continue reading...Protesters say agents used pepper spray and batons in clash outside Delaney Hall where a hunger strike is under way
Protesters outside a New Jersey migrant detention center where a hunger strike is under way alleged that US immigration agents deployed pepper spray and batons against them during a demonstration on Monday.
The protesters tried to stop ICE from transferring Martin Soto – who announced the strike – but officials said that they were able to move him to the Elizabeth contract detention facility.
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