Restoration projects awarded grants to convert defunct bogs to bring environmental benefits and restore wildlife
As millions of cranberries were being harvested for Thursday’s US Thanksgiving holiday, Massachusetts farmers were working to convert defunct cranberry bogs to back to wild wetlands, amid climate crisis woes.
Several restoration projects were awarded $6m in grants to carry out such initiatives, state officials announced this week.
Continue reading...London-listed company strikes deal with Fortress Investment Group, although shareholder approval needed
The cafe bar business Loungers has agreed to be bought by a US investment group in a deal that values it at about £338m.
Fortress Investment Group said it had made an offer for the UK hospitality group through a newly formed investment vehicle.
Continue reading...Deputy PM says ‘we need to be smart, strong and united’ after meeting on threat by US president-elect of a blanket 25% tax on imports from Canada
Canada’s federal government and the premiers of the 10 provinces have agreed to work together against a threat by US president-elect Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports, with one official saying the country was already examining possible retaliatory measures.
“We agreed that we need to be smart, strong and united in meeting this challenge,” deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters on Wednesday after a virtual meeting with the premiers called by the prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
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Leavitt wrote that the threats transpired Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and included bomb threats and swatting, which refers to false reports of a crime to prompt police raids on a person’s home.
Law enforcement “acted quickly,” wrote Leavitt, adding that “President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
Leavitt did not say who specifically was targeted.
Son of Vietnamese refugees beats Michelle Steel in seat drawn to give Asian Americans stronger voice in capital
Democrat Derek Tran ousted Republican Michelle Steel in a southern California House district Wednesday that was specifically drawn to give Asian Americans a stronger voice on Capitol Hill.
Steel said in a statement: “Like all journeys, this one is ending for a new one to begin.” When she captured the seat in 2020, Steel joined Washington state Democrat Marilyn Strickland and California Republican Young Kim as the first Korean American women elected to Congress.
Continue reading...Operation Orion, a cooperative operation between 62 countries, finds some of the record haul on a new drug route being used by a ‘narco submarine’
Colombian authorities working with dozens of other countries have seized 225 tonnes of cocaine in the space of six weeks, a global record for any single anti-narcotics operation, finding some of that haul on a “narco submarine” travelling on a new drug trafficking route to Australia.
In the six-week Operation Orion, law enforcement agencies and other organisations from 62 countries halted six semi-submersible vessels stuffed with cocaine and confiscated 1,400 tonnes of drugs in total, including more than 1,000 tonnes of marijuana.
Continue reading...Mike Rounds submitted bill that needs supermajority to pass, unlikely even in GOP-controlled Senate next year
A bill that would accomplish Donald Trump’s goal of abolishing the federal Department of Education has been introduced into the US Senate.
The Republican senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota introduced the bill, called the Returning Education to Our States Act, on Thursday. If passed, the bill would see $200bn in funding and the work of the education department redistributed to other federal agencies and states.
Continue reading...Retired US army general and former Pence aide tapped for newly conceived role to negotiate amid ongoing war
Donald Trump has picked Keith Kellogg to serve as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, a newly conceived role given the ongoing war between the two countries.
Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired US army lieutenant general, would start in the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its third year.
Continue reading...Top campaign staff also under fire for saying party has to ‘dominate the moderate’ in Pod Save America appearance
Some Democratic figures have accused Kamala Harris’s campaign of being self-congratulatory after a series of recent public appearances from the candidate and her senior staff in which they declined to admit making any errors that could have contributed to her defeat.
Some of the criticism was aimed at Harris herself, following a video call to thank campaign donors in which the vice-president expressed pride in her failed race for the White House.
Continue reading...Despite 2015 settlement and consent decree, judge says conditions have worsened over the last decade
A federal judge found New York City in contempt on Wednesday over conditions in its city jails, saying things have only worsened in the nine years since the city settled accusations of abuse and violence.
The judge, Laura Taylor Swain, in Manhattan issued a written ruling finding the city in contempt over 18 separate contempt claims.
Continue reading...Joe Biden may have revived diplomatic efforts, but after compromising in Lebanon, Netanyahu has even less leeway in Gaza
Joe Biden has revived diplomatic efforts to achieve a truce in Gaza with the hope of building on momentum generated by the newly agreed ceasefire in Lebanon.
There are doubts, however, that such momentum exists outside the Biden administration, which is anxious to use its last few weeks to salvage scraps of diplomatic honour after the bloody past 14 months in the Middle East.
Continue reading...Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung freed after Biden administration forges rare agreement with Beijing
Three American citizens imprisoned for years by China have been released in a prisoner swap, the White House has said, announcing a rare diplomatic agreement with Beijing in the final months of the Biden administration.
The three are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, all of whom had been designated by the US government as wrongfully detained. Swidan had been facing a death sentence on drug charges while Li and Leung were imprisoned on espionage charges.
Continue reading...Intelligence agency has been trying to entice Russians disaffected by invasion of Ukraine but president-elect is likely to want to make an ally of Kremlin
For the past three years, the CIA has run an unusually bold outreach programme. It targeted Russians within the country’s government and security services, attempting to turn them into double agents.
Slickly produced recruitment videos portrayed cooperation with the US secret agency as the patriotic choice for officials disaffected with Vladimir Putin’s regime and the war in Ukraine. The videos ended with instructions on how to contact the CIA in a secure manner.
Continue reading...Lawyers for the disgraced movie mogul prepare lawsuit accusing Rikers Island jail of negligence and failing to provide adequate medical treatment
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers have filed a legal claim against New York City alleging he is receiving substandard medical treatment in unhygienic conditions while in custody at the Rikers Island jail complex.
The notice of claim – the first step in filing a lawsuit against the city – accuses the facility of failing to manage the former movie mogul’s medical conditions, which include chronic myeloid leukemia and diabetes, and negligence ranging from “freezing” conditions to a lack of clean clothes.
Continue reading...Picking Jay Bhattacharya to lead NIH signals return to controversial and scientifically questionable health policies
Jay Bhattacharya, an unofficial Covid adviser in Trump’s first administration, has been selected as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the leading biomedical research institutions in the world.
The choice of Bhattacharya, a Stanford economist whose proposal for widespread Covid-19 infection was backed by the White House, signals a return to controversial and scientifically questionable health policies in the second Trump administration, experts say.
Continue reading...Revelation emerges at hearing for Anthony Odiong, 55, charged with several counts and held in Texas on $5.5m bail
A Roman Catholic priest with links to Texas and Louisiana who is facing criminal charges for allegedly abusing his position of authority within the church to pursue sex with vulnerable women fathered at least two children with victims of his behavior, authorities have alleged.
The stunning information about Anthony Odiong surfaced at a bail hearing on Tuesday in Waco, Texas, where prosecutors have charged him with several counts of sexually assaulting women to whom he ministered.
Continue reading...Attorney Jamieson Greer to play key role in trade team and investor Jim O’Neill picked to be RFK Jr’s health deputy
Donald Trump announced his selections for a series of positions in his administration Tuesday evening. The posts include the president-elect’s picks for deputy secretary of health and human services, US trade representative and head of the national economic council, among others.
Jamieson Greer, an attorney who served under Trump’s previous trade representative Robert Lighthizer, will serve as US trade representative. In his announcement, Trump said: “Jamieson played a key role during my First Term in imposing Tariffs on China and others to combat unfair Trade practices, and replacing the failed NAFTA deal with USMCA, therefore making it much better for American Workers.”
Continue reading...US authorities allege Californian man Raj Matharu tried to conceal more than 1kg of drugs soaked into items of clothing
An alleged would-be drug smuggler soaked a cow onesie in methamphetamine, part of a whole suitcase full of clothes he tried to sneak aboard a plane, US justice officials have said.
Raj Matharu allegedly checked in two bags at Los Angeles international airport on a flight to Sydney, Australia, the US Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Firefighter was lowered into shaft and dog, who was ‘a good sport’, was ‘secured and raised out’, authorities said
Firefighters fetched a dog from an abandoned mine shaft in northern California after it fell 50ft.
Firefighters were called around 3.40am last Thursday to a mine located in El Dorado county, roughly 68 miles east of Sacramento.
Continue reading...Claudia Sheinbaum rebukes Trump and says his plan would do nothing to stem flow of migrants or drugs bound for US
Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has rebuked Donald Trump’s threat to impose steep tariffs on Mexico, arguing the plan would do nothing to halt the flow of migrants or drugs bound for the US border, and vowing that Mexico would hit back with tariffs of its own.
“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Sheinbaum said, warning that tariffs would cause inflation and job losses in both countries. “What sense is there?”
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