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Ahead of her and Tim Walz’s campaign in Arizona later today, Kamala Harris wrote on X:
“We are running a campaign on behalf of all Americans.
It is great to be in Arizona with governor Tim Walz.”
Continue reading...Democratic party’s presumptive nominee 2.1 points over Trump in FiveThirtyEight’s national average
Kamala Harris continues to gain strength in the US presidential election, as polls nationally and in battleground states show her building leads or catching Donald Trump.
On Friday morning, FiveThirtyEight, a leading polling analysis site, puts Harris, the Democratic party’s presumptive nominee for president, up by 2.1 points over her Republican rival in its national average.
Continue reading...Surge caused by rebound in market activity very likely to influence payouts for European outposts of banks
Bonuses for Wall Street’s investment bankers are forecast to jump as much as 35% this year – although experts have warned that payouts could be knocked by stock market volatility and an economic slowdown in the US.
Fresh predictions suggest that staff across a range of financial firms – including hedge funds, asset managers and investment banks – will see payouts rise for the first time in two years. It follows a rebound in business confidence and market activity, with companies more willing to take risks amid easing inflation that has started to translate into lower borrowing costs.
Continue reading...Congress members are saying asylum seekers are ‘forced to wait in danger’ as advocates try to get them legal protection
In early June, Ofelia Arrellano said a gang in Mexico City threatened to kidnap her younger son if she didn’t pay a $160 monthly fee for keeping her toy store afloat.
Arellano, 37, and her two sons gathered enough money and fled. She feared the gangs’ reach if she stayed in Mexico, so they went north, towards the US, she said.
Continue reading...New research shows toxic ‘forever chemicals’ gas may escape landfills and threaten the environment
Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that leach from landfills into groundwater are among the major pollution sources in the US, and remain a problem for which officials have yet to find an effective solution.
Now new research has identified another route in which PFAS may escape landfills and threaten the environment at even higher levels: the air.
Continue reading...ABC confirms US presidential candidates will face off for the first time on 10 September. Plus: the return of panda diplomacy
Good morning.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will face off for the first time on 10 September in a highly anticipated televised debate on ABC, the network confirmed Thursday, as Harris continues to gain momentum, leaving the Trump campaign scrambling.
What did Trump say at the press conference? Trump attacked Harris and falsely claimed that no one was killed in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. He grew heated over comparing crowd sizes, and claimed he wanted to do three debates. Earlier, Trump had suggested he would back out of the 10 September debate that had previously been set with Joe Biden before Biden stepped down from his re-election campaign.
What do the polls say? While Biden had been trailing Trump in key swing states, Harris has made gains, particularly after announcing the Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate. An Ipsos poll published on Thursday found Harris ahead of Trump by 42% to 37%, compared to a 22-23 July Reuters/Ipsos survey, which showed her up 37% to 34% over Trump.
How has the Trump campaign been reacting to the rise of Harris? Concerns have created fractures inside Trumpworld, with some Maga allies criticizing Trump’s political advisers who are working to paint Harris as more progressive than she is and launch “Willie Horton” attacks from the old Republican playbook that suggest she is directly responsible for crimes some migrants committed.
How many people have died from Tropical Storm Debby? At least seven people have died from the storm, which made first landfall early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Debby made a second landfall in South Carolina early on Thursday, and more flooding is expected in North and South Carolina before the storm clears those states.
Continue reading...Joint statement says framework agreement is ‘on the table’ and there are no excuses ‘from any party for further delay’
The leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar have called on Israel and Hamas to resume urgent negotiations to finalise a ceasefire and hostage release deal, saying there were no excuses “from any party for further delay”.
The three countries, which have been trying to mediate a deal, said in a joint statement the talks could take place in either Doha or Cairo on 15 August, adding that it was “time to bring immediate relief both to the longsuffering people of Gaza as well as the longsuffering hostages and their families”.
Continue reading...Concerns have caused fractures to appear inside Trumpworld, with some Maga allies criticizing advisers
Donald Trump’s campaign recognizes that it could lose in November if the election is decided on “vibes” and “energy”, according to people close to the former president, as Kamala Harris continues to ride waves of momentum with her newly announced running mate Tim Walz.
The concern has also started to open fractures inside Trumpworld, with some Maga allies criticizing Trump’s political advisers for running a campaign that may be too structurally deficient to stand up a ground game in swing states.
Continue reading...Utah is first in the US to outlaw titles statewide they deem ‘indecent’ as free speech advocates worry about impact
Library associations, free speech groups and advocates are expressing outrage and concern after the state of Utah ordered 13 books to be removed from public school classrooms and libraries in accordance with a new state law that passed earlier this year.
“It’s a tragedy,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.
Continue reading...Harris campaigns with Walz in Detroit; ABC News confirms Trump and Harris will debate on 10 September
In a new tweet on Thursday ahead of her address with workers from the United Auto Workers union in Detroit, Michigan Kamala Harris wrote:
“This campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. Our campaign is about fighting for the future.”
Continue reading...Lawrence Hecker will face court on kidnapping and rape charges in September pending a final competency ruling
A doctor’s report says that Lawrence Hecker, the retired New Orleans priest who faces charges of raping a teenager after strangling him unconscious in 1975, has dementia – but it says nothing about Hecker’s competency to stand trial.
On Thursday, after seven hearings and still no definitive determination on Hecker’s competency, his trial on rape and kidnapping charges has been set for 24 September.
Continue reading...A competitor in the CrossFit Games has died while competing in a swimming event on Thursday morning at a Texas lake.
CrossFit CEO Don Faul said during a news conference that the organization was “deeply saddened” by the death of one of their athletes, and they were working with authorities on the investigation into the death.
Continue reading...Another report found pesticide levels posing ‘significant risks’ in 20% of tested fruits and vegetables
A new scientific report lends weight to consumer concerns about pesticide residues on food, presenting fresh evidence that washing fruit before eating does not remove various toxic chemicals commonly used in agriculture.
The paper, published on Wednesday in the American Chemical Society’s journal Nano Letters, comes amid ongoing debate over the extent of pesticide contamination of food, and the potential health risks associated with a steady diet that includes pesticide residues.
Continue reading...Former House speaker on how she concluded the president couldn’t beat Trump and should step aside
Nancy Pelosi has “never been that impressed” with Joe Biden’s “political operation”, the former US House speaker said, discussing a judgment that helped her conclude the president could not beat Donald Trump and should step aside.
“They won the White House [in 2020]. Bravo. But my concern was: this ain’t happening, and we have to make a decision for [Biden’s withdrawal] to happen,” Pelosi told the New Yorker, in an interview published on Thursday.
Continue reading...Overall number of people sickened rises to 43 as CDC says additional death happened in Virginia
Three people have now died in a listeria food poisoning outbreak linked to Boar’s Head deli meats, federal food safety officials announced on Thursday, and the overall number of people sickened rose to 43.
The additional death happened in Virginia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a news release on Thursday. The other two deaths were in New Jersey and Illinois. The CDC also said nine more cases were reported since a 31 July release about the outbreak, which started in late May.
Continue reading...Austrian, 19, arrested alongside 17-year-old for allegedly planning Islamist attack at Vienna venue
The 19-year-old prime suspect in an alleged plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert that led to the cancellation of the singer’s three-night run in Vienna had collected chemicals with the intention of building a bomb, senior Austrian security officials have said.
The Austrian suspect was arrested along with a 17-year-old who recently started working for a services company providing support for the concerts, on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack. A third person, 15, was taken into custody late on Wednesday in connection with the investigation.
Continue reading...Harris expresses openness to discussing Israel-Gaza stance with movement leaders, who are torn over Walz as VP pick
Leaders of the “uncommitted” campaign spoke with Kamala Harris and her newly announced running mate, the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, before a rally in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss their calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and an arms embargo on Israel.
Harris “shared her sympathies and expressed an openness to a meeting with the Uncommitted leaders to discuss an arms embargo”, the organization said in a statement.
Continue reading...City’s mayor says Israel not invited because of risk of protests at event honouring victims of 1945 nuclear blast
The US ambassador to Japan will skip this year’s memorial service for the nuclear attack on Nagasaki because Israel has not been invited, the embassy has said.
Rahm Emanuel would not attend the event on Friday because it had been “politicised” by Nagasaki’s decision not to invite Israel, the embassy said. Instead, he would honour the victims of the Nagasaki bombing at a ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo and a lower-ranked US official would attend the Nagasaki event, it said.
Continue reading...Detroit rally draws 15,000 people and high energy despite Gaza protesters and medical incidents from summer heat
Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, continued their swing-state tour with rallies in rural Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, that the campaign said brought out more than 10,000 people each.
The rallies, which followed a raucous event in Philadelphia, served as an opportunity for Harris to continue to introduce Walz, a formerly low-profile midwest governor, to Democrats in the critical swing state.
Continue reading...Lawsuit seeks to hold American manufacturers responsible for trafficking of firearms to drug cartels across border
A US judge has dismissed much of Mexico’s unprecedented $10bn lawsuit seeking to hold US gun manufacturers responsible for facilitating the trafficking of firearms to violent drug cartels across the US-Mexico border.
US district judge Dennis Saylor in Boston dismissed claims against six of the eight companies Mexico sued in 2021, including Sturm, Ruger and Glock, citing jurisdictional problems.
Continue reading...