Storms in US midwest and on east coast cause chaos as workers respond to reports of people trapped in collapsed structures
Tornadoes in the US midwest and on the east coast were causing chaos on Wednesday, killing a two-year-old boy and injuring his mother outside Detroit when a tree fell on their suburban home.
Meanwhile, in Maryland, emergency workers were responding to reports of collapsed structures with people trapped inside after another tornado there.
Continue reading...New York City police department to revoke Trump’s license after suspending permit to carry a concealed weapon in April 2023
Donald Trump’s license to carry a gun is expected to be revoked by the New York City police department now that he has been convicted of a felony, according to reports on Wednesday evening.
The former president once boasted that he was so popular with the electorate, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” He made the claim in January 2016 during the Iowa caucuses campaign.
Continue reading...Police arrest 13 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who staged occupation of office while roughly 50 others linked arms outside
Police at Stanford University arrested a group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had barricaded themselves inside the campus president’s office on Wednesday morning to demand that the school divest from Israel.
A group of about a dozen students staged an occupation of the office of Richard Saller, Stanford’s president, while roughly 50 others linked arms outside, the Stanford Daily reported. The group entered the building around 6am on Wednesday, the final day of classes for the spring quarter, and said they intended to stay until the university met its demands.
The Associated Press contributed
Continue reading...Russia expert warned Putin would see verdict as chance to undermine US’s global influence and boost his own standing
Vladimir Putin has described the recent criminal conviction of Donald Trump as politically motivated and claimed that it had “burned” the idea that the US was a leading democracy.
Trump last week became the first former US head of state ever convicted of a felony crime after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 charges over efforts to conceal a sexual liaison with an adult film actor, Stormy Daniels, in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
Continue reading...As expected, Right to Contraception act falls short of garnering the 60 votes Senate Democrats needed to advance the bill
Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a bill that would have recognized a legal right to contraception, weeks after Donald Trump made – and quickly walked back – comments indicating he was willing to restrict access to birth control.
As expected, the Right to Contraception act fell short of garnering the 60 votes Senate Democrats needed to advance the bill. Before the vote, Democrats in effect acknowledged that they were daring Republicans to go on the record opposing the right to something that almost all American women use at some point in their lifetime.
Continue reading...AI chipmaker’s stock has surged 147% so far in 2024, underscoring shift in tech world as demand for its processors far outstrip supply
Shares of Nvidia rallied to record highs on Wednesday, with the artificial-intelligence chipmaker’s stock market valuation hitting the $3tn mark and overtaking Apple to become the world’s second most valuable company.
The chipmaker’s stock was up 5.16% at $1,224.40, giving Nvidia a market value of $3.01tn at market close. Apple’s market capitalization was at $3.00tn at market close as its stock climbed 0.78%.
Continue reading...Technique known as cold-water immersion adopted by Phoenix hospitals after county saw 645 heat-related deaths last year
The season’s first heatwave is already baking the south-west with triple-digit temperatures as firefighters in Phoenix – America’s hottest big city – employ new tactics in hopes of saving more lives in a county that saw 645 heat-related deaths last year.
Starting this season, the Phoenix fire department is immersing heatstroke victims in ice on the way to area hospitals. The medical technique, known as cold-water immersion, is familiar to marathon runners and military service members and has also recently been adopted by Phoenix hospitals as a go-to protocol, according to fire captain John Prato.
Continue reading...Launch from Cape Canaveral carrying two Nasa astronauts comes seven years after capsule’s original target date
Two Nasa astronauts were on their way to the international space station on Wednesday after Boeing’s pioneering Starliner capsule finally made its much delayed first crewed flight from Cape Canaveral.
The visually stunning liftoff, against a mostly clear and blue Florida sky, came seven years beyond the spacecraft’s original target date, five years after the failure of an uncrewed test flight, and following a more recent series of postponements for technical reasons that saw launch attempts aborted twice.
Continue reading...António Guterres warns of ‘climate crunch time’ and announces dire new scientific warnings of global heating
Fossil-fuel companies are the “godfathers of climate chaos” and should be banned in every country from advertising akin to restrictions on big tobacco, the secretary general of the United Nations has said while delivering dire new scientific warnings of global heating.
In a major speech in New York on Wednesday, António Guterres called on news and tech media to stop enabling “planetary destruction” by taking fossil-fuel advertising money while warning the world faces “climate crunch time” in its faltering attempts to stem the crisis.
Continue reading...The venomous spiders native to east Asia look frightening, but are reportedly shy creatures
The US north-east is bracing for yet another pest invasion – this time, giant venomous spiders – as scientists warn that the gag-inducing arachnids are set to advance this summer.
The joro spider, an invasive species from east Asia, will be making a larger appearance in New York, New Jersey and other eastern US states as the summer season heats up.
Continue reading...Donald Payne suffered a heart attack on 6 April and died in hospital over two weeks later, after filing deadline for primary
A popular New Jersey progressive Democrat who served six terms as a congressman has won his party’s primary for the state’s 10th congressional district – despite dying in office more than a month ago.
Representative Donald Payne, 65, suffered a heart attack on 6 April and died in hospital more than two weeks later – after the filing deadline for the primary, and too late for a vacancy committee to meet to replace him on the primary ballot.
Continue reading...Knox hoped conviction for wrongly accusing bar owner of murdering Briton Meredith Kercher would be dropped
A Florence court has upheld a slander conviction against Amanda Knox for wrongly accusing a bar owner of murdering the British student Meredith Kercher.
The American, 36, had asked for the conviction to be dropped, saying she had returned to Italy in the hope of “clearing my name once and for all of the false charges against me”.
Continue reading...Charles Barrett was accused of using his fame as a rock climber to lure victim to park and later making threatening phone calls to her
A professional rock climber who assaulted a woman three times during a weekend hiking trip to California’s Yosemite national park in 2016 has been sentenced to life in prison.
Charles Barrett, 40, had been accused of using his fame as a rock climber to lure the woman to the park, and then making hundreds of threatening phone calls against her and his other victims after he was arrested and placed in custody.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
Continue reading...With high levels of people seeking asylum, and after failed attempts to pass reforms, Biden has presented his most aggressive restrictions yet
Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an aggressive new immigration order suspending asylum rights, signalling that “securing the border” was a central tenet of his re-election bid.
At the southern US border, the policy is set to cause chaos and hardship for those seeking the protection of the United States.
Continue reading...People at the border reel after hearing about Biden’s order and consider the CBP One app, where they can go and what’s next
Angel Ramos Girón was searching for a gap to breach the coils of concertina wire standing between him and the huge US fence near gate 36.
The port of entry divides the US from Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, where he stood on Tuesday afternoon looking towards El Paso, its American sister city in Texas.
Continue reading...Congressman bids to replace Menendez, who plans to run as independent despite being charged with accepting bribes
Democratic congressman Andy Kim has won New Jersey’s Senate primary, putting him in strong position for the general election in the blue-leaning state, though the win comes a day after Democratic senator Bob Menendez filed to run as an independent amid his federal corruption trial.
Menendez, who has denied allegations that he accepted bribes to promote the interests of the Egyptian government, has chosen not to seek the Democratic Senate nomination. Kim’s win comes after a bruising battle that led New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy to withdraw from the race in March.
Continue reading...Attorney general defends stewardship of justice department and accuses Republican lawmakers of peddling conspiracy theories
US attorney general Merrick Garland has defended his stewardship of the justice department in a combative display on Capitol Hill that saw him accusing Republicans of attacking the rule of law while telling them he “will not be intimidated.”
Testifying before the House judiciary committee, Garland accused GOP congressmen of engaging in conspiracy theories and peddling false narratives.
Continue reading...US representatives Nanette Barragán, Judy Chu and Raúl Grijalva say order guts legal rights, while ACLU threatens to sue
Progressive Democrats and immigration advocates have shared their outrage after Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday that would turn away some asylum seekers.
Biden’s order will temporarily shut down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers attempting to enter the country legally when authorities have determined that the border is “overwhelmed”.
Continue reading...President’s move comes amid voter dissatisfaction over immigration as leftwing and Latino lawmakers express alarm
Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order that will temporarily shut down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers attempting to cross between lawful ports of entry, when a daily threshold of crossings has been exceeded.
The order will take effect immediately, senior administration officials said on a press call. Those seeking asylum will be held to a much more rigorous standard for establishing credible fear of returning to their home country, although certain groups – including human trafficking victims and unaccompanied children – would be excluded from the ban.
Continue reading...The actor and his wife will be the focus of a TLC docuseries, announced just weeks before his manslaughter trial begins
Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria have announced a new TLC reality show following their family life.
The 66-year-old actor, whose films include Beetlejuice and Glengarry Glen Ross, shared a video on Instagram with his seven children.
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