Asghari says he and Spears will ‘hold onto the love and respect’ they have for each, after filing for divorce after 14 months of marriage
Sam Asghari has denied he will challenge the prenuptial agreement he has with Britney Spears after filing for divorce after 14 months of marriage.
In a statement posted online on Thursday, the model and fitness trainer acknowledged that asking for privacy “seems ridiculous” but asked that the media be “kind and thoughtful”.
Continue reading...Sheriff’s office said investigators are working with local, state and federal agencies to track down origins of threats in Fulton county
Law enforcement officials in Georgia said they’re investigating threats targeting members of the grand jury that indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies, after private information about jurors was published online.
On Thursday, the Fulton county sheriff’s office announced that it is “aware that personal information of members of the Fulton county grand jury is being shared on various platforms”.
Continue reading...In 2020, Honolulu officials had sued eight oil and gas companies over the steep costs of abating damages from extreme weather
Hawaii’s supreme court on Thursday heard attempts by fossil fuel companies to dismiss a climate accountability lawsuit. The hearing came as the deadly fires in Maui capture global headlines.
“This is the first time the court has been in session since the fires in Maui last week,” the Hawaii supreme court chief justice said as the hearing began, before calling for a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in the blazes.
Continue reading...A grand jury had indicted officers from Antioch and Pittsburg for a wide range of offenses, including criminal conspiracy
The FBI arrested nine current and former California police officers on Thursday as part of a major criminal investigation into racist text messages of dozens of law enforcement officials, prosecutors said.
Early-morning federal raids, first reported by the Bay Area News Group, rounded up officers from Antioch and Pittsburg, two cities east of San Francisco, after they were charged in four grand jury indictments.
Continue reading...Water of about 26 million is contaminated as new data offers the most robust look into exactly which communities are polluted
Drinking water consumed by millions of Americans from hundreds of communities spread across the United States is contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, according to testing data released on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The data shows that drinking water systems serving small towns to large cities – from tiny Collegeville, Pennsylvania, to Fresno, California – contain measurable levels of so-called “forever chemicals”, a family of durable compounds long used in a variety of commercial products but that are now known to be harmful.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed, but continuing coverage of Trump’s Georgia indictment can be found here and here.
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, dismissed the suggestion that she is running in the 2024 GOP presidential race in order to become the vice president.
In an interview with Politico, Haley said:
I think everybody that says, ‘She’s doing this to be vice president,’ needs to understand I don’t run for second.
That’s something that I hear all the time, and I’ll tell you that, look, we have a country to save, and I don’t trust anybody else to do it.
Sources tell ABC News that Trump’s legal advisers have told him that holding such a press conference with dubious claims of voter fraud will only complicate his legal problems and some of his attorneys have advised him to cancel it.
Continue reading...Rightwing Florida governor’s talking points for the first Republican debate include defending Trump and attacking Biden
Seeking to resurrect his flagging US presidential campaign, Ron DeSantis suffered a major embarrassment when memos about his preparation for the first Republican debate were reported by the New York Times.
Including advice not to attack the clear frontrunner, Donald Trump, the memos to the rightwing Florida governor ahead of the debate in Milwaukee next Wednesday were posted online by a consulting firm owned by Jeff Roe, chief strategist to Never Back Down, a Super Pac backing DeSantis.
Attack Joe Biden and the media 3-5 times.
State [DeSantis’s] positive vision 2-3 times.
Hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response.
Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack.
Continue reading...Storm moves toward Baja California and could bring high winds, surf and rain to southern California
A storm located about 300 miles off the coast of Mexico was upgraded to a hurricane overnight as it heads toward Baja California, potentially bringing heavy rain and winds to the region and the south-western United States this weekend.
Hurricane Hilary formed as a tropical storm about 470 miles off the coast of Manzanillo, Mexico. It is currently about 320 miles (515km) south-west of Manzanillo and is moving about 13mph west-north-west. It is expected to turn north-west on Friday morning.
Continue reading...House prices have increased more than 30% in five years in the state’s largest city, which has at least 50,000 people living outside
The median price for a home in Los Angeles, California’s largest city, will soon hit $1m, as skyrocketing housing costs fuel a humanitarian crisis that has left at least 50,000 people living in the streets.
In the past five years, the median listed home price in the Los Angeles area has increased more than 30%, according to estimates from the real estate company Zillow. As of late July, the median price for homes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area was estimated at $992,300.
Continue reading...Attorney for Carlos De Oliveira also represents witnesses who could testify against him, according to special counsel’s office
Special counsel prosecutors asked on Wednesday for a hearing to inform the Mar-a-Lago club’s maintenance chief, charged with helping Donald Trump to obstruct the government’s attempt to retrieve the classified documents at the property, that his lawyer might be hamstrung at trial due to potential conflicts of interest.
The issue, according to prosecutors, is that De Oliveira’s lawyer, John Irving, represents three other witnesses who provided incriminating evidence against Carlos De Oliveira and could be called to testify against him at trial.
Continue reading...Medical breakthrough marks longest pig kidney has functioned in a human, setting stage for operations in living patients
A pig’s kidney transplanted by surgeons into a brain-dead man has continued to function normally for more than a month – a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients.
The latest experiment, announced on Wednesday by New York University Langone Health, marks the longest a pig kidney has functioned in a person, albeit a deceased one, and it’s not over. Researchers will track the kidney’s performance for a second month.
Continue reading...Police raid on office of Marion County Record drew widespread condemnation by press freedom advocates
Authorities have announced the controversial search warrant of a local Kansas newspaper office has been withdrawn.
The Marion county attorney Joel Ensey announced that following a review of the search warrants made last Friday at multiple locations in Marion county, he has “come to the conclusion that insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized”.
Continue reading...Richard Blumenthal to consider ‘other legal methods’ to compel Yasir al-Rumayyan to speak to Senate oversight committee
A senior US lawmaker has challenged a Saudi Arabian official’s refusal to voluntarily testify before a Senate committee investigating the kingdom’s controversial golf deal with the PGA Tour, saying officials should be prepared to be subject to American laws and oversight if they invest in the US.
Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic senator from Connecticut who serves as chairman of the Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations, also said he would consider “other legal methods” to force Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), to testify if he continued to refuse.
Continue reading...President has faced criticism for not speaking about wildfire disaster earlier and using the wrong name when referring to Maui
Joe and Jill Biden will travel to Hawaii next week to witness the impact of wildfires that devastated the town of Lahaina, the White House said on Wednesday, as the death toll from disaster rose to 110.
Announcing the visit, which will take place on Monday, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said: “In Maui, the president and first lady will be welcomed by state and local leaders to see first-hand the impacts of the wildfires and the devastating loss of life and land that has occurred on the island, as well as discuss the next steps in the recovery effort.
Continue reading...At least 106 people have died – a figure set to rise significantly as workers carry out the painstaking work of identifying remains
The destruction in Lahaina stretches as far as the eye can see – homes burned down to their foundations, blackened cars, and piles of twisted metal from the fire that burned all the way to the sea. It is in these ruins that search teams will determine the true toll of the disaster.
The wildfires that ravaged Maui last week exploded rapidly, moving at roughly a mile a minute, and giving residents little time to escape as flames consumed the historic town of Lahaina. At least 106 people died – a figure expected to rise significantly in the coming days as crews scour the rubble. A massive operation is under way to find remains and identify them, and officials have asked for patience.
Continue reading...US president and first lady to meet survivors and first responders on Monday; White House speech on anniversary will extol wins on EVs and green energy
The US is the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the Inflation Reduction Act is widely forecast to slash these emissions, by as much as 48% by 2035, from 2005 levels, according to one analysis.
These forecasts have a relatively wide range of estimates due to uncertainties such as economic growth but even in the most optimistic scenario the US will require further measures if it is to get to net zero emissions by 2050, as scientists have said is imperative if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate impacts.
Continue reading...The book would continue the two he wrote with the late Peter Straub, while new stories are due next year
Stephen King has suggested that he may write a third instalment of the two-book Talisman series, which he co-wrote with the late Peter Straub. Asked on a podcast if his days of writing “epics” were in the past, King replied “never say never”. “Before he died, Peter sent me this long letter and said we oughta do the third one, and he gave me a really cool idea and I had some ideas of my own,” he said.
Speaking as a guest on an episode of the Talking Scared podcast, King added that the volume – which would follow The Talisman and its sequel, Black House – “would be a long book”.
Continue reading...Cards depicting albums by Brooklyn-born rapper are part of initiative to celebrate 50th anniversary of hip-hop
Forget new lines of sneakers or T-shirts: the most sought-after merchandise this month can be found in public libraries in Brooklyn.
In collaboration with Roc Nation, an entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, the Brooklyn Public Library is celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop by issuing limited-edition library cards featuring the rapper, who was born in the New York borough.
Continue reading...Study shows that 60% of teens between ages 13-17 agreed with four or more conspiracy statements compared with 49% of adults
Teenagers are significantly more likely to believe online conspiracy theories than older generations, a new study has shown, underscoring the broad impacts of gen Z’s relationship with social media.
Findings from Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a non-profit that fights misinformation, showed that 60% of 13-17-year-old Americans surveyed agreed with four or more harmful conspiracy statements – compared with just 49% of adults. For teens who spend four or more hours a day on any single social media platform, the figure was as high as 69%.
Continue reading...Salah Soltan, a US green card holder and critic of Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, claims he faces death in Cairo jail and urges Biden to act
A prominent Egyptian prisoner of conscience has told his family that he faces death in detention, spurring them to accuse the Biden administration of abandoning their father, despite previous promises on human rights.
In a letter smuggled out of prison, Salah Soltan, a US green card holder and Islamic jurisprudence scholar, said he felt “as if I stared death in the eyes while lying on the ground, paralysed and denied help and medicine for days,” after collapsing in his cell earlier this year following complaints of chest pains. His family say the letter was his first unsupervised contact in two and a half years.
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