Texas government installed barrier to deter migrants – Mexican and US governments want it removed as dangerous and illegal
A body has been found stuck in a floating barrier installed by Texas authorities in the Rio Grande river on the US border, Mexico’s foreign ministry has said
Authorities were working to identify the body found in the river and determine the cause of death, said Mexico’s foreign ministry, as it reiterated safety concerns.
Continue reading...John Lauro claims four criminal charges over efforts to overturn 2020 election ‘absurd’; US officials say Trump will have fingerprints taken but no photo
It’s just gone 8 am in Washington DC.
I’m going to hand over now to the US politics live blogger, Chris Stein, who will guide you through the rest of the day.
Continue reading...Rise Above Movement co-founder to face charges in Los Angeles in relation to violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters in 2017
Robert Rundo, the influential American neo-Nazi and co-founder of the now-defunct Rise Above Movement, is to face charges in Los Angeles in relation to violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters in 2017.
Rundo was extradited from Romania to the US on Tuesday, after being apprehended in a Bucharest gym in late March on an American warrant.
Continue reading...Arianna Davis, 24, and Crystal Williams, 26, described incidents of body shaming and being forced to participate in religious activities
Former dancers for Lizzo are speaking out after they sued the artist for sexual harassment, racial discrimination and fostering a hostile work environment.
Two plaintiffs in the case, Arianna Davis, 24, and Crystal Williams, 26, talked openly in interviews about the suffering they said they endured by Lizzo, whose legal name is Melissa Jefferson.
Continue reading...Authorities are looking for additional victims after linking Negasi Zuberi to sexual assaults in at least four more states
A man who posed as an undercover police officer kidnapped a woman in Seattle, drove her to his home in Oregon and locked her in a makeshift cell in his garage before she managed to escape, the FBI said Wednesday.
The man, Negasi Zuberi, faces a federal interstate kidnapping charge, and authorities said they are looking for additional victims after linking him to sexual assaults in at least four more states.
Continue reading...The York fire has burned pinyon pines, junipers and the region’s famous Joshua trees, which are particularly vulnerable to wildfires
The hundreds of firefighters battling California’s largest wildfire this year in the Mojave national preserve have to work strategically to avoid disrupting a fragile ecosystem.
The York fire, which erupted last Friday, has burned through more than 125 sq miles (323.7 sq km) across the California desert toward the Nevada border.
Continue reading...Ramon Diaz says he was just 17 when Northwestern University upperclassmen shaved “Cinco de Mayo” onto the back of his head as the entire football team watched.
“The holiday itself has a significant meaning to me and my family and then the Latino community at large,” Diaz told the Associated Press. “I was mocked and ridiculed.”
In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Special counsel Jack Smith to seek speedy trial and says January 6 was ‘fueled by lies’
University of Virginia political guru Larry Sabato took a look at the New York Times/Siena College poll released today, and what he found does not look good for Democrats:
The firm behind the Mountain Valley Pipeline said today that it expects work on the controversial natural gas conduit to be completed by the end of the year.
Continue reading...Fitch changed the country’s rating from AAA to AA+, citing fiscal deterioration and down-to-the wire debt ceiling negotiations
Rating agency Fitch downgraded the US government’s top credit rating on Tuesday, a move that drew an angry response from the White House and surprised investors.
Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills. It is the second major rating agency after Standard & Poor’s to strip the US of its triple-A rating.
Continue reading...Cells taken without consent from cancer victim can reproduce indefinitely and were sold for unjust profit by Thermo Fisher Scientific, relatives argued
Laboratory equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific has settled a lawsuit brought by the estate of Henrietta Lacks, a long-deceased cancer victim whose “immortal” cells have lived on to fuel biomedical research for decades, lawyers for the estate have said.
The story of Lacks, a young African American woman who died in Baltimore in 1951, was made famous in Rebecca Skloot’s 2010 book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which became a movie in 2017 featuring Oprah Winfrey.
Continue reading...Federal prosecutors have charged Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election
Federal prosecutors have charged Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the latest criminal case before the former president that comes just weeks after he was charged with retaining national defense information.
You can read the indictment here in full:
Continue reading...Past efforts to hold Trump accountable for the violence and his broader election subversion campaign have fallen short
Unlike Donald Trump’s first two indictments, the former president’s third set of criminal charges stands out as the first major legal effort to hold him accountable for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Pro-democracy experts welcomed the indictment, announced on Tuesday by the office of special counsel Jack Smith, as a victory for the rule of law that could help fortify America’s election systems in the face of ongoing threats from Trump and his allies.
Continue reading...A brief downpour helped crews on the ground, but experts warn they could face unstable wind conditions that could blow fire back at them
Firefighters have managed to partially contain a giant wildfire in the Mojave desert that scorched tens of thousands of acres of scrub and sent smoke across the Las Vegas Strip.
The York fire was mapped at roughly 125 sq miles (323.7 sq km) on Tuesday, with 23% containment, making it the largest wildfire of the season in California.
Continue reading...Relief expected to be brief with forecasts of highs above 110F this week. Plus, the man who hopes to shut down the coal industry with his drone
Good morning.
Phoenix’s record stretch of daily highs over 110F (43.3C) ended yesterday as cooling monsoon rains tempered the dangerous heatwave that suffocated the American south-west throughout July.
Are people still in danger? Potentially, yes. More than 50 million Americans remain under a heat advisory amid one of the hottest summers recorded, and a heatwave continues to affect swathes of the country.
What is happening in the south-west? The hot and dry weather in the south-west of the US has set off a wave of wildfires. California and Nevada are battling a large blaze that is uncontrolled. Another, which originated in Washington state, has spread into Canada, forcing residents in the town of Osoyoos, British Columbia, to flee their homes.
What has Ukraine said about the drone attacks? Ukraine has not acknowledged responsibility for the attacks but the strikes came two days after the Ukrainian president said the war was coming to Russia, after three drones were shot down over Moscow on Sunday. “Gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia – to its symbolic centres and military bases. This is an inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process,” Volodymr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Sunday.
What else is happening? The Russian defence ministry says it successfully repelled a unmanned boat drone attack on two of its ships in the Black Sea fleet – the Sergey Kotov and the Vasily Bykov.
Continue reading...The National Shooting Sports Foundation has been aggressively pushing gun manufacturers’ interests, and is starting to eclipse its bigger rival
A business trade group representing 10,000 gunmakers, dealers and other firearm firms is emerging as a rising force in the US and starting to eclipse – in some respects – the might of the powerful but scandal-plagued National Rifle Association.
Meet the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry’s conservative and aggressive lobbying group. Its range of activities are broad but always geared to zealously and single-mindedly preserving and extending the power of the gun industry.
Continue reading...Fears of new high death toll this year as prolonged heatwave causes spike in hospitalizations from people who work outside
The punishing heatwaves that have scorched much of the US could result in a record number of heat-related deaths this year, experts have warned, amid a spike in hospitalizations from collapsing outdoor workers.
Among those needing hospital treatment are heat-exhausted hikers and even people who have suffered severe burns from touching blistering concrete and asphalt.
Continue reading...President had previously failed to publicly mention Navy, daughter from Hunter Biden’s relationship with Lunden Roberts
For the first time in an interview, Joe Biden acknowledged he has seven grandchildren, including Hunter Biden’s four-year-old daughter Navy.
“I have seven grandkids,” the president said, “five of ’em old enough to talk on the phone, you know, every day I either text or call them.”
Continue reading...The police had been searching for the driver of the car, when a person of interest came forward and was taken into custody
A man drove a sport-utility vehicle into six people in North Carolina who were described as migrant workers in what “appears to be an intentional assault”, police have said.
All six victims were taken to hospital after the apparent attack, and have since been released.
Continue reading...Reprieve expected to be brief, with the forecast calling for highs again above 110F for several days later in the week
Phoenix’s record stretch of daily highs over 110F (43.3C) ended Monday as cooling monsoon rains slightly tempered the dangerous heatwave that suffocated the American south-west throughout July.
The region, from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert, has been grappling with historic heat since June. Phoenix and its suburbs sweltered more intensely than most, with several records including the 31 consecutive days of 110F days. The previous record was 18 straight days, set in 1974.
Continue reading...Cloud, who portrayed Fezco ‘Fez’ O’Neill in the HBO teen drama, had recently lost his father
The actor Angus Cloud, best known for his role on HBO’s teen drama Euphoria, has died at age 25, his family confirmed to media on Monday.
Cloud’s publicist, Cait Bailey, said Cloud died Monday at his family home in Oakland, California. No cause of death was given.
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