Antony Blinken speaks at launch of US-led coalition to address synthetic drug threats
Who is responsible for the United States’ opioid epidemic? According to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, the culprits are “transnational criminal enterprises” who need to be tackled via international law enforcement operations.
But according to Chinese state media, “the fentanyl crisis in the United States is demand-driven”, primarily by “the users themselves”.
Continue reading...Relentless temperatures upwards of 100F leave millions under extreme heat warnings and outdoor events cancelled
Record-breaking heat is baking the US south-west this week, putting millions under extreme heat warnings as temperatures upwards of 100F (38C) hit Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and southern California for days on end.
Even desert residents accustomed to scorching summers are feeling the relentless grip of the heat. Phoenix, which hit a 12th consecutive day of 110F on Tuesday, could see its longest ever heatwave.
Continue reading...Van Houten, now 73, is out on parole after her conviction for participating in the 1969 LaBianca murders at age 19
Leslie Van Houten, who was sentenced to life for participating in the infamous murders by the Charles Manson cult when she was 19, walked free from a California prison on Tuesday after 53 years behind bars.
Van Houten, now 73, was convicted for helping Manson’s followers carry out the 1969 killings of Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife, Rosemary.
Continue reading...Cause of landslide that destroyed a dozen homes remains unclear as officials say nothing can be done to stop descent
Three days after a landslide destroyed a dozen hillside homes in southern California, the cause of the disaster is still unclear, even as the homes continue their slow descent into a canyon.
Sixteen people have been displaced since the land between the homes began shifting and sliding over the weekend.
Continue reading...Phil Scott says damage is ‘historic and catastrophic’; parts of the US south and southwest are suffering extreme heat
Vermont’s governor Phil Scott gave a press conference earlier, saying that while the sun was expected to come out in Montpelier, the flooding was “nowhere near over”.
He was speaking as his state was dealing with up to two months’ worth of rain in two days. The rain had left “countless” roads washed out.
…What is heat stress and what causes it?
It occurs when the body experiences a buildup of heat, at a level that is more than what it can release. “The human body has this fantastic ability to cool through sweat evaporation,” said Uwe Reischl, professor in the school of public and population health at Boise State University. But even when the body is producing sweat, the evaporation can be limited due to humidity in the air.
Continue reading...In reversal justice department says presidency doesn’t shield Trump from lawsuit, paving way for possible trial in January
The justice department has reversed its position on defending former US president Donald Trump in a lawsuit brought by writer E Jean Carroll, paving the way for a possible trial in January.
The department said in a court filing on Tuesday that it can no longer conclude Trump was acting in his capacity as president when he made allegedly defamatory statements about Carroll in 2019.
Continue reading...Bill faces few hurdles from being passed as state’s house, senate and governor’s office are all Republican-controlled
Iowa’s state legislature held a special session on Tuesday ahead of voting on a bill the same day that would ban most abortions at around six weeks of pregnancy, when most people don’t yet know they are pregnant. The state is the latest in the country to vote on legislation restricting reproductive rights after the overturning of Roe v Wade last year, which ended the nationwide constitutional right to abortion.
Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, called for the special session last week, vowing to “continue to fight against the inhumanity of abortion” and calling the “pro-life” movement against reproductive rights “the most important human rights cause of our time”. Lawmakers in the GOP-controlled legislature will debate house study bill 255, which was released on Friday and seeks to prohibit abortions at the first sign of cardiac activity except in certain cases such as rape or incest.
Continue reading...Leaders of military alliance sign off on declaration that does not give Ukraine firm membership timetable
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has failed in a last-ditch effort to secure an invitation for Ukraine to join Nato after leaders of the 31 countries signed off on a declaration that did not give a firm timetable or clear conditions for its eventual membership.
The frustrated Ukrainian president had accused Joe Biden and other leaders present at a summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, of showing disrespect and complained that there was “no readiness” to invite his country to join.
Continue reading...Mexican authorities will seek to extradite Bryant Rivera of the Los Angeles area for the death of Angela Carolina Acosta Flores
US authorities have arrested a California man accused of killing three women in the Mexican border city of Tijuana and crossing back and forth across the international line after each of the deaths, which occurred over the course of nearly a year starting in 2021.
According to US court records, 30-year-old Bryant Rivera, a resident of the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, was arrested on 6 July on a femicide charge in the strangulation death of Angela Carolina Acosta Flores, whose body was found in a hotel room in Tijuana on 25 January 2022.
Continue reading...Poor oversight, lack of understanding and weak collaboration between allies contributed to ease of Taliban takeover, conclude US and UK aid bodies at London conference
America’s huge, badly-coordinated and politically-driven aid programme in Afghanistan engendered the corruption that undermined its entire mission and turned Afghans away from the western coalition, according to the head of a US aid watchdog.
“We did not really understand Afghanistan or how it worked as a country,” John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (Sigar), told a conference at the defence and security thinktank the Royal United Services Institute.
Continue reading...Gal Luft, director of a Washington-based organization is accused of recruiting and paying a former adviser to Donald Trump
The head of a US thinktank has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent of China, as well as seeking to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said.
Gal Luft, a citizen of the United States and Israel, is accused of recruiting and paying a former high-ranking US government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016, without registering as a foreign agent as required by law.
Continue reading...A Cessna 172 nosedived into a roof with its tail sticking straight up after a landing and takeoff practice went wrong
A pilot escaped with only minor injuries after a single-engine plane nose dived into the roof of a hangar Monday at a southern California airport, authorities said.
The crash happened around 2.30pm while the pilot of the Cessna 172 was “practicing landings and takeoffs” at Long Beach airport, south of Los Angeles, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
Continue reading...Release date changed to 2032, records show, but reasons for change are unclear
Elizabeth Holmes’ prison sentence was quietly shortened by two years, new records show.
An update to Holmes’ profile on the website of the Bureau of Prisons now projects her release date as 12 December 2032, two years sooner than initially scheduled. A spokesman for the federal agency confirmed the update but said he could not comment further citing “privacy, safety, and security reasons” for inmates.
Continue reading...The 14-year-old’s grandmother had reported the girl’s absence and authorities said a marine had been taken briefly into custody
Two weeks after a 14-year-old girl’s grandmother reported that she had run away in early June, the teenager was found in an unusual location: inside the barracks at a California Marine Corps base north of San Diego.
Federal law enforcement officials said Monday that they are investigating and had taken a marine with the combat logistics battalion 5, 1st marine logistics group into custody briefly for questioning. He has since been released to his command while the investigation continues, said Marine Capt Charles Palmer of the 1st marine logistics group at Camp Pendleton, about 40 miles (65km) north of San Diego.
Continue reading...While the north-east was inundated by heavy rains, southern states are gripped by record heat levels predicted to intensify
Deadly flooding in the north-east on Monday coupled with alerts over longer, hotter heatwaves set to boil much of the southern and western US kicked off a week of dangerous weather, as July warnings about the climate crisis intensify.
Rescue teams raced into Vermont after relentless, torrential rain drenched parts of New England and north-east overnight, washing out roads, forcing evacuations and halting some airline travel.
Continue reading...Jesssica Burgess of Nebraska admits to providing abortion after 20 weeks and tampering with human skeletal remains
A Nebraska mother has pleaded guilty to giving her 17-year-old daughter pills for an illegal abortion last year and helping to burn and bury the fetus.
Under a plea agreement, Jessica Burgess, 42, of Norfolk, admitted to providing an abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, false reporting and tampering with human skeletal remains. Charges of concealing the death of another person and abortion by someone other than a licensed physician were dismissed.
Continue reading...Ukraine looks likely to be offered closer integration rather than clear pre-conditions as war with Russia continues
Nato members are not expected to set clear pre-conditions for Ukraine’s eventual membership to the military alliance in the face of caution from the US and Germany while the war with Russia continues.
Ukraine wants clarity on when and how it can join the alliance after the war with Russia ends, believing that western military protection is the only way it can remain unthreatened by its neighbour. However, it looks instead likely to be offered closer integration with Nato and a stronger political declaration in favour of its membership in principle.
Continue reading...Several people missing as much of rest of north-eastern US braced for potentially punishing rains
Heavy rain washed out roads and forced evacuations in the US north-east on Monday, with more downpours forecast throughout the day. One person in New York drowned as she was trying to leave her home.
The slow-moving storm reached New England. Heavy downpours with possible flash flooding were forecast in parts of Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
Continue reading...Nassar reportedly in stable condition after becoming involved in an altercation in Florida prison and being stabbed multiple times
Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor who was convicted of decades of abuse of women and girls under the guise of medical treatment, was reportedly stabbed at a federal prison in Florida on Sunday.
The Associated Press reported that Nassar was involved in an altercation with another person at United States Penitentiary Coleman in Florida and was stabbed multiple times, including in the chest and back.
Continue reading...Congressman who has pleaded not guilty to 13 fraud-related counts condemned as ‘disgrace’ by prospective opponent
George Santos, the Republican congressman whose résumé has been shown to be largely fabricated and who has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds, stoked outrage by comparing himself to the great civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks.
“Rosa Parks didn’t sit in the back, and neither am I gonna sit in the back,” Santos told Mike Crispi Unafraid, a rightwing podcast.
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