Hayden Klemenok, 24, went missing while backpacking with group at Upper Chilnualna Falls, National Park Service says
A hiker has been missing in Yosemite national park since the holiday weekend after being swept away by a cold and fast-flowing creek as California’s epic winter snowpack melts.
Hayden T Klemenok vanished while backpacking with a group at Upper Chilnualna Falls on Sunday, the National Park Service said in a statement.
Continue reading...Gabriel Barajas and Malea Tribble thought ‘it was all over for us’ – but marine expert suggests shark was merely being ‘inquisitive’
A pair of paddleboarders raising money for charity had a frightening encounter with a hammerhead shark that circled them near Florida’s coast – and the entire incident was caught on video.
Gabriel Barajas and Malea Tribble were paddling from Florida to the Bahamas, an 80-mile journey, to raise money for cystic fibrosis awareness, WJZY reported.
Continue reading...Janet Yellen expected to emphasise need for cooperation between two superpowers to tackle global threats
The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has arrived in Beijing on a four-day trip that aims to tame spiralling tensions between the world’s two largest economies, particularly over trade and the hi-tech chip industry.
She will meet senior Chinese officials including the premier, Li Qiang, and former vice-premier and economics tsar Liu He, who is seen as close to China’s president, Xi Jinping, in her first day of talks on Friday.
Continue reading...Gerson Fuentes found guilty in case that dominated headlines when girl had to travel to Indiana for procedure banned in Ohio
The man found guilty of raping and impregnating a nine-year-old Ohio girl who later traveled to Indiana for abortion has been sentenced to life in prison.
On Wednesday afternoon, 28-year-old Gerson Fuentes appeared at the Franklin county court of common pleas in Columbus, Ohio, where he entered a plea agreement which will allow him to be eligible to seek probation after 25 years. If granted parole, Fuentes would also have to register as a tier 3 sex offender and will have a lifetime of in-person verification every 90 days.
Continue reading...Farmers can’t use chlorpyrifos on food because it damages children’s brains but an EPA official questions restrictions under global treaty
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden announced that his administration planned to scrutinize a Trump-era decision to allow the continued use of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that can damage children’s brains. And with great fanfare, the Environmental Protection Agency went on to ban the use of the chemical on food.
“Ending the use of chlorpyrifos on food will help to ensure children, farmworkers, and all people are protected from the potentially dangerous consequences of this pesticide,” the head of the EPA, Michael Regan, said in his announcement of the decision in August 2021. “EPA will follow the science and put health and safety first.”
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Continue reading...Former British prime minister says in interview that Trump ‘played an important role’ in arming Ukraine and set an example
On his recent visit to the US, Boris Johnson “reminded” Donald Trump he “actually played an important role” in supporting and arming Ukraine against its Russian invaders, the former British prime minister said, adding that British aid to Kyiv was “enabled” by Trump’s example.
Johnson made the claim about the notoriously pro-Russian former president – and brushed off mention of Trump’s impeachment for blocking military aid to Ukraine – in an interview on One Decision, a podcast hosted by Sir Richard Dearlove, a former chief of the British intelligence service MI6, and the journalist Julia Macfarlane. The episode was released on Thursday.
Continue reading...US defence official accuses Russian military of ‘reckless behaviour’ by flying dangerously close and releasing flares during US mission against Islamic State
The US Air Force has released video footage it says shows Russian fighter jets flying dangerously close to several US drones over Syria on Wednesday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive manoeuvres.
US Air Forces Central said in a statement describing the scenes: “These events represent a new level of unprofessional and unsafe action by Russian air forces operating in Syria.”
Continue reading...Wisconsin officials are investigating the ride failure, which required firefighters to free those trapped ‘near the top of a loop’
Officials in Wisconsin are investigating how eight people became trapped upside down on a roller coaster – some of them for more than three hours – at a festival over the holiday weekend.
The nightmarish incident took place on Sunday at the Forest county festival in Crandon, a city of about 1,700 north-west of Green Bay.
Continue reading...Work to persuade Turkey to drop its objections continues, as president meets with Sweden’s prime minister at White House
US President Joe Biden has told prime minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden that he is “looking forward” to the country’s stalled Nato membership bid winning final approval, amid doubts that Turkey will withdraw its opposition in time for a major summit next week.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Biden said he wanted to reiterate that he “fully, fully supports Sweden’s membership in Nato” and was “anxiously looking forward” to the bid being ratified.
Continue reading...Bloodstains and broken glass remain where 17 students and staff were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida
For more than five years, the bloodstained halls and classrooms where 17 people died in the Parkland school shooting has remained locked away and mostly untouched – not even the victims’ families had been allowed inside.
That changed on Wednesday, as heart-wrenching private tours began for relatives of the 14 students and three staff members who died on 14 February 2018. The 17 wounded and their loved ones will also be able to visit the 1200 building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, now that it is no longer needed as evidence in the trials of the convicted killer and the deputy who was just acquitted of failing to stop him.
Continue reading...Injunction amounts to unusual intervention by the courts in communications between the government and tech companies
Restricting the ability of the Biden administration to work with social media companies in countering online conspiracy theories is a “weaponisation of the court system” that could devastate the fight against misinformation ahead of the 2024 presidential election, a leading expert has warned.
Nina Jankowicz, a specialist in disinformation campaigns, told the Guardian that an injunction imposed by a federal judge on Tuesday against key federal agencies and officials blocking their communication with tech platforms could unleash false information in critical areas of public life. She said that election denialism and anti-vaccine propaganda could be the beneficiaries.
Continue reading...White House press secretary urges Republicans to act to protect US communities after latest spate of gun violence
The Washington Post reports that the cocaine discovered at the White House was found on the ground floor in an area where visitors leave their cellphones.
White House employees can give tours of the building, usually on evenings and weekends, and part of the security protocol involves having visitors leave their cellphones in a locked box. As the for the cocaine, the Post adds that “Authorities are trying to find the person who left it at the White House.”
Continue reading...A strike has already been authorized by union members – who number 340,000 – should negotiations for a new contract fail
UPS workers moved closer to their first strike action in 27 years on Wednesday after the Teamsters Union said United Parcel Service “walked away” from negotiations over a new contract. The shipping giant denied the claim, lobbing its own accusation that the union had stopped negotiating.
The two sides traded salvoes in early morning statements even as they attempted to come to an agreement to prevent a strike when the current contract, which covers about 340,000 workers, expires at the end of the month.
Continue reading...Fifteen people were killed and 94 injured across 13 states as well as Washington DC
From the nation’s capital to Fort Worth, Texas, from Florin, California, in the west to the Bronx, New York, in the east, the Fourth of July long weekend in the US was overshadowed by 16 mass shootings in which 15 people were killed and nearly 100 injured.
The Gun Violence Archive, an authoritative database on gun violence in America, calculated the grim tally using its definition of a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people excluding the shooter are killed or injured by firearms.
Continue reading...Gary Wilcox allegedly performed to graphically sexual and violent songs while wearing his robes at court and in chambers
A judge in New Jersey is under investigation for allegedly filming TikTok videos in which he lip-synced to popular songs, at times in his bed or his judicial chambers.
Last Friday, the advisory committee on judicial conduct in New Jersey’s supreme court filed a complaint against Gary Wilcox, a 58-year-old superior court judge who presides over criminal cases in Bergen county.
Continue reading...Secret Service review of visitor logs and surveillance cameras will seek to determine how drug came to be in the West Wing
A formal laboratory test of a white powder found in a “highly-trafficked” area of the White House has been confirmed as cocaine, NBC News reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed official with knowledge of the investigation.
A Secret Service review of visitor logs and surveillance cameras will seek to determine how the cocaine, described as being in a small, zippered bag, came to be in the executive mansion.
Continue reading...Salaam prevails over two veterans in improbable feat for political novice wrongly accused with four others of raping a woman in 1985
Yusef Salaam, one of the exonerated Central Park Five, is all but assured of a seat on the New York city council after being confirmed as the winner of a Democratic primary, an improbable feat for a political novice who was wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned as a teenager for the rape and beating of a jogger in Central Park.
Additional votes released on Wednesday showed Salaam as the clear winner of the primary to represent Central Harlem, which took place last week.
Continue reading...Official GOP account deletes tweet featuring Liberian flag, which has single white star where Stars and Stripes has 50
The Republican party was embarrassed when a tweet from its official account celebrating Independence Day featured the wrong flag.
The tweet read: “247 years ago, our forefathers told Ol’ King George to get lost! Happy Independence Day from the GOP!”
Continue reading...Turning Point Australia says appearances of former president’s son in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne postponed ‘due to unforeseen circumstances’
A speaking tour from the son of the former US president Donald Trump has been delayed, the tour promoter announced on Wednesday.
Donald Trump Jr was to speak at events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, kicking off this Sunday. However Turning Point Australia announced on Wednesday that “due to unforeseen circumstances” the appearances would be postponed.
Continue reading...Kremlin spokesman says there have been ‘certain contacts on the subject’ with the US but says any discussion will be held in secret
The Kremlin has suggested it could be open to a possible prisoner exchange involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but reaffirmed that such talks must be held away from the public eye.
Asked whether Monday’s consular visits to Gershkovich, who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on charges of espionage, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in US custody on cybercrime charges, could potentially herald a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow and Washington had touched on the issue.
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