US man who killed woman by driving car through BLM protest pleads guilty

Dawit Kelete, 30, pleads guilty to multiple charges after hitting two protesters, one fatally, during 2020 protest in Seattle

A man who hit two Black Lives Matter protesters with his car, killing one of them, during a 2020 demonstration in Seattle has pleaded guilty to multiple felonies.

Dawit Kelete, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday to vehicular homicide in the death of 24-year-old Summer Taylor, the Seattle Times reported. He also pleaded guilty to vehicular assault and reckless driving charges.

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US Mega Millions lottery jackpot soars to $1.05bn

No winner of Friday’s $940m prize, meaning only fifth time in history of Mega Millions grand prize has reached into the billions

The Mega Millions jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.05bn Friday night, only the fifth time in the history of that particular lottery that the grand prize has reached into the billions.

It has been less than two weeks since someone in Los Angeles won a $1.08bn Powerball prize that ranked as the sixth-largest in US lottery history. The winner of that Powerball prize still has not come forward.

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US officer who put handcuffed woman in car hit by freight train found guilty

Jordan Steinke convicted on misdemeanour charges but found not guilty of more serious charges over 2022 crash in Colorado

A Colorado police officer who put a handcuffed woman in a parked police vehicle that was hit by a freight train was found guilty of reckless endangerment and assault but was acquitted of a third charge of criminal attempt to commit manslaughter during a trial Friday.

Jordan Steinke was the first of two officers to go to trial over the 16 September 2022 crash that left Yareni Rios-Gonzalez seriously injured.

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Five wounded, two critically, in Seattle parking lot shooting

Shooting on Friday night, in lot near where community event was taking place, the 413th US mass shooting this year

The latest mass shooting in the US left five people wounded in a Seattle parking lot Friday night, including two who were in critical condition, the city’s police chief said.

Seattle police responded to the shooting about 9pm on Rainier Avenue South in the parking lot of what was formerly known as King Donuts, and a community event was occurring nearby, the city’s police chief, Adrian Diaz, said at the scene.

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Julian Assange: US rejects Australia’s calls to end pursuit of WikiLeaks founder during Ausmin talks

Ministers’ meeting focused on military cooperation and agreed to increase ‘tempo’ of US nuclear-powered submarine visits to Australia as part of Aukus pact

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has pushed back at the Australian government’s calls to end the pursuit of Julian Assange, insisting that the WikiLeaks founder is alleged to have “risked very serious harm to our national security”.

After high-level talks in Brisbane largely focused on military cooperation, Blinken confirmed that the Australian government had raised the case with the US on multiple occasions, and said he understood “the concerns and views of Australians”.

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US bars Hong Kong leader John Lee from San Francisco Apec summit

Chief executive, who is under US sanctions over role implementing city’s national security law, will not be invited to November event

The United States will not invite Hong Kong’s chief executive, who faces US sanctions, to visit San Francisco during November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

John Lee, Hong Kong’s top official, was placed under US sanctions in 2020 because of his role in implementing what Washington deems a “draconian” national security law when he was the city’s security secretary.

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McCarthy plays down Trump charges as former White House lawyer says evidence in case is ‘overwhelming’ – live

Former president says he will not drop out of 2024 US election race despite new charges in classified documents case

CNN managed to track down Republican speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy at the Capitol to ask him if he was concerned about the new charges against Donald Trump.

The short version of the speaker’s answer, as you will see from the clip below, is that he is not:

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Marles says aircrew ‘yet to be found’ after military helicopter crash – as it happened

Four feared dead after Australian army helicopter crashes into waters off Hamilton Island. This blog is now closed

Tasmania police use cadaver dog in search for missing Belgian tourist

AAP reports Tasmania police hope an interstate cadaver dog can reveal where a missing Belgian tourist ended up after weeks of fruitless searches.

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Carlee Russell charged after admitting she fabricated kidnapping

Alabama authorities file criminal charges after Russell says story that she was kidnapped after checking on toddler was hoax

Authorities in Alabama said on Friday they had filed criminal charges against a woman who confessed to fabricating a story that she was kidnapped after stopping to check on a toddler she saw walking on the side of an interstate highway.

Carlee Russell was charged with misdemeanor false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident.

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Mystery surrounds case of US teen who re-emerged after going missing in 2019

Alicia Navarro, who police said had not been harmed and does not face charges, disappeared days before her 15th birthday

When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb, days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note promising she would return.

“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”

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Republican congressman rebuked by senators for swearing at young pages

Bipartisan disapproval for Derrick Van Orden, who yelled and cursed at school-age Senate helpers during late-night Capitol tour

A freshman Republican congressman from Wisconsin yelled and cursed at high school-aged Senate pages during a late-night tour of the Capitol this week, eliciting a bipartisan rebuke from Senate leaders.

Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin’s third district, used a profanity to describe the young pages as lazy and another to order them off the floor of the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday night, according to PunchBowl News. The pages were lying down to take photos, according to the publication.

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Mitch McConnell should step down as Senate minority leader after freezing, GOP senator says

Questions remain around mental fitness of Republican Senate leader, 81, after health scare in public earlier this week

Mitch McConnell, the 81-year-old Republican leader in the US Senate who suffered a public health scare this week, should step down from the role he has filled since 2007, an unnamed GOP senator said.

McConnell, from Kentucky, remains “intellectually sharp” on “a whole host of issues including baseball”, the anonymous senator told NBC News.

Reuters contributed to this report

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Trump, DeSantis and top Republican candidates to share stage at Iowa event

Tim Scott, currently third in polling, will also be among 13 presidential hopefuls participating in Lincoln Dinner on Friday

Nearly every major Republican presidential candidate will share a stage in the early voting state of Iowa on Friday night, as Donald Trump continues to dominate in the polls despite his numerous legal liabilities.

Thirteen candidates will appear at the Iowa Republican party’s 2023 Lincoln Dinner fundraiser, giving them an opportunity to address donors and local party leaders with less than six months left before the state’s crucial caucuses.

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Emmys 2023: awards likely postponed to next year due to Hollywood strikes

Vendors have reportedly been told the ceremony will be pushed as studios refuse to meet demands of actors and writers

Fox is expected to announce soon that the Emmy awards will be rescheduled to January next year due to the ongoing writers and actors strikes in Hollywood.

Variety first reported on Thursday that vendors for the ceremony have been informed of an imminent date change, but not given an exact date, while the Los Angeles Times cited an unnamed source familiar with the plans, who said Fox was planning to move the telecast date to January.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles, dies aged 77

The bassist and vocalist, who sang the hit Take It to the Limit, died of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles, has died at age 77, the band said on Thursday.

Meisner died on Wednesday night in Los Angeles of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the Eagles said in a statement.

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Trump faces more charges in classified documents case as second aide named

Prosecutors bring additional charges against former president as Mar-a-Lago worker Carlos De Oliveira named as third defendant

Federal prosecutors on Thursday expanded the indictment against Donald Trump for retaining national security documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them, unveiling new charges against him and an employee over an attempt to destroy surveillance footage.

The new charges – filed by the special counsel Jack Smith in Florida – were outlined in a superseding indictment that named Mar-a-Lago club maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira as the third co-defendant in the case. Trump’s valet Walt Nauta was previously indicted for obstruction with the former president last month.

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Oregon prison nurse guilty of sexually abusing nine women in custody

Tony Klein, 38, convicted of 21 of 23 federal charges and could face life imprisonment

A former nurse at women’s prison in Oregon was found guilty of sexually abusing nine women while they were in custody.

Tony Klein, 38, was convicted of 21 of the 23 federal charges, including 17 counts pertaining to sexual assault and four of making false statements under oath in a deposition.

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US-Saudi talks amid reports of far-reaching diplomatic plan for Middle East

But Jeddah’s demands for brokering an Israeli-Palestinian respite are reportedly a ‘non-starter’ and a ‘sucker’s bet’

The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has held talks with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in Jeddah, in what was reported to be part of a bid for an ambitious and far-reaching diplomatic breakthrough in the region.

The White House said Sullivan and the prince discussed on Thursday “initiatives to advance a common vision for a more peaceful, secure, prosperous and stable Middle East region interconnected with the world”.

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Changing Meta’s algorithms did not help US political polarization, study finds

Study of Facebook and Instagram data from 2020 election shows chronological lists had no measurable impact on polarization

The powerful algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram have increasingly been blamed for amplifying misinformation and political polarization. But a series of groundbreaking studies published on Thursday suggest addressing these challenges will require more than just tweaking the platforms’ software.

The four research papers, published in Science and Nature also reveal the extent of political echo chambers on Facebook, where conservatives and liberals rely on divergent sources of information, interact with opposing groups and consume distinctly different amounts of misinformation.

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Trump hit with further counts in classified documents case as second aide charged – as it happened

The blog is now closed, but you can read more about Donald Trump’s new charges here and about Hunter Biden’s ongoing legal challenges here.

Joe Biden will soon speak on his administration’s efforts to protect workers from extreme heat, including by asking the labor department to issue a “hazard alert” as swaths of the US struggle with scorching temperatures.

“The hazard alert will reaffirm that workers have heat-related protections under federal law. As part of the alert, the Department of Labor will provide information on what employers can and should be doing now to protect their workers, help ensure employees are aware of their rights, including protections against retaliation, and highlight the steps the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is currently taking to protect workers,” the White House announced. “Additionally, the Department of Labor will ramp up enforcement of heat-safety violations, increasing inspections in high-risk industries like construction and agriculture, while OSHA continues to develop a national standard for workplace heat-safety rules.”

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