Category Archives: US News

Pennsylvania’s ‘road to hell’ reopens after fire-induced bridge collapse

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Biden hails ‘proud union workers’ for speedy reopening after stretch of I-95 collapsed following tanker fire earlier in June

Pennsylvania’s “road to hell” reopened on Friday less than two weeks after a tanker fire caused traffic misery for millions.

Joe Biden praised engineers, laborers and “many other proud union workers” for fulfilling his promise to “move heaven and earth” to reopen a busy stretch of the I-95 east coast interstate artery that had been closed since it collapsed in the incident earlier this month.

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Weather tracker: China issues heatstroke alert amid historic heatwave

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Tianjin reports all-time record of 41.4C, while Texas and Mexico break numerous temperature records

Parts of north-east China are in the grip of a historic heatwave, with hundreds of weather stations reporting record highs for the month of June. On 22 June the capital Beijing observed a temperature of 41.1C (106F), a record high for the month, and the first time a temperature higher than 40C had been observed since 2014. On the same date, the city of Tianjin reported 41.4C, a new all-time record for any month. Additionally, Dagang had its hottest day on record, with a temperature of 41.8C.

The national weather bureau in China issued an alert for heatstroke last week, almost two weeks earlier than is typical from previous years. Authorities have advised people to suspend outdoor work during the middle part of the day, when the temperatures are at their highest. The high temperatures have also led to increased pressure on the power grid, with a more than 20% increase in demand reported in Tianjin on 15 June compared with last year. Temperatures in north-east China will remain on the extreme side over the coming week, with highs of 40-42C forecast each day in places. The all-time Beijing temperature of 41.9C could be seriously under threat.

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Titan tragedy: Canada launches investigation; CEO of sub company ‘dismissed safety fears’ – as it happened

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Canadian transport watchdog to launch safety investigation; Stockton Rush reportedly emailed deep-sea expert saying concerns were ‘baseless cries’

William Kohnen, chairman of the Manned Underwater Vehicles Committee, said the regulations for building submersible vessels were “written in blood”.

Kohnen’s organisation, based in Los Angeles in the US, raised safety concerns in 2018 about OceanGate’s development of Titan.

We’re only smart because we remember what we wrote and what we did wrong last time.

The rules are written in blood – it is in there because it caused trouble before, and to say: ‘Well I think we’re just going to ignore that and go on our own way,’ suggests there might be a bit of input of wisdom that this might not be the best decision.

It’s too early to tell, there’s data that’s going to have to be collected over the coming days, weeks and months, and I’m sure the team will work with whoever is conducting the investigations to cooperate and provide as much information as possible.

At that point, we’ll be in a better position to tell (what went wrong).

There are regulations in place but as you can imagine there aren’t many subs that go that deep, so the regulations are pretty sparse and many of them are antiquated and designed for specific instances.

It’s tricky to navigate those regulatory schemes.

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Friday briefing: Life under an American abortion ban, told through one woman’s tragic story

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In today’s newsletter: On the anniversary of Roe v Wade’s overturning, one woman tells her story of being forced to carry a baby to term

Good morning. A year ago tomorrow, the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, and reproductive rights in America were thrown into turmoil. The landmark 1973 ruling had guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion for almost 50 years. With its removal, the ability of tens of millions of women to make decisions about their own bodies was abruptly stripped away.

Twelve months on, the picture for many is grim.

Titanic sub | The US Navy has said it detected an “anomaly” that was likely the Titan’s fatal implosion, soon after the submersible went missing on its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic. Film director James Cameron has also claimed his sources in the deep-sea exploration industry detected a “loud bang”.

Mortgages | The government’s pledge to ease the cost of living crisis is in tatters after the unexpected leap in interest rates to 5%, a “shock and awe” move by the Bank of England which some fear will push the UK into recession.

London | Ministers have been accused of criminalising the flying of the European union flag on government buildings in England after London’s City Hall was told it could be prosecuted for displaying it on the anniversary of the Brexit referendum.

Covid | England’s chief medical officer, Sir Chris Whitty, said the UK “did not give sufficient thought” to stopping Covid in its tracks as he listed multiple problems with preparedness in his first cross-examination at the pandemic public inquiry. He added that the government’s “big weakness” was a lack of “radicalism” in thinking before the crisis took hold.

Diabetes | The number of adults living with diabetes worldwide will more than double by 2050, according to research that blames rapidly rising obesity levels and widening health inequalities. New estimates predict the number will rise from 529 million in 2021 to more than 1.3 billion in 2050.

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US honeybees suffer second deadliest season on record

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Nearly 50% of US bee colonies died off last year, although efforts have helped the overall bee population remain ‘relatively stable’

The US’s honeybee hives just staggered through the second highest death rate on record, with beekeepers losing nearly half of their managed colonies, an annual bee survey found.

But by using costly and herculean measures to create new colonies, beekeepers are somehow keeping afloat. Thursday’s University of Maryland and Auburn University survey found that even though 48% of colonies were lost in the year that ended 1 April, the number of US honeybee colonies “remained relatively stable”.

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China reportedly rebukes US ambassador after Biden called Xi a ‘dictator’

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US president sought to play down the impact of his comments, saying ‘I don’t think it’s had any real consequence’

The Chinese government has reportedly reprimanded the US ambassador to China over comments made by President Joe Biden in which he referred to President Xi Jinping as a “dictator”.

Nicholas Burns received the diplomatic note hours after Biden made comments about Xi at a fundraiser in California, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing three unnamed US officials.

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Rust film: weapons supervisor on Alec Baldwin movie charged with evidence tampering

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Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is accused of passing drugs to someone on the day of on-set fatal shooting

The weapons supervisor charged with involuntary manslaughter over the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust has been charged with evidence tampering for allegedly passing drugs to someone else on the day of the shooting.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed “did transfer narcotics to another person with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of herself”, the special prosecutors appointed in the case said in a court filing in Santa Fe county, New Mexico. They gave no further details.

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‘True explorers’: tributes paid to men killed in ‘catastrophic implosion’ of Titan sub

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Families, friends and colleagues remember Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood and Paul-Henri Nargeolet

Tributes have been paid to the five people who are now believed to have been instantly killed in a “catastrophic implosion” of the Titan submersible during its dive to the Titanic.

On Thursday, after days of aerial and underwater searches, a robotic diving vehicle deployed from a Canadian ship discovered a debris field from the submersible Titan on the seabed 1,600 feet (488 metres) from the bow of the Titanic.

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Titanic sub crew believed to have died instantly in ‘catastrophic implosion’

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Debris field spotted by ROV scouring seabed ‘consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber’, US Coast Guard says

Five crew members onboard the submersible Titan were probably killed instantly in a “catastrophic implosion” as it descended to the wreck of the Titanic two miles below the surface of the Atlantic ocean, US Coast Guard officials announced on Thursday.

A large debris field containing multiple sections of the vessel were spotted earlier in the day by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) scouring the seabed near the Titanic wreck site 400 miles south of St John’s, Newfoundland, officials said at an afternoon press conference in Boston.

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3M pays $10.3bn to settle water pollution suit over ‘forever chemicals’

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Settlement will provide funds to US municipalities over 13 years to test for and treat PFAS contamination in public water systems

3M Co has reached a $10.3bn settlement with a host of US public water systems to resolve water pollution claims tied to “forever chemicals”, the chemical company announced on Thursday.

The company said the settlement would provide the funds over a 13-year period to cities, towns and other public water systems to test for and treat contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

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US navy says it picked up ‘anomaly’ hours after sub began mission – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

A popular Mexican travel Youtuber, Alan Estrada has recalled his trip down to visit the wreck of the Titanic aboard the Titan submersible.

Estrada told the BBC that everyone who joined on the trip “were fully aware of the risks we were taking”.

But I never felt unsafe. I was fully aware of the risks and I knew that if something happened, if there was a failure in those depths and the submersible imploded, we probably wouldn’t even notice.

We continue to come together for our friends, their families and the ideals of The Explorers Club, and the cause of safe scientific exploration of extreme environments.

There is good cause for hope, and we are making it more hopeful.

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India secretly works to preserve reputation after ‘flawed democracy’ rating

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Exclusive: Democracy Index downgrades country amid backsliding under nationalist rule of Narendra Modi

The Indian government has been secretly working to keep its reputation as the “world’s largest democracy” alive after being called out by researchers for serious democratic backsliding under the nationalist rule of Narendra Modi, according to internal reports seen by the Guardian.

Despite publicly dismissing several global rankings that suggest the country is on a dangerous downward trajectory, officials from government ministries have been quietly assigned to monitor India’s performance, minutes from meetings show.

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Special hearing to examine decisions made after Ohio trail derailment

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NTSB to hold rare field hearing in East Palestine, Ohio and focus on crucial decision to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride

Some of the key decisions made in the aftermath of February’s fiery derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in eastern Ohio will be examined at a hearing on Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board is holding a rare field hearing in East Palestine, Ohio, over the next two days. Thursday’s hearing will focus on the emergency response to the derailment and the crucial decision officials made days later to release the toxic vinyl chloride in five tank cars and burn it to keep those cars from exploding.

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Phil Spencer, Xbox chief, on AI: ‘I’m protective of the creative process’

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Spencer played down concerns about AI being used to streamline the video game production process and said it had a role in moderation

Artificial Intelligence is very much on the news agenda right now. The unstoppable rise of ChatGPT and the seemingly imminent prospect of generalised AI able to re-create broad human thinking processes has seen concerns raised by everyone from major business CEOs to Geoffrey Hinton, one of the godfathers of AI research. AI has been an element of video game design and production for at least two decades, but now with AI art programs and the rise of procedurally generated game dialogue, there are growing questions over how AI is going to effect not just the content of games, but the teams that make them.

Talking at the Xbox games showcase in Los Angeles recently, Xbox chief Phil Spencer played down concerns that AI could be used to streamline the game production process and therefore lead to smaller teams.

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Dozens injured as apple-sized hailstones hit Colorado concertgoers

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Onslaught at Louis Tomlinson concert at Red Rocks amphitheater near Denver described as ‘straight out of a horror movie’

Dozens of people were injured by hailstones the size of apples that pelted concertgoers in Colorado on Wednesday night, with at least seven needing hospital treatment following the powerful storm.

Witnesses described the onslaught, at a concert by former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson at the Red Rocks amphitheater in Morrison, west of Denver, as “straight out of a horror movie”.

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Trump critic Will Hurd announces Republican run for president

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Former CIA officer and Texas congressman pitches himself as moderate alternative to current crop of primary contenders

Former Texas congressman Will Hurd, a onetime CIA officer and fierce critic of Donald Trump, announced on Thursday that he’s running for president, hoping to build momentum as a more moderate alternative to the Republican primary field’s early front-runner.

Hurd, who made the announcement on CBS Mornings, served three terms in the House through January 2021, becoming the chamber’s only Black Republican during his final two years in office. He said in a video launching his White House bid that the “soul of our country is under attack,” reminiscent of Democrat Joe Biden’s slogan about the 2020 race being a “battle for the soul of the nation.”

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George Santos: two people who guaranteed $500,000 bail to be revealed

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Guarantors’ aided Republican congressman after he was charged with fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds

The identities of two people who guaranteed George Santos’s $500,000 bail after the Republican congressman was charged with 13 counts of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds were set to be revealed on Thursday.

Earlier this week, a federal judge in Long Island, New York, set 12pm ET as the time for the guarantors’ identities to be released.

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Rare combination of tornadoes and softball-sized hail leads to deaths in Texas

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Severe storms with hurricane-force winds in north-west Texas killed at least four people and caused widespread damage

A line of severe storms produced what a meteorologist calls a rare combination of multiple tornadoes, hurricane-force winds and softball-sized hail in north-west Texas, killing at least four people and causing significant damage around the town of Matador. National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Ziebell says the supercell developed about 8pm local time Wednesday near Amarillo before striking Matador, injuring nine people in addition to the four killed and causing widespread destruction. Ziebell says the storm later produced 109 mph winds at Jayton in addition to the four-inch or larger hail.

“That is certainly rare to see all at the same time, killer tornadoes, hurricane-force winds and softball-sized hail,” Zeibell said.

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Moscow court rules US reporter accused of spying must remain in detention

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US ambassador says she is ‘extremely disappointed’ at decision not to release WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich

A Moscow court has ruled that the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich must remain in pre-trial detention on espionage charges until at least late August, rejecting the American journalist’s appeal to be released.

Gershkovich appeared slightly pale and with longer hair after almost three months’ detention in Lefortovo prison in Moscow, which is reserved for targets of FSB investigations. He was smiling in some photos.

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Titanic sub: rescuers intensify search as fears grow over Titan’s remaining oxygen supply

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Equipment including deep sea vehicles heading to site as theoretical limit of oxygen supply inside Titan submersible nears

The search for a submersible that went missing during a dive to the wreck of Titanic has entered its fourth day, amid concerns the oxygen supply sustaining its five passengers is running dangerously low.

Equipment from the US, Canada, UK and France is heading to the scene of the search, about 400 miles (640km) south of St John’s, Newfoundland, joining an international coalition of rescue teams that is sweeping a vast expanse of the north Atlantic for the Titan after it went missing on Sunday, nearly two hours into its dive.

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