Unconscious children rushed to hospital but are now stable, weeks before new CO detector law goes into effect in Allentown
A malfunctioning heater sent a dangerously high level of carbon monoxide into a Pennsylvania daycare center early Tuesday, sickening dozens of children – some of whom were unconscious as they were rushed to the hospital – and several adults.
More than 30 people were hospitalized. All were listed in stable condition.
Continue reading...Space agency attempted first test of its kind two weeks ago to see if in the future a killer rock could be nudged out of Earth’s way
A spacecraft that plowed into a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles from Earth succeeded in shifting the orbit of the space rock, Nasa said on Tuesday, announcing the results of its first such test.
The US space agency strategically launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (“Dart”) spacecraft into the path of the asteroid, thereby throwing it off course.
Continue reading...Court filing addresses ex-president’s bid to return 103 documents with classification markings to special master for review
The US justice department has asked the US supreme court to reject Donald Trump’s attempt to re-include 103 documents with classification markings in the special master review that is examining whether materials the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort are protected by privilege.
The justice department argued in a 34-page brief that the supreme court should reject the former president’s motion and keep the 103 documents out of the special master’s purview since Trump did not show he was being irreparably harmed and that his arguments about jurisdiction lacked merit.
Continue reading...Rhinoceros-size Minnesota native wins big in California and will compete once more before being retired to stud
Growers from across the country descended on the California coast carrying with them some of the world’s most gargantuan pumpkins.
The giant pumpkin weigh-off, held annually ahead of Half Moon Bay’s pumpkin festival just south of San Francisco, is considered by competitors to be a Super Bowl of sorts in the unique sport, and the behemoths entered this year – some weighing as much as an average rhinoceros – did not disappoint.
Continue reading...Culture minister says UK institution ‘should learn from what has happened’ as Smithsonian returns 29 Benin artefacts
The culture minister of Nigeria has urged the British Museum to follow the example of the Smithsonian Institution, which on Tuesday returned ownership of 29 Benin bronzes to Nigeria at a celebratory event in Washington.
Lai Mohammed praised the move by the US National Museum of African Art, which follows a recent restitution agreement with Germany that included the handover of two Benin bronzes. Last year, Mohammed’s ministry formally requested the return of Benin artefacts from the British Museum in London.
Continue reading...Moves by Opec+ to reduce production seen as siding with Putin over the US just as midterms loom
Joe Biden said there “will be consequences” for Saudi Arabia after its decision last week to side with Vladimir Putin and cut oil production.
“There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done, with Russia,” the US president said in an interview on CNN. “I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be – there will be consequences.”
Continue reading...Influential Democratic senator threatens to freeze weapons sales to the kingdom. Plus, Ukraine demands more western missiles
Good morning.
A backlash is growing against Saudi Arabia in Congress after an influential Democratic senator threatened to freeze weapons sales and security cooperation with the kingdom after its decision to support Russia over the interests of the US.
Frustration with Saudi Arabia is escalating on Capitol Hill. Chris Murphy, another Democratic senator, last week called for a “wholesale re-evaluation of the US alliance with Saudi Arabia” and Tom Malinowski, a Democratic congressman, introduced legislation to withdraw US troops from the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
Continue reading...Mountain lion sauntered up to Damon Ross and Cylin Busby’s driveway and had a lie in front of their home over the weekend
No matter how famous the mountain lion known as P-22 is in the Los Angeles area that is home to him, few people have gotten to see the big cat from a yard away.
But Los Feliz couple Damon Ross and Cylin Busby can now make that claim after the mountain lion sauntered up to their driveway and had a lie in front of their home over the weekend.
Continue reading...The Fashion Workers Act would curb abuses ranging from enforced financial dependency to sex trafficking
Kaja Sokola was a shy teen from Wroclaw, Poland, when she received news that changed her life: modeling agents saw her photo during an open casting call, and they wanted her to walk at a show in Warsaw.
Sokola had done one or two walks in a dress or skirt, but the show was mostly underwear. She was 14.
Continue reading...In Mississippi, poverty is high and water problems blight the state. But Republicans seem adamantly against spending to help their constituents
In his four decades as mayor of Glendora, a Mississippi Delta town surrounded by creeks, fields and not much else, Johnnie B Thomas has gotten used to bad news.
He’s seen the town’s main drag grow desolate as its few businesses closed down, and the sole clinic follow suit. He’s watched storms drop trees on to houses – including his own, mortally wounding his wife. He pleaded for help as the seemingly unstoppable force that was Covid infected and killed his neighbors, a younger brother among them.
Continue reading...Jaheim McMillan, 15, was taken off life support after Gulfport police shot him in the head on Thursday at the Family Dollar shop
A Black teenager in Mississippi was taken off life support days after Gulfport police shot him in the head outside a discount store, and his relatives are questioning officers’ actions.
Jaheim McMillan, 15, was shot on Thursday. The Harrison county coroner, Brian Switzer, confirmed to the Sun Herald that the Gulfport High School freshman died on Saturday after he was taken off life support at USA University Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday, Switzer said.
Continue reading...The third-largest maintenance workers’ union opposed the deal, saying concerns over paid time off remained unaddressed
The US’s third-largest railroad union rejected a deal with employers Monday, renewing the possibility of a strike that could cripple the economy. Both sides will return to the bargaining table before that happens.
Over half of track maintenance workers represented by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division who voted opposed the five-year contract, which contained 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. Union President Tony Cardwell said the railroads didn’t do enough to address the lack of paid time off – particularly sick time – and working conditions after the major railroads eliminated nearly one-third of their jobs over the past six years.
Continue reading...Analysis of budgets finds rich nations, including UK, ‘exacerbated explosion of economic inequality’
Many of the world’s poorest countries have cut health spending during the last two years, sometimes to make debt repayments to rich creditors, according to a report by Oxfam that shows inequality between rich and poor nations worsening during the coronavirus pandemic.
Analysis of national budgets across 161 nations found that despite the biggest global health emergency in a century, half of low- and lower-middle-income countries cut health spending, while almost half cut their welfare budgets and almost three-quarters cut education spending.
Continue reading...Likely appointment of Republican Nebraska senator as president of the university sparks protests during his campus visit
Less than a week after being revealed as the likely next president of the University of Florida (UF), the Republican senator Ben Sasse was met with protests when he appeared on campus in Gainesville on Monday.
“Hey-hey, ho-ho, Ben Sasse has got to go,” protesters chanted, seeking to draw attention to the Nebraskan’s views on LGBTQ+ rights.
Continue reading...In leaked audio clips from October 2021, Nury Martinez can be heard making disparaging comments about a colleague’s Black son
The president of the Los Angeles city council has stepped down after a series of bombshell audio clips captured her calling a colleague’s Black son “a little monkey”, among other racist and disparaging remarks.
Nury Martinez apologized for the October 2021 remarks during a meeting over redistricting with fellow council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo and labor leader Ron Herrera, and stepped down as city council president on Monday.
Continue reading...Top Republican House made claim in meeting with police officers despite ex-president having urged supporters to ‘fight like hell’
Republicans looking to win in the upcoming midterms have campaigned on high inflation and rising crime. But over the weekend, Alabama’s Republican senator Tommy Tuberville resorted to another tactic: racism.
“They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bullshit!” Tuberville declared in a speech on Saturday.
Continue reading...The drought hit Lake Shasta coughed up a Higgins vehicle and experts are struggling to explain its presence
Waning water levels across the west – symptoms of the region’s record drought – have revealed yet another artifact.
Dubbed the “Ghost Boat” by officials, the rusted carcass of a second world war Higgins boat, used to transport troops into battle and on to beaches overseas, began to emerge from the shallows in Lake Shasta last fall. Levels have sunk low enough this year to excavate the craft fully.
Continue reading...Newport officers said three devices had washed on to the beach and instructed public not to handle or move them
Police in Oregon last week warned local beachgoers about grenades that had washed on to the shore and appeared to still be able to explode.
The police department in the city of Newport issued a statement on Wednesday saying three separate grenades had somehow washed on to the beach there a day earlier.
Continue reading...Christina Bobb told justice department on Friday that she signed supposedly complete list of documents at direction of another lawyer, Evan Corcoran
Donald Trump’s lawyer Christina Bobb was instructed to certify to the justice department that all sensitive government documents stored at his Mar-a-Lago resort subpoenaed by a grand jury had been returned, though she had not herself conducted the search for the records.
The certification of subpoena compliance appears to be at the center of a criminal investigation into obstruction of justice surrounding the former US president after the assurance was proved to be untrue when the FBI’s search of the property turned up more than 100 more documents marked classified.
Continue reading...Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad was subjected to force by IDF soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint
Israel says it has reached a settlement with the family of a Palestinian-American man who died after soldiers used force to detain him, in a rare case of compensation for a Palestinian claim of wrongdoing by Israeli forces.
Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad, 78, was detained at a checkpoint in Jiljilya in the occupied West Bank in January and “apprehended after resisting a check”, according to an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) statement. He was handcuffed, gagged and blindfolded for between 20 minutes and an hour, and found by locals after the soldiers left.
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