After seven years and an ambitious plan to open 880 outlets, US chain’s local franchise files for bankruptcy
Domino’s Pizza has pulled out of the Italian market after failing in its mission to conquer the home of pizza.
The US fast food chain’s departure from Italy after seven years followed a period in which the business was badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, which in turn forced traditional Italian pizzerias to adopt their own delivery services.
Continue reading...Shahram Poursafi, who US says belongs to Revolutionary Guards, offered money to hitman to avenge Suleimani death, DoJ alleges
The US has charged an Iranian man it says is a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with attempting to hire a hitman for $300,000 to kill John Bolton, the former national security adviser in the Trump administration.
The Department of Justice said Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, offered the money in November 2021 to an unidentified person in the US to “eliminate” Bolton, apparently to avenge the drone killing of the IRGC commander Qassem Suleimani, in January 2020.
Continue reading...Democrats select progressive Becca Balint for Vermont House seat while Trump-backed candidate nominated for Wisconsin governor
Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a member of the select progressive group in the House of Representative dubbed the Squad, eked out a closer-than-expected Democratic primary victory on Tuesday night against a centrist challenger who questioned the incumbent’s support for the “defund the police” movement.
The evening went far smoother for another progressive, Becca Balint, who won the Democratic House primary in Vermont – positioning her to become the first woman representing the state in Congress.
Continue reading...Beijing blames its actions on US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan
Taiwan has become the latest focal point in the fraught relationship between London and Beijing, with the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, summoning China’s ambassador to explain his government’s recent actions over the self-ruled democracy.
“I instructed officials to summon the Chinese ambassador to explain his country’s actions. We have seen increasingly aggressive behaviour and rhetoric from Beijing in recent months, which threaten peace and stability in the region,” Truss said in a statement.
Continue reading...Antony Blinken announces formal working group during Kinshasa visit, while voicing concerns over auction of oil and gas permits
The US and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have agreed to form a working group to protect the enormous Congo basin rainforest and peatlands, which are threatened by oil and gas exploration.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, made the announcement in Kinshasa on Tuesday while expressing his concern over the sale of dozens of oil and gas permits in the DRC that included blocks in Virunga national park and the Cuvette Centrale tropical peatlands, part of an area described as “the worst place on the planet” to drill for oil and gas.
Continue reading...Gas prices drop sharply after a hitting a national average of $5 a gallon in mid-June
The pace of price rises dipped in the US in July as gas prices eased, bringing down the annual rate of inflation to 8.5%, still close to a multi-decade high but lower than the four-decade peak it hit in June.
July’s figure, while still high, represents a significant fall from the annual rate of 9.1% recorded in June and will raise hopes that inflation has finally peaked in the US. It follows other indicators that have suggested price rises are moderating.
Continue reading...Search warrant executed by FBI agents suggests investigation comes with potentially far-reaching political ramifications for former president. Plus, America’s toxic algal bloom
Good morning.
Federal investigators searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Monday bearing a warrant that broadly sought presidential and classified records that the justice department believed the former president unlawfully retained, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Could the Mar-a-Lago raid benefit Trump politically? Trump is widely believed to be pursuing a presidential run in 2024. Some suggested that it would fuel his supporters’ suspicion of federal law enforcement officials, whom Trump and his allies have long disparaged as corrupt and biased.
Why didn’t the FBI just use a subpoena? The fact that the FBI sought a search warrant rather than a subpoena implies it did not trust Trump to hand over or preserve official documents in his possession.
What else has the FBI done? Federal investigators seized the cellphone of the Republican congressman Scott Perry on Tuesday, his office said. Perry is a close ally of Trump.
What will happen now? The program now will be unwound in a “quick, and orderly manner”, DHS said in a statement. No more people are being enrolled and those who appear in court will not be returned to Mexico when they appear in the US for their next hearings.
Why did the Biden administration decide to end the policy? The policy “has endemic flaws, imposes unjustifiable human costs, and pulls resources and personnel away from other priority efforts to secure our border”, the department said.
Continue reading...Beijing repeats resolve to annex Taiwan by force if peaceful means prove unsuccessful
Beijing has announced an end to its military drills surrounding Taiwan but said further “training and war preparation” would continue.
It made the announcement shortly after reaffirming its commitment, in a major policy paper, to use force against Taiwan if it could not take control “by peaceful means”.
Continue reading...Trump and other candidates’ fundraising emails foment outrage and urge donations to stop the ‘Radical Left’
Republican and rightwing groups have swiftly used the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s winter home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida to raise money from their supporters by bombarding them with fundraising emails and appeals for donations.
In public the former US president, his allies and nearly all senior Republicans have expressed deep outrage at the raid, which is linked to Trump apparently keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago from his time in the White House. But the same figures have also seen the moment as a clear opportunity to urge supporters to dig deep into their pockets.
Continue reading...Search warrant executed by FBI agents suggests investigation comes with potentially far-reaching political ramifications for former president
Federal investigators searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Monday bearing a warrant that broadly sought presidential and classified records that the justice department believed the former president unlawfully retained, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The criminal nature of the search warrant executed by FBI agents, as described by the sources, suggested the investigation surrounding Trump is firmly a criminal probe that comes with potentially far-reaching political and legal ramifications for the former president.
Continue reading...Republican’s phone could be relevant to bid to overturn 2020 election and mishandling of official records
Federal investigators seized the cellphone of the Republican congressman Scott Perry on Tuesday, his office said, suggesting the justice department is examining the communications of a close ally of Donald Trump and person of interest to the House January 6 select committee.
The move by the FBI to take Perry’s phone came a day after federal agents executed a search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and seized boxes of documents, though it was not clear whether the two events were connected.
Continue reading...Ahmad Abouammo found to have given users’ personal information to Mohammed bin Salman’s aide
A former Twitter employee has been found guilty of spying on Saudi dissidents using the social media platform and passing their personal information to a close aide of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A jury in a federal court in California found Ahmad Abouammo, a dual US-Lebanese national, had acted as an unregistered agent of the Saudi government.
Continue reading...Albuquerque’s police chief says officers ‘tracked down the vehicle believed to be involved’ in slayings over last nine months
Albuquerque police have detained a man as the primary suspect in the killings of four Muslim men in New Mexico’s largest city.
The city’s police chief on Tuesday announced the update on Twitter. Chief Harold Medina said officers had found the vehicle that investigators believe was involved in the killings over the last nine months.
Continue reading...Officials designated a 2.7-mile stretch in Brunswick, Georgia, as Honorary Ahmaud Arbery Street, vowing to never forget his death
A crowd of dozens chanted on a sweltering street corner Tuesday as Ahmaud Arbery’s hometown unveiled new street signs honoring the young Black man who was murdered after being chased by three white men and shot in a nearby Georgia neighborhood – a crime local officials vowed to never forget.
Arbery’s parents joined the memorialization the day after the men responsible for their son’s death received stiff prison sentences in US district court for committing federal hate crimes.
Continue reading...Homeland security says it ended policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings hours after judge lifted an order
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that it has ended a Trump-era policy requiring asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in US immigration court, hours after a judge lifted an order, in effect since December, that the so-called Remain in Mexico rule be reinstated.
The timing had been in doubt since the US supreme court ruled on 30 June that the Biden administration could end the policy.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Father of one of three soldiers slain by Hekmatullah says Australia was ‘sidelined’ in deal between US and Taliban to release terrorist from prison
The family of one of the Australian soldiers killed by rogue Afghan national army sergeant Hekmatullah says Australia was treated with contempt by its closest ally, the US, after it agreed to release the self-professed terrorist from prison.
The Guardian revealed on Monday that the former Afghan national army sergeant, and Taliban plant, Hekmatullah, is again at liberty, and housed under Taliban protection, in the former diplomatic quarter of the Afghan capital Kabul.
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Continue reading...Former US president angered by ‘unannounced raid’ as part of ongoing investigation into potentially unlawful removal of White House records
Barbara McQuade at USA Today explains quite why the FBI and Justice Department might be concerned about White House documents being left lying around a Trump residence like Mar-a-Lago. It isn’t just a matter of wanting to retain a complete record of Trump’s time in office for the sake of it. She writes:
Mishandling classified information is a serious crime because it puts at risk sources and methods of information relating to national security. If the content of the documents were to end up in the wrong hands, the identity of government sources could become known and their lives put at risk. Or our methods of collecting information, such as technological capabilities, could become known, undermining their utility. You can’t leave boxes lying around when they contain the kinds of government secrets that can get people killed, even if you’re the former president.
Continue reading...Joseph Rowntree Foundation, consumer champion Martin Lewis and CBI chief urge PM to act urgently to help people with soaring energy bills
More on the new forecast for UK energy bills from Cornwall Insight, which spells more misery for millions of families across the UK.
The consultancy’s principal consultant, Dr Craig Lowrey, said:
It is essential that the government use our predictions to spur on a review of the support package being offered to consumers.
If the £400 was not enough to make a dent in the impact of our previous forecast, it most certainly is not enough now.
The government must make introducing more support over the first two quarters of 2023 a number one priority. In the longer term, a social tariff or other support mechanism to target support at the most vulnerable in society are options that we at Cornwall Insight have proposed previously. Right now, the current price cap is not working for consumers, suppliers, or the economy.
Continue reading...Bipartisan group calls for new hearing over lack of evidence in case of Richard Glossip, 59, as state rushes to speed up executions
A letter signed by 61 Oklahoma lawmakers – most of them pro-death penalty Republicans – has been sent to the state’s attorney general calling for a new hearing in the case of Richard Glossip, a death row inmate scheduled to be executed next month.
Forty-four Republican and 17 Democratic legislators, amounting to more than a third of the state assembly, have written to John O’Connor pleading for the new hearing.
Continue reading...Sources say the Monday morning search was part of an inquiry into missing White House records after Trump’s presidency. Plus, tributes pour in for Olivia Newton-John
Good morning.
Federal investigators have seized documents from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, according to two sources familiar with the matter, the latest indication of a sharply intensifying criminal investigation by the US justice department into his affairs.
Was Trump at home at the time of the raid? No. The former president was at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, one of the sources said.
How did the Republicans react to the news about the raid? They responded furiously to the development, following Trump’s lead in claiming that the search showed the justice department waging a politically motivated witch-hunt. It’s a familiar playbook.
What lawsuits and investigations is Trump facing? The businessman and politician is facing investigations and lawsuits on a number of fronts. Here’s our recap.
The treaty, which limits each country’s deployed strategic warheads to 1,550, and imposes limits on delivery systems, was extended for five years in February 2021. Its inspection and verification clauses are widely seen as vital in building mutual confidence and preventing nuclear miscalculation.
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