Violent storm destroys tents of displaced people in Gaza
A powerful storm has swept through Gaza, worsening conditions for displaced people.
Thieves steal 100,000 eggs from trailer in Pennsylvania as prices spike
Police search for culprit in Antrim township heist as US egg prices continue to rise amid bird flu outbreak
Police in Pennsylvania are hunting for thieves who stole 100,000 eggs from the back of a trailer, amid a US-wide spike in the price of eggs that has triggered panic-buying in some shops.
The eggs were lifted from the back of Pete & Gerry’s Organics’ distribution trailer on Saturday at about 8.40pm in Antrim township, according to police. There have been no arrests yet.
Continue reading...Racial gap widened in deaths among US mothers around childbirth in 2023
Black women died at rate nearly 3.5 times higher than white women, CDC data shows
Black women in the US died at a rate nearly 3.5 times higher than white women around the time of childbirth in 2023, as maternal mortality fell below pre-pandemic levels overall but racial gaps widened, according to federal health data released Wednesday.
In 2021 and 2022, the maternal death rate for Black women was about 2.6 times higher than white women.
The maternal death rate for white women dropped from 19 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022 to 14.5 per 100,000 in 2023.
The rate for Black women went from 49.5 to a little above 50, though the report says that increase was not statistically significant.
The rate for Hispanic women dropped from about 17 to about 12.
The rate for Asian Americans fell from about 13 to about 11.
Continue reading...US supreme court may revive doctrine that would curb federal agencies’ power
Case on nondelegation doctrine comes after conservative court substantially curbed regulatory power in recent years
The US supreme court may soon revive an obscure, pro-big business legal doctrine that could make it virtually impossible for the US government to develop new laws and regulatory rules that protect Americans.
The theory, called the “nondelegation doctrine”, could also potentially invalidate large pieces of bedrock American laws and protections put in place since the first Congress.
Continue reading...BBC and ITV slash big-budget TV spend as US streamers pour money into UK
Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky also among UK broadcasters making cuts as Netflix, Disney and Amazon pile on pressure
UK broadcasters slashed their spending on big-budget TV shows to the lowest level in almost a decade last year, even as their US rivals Netflix, Disney and Amazon ploughed hundreds of millions more into British-made premium content.
In a sign of the increasing competitive pressures of the streaming era, the amount spent on high-end TV shows costing more than £1m an hour to make by domestic operators such as the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky, plunged by a quarter last year to £598m.
Continue reading...The Alabama museum grappling with the ‘Gulf of America’ – BBC.com
- The Alabama museum grappling with the 'Gulf of America' BBC.com
- Who owns the Gulf of Mexico and can Trump rename it? The Independent
- EPA Renames Its Gulf Division to Honor the Gulf of America U.S. EPA.gov
- E&E News: EPA renames water quality program to ‘Gulf of America’ POLITICO Pro
- 'Gulf of America' Name Change May Not Last Past Trump's Presidency, Expert Says CNET
Low growth and rising prices – it’s looking gloomy for the UK – BBC.com
- Low growth and rising prices - it's looking gloomy for the UK BBC.com
- Bank of England Cuts Rates While Warning of Inflation and Trade War Risks The New York Times
- Friday briefing: The Bank of England interest rate cut suggests there are more gloomy times ahead The Guardian
- Traders Boost BOE Easing Bets, Favor Three More Cuts in 2025 Bloomberg
- Bank of England signals further easing after rate cut, slashes growth outlook CNBC
Unambiguously bleak Bank of England forecasts pave way for spending cuts
Weak jobs market and above-target inflation will dent Reeves’s growth plans and may wipe out fiscal headroom
- Bank cuts interest rates to 4.5% and halves UK growth forecast
- What does the rate cut mean for mortgages and savings?
- Business live – latest updates
With the public finances tight and Rachel Reeves having pledged to balance the books, interest rate cuts are one of the few levers that could boost the UK’s economic growth in the short term, and the chancellor will be glad of the Bank of England’s quarter-point reduction on Thursday – and the clear signal that it is now in cutting mode.
Seven of the monetary policy committee’s (MPC) nine members backed the quarter-point drop, taking the Bank’s policy rate to 4.5%, while two wanted to be more “activist”, proposing a half-point cut. The Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, said the MPC would be “taking a gradual and careful approach to reducing rates further”.
Continue reading...Grenfell Tower demolition would risk fire being forgotten, some survivors say
Grenfell United says voices of bereaved have been ignored and they fear disaster could be ‘put out of mind’
The demolition of Grenfell Tower could mean that the injustice of the fatal fire is “put out of sight and out of mind” and forgotten, some survivors have said.
The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, told a meeting on Wednesday that the 24-storey block in which 72 people were killed in June 2017 would be dismantled to ground level. The decision has prompted anger and claims that the government has failed to listen to the views of the bereaved and survivors.
Continue reading...Rubio accuses South Africa of ‘anti-Americanism’ and snubs G20 meeting
US secretary of state repeats remarks by Donald Trump about ‘expropriation of private property’ in African nation
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has accused South Africa of “anti-Americanism” and refused to attend a G20 meeting in Johannesburg later this month, as diplomatic ties sour between the two countries under Donald Trump’s administration.
Rubio made the announcement on X, where he repeated the US president’s unfounded claim that South Africa was expropriating private property.
Continue reading...Several nationalities among Sweden school shooting victims, police say
Syrian embassy says its citizens were among 11 killed in attack by lone gunman in Örebro
• Europe live – latest updates
People of several nationalities were among the 11 killed at a school in Sweden’s worst mass shooting, police have said.
Anna Bergkvist, who is leading the police investigation, told Agence France-Presse that people of “multiple nationalities, different genders and different ages” were among those killed by a lone gunman at Campus Risbergska, an adult education centre, in the city of Örebro on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Israel tells army to prepare plans for Palestinians ‘who wish to leave’ Gaza
Order comes after Donald Trump suggested US take over territory and resettle its residents elsewhere
Israel’s defence minister has ordered the military to prepare plans to allow Palestinians “who wish to leave” Gaza to exit, after Donald Trump suggested the US take over the territory and resettle its residents in other countries.
A Hamas official attacked the proposal as a “declaration of intent to occupy” Gaza, as Egypt, which Trump named as a possible destination for Palestinians, launched an intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic campaign to block it going further.
Continue reading...Tunisia’s Ennahdha party slams lengthy jail term for its leader Ghannouchi
Opposition party criticises ‘political trial’, saying it is reminiscent of pre-2011 revolution government.
Trump might want to revive America’s imperial heyday – but does his base?
The president’s Gaza proposal is a signal that old-school, blunt-force US expansionism seems to be back in fashion
Donald Trump’s proposal that the US take ownership of the Gaza Strip, expel and resettle the people there, and turn Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” has outraged Palestinians, shocked the international community and even confused many of his own conservative voters.
Yet the announcement seems like yet another sign that the president, while sometimes distancing himself from the neoconservative foreign policies that entangled the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, is willing to pursue – or at least entertain pursuing – an undisguised US imperialism that has more in common with the expansionism of Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson, the 19th- and early 20th-century presidents associated with some of American’s most brazen and violent conquests.
Continue reading...Bank of England cuts interest rates to 4.5% and halves UK growth forecast
Latest quarter-point reduction comes with warning households face inflation of 3.7% by autumn
- Unambiguously bleak forecasts pave way for spending cuts
- What does the rate cut mean for mortgages and savings?
- Business live – latest updates
The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 4.5%, as it halved its UK growth forecasts for the year and warned households would face renewed pressure from rising prices.
With the government under fire over the sluggish economy, the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted by a majority of seven to two to reduce its key base rate, down from 4.75%, to provide some financial relief to borrowers.
Continue reading...Panama Canal denies US claim of free passage for government vessels
Panama Canal Authority says ready to hold a dialogue with Washington, DC, regarding transit of American wartime vessels.
Panama denies US claims over free canal passages
Washington had suggested Panama had agreed to no longer charge fees for US government vessels using the waterway.
Which countries, other than the US, offer birthright citizenship?
At least 33 countries, mostly in the Americas, provide automatic citizenship to anyone born within their borders.
More than 150 female inmates raped and burned to death during Goma jailbreak in DRC, UN says – CNN
- More than 150 female inmates raped and burned to death during Goma jailbreak in DRC, UN says CNN
- Over 150 women raped during Congo prison break, U.N. says NBC News
- Hundreds of Women Raped and Burned to Death as M23 Rebels Seize Eastern DRC’s Goma Democracy Now!
- Hundreds of women raped and burned to death after Goma prison set on fire The Guardian
- Hundreds of women raped and burnt alive when militants stormed DR Congo prison The Independent
Refugee shot in eye during deadly 2014 crossing into Spain files complaint to UN
Survivor of Ceuta incident that ended with 14 deaths asks why use of anti-riot equipment was never investigated
A refugee who was almost blinded in one eye during a police operation that ended with the deaths of at least 14 people off the coast of Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta 11 years ago has filed a complaint to the UN Committee Against Torture.
Shortly before dawn on 6 February 2014, about 200 people tried to enter Ceuta by climbing the border fence or by swimming around the breakwater that separates the city from Moroccan territory.
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