Venezuela quake death toll passes 4,000 as scale of recovery effort looms large pred 1 dnevom, 6 urami in 10 minutami Nearly 17,000 injured and thousands more are listed as missing amid calls by UN and president Delcy Rodríguez for financial helpThe death toll in Venezuela’s devastating twin earthquakes has topped 4,000, the government said on Friday.At least 4,118 people were killed and 16,740 injured in the back-to-back quakes on 24 June that flattened entire districts in the coastal state of La Guaira, Venezuelan parliament chief Jorge Rodriguez wrote on Telegram. Thousands more are listed as missing. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Crews again drain Trump’s troubled reflecting pool pred 1 dnevom, 6 urami in 36 minutami Workers observed draining water from Lincoln Memorial pool plagued by algae blooms and peeling paintCrews were observed Friday draining the plagued Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, a landmark at the heart of Donald Trump’s mission to beautify Washington DC.Interior secretary Doug Burgum, whose agency oversees the National Park Service, told conservative podcaster Katie Miller in an interview released earlier this week that the new round of draining was planned. He also said that the water might still contain debris from an extensive Independence Day fireworks display over the National Mall. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Man charged with Bedfordshire murder of his wife and daughters after arrest in South Africa pred 1 dnevom, 8 urami in 6 minutami Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma was arrested in a Johannesburg suburb after an international manhunt A man has been charged with murdering his wife and two young daughters after being arrested in South Africa following an international manhunt.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had authorised three counts of murder against Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, 45, after he was arrested on Friday in Kensington, a suburb of Johannesburg. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Graham Platner officially withdraws candidacy for US Senate in Maine pred 1 dnevom, 8 urami in 51 minutami Paperwork ends Democratic campaign laden with scandals, including most recently accusations of sexual assaultGraham Platner, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Maine, officially withdrew his candidacy on Friday afternoon, ending a campaign laden with scandals.Maine’s secretary of state confirmed Platner had filed the paperwork to remove his name from the November ballot, two days after Platner publicly said he planned to exit the race. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
John Fetterman joins forces with Republican counterpart in Senate for fundraising committee pred 1 dnevom, 9 urami in 30 minutami Venture between two Pennsylvania senators stokes speculation about Fetterman’s future in Democratic partyThe Democratic senator John Fetterman, who has faced mounting political challenges, is joining forces with the Republican senator Dave McCormick to launch a new joint fundraising committee, a move that is likely to fuel additional questions about Fetterman’s increasingly rightward lurch.Pennsylvania’s two US senators have established a shared fundraising committee that will collect donations benefiting both of their campaigns in an unusual bipartisan arrangement. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Rapper Pitbull and fans set ‘bald cap’ Guinness World Record at London show pred 1 dnevom, 10 urami in 3 minutami Crowd of more than 22,000 people – and the musician himself – filled Hyde Park with the ‘largest gathering of people wearing bald caps’A tight plastic cap is not an attractive option for protective headwear in 30C (86F) heat. Yet 22,141 people opted for just that – along with a white shirt, black tie and aviator sunglasses – in Hyde Park, London, on Friday afternoon. It was both a homage to the rapper Pitbull, the night’s headliner at the BST festival, and part of setting a Guinness World Record for the “largest gathering of people wearing bald caps”.“I’m speechless. Who would have thought a first-generation Cuban would be record-breaking and record-making?” said the rapper, accepting the award in an all-black suit. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
EPA to open habitats of endangered species to logging and mining pred 1 dnevom, 10 urami in 10 minutami Habitat destruction strongest driver of species loss, with legislation keeping 99% of listed species from going extinctThe Trump administration repealed a crucial part of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on Friday, finalizing a new rule that will open habitats of imperiled wildlife to development, logging, mining and other uses.For the last 50 years, the landmark environmental law included a broader understanding of the word “harm”, which ensured that not just the plants and animals themselves were protected but also the places that are critical to their survival. The inclusion of habitat in the “harm” definition was upheld by the supreme court in 1995, which ruled in support of old-growth forest protections relied on by endangered spotted owls. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
NAACP demands end of Trump’s anticrime taskforce in Memphis after deaths of Black men pred 1 dnevom, 11 urami in 6 minutami Advocacy group calls on acting attorney general to lead ‘thorough, transparent federal investigation’The deaths in recent days of two Black men in Tennessee, one in the custody of police and the other at the hands of national guard troops, has prompted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to demand the suspension of the so-called Memphis Safe Task Force, Donald Trump’s anti-crime alliance of federal, state and local law enforcement.In a letter to the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, on Friday, the NAACP also demanded “a thorough, transparent federal investigation” into the actions of the taskforce, which it said has surged federal and military officers into Memphis with insufficient training for civilian policing. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Man who was killed by ICE in Texas never ‘weaponized’ his vehicle, witnesses say pred 1 dnevom, 11 urami in 7 minutami Lawyer says men who were riding in van are being pressured to self-deport as footage of incident is reportedly with investigatorsSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailThe three men who were in the van when federal immigration officials shot and killed a man in Houston, Texas, this week are strongly disputing the Trump administration’s narrative of the events and are being pressured to sign deportation orders, according to their lawyer and lawmakers.The three men, who were arrested by immigration officials during the incident, denied that the driver of the vehicle, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, “weaponized” his vehicle against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. They also told their lawyer that there was never an ICE official in front of the van and that the shots that killed Salgado came from the “sides” of the vehicle. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
King Charles understood to have met Prince Harry’s children at Highgrove pred 1 dnevom, 11 urami in 38 minutami Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet believed to have had private reunion with kingKing Charles has enjoyed a private reunion with the grandchildren he has not seen for four years, it is understood.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, were hosted by Charles and Queen Camilla at the king’s private residence, Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, on Friday afternoon. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
