Powerball, Panda-monium and a Looming Shutdown: Your Saturday US Briefing
The imminent government shutdown is weighing on everyone. Here in California, we’re worried that if Congress doesn’t reach
2023-09-30 23:29
Trucking giant Yellow Corp. declares bankruptcy after years of financial struggles
Trucking company Yellow Corp. has declared bankruptcy after years of financial struggles and growing debt
2023-08-07 16:55
Rich nations finalise $100 billion climate aid at Paris summit - Macron
By John Irish and Leigh Thomas PARIS Wealthy nations have finalised an overdue $100-billion climate finance pledge to
2023-06-23 16:27
'Counting On' stars Jedidiah and Katey Duggar welcome their second child together, fans say 'her name is perfect'
Jedidiah and Katey Duggar welcomed baby No. 2, Nora Kate Duggar, one year after the birth of son Truett Duggar
2023-06-03 10:55
Another sign that the US job market remains hot after US job openings rise unexpectedly in August
U.S. job openings rose unexpectedly in August, another sign the U.S. labor market remains strong in the face of higher interest rates
2023-10-03 22:19
China's premier says economic growth is accelerating and the country can hit its 5% target this year
China’s No. 2 leader says economic growth accelerated in the latest quarter and he expressed confidence it can hit the ruling Communist Party’s official target of 5% for the year
2023-06-27 13:15
Between 100 and 300 believed killed in Gaza hospital blast, according to preliminary US intelligence assessment
The US intelligence community assesses that there likely were between 100 to 300 people killed in the blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, and there was "only light structural damage at the hospital," according to an unclassified intelligence assessment obtained by CNN that adds more detail to the initial assessment released Wednesday finding Israel was not responsible for the strike.
2023-10-20 02:45
Climate: 'dangerous heat' could afflict billions by 2100
Current policies to limit global warming will expose more than a fifth of humanity to extreme and potentially life-threatening heat by...
2023-05-22 23:26
Nebraska Republicans approve combined gender-affirming care ban and anti-abortion bill after epic filibuster
For three months, a group of Nebraska lawmakers have ground nearly all legislative business in the state to a halt, grabbing the nation’s attention with a remarkable filibuster to stifle a bill that would end gender-affirming care for young transgender people. Late Tuesday 16 May, Republican lawmakers broke through, advancing a bill that not only bans gender-affirming care for trans people under 19 years old but also tacks on an amendment to outlaw abortion at 10 weeks of pregnancy and hands the state’s GOP-appointed medical officer the authority to set the rules for affirming care for trans youth. Lawmakers approved the amended version of legislative bill 574 by a vote of 33-14. The measure will go to a final round of votes before it heads to the desk of Republican Governor Jim Pillen, who intends to sign it into law. Hundreds of protesters filled the capital in Lincoln, standing outside the doors and in the gallery above lawmakers while chanting “one more vote to save our lives”; only one senator would have had to defect from supporters of the bill to kill the legislation. The vote – on the 78th day of a 90-day session – followed a series of maneuvers that opponents argued were bending and breaking the rules of the state legislature to hammer through the legislation and avert the filibuster, which would allow opponents to occupy their allotted time to speak the bill to death. “What you are attempting to do today is the lowest of the absolute lows,” state Senator Machaela Cavanaugh, who spearheaded the filibuster, told Republican lawmakers. “You literally have to cheat at every moment of this debate in every possible way. … You are allowing it to happen,” she added. “You do literally have blood on your hands, and if you vote for it, you will have buckets.” State Senator Megan Hunt, the first openly LGBT+ member of the state legislature and the mother of a trans child, lambasted lawmakers for their “escape routes” from the capitol to avoid facing protesters. “If you can’t go out and face them, you are not worthy,” she said. “Your legacy is filth.” In a statement following the vote, Governor Jim Pillen called the bill “an important step” to “protect” the future of the state’s children. Opponents of the bill forcefully opposed the inclusion of an abortion ban in a bill targeting gender-affirming care, two wholly separate issues combined into one, “but you all don’t care,” Ms Cavanaugh told Republican lawmakers. “You don’t care about due process, you don’t care about the people of Nebraska,” she added. “All you care about is the governor.” Abortion rights advocates and transgender rights advocates have frequently underscored the fact that anti-abortion measures and legislation targeting LGBT+ people are driven by the same lawmakers and activist groups, relying on similar arguments to restrict access to healthcare, with measures that have dominated state capitals across the country over the last few years. Lawmakers initially were set to only debate the gender-affirming care bill, which already went through two of three rounds of debate and votes. But legislative rules prohibit amendments on a final round, and opponents of the bill planned to filibuster through all two hours of debate to continue to block it. Last month, the filibuster blocked a measure from anti-abortion lawmakers to ban abortion at roughly six weeks of pregnancy. Attaching another anti-abortion measure, this time at roughly 10 weeks, gave proponents of the bill a second chance of both advancing an anti-abortion law and the gender-affirming care ban, marrying two controversial measures to get to the necessary 33-vote threshold to advance. In February, Ms Cavanaugh vowed to “burn the session to the ground” if the ban on gender-affirming care advanced, launching an epic filibuster that blocked every bill until the measure was withdrawn or defeated. State Senator Kathleen Kauth, an Omaha Republican who proposed the bill targeting gender-affirming care, said the amended version would protect children from what she called a “social contagion.” “Kids deserve the right to grow up and not deal with this until they are adults and can make informed decisions,” said Ms Kauth, who did not mention the fact that such decisions are made with families and their doctors. The anti-abortion measure provides no exceptions for pregnancies with fatal fetal anomalies and does not explicitly protect doctors who perform abortions from criminal prosecution. “What is wrong with you?” said Ms Hunt, calling the combined bill a “desperate attempt to institute an abortion ban that is unpopular, unnecessary, and unsafe.” More than a dozen states, mostly in the US South, have severely restricted or effectively outlawed abortion in the year after the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v Wade, which affirmed a constitutional right to abortion access. Nebraska’s legislation also joins a nationwide campaign that has seen hundreds of bills aimed at LGBT+ people, particularly at young trans people, filed in nearly every state within the last two years. At least 15 states have enacted laws or policies banning gender-affirming care for young trans people, and more than a dozen others are considering similar measures. Court injunctions have blocked bans from going into effect in three states. More than half of all trans youth in the US between the ages of 13 and 17 are at risk of losing access to age-appropriate, medically necessary and potentially life-saving gender-affirming healthcare in their home state, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The onslaught of legislation and volatile political debate surrounding the bills have also negatively impacted the mental health of an overwhelming majority of young trans and nonbinary people, according to polling from The Trevor Project and Morning Consult. A separate survey from The Trevor Project found that 41 per cent of trans and nonbinary youth have seriously considered attempting suicide over the last year. Read More Inside the ‘mentally exhausting’ protest shutting down Nebraska’s anti-trans legislation Inside Montana’s ‘disturbing’ attack on trans kids and the campaign to silence lawmaker Zooey Zephyr Exclusive: Zooey Zephyr responds to her political silencing and Montana’s attacks on trans children: ‘I show up with my head held high’ Anti-abortion laws harm patients facing dangerous and life-threatening complications, report finds
2023-05-17 11:24
Paris Hilton opens up about welcoming ‘angel’ baby London: ‘I’m loving my mom era’
Paris Hilton has shared new details about welcoming her second child with husband Carter Reum: daughter London. The 42-year-old DJ joined Today co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on 27 November, where she discussed becoming a mother of two to 10 month-old son Phoenix Barron and her newborn daughter, London. “She is just a little angel and my life just feels so complete with my little baby boy and my baby girl,” Hilton said. “We’re just over the moon.” When asked how her journey to motherhood compares to previous chapters of her life, the reality TV star candidly admitted: “I’m loving my mom era.” “I feel just so at peace, so happy, so grateful for my husband and this beautiful family and life that we’re building together,” Hilton added. “I couldn’t imagine anything else. I’m just over the moon with everything.” The socialite shared how her 10-month-old son has adjusted to becoming a big brother. While Bush Hager noted that Hilton’s children “are so close in age”, the Simple Life alum maintained that Phoenix understands there’s a new baby in the family. “I’m like: ‘This is your baby sister, London,’” she explained. “He’s just so gentle and sweet, and he’ll put his hand out and rub her arm or face.” Hilton - who has previously been open about the alleged abuse she experienced as a teen at the Provo Canyon School in Utah - went on to reveal how the lessons she’s learned throughout the years will impact how she raises her children. “Now being a mom and how protective you are, I’m just always thinking about one day when my kids are teenagers - how that’s a scary thing,” she said. Hilton added that she’s “always going to be there” for her children and will teach them how to deal with unwanted feelings. “Just not holding on to shame, that shouldn’t be on you. It should be on the people who hurt you,” the Paris: The Memoir author said. “The number one rule in our house is just to have kind human beings, so that’s who we’re raising them to be.” Hilton and Reum - who have been married since November 2021 - surprised the world last week when they announced the arrival of their second child together via surrogate. For the big announcement, the model posted a photo of a pink pajama set with the name “London” inscribed on the collared top. “Thankful for my baby girl,” she captioned the post. Much like the birth of her son Phoenix, Hilton waited until her baby girl was born to share her arrival with not only the world, but also her family. “The only people who knew were obviously Carter, my mom, and my sister. But my parents didn’t know when it was happening, they just knew that it was going to happen,” Hilton said on Today. “It was the best Thanksgiving surprise ever for everybody.” When Phoenix was born in January this year, the TV personality didn’t inform her family their surrogate gave birth until one week later. “Not even my mom, my sister, my best friend knew until he was over a week old,” Hilton explained on her iHeartRadio podcast, This Is Paris. “It was really nice to have that with Carter, be our own journey together. I just feel like my life has been so public, and I’ve never really had anything be just mine.” In a preview clip for her Peacock reality TV series, Paris in Love, Hilton’s venture capitalist husband shared his thoughts on keeping the birth of their first baby a secret. “I don’t think it ever hit me we weren’t going to tell anyone, that was really Paris,” Reum said in the teaser. “My initial inclination was to tell my family and get everyone excited, hers was to hold the secret.” However, her husband admitted that he understood why Hilton was apprehensive about sharing Phoenix’s expected delivery date. “But she’s had to go through life having to protect herself, so I was gonna do everything I could to be a good teammate,” Reum added.
2023-11-28 06:46
Senate Targets US Investments in China Through Key Defense Bill
The Senate attached a measure to the annual defense policy bill that would subject some US investments in
2023-07-26 06:45
'RHONJ' fans call Joe Gorga an 'insult to real comics' as he announces stand-up comedy show
Joe Gorga trolled as 'RHONJ' fans don't find star funny during Instagram live
2023-09-21 13:47
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