US Black women-owned venture capital fund mounts defense to conservative's race lawsuit
By Nate Raymond The founders of a venture capital fund devoted to funding Black women-owned businesses on Thursday
2023-08-11 05:15
Virgin Galactic: First space tourism mission after decades of promises
Keisha Schahaff and UK student Ana Mayers become the first mother-daughter duo to travel to the edge of space.
2023-08-11 04:21
Special counsel proposes 2 January trial for Trump over effort to overturn 2020 election
Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office has asked the District of Columbia judge overseeing the 2020 election subversion case against former president Donald Trump to schedule the twice-impeached, thrice-indicted ex-president’s trial for a four to six week period beginning on 2 January next year. In an eight-page filing authored by Senior Assistant Special Counsels Molly Gaston and Thomas Windom, the special counsel’s office said their proposed schedule would give Mr Trump and his defence team sufficient time to prepare a case and review the evidence which the government is prepared to turn over as part of the discovery process, as well as litigate any pre-trial matters such as the request for a change of venue Mr Trump has said he will call for. The prosecutors also said that a 2 January 2024 trial date would “most importantly ... vindicate the public’s strong interest in a speedy trial,” which they described as being “of particular significance” because Mr Trump is “charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens’ legitimate votes”. “A January 2, 2024, trial date represents an appropriately speedy trial in the public interest and in the interests of justice, while affording the defendant time to prepare his defense and raise pre-trial legal issues with the Court,” they said. At his arraignment one week ago, Mr Trump’s attorneys indicated that they would request significant delays and ask Judge Tanya Chutkan to stop the clock set under the Speedy Trial Act which sets out a 70-day period in which trials in criminal cases are required to begin. The ex-president’s legal strategy in both civil and criminal matters, dating back decades, is to cause as many delays as possible through any means possible. The three criminal cases against him have not proved an exception to this pattern, as Mr Trump is understood to believe his best chance at avoiding any negative consequences from the cases is to win next year’s presidential election. But the magistrate judge who presided over the arraignment, Moxila Upadhyaya, told Mr Trump’s counsel that Judge Chutkan intends to set a trial date after a status conference on 28 August, and gave the government a full week to propose a trial schedule. Mr Trump’s team will now have a week to respond to the department’s proposed schedule, though it’s unlikely that the ex-president’s counsel will agree with the government’s timeline. At the arraignment last week, Trump attorney John Lauro suggested that he and his co-counsel could not begin to consider any possible trial date until they’d received the evidence which the government must turn over as part of the pre-trial discovery process. “We need all that information, I think, in order to address the issue of when we would be ready, and also the extent to which we would have an idea of how long the trial would be,” he said. Mr Trump’s legal team has already prevented the discovery process from kicking off by objecting to the government’s proposed protective order on the grounds that it would violate the ex-president’s right to free speech by barring him from publicly revealing evidence while on the campaign trail. The prosecutors noted the disconnect between the arguments made at arraignment and the Trump defence team’s refusal to agree to a protective order that would allow them to begin reviewing discovery, calling the contradiction “perplexing”. They also slammed Mr Lauro’s claim that the defence is “starting with a blank slate” as “impossible” and “disingenuous,” citing Mr Trump’s awareness of and response to much of the evidence which was previously made public during the House January 6 select committee’s hearings last year and the panel’s final report. Continuing, prosecutors also pointed out that one of Mr Trump’s lawyers, Evan Corcoran, has long represented the ex-president in matters relating to his efforts to overturn his election loss. “The defendant has a greater and more detailed understanding of the evidence supporting the charges against him at the outset of this criminal case than most defendants, and is ably advised by multiple attorneys, including some who have represented him in this matter for the last year,” they said. “The Government’s proposed schedule and January 2 trial date afford the defendant many months to review the discovery in this matter, raise pre-trial legal issues, and prepare his defense. No additional time is necessary or warranted under the Speedy Trial Act and in light of the public’s strong interest in a prompt trial”. Read More Trump and one co-defendant plead not guilty in superseding Mar-a-Lago indictment Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch, poll finds Trump complains world has ‘never been nastier than it is now’ as cases against him proceed Trump says Georgia DA ‘may change her mind’ about indicting him as he launches fresh attack Prosecutors seek Jan. 2 trial date for Donald Trump in his 2020 election conspiracy case Georgia DA Fani Willis tells staff to ignore Trump’s ‘derogatory and false’ attacks Trump says world has ‘never been nastier than it is now’ as cases against him proceed
2023-08-11 02:54
Four Americans wrongfully detained in Iran released on house arrest, signaling a potential end to their imprisonment
Four Americans who have been wrongfully detained in Iran have been released from prison and are now under house arrest, a lawyer for one of the prisoners told CNN on Thursday, a sign that they may soon be freed from years of imprisonment.
2023-08-11 00:20
Credit card and car loan delinquencies pass pre-Covid levels as consumers get squeezed
More Americans are failing to make payments on their credit cards and auto loans, another sign of rising financial pressure on consumers.
2023-08-10 23:26
Ecuador politician murder: Prison gangs in terror reign
A presidential candidate has been killed in the latest assassination in Ecuador as gang crime soars.
2023-08-10 21:29
David Hunter: Cyprus prosecutors appeal against manslaughter conviction
He was convicted of the manslaughter of his seriously ill wife but could be tried again for murder.
2023-08-10 21:21
US FDA approves Johnson & Johnson's blood cancer therapy
(Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved its antibody-based therapy for patients
2023-08-10 19:45
Rachel Morin - updates: Police increase patrol along trail and warn ‘there could be somebody out here’
Maryland detectives investigating the homicide of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin have said they do not have a solid suspect yet in the case and warned members of the community to be vigilant. "Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, ‘yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event’," Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler told WBALTV. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air at around 6pm on Saturday evening, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. After she failed to return home that night, her boyfriend reported her missing. Then on Sunday afternoon, a Maryland father discovered a woman’s body in a tunnel off the trail which was later confirmed to be Morin. Mr Gahler announced that Morin’s case is now a homicide investigation at a press conference that evening. Rebekah Morin, the deceased’s sister, started a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses. As of Thursday morning, it has raised almost $41,000. Read More Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular Maryland hiking trail. Her sister says she ‘did not go willingly’ Rachel Morin’s boyfriend says he ‘would never do anything to her’ as homicide probe launched Rachel Morin’s chilling Facebook post before mother-of-five found dead on Maryland hiking trail
2023-08-10 18:55
UN-Syria Bab al-Hawa aid delivery deal raises fears
A deal is reached to reopen a vital crossing, but aid groups warn it could be manipulated by Syria.
2023-08-10 17:58
The broadest look yet at Clarence Thomas' luxury travel bankrolled by wealthy friends reveals private jet and helicopter rides and VIP sporting event tickets
The list of gifts and hospitality Justice Clarence Thomas has received from wealthy friends is more extensive than previously known, according to a new ProPublica report.
2023-08-10 17:53
Elephant Whisperers: Indian couple in Oscar-winning elephant film sue makers
Elephant Whispers tells the story of Bomman and Bellie as they care for an orphaned baby elephant.
2023-08-10 15:57