African Central Banks to Keep Interest Rates Tighter for Longer
African central banks due to decide on interest rates in the next three weeks are set to keep
2023-07-18 11:59
Asia Shares Mixed Amid Lingering China Concerns: Markets Wrap
Asian stocks traded mixed Tuesday as China’s sluggish economic recovery triggered growth forecast cuts and a warning from
2023-07-18 10:49
Portland murders - live: Person of interest identified in ‘serial killings’ of four women
A string of murders in the Portland, Oregon metro area that police previously said were unrelated have now been linked as authorities identified a person of interest. Deputies in nine different police departments released a joint statement on Monday saying the deaths of four women who were found either near or on the sides of roads between February and May are somehow connected. The women have been identified as Kristin Smith, 22, Charity Lynn Perry, 24, Bridget Leann (Ramsay) Webster, 31, and Ashely Real, 22. Police haven’t identified the person of interest linking the deaths yet or filed any charges. Local media sites have identified the alleged person at the center of the investigation, but this information is unconfirmed. Read More Deaths of four women in Portland linked to person of interest, authorities say
2023-07-18 09:20
Trump news live: Trump loses bid to drop Georgia case, as ex-intel officials say his re-election would hurt US
Donald Trump has lost a bid to have the Georgia election interference case thrown out after the state’s supreme court ruled against him. The ex-president is accused of trying to bully state officials to change the results in the wake of his 2020 defeat, telling them to “find” him enough votes to win the state. A decision on charges is expected next month. A former Trump White House official has written a new book which quotes a senior former intelligence official warning that a second Trump term poses such a danger that it could mean the country barely exists in its current form by the time of America’s tricentennial in 2076. Meanwhile, the ex-president is considering his Republican 2024 rivals as potential running mates should he win the GOP nomination. The former president told Fox News on Sunday that his running mate could “possibly” be among those in the 2024 field. He said Vivek Ramaswamy had “done a very good job” and Senator Tim Scott is a “very good guy” but stopped short of saying who he might pick. Read More Donald Trump brands US a ‘third-world hellhole’ run by ‘perverts’ and ‘thugs’ Ron DeSantis campaign fires staff as Florida governor trails Trump in the polls Fundraising takeaways: Trump and DeSantis in their own tier as Pence and other Republicans struggle RFK Jr revives antisemitic conspiracy theory that Covid-19 was ‘ethnically targeted’ to spare Jewish people
2023-07-18 09:16
Georgia Supreme Court tosses Trump attempt to challenge 2020 election investigation over vote call
Georgia’s Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an attempt from Donald Trump to shut down key parts of a probe from state officials investigating him for potential interference in the 2020 election. The high court found in a unanimous ruling that the former president hadn’t shown the kind of “extraordinary circumstances” that would require the Georgia Supreme Court to intervene in the case and toss out key portions of evidence. “(Trump) has not shown that this case presents one of those extremely rare circumstances in which this Court’s original jurisdiction should be invoked, and therefore, the petition is dismissed,” the ruling states. The judges also were not persuaded by Mr Trump’s arguments that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be removed from the case. On 11 July, a new set of grand jurors were sworn in for the long-running investigation who could potentially be the ones to approve an indictment against the former president. Since February 2021, officials in Fulton County have been investigating the conduct of Mr Trump and his allies in the state during the hotly contested 2020 election, where Joe Biden narrowly carried the state. The investigation has focused on an infamous 2 January, 2021, call Mr Trump placed to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, urging the top official to “find” enough votes for him to overturn his defeat in the state, but has expanded to cover a wide-ranging influence campaign Mr Trump and his allies exerted in Georgia. Another key area of focus is a December 2020 plot, allegedly directed by Trump campaign officials and potentially the former president himself, to organize a slate of unauthorised Republican electors to cast the state’s Electoral College votes, rather than the Democratic slate Georgia voters had selected. The group of false electors included the chair of the Georgia GOP and Republican members of the state legislature. They’ve defended their efforts as a back-up in case the original election results were tossed out in court. Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing. Ms Willis has suggested a decision on charges against Mr Trump could come as soon as August. Charges in Georgia would join the other unprecedented sanctions against the former president, including felony charges in New York for a hush money scheme involving a porn star and federal charges against Mr Trump for his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Read More Trump news – live: Manchin run could help Trump as ex-president eyes two of his GOP 2024 rivals for VP Citing Trump case, Pentagon leak suspect Teixeira urges judge to release him while he awaits trial Senior ex-intelligence official warns second Trump term could fatally destabilise US, new book says Georgia's top court rejects Trump attempt to thwart prosecutor in 2020 election investigation 9th Circuit denies bid by environmentalists and tribes to block Nevada lithium mine Trump praises judge overseeing classified documents case: ‘She loves our country’
2023-07-18 08:57
Millions again under smoke advisory due to Canada wildfires
Smoke returns to the northern and eastern US and parts of Canada as wildfires continue to burn.
2023-07-18 07:50
Typhoon Talim: Thousands evacuated as typhoon hits southern China
Vietnam is also bracing to evacuate people from areas forecast to be hit by the powerful storm.
2023-07-18 07:47
RFK Jr's conspiracy theories and Republican supporters
Robert F Kennedy Jr is under fire over comments suggesting Covid-19 was "ethnically targeted".
2023-07-18 06:49
White House condemns RFK Jr’s ‘vile’ antisemitic Covid conspiracy claim
The White House on Monday condemned anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr’s claim that the virus which causes Covid-19 was somehow engineered to target white and Black people while sparing Asians and Jews of Eastern European descent as an example of antisemitism that puts Americans at risk. During a press event in New York City on 11 July, Mr Kennedy baselessly stated that “there is an argument to be made” that the disease is “ethnically targeted” and claimed that the Sars-CoV-2 virus was “targeted to attack Cucasians and Black people” even as “those who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese”. Mr Kennedy later falsely claimed that he had made the remarks at an off-the-record event and attacked the New York Post who had reported on his offensive comments, accusing him of trying to “to discredit [him] as a crank — and by association, to discredit revelations of genuine corruption and collusion.” His comments were widely condemned by numerous Jewish groups including the Anti-Defamation League, which called them “deeply offensive” pointed out that they “feed into sinophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories”. Speaking at the White House daily press briefing on Monday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to respond to Mr Kennedy directly, citing his status as a 2024 presidential candidate. But Ms Jean-Pierre said the anti-vaccine activist’s comments were insensitive to the “countless” American families with empty seats at the dinner table because they’ve lost people to the virus since it began spreading across the globe in March 2020. Continuing, Ms Jean-Pierre said the claims Mr Kennedy made on a tape which was published by The New York Post were “false” as well as “vile,” and said they “put our fellow Americans in danger”. “if you think about the racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories that come out of saying those types of things, it’s an attack on our fellow citizens, our fellow Americans and so it is important that we ... speak out when we hear those claims made more broadly,” she said. “This President and this whole administration is going to stand against ... those false claims against ... Asian Americans, against Jewish Americans,” she said. “We’re going to continue to speak out and we believe ... it’s important to protect the dignity of our fellow Americans”. Read More RFK Jr revives antisemitic conspiracy theory that Covid-19 was ‘ethnically targeted’ to spare Jewish people RFK Jr press dinner screaming match over climate crisis ends with columnist launching his own natural gas Robert F Kennedy Jr calls interviewer ‘unfair’ for spelling out his laundry list of conspiracy theories Editor apologises for publishing RFK Jr anti-vaxx screed: ‘I should have been fired’
2023-07-18 04:57
Chip CEOs to Meet Brainard, Sullivan Over China Restrictions
National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan are joining a White House meeting
2023-07-18 03:53
Family of Mallory Beach, teen killed in Murdaugh boat crash case, announces $15 million settlement with convenience store company
The family of a teenager killed in a crash involving a boat owned by the prominent South Carolina Murdaugh family has settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the convenience store that Paul Murdaugh, then 19, purchased alcohol from the night of the crash.
2023-07-18 03:23
Greece wildfires: 1,200 children evacuated from summer camp as blaze nears
Two separate blazes are tearing through the country as it suffers the effects of a scorching Mediterranean heatwave.
2023-07-18 02:29