List of All Articles with Tag 'americas'

Donald Trump and his aide Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty in federal court on several charges claiming that the former president kept classified documents at his private Florida club Mar-a-Lago and attempted to hide some of them from government authorities with the help of his staffers. Mr Trump, who waived his right to appear at the Thursday arraignment in Fort Pierce, Florida, entered his plea via his lawyers. The ex-president was initially charged with 37 crimes in a June indictment, to which he pleaded not guilty. The following month, prosecutors added another three charges in a superseding indictment. Mr Trump pleaded not guilty to those charges on Thursday. Mr Nauta attended the hearing on Thursday, where he also pleaded not guilty after being charged with six charges in the initial indictment and another two counts in the superseding filing. More follows...

Two suspects who were involved in the Montgomery riverboat brawl have finally turned themselves in. Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, surrendered to the Montgomery Police Department, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, days after they were allegedly involved in a massive fight on a dock last weekend. Mr Todd and Mr Shipman are among three men facing one count of assault in the third degree, which is a misdemeanour, in connection with the incident. The fight began on Saturday when a deckhand on the Harriott II riverboat, Damian Pickett, confronted the owners of a pontoon boat so that the ship could dock. Viral video captured the owners, who are white, punching Mr Pickett, who is Black, before an all-out brawl ensued - largely along racial lines. On Tuesday, Police Chief Darryl Allen identified the three suspects, adding that one of them had already turned themselves in—that person appears to be Richard Roberts, 48. Police said they are seeking yet another man for further interviews: Reggie Gray. The police chief described him as “wielding that folding chair” in videos, as he picked up a chair and hit people over the head with it. A spokesperson for the Montgomery Police told The Independent on Thursday that Mr Gray has not yet been in contact with the police, but assured that the authorities will “certainly” find him. All three of the men are white, and all three were members of the pontoon boat, which was reportedly blocking the Harriott II—which was carrying 227 passengers—from docking. So the captain’s deckhand, Mr Pickett, was taken from the riverboat to the dock to try to reason with the members of the pontoon boat, asking them to move. They did not take it well. The next part went viral - as the owner of the pontoon boat started attacking Mr Pickett. On Wednesday, the captain of the Harriott II, Capt Jim Kittrell, said he believed the attack was driven by race. “The white guys that attacked my deckhand—and he was a senior deckhand first mate—I can’t think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated,” he said. The brawl grew from there. However, he conceded that after the initial exchange, the fight did not appear to be “Black and white.” “It was just shipmates trying to help a shipmate,” the captain said. “They could’ve been little green men, for all they cared. When they attacked Damien, my crew was gonna jump out and do the best they could to help him out. It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, that’s all it was.” Chief Albert explicitly said that the people aboard the pontoon boat were not local to Montgomery. “This is not indicative of who we are as a city. We are much better than that,” he said. Read More Alabama dockside brawl was racially motivated, riverboat captain says Riverfront brawl brings unwelcome attention to historic civil rights city in Alabama

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

Joe Biden dismissed a question posed by Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy by calling it “a lousy question”. Doocy, who was reporting from New Mexico following Mr Biden’s address on green energy endeavours, inquired about the recent congressional testimony of Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, the president’s son. Mr Archer’s testimony last week indicated that Hunter Biden had at times placed his father, who was then serving as vice president, on speakerphone during business discussions. Amid Republican assertions of potential corruption, allegations have arisen suggesting the president’s involvement in his son’s business activities. “We got a first of its kind of reaction to that testimony,” Doocy said on Wednesday. “Nobody has asked President Biden yet about these allegations from a former Hunter Biden business associate, that Hunter would call his dad – then the vice president – and put him on speakerphone to chat with his business associates. So, at the conclusion of this event, I had a chance at the president’s invitation – he waved us on over – to ask him.” Then Fox News cut to the exchange. Doocy asked the president, “There’s this testimony now where one of your son’s former business associates is claiming that you were on speakerphone a lot with them talking business. Is that what…” Mr Biden hit back, saying, “I never talked business anybody, and I knew you’d have a lousy question.” “Well, what, why is that a lousy question?” responded Doocy. The president said “because it’s not true”. Early last year, a hot microphone captured the president referring to Doocy as “a stupid son of a b****” following a question posed by the reporter about inflation. Towards the end of last year, Doocy again asked Mr Biden about the same topic that had led to the earlier insult. “Just hoping to clarify for midterm voters, top domestic issue: inflation or abortion?” Doocy had asked the president then. Mr Biden grinned on hearing the question and then answered, “All important! Unlike you, there’s no one thing. It crosses the board... domestic... ask me about foreign policy, too.” Mr Biden again clashed with Doocy earlier this year after he was asked why classified documents had been found stored next to his Corvette sports car. “Classified materials next to your Corvette? What were you thinking?” Doocy had asked the president at a White House event this January. “My Corvette’s in a locked garage so it’s not like it’s sitting on the street,” responded Mr Biden. “So the material was in a locked garage?” Doocy pressed. “Yes, as well as my Corvette,” Mr Biden said. Read More Trump 2020 electoral college plan outlined in memo as Twitter special counsel search warrant revealed - latest Indictment shows White House lawyers struggling for control as Trump fought to overturn election Biden welcoming Australian leader to White House for state dinner in October Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch: poll Wildfires take Maui by surprise, burning through a historic town and killing at least 6 people Trump ‘fake elector’ memo details 2020 plan as Twitter search warrant revealed - live

When John Green’s book, The Fault in Our Stars, was first published in 2012 it rose to the top of bestseller lists. The love story about two cancer stricken teenagers won the hearts of teenagers globally and was soon turned into a movie starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort. Now the book, a favourite of older teenagers, has been moved to the adult section in a library in the suburbs of Indianapolis. Green took to X, formerly called Twitter, to voice his frustrations. “This is ludicrous. It is about teenagers and I wrote it for teenagers. Teenagers are not harmed by reading TFIOS. This is such an embarrassment to the city of Fishers,” he said. “I only have a small voice in these decisions, of course, but you won’t catch me alive or dead in Fishers, Indiana until these ridiculous policies are revoked,” he added. “Which I guess means no Top Golf or IKEA for a while.” At the local library, staff have spent hours rummaging through books and moving those that don’t comply with the board’s policy to the general section from the young adult section. Books have been targeted for language about sexuality and reproduction, profanity and criminal acts. This isn’t the first time one of Green’s books has irked administrators and parents. His book Looking for Alaska, also aimed at older teenagers, has become a regular feature on the American Library Association’s top 10 most challenged books, making the list in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2022, for being sexually explicit. In 2008, the author filmed a YouTube video titled “I Am Not A Pornographer” explaining that a school in Buffalo, New York was planning to teach Looking for Alaska to 11th graders. But some people, he said, found the book controversial so the school administrators gave parents the choice: their children could read the book or find an alternative. “But there were a few people who weren’t happy with this solution,” Green said in the clip. “These people didn’t actually have kids in the 11th grade, but no matter. They think that my book is pornographic, and that it will cause immoral thoughts and actions in children. These people believe that no one should be allowed to read the book, even those people whose parents signed the permission slip.” And now with book bans on the rise across America (2022 saw the highest number of attempted book bans), Green told The Independent earlier this year that these parent groups have rallied “to take over America’s school systems”. “There are attempts not just to ban books, but to ban entire subjects from high school curricula,” he said. “There are attempts to rewrite American history to better fit contemporary narratives around America’s purported greatness.” The book, a coming of age story with themes of loss and forgiveness, features a scene in which the main character Miles, receives oral sex from Lara, a friend. A few pages later, in a highly emotional scene, Miles kisses another character, Alaska. By juxtaposing the two scenes, Green said in the YouTube video, he attempts to show “that physical intimacy can never stand in for emotional closeness.” Yet, it’s these very scenes that have led to some seeking to ban the book. “It’s always a bummer to have your work read in bad faith,” Green told The Independent in an interview earlier this year. “It’s always a bummer when people read your work to find out what they hate about it, because that’s not, of course, why anyone writes.” Having this specific section read out of context, he adds, is “especially troubling,” because “removed from its context, it can’t do its work – which is to point out that the romantic encounter that Miles and Lara have is awkward and unfulfilling, precisely because they don’t have the emotional connection they need to have a fulfilling romantic encounter.” Read More John Green on book bans, bad faith, and the ‘history of folks trying to control what other folks can read’ Book bans in US schools increased by 28 per cent in the first half of the school year, says new report Texas county moves to restrict ‘explicit’ and ‘objectionable’ books at public libraries Tennessee educators file lawsuit challenging law limiting school lessons on race, sex and bias Jacqueline Wilson says censorship of children’s books is ‘a huge worry’ Biden reelection campaign offering joint meeting with Obama as ex-president enters 2024 fray early Biden wants to compensate New Mexico residents sickened by radiation during 1945 nuclear testing Trump campaign runs ad attacking Georgia DA who’s expected to indict him

The death of a three-month-old is under investigation after the baby was left inside a car in Houston during an unrelenting heat wave as temperatures soared into the triple digits. Houston police responded to the Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) around 3.25pm on Tuesday. The mother, whose name has not been released, was visiting the outpatient mental health facility with her four-year-old child. She found her baby boy unresponsive inside the hot car when she was leaving, Assistant Chief Yasar Bashir said during a news conference. Mr Bashir did not say how long the baby had been in the vehicle on the sweltering Houston day or if the windows had been rolled down, but gave a stern warning that a child should never be left in a car unattended. “Houston gets very hot,” Mr Bashir said. “Under no circumstances you should leave a child in the car, not even for a moment. Don’t think the AC is going to work out fine or if you roll down the window that’s going to be fine.” The high temperature in Houston on Tuesday reached a staggering 101 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. “From time to time, we have incidents like this, which should never happen. Especially during the summertime," Mr Bashir added. “You should never leave a child unattended, and there should be zero child infant deaths in the city. In my opinion, that’s avoidable.” The baby’s cause of death is still being determined by the medical examiner’s office. No charges have been filed and the baby’s parents are cooperating with the investigation. “I give my condolences to the parents, the mom and dad, and I also want to thank the staff here and the nurses, HFD who provided CPR and did everything they could to save this child," Mr Bashir said. This is the 16th child reported to die this year in a hot vehicle, according to the National Safety Council. On average, 38 children under the age of 15 die each year from heat stroke after being left in a vehicle, according to the website. Nearly every state has had at least one death since 1998. In both 2018 and 2019 a record number of 53 children died after being left in a hot vehicle. Read More Texas mother exonerated 20 years after death of child who ate paper towels

A man was shot and killed in Utah on Wednesday as the FBI attempted to serve a search warrant in the city of Provo. Law enforcement sources told CBS News the individual who was killed allegedly posted threats online against President Biden, his family, and Barack Obama. "The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s inspection division," the agency said in a statement. The deceased has been identified as Craig Robertson, according to a federal complaint obtained by ABC News. President Biden lands in Utah on Wednesday afternoon as part of a tour of southwestern states. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.

Failed Republican gubernatorial candidate and election denier Kari Lake is reportedly considering jumping into Arizona’s Senate race, Axios reported. The former news anchor and darling of the MAGA Republican right rose to prominence thanks to her promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election and calling for the decertification of election results. Last year she lost to Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs but has refused to concede and has taken her complaints to courts, which have summarily rejected her attempts to overturn the election. In May, Maricopa Superior Court Judge Peter A Thompson said Ms Lake failed to prove that Maricopa, where Phoenix is located, did not verify signatures on mail-in ballots. Since then, she’s become a fixture in right-wing media and at conservative gatherings such as the Conservative Political Action Conference, where she gave the Reagan Dinner speech. Earlier this week, she campaigned for Bernie Moreno, who is running for Ohio’s Senate seat, and praised fellow MAGA Republican Sen JD Vance, who won his race. “I'm really, really excited about [Mr Vance], I'm super excited that Bernie Moreno's going to be in the Senate. And if they're in the Senate, I just might have to join them,” she said. Former president Donald Trump’s campaign praised Ms Lake and the idea of her running for Arizona’s Senate seat. “When President Trump gets back in the White House he's going to need fighters like Kari Lake in Washington, DC to help enact his Agenda 47,” senior Trump adviser Caroline Wren told Axios. Arizona’s incumbent Sen Kyrsten Sinema has not indicated whether she will seek another term in the Senate. In 2018, she became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Arizona in 30 years. But Ms Sinema left the Democratic Party to become an independent in December. Rep Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) announced he would run for Arizona’s Senate seat as a Democrat and outraised Ms Sinema in the last fundraising quarter. But despite her consistent opposition to many parts of his agenda, Ms Sinema joined President Joe Biden when he designated the greater Grand Canyon as a national monument on Tuesday. But a poll from Noble Predictive Insights showed that Ms Sinema would trail both Mr Gallego and Ms Lake in a hypothetical three-way matchup. Read More Biden to announce historic Grand Canyon monument designation during Arizona visit Senator who once worked at a Planned Parenthood warns that Republicans are planning a national abortion ban Sinema cites bill targeting leaders of failed banks after criticism of her Wall Street ties Trump ‘fake elector’ memo details 2020 election plan as Christie reacts to new insult Ron DeSantis removes Florida’s only Black woman state prosecutor from office Senator Dianne Feinstein briefly hospitalised after fall

Disgraced ex-NFL star Henry Rugs has been sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison for a fiery DUI crash that killed a woman and her dog in Las Vegas. The former Raiders wide receiver was speeding down a road in the city at up to 156mph when he smashed his Chevrolet Corvette Stingray into the back of 23-year-old Tina Tintor’s SUV in November 2021. Tintor’s vehicle was consumed by flames and she was trapped inside with her pet and died from injuries caused by the fire and the crash.

A teenager was arrested Tuesday on assault charges after allegedly verbally harassing an Asian family on the subway and then assaulting another passenger. Because the arrested girl is 16 years old, her name was not released. She turned herself into the NYPD on Tuesday morning at about 9.45am, according to the New York Post. A video of the incident shows the teenager attacking both 51-year-old Susan Young, a Nevada mom sitting with her 11-year-old twins, as well as Joanna Lin, who filmed the encounter. The teen was charged with two counts of assault Tuesday, and although police were reportedly considering hate crime charges, she wasn’t charged with any; both Ms Young and Ms Lin told the Post that they do not think the girl harassed them because of their race. “One of the girls stood up and went to Joanna and just punched her. I mean, punch, punch, punch, like repeatedly. I saw at least three, maybe two or three,” Ms Young told The Post, prompting her to stand up from her seat. That’s when another girl approached the Nevada mom, and because she was screaming at her, Ms Young pushed the girl away to try to get to Ms Lin. Then, the 16-year-old turned her attention to the mom, Ms Young explained to the outlet. “Well, as soon as I made contact and pushed her shoulders away, they all came after me. I backed up, but the girl in the white t-shirt came slugging at me… She grabbed my hair, I grabbed her hair, and I basically just grabbed onto her hair to shield my face because she was swinging,” Ms Young recalled. The bystander gave her thoughts on the teen’s arrest to The Post. “I am relieved that she made the decision to turn herself in. In a perfect world, I would love if she can issue an apology to myself and Sue Young, and promise to never ever do this again,” Ms Lin told the publication. “I also hope she gets therapy, counseling, and mentorship needed to move up from here.” According to the police department, the assault took place at around 8pm on August 3 on an F train at West Fourth Street-Washington Square station. It is not clear from the video how the confrontation began. From there, however, things allegedly escalated. The video shows one of the women who had allegedly been hurling abuse at the Asian family run towards the camera, at which point it cuts out. In one of the captions for the video, Ms Lin wrote that “This ferocious one runs over to hit me. I put down my phone to cover my head and took the blow (ow).” According to an NYPD tweet, which identified the victim in the case only as a 51-year-old woman, the assailant “made an anti-ethnic remark, pulled her by the hair & punched her.” The victim has since identified herself as Sue Young — a 51-year-old from Reno, Nevada who was visting New York on vacation with her family. The altercation continued as the subway sped towards its next stop, where the passengers got off the train and Ms Lin reportedly helped the family file a police report. Video of the attack, which quickly went viral, sparked outrage in New York. The attack comes more than three years after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes in the city and around the country that left some AAPI community members fearful for their safety in public. The NYPD formed an Asian Hate Crime Task Force in 2020, though it’s unclear whether that task force is involved directly in any way in the investigation into the attack. Ms Young, for her part, told NBC that she does not believe the people who verbally harrassed her and her family members were motivated by racial hatred and warned about the limited effectiveness of a carceral response. “These are very young girls,” Ms Young told NBC News. “Somebody or something or some circumstance has made a big impression on them — whether it’s historical pressure, societal pressure, social pressure. Using law enforcement to curtail this, I’m not sure if that’s going to fix the problem. It just seems like it’s a more underlying issue that we, as a society and as a community, need to hold everybody accountable, not just law enforcement.” Read More Senior Japanese diplomat attacked by US woman in anti-Asian hate crime, court records say Uproar as California students sent racist cards during Black History Month

Authorities in Maryland have confirmed that the body found along a hiking trail in Bel Air is that of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail at around 6pm on Saturday evening, according to the Harford County Sheriff’s Office. After she failed to return home that night, her boyfriend, Richard Tobin, reported her missing. On Sunday morning, Morin’s vehicle was found in the parking lot at the entrance to the popular walking route. Hours later, a member of the public discovered a woman’s body close to the trail. Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler announced that Morin’s case is now a homicide investigation, in a press conference on Sunday night. Rebekah Morin, the sister of Morin, started a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses. As of Tuesday, it has raised over $35K. The sheriff said that police currently have no suspects on their radar and, as a result, are unable to tell the public that there is no ongoing danger. 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

Donald Trump branded a Georgia prosecutor “a young racist” and claimed she had an “affair” with a gang leader, speaking to a rally just days before he is expected to face a criminal indictment from her office. The three-times indicted former president took shots at Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating him for his conduct in the state during the 2020 presidential election. “There’s a young racist in Atlanta ... They say she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member,” claimed Mr Trump during a speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday. “This is a person who wants to indict me. She’s got a lot of problems. But she wants to indict me to try and run for some other office … Wants to indict me for a perfect phone call, this was even better than my perfect call on Ukraine.” And he added: “I challenged the election in Georgia, which I had every right to do… and they want to indict me because I challenged the election.” Last week Mr Trump posted a video on Truth Social featuring a Rolling Stone headline about Ms Willis defending rapper YSL Mondo in 2019, and falsely claiming that she “got caught hiding a relationship with a gang member she was prosecuting.” There is no suggestion or evidence that Ms Willis had any romantic relationship with the rapper, who described “mother-to-son type of talks with her”, reported the magazine. Ms Willis, who is married with two children, is expected to soon indict him for illegally trying to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in the state, which paved his way to the White House. Mr Trump’s alleged election interference included his infamous phone call to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, in which he demanded that he “find” him the 11,780 votes he needed to beat Mr Biden. Ms Willis has also investigated a scheme to put in place an alternate slate of presidential electors. Even if Mr Trump wins the 2024 election he cannot fire Ms Willis, unlike special counsel Jack Smith, as state crimes are not subject to presidential pardon. Mr Trump has already been indicted on federal charges that he tried to overturn the 2020 election and a separate federal case over alleged retention of government documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. He has also been charged by the Manhattan DA in a hush-money case linked to the 2016 presidential election. That case relates to allegations he paid off a porn actress he had allegedly had an affair with while his wife was nursing their newborn son. He has pleaded not guilty in all of the cases and strongly denied any wrongdoing. Earlier this year the former president was found liable for sexually assaulting a magazine columnist, E Jean Carroll, in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. Mr Trump has a long history of making outrageous false claims about his opponents. He called his own former secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, “dumb as a rock”, and his former defence secretary James Mattis “the world’s most overrated general”. He has recently taking to insulting fellow Republican presidential nominee – and former friend – Chris Christie over his weight. The Washington Post calculated that during the four years of his presidency, Mr Trump made more than 30,000 false or misleading statements. The day after his presidency ended, the paper wrote: “What is especially striking is how the tsunami of untruths kept rising the longer he served as president and became increasingly unmoored from the truth.” Read More Trump vows to keep campaigning on his criminal cases despite prosecutors seeking order to stop Trump lawyers request date for protective order hearing – while completely ignoring judge’s instructions Trump doubles down on attacking Chris Christie’s weight Trump plans Iowa State Fair stop, though he won't attend candidate chat with GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds Trump and Biden tied in hypothetical 2024 rematch, poll finds Trump vows to keep campaigning on his criminal cases despite prosecutors seeking order to stop Trump plans Iowa State Fair stop, though he won't attend candidate chat with GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds Trump doubles down on attacking Chris Christie’s weight