A longtime Republican lawmaker, in rural Louisiana, is facing national backlash following his tie-breaking vote to kill a bill that would ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths in the state. State Sen. Fred Mills told The Associated Press Friday that he stands by his decision. But state Attorney General Jeff Landry — who is a GOP gubernatorial candidate — and the Republican Party of Louisiana are pressing lawmakers to resurrect the bill and pass it. Mills’ decisive vote Wednesday poises Louisiana to be one of the few southeastern states that hasn’t enacted a ban or restrictions on gender-affirming care. Proposals are pending in North Carolina and South Carolina’s legislatures, and federal judges have temporarily blocked bans in Arkansas and Alabama. “While the topic of transgender rights is immensely complicated and socially polarizing, the bill before me was not,” Mills, a pharmacist, said in a written statement Friday. Mills is also the chairman of the Senate’s Health and Welfare Committee, where the bill was debated for nearly three hours. He added that he relied on “science and data and not political or societal pressure.” With Mills’ vote, the bill — which would have prohibited hormone treatments, gender-affirming surgery and puberty-blocking drugs for transgender minors in Louisiana — was deferred, 5-4. In the hours after, backlash mounted with anti-transgender activists taking to social media, including conservative political commentator Matt Walsh, who tweeted to his nearly 2 million followers that Mills would “regret” his decision and that it is “the biggest mistake of his political career.” In recent years, Republicans who blocked proposed transgender care bans have faced political fallout. In Arkansas, former Gov. Asa Hutchinson angered fellow Republicans in 2021 when he vetoed a similar ban. The GOP-led Legislature moved quickly to override Hutchinson’s veto and enact the ban, which has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. At the time, former President Donald Trump criticized Hutchinson over the veto, calling him a “RINO,” or “Republican in Name Only.” Hutchinson, who signed into law other restrictions on transgender youth, argued the medical ban went too far. The Republican said he would have supported a prohibition that focused only on surgery. The deferral of Louisiana’s proposed ban marked a rare victory for LGBTQ+ advocates this legislative session, who continue to fight against multiple bills — from a bill critics call “Don’t Say Gay," to mandates regarding pronoun usage, to restrictions on access to library books deemed “sexually explicit,” which advocates fear would target the queer community. But, with two weeks left in the session, conservatives are hastily seeking and pursing ways to revive the legislation. “I don’t think you are going to see the last of it,” Mills said Friday. Already, House lawmakers added a poison pill amendment to Mills’ own bill — related to telehealth — that would bar that legislation from becoming law unless the ban on gender-affirming care also becomes law. Additionally, lawmakers can opt to discharge the failed bill from committee, meaning it can receive a vote on the GOP-controlled Senate floor despite failing in committee. This tactic is uncommon and rarely succeeds, but there is growing pressure from political forces outside of the Legislature to do so. “As attorney general for 8 years I have worked hard to protect our children. I urge the full Senate to take up and pass HB 648,” Landry tweeted Friday. “As governor, I would immediately sign this bill into law. Pediatric sex changes should have no place in our society.” In a press release, the Republican Party of Louisiana also urged the Senate to override the committee vote and debate it on the floor “where all senators will have the chance to weigh in on this pivotal piece of legislation.” The bill had already been passed in the House, mainly along party lines, 71-24. Proponents of the legislation argue the proposed bans would protect children from life-altering medical procedures until they are “mature enough” to make such serious decisions. Additionally, they fear the state could draw minors from surrounding states — where there are bans — seeking gender-affirming health care. Opponents of Louisiana’s bill argue that gender-affirming care, which is supported by every major medical organization, can be lifesaving for someone with gender dysphoria — distress over gender identity that doesn’t match a person’s assigned sex. Research suggests transgender children and adults are prone to stress, depression and suicidal thoughts, and advocates for the LGBTQ+ community fear that without the care, transgender children could face especially heightened risks. So far, at least 18 states have enacted laws restricting or prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors, and all three of Louisiana’s bordering states have enacted bans or are poised to. —— Associated Press writer Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide New York City mayor signs ban on weight and height discrimination Phoenix faces dueling lawsuits over homeless crisis as advocates scramble for more shelter Oregon, awash in treatment funds after decriminalizing drugs, now must follow the money

Three members of a far-right anti-government extremist group who joined a mob inside the US Capitol on January 6 were sentenced to federal prison after their convictions on a range of charges connected to the attack. The hearings in US District Court in Washington DC follow the 18-year prison sentence for Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted by a jury on a treason-related charge of seditious conspiracy after a nearly two-month trial last year. His is the longest sentence, to date, related to the assault at the Capitol on 6 January 2021. Kelly Meggs, another member of the Oath Keepers who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in that same case alongside Rhodes, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on 25 May. Jessica Watkins, a US Army veteran who was convicted of several other charges in that same trial, was sentenced to eight and a half years. A jury found Watkins guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress and guilty of conspiracy to obstruct. “My actions and my behaviors that fateful day were wrong, and as I now understand, criminal,” she told US District Judge Amit Mehta on 26 May. “Violence is never the answer.” Federal prosecutors argued that Watkins mobilised a group in Ohio alongside the Oath Keepers, and joined a mob in Washington DC in tactical gear to upend the results of the 2020 presidential election, fuelled by Donald Trump’s false narrative that the election was stolen and rigged against him. “I was just another idiot running around the Capitol,” she said on 26 May. “But idiots are held responsible, and today you’re going to hold this idiot responsible.” Prosecutors argued that she marched from the former president’s rally at the Ellipse and breached the halls of Congress in a military-style stack formation, encouraging members of the mob to push through law enforcement. According to messages and recordings shared at trial, Watkins declared the group “stormed the Capitol” on a radio-like communication app on the day of the attack. Judge Mehta, noting her apologies, said that her efforts that day were “more aggressive, more assaultive, more purposeful than perhaps others’.” “And you led others to fulfill your purposes,” he added “And there was not in the immediate aftermath any sense of shame or contrition, just the opposite. Your comments were celebratory and lacked a real sense of the gravity of that day and your role in it.” Kenneth Harrelson was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging duties, and tampering with documents or proceedings. He was sentenced to four years in prison on 26 May. In his plea for leniency, Harrelson, weeping as he spoke, apologised to US Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who testified during the trial that the Oath Keepers that the group failed to support law enforcement and ignored his warnings that they were endangering officers’ lives. “I am responsible and my foolish actions have caused immense pain to my wife and children,” Harrelson told Judge Mehta on Friday. The judge noted that, in evidence from federal prosecutors, “there is not a single word in a single communication that anyone would consider extremist, radicalized” or “encourages anyone to engage in violence.” Read More Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison for January 6 sedition Who are the Oath Keepers?

Rarely does a tech-powered stock rally come along that isn’t pilloried for the fragility of its foundation. Now,

Belem, a city in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest region, will host the United Nations’ annual climate change summit in

Colombia’s Finance Ministry is planning to pay off in full its $5.8 billion debt with state-controlled oil producer

The US condemned Kosovo’s government following clashes between police and ethnic Serbs that broke out when protesters tried

Cathie Wood defended her firm’s decision to bail on Nvidia Corp. before the chipmaker’s shares surged 160%, saying

A former trader at Canada’s Polar Asset Management Partners who last year confessed to front-running his firm’s trades

Alex Murdaugh’s accomplice and friend Corey Fleming is now cooperating with the FBI over the convicted killer’s scheme to steal millions of dollars from his dead housekeeper’s family. Fleming, a longtime friend and law school classmate of the disgraced legal scion, accepted a plea deal with federal prosecutors this week over his involvement in Murdaugh’s financial fraud schemes. He appeared in federal court in South Carolina on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. At the court hearing, Fleming confessed that he had taken part in one of Murdaugh’s financial schemes – and admitted that he knew what he was doing when he did so. Prosecutors allege that Murdaugh orchestrated a financial fraud scheme which included stealing almost $4.3m from the estate of Gloria Satterfield and its insurance carriers. Satterfield was the Murdaugh’s longtime housekeeper who died in a mysterious “trip and fall” accident at the prominent family’s 1,700-acre Moselle estate in South Carolina in 2018 – the same property where Murdaugh shot dead his wife Maggie and adult son Paul three years later. Following her death, Murdaugh recommended that Satterfield’s sons hire his friend and fellow attorney Fleming to represent them in bringing a wrongful death claim against him, so that they could collect from his homeowner’s insurance policies. The insurance companies ultimately settled the estate’s claim for more than $4m – two payments of $505,000 and $3.8m. Murdaugh and Fleming then stole the settlement money for themselves and the housekeeper’s sons didn’t get a dime. Much of the stolen money was funneled through a fake “Forge” bank account which sought to imitate the legitimate and totally unrelated business Forge Consulting. In accepting the plea deal, Fleming admitted that he helped Murdaugh steal the insurance money meant for Satterfield’s sons and has agreed to cooperate with the FBI and US Attorney’s office in the case. He has also agreed to submit to polygraph tests and to turn over his law licences in South Carolina and Georgia. He faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced at a later date. He was released Thursday on a $25,000 unsecured bond. He is also facing separate state charges over the Satterfield case. Ronnie Richter, an attorney representing the Satterfield family, welcomed Fleming’s guilty plea. “This was a good day for justice because this is the first time anyone associated with the Satterfield case has pleaded guilty to anything,” he said. Fleming’s plea deal comes the same week that Murdaugh was indicted on a slew of new charges over their scheme. The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office announced on Wednesday that a federal grand jury had returned a 22-count indictment against the 54-year-old disgraced legal dynasty heir, charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The convicted killer was already awaiting trial on more than 100 financial crimes charges over a decade-long multi-million-dollar fraud scheme where Murdaugh stole millions from his law firm and legal clients – a scheme he confessed to orchestrating when he took the stand at his murder trial. But, now he has been hit with a further 22 charges for what prosecutors describe as three separate schemes to steal money from personal injury clients he represented through his law firm. As well as the scheme with Fleming, prosecutors allege that Murdaugh ran a second scheme from at least September 2005 to September 2021, where he allegedly routed and redirected clients’ settlement funds into his own pocket including by directing his law firm colleagues to pay the funds directly into his personal account. In the third scheme, Murdaugh and his banker Russell Laffitte allegedly conspired from July 2011 to October 2021 to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. Laffitte, who was CEO of Palmetto State Bank at the time, acted as Murdaugh’s personal banker and as a custodian or conservator for some of his law firm clients. Laffitte then conspired to defraud those clients, with the two men diverting the money to themselves. Laffitte was convicted in November of financial fraud charges in connection to Murdaugh’s alleged white collar fraud schemes. Murdaugh faces up to 30 years in prison on the highest charges of wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the new indictment. His other financial charges already amount to more than 700 years in prison if convicted. Even without the financial charges, Murdaugh will already spend the remainder of his life in prison after he was found guilty on 2 March of murdering his wife Maggie and son Paul on the family’s Moselle property back on 7 June 2021. Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison the day after the verdict. Satterfield, who worked for the family for more than 20 years, was found at the bottom of the steps leading into the family’s home. She never resumed consciousness and died from her injuries three weeks later on 26 February. At the time, Murdaugh claimed that she had tripped over the family’s dogs and hit her head, and her death was regarded as an accidental fall. However, her death certificate cited her manner of death as “natural” and no autopsy was ever carried out. Questions have been swirling around Satterfield’s death for the past few years as the string of deaths, stolen money and corruption surrounding Murdaugh came to light. In September 2021, an investigation was reopened into her death and investigators said they planned to exhume her body. Satterfield’s death isn’t the only mystery death tied to the South Carolina legal dynasty. A homicide investigation has also been opened into the 2015 death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of a road in Hampton County. The openly gay 19-year-old had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and his death was officially ruled a hit-and-run. But Smith’s family have long doubted this version of events, with the Murdaugh name cropping up in several police tips and community rumours. At the time of his murder, Paul was also awaiting trial for the boat crash death of Mallory Beach. Read More Alex Murdaugh indicted on 22 new financial fraud charges for stealing money from dead housekeeper’s family Audio reveals Alex Murdaugh blaming dogs for housekeeper’s death – after he walked back claim five years later Stephen Smith’s body is exhumed after murder near Murdaugh home – as family offers $35k reward to catch killer

Morgan Stanley’s chief US equity strategist isn’t convinced the stock rally is here to stay and strengthened his

Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag is considering her political future over continued threats from conspiracy theorists and right

The day after the state’s Republican governor signed the ban into law, a judge in South Carolina has blocked a measure outlawing abortion at roughly six weeks of pregnancy. Abortion rights advocates and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit moments after Governor Henry McMaster announced his signature on the bill. South Carolina’s latest law – which could extend the sweeping restrictions and outright bans on abortion care across the entire US South, and threaten legal access to care for millions of Americans – is nearly identical to a bill that was blocked by the state Supreme Court last year. The decision on Friday means the state’s abortion regulations revert to previous rules that allow for abortion care up until about 20 weeks after after fertilization. “The status quo should be maintained until the Supreme Court reviews its decision,” Judge Clifton Newman said. “It’s going to end up there.” His decision on 26 May comes just four months after the state’s Supreme Court permanently struck down a similar measure, which the court determined ran afoul of the state’s constitution. Restrictions on abortion care “must be reasonable and it must be meaningful in that the time frames imposed must afford a woman sufficient time to determine she is pregnant and to take reasonable steps to terminate that pregnancy,” Justice Kaye Hearn wrote in the majority opinion on 5 January. More than a dozen states, mostly in the South, have outlawed most abortions or severely restricted access within the year after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which revoked a constitutional right to abortion care that was affirmed by the decision in Roe v Wade for nearly half a century. South Carolina remains the only state south of Virginia without severe restrictions or outright bans on abortion care past the 12th week of pregnancy. Most of those states have moved to ban abortion in nearly all cases with limited or no exceptions. Last year, lawmakers in South Carolina failed to adopt an anti-abortion law that would ban nearly all abortions in the state, but a six-week ban took effect shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling on 24 June. In a statement following the governor’s signature on the latest six-week ban, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre lambasted Republican lawmakers who are “dismantling women’s rights across the South, putting their health and lives in jeopardy. “ South Carolina’s ban will cut off access to abortion for women in the state and those across the entire region for whom South Carolina is their closest option for care,” she added. This is a developing story Read More North Carolina Republicans approve 12-week abortion ban as sweeping restrictions spread across US South Senator who voted for anti-trans bill that passed by one vote admits she wasn’t paying attention From the Civil War to today's mattress sales, Memorial Day is full of contradiction GOP leaders in Kansas back off threat to sue Democratic governor over education funding DeSantis pushes past embarrassing campaign start, outlines travel schedule for early state visits