Troy

Wildfires in and around Spokane have stretched ability of federal and local agencies to fight blazesWildfires in eastern Washington state forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area while destroying at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures, authorities said on Sunday.The fires in and around Spokane, the state’s second largest city, burned about 8.2 sq miles (about 21 sq km), but they were among dozens across the western US that stretched the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. A total of about 390 sq miles have burned across the state, and some of the fires, including those in the Spokane area, have not been contained. Continue reading...

Strike on Terminal Autonomy plant appears to be first time in the war that Moscow has targeted a US companyA drone factory in Kyiv destroyed by a Russian ballistic missile on Friday was owned by a US corporation registered in Delaware, in what appears to be the first time Moscow has targeted a US company in the conflict.Terminal Autonomy makes precision “deep-strike” drones with guidance systems that are resistant to Russian jamming signals, according to a person familiar with the company. Continue reading...

• The AI industry is at risk of an economic bubble due to sky-high valuations and soaring costs. • Despite this, AI is expected to transform the global economy and create new applications. • Investors must differentiate between revolutionary technology and profitable businesses, as they are not always the same.

Progressive former state senate president gains nomination after Graham Platner dropped out over sexual assault allegationsIn a race defined by scandal, withdrawals and a frantic hunt for a replacement candidate, Maine Democrats hit reset on their chaotic Senate primary on Saturday as Troy Jackson officially secured the party’s nomination.He took the stage at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor to rapturous applause, a standing ovation and Noah Kahan’s Northern Attitude blaring over the speakers. “This is the absolute honor of my life,” Jackson said. Continue reading...

Jackson, set to replace Graham Platner, is prominent workers’ rights advocate and a leading progressive voiceAs cinemagoers flock to The Odyssey, Democrats in Maine are hoping that their long and perilous quest for a political hero ends in Troy.They are set to nominate lumberjack Troy Jackson this weekend as their candidate to challenge Susan Collins, a veteran Republican in the US Senate, after the implosion of the party’s original candidate left them scrambling for a replacement less than four months before the midterm elections. Continue reading...

• Iran has threatened an "eye for an eye" response after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant for every attack on the Strait of Hormuz. • The Iranian military warned it would halt Gulf oil flows and target regional infrastructure if the U.S. carries out these threats. • Simultaneously, the U.S. announced a 30-year nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia involving firms like Westinghouse to develop the kingdom's nuclear program.

Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton died during a controlled detonation at Erbil airbase as US-Iran war toll reaches 17The US military has identified an army soldier killed recently during a “controlled detonation” of a downed Iranian drone in Iraq as Sgt Michael Emmanuel Swinton, of Fayetteville, North Carolina.According to a press release from the US defense department on Tuesday morning, the 30-year-old Swinton was supporting overseas contingency operations in Iraq – and he was “killed in action during a controlled detonation of a downed One-Way Unmanned Aerial System” on Saturday at Erbil airbase in northern Iraq. Continue reading...

Ex-Maine senate president is frontrunner to replace Platner, who ended his campaign after sexual assault allegationsTroy Jackson – a logger, longtime legislator and former president of the Maine senate – is now poised to become the Democratic nominee in Maine’s US Senate race. His rise comes after the party’s previous nominee, Graham Platner, abruptly ended his campaign earlier this month following allegations of sexual assault from a former partner.Platner’s withdrawal set off a frantic scramble inside the Maine Democratic party. Several contenders filed paperwork to be considered at a 25 July special convention of 601 delegates tasked with selecting a new nominee. But over the weekend, Jackson’s serious challengers dropped out one after another, clearing a swift and unobstructed path for him. Jackson, who lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary earlier this year, is now the presumptive choice. Continue reading...

Former state legislator in strong position to become Democratic candidate after several appointments drop out over the weekend In other news, the Trump administration has filed a first-ever petition to a secretive and dormant court created 30 years ago to consider government requests to deport so-called “alien terrorists” from the US.The Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) was established in 1996 but had never received a petition until Wednesday, when the US justice department filed an application seeking the removal of an individual whose name is withheld from the single-page document posted on the court’s website. Continue reading...

Republican Josh Hawley accuses Mark Zuckerberg’s firm of relentlessly pursuing and attempting to bankrupt herA US senator has accused Meta of using lawfare in “efforts to destroy” a whistleblower who made allegations about the social media company’s dealings with China and its treatment of teenagers.In a letter to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, the Republican senator Josh Hawley demanded to know what measures Meta had taken to monitor Sarah Wynn-Williams, Facebook’s former global head of public policy, and her family. Continue reading...

Documents show the FBI director’s gift was ‘displayed proudly’ by the AFP before new commissioner ordered it be destroyedGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen the FBI director, Kash Patel, visited the Australian federal police last year, he came bearing a gift: a 3D-printed imitation pistol that then was “displayed proudly” in the commissioner’s office.Yet within months, shortly after Krissy Barrett became the AFP’s new commissioner last October, she ordered it to be destroyed. Continue reading...

• Rep. Greg Casar and the Congressional Progressive Caucus are criticizing Donald Trump's assertion that a pro-democracy resolution would "destroy" the GOP. • The resolution is a Democratic response to a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. [Case Name], which allowed Republican states to redraw congressional maps and eliminate majority-minority districts. • Casar argues that the Supreme Court's actions are an attempt to rig elections in favor of Republicans by attacking voting rights.

Preliminary analysis of satellite data suggests magnitude of natural disaster could dwarf official estimatesMore than 58,000 buildings may have been damaged and destroyed by the twin earthquakes that hit Venezuela last week, according to a preliminary analysis of satellite data that suggests the scale of the destruction could dwarf official estimates.Last Wednesday’s back-to-back quakes – which measured magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 – killed at least 1,943 people, injured more than 10,571, and left tens of thousands missing amid the rubble. The UN migration agency has said that up to 6.8 million people could be affected by the disasters, and would require shelter, water, sanitation, healthcare and essential relief items. Continue reading...

• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims to have destroyed eight U.S. military infrastructures located in Kuwait and Bahrain. • The operation was carried out using a combination of missiles and drones in a coordinated joint strike. • This action was launched as a direct response to a second wave of U.S. military strikes against Iranian interests.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukrainian strikes destroyed 60,000 tonnes of Russian ammunition at a Baltic Fleet arsenal near St. Petersburg and targeted key defense-industrial facilities. • Zelenskyy claimed that Moscow has been forced to shift its air defenses to protect the Kerch Bridge and the capital city of St. Petersburg. • The Ukrainian leader asserted that Vladimir Putin's rejection of substantive diplomatic proposals is the primary reason the war is being prolonged.

Directive aimed at government workers, but reports of wider implementation spark warnings of future Afghanistan-wide prohibitionThe Taliban have ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials – in what some analysts say could foreshadow broader, population-level restrictions.In a directive issued by the Taliban’s military courts and reviewed by the Guardian, the ban was to take effect this week and prohibits “high rank, low rank, general mujahideen, or service staff” from using mobile phones. Continue reading...

• Ukraine has claimed a devastating strike on a bridge in Crimea, resulting in the destruction of approximately 50 Russian military vehicles. • The operation coincides with warnings from Kyiv's drone chief, who asserts that Vladimir Putin will lose access to the Crimean peninsula in the "near future." • This escalation highlights Ukraine's strategic focus on disrupting Russian logistics and supply lines essential for maintaining control over occupied territories.

• The White House has proposed a new rule that would grant political appointees greater control over the approval and funding of scientific research grants. • Critics argue the proposal threatens the U.S. scientific enterprise by undermining the longstanding peer review process used to allocate funding. • Experts warn this shift could stifle critical advancements in artificial intelligence, climate science, and the treatment of HIV, cancer, and rare diseases.

• The White House has proposed a new rule that would grant political appointees greater control over the approval and funding of scientific research grants. • Critics argue the proposal threatens the U.S. scientific enterprise by undermining the longstanding peer review process used to award grants. • This shift could restrict research into critical areas such as cancer, HIV, rare diseases, climate science, and artificial intelligence by prioritizing political agendas over scientific merit.

Campaigners say builders’ demolition of nest site highlights weak protection of wildlife from developmentA building that was a noted nesting site for swifts, among the UK’s most at-risk birds, has been demolished during the nesting season, highlighting significant weaknesses in the protection of wildlife from development, campaigners say.Contractors for the housebuilder Hill Group carried out the demolition of Regent House near Dorking station in Surrey over the last few weeks, during the nesting season which runs from 1 March to 31 August. Continue reading...

Soho Society, funded by Westminster council, is ferociously opposing all new proposals, venue owners sayA society of residents funded by the council could “destroy Soho’s reputation on the international stage” as London’s entertainment district by ferociously objecting to all new bar and restaurant licences, operators in the area have said.The Soho Society, a group of residents established in 1972 aimed at “preserving the character of Soho”, voted in its AGM on Thursday for a new licensing mandate, meaning it will challenge all new applications for bars and restaurants in the area, including renewals of existing licences. It will also object to any venue that wishes to open beyond “core hours”, which Westminster council decrees end at 11pm. Continue reading...

Four people taken to hospital but mayor said search continues for other survivors or fatalitiesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Nearly 100 firefighters battled a large fire that erupted on Thursday at an apartment complex in Dallas, where debris from one collapsed building lay heaped on the ground while flames and black smoke billowed into the sky.News video showed dozens of firefighters at the scene. Some had hoses trained on piles of smoking debris while others lifted and moved lumber and other burned wreckage as if searching for people underneath. Two firefighters with hoses towered above the blaze on long ladders, while another sprayed water from the window of an upper floor of a neighboring building. Continue reading...

The EPA said it was cutting Biden-era regulations on Pfas in drinking water, but advocates say the move will harm public health and benefit industryA new Trump administration plan to ditch Pfas drinking water regulations and instead attempt to destroy “forever chemicals” on a wide scale tears a page from the fossil fuel industry’s carbon capture playbook, and will benefit the industry while harming public health.The US Environmental Protection Agency last week announced it is moving to kill strong Biden-era drinking water limits around four Pfas compounds, and delaying implementation for two more. It represented a blow to public health – advocates say strong limits and a dramatic cut in the production of the dangerous chemicals are imperative. Continue reading...

Media company says it is ‘committed to good faith bargaining’ amid claims including contract violationWorkers at local newspapers owned by Hearst allege the company is trying to “destroy unions” amid claims of widespread anti-union tactics, including violating union contracts and bad-faith bargaining.The Albany Newspaper Guild, which represents the Times Union newspaper in Albany, New York, said it had been more than 17 years since the union had a contract and there had been little progress toward reaching a new one. Continue reading...

Pressure grows on Alcoa over strip-mining of Western Australian jarrah forest, which also threatens Perth’s water supplyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastUS mining company Alcoa’s strip-mining of Western Australia’s jarrah forest is under further investigation after its “deliberate repeat breach” of environmental laws that destroyed habitat for protected species – including black cockatoos, quokkas and numbats – and cost it $40m to avoid prosecution.The ongoing inquiry into Alcoa’s clearing at its Willowdale mine was revealed in talking points for federal ministers prepared ahead of the February announcement of a record $55m settlement for clearing at its Huntly mine. Continue reading...

About 200 firefighters responded to devastating blaze at University of South Florida’s lab on SaturdayOfficials are investigating whether a huge fire that destroyed a top marine science laboratory at the University of South Florida may have been caused by a lightning strike.Despite a massive response from local fire crews the Marine Science Laboratory building was completely destroyed after the blaze began on Saturday. Continue reading...

Blazes in US south-east have blown smoke over a wide area, and contributed to at least one death in FloridaTwo wildfires in south-eastern Georgia that have destroyed more than 120 homes continued to threaten property and lives on Saturday as officials warned that strong winds could spread the flames.The Brantley county manager, Joey Cason, called it a “dynamic situation” in a Saturday-morning video posted to social media and begged residents to “please evacuate” if they are ordered to do so. Continue reading...

Smoke drifts into Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, as air quality declines and 50 homes destroyedSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxWildfires burning across the south-eastern US intensified on Wednesday across parts of south-east Georgia, where 50 homes were destroyed, and across north-east Florida, forcing evacuations and school closures in some communities.The Georgia forestry commission issued its first mandatory burn ban in the state’s history, effective across 91 counties in the lower half of the state, due to worsening drought conditions and rising wildfire activity. Continue reading...