Officials Say

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...

Trump and first lady were safely evacuated and police arrested Cole Tomas Allen of southern California at eventThe gunman who tried to breach the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night is believed to have been targeting members of the Trump administration, the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, said on Sunday morning.Blanche also said officials believe that the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where he checked in as a guest at the hotel where one of the capital’s glitziest annual events was being held, the Washington Hilton. 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...

British foreign secretary told to impose new measures, with ruble-pegged cryptocurrency A7A5 being supported in countryMore than 20 MPs and peers have called on the foreign secretary to take action against institutions and individuals in Kyrgyzstan allegedly facilitating large-scale Russian sanctions evasion.They urged the UK to levy personal sanctions against three top Kyrgyz officials for their alleged role in facilitating Russian sanctions evasion more broadly, and more specifically for allowing Kyrgyzstan to host infrastructure supporting the cryptocurrency A7A5. Continue reading...

Sacked civil servant acknowledges ‘debate’ about release of documents after question about alleged ‘cover-up’Olly Robbins responded to a question about an alleged “cover-up” on Tuesday by confirming that government officials had considered withholding Peter Mandelson’s secretive vetting documents from parliament.Robbins, who was sacked by Keir Starmer as the Foreign Office’s top civil servant last week, appeared to confirm a report in the Guardian that senior officials were debating whether to withhold from parliament sensitive documents that revealed the vetting agency did not believe Mandelson should get clearance. Continue reading...

Animals were used legally as fishing bait, sheriff’s office confirms after incident shook locals in Guemes IslandA Washington state sheriff’s office says it has solved the mystery of nearly two dozen dead canines who washed ashore recently.The animals were foxes being used legally as bait for fishing operations, the Skagit county sheriff’s office said on Friday. Continue reading...

Iran dropped explosives in the waterway erratically and may not have marked where it put all of them, US suggestsMiddle East crisis – live updatesIran is unable to find the mines it laid in the strait of Hormuz and does not have the capacity to remove the explosives, preventing Iran from allowing more traffic through the waterway, the New York Times reported, citing US officials.The opening of the strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for a fifth of the world’s oil supply – is a primary demand of the US to end the war in Iran. The virtual closure of the strait sent fuel prices soaring, creating the world’s largest energy crisis in decades and putting pressure on US president Donald Trump at home. Continue reading...

Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez was hit by more than six bullets, says lawyer, with ICE facing scrutiny over shootingA California man shot by US immigration agents said officials have falsely accused him of being a gang member and that officers fired on him without justification during a traffic stop.Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, was pulled over and shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on Tuesday in Patterson, a rural agricultural town in California’s central valley. Patrick Kolasinski, Hernandez’s attorney, visited him in the hospital on Thursday morning and summarized his client’s comments. Continue reading...

US National Park Service lawyers cite materials that will be installed to make ‘heavily fortified’ facilityDonald Trump’s administration is arguing that a judge’s order to halt construction of a $400m White House ballroom creates a security risk for the US president as his team asks a federal appeals court to pause the ruling.In a motion filed on Friday, US National Park Service (NPS) lawyers say that the federal judge’s order to suspend construction of the new facility is “threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the president and his family, and the president’s staff”. Continue reading...

State department says it is working to ensure release of freelancer ‘as soon as possible’ after abduction in BaghdadAn American journalist, Shelly Kittleson, has been kidnapped in Baghdad by a suspected Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group, the US said, as regional security deteriorates after the US-Israeli attack on Iran.Kittleson is a longtime freelancer in the region, reporting extensively from Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Continue reading...

Cargo plane carrying between 80 and 110 soldiers crashes shortly after takeoff in southern Amazon regionScores of Colombian soldiers are feared dead after military transport plane crashed on takeoff in the south of the country.The defense minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the accident happened as the Lockheed Martin Hercules C-130 plane was taking off from Puerto Leguízamo, deep in Colombia’s southern Amazon region on the border with Peru, as it transported troops from the armed forces.More details soon … Continue reading...

Nasa confirms meteor after residents reported hearing thunder-like noises about the time the fireball was visibleA suspected meteorite crashed into a home in suburban Houston on Saturday night, according to local residents and officials.Speaking to the local news outlet KHOU11 over the weekend, Spring area resident Sherrie James recalled the incident, saying: “My grandson went to check and said there was a hole in the ceiling … then I saw the rock, and I thought, ‘That looks like a meteor.’” Continue reading...