Page 7 - Us Government

Epstein's ex Ghislaine Maxwell moved to a low-security Texas prison camp

Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, has been moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas as her criminal case generates renewed public attention. The federal Bureau of Prisons said Friday that Maxwell had been transferred to Bryan, Texas, but did not explain the circumstances. Her attorney, David Oscar Markus, also confirmed the move but declined to discuss the reasons for it. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by the disgraced financier, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She had been held at a low-security prison in Tallahassee, Florida, until her transfer to the prison camp in Texas, where other inmates include Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and Jen Shah of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Minimum-security federal prison camps house inmates the Bureau of Prisons considers to be the lowest security risk. Some don't even have fences. The prison camps were originally designed with low .

Columbia Sportswear sues Columbia Univ over confusingly similar merchandise

For decades, T-shirts, sweatshirts and other clothing under the Columbia Sportswear brand and clothing emblazoned with the Columbia University name coexisted more or less peacefully without confusion. But now, the Portland-based outdoor retailer has sued the New York-based university over alleged trademark infringement and a breach of contract, among other charges. It claims that the university's merchandise looks too similar to what's being sold at more than 800 retail locations, including more than 150 of its branded stores, as well as its website and third-party marketplaces. In a lawsuit filed July 23 in the US District Court for the District of Oregon, Columbia Sportswear, whose roots date back to 1938, alleges that the university intentionally violated an agreement the parties signed on June 13, 2023. That agreement dictated how the university could use the word Columbia on its own apparel. As part of the pact, the university could feature Columbia on its merchandise provided

Iraq's PM Al-Sudani seeks closer US ties while keeping armed groups at bay

The prime minister of Iraq has kept his country on the sidelines as military conflicts raged nearby for almost two years. This required balancing Iraq's relations with two countries vital to his power and enemies with each other: the US and Iran. The feat became especially difficult last month when war broke out between Israel, a US ally, and Iran and the US struck Iranian nuclear sites. Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said he used a mix of political and military pressure to stop armed groups aligned with Iran from entering the fray. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Al-Sudani explains how he did this, how he plans to keep these groups in check going forward and as he seeks a second term why he wants to get closer to the Trump administration, even as he maintains strong ties to Iran-backed political parties that helped propel him to power in 2022. Staying on the sidelines as Israel and Iran traded blows After Israel launched airstrikes on Iran and it responded by firi

US data experts unite to save public statistics amid political interference

The data nerds are fighting back. After watching data sets be altered or disappear from U.S. government websites in unprecedented ways after President Donald Trump began his second term, an army of outside statisticians, demographers and computer scientists have joined forces to capture, preserve and share data sets, sometimes clandestinely. Their goal is to make sure they are available in the future, believing that democracy suffers when policymakers don't have reliable data and that national statistics should be above partisan politics. There are such smart, passionate people who care deeply about not only the Census Bureau, but all the statistical agencies, and ensuring the integrity of the statistical system. And that gives me hope, even during these challenging times, Mary Jo Mitchell, director of government and public affairs for the research nonprofit the Population Association of America, said this week during an online public data-users conference. The threats to the U.S.

US, Mexico sign accord to combat Tijuana River sewage flowing across border

The United States and Mexico have signed an agreement outlining specific steps and a new timetable to clean up the longstanding problem of the Tijuana River pouring sewage across the border and polluting California beaches, officials from both countries announced Thursday. Billions of gallons of sewage and toxic chemicals from Tijuana have polluted the Pacific Ocean off neighboring Southern California, closing beaches and sickening Navy SEALs who train in the water. That's despite multiple efforts and millions of dollars that have been poured into addressing the problem over decades, including under the first Trump administration. There is a great commitment by the two countries to strengthen cooperation, Mexico's Environmental Secretary Alicia Brcena said Thursday after meeting with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in Mexico City for the signing of the memorandum of understanding. The accord comes three months after Zeldin flew to San Diego to meet with ...

Trump signs executive order banning 'woke AI' in federal government use

Citing threats to trust and accuracy, Trump orders agencies to use only AI models that are 'truthful, ideologically neutral', and free from 'DEI-driven distortions'

US court finds Trump's push to end birthright citizenship unconstitutional

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that President Donald Trump's order seeking to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, affirming a lower-court decision that blocked its enforcement nationwide. The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes after the push was also blocked by a federal judge in New Hampshire, and puts the issue one step closer to quickly coming back before the Supreme Court.

At least 13 held, including journalists, in Cincinnati immigration protest

Police in Cincinnati arrested at least 13 people, including two journalists, after demonstrators protesting the immigration detention of a former hospital chaplain blocked a two-lane bridge carrying traffic over the Ohio River. A reporter and a photography intern who were arrested while covering the protest for CityBeat, a Cincinnati news and entertainment outlet, were among those arraigned Friday morning in a Kentucky court. Other journalists reporting on protests around the US have been have arrested and injured this year. More than two dozen were hurt or roughed up while covering protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles. A Spanish-language journalist was arrested in June while covering a No Kings protest near Atlanta. Police initially charged Mario Guevara, a native of El Salvador, with unlawful assembly, obstruction of police and being a pedestrian on or along the roadway. A prosecutor dropped the charges, but Guevara had already been turned over to U.S. Immigration an

Trump won't recommend special counsel in Epstein case, says spokeswoman

President Donald Trump will not recommend a special counsel in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, a White House spokeswoman has said, turning aside calls for further action in an inquiry that has roiled the Justice Department and angered supporters who had been expecting a treasure trove of documents from the case. The rejection of a special counsel is part of an effort by the White House to turn the page from continued outrage from corners of Trump's base over the Justice Department's refusal last week to release additional records from the investigation into Epstein, a well-connected and wealthy financier who killed himself in jail in 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. Officials also said Epstein did not maintain a much-hyped "client list" and said the evidence was clear he had died by suicide despite conspiracy theories to the contrary. Trump on Wednesday sought to clamp down on criticism from his own supporters about his administration's handling of the ...

Trump checked for lower leg swelling, diagnosed with common vein condition

President Donald Trump recently underwent a medical checkup after noticing "mild swelling" in his lower legs and was found to have a condition common in older adults that causes blood to pool in his veins, the White House has said. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that tests by the White House medical unit showed that Trump has chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when little valves inside the veins that normally help move blood against gravity gradually lose the ability to work properly. Leavitt also addressed bruising on the back of Trump's hand, seen in recent photos covered by makeup that was not an exact match to his skin tone. She said the bruising was "consistent" with irritation from his "frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin". Trump takes aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. She said during her press briefing that her disclosure of Trump's medical checkup was meant to dispel recent speculation about the 79-year-old president's

Justice dept fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Diddy, Epstein cases

The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a prosecutor in the federal cases against Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. There was no specific reason given for her firing from the US attorney's office in the Southern District of New York, according to one of the people who spoke to the AP on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Her termination comes shortly after she prosecuted Combs, who was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offences. The Justice Department recently appeared to acknowledge the existence of an investigation into James Comey, though the basis for that inquiry is unclear. He was abruptly fired by Trump during his first administration in 2017.

20 states sue FEMA over cancelled disaster resilience grant programme

Twenty Democratic-led states have filed suit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging the elimination of a long-running grant programme that helps communities guard against damage from natural disasters. The lawsuit contends President Donald Trump's administration acted illegally when it announced in April that it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities programme. FEMA cancelled some projects already in the works and refused to approve new ones despite funding from Congress. "In the wake of devastating flooding in Texas and other states, it's clear just how critical federal resources are in helping states prepare for and respond to natural disasters," said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell of Massachusetts, where the federal lawsuit was filed on Wednesday. "By abruptly and unlawfully shutting down the BRIC programme, this administration is abandoning states and local communities that rely on federal funding to protect their residents .

Republican governors push DOGE programmes, embrace cost-cutting brand

The brash and chaotic first days of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, once led by the world's richest man Elon Musk, spawned state-level DOGE mimicry as Republican governors and lawmakers aim to show they are in step with their party's leader. Governors have always made political hay out of slashing waste or taming bureaucracy, but DOGE has, in some ways, raised the stakes for them to show that they are zealously committed to cutting costs. Many drive home the point that they have always been focused on cutting government, even if they're not conducting mass layoffs. I like to say we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in announcing her own task force in January. Critics agree that some of these initiatives are nothing new and suggest they are wasteful, essentially duplicating built-in processes that are normally the domain of legislative committees or independent state auditors. At the same time, some governors are using

US State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump admin's plan

The US State Department fired more than 1,300 employees on Friday in line with a dramatic reorganization plan from the Trump administration that critics say will damage America's global leadership and efforts to counter threats abroad. The department sent layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with assignments in the United States, according to a senior department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Notices said positions were being abolished and the employees would lose access to State Department headquarters in Washington and their email and shared drives by 5 p.m., according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press. As employees packed their belongings, dozens of former colleagues, ambassadors, members of Congress and others spent a warm, humid day protesting outside. Holding signs saying, Thank you to America's diplomats and We all deserve better, they mourned the institutional loss from the cuts and .

Google to offer heavy discount for cloud computing services to US govt

In April, Google agreed to offer a 71% discount till September 30 to US federal agencies for its business apps package that could generate up to $2 billion in savings if there is govt-wide adoption

US issues sanctions against UN investigator probing abuses in Gaza

The Trump administration announced it is issuing sanctions Wednesday against an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel's 21-month war in Gaza. The State Department's decision to sanction Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, comes after a recent US pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post failed. Albanese, a human rights lawyer, has been vocal about what she has described as the genocide that Israel is waging against Palestinians in Gaza. Both Israel and the US, which provides military support, have strongly denied that accusation. In recent weeks, Albanese has issued a series of letters, urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. The Italian national has also been a strong supporter of the International Crimina

At least 27 dead in Texas floods, over 20 children missing from summer camp

Months worth of heavy rain fell in a matter of hours on Texas Hill Country, killing at least 13 people and leaving more than 20 girls attending a summer camp unaccounted for Friday as search teams conducted boat and helicopter rescues in the fast-moving flood water. Desperate pleas peppered social media as loved ones sought any information available about people caught in the flood zone. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said somewhere between 6 and 10 bodies had been found so far in the frantic search for victims. Meanwhile, during a news conference conducted at the same time as Patrick's update, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha reported that there were 13 deaths from the flooding. At least 10 inches of rain poured down overnight in central Kerr County, causing flash flooding of the Guadalupe River and leading to desperate pleas for information about the missing. Some are adults, some are children, Patrick said during a news conference. Again, we don't know where those bodies came from. Teams

Gross oversimplification to make India-US relations about China: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that it is a very gross oversimplification and even misleading at times to make the India-US relationship about China. Jaishankar was responding to a question on how much of the India-US relationship is defined by its stance on China. "I think it's a very gross oversimplification to make India-US about China. In fact, it's not just an oversimplification. I think it's even misleading at times, Jaishankar said on Monday during a conversation with Newsweek CEO Dev Pragad at the publication's headquarters at One World Trade Centre near the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan. He said that the India-US relationship is about so many other things, noting the large Indian community, which contributes significantly to the US. I think it's been a game-changer. It has got nothing to do with China, he said. He stressed that Washington and Delhi have a very strong economic connect. Look at our trade numbers and look at the relevance of that trade to our

Nations meet in Spain to seek trillions to combat poverty, US to skip event

Many of the world's nations are gathering starting Monday in Spain for a high-level conference to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor nations and try to drum up trillions of dollars needed to close it. The United States, previously a major contributor, pulled its participation, so finding funding will be tough. The four-day Financing for Development meeting in the southern city of Seville is taking place as many countries face escalating debt burdens, declining investments, decreasing international aid and increasing trade barriers. The United Nations and Spain, the conference co-hosts, believe it is an opportunity to reverse the downward spiral, close the staggering USD 4 trillion annual financing gap to promote development, bring millions of people out of poverty and help achieve the UN's wide-ranging and badly lagging Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said Wednesday that despite the headwinds and high geopolitical tension

'Your cuts will kill 8 mn more children': Bill Gates warns US government

Bill Gates said US global health aid cuts are already delaying medicines, weakening disease prevention, and could undo decades of progress in child mortality reduction