From the US East Coast to the Canadian capital, millions will suffer unhealthy air quality today as wildfires in Quebec rage on
As an orange haze of wildfire smoke from Canada smothers parts of the eastern US, officials are warning residents in both countries of unhealthy or hazardous air Wednesday.
2023-06-07 22:18
Former Trump aide Budowich to testify in classified documents probe -CNN
MIAMI Taylor Budowich, a one-time aide to Donald Trump, was to appear before a grand jury on Wednesday
2023-06-07 21:58
Canada's export volumes hit all-time high in April
By Ismail Shakil and Fergal Smith OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada's exports jumped 2.5% in April, and hit an all-time high by
2023-06-07 21:47
Francoise Gilot: Artist, writer and Picasso's former lover, dies at 101
Gilot, who was 101, emerged from Picasso's shadow to become acclaimed as an artist in her own right.
2023-06-07 21:45
Doug Burgum, little-known governor of North Dakota, announces White House run
Doug Burgum, the little-known governor of North Dakota, announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president on Wednesday morning, further crowding the Republican field. Mr Burgum, who won re-election in staunchly Republican North Dakota last year, will make his announcement official on Wednesday morning. In a preview video released on Tuesday, he mostly focused on the economy, with a tagline saying “a new leader for a changing economy.” The governor did not mention President Joe Biden in his announcement video, nor did he mention former president and current candidate Donald Trump in the video. “Anger yelling and fighting,” he said. “That's not gonna cut it anymore. Let's get things done.” Mr Burgum’s entrance into the 2024 Republican presidential primary field makes him the third candidate to throw his hat into the thing during the last week alone. On Monday, former vice president Mike Pence and ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie filed the requisite paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to be counted as candidates in next year’s GOP primary. Mr Christie, a former ally of Mr Trump who is recasting himself as a critic this time around, kicked off his campaign at St Anslem’s College in New Hampshire on the night of 6 June. Mr Pence is set to hold a kickoff rally on Wednesday and follow that up with a CNN town hall appearance that evening. The three candidates who’ve jumped in this week are joining a primary field as diverse as any the GOP has ever had. Three primary candidates — Sen Tim Scott (R-SC), former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy — are persons of colour, as is right-wing talk show host Larry Elder. The two frontrunners in the race, Mr Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, both hail from the Sunshine State, while little-known businessman Perry Johnson is a resident of Michigan. Read More Mike Pence announces 2024 run with video calling for ‘different leadership’ Trump ridicules Chris Christie’s weight in edited 2024 campaign launch video
2023-06-07 21:23
LBJ's daughter Luci watched him sign voting rights bill, then cried when Supreme Court weakened it
Luci Baines Johnson was a somewhat impatient 18-year-old on Aug. 6, 1965, when she happened to be on what she called “daddy duty,” meaning “I was supposed to accompany him to important occasions.” The occasion that day was President Lyndon Johnson’s scheduled signing of the Voting Rights Act, which Congress had passed the day before. She assumed the ceremony would be in the East Room of the White House, where the Civil Rights Act had been signed the previous year. “And that would probably take an hour and then I could be on my way,” she recalled in a recent interview from the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. Instead, her father met her and guided her to the South Portico, where the presidential motorcade was waiting. They were going to Congress. Knowing a trip to Capitol Hill would take more time than she anticipated, she asked why. “‘We are going to Congress because there are going to be some courageous men and women who may not be returning to Congress because of the stand they have taken on voting rights,’” she recalled her father telling her. ”‘And there are going to be some extraordinary men and women who will be able to come to the Congress because of this great day. That’s why we’re going to Congress.’” Johnson, who stood behind her father during the signings, knew the significance of the law and asked him afterward why he had presented the first signing pen to Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen, a Republican from Illinois, when so many civil rights champions were on hand. “Luci Baines, I did not have to say or do anything to convince one of those great civil rights leaders to be for that legislation,” she recalled him saying. “If Everett Dirksen hadn’t been willing to be so courageous to support it, too, and more importantly brought his people along ... we’d never have had a law.” Johnson said personal relationships and events in her father’s life influenced his thinking on civil rights and voting rights, as well as many of the social programs he helped establish. Some of that can be traced to his life before politics when he was a teacher in Cotulla, Texas, where most of his students were Mexican American. They were wonderful and eager, but often hungry and very poor, she said. “He thought he’d grown up poor so he would understand what their plight was like,” she said. “But he had never gone without a toothbrush. He had never gone without toothpaste. He had never gone without shoes. He had never known the kind of discrimination that they had known.” “He swore if he ever got in a position to change the trajectory of the lives of people of color” he would, she said. Johnson said she was saddened in 2013 when the Supreme Court released its ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which essentially ended a provision of the Voting Rights Act mandating the way states were included on the list of those needing to get advance approval for voting-related changes. “I cried because I knew what was coming. I knew that there were parts of this country, including my home state, my father’s home state, that would take advantage of the fact that there would no longer be an opportunity to have the federal government ensure that everyone in the community had the right and equal access to the voting booth,” she said. “I have seen over a lifetime so much take place that has tried to close the doors on all those rights,” she said. “I’m 75 years old now, and my energies are less than they once were, but for all of my days I will do all I can to try to keep those doors open to people of color, people who are discriminated against because of their age, or their ethnicity or their physical handicaps.” With the Supreme Court due to rule on another major pillar of the Voting Rights Act, Johnson said she wants to keep fighting to try to maintain her father’s legacy and protect voting rights. “I don’t want to get to heaven one day, and I hope I do, and have to say to my father, it was gutted to death on my watch,” she said. ___ The Associated Press coverage of race and voting receives support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
2023-06-07 21:18
Trump ridicules Chris Christie’s weight in edited 2024 campaign launch video
Donald Trump fired off a nasty buffet video of Chris Christie after the former governor attacked Ivanka Trump at his 2024 campaign launch. The former president shared a video created by Twitter users @NautPoso and @drefanzor which was crudely edited to make it appear as if the ex-New Jersey governor was starting his campaign at an all-you-can-buffet holding a plate of food. Mr Trump shared the video not long after taking another shot at Mr Christie’s weight. “How many times did Chris Christie use the word SMALL? Does he have a psychological problem with SIZE? Actually, his speech was SMALL, and not very good,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It rambled all over the place, and nobody had a clue of what he was talking about. Hard to watch, boring, but that’s what you get from a failed Governor (New Jersey) who left office with a 7% approval rating and then got run out of New Hampshire. This time, it won’t be any different!” Mr Christe has faced a litany of jokes about his weight in the last few weeks from outlets such as Newsmax and Fox News. Fox host Greg Gutfeld took part in the mockery, as did network anchor John Roberts who said the former governor “could drink a lot the milkshake if he wanted to” because of his “physical stature”. Mr Roberts apologized on Tuesday, Mediaite noted. This is not the first time Mr Trump has mocked the weight of Mr Christie, who became the first establishment Republican to endorse Mr Trump after dropping out of the 2016 primary. Mr Christie was for a time of Mr Trump’s presidential transition and was also considered for roles such as vice president and attorney general, ideas which were vetoed by Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. After being an ally of the president and supporting him in both the 2016 and 2020 elections, Mr Christie has now become one of his harshest critics. Last year, Mr Trump posted an image of Mr Christie at a buffet with the caption “Chris Christie at a Roy Rogers at 11 PM in the evening trying to console himself”. More follows... Read More Chris Christie gave Trump legitimacy. Now he can’t stop Trump in 2024 Trump news – live: Trump lashes out at ‘boring’ presidential rival as charges expected in Mar-a-Lago documents case Chris Christie news – live: Ex-governor lashes out at Trump family’s ‘breathtaking grift’ in fiery 2024 launch
2023-06-07 20:57
US Mortgage Applications for Purchases Drop for a Fourth Week
US mortgage applications for home purchases fell for a fourth week as 30-year fixed rates held close to
2023-06-07 20:16
Ukraine warns of floating mines and disease after Kakhovka dam collapse
By Max Hunder KHERSON, Ukraine A senior Ukrainian official warned of the danger posed by floating mines unearthed
2023-06-07 19:59
North American lobster industry confronts 'ropeless' traps after whale entanglements
By Lauren Owens Lambert MONHEGAN ISLAND, Maine An emerging technology to fish for lobsters virtually ropeless to prevent
2023-06-07 19:53
Trafigura Traders Share $3 Billion Payout on Record Profit
Trafigura Group paid $3 billion to its top traders and executives as the commodity trading giant notched up
2023-06-07 19:52
Lira Plunges as Turkey’s New Economy Team Pulls Back Defense
Turkey’s lira plunged to a record low as state lenders temporarily halted dollar sales, in a sign the
2023-06-07 19:46