Philadelphia local news, sports, jobs, cars, homes

Category: Nation & World

  • Whatever you do in Russia, don’t talk about the war

    Whatever you do in Russia, don’t talk about the war

    The war in Ukraine is a “Special Military Operation,” even though it’s the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II.

    Across Russia, officials blame fuel shortages on “unscheduled maintenance at refineries” without noting a cause, as Ukrainian drones attack fuel refining facilities in the country.

    And Russia’s central bank governor has talked of the “structural transformation of the economy,” as code for military spending that has spiraled and reoriented the economy around the military-industrial complex.

    For years, President Vladimir Putin has insulated Russian society from the consequences of his war in Ukraine, using euphemisms as a psychological shield. But as the war increasingly comes home, the mismatch between rhetoric and reality is becoming a source of frustration for ordinary Russians.

    For days, Putin didn’t mention the June 18 long-range strikes on Moscow, when Ukraine attacked with nearly 200 drones. He didn’t comment as Ukrainians promised to turn Crimea, the peninsula Russia illegally annexed in 2014, into an island by pounding it with drones and missiles.

    When he appeared June 23 for the first time since the June 18 strikes, which were the largest in the war, he used the moment to blame the West.

    “These drones, strikes on civilian infrastructure — what are they for? To destabilize society, to create uncertainty about the actions of the Russian armed forces,” Putin said. At that time, he did not address the fuel shortages in at least 56 regions, according to Mediazona, an independent Russian news outlet.

    On Sunday, Putin did acknowledge fuel shortages. At a meeting of top executives and officials, he said that “systemic measures that match the scale of current challenges” must be put in place, adding that a task force was working around the clock to ensure supplies, especially for agriculture.

    But Putin has not publicly delegated officials to prepare shelters or early warning systems in case of future strikes.

    In the Moscow suburbs of Kotelniki and Lyubertsy, both of which came under drone attack in mid-June, authorities said they would not disclose the locations of bomb shelters or use sirens because the country was not technically on a war footing. They would make this information public only in case of a “period of mobilization and in wartime.”

    Lyubertsy’s administrator suggested that people consult a PDF that appeared on a government website with practical instructions on what to do in case of a drone attack.

    The head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, a region with 4 million people between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains where Ukraine has attacked refineries, said his administration had decided to not always activate sirens to not stress people out, mentioning a rise in antidepressant use in Russia.

    Downplaying danger and resorting to euphemisms to discuss drone attacks and economic pain is a “performance of obedience” to Putin and his regime, said Aleksandra Arkhipova, a teaching and research fellow in social sciences at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris.

    She has compiled a list of new war-related terms and euphemisms such as “clap” instead of “explosion,” “deprived of life” instead of “killed,” and “air target” instead of “drone.”

    “Russian political authorities right now are all about pictures in the news,” Arkhipova said. They do not want “to create a huge panic which can be shown by local TV and then on the federal news with a lot of crowds crying and running through the streets.”

    On the news, the recent attacks on Moscow barely figured, in keeping with the state’s stance. Channel One, the Kremlin’s primary cultural and political megaphone, ran a short segment the morning of the June 18 attacks and then stayed quiet until Putin commented several days later. During the evening news broadcasts on June 18 on Channel One as well as on Rossiya 1, or NTV, “not a single word” about the attacks was uttered, according to Telegram channel Agentstvo News.

    Officials and state outlets use confusing and sometimes misleading linguistic formulations to describe certain war-related events, Arkhipova said. In the early days of the war, stores that closed as a result of Western sanctions bore signs for months and in some cases years saying they were “closed for technical reasons.”

    Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency recently announced a “schedule adjustment” at the Krasnodar airport, which is about 150 miles from the front line and in the path of Ukrainian drones. At Sochi airport, authorities don’t write that flights are delayed by incoming drones but instead that the airport is operating according to the “actual schedule” — a confusing term that is meant to distinguish between the two columns on the planned departures and arrivals, “scheduled time” and “actual time.”

    When Moscow’s airports are temporarily closed because of Ukrainian drone attacks, the term used refers to accepting flights “by agreement.” Travelers are told that their flight is delayed because of delays to the incoming flight, rather than because the city is under drone attack.

    Arkhipova calls this linguistic technique “neutralization.” It is about intentional ambiguity, she said, explaining, “People can understand that something is happening, but what exactly is happening is not that clear.”

  • D.C. reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops’ patrol with Darth Vader song

    D.C. reaches court settlement with man detained while protesting troops’ patrol with Darth Vader song

    WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount of money with a resident who claims police illegally detained him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader’s theme song from “Star Wars” on his phone — an act of protest against the Trump administration’s federal law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.

    A court filing late Thursday says the plaintiff, Sam O’Hara, will drop his lawsuit’s claims against the district and four Metropolitan Police Department officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The filing doesn’t specify a dollar amount for the deal between the district and O’Hara, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia.

    In an email on Friday, an ACLU spokesperson referred to the settlement’s financial terms as “a significant amount” that O’Hara ”is pleased with” but said they aren’t disclosing the dollar figure to protect his privacy. A spokesperson for D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office declined to comment on the settlement.

    O’Hara’s agreement with the district doesn’t resolve his related claims against an Ohio National Guard member. Attorneys for the Guard member, Sgt. Devon Beck, has asked a judge to dismiss O’Hara’s claims against him.

    “He was there because that was his assigned duty,” Beck’s lawyers wrote. “This was not an accidental encounter or a one-time disagreement on a public sidewalk.”

    An earlier court filing, in February, said O’Hara had reached a settlement agreement “in principle” with the district. In response, a judge agreed to suspend the case while they negotiated terms.

    “The government’s efforts to silence me ultimately backfired and brought more attention to the unjust deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C.,” O’Hara said in a statement. “This settlement serves as a reminder that constitutional freedoms are worth defending, especially when those in power would prefer we stay quiet.”

    O’Hara sued the district last October, claiming police officers violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.

    The ominous orchestral music of “The Imperial March” from the Star Wars movies was the soundtrack for O’Hara’s peaceful protests against President Donald Trump’s ongoing deployment of Guard members in Washington. Millions of TikTok users have viewed O’Hara’s videos of his interactions with troops, according to his lawsuit.

    O’Hara, an artist who works in the hospitality industry, says he didn’t interfere with the Guard troops during their Sept. 11, 2025, encounter on a public street. One of the troops summoned Metropolitan Police Department officers, who stopped O’Hara and kept him handcuffed for 15 to 20 minutes before releasing him without charges, according to the lawsuit.

    “The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But in the here and now, the First Amendment bars government officials from shutting down peaceful protests,” the suit says.

    Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington last August. Within weeks, hundreds of Guard troops and federal agents were helping police patrol the city. The surge inflamed tensions with residents of the heavily Democratic district. Hundreds of Guard members remain deployed in the district nearly a year later, with no clear end in sight.

  • Supreme Court rules constitutional privacy protections apply to cellphone users location history

    Supreme Court rules constitutional privacy protections apply to cellphone users location history

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court held Monday that constitutional privacy protections extend to cell phone location information, ruling in the case of a bank robber whose identity was discovered through a geofence warrant.

    Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the 6-3 court that people don’t forfeit expectations of privacy even when they opt into Google’s location history.

    “A cellphone user is not to be viewed as sharing private information with third parties — which then can be freely passed on to the government — just by doing the ordinary things cellphone users do,” Kagan wrote.

    Justice Samuel Alito wrote in dissent that Okello Chatrie had no expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turned over to Google.

    The decision is the court’s latest effort to apply a constitutional provision ratified in 1791 to technology the nation’s founders could not have envisioned.

    Police obtained a geofence warrant after a bank robbery in a suburb of Richmond, Va., and used it to locate cell phones that were near the bank around the time it was robbed in May 2019.

    One of those phones belonged to Chatrie, who had eluded the police until they turned to the powerful technological tool.

    The warrant kick-started the investigation. After determining that Chatrie was among those near the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian at the time, police obtained a search warrant for his home. They found nearly $100,000 in cash, including bills wrapped in bands signed by the bank teller.

    Chatrie pleaded guilty to robbing the bank and was sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison. His lawyers argued on appeal that none of the evidence should have been used against him.

    They challenged the warrant as a violation of his privacy because it allowed authorities to gather the location history of people near the bank without having any evidence they had anything to do with the robbery. Prosecutors argued that Chatrie had no expectation of privacy because he voluntarily opted into Google’s location history.

    The Supreme Court did not decide Monday whether the search complied with the Fourth Amendment, which bans unreasonable searches and seizures. It sent the case back to a lower court for more work.

    A federal judge had ruled that the search violated Chatrie’s rights, but allowed the evidence to be used because the officer who applied for the warrant reasonably believed he was acting properly.

    The federal appeals court in Richmond upheld the conviction in a fractured ruling. In a separate case, the federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that geofence warrants “are general warrants categorically prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.”

  • Supreme Court rules mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day can be counted

    Supreme Court rules mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day can be counted

    The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Mississippi law that allows officials to tally mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive later, a decision that keeps voting procedures in place in several states as the midterm elections loom.

    In an ideologically mixed 5-4 ruling, the justices turned aside a challenge by Republicans and Libertarians, who argued federal law preempts a Mississippi statute that allows the counting of such ballots that arrive up to five days after polls close.

    The decision could make less likely similar legal challenges in 14 states that allow the counting of ballots that arrive days or weeks after polls close, and others that allow military members to return ballots later. Most states require mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day.

    Justice Amy Coney Barrett delivered the opinion for the majority, which included Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court’s three liberals. Barrett said federal election law did not address when ballots should be received.

    “The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose,” Barrett wrote.

    The ruling came over the objections of four of the court’s conservatives. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote the opinion for the group, which included Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, and Brett M. Kavanaugh.

    “Not only is today’s decision inconsistent with statutory text, legal context, historical practice, and precedent; it also threatens to produce lamentable consequences,” Alito wrote. “The majority’s holding spawns a slurry of troubling election-law questions and risks further undermining Americans’ confidence in election integrity.”

    President Donald Trump and some Republican allies have falsely argued that voter fraud is rampant in mail-in balloting. Trump partly blamed his loss in the 2020 presidential election on mail-in votes and unsuccessfully called on states to stop tallying them during the contest.

    Trump called the ruling a “tremendous loss” in a post on Truth Social. He called on Congress to pass the Save America Act, which tightens voter identification laws.

    Republicans in a number of states have launched legal challenges to mail-in voting, which has grown in popularity since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. One study found about 1 in 3 voters voted by mail in 2024, but the practice is more widespread in Democratic-leaning states.

    Conservatives in Congress also have introduced legislation to limit mail-in voting.

    In March, Trump issued an executive order telling the Postal Service to send ballots only to voters who appear on lists of citizens created by states in conjunction with the federal government. A federal judge in Massachusetts blocked that provision of the executive order last week, saying states — not the president — are responsible for setting election rules.

    Despite his criticism of mail-in voting, Trump voted by mail in a special election in Florida earlier this year.

    In the case decided by the high court, the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, a state voter, and a county election commissioner had sued Mississippi in 2024, claiming it was illegal to count mail-in ballots that arrive after polls close because federal law sets elections for a specific day. The Libertarian Party later filed a similar suit.

    The cases were consolidated by a federal judge, who allowed groups of veterans and retirees to intervene in the suit on behalf of Mississippi. The judge dismissed the case, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reversed that ruling. Mississippi then appealed to the Supreme Court.

    During arguments in March, Paul D. Clement, an attorney for the conservatives, told the justices that casting and counting ballots at the same time has long been “intertwined.” He said allowing mail-in ballots to be counted after Election Day could increase fraud and undermine faith in elections, particularly if the winning candidate was not the one ahead when polls closed.

    “The losers are going to doubt the result, full stop,” Clement said. “That is bad for our system.”

    Mississippi Solicitor General Scott G. Stewart countered that existing law required only that voters fill out their ballots by Election Day. He said mail-in voting has a long history in the United States, pointing to field voting that occurred during the Civil War.

    “States have allowed it for over a century, and Congress has respected it,” Stewart said.

    This term has been an active one for the justices on voting and election issues. In January, the court allowed a Republican congressman from Illinois to challenge the state’s mail-in balloting laws, finding candidates have inherent standing to sue over election rules.

    The case brought by Rep. Mike Bost (R., Ill.) also argues that federal law prohibits ballots from being counted after Election Day. The case was sent back to the lower courts.

    The justices also severely limited a key section of the Voting Rights Act, which has cleared the way for a number of Republican-controlled states in the South to carve up districts held mostly by Black Democrats ahead of the midterm elections. Hundreds of other minority officeholders could be redistricted out of their seats in state and local boards.

    The court has yet to rule in a case challenging limits on spending coordinated between political parties and candidates that is being pushed by the Republican Party. Striking down the spending limits could give Republicans a big money boost in November.

    Fourteen states provide grace periods for all mail ballots, and another 16 provide them for military and overseas voters. Republican-led states have been steering away from ballot grace periods recently, with Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, and Utah eliminating them last year, according to Voting Rights Lab.

    RNC Chairperson Joe Gruters said Republicans would push Congress to pass legislation requiring ballots in all states to be returned by Election Day.

    “Democrats are inviting chaos at the ballot box by allowing elections to drag on for days and weeks after voters cast their ballots,” he said in a statement.

    Voting rights advocates praised the decision, saying they feared the court could reverse long-standing policies on when ballots are due.

    “Good news rarely comes out of this Supreme Court, but today’s ruling is a win for our democracy,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said. Virginia Kase Solomón, president of Common Cause, said the decision was correct because voters “shouldn’t lose their voice because of mail delays outside their control.”

  • Supreme Court rejects Trump’s push to toss $5 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case

    Supreme Court rejects Trump’s push to toss $5 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case

    WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a push by President Donald Trump to throw out a jury’s $5 million finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her.

    The high court declined to take up the case in a brief, unexplained order, as is typical. There were no noted dissents. Trump also plans to appeal another $83.3 million verdict awarded to Carroll by a different jury after a second defamation trial, his lawyers have said.

    The decision comes as the court hands down its biggest opinions, including a ruling that expands Trump’s firing power over the federal bureaucracy with the exception of the Federal Reserve.

    Trump called the decision to pass on the Carroll case “surprising” in a social media post, and he said he would continue to fight the defamation claims. “This Case is really against the United States of America, and all it stands for,” he wrote.

    Trump’s lawyers had argued that allegations leading to the verdict were propped up by “highly inflammatory” evidentiary rulings, including those that allowed the testimony of two other women who accused Trump of sexual abuse decades ago. Trump has denied all three women’s allegations.

    Trump’s attorneys argued the judge broke federal evidence rules in the case. They framed it as a distraction from Trump’s unique duties as president, though the verdict came before his return to the White House.

    “This mistreatment of a President cannot be allowed to stand,” Attorney Justin D. Smith wrote in court documents. Trump, a Republican, has since nominated Smith to be an appeals court judge. His lawyers called the case “Liberal Lawfare” in a statement on Monday.

    Carroll’s lawyers had urged the justices to pass on the case. They argued that the women’s testimony was relevant because the allegations were similar and that Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decisions were in line with others around the country. “This question is not worthy of review,” wrote attorney Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge.

    Monday’s decision affirms the jury’s verdict will stand, she said in a statement Monday. “His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed and today’s ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions,” she said.

    Carroll, a longtime advice columnist and former TV talk show host, testified at a 2023 trial that Trump turned a friendly encounter in spring 1996 into a violent attack in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury retailer across the street from Trump Tower in Manhattan. The jury also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll when he denied her allegation in 2022.

    The Associated Press does not identify people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.

    Trump has successfully fended off other hefty court judgments, including a New York civil fraud penalty of over $500 million thrown out by a New York appeals court. The Supreme Court also granted him broad immunity from criminal prosecution in 2024, though it later narrowly rejected his bid to halt sentencing in his New York hush money case.

  • U.S. and Iran pause strikes but disagree over next steps on talks

    U.S. and Iran pause strikes but disagree over next steps on talks

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States and Iran on Monday separately announced they will send delegations to Qatar this week, though Tehran insisted it has not agreed to meet with the U.S. “at any level” after attacks across the Persian Gulf over the weekend challenged negotiations to end the war.

    U.S. President Donald Trump said the Islamic Republic had requested a meeting with U.S. counterparts and that they planned to convene Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

    But one of Iran’s senior negotiators denied talks had been scheduled. And the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran was sending its delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in the negotiations, to discuss terms of the interim deal without involving the U.S.

    The U.S. president has tried to preserve a fragile interim deal, but hostilities mounted in recent days in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil had been shipped before war began. After four days of trading strikes, both sides appeared to pause their attacks Monday.

    The U.S. and Iran agreed to an interim deal earlier this month that calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of enriched uranium. It also waives U.S.-backed sanctions on the country, opens the Strait of Hormuz, and gives each side 60 days to hammer out broader agreements.

    Confusion mounts over next round of Iran-U.S. talks

    After Trump said Monday morning on social media that the U.S. and Iran planned to meet, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’ Fox & Friends that special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, were flying to Qatar.

    Pakistan, also a key mediator, had said talks between Iran and the U.S. would resume Tuesday.

    But Kazem Gharibabadi, a senior negotiator for Iran, said in comments published by Iranian state media that no talks had been confirmed. And Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, said that its delegation was traveling to Qatar this week to discuss the planned release of frozen Iranian assets and other issues related to the deal.

    “There are no negotiation meetings with the U.S. side at any level scheduled in the coming days,” Baghaei said. “The fact that U.S. representatives are traveling to Qatar has no connection with the visit of the Iranian delegation.”

    Increased tension in waterway

    During the war that began Feb. 28, Iran’s attacks and threats stopped cargo ships and tankers from moving through the Strait of Hormuz, creating a global energy crisis.

    In recent days, Iran has twice attacked vessels in the strait — including a tanker filled with Qatari crude — following efforts to open Oman’s territorial waters to both inbound and outbound traffic from the Persian Gulf.

    The attacks drew retaliatory American airstrikes and raised concerns that negotiations to reach a formal end to the war could be disrupted. Iran launched drone and missile attacks targeting Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday.

    The strait has long been considered an international waterway despite its location in Iran and Oman’s territorial waters.

    The Trump administration was operating Monday on the understanding that the U.S. and Iran are standing down after the recent back-and-forth strikes and that vessels can move freely through the Strait of Hormuz, said a U.S. official who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

    Iran’s president, U.S. official say $6 billion coming to Iran

    The U.S. official also said that Qatar planned to release $6 billion in frozen Iranian assets that would be used to purchase U.S. food products for the Iranian people.

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian had announced the expected release of funds earlier Monday in comments published by the state-run IRNA news agency. He called it “a great victory for the Iranian people.”

    Pezeshkian, a reformist within Iran’s theocracy, is the highest-ranking official within Iran to reference the release of the funds held by Qatar, a key mediator along with Pakistan in the negotiations.

    Oman, Iran discuss possible fees for transiting the strait

    Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, said Monday that Oman and Iran are considering charging service-related fees for commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

    Albusaidi said services could include water safety measures, pollution prevention, navigational assistance, and preparedness for incidents such as fires. He told Radio Monte Carlo while visiting France that there are “successful examples” of similar services being provided in compliance with maritime law.

    Albusaidi said Oman does not support imposing transit fees on ships.

    “This is internationally forbidden,” he said, “and we are abiding by these rules.”

    Iran, France clash over clearing mines from strait

    An Iranian official warned France against “provocations” Monday after French President Emmanuel Macron posted on X that France and others were coordinating efforts to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz.

    Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian deputy foreign minister, said on X that under the interim deal “demining is carried out solely by Iran and by no other country.”

    Macron’s post came after he greeted Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman ahead of high-level diplomatic talks in Paris.

    Oman and France called for “free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation” in the Strait of Hormuz, in a joint statement issued Monday after the Paris meeting. Both parties said they “agreed to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to support freedom of navigation going forward and conduct joint demining operations.”

    Lebanon’s president says it will deploy troops

    Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Monday that Lebanon is determined to deploy troops along its entire southern border as part of a framework agreement with Israel signed Friday. He made the remark while meeting with Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East.

    The deal was rejected by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group, which triggered the latest war with Israel on March 2 when it fired rockets across Lebanon’s southern border and into northern Israel.

    The Israel-Lebanon deal calls for Hezbollah to be disarmed before Israel will withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon. Israel agreed to withdraw initially from a couple of “pilot zones” where the Lebanese army would then deploy, but no details have been shared about how that will work in practice.

    Hezbollah officials have warned that attempts to implement the plan could lead to civil war.

  • America 250 celebrations bring extraordinary security challenge to Washington

    America 250 celebrations bring extraordinary security challenge to Washington

    WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement authorities in Washington, D.C., are preparing for one of their largest and most complex security operations as the nation’s capital gears up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation’s freedom.

    With rising political violence, including recent incidents near the White House, and a president who enjoys being at the center of public pomp yet has repeatedly faced attempts on his life, a major security challenge awaits.

    “It comes as no surprise to you that D.C. on a normal day is a target-rich environment,” said Darren B. Cox assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office at a recent news conference detailing the security preparations. “We are prepared for any threats.”

    Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to visit Washington in the coming weeks for the festivities.

    The throngs will be joined by thousands of law enforcement officers and agents and 5,000 National Guard troops, along with military-style vehicles and other hardware they don’t often see on the streets of America.

    Authorities are preparing for a major security operation

    The largest crowds are expected July 4, with multiple events happening simultaneously, including the Great American State Fair, a showcase for each state and a signature attraction of the celebrations that stretches across the National Mall.

    The annual fireworks display that night is designated a National Security Special Event for the first time by the Department of Homeland Security, granting it the highest classification for federal security coordination.

    For visitors, that means strict ID requirements, long lines, and magnetometers, similar to air travel security. Snipers are also expected to be deployed at some events.

    Flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which is across the Potomac River from Washington, will be suspended longer than in other years because of the scope of the celebrations — from noon on July 4 until the next day. Other America 250 events that include flyovers or parachute jumps could prompt more flight disruptions.

    The FBI, Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. Park Police, and D.C. National Guard have all been involved in security coordination for the events. At the news conference earlier this month, equipment that could be deployed to guard the city was on display, including BearCat armored SWAT vehicles, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected, known as MRAPs, as well as communication vans and FBI diving boats.

    “Our protective model is meant to adjust to any type of direct or indirect threats that we come across,” said Tara McLeese, special agent in charge of the Secret Service Washington Field Office. “I can assure you that we have no lack of imagination as to the potential threats out there.”

    Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard II, interim commander of the D.C. National Guard, said the planning had been underway for months and included rehearsals.

    Blanchard said the guard members would continue the roles they have served the last 10 months as part of a deployment to the city President Donald Trump says is meant to fight crime. Blanchard highlighted that guard members, including military police officers, would be helping with duties like traffic and crowd control as well as responding to emergencies around the events.

    Trump, who has already attended several events leading up to July 4, including the kickoff rally last week launching the Great American State Fair, has said on Truth Social that he would hold a rally on the National Mall.

    Speaking at a news conference Monday updating the upcoming security preparations, Cox reiterated that “at this time we are not tracking any credible threats related to the July 4th event, but we always remain vigilant.”

    Recent violence has shaped the threat picture

    The festivities come at a fraught moment, with recent political violence creating a complex threat environment for authorities. One man, Cole Tomas Allen, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president after he sprinted past security at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April. Allen has pleaded not guilty.

    In the following weeks, two men on two separate occasions opened fired at Secret Service officers, the service said. Each incident happened in the vicinity of the White House.

    More recently, the FBI announced it had thwarted a planned attack targeting Trump’s UFC cage-fighting show at the White House. Several suspects have been arrested in that case.

    Security was already enhanced on the National Mall ahead of the launch of festivities, as Trump claimed without providing evidence that vandals had damaged the Reflecting Pool that he had recently renovated.

    Matt Dallek, a political scientist at George Washington University who studies extremism, said Trump posed a unique security challenge because he is “both an accelerant and a target of political violence.”

    The nation’s bicentennial offers a historical parallel

    Observers draw some parallels to the 1976 bicentennial. The nation was coming off Watergate and Vietnam, and 10 months before the celebration there were two assassination attempts against then-President Gerald Ford.

    “There was a lot of sourness in the country in ’76, a lot of cynicism about the direction of the country,” Dallek said. But both Ford and his democratic opponent Jimmy Carter understood the threat political divisions posed and “were looking to bring down the level of vitriol.”

    Angelyn Spaulding Flowers, professor of homeland security and administration of justice at the University of the District of Columbia, said the amount of security was unparalleled for the city, citing the ongoing and open-ended National Guard presence that has flooded Washington with additional security patrols for months.

  • Venezuelans search more earthquake ruins as aftershock rattles rescuers in disaster zone

    Venezuelans search more earthquake ruins as aftershock rattles rescuers in disaster zone

    LA GUAIRA, Venezuela — With the window for finding survivors shrinking fast, Venezuelans combed Monday through more ruins of buildings toppled by last week’s powerful back-to-back earthquakes, and a 4.6 magnitude aftershock rumbled through the disaster zone in the northern state of La Guaira.

    Relief organizations say the first 72 hours after a natural disaster is the most crucial time period for rescues, though survival can be extended if people have access to food and water. Five days after the twin quakes struck northern Venezuela, attention turned to the humanitarian crisis that was taking shape in devastated regions.

    The death toll stood at more than 1,700 people, according to the government.

    Major questions loomed about whether the cash-strapped government under acting President Delcy Rodríguez — who came to power in January after the Trump administration seized former President Nicolás Maduro — will be able to coordinate the effort needed to care for thousands of people who have been left homeless.

    Facing criticism that authorities have done too little, too slowly, the government has promoted its rescue efforts on social and state-run media. On Monday, it shared footage of Rodríguez inspecting a school-turned-shelter for displaced people in the hard-hit northern town of Catia La Mar and of survivors being lifted out of the ruins to applause.

    But such bright spots are rare at the quake’s epicenter, where families keep vigil at search sites.

    “We have to stay strong, even without food, without sleep,” said Ana Rada, watching as civil defense workers looked for her brother. “Until I see the body, I still have hope.”

    Aftershock rattles rescuers

    Following a weekend of smaller aftershocks, Monday’s temblor struck near the epicenter of last week’s quakes — 17 miles north of Caraballeda on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast — and measured 4.6 magnitude, according to the United States Geological Survey. Colombia’s geological survey put the magnitude at 5.1.

    Jorge Rodríguez, the leader of the Venezuelan National Assembly, said there were no immediate reports of additional damage, but the aftershock sent residents in the capital of Caracas screaming into the streets.

    “Here we are again, back in the street. I don’t know when we’ll have a moment of true peace,” said Concepción Hernández, 51, who evacuated her apartment building in the Chacao municipality of Caracas.

    The Caracas Metro said it would temporarily suspend service Monday to inspect infrastructure following the aftershock.

    Questions over extent of U.S. help

    The disaster has raised expectations for the Trump administration, considering its takeover of Venezuela’s oil industry earlier this year.

    In a briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official said 300 first responders sent from the U.S. are working on the ground — alongside dozens of other international rescue teams — and two dozen C-17 military transport planes arrive every day with supplies. Financial support from the U.S. now exceeds $300 million.

    The American military is also assisting with some repairs, including damage to the port in La Guaira to enable the arrival of more relief supplies by sea. Another team is helping to manage air traffic after the quakes destroyed part of the control tower at Simón Bolívar International Airport in Caracas, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

    It seemed unlikely, however, that the Trump administration would grant temporary legal protections to Venezuelans as previous administrations have done for people from disaster-stricken countries already in the U.S. Such action was taken after earthquakes in 2010 in Haiti and 2001 in El Salvador.

    Venezuelans have been a major focus of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, with officials revoking temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and stepping up deportation flights.

    Rescuers included a miner deported from the U.S.

    Among the rescuers digging through the rubble Monday in La Guaira was miner Jean Sosa, who said he was deported from the U.S. in January over a missed immigration court hearing and returned to Caracas last month, dazed by an odyssey that he said began in shackles at an Arizona immigration detention center. The journey involved traveling by bus through five countries after immigration agents left him in southern Mexico without his passport, phone, or wallet.

    Since arriving Wednesday in La Guaira to visit family and friends, Sosa has raced to pull people from the rubble in the absence of national rescue teams.

    “I’m not involved in politics, but I believe many people could have been saved if there had been equipment and support from top authorities from the very beginning,” he told the Associated Press, wearing a helmet and a black T-shirt splotched with dust in the port city where he said he had already rescued 20 people alive.

    Those rescues heartened him, he said, and gave him hope for more despite the lack of supplies. “We’re working without gloves, without equipment, borrowing supplies, improvising bandages and whatever else we can.”

    Government, U.N. offer vastly different numbers of people affected

    The full scale of the damage remained unclear. Jorge Rodríguez, who is the brother of the acting president, said that as of Monday, a total of 15,866 people had been affected, while the number of damaged or collapsed buildings had reached 855.

    A preliminary assessment by NASA estimated that the earthquake damaged or destroyed 58,870 buildings. The assessment relied on radar imagery from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellites, which can detect changes to infrastructure.

    The United Nations has said that up to 6.8 million of Venezuela’s nearly 30 million residents may be affected, which could mean being displaced or losing access to essential services such as electricity and water.

    Because of the chaos and poor cell phone service, many Venezuelans have turned to non-governmental digital databases to report their loved ones as missing. More than 50,000 people were reported missing on one such database, though it is unclear how many have been found.

  • Heat dome could bring triple-digit temperatures to the Midwest and Eastern U.S.

    Heat dome could bring triple-digit temperatures to the Midwest and Eastern U.S.

    A dangerous and prolonged heat wave is expected to build across central and eastern parts of the United States this week, with forecasters warning that temperatures could soar into the triple digits and reach record-breaking levels in some areas into the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

    From the Midwest to the East Coast, temperatures are forecast to reach the 90s to low 100s, said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center.

    Parts of the East, particularly across the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, could see temperatures climb above 100 degrees.

    “Washington, D.C., will almost certainly exceed 100 on at least one or two days,” Chenard said. “And Philadelphia and New York City are also currently forecast to go over 100.”

    He said daily records could be broken on Thursday and Friday in Washington, New York City, and Philadelphia.

    Philadelphia could tie its record high of 104 degrees for the month of June.

    The heat wave was expected to begin to take hold starting on Sunday across portions of the Plains, where temperatures were expected to rise into the 90s. The heat was expected to reach into the Great Lakes region, including Chicago, and toward the Gulf Coast on Tuesday.

    By Wednesday, much of the East Coast is expected to be experiencing the extreme heat.

    The high temperatures will be accompanied by high humidity, making conditions feel even more oppressive.

    The National Weather Service said that heat index values — a measure of what the temperature feels like to the human body, when humidity is considered with the air temperature — could reach 110 degrees, and locally up to 115.

    Little relief is expected during the nights, with temperatures remaining unusually high after sunset.

    Chenard said minimum temperatures were forecast to stay in the 70s, while some cities in the East could remain even warmer, particularly during the middle of the week, which could lead to numerous record-high low temperatures.

    “Areas like New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., could have a low for one or two nights that doesn’t get below 80,” he said. “Chicago could be close to 80 on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, too.”

    The hot and humid conditions are expected to last through much of the Fourth of July weekend.

    Chenard said the longevity of the heat was being driven by a “pretty persistent” sprawling area of high pressure, often referred to as a heat dome.

    Toward the end of the holiday weekend, the heat dome was expected to shift west, back toward the Plains, allowing for cooler conditions in the East but also for the chance of thunderstorms.

    This article originally appeared in the New York Times.

  • Parades in New York and San Francisco wrap up LGBTQ+ Pride Month

    Parades in New York and San Francisco wrap up LGBTQ+ Pride Month

    NEW YORK — Pride Month celebrations peaked Sunday with big parades in New York, San Francisco, and some other cities on the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, which accelerated and transformed the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

    Pride events often mix celebration and calls to action, reflecting the political winds, cultural climate, and news around LGBTQ+ rights.

    This month’s parades and festivals around the U.S. have unfolded as President Donald Trump works to roll back transgender rights and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Among other moves, the Republican’s administration removed a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument earlier this year, then ultimately relented amid a lawsuit.

    “As LGBTQIA+ events and symbols are being erased, it’s vital that our community have safe spaces to show up and march to make clear: We are here,” Chris Piedmont, a spokesperson for New York parade organizers Heritage of Pride, said in a statement Friday. “We will not be erased.”

    Carlos Duarte came in from Long Island to attend New York’s parade.

    “It’s very important for us to be here … to be all together for love, peace, and to show the world who we are,” Duarte said.

    Meanwhile, multiple Republican governors have promulgated conservative-friendly designations for June, such as “Nuclear Family Month,” sometimes openly describing them as a counter to Pride. Other prominent Republican politicians, including Vice President JD Vance, criticized Major League Baseball‘s response to some San Francisco Giants players who added Bible verses to the rainbow-themed Pride Night caps they were issued.

    Against that backdrop, the NYC Pride March and the San Francisco Pride Parade set out to further their legacies as some of the world’s largest and oldest such celebrations.

    Both trace their roots to events held in 1970 to commemorate the Stonewall rebellion on June 28, 1969, when patrons of a New York gay bar called the Stonewall Inn resisted a police raid and ended up kindling a wave of activism.

    The Stonewall Inn still is a bar; the Stonewall monument centers on a small park across the street, about half a mile from the Pride March route at its closest point.

    The newer Queer Liberation March, founded by activists who saw the Pride March as too corporate and official, also was held in Manhattan on Sunday.

    This year, some transgender rights activists pressured Pride organizers to bar some New York City hospitals’ contingents from marching because the institutions announced in recent months that they would stop providing transgender youth treatments.

    Christen Clifford, a mother of two trans children, said during a news conference before the parade that New York City needs to enforce state laws that protect gender-affirming care.

    “How can you let institutions that are actively harming queer kids march in Pride?” Clifford said. “I hope that New York City Pride will ban these hospitals from any future Pride parades until they restart care and so that families like mine know that you are listening to our concerns.”

    The cutoff came amid funding threats from the Trump administration, and at least some of the hospitals also got federal Justice Department subpoenas for transgender patients’ medical records. A judge has temporarily blocked the document demand.

    Heritage of Pride said it has been talking with the hospitals about the issue. The group also noted the parade contingents are organized by LGBTQ+ employee groups, not by the top administrators responsible for decisions about care.

    A message was sent to San Francisco Pride organizers about whether they faced similar questions.

    Other cities with Pride parades Sunday include Seattle, where a World Cup soccer match Friday took on a Pride dimension after the countries whose teams were involved — Iran and Egypt — tried unsuccessfully to get the celebrations canceled.