Environmental groups on Wednesday petitioned the U.S. Department of Interior to review climate impacts related to the decades-old trans-Alaska pipeline system and develop a plan for a “managed phasedown” of the 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) pipeline, which is Alaska's economic lifeline. The request comes more than a year after the Biden administration approved the massive Willow oil project on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope, a decision that was welcomed by Alaska political leaders seeking to stem a trend of declining oil production in the state and by many Alaska Native leaders in the region who see the project as economically vital for their communities.
Southern Baptist delegates expressed alarm Wednesday over the way in vitro fertilization is routinely being practiced, approving a resolution lamenting that the creation of surplus frozen embryos often results in “destruction of embryonic human life.” The resolution — approved near the end of the Southern Baptist Convention's two-day annual meeting — affirms that embryos are human beings from the moment of fertilization, whether in the womb or generated in the laboratory via IVF. In the wake of that decision, Alabama passed a law shielding IVF providers from prosecution and lawsuits — reflecting that even in a state with strong anti-abortion sentiment, there is support for a technology used by many couples facing infertility.
The United States wishes India well in its efforts to improve strained ties with China, the number-two U.S. diplomat said on Wednesday, while cautioning that Chinese leader Xi Jinping finds it very hard to show any flexibility on territorial issues. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday after assuming office for a second straight term that India would focus on finding solutions to border issues with China, that have long strained ties between the neighbors. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who has led U.S. efforts to boost ties with India to push back against China's growing power, was asked at a Washington think tank about Jaishankar's comments.
A surge of trading in some short-dated GameStop options contracts on Wednesday suggested to some market participants that Keith Gill, the stock influencer known as Roaring Kitty, may have sold some of his recently-disclosed options position in the company. Gill, who helped launch the meme-stock phenomenon in 2021, recently disclosed a sizeable GameStop stock and options position in a screen shot posted on Reddit on June 2.
Donald Trump's lawyers urged the judge who oversaw his hush money trial to lift a gag order now that he has been convicted, arguing his opponents were using the restrictions on the former U.S. president's speech as a "political sword." In a court filing earlier this week, defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove noted that Democratic President Joe Biden's campaign had referred to Trump, the Republican candidate, as a "convicted felon" in a May 30 statement. They said the order might limit Trump's ability to respond to attacks from Biden during their June 27 presidential debate - though the order only restricts Trump's public statements about jurors, witnesses and other individuals involved in the court proceedings, and does not prevent him from criticizing the case in general.
House Republicans voted Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over the audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s interviews with former special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s handling of classified material and declined to bring charges.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Biden administration Wednesday over a sweeping executive action that largely shuts off asylum to migrants crossing the US southern border illegally.
Officially reversing a controversial March ruling, Louisiana’s highest court Wednesday gave childhood victims of sexual abuse a renewed opportunity to file damage lawsuits. The state Supreme Court's 5-2 ruling Wednesday upholds a so-called look-back law that was passed in 2021 and amended in 2022. Justices Scott Crichton and Piper Griffin, part of the majority in March, joined justices joined Chief Justice John Weimer and justices Jay McCallum and William Crain to revive the law.
The Miami area faces dangerous flooding Wednesday as repeated bouts of torrential rain deluge Florida, flooding streets and neighborhoods and stranding travelers.
A coalition of immigrant advocacy groups sued the Biden administration on Wednesday over President Joe Biden’s recent directive that effectively halts asylum claims at the southern border, saying it differs little from a similar move during the Trump administration that was blocked by the courts. The lawsuit — filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others on behalf of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and RAICES — is the first test of the legality of Biden’s sweeping crackdown on the border, which came after months of internal White House deliberations and is designed in part to deflect political attacks against the president on his handling of immigration. The order Biden issued last week would limit asylum processing once encounters with migrants between ports of entry reach 2,500 per day.
People in their late 70s or older can no longer run for Congress in North Dakota under a ballot measure overwhelmingly approved by voters Tuesday, and legal scholars said the law could remain on the books indefinitely because no elderly candidate might challenge the restriction they deem likely unconstitutional. The initiative bars people from running or serving in the U.S. House or Senate if they are to turn 81 years old during their term. The high-profile measure comes at a time when the ages of elderly officeholders have been front and center in the presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
The graduation ceremony at Newtown High School will include a moment of silence for the victims of the Dec. 14, 2012, mass shooting, who would have been receiving their diplomas.
Sudanese paramilitary forces stormed the main hospital in North Darfur, opening fire and looting vital medical supplies, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have reported.