Deep in the Atlantic, a ‘catastrophic implosion’ and five lives lost
A vast multinational search for five people who had descended to view the wreckage of the sunken RMS Titanic ended Thursday after pieces of the privately owned submersible vessel that had carried them were found on the ocean floor, evidence of a “catastrophic implosion” with no survivors, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The dramatic search effort had mesmerized people worldwide for days after the 22-foot watercraft lost contact with its parent ship less than two hours into its voyage on Sunday. The grim discovery also trained attention on high-risk, high-cost adventure tourism, raising questions about the safety protocols followed by companies that run such expeditions.
Biden seeks to bolster ties with Modi while soft-pedaling differences
President Joe Biden emphasized common ground with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India during a lavish state visit Thursday, publicly skirting points of friction over the government’s crackdown on human rights in India and Russia’s war in Ukraine in hopes of bolstering economic and geopolitical ties with the world’s most populous nation. Biden treated Modi to a day of red-carpet pageantry and showered him with expansive flattery as he sought to draw India closer at a time when the United States finds itself locked in open conflict with Moscow and in an uneasy standoff with China.
Trump trial setting could provide conservative jury pool
When Judge Aileen Cannon assumed control of the case stemming from former President Donald Trump’s indictment for putting national security secrets at risk, she set the stage for the trial to be held with a regional jury pool made up mostly of counties that Trump won handily in his two previous campaigns. She signaled that the trial would take place in the federal courthouse where she normally sits, in Fort Pierce, at the northern end of the Southern District of Florida. The region that feeds potential jurors to that courthouse is made up of one swing county and four others that are ruby red in their political leanings.
E-Cigarette sales tapered off last year after big surge
Sales of e-cigarettes rose by nearly 47% from January 2020, just before the pandemic hit the United States, to December 2022, according to an analysis released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sales were still growing through May of last year, but then dropped by 12% through December. Researchers attributed the decline to several possible factors, including state or local bans on flavored products; government enforcement; and the introduction of devices that offered thousands of “puffs” in a single device. Overall, four-week sales of e-cigarettes climbed to 25.9 million units late last year, from 15.5 million units in early 2020.
Tornado kills at least 4 in Texas panhandle town
A dayslong wallop of extreme heat and storms that had pummeled much of Texas and parts of Oklahoma culminated Wednesday with a powerful tornado that swept through Matador, killing four people and injuring nine others. The death toll was not expected to rise, officials said Thursday morning. But the extent of the losses was still coming into focus, as people found out how many of their neighbors had lost their homes. Many of those affected were staying with family members in nearby towns. The tragedy came just a week after a ferocious series of storms swept across the South, spawning a tornado that killed five people.
Missiles strike Russian-held bridge far behind Ukraine front line
A Russian-held bridge far behind the front lines that helps Moscow resupply its forces in Ukraine was hit by missiles on Thursday, Kremlin-backed local officials said. The bridge, which connects the occupied Crimean Peninsula to the rest of Ukraine, was struck by several missiles in an overnight attack that some of the officials blamed on Kyiv. While Ukrainian forces have stepped up their strikes on the peninsula, which Moscow seized long before launching its full invasion, the Ukrainian government has generally declined to officially confirm them, and that was the case again Thursday. The bridge — which consists of two spans — crosses the Chonhar Strait to connect Crimea and the Kherson region.
Russian court denies American reporter’s bid to be freed until trial
A Moscow court denied an appeal Thursday by Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who asked to end his pretrial detention in Russia, where he was jailed and charged with espionage 12 weeks ago. Gershkovich, an American journalist who has been based in Russia for nearly six years, was arrested in late March and charged with spying, which he denies. Last month, his detention was extended until Aug. 30. Although Russian prosecutors have presented no evidence, he has been held for 12 weeks in Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo Prison, which is run by the KGB’s successor and is known for harsh conditions that include extreme isolation.
In Turkey, Erdogan signals shift to conventional economics
Turkey’s central bank sharply raised interest rates Thursday, the clearest sign yet that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is shifting his country toward more orthodox economic policies in the hope of taming a painful cost-of-living crisis. The spike in rates, to 15% from 8.5%, came less than a month after Erdogan, Turkey’s dominant politician for two decades, won a third presidential term despite a challenge from a newly unified opposition, high inflation that has left many Turks feeling poorer and catastrophic earthquakes in February that killed more than 50,000 people.
Countries on front lines of climate change seek new lifeline in Paris
An unusual if guarded optimism has descended upon Paris, along with hundreds of world leaders, bankers and climate activists. They have come for a two-day conference billed as the new Bretton Woods. The reference is to the 1944 gathering in New Hampshire where diplomats hammered out the monetary institutions to rebuild countries after World War II — the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Now, the goal is to rebuild those systems to weather a looming crisis: the entwined dangers of poverty and climate change. Many believe a new international monetary system, one that offers developing countries facing climate crises not more crippling debt but financial support, might be in the making.
Mexico’s Supreme Court strikes down the President’s bid to remake election laws
Mexico’s highest court on Thursday struck down a key piece of a sweeping electoral bill backed by the president that would have undermined the agency that oversees the country’s vote, and that helped shift the nation away from single-party rule. The ruling by the Supreme Court is a major blow to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has argued that the plan would make elections more efficient, save millions of dollars and allow Mexicans living abroad to vote online. Though López Obrador is barred from seeking reelection, his party’s chosen candidate will most likely be a heavy favorite.
Tropical storm takes aim at Lesser Antilles
Tropical Storm Bret was expected to hit the Lesser Antilles on Thursday night with strong winds and heavy rain of up to 10 inches in some locations, the National Hurricane Center said. Bret formed Monday as the second named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, and by Thursday night, the center of the weather system was approaching the islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia and was moving west at 16 mph toward the eastern and central Caribbean Sea. The storm also had maximum sustained winds were near 65 mph with higher gusts. Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 115 miles from Bret’s center.
By wire sources