North America

MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters aided by rain fought to contain a massive blaze that swept through the California desert into Nevada and could threaten the region’s famous spiky Joshua trees.

The York Fire that erupted last Friday was California’s largest wildfire this year. As of Tuesday night it had burned through more than 125 square miles (323.7 square kilometers) of land but showed little growth during the day and was 23% contained, fire officials said.

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A Texas police department is apologizing after officers pulled over what they wrongly suspected was a stolen car and then held an innocent Black family at gunpoint.

The driver of the car, her husband and one of the two children being driven by the Arkansas couple to a youth basketball tournament can all be heard sobbing on body camera video posted online by police in Frisco, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal judge assigned to the election fraud case against former President Donald Trump has stood out as one of the toughest punishers of rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attack fueled by Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election. She has also ruled against him before.

HAVANA, August 1. /TASS/: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega thinks that NATO countries that are participating in the conflict in Ukraine aspire to "conquer and occupy" Russia.

"This is the historic aspiration [of Western countries] to conquer and occupy Russia <...>. This is a war led by NATO and the US, who are trying to eliminate Russia in order to firmly establish themselves as the masters of the planet," Ortega said, as quoted by the 19 Digital news portal.

WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Bahta Mekonnen, a 28-year-old U.S. Army captain from the key voting state of Georgia, is among the millions of Black voters who helped deliver President Joe Biden the White House in 2020.

Three years later, he is one of the voters who Democrats fear could cost Biden a second term in 2024.

Disappointed by what he sees as Democrats' lurch to the left, free spending and empty promises, but also turned off by far-right Republicans, Mekonnen says he sees nothing but bad options at the ballot box next year.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical Storm Dora formed Tuesday off Mexico’s western Pacific coast but will not be a threat to land, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center

Forecasters say that while the storm is expected to strengthen, it is moving generally westward and heading away from land.

The center said Dora was located 275 miles (445 kilometers) southwest of the Pacific coast port of Manzanillo.

The storm had winds of 40 miles per hour (65 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).

WASHINGTON (AP) — X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has threatened to sue a group of independent researchers whose research documented an increase in hate speech on the site since it was purchased last year by Elon Musk.

HOUSTON (AP) — Elections in Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, the state’s biggest city, are coming under the microscope this week as the Democratic stronghold faces unprecedented intervention from the state’s GOP-led Legislature.

Various problems in last November’s midterm elections will be center stage in a civil trial beginning Tuesday. Erin Lunceford, a GOP candidate who lost her bid to become a district court judge in Harris County is suing to throw out the election results and have the court order a do over.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has decided to keep U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado, overturning a last-ditch decision by the Trump administration to move it to Alabama. The choice ended months of thorny deliberations, but an Alabama lawmaker vowed to fight on.

NEW YORK (AP) — A longtime Mar-a-Lago staffer who spent years fetching luxury cars for wealthy club members is the latest person to be ensnared in former President Donald Trump’s ballooning legal troubles.

Carlos De Oliveira appeared in court Monday to face charges connected to what prosecutors allege was a scheme directed by the former president and current GOP front-runner to try to erase security footage after it was subpoenaed by a grand jury. De Oliveira is also charged with lying to investigators, according to a new indictment unveiled last week.