North America

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden publicly acknowledged a seventh grandchild for the first time on Friday in a statement to People Magazine.

The 4-year-old girl is the child of Biden's son, Hunter, who settled a years-long court battle over child support in June.

"This is not a political issue, it’s a family matter. Jill and I only want what is best for all of our grandchildren, including Navy," Biden said.

July 29 (Reuters) - A federal judge has thrown out Donald Trump's $475 million defamation lawsuit against CNN, in which the former president claimed the network's description of his election fraud as the "big lie" associated him with Adolf Hitler.

In a ruling late on Friday night, U.S. Judge Raag Singhal, who was nominated by Trump in 2019, said CNN's words were opinion, not fact, and therefore could not be the subject of a defamation claim.

BOSTON, July 29 (Reuters) - Vice President Kamala Harris has shown a punchy side during a tour of nearly a dozen U.S. states in recent weeks, attacking Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for backing "revisionist history" about slavery, telling Iowa healthcare workers to rebel against the state's new restrictive abortion laws and rallying Latinos in Chicago to fight "extremist" Republicans.

DENVER, the United States, July 29 (Xinhua) -- The harvest of Colorado's sweet corn this summer suffered a drastic drop due to an earworm infestation. Scientists warn the pest is spreading north due to climate change, endangering thousands more acres of crops.

The pest problem, linked with the severe drought plaguing the Midwest U.S., could lead to an increase in already high food prices, impacting American consumers' wallets.

DECIMATED HARVEST

Federal investigators renewed their recommendation that major freight railroads equip every locomotive with the kind of autonomous sensors that could have caught the track flaws that caused a fatal 2021 Amtrak derailment in northern Montana.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Donald Trump and his top rivals for the GOP presidential nomination took the stage one by one Friday night to address an influential gathering of Iowa Republicans, with none of the top-tier hopefuls mentioning that new federal charges had been filed against the former president just a day earlier.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pamela Smith’s voice soared and quivered like a preacher in midsermon as she recalled her troubled childhood and how it helped prepare her for the challenges she faces as the new police chief in the nation’s capital.

CHICAGO (AP) — Leading up to the 2020 election, Facebook ads targeting Latino and Asian American voters described Joe Biden as a communist. A local station claimed a Black Lives Matter co-founder practiced witchcraft. Doctored images showed dogs urinating on Donald Trump campaign posters.

None of these claims was true, but they scorched through social media sites that advocates say have fueled election misinformation in communities of color.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ' increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly acknowledged his seventh grandchild, a 4-year-old girl fathered by his son Hunter with an Arkansas woman, Lunden Roberts, in 2018.

“Our son Hunter and Navy’s mother, Lunden, are working together to foster a relationship that is in the best interests of their daughter, preserving her privacy as much as possible going forward,” Biden said in a statement. It was his first acknowledgement of the child.