USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump and his legal team face long odds in their bid to move his 2020 election conspiracy trial out of Washington, arguing the Republican can’t possibly get a fair trial in the overwhelmingly Democratic nation’s capital.

Criminal defendants routinely try to have their cases moved to increase their chances of getting a favorable jury. Trump and his attorney say they’re eying West Virginia, which Trump easily won in 2020.

WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday kept up his attacks on special counsel Jack Smith and vowed to continue talking about his criminal cases even as prosecutors sought a protective order to limit the evidence that Trump and his team could share.

In the early voting state of New Hampshire, Trump assailed Smith as a “thug prosecutor” and a “deranged guy” a week after being indicted on felony charges for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

HONOLULU (AP) — Wildfires in Hawaii fanned by strong winds burned multiple structures, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities late Tuesday as firefighters struggled to reach some areas that were cut off by downed trees and power lines.

The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain at a safe distance of 500 miles (805 kilometers), was partly to blame for gusts above 60 mph (97 kph) that knocked out power as night fell, rattled homes and grounded firefighting helicopters.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 08 (APP): A United Nations spokesperson Tuesday reiterated the world body’s concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir, saying “the concerns we have expressed still stand.”

The UN Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, made that statement in response to a question about India’s unilateral action in abolishing the special status of Kashmir on August 5, 2019, in violation of UN resolutions and international law.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — City of Los Angeles workers are joining the hotel employees, Hollywood actors and TV and movie writers who have walked off their jobs this summer.

Thousands of them plan to strike Tuesday, potentially grinding municipal operations to a halt for 24 hours and adding to the flurry of organized labor activity across the city and country.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. court on Monday blocked a Biden administration rule that aimed to make it easier for defrauded borrowers to obtain student loan debt relief.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued an injunction to prevent the government from implementing regulations that took effect last month while it considers a lawsuit brought by Career Colleges and Schools of Texas, which represents 70 for-profit colleges, reported The Washington Post, one of the leading newspapers in the country.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In a scathing ruling last month, a judge said the FBI had used a ”villain” of an informant to manipulate a group of Muslim men into going along with a fictitious plot to destroy military planes and synagogues in New York City’s suburbs. She ordered three released from prison, saying “the real lead conspirator was the United States.”

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Gov. Tate Reeves is hoping to breeze past two political newcomers in the state’s primary election Tuesday and secure the Republican nomination as he seeks a second term, setting up a general election contest with Democrat Brandon Presley.

Reeves says Mississippi has momentum with a low unemployment rate and steady job growth, while Presley — a cousin of rock ’n’ roll icon Elvis Presley — says Reeves is out of touch with people who struggle to make ends meet in one of the poorest states of the U.S.

TUSAYAN, Ariz. (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his visit to Arizona on Tuesday to formally announce a national monument designation for the greater Grand Canyon, making Native American tribes’ and environmentalists’ decades-long vision to preserve the land a reality.

Biden is expected to announce plans for a new national monument to preserve about 1,562 square miles (4,046 square kilometers) just outside Grand Canyon National Park, National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi confirmed a day earlier. It will mark the president’s fifth monument designation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — At least two people died, thousands of U.S. flights were canceled or delayed, and more than 1.1 million homes and businesses lost power Monday as severe storms, including hail and lightning, moved through the eastern U.S.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the greater D.C. area, lasting until 9 p.m. A special Weather Service statement warned, “There is a significant threat for damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.”