Deadly floods in Texas put Republicans on the defensive: 'It was an act of God, not the administration'
These precautions were sorely lacking for residents of Kerr County, Virdell's district, when the Guadalupe River overflowed in the middle of the night after torrential rains, sweeping away trailers and people in a torrent of mud. The county had no emergency siren. More than 100 people died, including 28 children spending July at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp established a century ago on the riverbank. More than 10 people are still missing as of Tuesday, July 8.
In this staunchly Republican state that prides itself on not charging a state income tax – residents pay only federal tax – the bill, with an estimated cost of $500 million over 10 years, was deemed too expensive for Texas taxpayers. "I can tell you in hindsight, watching what it takes to deal with a disaster like this, my vote would probably be different now," Virdell told the Texas Tribune, while noting that, even if adopted, the warning system would not have been in place before early September.
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Euronews
21 minutes ago
- Euronews
Future Palestinian state a place for women and respect for law, claims foreign minister
If a Palestinian state emerges, it will be a pluralistic state, with a place for women, and adherence to international law, including the security of Israel, the Palestinian foreign minister has claimed in an exclusive interview with Euronews. "It would be a pluralistic society. There will be a place for women. I'm a woman, and I'm Minister of Foreign Affairs, and I am Christian, and from Armenian origins," said Varsen Aghabekian-Shaheen. She said it would be a place where there is respect for "international law" and respect for "any agreement signed by Palestine with its neighbours". Meanwhile she criticised EU inaction over Israel's war in Gaza and violence in the West Bank as "shocking and disappointing". The "whole world is watching children brutally murdered while awaiting medical care in tents, and people being killed while queuing for basic food supplies", said Aghabekian-Shahin. "We see children brutally murdered while in tents while awaiting medical care from another tent," the foreign minister claimed. The war in Gaza started in response to the Hamas terror attack on October 7th. Aghabekian-Shahin believes there is still hope for a contiguous, Palestinian state, with the Palestinian Authority (PA) in control of both Gaza and the West Bank. Corruption within the Palestinian Authority acknowledged The PA's first female foreign minister said years of corruption within the PA, and also the Palestinian Liberation Authority (PLA) - the national coalition which is the legally recognised representative of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza - is in the process of being rooted out. And there is also the question of credibility and influence. While some Palestinians continue to support Hamas, demonstrations against Hamas continue apace, and confidence in the performance of the Palestinian Authority is declining, according to the Palestinian Policy and Survey research centre. "It's not an excuse, but corruption is everywhere. And remember, we are under occupation, and occupation corrupts," said Aghabekian-Shahin. "Funding from outside corrupts, not being able to direct your organisations the way you want corrupts," she said. "That is not an excuse. But today we have a reform and development agenda by this government in Palestine. And we're working on all aspects to curtail corruption, to decrease nepotism, to ensure that our organisations are governed by rules and regulations applicable to all," she said, adding: "This takes time." The realisation of a Palestinian state is as remote a possibility as ever given the violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as well as sustained violence against, and expulsion of Palestinians in the West Bank. In addition, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has indicated his country no longer supports the internationally agreed-upon two-state solution, and believes Israel is entitled to formally occupy the lands in the West Bank due to its historical, biblical links. Huckabee said any potential Palestinian state could be forged out of an existing Muslim country rather than the lands designated by several UN resolutions for a future Palestinian state – namely, the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Neighboring Arab countries have however indicated they would not take in millions of Palestinians and continue to advocate for a two-state solution. Jordan, Lebanon and to a lesser extent, Egypt and Syria, are already home to large populations of Palestinians refugees from the 1948 and 1967 wars with Israel. "We keep the hope alive because we are two-staters and we believe that that two-state solution is the only viable solution," she told Euronews. Minister Aghabekian-Shahin believes a Palestinian state will materialise, and Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia will be crucial in pushing for it. She said Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries will pause plans to normalise relations with Israel unless the Jewish State negotiates a state for Palestinians. Saudi Arabia was close to formally normalising relations with Israel days before Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th. "When President Trump said about his intention to create the Riviera, there was very quick response from all Arab states, individually and collectively, on the no displacement issue of Palestinians,' she said. Last February, in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump said he would 'take over' and 'own' Gaza, and turn it into 'the Riviera of the Middle East'. Saudi Arabia and France are co-chairing an international conference on a two-state solution in New York on the 28 and 29 of July at ministerial level.
LeMonde
17 hours ago
- LeMonde
House subcommittee votes to subpoena Justice Department for Epstein files
A House subcommittee on Wednesday, July 23, voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein after Democrats successfully goaded GOP lawmakers to defy Trump and Republican leadership to support the action. Democrats on a subcommittee of the powerful House Committee on Oversight made a motion for the subpoena Wednesday afternoon, just hours before the House was scheduled to end its July work session and depart Washington for a monthlong break. Three Republicans on the panel voted with Democrats for the subpoena, sending it through on an 8-2 vote tally. The Republican subcommittee chairman, Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, said that work was beginning to draft the subpoena but that it would take some time for both sides to work out the final language. "If the Republican Party, if our colleagues on this committee don't join us in this vote, then what they're essentially doing is joining President Donald Trump in complicity," Rep. Summer Lee, the Pennsylvania Democrat who made the motion for the subpoena, told reporters outside the hearing room. Johnson told reporters earlier Wednesday there was no need to vote on legislation calling for the release of the Epstein files this week because the Trump administration is "already doing everything within their power to release them." Yet Democrats have delighted this week in pressing Republicans to support the release of the files. Their efforts halted the GOP's legislative agenda for the week and turned attention to an issue that Trump has unsuccessfully implored his supporters to forget about. "They're fleeing our work, our job and sending us back home because they don't want to vote to release these files. This is something that they ran on. This is something that they talked about: the importance of transparency, holding pedophiles accountable," Lee said. 'It's all connected' Democratic leaders are hoping to make the issue about much more than just Epstein, who died in his New York jail cell six years ago while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. "Why haven't Republicans released the Epstein files to the American people? It's reasonable to conclude that Republicans are continuing to protect the lifestyles of the rich and the shameless, even if that includes pedophiles," said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries at a news conference. "So it's all connected." Partner service Learn French with Gymglish Thanks to a daily lesson, an original story and a personalized correction, in 15 minutes per day. Try for free It comes as both parties are gearing up to take their messaging to voters on Trump's big multitrillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts bill . For Republicans, it's "beautiful" legislation that will spark economic growth; for Democrats, it's an "ugly" gift mostly to the richest Americans that undermines health care for low-income people. Yet as furor has grown on the right over the Trump administration's reversal on promises related to Epstein, several Democrats have seized on the opportunity to divide Republicans on the issue. Republican leaders accuse Democrats of caring about the issue purely for political gain. They point out that the Department of Justice held on to the Epstein investigation through the presidency of Democrat Joe Biden. Trump's Justice Department is also seeking the release of testimony from secret grand jury proceedings in the Epstein case, though that effort is unlikely to produce new revelations. The House Oversight Committee, with support from Republicans, also advanced Tuesday a subpoena for Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for a deposition. Trump's name in files Epstein was a friend to numerous high-profile people for years, including Trump. His 2019 prison cell death – ruled a suicide – supercharged a conspiracy theory long promoted by many of Trump's supporters that Epstein had run an international pedophile ring and that elites wanted to make sure he never revealed their secrets. After Trump came to power for a second term this January, his administration promised to release Epstein case files. But when US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on July 7 that she had nothing to release, Republicans were furious – and Trump has been attempting to control the scandal ever since. Things got even more complicated for him after the Wall Street Journal last week reported that Trump had written a lewd birthday letter to Epstein in 2003. Trump denies this and has sued the Journal for at least $10 billion. On Wednesday, the WSJ dropped a new story, saying Bondi had informed Trump in May that his name appeared several times in the Epstein files, even if there was no indication of wrongdoing.
LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
In the US, the relentless engine of conspiracy theories
The twists in the Jeffrey Epstein case, in which Donald Trump's administration has been entangled since July 7 – the date the Department of Justice released a brief memo discrediting the most radical claims promoted by some of his base – offer an important lesson. After more than eight years institutionalizing "alternative facts" in place of actual facts and relentlessly exploiting conspiracy theories, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic and after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, the president of the United States can now see the devastating effects of his cynical and reckless experiments. After months of denouncing, with the backing of officials now holding the highest positions in the federal government, the opacity of a "deep state" supposedly ensuring impunity for the powerful, Trump supporters have grown impatient with their leaders' inability to provide new information regarding Epstein. The financier, who was found dead in his New York prison cell in 2019, had been facing charges of child sexual abuse after initial proceedings dating back to 2006. No matter how forcefully the US president lashes out at the rebels who helped bring him back to power – even going so far as to insult them – he is failing to bring them back into line. To his great surprise, conspiracy theories have proved immune to admonishment and have turned, with the same irrational fervor, against those who once encouraged them with impunity. Trump's frustration no doubt explains why he now bristles at reminders of well-established facts. Like many high-profile figures in the US in the mid-1990s, he was close to Epstein, even if he distanced himself before the financier was brought to justice. The Wall Street Journal, which recalled their past ties on July 17, is now facing a defamation lawsuit and has been barred from covering the president's trip to Scotland. The treatment of the conservative business daily confirms, as have other similar cases, that Trump tolerates only one kind of press, that of complicity, while all news media are uniformly branded as the enemy. Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has employed the same tactics with the media as he does with other checks on his power, or anything he perceives as such: threats and intimidation. He recently forced the CBS news channel to back down over what were seen as particularly flimsy accusations regarding its coverage of an interview with his Democratic opponent in the presidential campaign, Kamala Harris. He also pressured Congress to fulfill a longstanding Republican demand: the elimination of public broadcasting funding, regardless of the consequences for rural areas across the country that have become news deserts. "You are the media now," Elon Musk declared, speaking of social media, on the night of Trump's re-election, for which he had deployed the X platform algorithm to his advantage. The Epstein affair demonstrates the consequences of sidelining traditional news channels. The result is obfuscation and confusion to the detriment of public debate and the health of democracy.
