Author: Robert Jones

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — In the final moments of a life defined by violence, 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski thanked the people of Florida for killing him “in the most cold, calculated, clean, humane, efficient way possible,” breathing deeply as a lethal drug cocktail coursed through his veins.With his last breath, strapped to a gurney inside a state prison’s death chamber, Zakrzewski paid what Florida had deemed was his debt to society and became the 27th person put to death in the U.S. so far this year, the highest number in a decade.Under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has executed nine people…

Christopher Landry, a supporter of President Donald Trump with a green card who has been living in New Hampshire for decades, returned to the United States on July 30 after previously being denied reentry from Canada earlier in the month, his attorney Ronald Abramson told Newsweek.His return comes after a New Hampshire judge vacated his prior misdemeanor convictions.Why It MattersLandry’s blocked reentry and legal limbo come amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The president has pledged to launch the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.Immigrants residing in the country illegally and legally, with valid documentation such as green cards…

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Friday night to uphold a lower court’s temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing Monday afternoon at which the federal government asked the court to overturn a temporary restraining order issued July 12 by Judge Maame E. Frimpong, arguing it hindered their enforcement of immigration law. Immigrant advocacy groups filed suit last month accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during the…

Facebook Tweet Email Link New York  —  President Donald Trump last week suspended a global trade loophole allowing smaller parcels into America duty-free. This closes a backdoor into the United States for Chinese mega-shippers like Shein and Temu, who could potentially pass the cost of those duties down to consumers. Trump eliminated the so-called “de minimis exemption,” which had admitted duty-free shipments of goods worth $800 or less into the United States. Giant e-commerce sites used the loophole when shipping hundreds of millions of packages to US consumers. The administration did away with the exemption for goods coming out of…

The FBI redacted Donald Trump’s name, along with the names of other prominent public figures, from references in the Jeffrey Epstein files, three people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg’s Jason Leopold.Internal directives instructed about 1,000 FBI agents to flag any mention of Trump during a March review of roughly 100,000 pages of records, people familiar with the process told Bloomberg.The Justice Department said the review turned up no “client list” or evidence linking Trump to criminal activity, despite his name appearing in Epstein’s contact book and flight logs.Newsweek has reached out to the FBI via email on Friday morning…

Ukrainian drone attacks overnight into Saturday killed three people, Russian officials said Saturday, as the two sides continued to trade airstrikes.Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted or destroyed 112 drones across eight Russian regions and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed one person, acting governor Yuri Slyusar said. Further from the front line, a woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike in the Penza region, according to regional governor Oleg Melnichenko. In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an…

The United States has sharply rejected Iran’s call for financial compensation following recent American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, calling the request “ridiculous” and urging Tehran to end its destabilizing activities if it hopes for economic relief or sanctions relief.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Financial Times that Washington must accept responsibility for the attacks and provide financial redress before nuclear negotiations could resume. U.S. State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott dismissed that position in a press briefing, saying the U.S. remained open to diplomacy but insisted the burden of progress now lay with Iran.Newsweek has reached out…

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces opened fire near two aid distribution sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as crowds of hungry Palestinians again sought food, killing at least 10 people, witnesses and health workers said Saturday. The violence came a day after U.S. officials visited a GHF site and the U.S. ambassador called the troubled system “an incredible feat.”Another 19 people were shot dead as they crowded near the Zikim crossing from Israel in the hope of obtaining aid, said Fares Awad, head of the Gaza health ministry’s ambulance and emergency service.Nearly a week has…

Ghislaine Maxwell has been quietly moved to a Texas minimum-security prison.Maxwell had been serving a 20-year sentence in a Florida prison after being convicted of helping sex offender ex Jeffrey Epstein recruit and abuse young girls. Now she has been relocated to the Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Bryan, Texas, a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson told Newsweek.Newsweek has reached out to Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus via email for comment.Why It MattersThe prisoner transfer comes as Maxwell is set to testify before Congress on August 11, about Epstein’s network.Her lawyer had previously sent a list of terms and conditions to…

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Republicans move to redraw legislative maps in red states to pad their narrow House majority in Washington, some Democrats are rethinking their embrace of a nonpartisan approach to line-drawing that now complicates their party’s ability to hit back before next year’s midterm elections.In many Democratic-controlled states, independent commissions rather than the state legislature handle redistricting, the normally-once-a-decade task of adjusting congressional and legislative districts so their populations are equal. Parties in the majority can exploit that process to shape their lawmakers’ districts so they are almost guaranteed reelection. The commission model limits parties’ ability to game…