(LONDON) — An overnight fire at a shopping mall in Iraq has killed more than 60 people, according to the country’s interior ministry.
The massive fire broke out early Thursday in the new, five-story shopping center in Kut, the capital of the Wasit province in eastern Iraq.
Most of the 61 victims died from smoke inhalation in the building’s bathrooms, while 14 others were severely burned, according to the interior ministry. Forty-five people were rescued, it said.
Rescue teams worked for hours to recover bodies trapped inside the charred structure, battling dense smoke and debris.
Iraqi authorities have declared three days of national mourning as search and recovery operations continue.
The Wasit governor, Mohammed Mayahi, described the fire as a national disaster. Many of the victims are believed to be entire families caught in the fire, with Mayahi saying children were among those killed.
“The day is painful for all of Wasit,” he said.
An investigation committee has been formed to determine the cause of the fire, the interior ministry said. Investigators have been tasked with determining whether violations of fire codes or construction standards played a role.
The blaze erupted less than a week after the Corniche shopping mall opened.
Mayahi said legal complaints had been filed against the building owner, the mall operator and others involved in the case.
“There will be no leniency,” he said.
The Kut disaster follows a series of similar incidents in Iraq recent years. In 2023, more than 100 people died after a fire started by pyrotechnic devices swept through a wedding hall in Hamdaniyah. The incident drew national outrage, raising broader concerns about public venue safety and allegations of corruption in the approval of business licenses.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The nondissemination order in the University of Idaho murder case was lifted by Judge Steven Hippler on Thursday, but all documents in the case that have been sealed will remain sealed for now.
The order, also known as a gag order, banned police and prosecutors from speaking about the high-profile case that gripped the nation.
Hippler’s decision to end the gag order comes six days before admitted killer Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing.
Kohberger, who pleaded guilty to all counts at a July 2 change of plea hearing, will return to court for his sentencing on July 23.
As a part of the plea deal, the former criminology Ph.D. student will be sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the four first-degree murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count.
At the July 2 hearing, Hippler asked Kohberger how he pleaded for each count of murder and named the four students: roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin. Kohberger quickly said “guilty” each time.
The college students were all stabbed to death at the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Kohberger was arrested nearly seven weeks later.
(WASHINGTON) — Facing uproar in his MAGA base over the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Donald Trump continues to try to shift blame for the controversy to others, including onto Biden administration officials for what he calls a ‘hoax.”
Trump, in a phone interview with “Just the News” on Real America’s Voice on Wednesday night, alleged without providing evidence that Democrats and former officials doctored files relating to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
The comments came when Trump was asked if he wanted one prosecutor to look into the broad subject of political prosecution.
“Well, I think it’s in the case of Epstein, they’ve already looked at it, and they are looking at it, and I think all they have to do is put out anything credible,” Trump said.
“But you know, that was run by the Biden administration for four years. I can imagine what they put into files, just like they did with the others,” Trump continued. “I mean, the Steele dossier was a total fake, right? It took two years to figure that out for the people, and all of the things that you mentioned were fake.”
“So I would imagine if they were run by Chris Wray and they were run by Comey, and because it was actually even before that administration, they’ve been running these files, and so much of the things that we found were fake with me,” Trump said.
Despite Trump’s claims that Democrats “put” things in the files, many documents relating to Epstein, including those that mention Trump and several prominent Democrats, have been public for years.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 and died in prison while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges while Trump was president. A review by the Justice Department and FBI found no so-called “client list” and confirmed Epstein died by suicide in prison.
The brief memo put out by the DOJ and FBI last week stoked furor among Trump’s diehard supporters after years of prominent right-wing figures pushing accusations about Epstein and the “deep state” that’s protecting elites.
Trump’s since sought various ways to put out the political firestorm, coming to Bondi’s defense while also saying she should release what she deems “credible.”
Now, he’s shifted to calling the Epstein files a “hoax” and those Republican supporters who are questioning his administration’s handling of it as “stupid” and “foolish.”
“Some of the naive Republicans fall right into line, like they always do,” the president said on “Just the News.”
Calls for transparency on Epstein came from several Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. And Trump’s own former vice president, Mike Pence, called for the administration to “release all of the files” regarding the Epstein investigation.
(FALL RIVER, Mass.) — A 10th victim has died as a result of injuries sustained in a devastating fire at an assisted-living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, according to the district attorney’s office.
Brenda Cropper, 66, was hospitalized in critical condition following Sunday night’s five-alarm blaze at the Gabriel House, and succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced on Thursday.
The other residents killed have been identified as: 64-year-old Rui Albernaz, 61-year-old Ronald Codega, 69-year-old Margaret Duddy, 78-year-old Robert King, 71-year-old Kim Mackin, 78-year-old Richard Rochon, 86-year-old Eleanor Willett and 77-year-old Joseph Wilansky. The name of one victim, a 70-year-old woman, has not been released.
Dozens were hurt at the Gabriel House, which was home to about 70 people.
The fire “was destined to kill 50-plus people,” Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said at a news conference on Wednesday, praised the “heroic” first responders who he said saved dozens of lives.
Firefighters who rushed to the scene have described seeing faces in windows and “having to decide who they needed to rescue,” Bacon said, overcome with emotion.
One responder pushed through the heavy, black smoke inside the building to break into rooms and pull out nonambulatory residents, he said.
A captain at the scene found it “eerily quiet” when he responded to the front door, where flames were blowing out, the chief said.
“He knocked down the fire very quickly, to the point that countless lives were saved,” Bacon said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. The district attorney’s office said it “does not appear to be suspicious.”
Bacon noted the fire started in a room on the second floor.
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats walked out before Republicans voted on Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s nomination of Emil Bove — the controversial top Justice Department official who formerly served as Trump’s defense attorney — to a seat on the powerful Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The Democrats left before Republicans forced the vote for Bove’s lifetime appointment on the appeals court that oversees districts in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Bove has repeatedly drawn criticism from Democrats in the opening six months of Trump’s presidency for cultivating a reputation as one of President Trump’s chief enforcers at DOJ.
The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance Bove means he will next face a vote in the full Senate.
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker spoke furiously from the dais, pleading with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley to allow further debate on Bove’s nomination, but Grassley declined.
“What are you afraid of about even debating this?” Booker asked Grassley.
“Sir, with all appeals to your decency, with all appeals to your integrity, with all appeals to past jurisdictions and past precedent, why are you doing this?” Booker asked.
More than 900 former Justice Department employees sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday urging lawmakers to vote down Bove’s nomination.
He has fired scores of one-time career officials at Main Justice and the FBI, including prosecutors who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump as well as the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Bove also was at the center of the department’s controversial decision to drop the federal corruption case against New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, which led to the resignations of multiple prosecutors who argued the effort appeared to be a ‘quid pro quo’ to secure Adams’ cooperation with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions.
Adams and Bove have both denied any such “quid pro quo” arrangement, but in agreeing to drop the charges the federal judge overseeing Adams’ case dinged the Justice Department writing, “Everything here smacks of a bargain.”
“Mr. Bove’s trampling over institutional norms in this case, and in others, sent shockwaves through the ranks — cratering morale, triggering mass departures, and eroding the effectiveness of DOJ’s vital work,” the prosecutors wrote of Bove’s actions. “Prosecutorial authority carries profound consequences on individuals’ lives and the integrity of our public institutions; wielding it without impartiality is a flagrant abuse of that power.”
More recently, however, Bove’s actions have come under scrutiny as the subject of a whistleblower complaint by fired DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni, who has accused Bove and other top DOJ officials of repeatedly discussing how they could potentially disobey court orders that seek to restrict the Trump administration’s immigration actions.
Reuveni’s complaint alleged that in one meeting Bove suggested saying “f— you” to courts who may try to block deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
During his confirmation hearing, Bove disputed much of Reuveni’s complaint — though he only said he could “not recall” using such an expletive to describe their response to a court order.
“Each one of the undersigned would testify, under oath, that we have never — and would never — tell a Justice Department attorney to consider defying a court order,” the letter said. “Moreover, the Justice Department’s later defiance of judicial mandates in the cases where Mr. Bove previewed doing so further suggests that disregarding court orders was Mr. Bove’s intent all along.”
Republicans on the committee rushed to Bove’s defense in the wake of the whistleblower complaint, and accused Reuveni of partnering with Democrats in seeking to tank Bove’s nomination by filing it with the committee just 24 hours before he was set to appear publicly before them.
Responding to the former DOJ officials’ letter Wednesday, department official Brian Nieves attacked Justice Connection as a “political hit squad masquerading as a support network” and said “they certainly don’t speak for DOJ.”
“They speak for a bitter faction angry they no longer call the shots,” said Nieves, a deputy chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Their attacks on Emil Bove are dishonest, coordinated, and disgraceful.”
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats walked out before Republicans voted on Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s nomination of Emil Bove — the controversial top Justice Department official who formerly served as Trump’s defense attorney — to a seat on the powerful Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
The Democrats left before Republicans forced the vote for Bove’s lifetime appointment on the appeals court that oversees districts in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Bove has repeatedly drawn criticism from Democrats in the opening six months of Trump’s presidency for cultivating a reputation as one of President Trump’s chief enforcers at DOJ.
The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance Bove means he will next face a vote in the full Senate.
Democratic Sen. Cory Booker spoke furiously from the dais, pleading with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley to allow further debate on Bove’s nomination, but Grassley declined.
“What are you afraid of about even debating this?” Booker asked Grassley.
“Sir, with all appeals to your decency, with all appeals to your integrity, with all appeals to past jurisdictions and past precedent, why are you doing this?” Booker asked.
More than 900 former Justice Department employees sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday urging lawmakers to vote down Bove’s nomination.
He has fired scores of one-time career officials at Main Justice and the FBI, including prosecutors who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations of Trump as well as the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
Bove also was at the center of the department’s controversial decision to drop the federal corruption case against New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams, which led to the resignations of multiple prosecutors who argued the effort appeared to be a ‘quid pro quo’ to secure Adams’ cooperation with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions.
Adams and Bove have both denied any such “quid pro quo” arrangement, but in agreeing to drop the charges the federal judge overseeing Adams’ case dinged the Justice Department writing, “Everything here smacks of a bargain.”
“Mr. Bove’s trampling over institutional norms in this case, and in others, sent shockwaves through the ranks — cratering morale, triggering mass departures, and eroding the effectiveness of DOJ’s vital work,” the prosecutors wrote of Bove’s actions. “Prosecutorial authority carries profound consequences on individuals’ lives and the integrity of our public institutions; wielding it without impartiality is a flagrant abuse of that power.”
More recently, however, Bove’s actions have come under scrutiny as the subject of a whistleblower complaint by fired DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni, who has accused Bove and other top DOJ officials of repeatedly discussing how they could potentially disobey court orders that seek to restrict the Trump administration’s immigration actions.
Reuveni’s complaint alleged that in one meeting Bove suggested saying “f— you” to courts who may try to block deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.
During his confirmation hearing, Bove disputed much of Reuveni’s complaint — though he only said he could “not recall” using such an expletive to describe their response to a court order.
“Each one of the undersigned would testify, under oath, that we have never — and would never — tell a Justice Department attorney to consider defying a court order,” the letter said. “Moreover, the Justice Department’s later defiance of judicial mandates in the cases where Mr. Bove previewed doing so further suggests that disregarding court orders was Mr. Bove’s intent all along.”
Republicans on the committee rushed to Bove’s defense in the wake of the whistleblower complaint, and accused Reuveni of partnering with Democrats in seeking to tank Bove’s nomination by filing it with the committee just 24 hours before he was set to appear publicly before them.
Responding to the former DOJ officials’ letter Wednesday, department official Brian Nieves attacked Justice Connection as a “political hit squad masquerading as a support network” and said “they certainly don’t speak for DOJ.”
“They speak for a bitter faction angry they no longer call the shots,” said Nieves, a deputy chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Their attacks on Emil Bove are dishonest, coordinated, and disgraceful.”
(UNION, Maine) — A 17-year-old has been arrested in the alleged murder of Sunshine Stewart, a paddleboarder who was found dead after being reported missing in Maine earlier this month.
Stewart’s cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma, Maine State Police revealed Thursday. The 48-year-old was found dead on July 3 at Crawford Pond in Union, a popular recreation spot near the campground where she was staying.
The suspect, who is male, was arrested without incident Wednesday night, police said. He is from Maine and came to the pond area to spend summer vacation time with his family, according to an official familiar with the investigation.
The suspect, who has not been named by police, was transported to the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, according to Maine State Police.
The Office of the Chef Medical Examiner in Augusta determined the manner of death was a homicide.
The condition of the body when it was found indicated the death was not a suicide or an accidental drowning, officials said.
The tragedy had left the residents of small, tight knit community scared.
Stewart rented a camp site at Mic Mac Family Campground for the summer season on May 1. She had only stayed on the grounds for two or three nights prior to her disappearance on the evening of July 2. The owner of the campground said she has provided hours of video to authorities in case it can prove useful.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Heat advisories are in effect from Texas to New Hampshire as dangerous temperatures grip the eastern half of the U.S.
In the Northeast on Thursday, the heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — is forecast to skyrocket to 105 degrees in Washington, D.C.; 103 degrees in Philadelphia; 97 in New York City; and 93 in Boston.
In the South, an extreme heat warning has been issued south of Memphis, Tennessee, and in eastern Arkansas and western Mississippi.
The heat index will soar to a life-threatening 103 degrees in Charlotte, North Carolina; 106 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee, and Shreveport, Louisiana; 107 in Memphis; and 108 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Jackson, Mississippi.
The heat will dissipate after Thursday, but it’s expected to return next week, with nearly two-thirds of the eastern U.S. facing warmer than normal temperatures.
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate narrowly approved a White House request to claw back $9 billion from the federal budget, including funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting.
The final vote early Thursday morning was 51-48 with Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting with Democrats against the rescissions bill.
President Donald Trump requested the cuts, which include significant cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The passage marks a win for Trump, who called the cuts a priority even though some Republicans voiced opposition.
A number of Republicans that represent states with rural communities — such as Murkowski of Alaska and Mike Rounds of South Dakota — have expressed concerns about cuts to public broadcasting that could affect the ability of certain communities to access emergency alerts.
The bill now returns to the House with a deadline for final passage on Friday. The House must pass the bill on or before Friday in order to meet the deadline on this package.
The final vote happened after an hourslong and slow-moving vote-a-rama — or marathon voting session — during which Democrats offered numerous amendments to the bill. The bulk of Democratic amendments focused on trying to fight back against cuts to both public broadcast and global health that are in the bill.
The Senate’s process to advance the package began on Tuesday night when Republicans narrowly advanced the rescissions package with the assist of the tie-breaking vote of Vice President J.D. Vance.
Three Republicans crossed the aisle on Tuesday night to cast votes against the bill after raising concerns about the lack of detail in the White House’s rescission plan: Sens. Collins, Murkowski and Mitch McConnell.
(NEW YORK) — Dialogue heard on a cockpit voice recording indicates that the captain of the Air India flight that crashed in June, killing 260 people, may have turned off the fuel just after takeoff, prompting the first officer to panic, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with U.S. official’s early assessment.
A preliminary report released last week included detail about the switches, saying that the fuel to the plane’s engines appeared to have been shut off just seconds after the plane lifted off.
According to that preliminary report, shortly after takeoff, the plane’s fuel cutoff switches for both engines went from the “RUN” position to the “CUTOFF” position, one after another within one second — shutting off fuel to both engines.
In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he hit the cutoff switch, according to the preliminary report. “The other pilot responded that he did not do so,” that report stated.
The WSJ report added detail to that conversation, saying the dialogue “between the flight’s two pilots indicates it was the captain who turned off switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane’s two engines,” according to the WSJ’s sources.
ABC News’ Clara McMichael contributed to this report.
