Gun in Texas shooting came from company known for pushing boundaries
After one of its military-style rifles was used in the Texas elementary school shooting Tuesday, gun manufacturer Daniel Defense published a statement on its homepage sending “thoughts and prayers” to the community of Uvalde, Texas, and pledging to cooperate with authorities. The Texas shooting, which left 19 schoolchildren and two teachers dead, has put a spotlight on Daniel Defense. The company has emerged as a trailblazer in an aggressive, boundary-pushing style of weapons marketing and sales. Some of its advertisements invoke popular video games like “Call of Duty” and feature “Star Wars” characters and Santa Claus.
US Forest Service planned burn caused largest New Mexico wildfire
A wildfire in northern New Mexico that destroyed at least 330 homes and displaced thousands of people was caused by a planned burn by the U.S. Forest Service, federal fire investigators said Friday. The Calf Canyon fire escaped containment lines and merged with the Hermits Peak fire, which was also caused by an out-of-control planned burn, to form the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s history. The combined Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire has burned more than 312,000 acres, threatening remote mountain villages and forcing thousands to evacuate, sometimes repeatedly, over the past two months.
Woman gets 15 months in prison for punching flight attendant in the face
A California woman who repeatedly punched a Southwest Airlines flight attendant last year was sentenced Friday to 15 months in federal prison, prosecutors said. Vyvianna M. Quinonez, 29, of Sacramento, will also have to pay nearly $26,000 in restitution and a $7,500 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. A video of the attack, which occurred in May 2021, was widely viewed on social media. U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson also ordered Quinonez to be on supervised release for three years after completing her sentence, during which she will be barred from flying on any commercial aircraft.
Russia edges closer to seizing key city in Eastern Ukraine
Russia edged closer Saturday to occupying the entirety of Luhansk, a key province in eastern Ukraine, after its forces entered a critical eastern city still under partial Ukrainian control. Aided in part by thermobaric warheads, one of the most fearsome conventional weapons available to contemporary armies, the Russian advance in eastern Ukraine highlighted the dividend that Russia has gained by seizing a port on the Black Sea and halting its attempts to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. That has allowed the Russian army to concentrate its forces in a small pocket of eastern Ukraine.
UN human rights chief tempers criticism at end of China trip
The United Nations’ top human rights official offered limited criticism of China’s crackdown on predominantly Muslim minorities, saying at the end of her trip to the country Saturday that she had raised questions about its application of “counterterrorism and de-radicalization measures” but that her visit “was not an investigation.” The comments from Michelle Bachelet, the first U.N. high commissioner for human rights to visit China since 2005, were criticized by overseas Uyghurs and human rights advocates. Rayhan Asat, a lawyer whose younger brother is imprisoned in Xinjiang, said Bachelet’s comments “show a total disregard for the Uyghur people’s suffering.”
Tropical Storm Agatha headed to the Mexican cast
Tropical Storm Agatha, the first named storm this year in the eastern Pacific, is hurtling toward the Mexican coast and has the potential to become a hurricane, triggering life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, the National Hurricane Center said Saturday. Agatha could make landfall Monday as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph, Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and spokesperson for the Hurricane Center, said Saturday. Agatha was headed toward the largely rural Mexican state of Oaxaca and was expected to dissipate Wednesday morning. A hurricane watch was posted for the southern coast of Mexico, from Salina Cruz to Punta Maldonado.
Ex-Proud Boys leader to stay jailed until Capitol riot trial
A federal judge has ruled that former Proud Boys national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio must remain jailed while awaiting trial on charges that he conspired with other members of the far-right extremist group to attack the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said in an order issued late Friday that Tarrio poses a danger to the public. The judge refused to release Tarrio on bond. An indictment in March charged Tarrio and others with plotting to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and interfere with the congressional certification of the Electoral College vote, which Democrat Joe Biden won over Republican President Donald Trump.
Children among 31 killed at church fair stampede in Nigeria
Police say a stampede at a church charity event in southern Nigeria has left 31 people dead and seven injured. One witness said the dead included a pregnant woman and “many children.” Police said the stampede took place at an annual “Shop for Free” program organized by the Kings Assembly Pentecostal church in Rivers state. Such events are common in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, where more than 80 million people live in poverty. Police say Saturday’s charity program was supposed to begin at 9 a.m. but dozens arrived early and somehow the locked gate was broken open. Dozens of residents thronged the scene, mourning the dead. Doctors and emergency workers treated some of the injured as they lay in the open field.
By wire sources