Twitter sues to force Musk to complete his $44B acquisition
Twitter sued Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday to force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company. Musk and Twitter have been bracing for a legal fight since the billionaire said Friday he was backing off of his April agreement to buy the company. In a fiery filing, Twitter accuses Musk of violating the merger agreement “because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.” Twitter filed its lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, which frequently handles business disputes among the many corporations, including Twitter, that are incorporated there.
Timbers from 17th-century shipwreck recovered off Oregon Coast
In July 1693, a Spanish galleon set sail from the Philippines with a load of Asian luxury goods, including silk, porcelain and beeswax. The ship was destined for Acapulco, Mexico, when it veered off course and vanished. Last month, a team of maritime archaeologists painstakingly recovered more than a dozen timbers from sea caves along the coast of what is now northern Oregon that researchers said were almost certainly pieces of the galleon that disappeared, the Santo Cristo de Burgos. The researchers said it was the first time that remnants of a Manila galleon had been recovered in North America.
Ukraine says its forces hit a Russian ammunition depot
Ukrainian forces fighting to recapture territory in the south of the country said they had blown up a Russian ammunition depot in the Kherson region overnight, the latest in a series of missile attacks that Kyiv has claimed on Russian military infrastructure. Officials loyal to the government in Moscow said the strike, in Nova Kakhovka, instead hit a warehouse containing saltpeter — sometimes used to make fertilizer or gunpowder — resulting in a large explosion that Russia said had damaged residential buildings, a hospital, a market and a humanitarian aid center. At least seven people were killed and dozens more wounded, the Russian state news agency Tass reported. The competing claims could not be independently verified.
Ukraine’s demands for more weapons clash with US concerns
The Ukrainians say they need faster shipments of long-range artillery and other sophisticated weapons to blunt Russia’s steady advance. The United States and the Europeans insist more are on the way but are wary of sending too much equipment before Ukrainian soldiers can be trained. The Pentagon is concerned about potentially depleting its stockpiles in the coming months. The Biden administration and its allies are struggling to balance their priorities against Kyiv’s demands as Russian forces intensify their bombardment of cities and villages across eastern Ukraine, according to American and other Western diplomats, military officials and lawmakers.
After summit snub, Biden meets with Mexican president
One month after snubbing President Joe Biden by refusing to attend a summit meant to show U.S. leadership, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico joined Biden at the White House on Tuesday to shore up a relationship that the United States needs to slow mass migration and bolster economic ties. The notability of López Obrador’s mere presence alongside Biden underscored how awkward an already complex relationship between the United States and Mexico has become. López Obrador skipped out on Biden’s Summit of the Americas last month after criticizing the United States for not inviting Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. He has also challenged the United States on energy policies, drug enforcement and the prosecution of Julian Assange.
US military says senior IS leader in Syria killed in drone strike
The U.S. military carried out a drone strike in Syria on Tuesday that officials said killed a top Islamic State commander, the third major U.S. counterterrorism operation in the country’s northwest in the past month. The attack killed Maher al-Agal, the leader of the terrorist group’s Syria branch and one of its top five leaders worldwide, and seriously injured another militant, according to statements from the White House and the military’s Central Command. The drone strike was the latest in a series of U.S. military operations against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida in Syria, which have been relatively rare since the fall of the Islamic State group’s so-called caliphate in 2019.
Sri Lankan president flees the country amid economic crisis
The president of Sri Lanka has fled the country, days after protesters stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister. That’s according to an immigration official. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left amid a three-month economic crisis that triggered severe shortages of food and fuel. The official said the president, his wife and two bodyguards departed aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for for the city of Male, the capital of the Maldives. Rajapaksa had agreed to step down under pressure. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would leave once a new government was in place.
State judge blocks Louisiana from enforcing abortion ban
Louisiana authorities have once again been blocked from enforcing the state’s near total ban on abortion. A state court in Baton Rouge released a judge’s order Tuesday blocking enforcement while lawyers for a north Louisiana clinic and other supporters of abortion rights pursue a lawsuit. The suit originated in New Orleans but was shifted to Baton Rouge by a judge who said it belonged in the state’s capital. Louisiana’s law includes “trigger language” that made it effective when the Supreme Court reversed national abortion rights on June 24. The suit claims the state law is unclear on when the ban takes effect and on medical exceptions to it.
By wire sources