FBI: No sign of Jimmy Hoffa under New Jersey bridge
The FBI says it found no evidence of missing Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa during a search of land under a New Jersey bridge. Hoffa has been missing since 1975 when he was last seen in suburban Detroit. The decadeslong mystery turned last year to land next to a former landfill under the Pulaski Skyway in Jersey City. The FBI conducted a search there in early June. Spokeswoman Mara Schneider says “nothing of evidentiary value was discovered.”
House OKs bill to protect contraception from Supreme Court
Democrats have pushed legislation through the House that would inscribe the right to use contraceptives into law. It’s Democrats’ latest campaign-season response to concerns that a conservative Supreme Court that’s erased federal abortion rights could go further. House passage sends the measure to the Senate, where it seems likely to die. The push illustrates how Democrats are latching onto their own version of culture war battles to appeal to female, progressive and minority voters. Democrats are casting the court and Republicans as extremists intent on obliterating rights taken for granted for years.
Ukraine tries to make the case that it can win, citing recent strike
Weeks ago, Ukraine’s military was being pummeled, taking heavy casualties as it gave ground to the Russians. Western support appeared to be softening, amid skepticism that Ukraine could win a war of attrition, or that an influx of weapons would turn the tide. But this week, officials are pointing to successes, including a recent strike in Nova Kakhovka in southern Ukraine, where Western-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems hit a Russian ammunition depot. “Russia can definitely be defeated, and Ukraine has already shown how,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the Atlantic Council this week.
World’s oldest giant male panda in captivity dies at 35
An An, a bamboo-eating resident of Hong Kong’s Ocean Park who was known for his feisty, playful nature and who had the distinction of being the world’s oldest giant male panda in captivity, died Thursday after experiencing health problems. He was 35 — or 105 in human years. The death, by euthanasia, was announced by the park on its Facebook page, which mourned the loss of its “centenarian panda.” The panda had struggled for weeks with food intake and physical activity, leading park officials, veterinarians and the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda to put him down.
Rio police raid on favela kills at least 18, sparks anger
A police operation targeting gang members in Rio de Janeiro’s largest complex of favelas, or low-income communities, has left at least 18 people dead in one of the deadliest raids the city has seen recently and one already bringing more criticism of police violence. Rio authorities said 16 suspected criminals were killed in confrontations in Complexo do Alemao along with a police officer and an woman. A police spokesman said the raid targeted a criminal group that stole cars and robbed banks. Videos showed intense shootouts between criminals as well as a police helicopter flying low over the small houses. Associated Press reporters saw residents carrying about 10 bodies as bystanders shouted, “We want peace!”
Drought drives Las Vegas to cap size of home swimming pools
Limiting the size of swimming pools in and around Las Vegas might offer just a drop in the proverbial bucket of water savings amid historic drought and climate change in the U.S. Southwest. Elected officials voted this week to do it anyway — ignoring pool builders’ complaints that the move only amounts to optics. After Sept. 1, new home swimming pools can only be about the size of a three-car garage. Officials cite worries about dwindling water supplies from the drying-up Lake Mead reservoir on the depleted Colorado River. Officials say the region home to 2.4 million people has almost 200,000 home swimming pools.