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More than 160 people remain unaccounted for after devastating floods in Texas, the state governor said Tuesday, marking a dramatic increase in the number of missing from a tragedy that has so far claimed 109 lives.  Four days after flash floods roared through several Texas counties, some in the middle of the night, hopes of finding survivors were fading — and Governor Greg Abbott warned that the list of those unaccounted for could yet rise.”Just in the Kerr County area alone, there are 161 people who are known to be missing,” he told reporters Tuesday as the grim search continued.”There very likely could be more added to that list,” he said, adding that the figure was based on people reported as unaccounted for by friends, relatives and neighbors.Kerr County, part of a central Texas region known as “Flash Flood Alley,” suffered the most damage, with at least 94 fatalities.That includes at least 27 girls and counselors who were staying at a youth summer camp on the Guadalupe River when it burst its banks as the Fourth of July holiday began in the early hours of Friday.Torrents of water swept through the camp, scouring cabins as hundreds of people slept. Five campers and one counselor were still missing as of Tuesday evening, according to Abbot, as well as another child not associated with the camp.”There’s nothing more important in our hearts and minds than the people of this community, especially those who are still lost,” Abbot said.Elsewhere in the state, there have been at least 15 fatalities recorded so far, the governor added.Ben Baker with the Texas Game Wardens said search and rescue efforts involving helicopters, drones and dogs were extremely difficult because of the water and mud.”When we’re trying to make these recoveries, these large piles can be very obstructive, and to get in deep into these piles, it’s very hazardous,” Baker said. “It’s extremely treacherous, time-consuming. It’s dirty work, the water is still there.”The US National Weather Service on Tuesday declared a flash flood emergency in Ruidoso, a small town 184 miles (296 kilometers) south of Albuquerque, in the neighboring state of New Mexico.Officials reported several people were trapped by sudden floodwaters, with multiple homes sustaining damage. The NWS said the Rio Ruidoso may have crested more than 20 feet (six meters).- Rain ‘won’t deter’ search -In the town of Hunt, the epicenter of the disaster, an AFP team saw recovery workers combing through piles of debris with helicopters flying overhead.Javier Torres, 24, was digging through mud as he searched for the body of his grandmother, after having located the remains of his grandfather. He also discovered the bodies of two children, apparently washed up by the river.Officials warned of more heavy rain ahead that could affect the search — though Baker said it “won’t deter” the efforts. President Donald Trump is due to visit Texas with First Lady Melania Trump on Friday.”We brought in a lot of helicopters from all over… They were real pros, and they were responsible for pulling out a lot of people,” Trump said.Meanwhile, questions intensified over whether Trump’s government funding cuts had weakened warning systems, and over the handling of the rescue operation.During an at-times tense news conference, Baker skirted a question on the speed of the emergency response.”Right now, this team up here is focused on bringing people home,” he said.Shel Winkley, a weather expert at the Climate Central research group, blamed the extent of the disaster on geography and exceptional drought, when dry soil absorbs less rainfall.”This part of Texas, at least in the Kerr County flood specifically, was in an extreme to exceptional drought… We know that since May, temperatures have been above average,” Winkley told reporters.The organization’s media director, Tom Di Liberto, said staffing shortages at the National Weather Service had contributed to the disaster.”You can’t necessarily replace that experience,” he said.

An imposter posing as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent AI-generated voice and text messages to high-level officials and foreign ministers, reports said Tuesday, the latest American official to be targeted by impersonators.A cable from the top US diplomat’s office said the unidentified culprit was likely seeking to manipulate powerful officials “with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,” the Washington Post and other US media reported.The imposter contacted at least three foreign ministers, a US state governor, and a member of Congress using both text messaging and the encrypted messaging app Signal, according to the cable dated July 3.Starting in mid-June, the imposter created a Signal account using the display name “Marco.Rubio@state.gov” to contact the unsuspecting officials, it added. “The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” said the cable.The contents of the messages were unclear.Responding to an AFP request for comment, the State Department said it was aware of the incident and was “currently investigating the matter.””The Department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents,” said a senior State Department official. The impersonation of Rubio was one of “two distinct campaigns” being probed in which threat actors impersonate State Department personnel via email and messaging apps, the cable said.The second campaign began in April and involves a “Russia-linked cyber actor” who conducted a phishing campaign targeting personal Gmail accounts associated with think tank scholars, Eastern Europe-based activists and dissidents, journalists, and former officials, it said.The cyber actor posed as a “fictitious” State Department official and sought to tap into the contents of the users’ Gmail accounts, added the cable.- ‘Malicious actors’ -The hoaxes follow an FBI warning that since April cyber actors have impersonated senior US officials to target their contacts, including current and former federal or state government officials.”The malicious actors have sent text messages and AI-generated voice messages — techniques known as smishing and vishing, respectively — that claim to come from a senior US official in an effort to establish rapport before gaining access to personal accounts,” the FBI said in May.In May, President Donald Trump said an impersonator breached the phone of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. US senators, governors and business executives received text messages and phone calls from someone claiming to be Wiles, the Wall Street Journal reported. The breach prompted a White House and FBI investigation, but Trump played down the threat, saying Wiles “can handle it.”Senior Trump administration officials have courted criticism for using Signal and other unofficial channels for government work.In March, then-national security advisor Mike Waltz inadvertently added a journalist to a Signal chat group discussing US strikes in Yemen. The episode led to Waltz’s ouster.With proliferating AI voice cloning tools — which are cheap, easy to use and hard to trace -– disinformation researchers fret the impact of audio deepfakes to impersonate or smear celebrities and politicians.Last year, a robocall impersonating then-president Joe Biden stoked public alarm about such deepfakes.The robocall urged New Hampshire residents not to cast ballots in a Democratic primary, prompting authorities to launch a probe into possible voter suppression and triggering demands from campaigners for stricter guardrails around generative AI tools.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed for Malaysia on Tuesday for meetings with ASEAN allies, a trip that has been overshadowed by fears of a trade war.The brief trip to Kuala Lumpur is intended to allow Rubio, who is also President Donald Trump’s national security advisor, to focus on US policy in Asia after months of Washington concentrating on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.”In his first trip to Asia as Secretary of State, Secretary Rubio is focused on reaffirming the United States’ commitment to advancing a free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific region,” spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement, using Washington’s traditional wording on curbing China’s growing influence in the region.A senior State Department official told reporters that prioritizing and reaffirming Washington’s commitment to East Asia and Southeast Asia “is in America’s interest.” “I think there’s been a lot of outreach, a lot of engagements, and I wouldn’t judge the level of interest and priority based solely on how many physical trips there have been,” the official said on condition of anonymity.As with any trip to Asia by a US official, China will be the elephant in the room amid concerns over its expansionist behavior in the South China Sea, which the United States deems to be provocative.- ‘Rebalance’ trade relationships -But this visit also comes as many countries around the world fear the imposition of punitive tariffs. Sweeping levies Trump announced in April were mostly suspended, as Washington engages in negotiations with friends and foes alike.On Monday, Trump said he would impose 25 percent tariffs on key US allies Japan and South Korea and a handful of others, including Southeast Asian nations Malaysia (25 percent) and Laos (40 percent), as of August 1.Export-dependent Vietnam, which like Malaysia and Laos is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is one of the few countries to already reach a tentative agreement with Washington that spares it the high level of levies that Trump had threatened.At a summit in late May, Southeast Asian leaders expressed their deep concern at Trump’s protectionist offensive.The senior US official said the issue was expected to be raised, and that Rubio would likely tell ASEAN that the United States wants to “rebalance” its trade relationships.Rubio’s visit to Kuala Lumpur Thursday and Friday coincides with that of his Russian and Chinese counterparts, Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi.While there, Rubio is scheduled to attend a meeting with his counterparts from ASEAN and with a gathering of both ASEAN and East Asian foreign ministers.Last week, Rubio welcomed foreign ministers from Australia, India and Japan to Washington, where they pledged to work together to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals.China’s domination of such resources — essential to new technologies — is causing increasing concern in western Europe and the United States.

El Salvador has said that the United States has legal jurisdiction over deported migrants being held in the Central American country, court documents show.The assertion clashes with the Trump administration’s claims that it has no authority to bring back the migrants jailed in El Salvador’s maximum security CECOT prison as they are no longer in US custody.Lawyers for Venezuelans held in the prison submitted the statements as evidence in a US court on Monday in another case challenging President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.Responding to questions from a UN working group on enforced disappearances, El Salvador said its actions were limited to making prison facilities available for people detained within the scope of the justice system and law enforcement activities of another state.”In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities,” it said. In mid-March, Trump sent 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans from the United States to the CECOT prison in El Salvador. The Trump administration invoked an obscure wartime law to justify the removal of the Venezuelans, accusing them of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. The deportations sparked protests after the US government refused to bring back a Salvadoran man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had been wrongly deported.The United States claimed lack of jurisdiction until Abrego Garcia was returned in June and arrested for human trafficking, a crime he denies. His lawyers claim he was tortured in prison in El Salvador. El Salvador has agreed to imprison expelled migrants in exchange for six million dollars, according to the White House. The US Supreme Court urged the government to respect due process because migrants have the right to challenge expulsions.

Passengers at US airports will no longer have to remove their shoes to pass through security under a new policy unveiled Tuesday, 20 years after the requirement was introduced.Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the change to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules at a news conference at Washington’s Ronald Reagan National Airport.Passengers at US airports have been required to take off shoes during screenings since 2006, five years after the arrest of “Shoe Bomber” Richard Reid, who had explosives hidden in his footwear onboard.”In those 20 years since that policy was put in place, our security technology has changed dramatically. It’s evolved. TSA has changed. We have a multi-layered whole of government approach now to security,” Noem said.”We are very confident that we can continue to provide hospitality to folks and for American travelers and for those visiting our country, while maintaining the same standard of security for passengers and for our homeland,” she added.Reid, a member of Al-Qaeda, was overpowered by other passengers as he tried to light a fuse on his shoes on an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami in December 2001.Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism and other charges and is serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado.TSA said in a statement on the shoe policy change that other security measures will remain in place.”Other aspects of TSA’s layered security approach will still apply during the TSA checkpoint process. For example, passengers subject must still clear identity verification, Secure Flight vetting, and other processes,” it said.Past attacks — both successful and thwarted — have led to a raft of new airport security measures in recent decades, especially following the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers flew passenger jets into the Twin Towers in New York as well as the Pentagon.In 2006, British authorities announced they had foiled a terror plot that aimed to blow up several planes in mid-air simultaneously with liquid explosives. Since then, tough restrictions have applied to liquids and gels, such as toothpaste.And electronics have also come in for additional screening in a bid to head off attacks, with passengers required to remove laptops from bags, for instance.

The second biggest teachers union in the United States unveiled a groundbreaking partnership Tuesday with AI powerhouses Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic to develop a comprehensive training program helping educators master artificial intelligence.”Teachers are facing huge challenges, which include navigating AI wisely, ethically and safely,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers during a press conference in New York.”In the absence of rules of the game and guardrails (from the US government)…we are working with these partners so that they understand the commitment we have to our students,” she added. The AFT represents 1.8 million members across the United States, from kindergarten through high school.The announcement came as generative AI has already begun reshaping education, with students using tools like ChatGPT for everything from essay writing to homework help. Meanwhile, teachers grapple with questions about academic integrity, plagiarism, and how to adapt traditional teaching methods.The AI giants are investing a total of $23 million in creating a New York training center to guide teachers through generative AI learning. Microsoft is contributing $12.5 million, OpenAI $10 million, and Anthropic $500,000. The five-year initiative won’t develop new AI interfaces but intends to familiarize teachers with existing tools.”What we’re saying to the world and to teachers across the country is you now have a place, you now have a home, a place where you can come and co-create and understand how to harness this tool to make your classroom the best classroom it possibly can be,” said Gerry Petrella, Microsoft’s general manager for US public policy.The National Academy for AI Teaching will launch its training program this fall, aiming to serve 400,000 people over five years. Microsoft staff are already participating in a tech refresher session this week. AFT affiliates include the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), which represents about 200,000 New York teachers.UFT President Michael Mulgrew drew parallels between AI and social media, which generated excitement at launch but proved to be “a dumpster fire,” in his view. “We’re all very skeptical, but we also are very hopeful,” he added.

Following deadly floods in Texas, misinformation from both left- and right-wing users was roiling social media, with liberals baselessly blaming staffing cuts at US weather agencies for flawed warning systems and conservatives ramping up conspiracy theories.The catastrophic floods over the weekend have left more than a 100 people dead, including more than two dozen girls and counselors at a riverside summer camp, with rescuers racing on Tuesday to search for dozens of people still missing.Multiple left-leaning accounts on the platform X peddled the unfounded claim that staffing cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) by President Donald Trump’s administration had “degraded” its forecasting ability.While the NWS, like other agencies, has experienced deep staffing and budget cuts under the Trump administration, experts say its forecasters rose to the challenge despite the constraints.”There have been claims that (weather agencies) did not foresee catastrophic (Texas) floods — but that’s simply not true,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, wrote on Bluesky.”This was undoubtedly an extreme event but messaging rapidly escalated beginning (around) 12 (hours) prior…Locations that flooded catastrophically had at least 1-2+ hours of direct warning from NWS.”There were 22 warnings from the NWS for Kerr County and the Kerrville area, which experienced the worst flooding, according to a CBS News analysis.”This truly was a sudden & massive event and occurred at worst possible time (middle of the night). But (the) problem, once again, was not a bad weather prediction: it was one of ‘last mile’ forecast/warning dissemination,” Swain wrote.Meanwhile, right-wing conspiracy theorists on social media falsely claimed that the government caused the flooding through cloud seeding, an artificial technique that stimulates rainfall.Multiple experts have said that such weather-modification technologies were not responsible for the Texas floods.The misinformation echoes past conspiracy theories, including claims that weather manipulation by the government caused Hurricane Milton — which struck Florida’s Gulf Coast last year — and that cloud seeding efforts were behind last year’s flooding in Dubai.- ‘Classic tale of misinformation’ -“False claims from both the left and right have spread widely on social media following the catastrophic floods in Texas,” Sarah Komar and Nicole Dirks from the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard wrote in a report that debunked several falsehoods.  “When extreme weather events occur, conspiracy theories about humans creating or controlling them often soon follow.”Following natural disasters, misinformation often surges across social media — fueled by accounts from across the political spectrum –- as many platforms scale back content moderation and reduce their reliance on human fact-checkers.Traditional media outlets were not immune to misinformation swirling on the internet.”Like other disasters before it, the (Texas) floods had attracted fast-spreading misinformation and served as a warning about the vigilance required of journalists during emotionally charged news events,” said the nonprofit media institute Poynter.Kerr County Lead, a local outlet, was forced to retract a false story about the miracle rescue of two girls who clung to a tree in the floods. The story first surfaced in social media posts that quickly went viral, but a local official said the reports were “100% inaccurate.””Like everyone, we wanted this story to be true, but it’s a classic tale of misinformation that consumes all of us during a natural disaster,” Louis Amestoy, Kerr County Lead’s editor, wrote in a note to readers on Sunday.”Unfortunately, the story is not true and we are retracting it.”

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu met for the second time in 24 hours Tuesday as the US president intensified the pressure on the Israeli prime minister to reach a deal to end the “tragedy” of the war in Gaza.Netanyahu’s return to the White House for fresh talks came after Qatari mediators warned it would take time to seal an elusive ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas at talks in Doha.”It’s a tragedy, and he wants to get it solved, and I want to get it solved, and I think the other side wants to,” Trump told reporters as he announced that Netanyahu was coming back.Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said he hoped for an agreement within days.”We are hopeful that by end of this week we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire,” Witkoff said.The deal would include the return of 10 live hostages held by Palestinian militant groups since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, and nine dead hostages, Witkoff added. The Israeli leader, who had dinner with Trump on Monday evening, arrived back at the White House for talks that were being held without any media access.Asked earlier as he met US House speaker Mike Johnson if a ceasefire announcement was imminent, Netanyahu replied: “We’re certainly working on it.”- ‘Need time’ -Trump has kept up strong US support for Israel, especially over the recent Iran-Israel war, but has also been stepping up the pressure to end what he calls the “hell” in Gaza.Qatar however said Tuesday more time was needed for negotiations for a breakthrough between Israel and Hamas, as indirect negotiations extended into a third day in Doha.”I don’t think that I can give any timeline at the moment, but I can say right now that we will need time for this,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said.Qatar, a mediator along with the United States and Egypt, said the meetings in Doha were focused on a framework for the talks, while a Palestinian official close to the negotiations said no breakthrough had been achieved so far.Hostilities meanwhile continued on the ground.Gaza’s civil defence reported 29 killed in Israeli strikes on Tuesday, including three children.Five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in northern Gaza — one of the deadliest days this year for Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory.Netanyahu described the soldiers’ deaths as a “difficult morning.” They were reportedly killed by improvised explosive devices near Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.And Lebanon said three people were killed Tuesday in a strike near Tripoli that the Israeli military said targeted a Hamas militant, the first in the area since a November ceasefire with Hezbollah.- ‘Torn to shreds’ -Trump has been trying to seize on the momentum from the recent ceasefire between Iran and Israel, which was precipitated by US airstrikes on Tehran’s nuclear program.France’s foreign intelligence chief said Tuesday that the program has been “very, very delayed” by US and Israeli strikes, wading into a contentious debate over just how hard it was hit.Israel and Hamas began the latest round of negotiations on Sunday, with representatives seated in separate rooms within the same building.An Israeli official accompanying Netanyahu to Washington said the proposal under discussion was “80-90 percent of what Israel wanted.”But far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir opposed negotiations with Hamas, saying that “there is no need to negotiate with those who murder our fighters; they must be torn to shreds.”The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza’s more than two million people.The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.Of 251 hostages taken by Palestinian militants during attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,575 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.burs-dk/jgc

The US Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for President Donald Trump to begin carrying out mass firings of federal workers.The court, in an unsigned order, lifted a block imposed by a lower court on Trump’s plans to potentially lay off tens of thousands of government employees.US District Court Judge Susan Illston had paused the planned sweeping layoffs in May on the grounds that the moves required a green light from Congress.A coalition of labor unions, non-profit groups and others had sued the Trump administration arguing that it had exceeded its authority by ordering mass firings and agency reforms without congressional approval.After returning to the White House in January, Trump directed federal agencies to prepare sweeping workforce reduction plans as part of wider efforts by the then-Elon Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to downsize the government.In a February 11 executive order, the Republican president called for a “critical transformation of the Federal bureaucracy” and directed agencies to cull workers not designated essential.The Supreme Court said “the Government is likely to succeed on its argument that the Executive Order and Memorandum are lawful.”But the justices said they were not taking a position at this point on the legality of specific agency reorganization plans, which will continue to be the subject of legal battles.”The plans themselves are not before this Court, at this stage, and we thus have no occasion to consider whether they can and will be carried out consistent with the constraints of law,” said Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of three liberals on the top court.”I join the Court’s stay because it leaves the District Court free to consider those questions,” Sotomayor said.Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of former Democratic president Joe Biden, lodged the sole dissent among the nine justices on the court.”For some reason, this Court sees fit to step in now and release the President’s wrecking ball at the outset of this litigation,” Jackson said.”Under our Constitution, Congress has the power to establish administrative agencies and detail their functions.”Thus, over the past century, Presidents who have attempted to reorganize the Federal Government have first obtained authorization from Congress to do so.”While Presidents possess some discretion to reduce federal employment, they may not fundamentally restructure the Federal Government all on their own.”Trump has moved to fire tens of thousands of government employees and slash programs — targeting diversity initiatives and eliminating the US humanitarian aid agency USAID and various other departments.

Sean “Diddy” Combs will be sentenced on October 3 for his conviction on prostitution-related charges, following a split verdict that saw him acquitted for crimes that carried more serious punishment.The music mogul was found not guilty of sweeping racketeering and sex trafficking charges after the marathon trial in which he was accused of harrowing abuse.But the jury found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. It is unlikely the judge will impose the maximum punishment. Prosecutors have said in court filings that based on federal sentencing guidelines, a range of 51 to 63 months imprisonment potentially would be appropriate — but they could also ask for a longer punishment.His defense, also interpreting federal sentencing guidelines, has indicated they plan to propose lighter sentencing of 21 to 27 months.Combs, 55, has been incarcerated since September 2024 at a notorious Brooklyn prison, and all of the time he has already spent behind bars will count towards his ultimate sentence.The jury delivered its dramatic verdict on July 2 following just 13 hours of deliberation that came after eight weeks of intense testimony and arguments.Over the two-month proceedings prosecutors accused Combs of being the boss of a decades-long criminal enterprise, directing loyal employees and bodyguards to commit myriad offenses at his behest.But Combs was acquitted of that accusation of racketeering, as well as two counts related to sex trafficking women with whom he was in long-term relationships.That acquittal led his jubilant defense team to propose the producer and entrepreneur be released on bail, a request Judge Arun Subramanian denied.Subramanian cited Combs’s confessed history of domestic violence in the decision — a defense that proved vital in the artist’s acquittal on key charges, but came with a price.Still, the counts on which Combs was convicted are significantly less severe than racketeering and sex trafficking, as a guilty verdict on those charges could have sent him to prison for life.In determining sentencing, the judge will consider arguments from both sides.The government will seek a longer sentence based on Combs’s documented violence as well as drug use, as well as committing instances of the violations for which he was convicted while he knew he was under investigation by federal agents.Combs’s defense has argued that Combs deserves a lighter sentence given that he was using prostitution services, rather than turning a profit through hired sex.