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Last month’s visit from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the nation’s capital has highlighted an ugly mess of Maryland Democrats’ intra-party squabbles that threatens to blunt the political ambitions of the state’s popular first-term governor. Over two months, The Independent spoke to more than two dozen individuals engaged in Democratic politics in the state, largely concentrated in Montgomery County — the wealthiest county in the state. Many were involved in the 2018 race to represent the state’s 6th congressional district, and described the primary for that seat as an all-out brawl where party insiders traded favours while treating their opponents with such toxicity that many felt strongly discouraged from further participation in the process — if they weren’t frozen out of it entirely. To be clear, foul play isn’t exactly a new concept in Maryland. There’s still well-known bad blood between two of the state’s sitting members of the House over a 2016 primary which was the most expensive in the nation’s history and resulted in the election of Democrat star Rep Jamie Raskin. His opponent, now-Congressman David Trone, was meanwhile forced to fire three staffers who posed surreptitiously as members of Mr Raskin’s campaign. But many of the more recent concerning allegations centre around Aruna Miller – the 58-year-old lieutenant governor who became the highest-ranking South Asian statewide elected official in the United States when she took office in January. She did so alongside Wes Moore, the first Black governor of Maryland. Ms Miller, who immigrated from India at the age of seven, has found herself accused of wide-reaching ties to donors affiliated with Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the broader Hindutva movement — a Hindu nationalist ideology regarded by its critics as being on the extreme far-right. Ms Miller has worked to distance herself from the political baggage of those ties. The Moore-Miller campaign dedicated a page on their campaign website specifically to countering claims that Ms Miller was a supporter of Hindu nationalist ideologies, and more recently the lieutenant governor tweeted a statement in support of a letter drafted by Maryland Sen Chris Van Hollen to the president urging him to press Mr Modi on the issue of human rights during the Indian politician’s visit. Contacted by The Independent about the specific allegations detailed in this report, the lieutenant governor’s office dismissed them as hearsay and claimed that critics of her fundraising ties were attempting to mischaracterise her political record. “This unfounded gossip is completely false and beneath the Lieutenant Governor’s role in service to the people of Maryland. Throughout her entire career, Lt Gov Miller has taken the high road — she’s always advocated for freedom, inclusion, and respect across all faiths, races and identities, and would never condone anything else. Attempts to mischaracterise her character and her record are misguided at best, and sexist and discriminatory at worst,” spokeswoman Madeline Pawlak said in a statement. A Mercedes in the mirror When Andrew Messick climbed into his car last June in the parking lot of Kentlands Market Square in Gaithersburg, his mind wasn’t focused on the conversation he had just had with the woman who would make history later that year with her ascension to the state’s executive branch. Mr Messick, a grad student and military veteran, was working for a local county councilman’s re-election bid, and was around that time also set to join up as a volunteer with the campaign to reelect Congressman David Trone. He was undecided in his choice for the state’s gubernatorial primary, at that time in full swing, when he says he ran into then-Delegate Aruna Miller and her husband David at the annual Kentlands Under the Lights event. Striking up a conversation, he questioned the pair about fundraising reports filed with the state board of elections tying her to Americans associated with the Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP) in the States. Mr Messick’s new boss, a self-funded candidate, had beaten Ms Miller four years prior in her bid for Congress. “I just on the fly kind of decided to ask, and she immediately went from … the fake, bubbly persona to immediately pissed,” Mr Messick recalled. But he thought little of the talk, even, he says, after Ms Miller “started lecturing me basically … put a finger in my face, that whole thing.” Mr Messick says that changed a few minutes later, when after leaving he noticed a white Mercedes with one functional headlight appear to change lanes to follow closely behind him as he drove down a multi-lane highway through the suburbs. His military training kicking in, Mr Messick described as the car appeared to get close behind him at one point, almost like a police officer just before pulling someone over. “Every time I would change lanes, he would change lanes,” said Mr Messick. The car, with its one shining front light, would follow Mr Messick to a parking lot a short distance away from his actual residence. There, he says, it came to a halt — right behind him. In his rearview mirror, much to Mr Messick’s surprise, his follower came into view. “I pulled off and parked and I sat there. And he pulled in right behind me and stared right at my car,” recalled Mr Messick. Explaining that he wasn’t thinking clearly, Mr Messick said he called a friend — wishing later that he had instead contacted the police. “David Miller followed me home!” he exclaimed on the call. “And so at this point, I am sitting there, I’m on the phone with [a friend]. I should have called the police. I should have taken a picture. But I didn’t,” Mr Messick said, explaining that he relayed the details of the incident as it transpired to his friend. The Independent was provided contact info for the friend who Mr Messick called as the incident supposedly transpired. That individual verified the events as recounted by Mr Messick, and was independently able to provide the date on which the conversation took place — though they wished to remain unnamed. The friend also instructed Mr Messick at the time to recount his story, in detail, in a lengthy series of text messages to a group chat with colleagues from work, which Mr Messick’s friend provided to The Independent in an interview. Mr Messick, who also detailed his experience that same June to a nonprofit news blog called Two Circles, said that this incident supposedly ended without serious escalation: After about 10 minutes, he claims, the lieutenant governor’s husband “blinks his lights at me. Kind of points at me and then drives away”. But the incident as a whole left him shocked and in disbelief at the conduct of Ms Miller’s inner circle. David Miller, through his wife’s office, issued a blanket denial of the incident as described by Mr Messick when contacted by The Independent. The lieutenant governor’s office also provided images and documentation proving that the Millers own a black Mercedes sedan, and claimed that the couple have never owned a white Mercedes. Mr Messick, in a second interview, maintained that he had seen a white Mercedes sedan during the incident, as the text messages sent immediately after his experience had originally described. Run out of the state completely For some, the cost of brushing up against the state political machine allegedly meant constant harassment from an army of online trolls whose actions had real-life consequences. That was the description given by Barnaby Yeh, a Maryland-born activist of Taiwanese descent who told The Independent that his founding of a group that questioned Ms Miller about her BJP ties provoked a wave of backlash on social media that cost him and others their jobs and personal livelihoods. “We asked her in a press release to clarify her stance [on Mr Modi’s party],” Mr Yeh, now living in Taiwan, said in an interview. This “unleashed a massive following of political insiders”, according to Mr Yeh, which saw activists’ social media pages flooded with negative comments. “I lost my job, as did another one of my fellow activists. One activist was barred from local political events,” said Mr Yeh. “Another was suddenly stripped of being a party precinct official. Two others believed that they had to leave politics altogether because of how many people harassed them regularly on social media. As for myself, I was out of a stable job for years, driving me to move abroad.” Only a fraction of Mr Yeh’s social media presence remains, but what does depicts both his longtime pro-Taiwanese activism as well as his participation in progressive Montgomery County politics throughout the 2018 race. The individual he claimed to have been “barred from local political events” confirmed Mr Yeh’s account of what they faced, speaking in an interview. A shadow of the backlash remains as well: A post from the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee (MCDCC) from 2018 notes that Mr Yeh’s organisation was “unchartered” and linked to a statement on the MCDCC website that accused the group of pushing unfounded allegations about Ms Miller during her candidacy for Congress. In that same press release, the MCDCC disavowed the group formally and the central committee’s then-chair accused Mr Yeh and his group of “masquerade[ing] as legitimate Democratic organizations in order to inappropriately influence our elections.” Facebook posts from other critics remain, including one from a former state delegate complaining about the group’s “Trumpian” denouncement of Ms Miller’s ties to BJP-aligned figures. The Independent was also provided with a curt email to Mr Yeh from George Neighbors, a former MCDCC member and a current group vice president at Warner Bros, which simply read, “You’re a fraud”. Contacted about the email, Mr Neighbors denied sending it but refused to further comment when provided with a screenshot. The path to Annapolis Once a month, members of the central committee meet in an office building in Rockville, Maryland — the same building that houses the county executive’s office. In long evening sessions, typically attended by a dozen or so members of the public at most, members of the central committee plot the futures of the state’s power players, thanks to an oddity of Maryland’s constitution that puts the power to recommend appointments to the state legislature in the committee’s hands. The MCDCC (which is allowed, controversially, to nominate its own members for seats in the House of Delegates and state Senate that become vacant) was Ms Miller’s path to the legislature, a position she attained in late 2010 after winning an election to succeed a Democrat who had decided to run instead for the county council. Today, the council is led by Saman Ahmad, described by some sources familiar with the two Democratic politicians to be a close ally of Ms Miller’s — though that characterisation is contested by others. Under Ms Ahmad’s chairmanship, those who attend regularly describe the council as developing a toxic atmosphere where those who do not play along with the state party are threatened with political reprisal. Nathan Feldman, a current member of the central committee, alleged to The Independent that he had felt intimidated and as if he had been bullied by Ms Ahmad into voting against a local activist, Susan Kerin, for a seat on the MCDCC after the vote took place this February. Ms Kerin is an active member of Peace Action Montgomery, a local antiwar group, and had vocally criticised Ms Miller’s ties to the BJP. Mr Feldman explained how in a conversation that took place in February of this year, Ms Ahmad had claimed that “she had spoken with Lt Gov Aruna Miller, who opposed the nomination of Susan Kerin to the open seat” and further warned him that “Miller would be ‘taking names’ of individuals who voted for Susan Kerin to fill the seat”. “In politics, people have long memories,” Mr Feldman claims he was told directly. “She framed her threats in a manner such that they appeared to come directly from the lieutenant governor herself.” If unseemly back-room behaviour seems out of place for such an organisation, one only needs to attend one of the central committee’s monthly meetings. At the group’s May gathering, The Independent witnessed baffling scenes of disarray for several hours as council members debated a fairly toothless resolution in support of a local teachers union’s bargaining efforts, leading to one council member screaming that another member was “bullying” her during the open session and others openly trading insults and taunts across the floor, in full view of a bemused audience. Another committee member, Liza Smith, corroborated Mr Feldman’s general characterisation of Ms Ahmad’s leadership and agreed that the toxicity was being encouraged from the chair. “When the press doesn’t show up, you know, that’s when Saman goes power-hungry,” claimed Ms Smith. “She becomes a dictator.” Ms Ahmad did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The toxicity at the central committee is far from Ms Ahmad’s only concern, as well. MCDCC has separately been reported to owe thousands to the IRS in unpaid taxes, thanks to the committee apparently spending money it was supposed to withhold as payroll taxes in 2018. The committee owes $14,000 to the IRS, according to local news blog Moderately MoCo, a hefty sum compared to MCDCC’s reported $15,000 cash-on-hand. A meet-and-greet turns into a shouting match For Ms Kerin, the door was shut on her candidacy before it even began. Describing the episode that first earned her a spot on Ms Miller’s radar, Ms Kerin explained that she knew even as she first jumped into activism against Hindutva and the BJP last year that it would get ugly. Rumours of the 2018 race had spread far and wide, and in particular, Ms Kerin said she expected pressure from Ms Miller’s camp. “We knew that going into this, that there was [going to be] intimidation, specifically by Aruna,” Ms Kerin explained of Peace Action’s efforts during the 2022 gubernatorial primary. “We walked into this knowing that people who had been in it longer than us had been intimidated and they wanted someone like us to be on the frontlines and take the hits.” The conflict materialised during an early primary candidate meet-and-greet last year, hosted by a local mosque in Montgomery County. Ms Kerin and another Peace Action volunteer, Gayatri Girirajan, showed up at the mosque with flyers in hand urging Ms Miller to return any and all donations from BJP-affiliated groups or donors. That led to what they both described as several Miller staffers crowding around them in the mosque, at least one growing visibly angry, and demanding that they cease their activities. A photo taken by an activist at the event shows the pair speaking with Ms Miller and two campaign aides, one of whom is staring directly at the photographer as the image was captured. At least one staffer was accused of attempting to have the pair thrown out of the mosque, an ask that was firmly rejected by their hosts. Ms Kerin describes walking inside the community centre and seeing Ms Miller and her team standing around her fellow volunteer, “and were yelling and screaming at her”. “I was pretty alarmed,” said Ms Kerin. The two aides with Ms Miller allegedly went on to threaten the Peace Action volunteers with lawsuits for supposedly not specifying the funding for their pamphlets on the documents themselves — which, as a non-campaign entity, Peace Action was not required to do. Ms Girirajan told The Independent that while she never felt endangered during the episode, the aides were “certainly very aggressive” towards her. That same characterisation of aggressive behaviour has been lobbed at the small group of Peace Action activists by the Moore-Miller team, which highlighted repeated emails to Moore campaign staff from another Peace Action activist that the lieutenant governor’s office argued depicted an obsession or fixation on Ms Miller personally. The emails, reviewed by The Independent, did not contain any threats or explicit language but did forcefully and incessantly press the recipients to disavow Hindutva ideology and encourage the lieutenant governor to do so as well. During the meet-and-greet, Ms Girirajan added, one member of Ms Miller’s team supposedly accused the pair of “singling [Aruna] out because of her ethnicity” with the criticism of her OFBJP donor ties. “I’m Aruna’s ethnicity as well, and also was raised Hindu. So that argument didn’t really hold water [with me],” Ms Girirajan noted. A former member of the Moore-Miller campaign who was present for that campaign event said that they couldn’t speak to the tone of the conversation between Ms Miller, Ms Girirajan and Ms Kerin, but recounted a separate moment during the same event wherein another Moore-Miller campaign staffer began a heated conversation with another Peace Action volunteer about the criticisms they were raising. Icing out her own future — and Wes Moore’s? The mayhem long rumoured to have followed Ms Miller’s career has now officially had a blunting effect on both the political futures of the lieutenant governor and, possibly more troubling, for the governor: Wes Moore. Mr Moore, 44, is an author, nonprofit executive and TV producer who swept into office easily this past year over a Trumpian challenger who beat out a likely more-challenging opponent for Mr Moore in the GOP primary. Now virtually every Maryland politico sees the upward-bound Moore as running his governorship as a jumping-off point for a presidential run, potentially as soon as 2028. But that puts his running mate, Ms Miller, in a precarious position where her baggage can affect not just one but two promising careers in politics. And that baggage is already beginning to weigh on Mr Moore’s political future. The Independent can report, based on two sources familiar with the event’s planning call, that Mr Moore and Ms Miller were both excluded from the guest list of a gathering of prominent Maryland progressives at Democratic mega-donor Frank Islam’s White House-replica mansion in Potomac just one month ago. The guest of honour at the event was none other than Rahul Gandhi, leader of India’s largest opposition party and subsequently Mr Modi’s greatest rival, who visited Washington shortly ahead of the prime minister’s arrival. A request for comment from Mr Islam went unanswered. Mr Moore’s team also did not offer a separate comment regarding this invitation. While not a fundraising event specifically, the value lost from missing out on a networking opportunity with some of Maryland’s most generous Democratic supporters can hardly be overstated. That isn’t to say that either Mr Moore or Ms Miller’s political future look bleak in any way. Last month, the lieutenant governor attended a White House state dinner in honour of Mr Modi’s visit, a guest of the president and first lady. And she has active in touting her support for religious freedom and democratic norms, especially in the leadup to the prime minister’s visit — and as rumours of this article were said to have spread among her team. She also maintains powerful and valuable alliances in the statehouse. Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who worked in close proximity with Ms Miller for years when the two were office neighbours in the House of Delegates, described her friend as a rising blue-state star with an unimpeachable record in the legislature and a warm presence in person — though the two had never had the experience of coming down on opposite sides of an issue or candidate. Most who spoke to The Independent about their various years of experience running against the lieutenant governor characterised the behaviour of the lieutenant governor and her team as extraordinary in terms of the lasting impressions they made on their political rivals. In the end, the lieutenant governor may simply pick one statewide grudge too many. That seems to be the prediction of those who experienced what it was like to run against her, and learned that for Ms Miller and her team, the primary never seems to end — there’s no Kumbaya moment under the balloons onstage, just a procession of still-smouldering bridges. The campaign manager for David Trone’s campaign for US Senate, launched this spring with the news of Ben Cardin’s retirement, claimed that the two have a positive relationship despite their bruising primary battle. “Congressman Trone and Lieutenant Governor Miller have both worked to deliver results for working families across Maryland and look forward to continuing that work. Any implication to the contrary is inaccurate and grossly mischaracterizes their relationship,” said Dan Morrocco. But a top official with his 2018 campaign said that relationship, if now mended, represented a significant improvement from the aftermath of their race. “After he won the primary she did not endorse him, did not call him, did not stand behind them,” one senior Trone 2018 staffer noted of Ms Miller’s response to losing the primary that year. “She has enemies because she’s kind of like, very, very self-serving in a way that when you do this job when you’re a politician, you gotta play the game. And I don’t mean that in a negative connotation. I mean, like, you have to support other people. You have to support the party. When you lose, you have to not burn bridges,” they mused. “You’ve just got to, like, kind of be a good person.” Read More India's Parliament rocked by protests for a third day over ethnic violence in remote state Sri Lankan president's visit to India signals growing economic and energy ties Opposition parties disrupt India's Parliament for 2nd day to protest ethnic violence in northeast 11-year-old daughter of top Kashmiri rebel leader issues rare appeal to visit father jailed in India As another cheetah dies in India, authorities try to get ambitious conservation project on track India sets sights on home-mined minerals to boost its clean energy plans

Ron DeSantis was in a car crash while on his way to a fundraiser in Tennessee. The Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate was uninjured in the Tuesday morning incident. “We appreciate the prayers and well wishes of the nation for his continued protection while on the campaign trail,” spokesperson Bryan Griffin said in a statement. Mr DeSantis was set to attend fundraisers in Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville on Tuesday as his campaign is reported to be floundering both in terms of funding and poll numbers. Meanwhile, the governor’s presidential campaign continues to suffer internal turmoil. A staffer was recently fired for posting a video using Nazi imagery superimposed on Mr DeSantis’s face. Read More Ron DeSantis in car crash as he heads to Tennessee campaign event DeSantis campaign fires aide behind neo-Nazi meme video Ron DeSantis is caught in a death spiral of his own making Ron DeSantis has already blown 40 per cent of his campaign donations – on private jets and fancy campaign dinners

A campaign staffer for Ron DeSantis who shared an online video using Nazi imagery with the Florida governor’s face has been fired. Nate Hochman, a 25-year-old campaign communications staff member who has written for The National Review and The New York Times, shared a video over the weekend to an anonymous pro-DeSantis Twitter account featuring a meme template that has been adopted by far-right and neo-fascist creators. The video shows a “wojack” character, unhappy with news footage of Donald Trump, watching the Florida seal turn into the Nazi-appropriated Sonnenrad symbol. Mr DeSantis is then seen superimposed on the icon in front of soldiers marching in formation. That video was then retweeted by Mr Hochman before it was deleted, according to posts reviewed by The Independent. Mr Hochman appears to have retweeted posts from the anonymous account at least six other times. “Nate Hochman is no longer with the campaign,” a spokesperson for the DeSantis campaign said in a statement to NBC News. “And we will not be commenting on him further.” Another clip on the anonymous account included audio of a man calling Mr DeSantis a “fascist” and cut together footage of the Florida governor alongside clips of Nazis and Benito Mussolini. The account also has been retweeted by the DeSantis campaign’s War Room account and the DeSantis-linked Never Back Down super PAC account. His departure also follows another video promoted by the DeSantis campaign that relies on the familiar aesthetics of far-right and neo-fascist memes to celebrate Mr DeSantis’s “draconian” anti-LGBT+ agenda and threat to “trans existence”. That video also was created by a campaign staffer but was made to appear as if it was produced externally, according to The New York Times. The videos have underscored the growing influence of fringe far-right online communities within mainstream Republican spaces, from the emergence of explicitly violent authoritarian “dark MAGA” memes to the dominance of “fashwave” aesthetics on social media platforms. The DeSantis campaign has fired more than 40 per cent of its original staff since launching his bid for the 2024 Republican nomination for president. At least 38 staffers have been laid off since the campaign’s launch in May, including at least 26 people on 25 July. Read More Ron DeSantis is caught in a death spiral of his own making DeSantis lays off a third of his campaign staff as presidential bid sputters Four cars in Ron DeSantis motorcade crash into each other on way to Tennessee fundraisers

Joe Lewis, the UK billionaire and owner of the Tottenham Hotspur football club, has been indicted in the US for what officials called a “brazen” set of insider trading schemes. “He used inside information as a way to compensate his employees or shower gifts on his friends and lovers,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in a video statement on Tuesday. “That’s classic corporate corruption,” he added. “It’s cheating, and it’s against the law.” The Independent has contacted Tottenham for comment, as well as Tavistock Group, the investment office founded by Mr Lewis. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.

Biff Poggi was not happy at AAC media day.

Donald Trump has shared a QAnon post on his Truth Social platform as he continues to lash out at President Joe Biden, special counsel Jack Smith and Attorney General Merrick Garland ahead of his third potential looming criminal indictment. The former president reTruthed a post from a QAnon supporter which showed an image of Mr Trump along with the ominous message: “Nothing can stop what is coming. Nothing.” Mr Trump has gone on the attack in recent days over the grand jury investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot and his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. In one of the clearest signs Mr Trump could face federal charges in the case, the former president said last week that he had received a letter saying he is a target of a grand jury investigation. Court documents revealed on Monday that former New York City Police Department commissioner Bernie Kerik, who collected spurious evidence of alleged voter fraud and manipulation for Mr Trump’s campaign, has agreed to turn over hundreds of documents to the DOJ as part of its probe. Mr Kerik was working for Rudy Giuliani and had previously refused to share the evidence. Read More What Donald Trump’s trial date means for the 2024 election Trump demands cameras in courtroom for potential election fraud case Trump legal team tries again to block Georgia election interference grand jury probe Is Donald Trump a legal unicorn?

President Joe Biden’s German shepherd Commander reportedly bit seven people in a four-month span last year, making him the second White House dog to exhibit aggressive behaviour after former first dog Major was removed from the residence due to similar conduct. The report of Commander’s aggressiveness comes from internal Secret Service communications obtained by the New York Post. On 3 November, the White House physician’s office referred a bitten Secret Service officer to a local hospital for treatment after the dog bit down on the officer’s arm and thigh, according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch. A second incident took place on 10 November, when Commander allegedly bit an officer’s thigh while on a walk with first lady Jill Biden in the Kennedy Garden. Days later, another officer described having to fend off the pet with a chair. Weeks later, Commander tore the skin of another Secret Service officer’s hand and arm, according to the Post. One month later, Commander bit the back of a security technician at the president’s Wilmington, Delaware residence. A Christmas Eve email from a Secret Service inspector suggested issues with Commander were widespread. “Nearly every official in the room with me today spoke about specific incidents surrounding the First Family’s dog,” the email read. Commander’s behaviour resembles Major’s, a rescue adopted by the Bidens in 2018, who was rehomed in 2021 after a number of incidents in which the dog bit Secret Service agents. “As as you all know, the White House complex can be unique and very stressful. And that is something I’m sure you all can understand,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. “The first family is working through ways to make the situation better for everyone.” The White House press secretary also relayed a message from Elizabeth Alexander for communications director for First Lady Jill Biden. Ms Alexander said, “They have been partnering with the Secret Service and Executive Residence staff on additional leashing protocols and training, as well as establishing designated areas for Commander to run and exercise,” Alexander said. She added, that the president and first lady are “incredibly grateful to the secret service and executive resident staff for all they do to keep them and their family and the country safe.” Read More Israel's government has passed the first part of its legal overhaul. The law's ripples are dramatic DeSantis cuts a third of his presidential campaign staff as he mounts urgent reset Biden signs proclamation creating Emmett Till national monument

Watch live as Dario Amodei, CEO of artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, testifies at a US Senate hearing on AI as lawmakers consider potential regulations for the fast-growing technology on Tuesday, 25 July. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law is holding a hearing titled “Oversight of AI: Principles for Regulation.” Witnesses will also include Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at The University of California, Berkley, and Yoshua Bengio, founder and scientific director of Mila - Quebec AI Institute and professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at Universite de Montreal. Ahead of the hearing, Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal said: “It’s our obligation to address AI’s potential threats and risks before they become real. “We are on the verge of a new era, with major consequences for workers, consumer privacy, and our society.” The hearing comes after Joe Biden met with the CEOs of top AI companies, including Amodei, back in May to make clear they must ensure products are safe before they are deployed. Read More Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg and Brian Cox among British actors protesting AI in film Biden says AI leaders committing to building ‘safe, secure and trustworthy’ tech DeSantis pushes AI-generated attack ad featuring fake Trump voice

Florida Gov Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign laid off a third of its campaign staff as it continues to tighten its belt amid numerous negative news stories and lacklustre fundraising numbers, Politico reported. The campaign will cut a total of 38 jobs, advisers told Politico, including 10 event planning roles the campaign announced weeks ago as well as that of top DeSantis advisers Dave Abrams and Tucker Obenshain. The latter two will advise a pro-DeSantis outside group. “Following a top-to-bottom review of our organisation, we have taken additional, aggressive steps to streamline operations and put Ron DeSantis in the strongest position to win this primary and defeat Joe Biden,” campaign manager Generra Peck said in a statement. “Gov DeSantis is going to lead the Great American Comeback and we’re ready to hit the ground running as we head into an important month of the campaign.” The slim-down comes after the DeSantis campaign announced it had raised $20m in the governor’s first quarter as a candidate. But the campaign had also spent $7.8m in its first quarter, an incredibly high burn rate. Many of the donors who had contributed had given the maximum legal limit, meaning they cannot donate again. As of the end of June, the DeSantis campaign had more than 90 staffers. Politico previously reported that the DeSantis campaign had admitted to donors at a Utah retreat that it had spent too much money. Mr DeSantis has failed to gain momentum in the Republican presidential nomination since he announced in May. A new poll from Fox Business showed that Mr DeSantis now trails former South Carolina governor in the state while he trails former president Donald Trump in Iowa. The governor had previously let go of roughly a dozen staffers amid the bevy of negative headlines and weak fundraising numbers. Read More Trump news – live: Georgia grand jury could weigh conspiracy charge as ex-NYPD boss hands docs to Jan 6 probe Who is Jack Smith? The ex-war crimes prosecutor who is coming for Trump

Ilhan Omar has spoken out in defence of a teenage girl who was jailed for 90 days after taking an abortion pill to end an unwanted pregnancy. The Democratic congresswoman posted an image on Instagram of an article titled: “Nebraska teen who used pills to end pregnancy gets 90 days in jail”. “This is a freighting violation of privacy and autonomy…” Ms Omar wrote. Celeste Burgess, 19, was sentenced last week after she and her mother Jessica Burgess, 42, pleaded guilty to charges earlier this year. Prosecutors said Celeste Burgess used abortion pills well beyond the 10-week limit approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Court records reveal that she terminated her pregnancy when she was nearly 30 weeks pregnant, surpassing the generally recognised point of viability at 23 to 24 weeks. At that stage, a foetus would have a higher chance of survival outside the womb. The mother and daughter were charged after their private Facebook messages were obtained by the police. These messages revealed their plans to end Celeste’s pregnancy by using abortion pills ordered online and then “burn the evidence”. The teenager was not charged by prosecutors under Nebraska’s abortion law. Prosecutors agreed to drop two charges of concealing a death and false reporting against her after she pleaded guilty in May to concealing human skeletal remains. Celeste was also sentenced to two years probation apart from her 90 days’ jail sentence. Joseph Smith, the top prosecutor in Madison County, Nebraska, said the sentence “seems reasonable” as the teenager has no criminal history. “It’s a painful case for everybody,” he said, adding that it was the first case of its type that he had prosecuted in his 33-years-long career “and I’m glad it’s over”. Jessica Burgess meanwhile faces up to five years in jail. The case has prompted widespread discusson, wth Ms Omar the latest to comment on the case. Her post had garnered more than 68,000 likes as of early Tuesday morning, with comments fom her supporters including that the case was “like the beginning of the Handmaid’s Tale”. Read More Teen who took abortion pill to end pregnancy given 90 days in jail Texas women detailed agonising pregnancies after being denied abortions. The state blames doctors After Roe v Wade fell, this father-daughter duo left Texas to go on providing abortions AOC and other progressives to boycott Israeli president’s joint address to Congress Israel's president will meet with Biden as concerns over settlements, judicial overhaul continue Thai Parliament postpones vote to select new prime minister pending court ruling

Rex Heuermann’s arrest came as a shock to nearly everyone in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach – but not for a man who came face to face with the alleged murderer and had reported him to law enforcement. For more than a decade, residents anxiously awaited new developments on a trail of murders that had gone cold, despite overwhelming evidence the slayings were the work of a serial killer. Most of the victims were sex workers in their 20s who went missing in 2009 and 2010 before their bodies were discovered wrapped in burlap along the stretch of a roadway. The Suffolk County police department led an unsuccessful 13-year investigation into the case amid a litany of internal scandals, before announcing earlier this month that Mr Heuermann was in custody. Police commissioner Rodney Harrison touted the work of a revamped task force as the reason behind the arrest, but largely glossed over the fact that the very detail that cracked the case was handed to authorities in the early stages of the probe. Dave Schaller told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview that, by the time Mr Heuermann’s mugshot was plastered on every local and national news channel on 13 July, he was very familiar with the Frankenstein-like figure with an “empty gaze” he had long ago described to investigators. In the winter of 2010, Mr Schaller told police that he had seen the man fleeing the house he shared with Amber Costello, whose body was among those found in Gilgo Beach. “When they told me she was dead, he was the first person who jumped in my head,” Mr Schaller told the AP. “I’ve been picturing his face for 13 years.” Mr Heuermann met with homicide detectives on multiple occasions during the initial years of the investigation. Two years after the bodies were found, Mr Schaller said he picked Mr Heuermann’s first-generation Chrysler Avalanche out of a line-up of photographs provided by the detectives. “I gave them the exact description of the truck and the dude,” Mr Schaller, who said he was angered by the delay in investigating his tip, told the AP. “I mean come on, why didn’t they use that?” Suffolk County district attorney Ray Tierney, who inherited the investigation when he took office in 2022, said the key to unravelling the case was the description of the truck, rediscovered by a state investigator after the launch of the new task force that took a fresh look at the evidence. Mr Tierney told the AP he did not know why police had not run a search earlier, but suggested the tip may have been “lost within a sea of other tips and information”. He stressed there were other elements that ultimately helped investigators arrest Heuermann, including new technology that helped match samples of DNA to the suspect. “This was a dark cloud over the community,” former police commissioner Tim Sini, who later became the county’s district attorney. “When you have the police department and the district attorney’s office blocking the FBI, that does not engender trust in law enforcement.” The arrest, Sini said, was the result of painstaking detective work that spanned multiple administrations and relied on a wide range of evidence. “[However,] I wouldn’t call it a major success. The case should’ve been solved earlier,” he said. “This was crucial information, and I don’t know why they didn’t share it,” Rob Trotta, a county legislator who worked as a Suffolk County police detective until 2013, also told the AP. “They made some serious blunders here.” Two high-ranking officials who worked closely on the case and attended briefings between 2011 and 2013 told the AP they never heard Mr Schaller’s witness statement. Mr Heuermann bought the pickup at a Chevrolet dealer on Long Island in 2002 and transferred ownership to his brother Craig in South Carolina in 2012. Authorities seized the vehicle last week. A search warrant stated investigators were looking for other clues in the vehicle or at property the brothers owned in Chester County, such as DNA, fluids, fingerprints, phones and what they described as possible “trophies” that may have belonged to the victims. Mr Heuermann is charged with the murders of Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman. He is also the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. As law enforcement closed in on Mr Heuermann, they served more than 300 subpoenas and search warrants that uncovered cellphone records for burner phones used to arrange meetings with three of the “Gilgo Four” victims before they went missing. Further analysis also allegedly linked Mr Heuermann to taunting calls made to family members of the victims, according to investigators. The calls were made from the Midtown Manhattan area, where the offices of Mr Heuerman’s architecture business are located. Among the evidence linking Mr Heuermann to the murders was a hair found on burlap material used to wrap Waterman’s corpse, according to court documents. DNA analysis had not been possible in the early stages of the investigation, but new technology allowed testing. A team surveilling Mr Heuermann collected a discarded pizza box that then confirmed a DNA match with the suspect on 12 June. Records also showed several online accounts under fictitious names linked to Mr Heuermann were used for illegal activities. Mr Heuermann allegedly used those accounts and burner phones to contact women for prostitution services, as well as making chilling online searches. The searches included sadistic, torture-related pornography, child pornography and disturbing content. Mr Heuermann is also accused of searching “why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the long island serial killer,” “why hasn’t the long island serial killer been caught” and “new phone technology may be key to break in case”. Mr Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Authorities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Las Vegas and South Carolina are looking into possible links between Mr Heuermann and unsolved cases. The Associated Press contributed to this report Read More Missing paddle boarder’s body pulled from Martha’s Vineyard pond next to Obama mansion Manhattan architect, family man and accused serial killer: Who is Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann? How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard

Jill Biden met France’s first lady Brigitte Macron on Tuesday, 25 July, as she visited Paris to mark the United States’ official re-entry into United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). The US First Lady will attend a flag-raising ceremony to celebrate the re-entry into the agency after a five-year hiatus. She is expected to make a speech about the importance of American leadership in preserving cultural heritage. Under Donald Trump’s administration, the US pulled out of Unesco because of an alleged anti-Israel bias and a need for “fundamental reform” in the agency. It was the second time the US returned to Unesco after withdrawing, after previously leaving under Ronald Reagan’s administration in 1984 citing alleged advancement of Soviet interests, mismanagement, and corruption. The nation announced its intention to rejoin the agency in June 2023 before the agency’s 193 member states approved re-entry. Today’s ceremony will feature a speecy by Unesco’s director general Audrey Azoulay. Read More First Lady Jill Biden to mark US reentry into UNESCO with flag-raising ceremony in Paris Oui, oui: Jill Biden heads to Paris to help mark US return to UN educational and scientific agency Jill Biden welcomes proposal for Medicare to pay for navigation services for cancer patients