Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

Iraq celebrated Sovereignty Day with night-time festivities as a four-day national holiday began to mark the completion of the withdrawal of US troops and international forces. The departure brings to an end more than a decade of foreign military presence in the country, during which the forces fought ISIL. Celebrations continued into the night as Iraqis observed the occasion marking the end of the international deployment.

The dollar has gained support from higher yields, giving the US currency a lift.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a child marriage ban, prompting survivor and campaigner Courtney Stodden to celebrate the new law and thank him for protecting minors. AB 1267, signed by Mr Newsom in his office on Wednesday, sets the minimum age for marriage and domestic partnerships in California at 18. It also repeals provisions that previously allowed minors to marry with parental consent. The governor described the legislation as “a long overdue measure to protect young Californians and minors”, adding: “Today, California kids are safer than ever before.” Stodden, who attended the signing ceremony, later wrote on Instagram: “A…

A South Carolina mother has been charged with attempting to murder her two young children after they were found severely injured at their home in Spartanburg County. Taylor Gosnell, 35, allegedly attacked her three-year-old and six-year-old children with a knife and a blunt object during the early hours of Saturday, 26 September, according to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. The children were discovered after the six-year-old telephoned his grandmother to say that he and his younger sibling were hungry and that their mother was not at home. The grandmother contacted a friend of Gosnell and the pair went to the…

A Republican attempt to suggest that former special prosecutor Jack Smith had colluded with Georgia officials unravelled during a US Senate hearing after the senator leading the questioning confused two basketball teams and the locations of their games. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, questioned Smith over whether he had attended an NBA game between the Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors in Atlanta on February 3, 2024. The date was significant because it came shortly after Fani Willis, then Fulton County’s district attorney, acknowledged an intimate relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor who had worked on her case against…

Candice Jang was seen walking through her Dublin, California, neighbourhood with her three young children after her parents appeared in court accused of murdering her estranged husband, New York Times executive Jonathan McKinsey. Jang, 46, did not comment when approached on Wednesday, as she returned from a nearby mobile phone shop with the children and a female friend. The friend asked for privacy because the family was together. The sighting came about an hour after Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, made their first court appearance over McKinsey’s fatal shooting at a local park on Saturday afternoon. The couple…

A second judge has blocked Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee for new H-1B worker visas, creating another legal obstacle to the charge. The ruling concerns the fee imposed on new H-1B visas, which are used by foreign workers.

Tennessee can proceed with the execution of convicted murderer Christa Pike after the US Supreme Court lifted a last-minute stay. The decision came on Wednesday, about an hour after the stay had halted the lethal injection. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Pike’s lawyers had sought to have her death sentence changed to life imprisonment, arguing that jurors had not been told about her history of sexual abuse or mental health conditions. Justice Sotomayor said lifting the stay “interferes with the Sixth Circuit’s routine administrative handling of a capital case and unnecessarily prevents the court from…

New York lawmakers are renewing calls to close a legal loophole on voluntary intoxication after a former Cornell University student alleged she was sexually assaulted by seven men at a fraternity house in Ithaca. The case has been reopened by the Tompkins County district attorney, who says evidence will be presented to a grand jury. It has also prompted Governor Kathy Hochul to call for an independent investigation into Cornell’s handling of the allegations. New York’s voluntary intoxication law under scrutiny Under New York law, prosecutors face particular difficulties when an alleged victim voluntarily consumes alcohol or drugs before becoming…

A food delivery driver waiting for a dinner order in Canning Vale was allegedly threatened before their BMW was stolen, triggering a pursuit that ended in a crash and an arrest in bushland. The incident began while the driver was waiting to collect the order. The vehicle was allegedly taken after the driver was threatened. The BMW was then pursued before crashing. The alleged offender was arrested in nearby bushland, bringing the incident to an end.