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A man convicted of the 1992 murders of three people is to be put to death by lethal injection in Florida on Thursday in the 11th execution in the southern US state this year.Curtis Windom, 59, was sentenced to death for killing his girlfriend Valerie Davis, her mother Mary Lubin, and Johnnie Lee, a man who allegedly owed him a gambling debt.The execution is to be carried out at 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) at the Florida State Prison.There have been 29 executions in the United States in 2025, the most since 2014, when a total of 35 inmates were put to death.Florida has carried out the most executions — 10 — followed by South Carolina and Texas with four each.Twenty-four of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and three by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment, and on his first day in office called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”Trump said earlier this week that he would seek the death penalty for murders in Washington as part of a crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital.

The United States told the United Nations in a letter on Thursday that it will not take part in an upcoming regular review of its record on human rights.”I write to inform you that United States of America will not participate in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) … scheduled to take place in Geneva on November 7,” the US mission in Geneva said in a letter addressed to UN rights chief Volker Turk, seen by AFP.The standard review is an examination that all 193 UN member states must undergo in turn every four to five years to assess their human rights record.The US decision to snub its review was linked to President Donald Trump’s order back in February withdrawing Washington from a number of UN bodies, including participation in the Human Rights Council (HRC).”As with other HRC mechanisms, engagement in UPRs implies endorsement of the council’s mandate and activities and ignores its persistent failure to condemn the most egregious human rights violators,” a US State Department official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.Thursday’s letter said that the UPR system, which was created after the establishment of the rights council in 2006, was meant to be “based on objective and reliable information and conducted in a manner that ensures equal treatment” of all countries.”However, this is not the case today,” it charged, adding that “the United States objects to the politicisation of human rights across the UN system, as well as the UN’s unrelenting selective bias against Israel”.It also accused the UN of “ignoring human rights abuses in China, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela”, which it said had “tarnished the UPR process” and other rights council mechanisms.Rights council spokesman Pascal Sim told AFP that “since the inception of the UPR in 2008, the secretariat has occasionally received requests from states to postpone reviews” — for instance, those of Haiti, Sudan  and Ukraine were at different times postponed due to various national crises.The Human Rights Council, which meets from September 8 to October 8, will discuss how best to proceed on the US review, Sim said.Only Israel has previously been a no-show at its own review, back in 2013 when it had disengaged from the council, but in the end they participated in a postponed evaluation.”The Trump administration’s decision to boycott the UPR puts the US among the ranks of the worst violators of human rights,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) rights group said in a statement sent to AFP.”This move is a chilling attempt to evade accountability, setting a terrible precedent that would only embolden dictators and autocrats and dangerously weaken respect for human rights at home and abroad.”

Celebrated US musician Jon Batiste wants to use his music to fire up listeners to act against climate change, naming his new album after what he sees as the root of the problem — “Big Money.”The track “Petrichor” in particular is a call to arms for a younger generation who may have turned their backs on mainstream news and analysis about global warming.”It was a warning set to a dance beat,” the Oscar, Emmy and Grammy award-winning artist told AFP. “You know, it’s not just saying ‘this is a problem,’ but it’s also saying we can solve it, and it’s important when you’re changing the world, (you) have a good time while you’re doing it.”As well as the influence of his climate activist mother Katherine, it was the experience of Hurricane Katrina which devastated Batiste’s native New Orleans 20 years ago that inspired him to advocate for the environment through his music.He has previously recounted fleeing New Orleans when Katrina hit the city, claiming more than 1,000 lives and resulting in a humanitarian disaster blamed in part on poor preparedness by federal authorities, and followed by a botched response.”There’s so many people who were displaced and never came back, and the city of New Orleans is really built around the spirit of the people,” said Batiste, 38.”I think about even going back to Hamilton Street in the houses we were growing up in.”His mother said that all her family lived in the city ravaged by flood water during a natural disaster experts said was made worse by climate change.- ‘Burning the planet down’ -“The home that I grew up in, it was destroyed. All my sisters, brothers, my family, their homes were destroyed,” said Katherine.”And so some came back and renovated. One had to rebuild, and then a few of them didn’t return, so they relocated permanently. So everything was lost.”Even 20 years on, swaths of New Orleans remain abandoned and the city’s new flood defenses reportedly face being overwhelmed by the impact of climate change.Batiste said the experience of Katrina and the aftermath should be a wake-up call for all nations — not just the United States.”It’s something the whole planet needs to be worried about. And it can happen anywhere. New Orleans is one place that that can happen, and we’ve seen it happen — and that should be a warning,” he said. “There’s many places where this is happening. You see all the different things that the weather patterns are doing that are abnormal… and it’s because of the pollution blanket that’s around the planet.”His song “Petrichor,” written in a tour bus as Batiste criss-crossed the US, is unflinching in its diagnosis of the situation — and the risks of inaction. The title of the track comes from the pungent scent that typically follows rain on dry earth.”They burning the planet down, Lord,” goes the track.”No more plants for you to eat.”Batiste also points to research proving that less wealthy people and people of color are worst affected by climate change and pollution.”There’s an overwhelming majority of people that believe in clean energy and believe in the power of what we know to be true when switching to these new technologies, how that can shift and change all of our lives and save all of the things that we love the most,” Batiste said.”People have to think about how all of the democracies are set up, which is based on raising your voice and insisting and voting the right people into office.”

Investigators were seeking to find out why a heavily armed shooter opened fire on children at a church service in Minneapolis on Wednesday, killing two pupils and wounding 17 people in the latest violent tragedy to jolt the United States.City police chief Brian O’Hara said that the attacker sprayed bullets through the windows of the Annunciation Church as dozens of young students were at a Mass marking their first week back at school.The church sits next to an affiliated Catholic school in Minneapolis, the largest city in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, where hundreds attended vigils for the victims on Wednesday evening.The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime targeting Catholics, according to Director Kash Patel.Authorities identified the attacker as Robin Westman, a 23-year-old transgender woman, who according to US media, had attended the school.”Two young children, ages eight and 10, were killed where they sat in the pews,” O’Hara said. Fourteen wounded children were expected to survive, while three elderly parishioners were also shot, he added.The shooter fired a rifle, shotgun, and pistol before dying by suicide in the parking lot. The attacker had recently purchased the weapons legally, police said.One 10-year-old said he had survived the shooting thanks to a friend who covered him with his body.”I just ran under the pew, and then I covered my head,” he told broadcaster CBS. “My friend Victor saved me though, because he laid on top of me, but he got hit.”A joint statement from the school’s principal and pastor said that within seconds of the start of shooting, “our heroic staff moved students under the pews.”- ‘Unthinkable’ -The mass shooting is the latest in a long line of deadly school attacks in the US, where attempts to restrict easy access to firearms face political deadlock.FBI Director Patel Patel identified the shooter as “Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman.”Westman, 23, legally changed name in 2020 and identified as female, court papers show.In a post on X, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the shooter was “claiming to be transgender” and called the attack “unthinkable.”Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey warned against using the attack to lash out at transgender people, and addressed the issue of gun ownership in the US.”Anybody who is using this… as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity,” Frey told reporters.”We’ve got more guns in this country than we have people… we can’t just say that this shouldn’t happen again and then allow it to happen again and again.”- Vigil for victims -More than 600 people attended a vigil mourning the victims at a nearby school on Wednesday evening, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. One attendee, Louise Fowler, told the newspaper she knew the suspect’s mother when she worked at the church.”The family worked hard with this child who had a lot of problems,” she said of Westman.Videos posted online by the shooter showed a multi-page manifesto, and names and drawings of firearms.O’Hara, the police chief, said the manifesto appeared to show Westman “at the scene and included some disturbing writings and content (that) has since been taken down.””We don’t have a motive at this time,” O’Hara said.The attack drew condemnation and expressions of grief from many including President Donald Trump, who directed US flags at the White House be lowered to half-staff.Pope Leo XIV — the first American to head the Catholic Church — said he was “profoundly saddened” by the tragedy.Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda pointed out that the attack came just a day after another school shooting near the city, adding in a statement: “We need an end to gun violence.”Former president Barack Obama called it “yet another act of unspeakable, unnecessary violence.”This year, there have been at least 287 mass shootings — defined as a shooting involving at least four victims, dead or wounded — across the country, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

President Donald Trump’s administration moved Thursday to impose stricter limits on how long foreign students and journalists can stay in the United States, the latest bid to tighten legal immigration in the country.Under a proposed change, foreigners would not be allowed to stay for more than four years on student visas in the United States.Foreign journalists would be limited to stays of just 240 days, although they could apply to extend by additional 240-day periods — except for Chinese journalists who would get just 90 days.The United States, until now, has generally issued visas for the duration of a student’s educational program or a journalist’s assignment, although no non-immigrant visas are valid for more than 10 years.The proposed changes were published in the Federal Register, initiating a short period for public comment before they can go into effect.Trump’s Department of Homeland Security alleged that an unspecified number of foreigners were indefinitely extending their studies so they could remain in the country as “‘forever’ students.””For too long, past administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the US virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars and disadvantaging U.S citizens,” the department said in a press statement Wednesday.The department did not explain how US citizens and taxpayers were hurt by international students, who according to Commerce Department statistics contributed more than $50 billion to the US economy in 2023.The United States welcomed more than 1.1 million international students in the 2023-24 academic year, more than any other country, providing a crucial source of revenue as foreigners generally pay full tuition.A group representing leaders of US colleges and universities denounced the latest move as a needless bureaucratic hurdle that intrudes on academic decision-making and could further deter potential students who would otherwise contribute to research and job creation.”This proposed rule sends a message to talented individuals from around the world that their contributions are not valued in the United States,” said Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.”This is not only detrimental to international students –- it also weakens the ability of US colleges and universities to attract top talent, diminishing our global competitiveness.”- Backlash -The announcement came as universities were starting their academic years with many reporting lower enrollments of international students after earlier actions by the Trump administration.But Trump also heard rare criticism within his base when he mused Monday that he would like to double the number of Chinese students in the United States to 600,000 as he hailed warm relations with counterpart Xi Jinping.His remarks marked a sharp departure from Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s earlier vow to “aggressively” rescind visas of Chinese students. The State Department said last week it had overall revoked 6,000 student visas since Trump took office, in part due to Rubio’s targeting of campus activists who led demonstrations against Israel.Trump has also suspended billions of dollars in federal research funds to universities, with his administration contending they have not acted against antisemitism, and Congress has sharply raised taxes on private universities’ endowments.In a speech before he was elected, Vice President JD Vance said conservatives must attack universities, which he described as “the enemy.”Trump, at the end of his first term, had proposed curbing the duration of journalist visas, but his successor Joe Biden scrapped the idea.

The Trump administration confirmed Wednesday it had fired the head of the top US public health agency after she refused to step down during a standoff with vaccine skeptic Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.The escalating dispute over Kennedy’s sweeping overhaul of US vaccine policy also led to five other senior officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announcing their resignations, according to a union representing some of the agency’s workers.Susan Monarez, a health scientist and longtime civil servant, had been the CDC’s head for less than a month when Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on X that she “is no longer director.”But Monarez’s lawyers said she would not step down because she had neither resigned nor received notification from the White House regarding her dismissal.The White House later confirmed that Monarez had been fired.”As her attorney’s statement makes abundantly clear, Susan Monarez is not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in an emailed statement to AFP.”Since Susan Monarez refused to resign despite informing HHS leadership of her intent to do so, the White House has terminated Monarez from her position with the CDC,” he added.However, her lawyers said she “was notified tonight by a White House staffer in the personnel office that she was fired.””As a presidential appointee, senate confirmed officer, only the president himself can fire her,” the lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP.”For this reason, we reject the notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director.In an earlier statement, the lawyers accused Kennedy of “weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk.”The Washington Post, which first reported Monarez’s dismissal, said Kennedy pressured her to resign after she refused to commit to supporting his vaccination policy changes.- ‘Enough is enough’ -In the aftermath, five high-ranking CDC officials emailed resignations, according to a union representing more than 2,000 CDC workers.”Many felt forced to walk away from the jobs they loved because politics left them no choice,” the AFGE Local 2883 union said in a statement, adding: “Vaccines save lives.””Enough is enough,” said Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned as director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.”I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health,” he wrote on X.The CDC’s chief medical officer Debra Houry and Daniel Jernigan, director of the agency’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, were also among those who resigned, according to US media citing notes sent to staff.- ‘Public health under attack’ – Since taking office, RFK Jr, as he is known, has overhauled US vaccine policy, dismissing renowned immunization experts, restricting access to Covid-19 shots and slashing funding for the development of new vaccines.Such measures are predominantly against scientific consensus, and have been criticized by outside experts.After earning US Senate confirmation for the top CDC job, Monarez was sworn in by Kennedy on July 31.The departure of Monarez comes amid a crisis at the Atlanta-based CDC, which was the target of an armed attack in early August by a man who reportedly blamed the Covid vaccine for an unspecified illness.Hundreds of health agency employees and former employees subsequently signed an open letter condemning Kennedy’s actions and accusing the health secretary of putting people at risk by spreading misinformation, particularly about vaccines.

Global air pollution is worsening, with the United States and Canada experiencing the sharpest increases due to record-breaking, climate-supercharged wildfires that are undoing decades of progress, a study said Thursday.The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) annual report uses satellite data to assess levels of particulate matter worldwide, with records dating back to 1998. It translates concentrations into years of life expectancy lost, based on peer-reviewed science. “I just don’t think this can be repeated enough: particulate matter remains the greatest external threat to human health on the planet, period,” Michael Greenstone, an economics professor at the University of Chicago who co-created AQLI, told AFP.”It’s worse than tobacco smoke. It’s worse than child and maternal malnutrition. It’s worse than road accidents. It’s worse than HIV-AIDS, worse than anything in terms of losses.”According to the report, Canada’s catastrophic 2023 wildfire season drove a more than 50 percent rise in particulate levels compared to 2022, while the United States saw a 20 percent increase. Although the data currently only extends until 2023, the trend is likely to have continued as both countries face intensifying wildfire seasons, driven by warming temperatures and drought fueled by human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.The year 2025 already ranks as Canada’s second worst wildfire season.”The very surprising finding to me is that in parts of the world, certainly Canada, certainly the US and it looks like parts of Europe as well, air pollution is like the zombie that we thought we had killed, and now it’s back,” said Greenstone. While the most polluted counties in the US have historically been found in California, that’s now shifting to states downwind of Canadian wildfires including Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio but also further south. More than half of Canadians breathed air with pollution above their national standard of 8.8 micrograms per cubic meter — a dramatic shift from less than five percent in the previous five years. The hardest-hit regions were provinces of Northwest Territories, British Columbia, and Alberta, where particulate pollution levels rivaled those of Bolivia and Honduras, shortening lifespans by two years.Globally, fine particulate levels — defined as 2.5 micrometers and smaller — were up from 23.7 micrograms per cubic meter in 2022 to 24.1 in 2023. This is nearly five times greater than the World Health Organization guideline of five.Latin America saw its highest level since 1998, with Bolivia the worst affected country.In South Asia — the world’s most polluted zone — pollution increased by 2.8 percent. Even China saw a small rebound of 2.8 percent after a decade of steady declines following under its “War on Pollution.”There were some bright spots: within the European Union, particulate concentrations fell by six percent, while in Central and West Africa, they dropped by eight percent.

A young, Muslim self-proclaimed socialist who has established himself as one of Donald Trump’s fiercest critics, fixing himself firmly in the president’s crosshairs, is on track to become New York mayor.In mere months, Zohran Mamdani has become a star of the US left as he has mounted an unprecedentedly socialist-inspired campaign to take the big chair in the Big Apple.Following his surprise June win in a Democratic primary, the 33-year-old has held a lead over his main rival in nine out of 11 polls — with an advantage of between three and 28 points.His leading opponents are the independent Andrew Cuomo, 67, the ex-New York governor who retreated from politics when he was engulfed by sexual assault claims, and current mayor Eric Adams, 64, who is mired in corruption scandals. New York’s mayoral election on November 4 is “a political litmus test of sorts for the Democratic Party that is working to regain its footing after the 2024 election,” said pollster Mary Snow.The party has been left bloodied, divided and directionless after its defeat at Trump’s hands last year.In the staunchly Democratic megacity where inequality is rampant and life is unaffordable for many, Mamdani has zeroed in on the high cost of living promising regulated rents, free bus travel and daycare to cement his appeal.”If NYC wants to remain the interesting, inspiring and dynamic city of lore that is beloved by the world, we need to at least try policies that combat the inequality, comically absurd cost of living, housing and basic services here,” said Mamdani superfan Sandy Dalal, a designer and Brooklyn-based business owner.- Eye on presidential race -The young state lawmaker has run a strong ground campaign, with his supporters going door-to-door while also staying hyperactive on social media.”He talks about feminism, he talks about politics (but) he talks about the price of the halal food carts… even if you’re not Muslim, everyone eats from those carts because they’re everywhere,” said political pundit Lincoln Mitchell.Mamdani “really seems real in a way that Cuomo just seems like he’s coming from another era.”While the Democratic Party, and those on the right of it like Cuomo, are accused of going soft on Trump, Mamdani has not.Mamdani, born in Uganda to Indian parents, has slammed Trump for victimizing the weakest in society — the poor and migrants.”What the voters want is not just the kind of ‘left-of-center’ economic redistributive policies… but somebody who is unequivocal in standing up to Trump,” said Mitchell.Republicans have come out swinging against what they call the “nut job” and “communist,” with Trump threatening to cut off federal funds to the city if he wins.The other Democrats challenging Mamdani deride him too, with Adams accusing him of “false promises” and insisting he is “competing against him because this is not a socialist city.”Cuomo has repeatedly attacked Mamdani for occupying a coveted rent-controlled apartment with increases regulated by the city, saying his legislative salary means he could move.But their attacks have done little to bloody the rising star of the left.”Mamdani’s ability to connect with voters and his focus on affordability, for one, has resonated with voters,” said Snow. “It would not be surprising if Democrats took a page from Mamdani’s campaign playbook as they look toward the midterm elections — and the next presidential race.”

NATO on Thursday said all its members were finally set this year to hit the alliance’s previous defence spending target of two percent of GDP — as they gear up for a far more ambitious goal.The 32-nation military alliance agreed at a June summit in the Hague to massively hike defence spending over the next decade under pressure from US President Donald Trump.The mercurial US leader rammed through a commitment from allies to cough up five percent of their GDPs on security-related spending in a move seen as key to keeping him engaged with NATO.That headline figure breaks down as 3.5 percent on core defence spending and 1.5 percent on a looser range of areas such as infrastructure and cyber security.The new target replaces the alliance’s former military spending goal of two percent that was first set back in 2014.NATO said in a statement that all allies were now expected to reach that goal in 2025 and that overall defence spending across the alliance would top $1.5 trillion for the year.That comes after a group of stragglers — including Spain, Belgium and Italy — hastily announced plans to reach two percent ahead of the Hague gathering. The struggle to reach that figure highlights how difficult it will be for NATO countries in Europe to achieve Trump’s far higher new target set this year. But officials insist European countries must make good on their pledge if they are to have the capabilities needed to ward off Russia.Numerous Western militaries and intelligence services have warned that Moscow could be ready to attack a NATO country within three to five years if the war in Ukraine ends. Washington — which has underpinned European security since World War II — meanwhile insists it wants to shift more of the responsibility for the continent’s defences onto European countries.The Pentagon is currently conducting a review of its worldwide deployments and has warned it could look to scale back its footstep in Europe to focus more on China. While some European countries have lagged behind on defence spending, NATO members close to Russia such as Poland and the Baltic states are already set to reach five percent of GDP in the next few years.Poland was projected to be the highest spending NATO country in 2025 at 4.48 percent. The United States currently spends 3.22 percent of its GDP on defence, but makes up the lion’s share of the alliance’s total expenditure in dollar terms. 

The head of the US public health agency has stepped down after just four weeks on the job, health officials announced Wednesday without explaining her departure, which follows the Trump administration’s shift toward vaccine skepticism.”Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people,” the Department of Health, which oversees the CDC, said in a curt statement on X.Monarez, a health scientist and long-time civil servant, earned US Senate confirmation to the job and was then sworn in by Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr on July 31.The Washington Post, which first reported Monarez’s dismissal, said she had refused to commit to supporting changes in vaccination policy sought by Kennedy, who is known for his vaccine skepticism.According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, Monarez was pressured to resign by the health secretary.The department did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment on the reports.Since taking office, RFK Jr, as he is known, has initiated a sweeping overhaul of US vaccine policy, dismissing renowned immunization experts, restricting access to Covid-19 shots, and slashing funding for the development of new vaccines.Such measures are predominantly against scientific consensus, and have been criticized by outside experts.The White House in March had to abandon President Donald Trump’s first nominee as CDC head, David Weldon, a doctor known for his anti-vaccine stance, for fear he would not receive sufficient Senate support for confirmation.The Monarez departure comes amid a crisis at the Atlanta-based CDC, which was the target of an armed attack in early August by a man who reportedly blamed the Covid vaccine on an unspecified illness.Hundreds of health agency employees and former employees subsequently signed an open letter condemning Kennedy’s actions and accusing the health secretary of putting people at risk by spreading misinformation, particularly about vaccines.