U.S. and world news for July 15

Secret Service texts erased: The Department of Homeland Security”™s Inspector General has told the House Jan. 6 committee that text messages by the U.S. Secret Service the committee wanted to review have been erased. The text messages were written on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. The nature of the text messages being sought was not disclosed and it was not said whether the destruction of the messages was accidental or deliberate. The Secret Service, however, issued a statement saying that some data was lost when they upgraded technology. The Secret Service provided protection to Vice President Mike Pence who members of the mob that attacked the Capitol wanted to hang. The Secret Service also provided security for Trump, who on Jan. 6 demanded that they stop taking weapons away from members of the crowd at his rally and who also demanded that the Secret Service take him to the Capitol when the violence was underway.

Ivana Trump dies: The New York City medical examiner was expected to determine the cause of death of Ivana Trump, the 73-year-old first wife of Donald Trump. Her body was found in her Manhattan apartment yesterday. Initial reports said she died of a heart attack and subsequent reports indicated she may have fallen down a flight of stairs. Ivana Trump was the mother of Trump children Donald Junior, Eric and Ivanka.

Suspect arrested in rape of 10-year-old: Conservative media outlets and politicians who claimed the story of a 10-year-old girl in Ohio being raped and becoming pregnant was a hoax have now been forced to back down from that position with the arrest of a 27-year-old man for the rape. He is identified as Gershon Fuentes and court documents show he confessed to the crime. Because abortion is illegal in Ohio, the girl was taken to Indiana where the pregnancy was ended. Indiana”™s Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita says the state is investigating the doctor who helped the girl.

U.N. says global health care disrupted: The United Nations says the Covid-19 pandemic has had such a disruptive effect on global health care that approximately 25 million children in various countries have not received routine vaccinations against other diseases. Meanwhile, the director-general of the U.N. World Health Organization has called on Pfizer to do more to ensure that its new Covid-19 oral antiviral medication is quickly made available to countries at Pfizer”™s manufacturing cost as promised.

$6B for Pakistan: The International Monetary Fund has agreed to give Pakistan a $6 billion bailout. Pakistan”™s economy has been failing while poverty surges.

White House concerned about Colombian cocaine: The White House says cocaine production in Colombia is soaring and has called for talks with the Colombian government to try to bring illegal drug production under control. The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that an estimated 972 tons of cocaine were produced in Colombia during 2021, with most of it being smuggled into the U.S.