North America

Canadian officials have identified two teenage suspects in the shooting deaths of an American woman and an Australian man in northern British Columbia. Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, were last seen in a Toyota RAV4 in northern Saskatchewan. Police had previously sought to find the pair after discovering their burning truck near Dease Lake on Saturday. A body was found nearby. “Given these latest developments, Kam and Bryer are no longer considered missing,” Sergeant Janelle Shoihet said. “[Police] are now considering [them] as suspects in the Dease Lake suspicious death and the double homicide of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese.” Deese and Fowler had been travelling through Canada together. Their bodies were found on July 15, just days into their trip. McLeod and Schmegelsky were also suspects in the death of the unidentified man whose body was found near their truck, police said.

Members of United States’ oldest civil rights organisation has voted unanimously for the impeachment of President Donald Trump, increasing pressure on a Democratic leadership reluctant to do so. “Trump’s misconduct is unmistakable and has proven time and time again that he is unfit to serve as the president of this country,” tweeted Derrick Johnson, NAACP president, after the vote at the group’s annual convention. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tried to tamp down the growing fervour for impeachment in the House Democratic caucus.

The US Senate has voted overwhelmingly to add billions of dollars to a fast-dwindling compensation fund for 9/11 workers who are now sick or dying. The legislation, which was championed by gravely ill first responders and former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, will extend the compensation programme for decades, at an estimated cost of US$10.2 billion ($15.2b) for the first 10 years. To date, the fund has paid about US$5b to approximately 21,000 sick or dying claimants. About 700 payments were for deaths long after the terror attacks in New York. The number of deaths caused by Ground Zero-linked illnesses is expected to surpass the nearly 3000 people killed on 9/11.