'Shared psychosis': Mental health expert dissects Trump voters' unwavering support that 'defies rationality'

Reports of unaccompanied migrant children being forced to stay overnight in parked buses at the Dallas convention center are "completely unacceptable" if true, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Friday.

Dr. Amy Cohen, a psychiatrist and executive director of the advocacy group Every Last One, said a 15-year-old Honduran boy she is working with was held on a bus from Saturday to Wednesday, using the bus bathroom during that time and unable to move about freely or communicate with family.

The boy encountered at least three other children who were held as long in the parking lot of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Centre, said Cohen, who also has been in contact with another child who was confined earlier to a bus for an extended period.

It is unclear how many children were kept on buses overnight.

"This is completely unacceptable," Becerra said. "We're quickly investigating this to get to the bottom of what happened, and we'll work to make sure this never happens again. The safety and well-being of the children is our priority."

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said "there's no excuse for this kind of treatment."

The reports are "outrageous, they're unacceptable and they do not meet our standard for child care," Psaki said.

The Honduran boy's experience, first reported by NBC News, comes as Health and Human Services massively expands its capacity to house migrant children until they can be placed with a sponsor in the United States, usually parents or close relatives, while their cases wind through immigration court. It comes in response to the largest influx of unaccompanied children on record.

The department, whose lodging is more suited to longer-term stays than Border Patrol holding facilities, has grown its capacity to about 20,000 beds from less than 1,000 in mid-February.

It's opened 14 emergency intake centres, including at the Dallas convention center and other large venues. The Dallas facility opened in February with plans to house up to 3,000 children.

Health and Human Services had 20,397 unaccompanied children in its custody as of Wednesday.

The government flew the Honduran boy to Seattle to reunite with his mother and uncle after NBC News inquired about his status.

MVM Inc., a transportation contractor for the government, said it has "safely and professionally" transported migrant children and families for more than six years.

"Over the last seven weeks, the number of children needing escorts in this pandemic environment has increased to more than 7,100, creating challenging travel logistics and resulting in some extended wait times on their way to reunification sites," the company said in a statement.

MVM said it experienced some delays at a 24-hour regional hub where buses meet to get children on their way to join family, which resulted in "a child staying at that site longer than our target wait time of four hours. This is a violation of our policy and we are conducting an internal review of this incident."

The company said the child had access to an air-conditioned bus, food and snacks, bottled water and personal protective equipment.

(AP)

A US federal court in San Francisco on Friday denied an appeal by Monsanto in the cancer trial over its Roundup weedkiller and upheld an award of $25 million in damages.

It was the latest setback for Monsanto's parent, German chemical giant Bayer, in its campaign to put an end more than 13,000 US lawsuits over the chemical.

The three-judge panel affirmed the district court's judgment in favor of Edwin Hardeman, who blamed the chemical in Roundup for causing his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The ruling found the district court properly denied Monsanto's appeal "because evidence showed the carcinogenic risk of glyphosate was knowable at the time of Hardeman's exposure."

A jury originally ordered the company to pay $75 million but a judge later reduced that amount.

The ruling Friday said the award was "at the outer limits of constitutional propriety" but was acceptable, "Considering the evidence of Monsanto's reprehensibility."

Hardeman said he used Roundup extensively on his land in Sonoma County -- north of San Francisco -- from the 1980s until 2012.

He filed a complaint against Monsanto in early 2016, a year after being diagnosed with cancer.

The case was considered a "bellwether" in the litigation against Monsanto, but the judges cautioned that "different Roundup cases may present different considerations, leading to different results."

"We are disappointed with the court's decision as the verdict in this case is not supported by the evidence at trial or the law," Bayer said in a statement, adding it would consider appealing to the US Supreme Court.

The agrochemicals and drugs giant has been plagued by legal woes since it bought Monsanto in 2018.

Bayer, which is not admitting any wrongdoing, maintains that scientific studies and regulatory approvals show Roundup's main ingredient glyphosate is safe.

The company set aside some $11 billion to deal with a wave of US lawsuits, and in February said it had settled some 90,000 of the cases.

The US city of Columbus, Ohio, has reached a $10 million settlement with the family of an unarmed Black man who was killed by a police officer last year.

Andre Hill, 47, was shot dead on December 22 by Columbus police officer Adam Coy.

Coy, who is white, was subsequently dismissed from the police force and faces murder charges.

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said the $10 million settlement is the largest in the history of the midwestern city.

"We understand that because of this former officer's actions, the Hill family will never be whole," Klein said in a statement.

"No amount of money will ever bring Andre Hill back to his family, but we believe this is an important and necessary step in the right direction."

Attorneys for the Hill family thanked the city for "doing the right thing" by reaching the settlement and agreeing to name a community center gymnasium after Hill.

"Now all those involved can begin to heal," they said in a statement.

Hill was in the garage of a house when Coy and another officer arrived on the scene in response to a minor complaint.

Seconds before Coy opened fire, bodycam footage shows Hill walking towards the policeman holding a cell phone in his left hand, while his other hand cannot be seen.

Hill's shooting came seven months after the death of George Floyd and sparked a fresh wave of protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder last month for Floyd's death and is to be sentenced in June.

The city of Minneapolis reached a $27 million settlement with Floyd's family ahead of Chauvin's trial.