Roofs torn off and trees knocked down in Union City as more than 7m Americans at risk of severe weather
Three people have been killed and three were taken to a hospital after a tornado hit a southern Michigan town on Friday, authorities said.
Powerful storms ripped across the state, tearing the roof off a home improvement store, sending parts of a storage building flying and knocking down trees as warnings were issued across the southern part of the state.
Continue reading...Former US representative who broke barriers as first woman president of state senate dies after five-month cancer battle
Former US representative Colleen Hanabusa, who was the first woman to serve as president of the Hawaii state senate, has died. She was 74.
Hanabusa died early on Friday after a five-month battle with cancer, said Mike Formby, her friend and former chief of staff in the US House.
Continue reading...Vinay Prasad to leave in April after decisions involving vaccine reviews and specialty drugs for rare diseases
The top vaccine official at the Food and Drug Administration, Dr Vinay Prasad, is once again leaving the agency – the second time in less than a year that he’s departed after decisions involving the review of vaccinations and specialty drugs for rare diseases.
FDA commissioner Marty Makary announced the news to FDA staff in an email late Friday, saying Prasad would depart at the end of April. Makary said Prasad would return to his academic job at the University of California, San Francisco.
Continue reading...Estefany Rodriguez Florez of Nashville Noticias, who had produced reports that were unflattering to ICE, was arrested during traffic stop
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a Spanish-language Tennessee news outlet’s reporter who had done stories critical of the agency – but agents didn’t have a warrant, according to court documents filed recently by her lawyer.
A court filing Friday by ICE disputes the assertion that the reporter was arrested without a warrant.
Continue reading...US president again calls on Iranian people to overthrow government or face ‘absolutely guaranteed death’
Donald Trump has said only Iran’s “unconditional surrender” will bring an end to the offensive launched seven days ago, as the US and Israel carried out some of the heaviest bombardments so far in the conflict.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday, when US strategic bombers were in action over Iran and intensive Israeli strikes in Lebanon forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes.
Continue reading...‘Stopgap measure’ designed to keep oil flowing into global market as Middle East crisis disrupts crude shipments
The US has temporarily allowed India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea in an effort to keep global supplies flowing and temper further price increases.
On Thursday the US treasury issued a 30-day waiver allowing India to buy Russian oil, having previously imposed heavy sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.
Continue reading...Justice secretary calls for inquiry into disclosure of cabinet splits at national security council over use of British bases
David Lammy has said it is an “absolute travesty” that details were leaked from a top secret national security meeting on the US-Israel attacks on Iran and has called for an investigation.
Cabinet splits at a national security council meeting, which is protected by the Official Secrets Act, over allowing the US to use British bases for the strikes against Iran were reported over the weekend.
Continue reading...Re-establishing diplomatic relations will support Venezuela’s economy, US state department claims, amid push for minerals access
Venezuela and the US are restoring diplomatic ties, the two countries announced Thursday, in a new sign of thawing relations after Washington ousted former president Nicolás Maduro.
The announcement came as US interior secretary Doug Burgum wrapped up a two-day trip to Venezuela, part of US president Donald Trump’s push for greater access to the country’s mineral wealth.
Continue reading...Iraq emerges as key front in new and often clandestine confrontation after launching dozens of attacks
Iran-backed militias around the Middle East are intensifying attacks against Israel, the US and their allies, in retaliation for the ongoing joint US-Israeli offensive against Tehran as the war draws in new armed actors, threatening wider chaos and violence.
Israel and the US have targeted Iran’s network of militant groups, with Iraq emerging as a key front in this new and often clandestine confrontation.
Continue reading...Early in a life of service, LaFayette did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama
Bernard LaFayette, the advance man who did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama, that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has died.
Bernard LaFayette III said his father died Thursday morning of a heart attack. He was 85.
Continue reading...Backlash grew against homeland security secretary after slew of controversies from Trump’s immigration crackdown
Kristi Noem’s year-long tenure as homeland security secretary has been plagued by controversies as she led an aggressive immigration crackdown that hasprompted protests and lawsuits.
There have been scandals, legally dubious deportations condemned by human rights groups, taxpayer-funded publicity campaigns, and false claims about US citizens.
Continue reading...Lawsuit says president does not have authority to impose levies and demands refunds from federal government
A coalition of Democratic attorneys general and governors across 24 US states are suing Donald Trump to block his latest round of tariffs.
The White House is planning to enact a new 15% tariff on all imports after the supreme court declared Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs illegal. The tariffs have yet to go into effect, though the White House said the new rate would start this week.
Continue reading...Noem’s tenure was marked by killings of US citizens by federal agents, a rumored affair and $220m spent on ads
Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was replacing Kristi Noem as the homeland security secretary, capping weeks of bipartisan complaints about her leadership after immigration agents killed two US citizens and reports emerged that she was involved in a personal relationship with a top deputy.
Noem’s firing was the first major personnel shake-up of Trump’s second term. The president made it public in a post on Truth Social, in which he said Markwayne Mullin, a Republican Oklahoma senator, would take over from Noem starting on 31 March – though Congress would need to vote to confirm the choice first. The secretary, who he said “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)”, would become special envoy for “the Shield of the Americas”, a security initiative Trump said he planned to announce over the weekend.
Continue reading...Critics sceptical Pentagon chief’s plan for increased military force – amid rising US intervention – will stop drug gangs
Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has urged Latin American countries to adopt a more aggressive approach against drug cartels, warning that the Trump administration may otherwise act unilaterally in the region.
Hegseth’s remarks come in a context of escalating US intervention in the region, both militarily and in elections, which culminated in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro – the first US ground military attack on a South American country.
Continue reading...As part of his Maha agenda, health secretary wants schools to incorporate 40 hours of instruction
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr unveiled a new effort on Thursday aimed at increasing the amount of nutrition education taught in medical schools.
For months, Kennedy has urged medical schools to expand their nutrition curriculum and warned that institutions refusing to do so could face cuts to federal funding, while those that adopt the changes may receive public acknowledgment.
Continue reading...Instruction comes as Israel continues to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launches retaliatory strikes
The Israeli military has ordered the entire population of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate, as it continued to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel and US bases across the region.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told all residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs – more than 500,000 people – to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately”, before Israel launched airstrikes on what he described as Hezbollah targets. The area covered by the order included several hospitals and government ministries.
Continue reading...The men, sent to Africa after completing criminal sentences in the US, are from Cuba, Jamaica and Yemen
Three men deported by the US to Eswatini – rather than their home countries – have filed a case against Eswatini’s government with the African Union’s human rights body, claiming their detention was an unlawful violation of their rights.
Two of the claimants, from Cuba and Yemen, have been in prison in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, for eight months. The third, Orville Etoria, was repatriated to his home country, Jamaica, in September.
Continue reading...US president is ‘truly uninformed’ for spreading claims of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa tells New York Times
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has called Donald Trump’s policy of allowing white Afrikaners to apply for refugee status in the US “racist”, saying the US president was “truly uninformed” in a rare instance of direct criticism.
Ramaphosa told the New York Times that last year’s Oval Office meeting with the US leader, when Trump turned down the lights and played a video that he falsely claimed showed there was a “white genocide” in South Africa, was a “spectacle” and an “ambush”.
Continue reading...Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, 54, and Maj Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, were from California and Iowa
The Pentagon has released the names of the final two of the six soldiers who were killed during a recent drone strike in Kuwait. They were killed on Sunday, the day after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Their names were released by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday.
The two soldiers were identified as Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, 54, and Maj Jeffrey O’Brien, 45. They were from Sacramento, California, and Indianola, Iowa, respectively.
Continue reading...Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after July 2024 sexual assault at pool party
The former mayor of a Louisiana city has been convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy during a party at her house while she was still in office.
Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after a jury in the municipality of DeRidder on Tuesday found her guilty of two felonies: carnal knowledge of a juvenile – or statutory rape – as well as indecent behavior with a minor.
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