Category Archives: US News

Iran crisis: Republicans hail death of ‘master terrorist’ as Democrats question Trump strategy – live

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World reacts to news of US drone strike ordered by Donald Trump on Iranian general Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad

Defense officials told the AP that nearly 3,000 more troops from the 82nd Airborne Division would be deployed to the Middle East amid fears of reprisals against the US for the killing of Iranian general Qassem Suleimani.

The AP reports:

The United States is sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Mideast as reinforcements in the volatile aftermath of the killing of an Iranian general in a strike ordered by President Donald Trump, defense officials said Friday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision not yet announced by the Pentagon, said the troops are from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. They are in addition to about 700 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne who deployed to Kuwait earlier this week after the storming of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters.

The commander of the Quds force, which was previously run by the late general Qassem Suleimani, advised Iranians to “be patient” following the US drone strike and witness the deaths of Americans across the Middle East.

Breaking News: @AJABreaking News alert: Al Quds Force Commander Ismail Qaani: we say be patient, soon you will witness the bodies of Americans in all of the Middle East https://t.co/88y3cgW5XV

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Trump’s order to kill Iran’s top general is his biggest gamble yet

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The president delivered a truck load of red meat to his base – but has he considered what follows the immediate sugar rush?

The only predictable thing about Donald Trump is his unpredictability. Two days into the month of an impeachment trial and an election year, he gave the kaleidoscope a mighty shake with arguably the most consequential decision of his presidency.

Related: Iran crisis: McConnell lauds death of 'master terrorist' as Democrats question Trump strategy – live

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Reprisals against US to come at time and place of Iran’s choosing

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The threat to America and its allies is greatest in the Middle East, but Tehran has ample options when it comes to taking revenge

Iran has spent decades preparing for a moment like this, developing methods and networks around the world that give Tehran the widest possible choice when it comes to taking revenge.

Related: Iran crisis: Trump says Suleimani 'should have been taken out years ago' – live updates

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Protests and prayers after the killing of Qassem Suleimani – in pictures

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Iran has vowed revenge for a US airstrike at Baghdad international airport that killed Gen Qassem Suleimani, the head of the elite Quds force and architect of Iran’s spreading military influence in the Middle East

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Porn site to pay $12.7m to women who didn’t know videos would be posted

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GirlsDoPorn was sued by women who claimed they were coerced into making videos without knowing footage would be online

A US judge has awarded $13m in damages to 22 women who were defrauded by the owners of GirlsDoPorn, a website specialising in “amateur”-style pornography.

Related: Group of US women sue 'amateur' porn producer over 'coercion and lies'

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‘Down with USA’: protests sweep Iran after assassination of Qassem Suleimani – video

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Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets after a US airstrike killed Qassem Suleimani, the country's most powerful military chief. Protesters burned American flags and chanted 'Down with the USA'. Iran has declared three days of national mourning and vowed 'severe revenge' for Suleimani's death 

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Qassem Suleimani’s death threatens to open grisly new chapter in Middle East

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Killing of powerful Iranian general will have far-reaching consequences for Trump

In his long military career, Qassem Suleimani left the Middle East littered with corpses. Now he has finally joined them. His death has closed one gruesome chapter in the region’s endless conflicts, only to open another, which could well prove even worse.

No one can predict how this will turn out, perhaps least of all the two leading protagonists. Nothing about Donald Trump’s actions in the Middle East until now suggests that Suleimani’s assassination by drone outside Baghdad airport was part of a considered plan.

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Footage shows aftermath of US airstrike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani – video

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The White House said Donald Trump ordered an airstrike that killed the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The attack came amid Iranian tensions with the US after thousands of Iraqis stormed the US embassy compound in Baghdad this week. The killing of Suleimani presents a dramatic escalation of an already bloody struggle between Washington and Tehran for influence across the region

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Black people in California are stopped far more often by police, major study proves

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Statistics, which come from largest-ever dataset compiled about US police stops, lend support to minority groups who have long complained about biased policing

Black people in California were stopped by police officers much more frequently than other racial groups in 2018, and police were more likely to use force against them, new statistics from eight large law enforcement agencies in the state reveal.

Twenty eight per cent of all persons stopped by Los Angeles police officers during the last six months of 2018 were black, while black people account for just 9% of the city’s population, the data shows. In San Francisco, the black population has shrunk over several decades to just 5% of the city’s total population, but 26% of all stops carried out by the SFPD from July through December of 2018 were of black people – marking the widest racial disparity in police stops of the eight reporting agencies.

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Impeachment: newly unredacted emails a ‘devastating blow’ to Trump allies, says Schumer – live

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Senate minority leader made remark on emails about the freeze on Ukraine’s military aid

Warren released a sweeping plan that, among other things, would raise the hourly minimum wage to $15 and ending a program that allows employers to pay disabled workers much less.

“Building economic security for people with disabilities means rewriting the rules of the economy to foster inclusivity, value their labor, and end labor market discrimination and exploitation,” the 2020 presidential candidate said in a statement.

Hillary Clinton has taken on a new role as a chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast.

For the former US secretary of state, senator and first lady, the role will be mostly ceremonial.

As Chancellor @HillaryClinton will have three main roles:

1.Presiding at degree congregations.
2.Ambassador.
3.Advisor, available to the @QUBVChancellor and senior management as a sounding board and to provide counsel and guidance.

More: https://t.co/6NlonwYmXK #LoveQUB pic.twitter.com/iJKuJl4bic

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US sends asylum seekers to Mexico to await hearings held 350 miles away

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Authorities are expanding the Remain in Mexico program, which critics say puts migrants into dangerous border towns

The US government has started sending asylum seekers back to Nogales, Mexico, to await court hearings that will be scheduled roughly 350 miles (563 kilometers) away in Ciudad Juárez.

Authorities are expanding a program known as Remain in Mexico that requires tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait out their immigration court hearings in Mexico. Until this week, the government was driving some asylum seekers from Nogales, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas, so they could be returned to Juárez.

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More than 200 members of Congress urge US supreme court to reconsider Roe v Wade

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Appeal in an amicus brief in a Louisiana case was signed by 205 Republicans and two Democrats

More than two hundred members of Congress have urged the US supreme court to reconsider the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling which legalized abortion nationwide.

The appeal came in an amicus brief in a Louisiana case, and was signed by 205 Republicans and two Democrats, and calls on the high court to revisit the ruling, which affirmed that access to safe abortion is a constitutional right.

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Amazon threatened to fire employees for speaking out on climate, workers say

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Revealed: emails show group of employees who called for stronger climate action by the company were told they risked dismissal

Amazon has threatened to fire employees for speaking publicly about the company’s role in the climate crisis, tech workers at the retail giant have revealed.

Related: Trump campaign credits impeachment for helping to fundraise $46m – live

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Cyber attacks and electronic voting errors threaten 2020 outcome, experts warn

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Key Democrats and election analysts say more needs to be done to ensure safe elections free from ‘foreign malicious actors’

Potential electronic voting equipment failures and cyber attacks from Russia and other countries pose persistent threats to the 2020 elections, election security analysts and key Democrats warn.

Related: Embassy protesters in Iraq deal symbolic blow to US prestige

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Tumbleweed invasion traps cars and truck on US highway – video

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Drivers in Washington state were forced to see in the new year while trapped under a 15ft-high (4.5m) sea of tumbleweeds. Police closed state route 240 near Richland at around 6.30pm on New Year's Eve after the desiccated but mobile plants buried a number of vehicles in their path. It took snow ploughs 10 hours to clear the weeds

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Two people struck by gunfire during US New Year’s Eve celebrations

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  • Three-year-old wounded by backyard gunfire in Phoenix
  • 61-year-old woman killed by stray bullet in Houston

A three-year-old boy was shot and wounded in Phoenix and a 61-year-old woman was shot and killed in Houston as people celebrated the New Year, authorities said.

Related: Headless torso found in cave identified as murderer who escaped jail in 1916

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US troops deployed to Middle East after Baghdad embassy siege

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Up to 3,000 soldiers to be sent in as pro-Iran militants leave US embassy in Iraqi capital

Iranian-backed militants have ended a day-long siege of the American embassy in Baghdad following an order from their militia organisation, but the struggle between the US and Iran for influence in Iraq looked set to intensify further in 2020.

The US defence secretary, Mark Esper, announced that 750 airborne troops would be deployed to the region immediately, with more to follow in the next few days. Up to 3,000 soldiers are reportedly being prepared to move out to the Middle East, adding to the 14,000 sent there since May in an effort to counter Iran.

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The final sprint: will any of the Democratic candidates excite voters?

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Biden is too gaffe-prone; Sanders and Warren are too far left; Buttigieg, too young. But which one is capable of beating Trump?

Democrats overwhelmingly agree that their top priority in 2020 is to remove Donald Trump from office. But which of the many Democrats running for president is best suited to the task remains a source of deep anxiety and division less than five weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

After more than a year of campaigning, the Democratic presidential primary enters the final sprint before voting begins on 3 February in Iowa in a familiar but fluid state: Joe Biden in the lead, trailed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren with Pete Buttigieg also showing signs of strength in the early states.

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Kim Jong-un signals North Korea could resume nuclear missile tests

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Trump says he trusts leader to refrain from testing, despite Kim’s criticism of Washington’s ‘gangster-like demands’

Kim Jong-un has signalled that North Korea will lift its moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests in a move likely to anger Donald Trump.

The North Korean leader told a four-day meeting of party officials in Pyongyang that the test ban, which Kim agreed to in talks with the US president, was no longer needed, state media said on Wednesday.

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Iraq riots expose an America weaker and with fewer options

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Mobbing of US embassy after US strikes on state-sanctioned militia show America’s plan of maximum pressure only added to chaos

The mobbing of a US embassy has historically served as an emblem of America in decline, so the scenes around the embattled mission in Baghdad are a fitting end to the decade.

Related: Trump accuses Iran over storming of US embassy compound in Baghdad

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