Category Archives: US News

‘I’m inevitable’: Trump campaign ad shows president as Avengers villain Thanos

Posted on by

Official Trump War Room re-election campaign posts video to social media superimposing his face over that of Marvel character

Donald Trump is a genocidal warlord hell bent on destroying half of existence in the universe. That’s not a criticism from the unhinged leftwing media, it’s apparently how the president and his team see him.

Shortly after the House brought two articles of impeachment against the president for his efforts seeking foreign interference to bolster his own political interests, the official Trump War Room re-election campaign Twitter account posted a video to social media that superimposed his face over that of the villainous Marvel comic book character Thanos.

Continue reading...

Major global hotel brands accused of profiting from sex trafficking

Posted on by

Hilton and Intercontinental among 12 hotel chains named in litigation claiming signs of sexual exploitation were ignored

Hotel brands owned by Hilton, Intercontinental and Best Western are among a number of leading global chains accused of profiting from sex trafficking.

In a landmark case that lawyers claim demonstrates “industry-wide failures” to prevent sex trafficking, it has been alleged that women and children were held captive, abused and sold for sex in their guest rooms across the US.

Continue reading...

FAA let Boeing 737 Max continue to fly even as review found serious crash risk

Posted on by

Analysis from US regulators found plane could have averaged a fatal crash about every two to three years without design changes

US regulators allowed Boeing’s 737 Max to keep flying even after their own analysis found the plane could have averaged one fatal crash about every two or three years without intervention.

According to a report dated a month after a Lion Air 737 Max crashed in October 2018, killing 189 people, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concluded the plane could become involved in more fatal crashes without design changes.

Continue reading...

Trump’s plan to sign antisemitism order raises fears it could stifle Israel criticism

Posted on by

Executive order could redefine Judaism as a race or nationality, which critics argue is itself antisemitic

Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Wednesday targeting antisemitism on college campuses.

First reported by the New York Times, the policy would broaden the federal definition of antisemitism, according to administration officials who spoke to various news outlets on condition of anonymity. By expanding protections granted by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to people subjected to antisemitism, the order could also redefine Judaism as a race or nationality.

Continue reading...

Pentagon suspends military training of Saudi students after Pensacola shooting

Posted on by
  • Decision grounds more than 300 military aviation students
  • Three US military members were killed in shooting Friday

The Pentagon announced on Tuesday it was halting operational training of all Saudi Arabian military personnel in the United States until further notice in the wake of the deadly shooting by a Saudi air force officer.

The decision will have far-reaching impacts, including grounding more than 300 Saudi Arabian military aviation students.

Continue reading...

Architect of Mexico’s war on drugs held in Texas for taking cartel bribes

Posted on by

Genaro García Luna, who ran Mexico’s federal police for six years, charged with accepting briefcases of cash to protect Sinaloa cartel

A former minister who was considered an architect of Mexico’s war on drugs has been arrested on charges that he allowed the Sinaloa cartel to operate with impunity in exchange for briefcases stuffed with cash.

Genaro García Luna, who oversaw the creation of Mexico’s federal police, was arrested in Texas on Monday.

Continue reading...

‘Solemn step’: Democrats unveil articles of impeachment against Trump

Posted on by

Democratic congressional leaders have unveiled articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, a historic move set in motion by a whistleblower complaint warning the president was using the power of his office to solicit foreign interference in a US election.

Related: Democrats unveil articles of impeachment against Trump – live

Continue reading...

Bill Cosby appeal against sexual assault conviction rejected

Posted on by
  • Pennsylvania court backs decision to let five accusers testify
  • Cosby is serving sentence of three to 10 years

A Pennsylvania appeals court has rejected Bill Cosby’s bid to overturn his sexual assault conviction over the trial judge’s decision to let five other accusers testify.

The superior court ruling was being closely watched because Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era. The same issue has been hard-fought in pre-trial hearings before movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial.

Continue reading...

‘No one is above the law’: Democrats unveil articles of impeachment against Trump – video

Posted on by

House Democrats have introduced two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump for high crimes and misdemeanours. At a press conference announcing the move, the House judiciary committee chair Jerry Nadler accused the president of betraying public trust and endangering US national security to benefit himself

Continue reading...

DoJ internal watchdog report clears FBI of illegal surveillance of Trump adviser – live

Posted on by

Report concludes FBI had a legal ‘authorized purpose’ in monitoring communications of Trump election campaign adviser Carter Page

  • Help us cover the critical issues of 2020. Consider making a contribution

House Democrats have reached a tentative agreement with labor leaders and the White House over a rewrite of the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal that has been a top priority for Donald Trump, the AP writes.

“I’m hearing very good things, including from unions and others that it’s looking good. I hope they put it up to a vote, and if they put it up to a vote, it’s going to pass,” Trump said this afternoon. “I’m hearing a lot of strides have been made over the last 24 hours, with unions and others.”

The United Nations Security Council will meet publicly on Wednesday over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, diplomats said today.

The meeting has been requested by the United States. A US State Department official earlier said Washington wanted the 15-member council to discuss North Korea’s missile launches and the possibility of an “escalatory” provocation by Pyongyang.

Related: The Guardian view on North Korea: a brewing nuclear crisis | Editorial

Continue reading...

Houston police chief criticises politicians and NRA after officer death – video

Posted on by

Houston's police chief Art Acevedo criticised politicians for not standing up to the National Rifle Association after the the fatal shooting of an officer. 'The NRA doesn't like the fact that we want to take firearms out of the hands of boyfriends that abuse their girlfriends. And who killed our sergeant? A boyfriend abusing his girlfriend,' Acevedo said


Continue reading...

Steele had ‘personal’ relationship with Ivanka Trump, DoJ report reveals

Posted on by
  • Former MI6 officer gifted her ‘family tartan from Scotland’
  • Steele was ‘favorably disposed’ to Trump family, report said

The former MI6 officer Christopher Steele had a “personal” relationship with Ivanka Trump and gifted her a “family tartan from Scotland” as a present, the long-awaited report by US Department of Justice inspector general, Michael Horowitz, revealed on Monday.

Horowitz’s review of the FBI’s 2016 investigation into Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign and its links with Russia includes fresh details of Steele’s interactions with the FBI, and startling claims about his relationship with the Trumps dating back to the period before he wrote a controversial dossier on Trump.

Continue reading...

Republicans heckle and disrupt as bitter impeachment divide laid bare

Posted on by

Monday saw Congress begin arguments on what the witness testimony on Trump meant – and it did not go smoothly

Having heard all the witness testimony in the impeachment case against Donald Trump, Congress began arguments on Monday on what that testimony meant. It did not go smoothly.

Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chair of the House judiciary committee, had barely begun introducing the session when a bearded young man got up from the public seats at the back of the chamber and started yelling.

Continue reading...

Jewish groups criticize Trump for antisemitic stereotypes in speech

Posted on by

Trump urged to appeal to Jewish voters in ways that don’t use ‘money references that feed age-old and ugly stereotypes’

Prominent American Jewish organizations have criticised comments made by Donald Trump in a speech to the Israeli American Council.

Related: Trump: if Jared Kushner can't achieve peace in Middle East, 'it can't be done'

Continue reading...

US lies and deception spelled out in Afghanistan papers’ shocking detail

Posted on by

The tranche of documents show that in trying to paint the best pictures, those involved delivered the worst

During the Vietnam war, the daily US military briefings were known to journalists as the Five O’ Clock Follies, described by one of the AP reporters who attended them as “the longest-playing tragicomedy in south-east Asia’s theatre of the absurd”.

The Pentagon Papers, the Department of Defense’s secret history of that war, leaked by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971, only underlined the level of that deception under subsequent US presidents.

Continue reading...

Afghanistan papers reveal US public were misled about unwinnable war

Posted on by

Interviews with key insiders reveal damning verdict on conflict that cost 2,300 US lives

Hundreds of confidential interviews with key figures involved in prosecuting the 18-year US war in Afghanistan have revealed that the US public has been consistently misled about an unwinnable conflict.

Transcripts of the interviews, published by the Washington Post after a three-year legal battle, were collected for a Lessons Learned project by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar), a federal agency whose main task is eliminating corruption and inefficiency in the US war effort.

Continue reading...

Pensacola shooting: FBI working with presumption it was ‘act of terrorism’

Posted on by

No arrests made, FBI said, while Mark Esper instructed US armed forces to review security at military bases

Three days after a Saudi air force lieutenant shot dead three people at a naval base in Pensacola, Florida, the FBI said it was working “with the presumption that this was an act of terrorism”.

The gunman who struck in a classroom at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday morning was killed by sheriff’s deputies, two of whom were among eight people wounded. All were expected to survive.

Continue reading...