The AP reported several historically Black colleges locked down or canceled classes after receiving threats, a day after the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk
Continue reading...Category Archives: US News
Widow of Charlie Kirk says her ‘cries will echo around the world like a battle cry’
In statement Friday, Erika Kirk says ‘evildoers responsible for my husband’s assassination have no idea what they have done’
Erika Kirk, the widow of rightwing activist and provocateur Charlie Kirk, said in a statement Friday evening that her late husband’s message and mission will be “stronger, bolder, louder and greater than ever” and that her “cries will echo around the world like a battle cry”.
“I loved knowing one of his mottos was ‘never surrender’,” she said of her late husband. “We’ll never surrender.”
Continue reading...Six great reads: rebels in Nazi Germany, how creativity works and Europe’s biggest pornography conference
Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the past seven days
Continue reading...Trump declines to call for unity after Charlie Kirk killing in stunning move
President tells Fox News ‘the radicals on the left are the problem’ and refuses to seek common way forward
Donald Trump has declined to call for the US to come together as a way of fixing the country’s divisions in the wake of the assassination of his close associate, the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, preferring to cast “vicious and horrible” radicals on the left of US politics as the sole problem.
In an interview on Fox & Friends on Friday morning, the US president was asked what he intended to do to heal the wounds of Kirk’s shooting in Utah. “How do we fix this country? How do we come back together?” he was asked by the show’s co-host Ainsley Earhardt, who commented that there were radicals operating on the left and right of US politics.
Continue reading...Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar shatters Gulf’s faith in US protection
The attack in Doha upended a decades-old assumption – and left Arab leaders questioning how much they can still rely on Washington
On Thursday, Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, led a funeral at the state mosque. Flanked by officials in white thobes, he prayed over six caskets – one draped in a Qatari flag and five bearing Palestinian flags.
Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday, which also killed a Qatari officer, marked an unprecedented moment for the Gulf kingdom. The attack undercut the assumption that has underpinned Qatari foreign policy for three decades and reverberated across the Arab region: be useful to the United States, and it will protect you.
Continue reading...Digested week: Marsupial brings cheer in dark and dysfunctional days | Emma Brockes
It was left to a – albeit extinct – tiny relative of the kangaroo to offer some relief from the blizzard of major events
Where to start in a week so fraught with major events you could hardly draw breath for the news flashes? It started with Trump’s alleged contribution to Jeffrey Epstein’s “birthday book,” shared by the Democrats on social media on Monday and leading to the discovery of a name not widely recognised in the US but of intense interest in the UK – Peter Mandelson. The British ambassador to the US had proffered an undiplomatically warm birthday message to the late child sex offender financier, starting a press scramble that ended, on Thursday, with Keir Starmer firing him.
Continue reading...Steven Spielberg reflects on Jaws at 50: ‘I thought my career was over’
Director, marking new exhibition in LA, tells of chaotic filming – and says he’s ‘never seen so much vomit in my life’
Before Jaws became a cinematic classic, and the very first American “summer blockbuster”, director Steven Spielberg thought the 1975 film would be the last one he would be allowed to make.
Spielberg, who was just 26, had decided to shoot his second film, a thriller about a killer shark, on location on the east coast island of Martha’s Vineyard.
Continue reading...Charlie Kirk shooting: new video of suspect released by FBI amid urgent appeal for help from the public
FBI reward of $100,000 and direct appeals for public support appear to signal law enforcement’s continued struggles to identify the killer of Trump ally
US officials have issued an urgent appeal for help from the public as they continue to search for the shooter of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, releasing new videos and photos from the scene of the attack in Utah.
More than 24 hours after Kirk was shot while speaking in front of thousands of people at a Utah university, the state’s governor, appearing alongside FBI director Kash Patel and other officials, said “we need as much help as we can possibly get.”
Continue reading...Venezuela says 11 killed in US boat strike were not gang members amid reports vessel was returning to shore
Interior minister says ‘murder has been committed’ while US Congress demands justification for attack
None of the 11 people killed in a US military strike on a boat in the Caribbean last week were members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s interior minister has said, while US media reported the attack came after the vessel had turned around and was heading back to shore.
The administration of Donald Trump has said the boat was transporting illegal narcotics, but has provided little further information about the incident, even amid demands from members of the US Congress for a justification for the action.
Continue reading...US government sues Uber, alleging discrimination against disabled passengers
Justice department in lawsuit accuses company drivers of routinely refusing to serve people with disabilities
The US government sued Uber on Thursday, accusing the ride-sharing company of violating federal law by discriminating against passengers with disabilities.
In a complaint filed in San Francisco federal court, the US Department of Justice said Uber drivers routinely refuse to serve riders with disabilities, including people who travel with service animals or stowable wheelchairs.
Continue reading...UK should work with Nato on new missile defence system to counter Russia, experts say
After Russian drones entered Polish airspace, two authors of the UK strategic defence review said Europe would need to build up its defences
Britain should work with Nato allies in developing an integrated air and missile defence system after the incursion of nearly 20 Russian drones into Poland, according to two authors of the UK strategic defence review.
Fiona Hill, a former White House adviser, said that Russia was “testing the limits” of Europe’s defences at a time when the military commitment of the US to Nato was uncertain.
Continue reading...Trump blamed ‘radical left’ for Charlie Kirk’s death – even as shooter’s identity remains unknown
In Oval Office address, president decried the demonization of political opponents, ignoring his own past rhetoric
In his Oval Office address on Wednesday, Donald Trump sought to blame the “radical left” for Charlie Kirk’s killing while the shooter’s identity and motivations remained unclear. Trump promised an unspecified crackdown that could also target “organizations” that he claimed contributed to political violence.
Trump’s speech underscored an aggressive effort to pin the attack on the left while ignoring his own role in fomenting politically motivated violence.
Continue reading...Trump to award Charlie Kirk a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom
During a 9/11 memorial address, the president honored the far-right activist who was fatally shot on Wednesday
Speaking at the Pentagon on Thursday morning for memorial services marking the 24th anniversary of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, Donald Trump said he would be awarding rightwing activist and close ally Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot on Wednesday, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Kirk was a “giant of his generation, a champion of liberty and an inspiration to millions and millions of people”, Trump said. “Our prayers are with his wonderful wife, Erika and his beautiful children, fantastic people they are. We miss him greatly, yet I have no doubt that Charlie’s voice and the courage he put into the hearts of countless people, especially young people, will live on.”
Continue reading...‘We are in a war’: rightwing media vow retribution for Charlie Kirk killing
Furious reaction from media figures and Donald Trump blames left for shooting of conservative activist
Full report: FBI says it found weapon as hunt for suspect continues
Trump blamed ‘radical left’ for Charlie Kirk’s death – even as shooter’s identity remains unknown
The killing of Charlie Kirk prompted a furious reaction from rightwing media on Wednesday, with prominent figures claiming “we’re in a war” and vowing “retribution” for Kirk’s death.
It was a reaction that will heighten fears about political violence in the US, coming hours after Kirk, the rightwing activist and provocateur, was shot and killed during an event at Utah university.
Continue reading...Europe’s far-right leaders attack ‘hate-mongering left’ after Charlie Kirk murder
Viktor Orbán claims death of Turning Point USA’s founder was ‘result of international hate campaign’ as prominent figures pay tribute
European far-right leaders have lauded Charlie Kirk, the influential 31-year-old conservative US activist who was fatally shot on Wednesday, with several also claiming his death was a consequence of violent leftwing rhetoric.
The European parliament briefly descended into chaos as far-right MEPs demanded a minute’s silence to honour Kirk, a rising star of Trump’s Maga movement, who was hit in the neck by a single bullet as he addressed students at Utah Valley University.
Continue reading...Politicians in at least 51 countries used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric during elections, NGO finds
Rights group also finds rise in openly gay, bisexual and transgender people running for office in 36 countries
Politicians in at least 51 countries used homophobic or transphobic rhetoric during elections last year, from depicting LGBTQ+ identity as a foreign threat to condemning “gender ideology”, according to a new study of 60 countries and the EU.
However, there were also gains for LGBTQ+ representation in some countries. Openly gay, bisexual and transgender people ran for office in at least 36 countries, including for the first time in Botswana, Namibia and Romania – albeit unsuccessfully – according to the report by Outright International. The number of LGBTQ+ elected officials doubled to at least 233 in Brazil.
Continue reading...Bad Bunny says he left US out of world tour due to fear of Ice raids at concerts
Puerto Rican rapper says he and his team were ‘very concerned’ that Ice agents might target his performances
Bad Bunny says he excluded the US from his forthcoming world tour due to fears that, as a prominent Latino musician, his fans would be subjected to immigration raids.
In an interview with i-D magazine on Wednesday, the three-time Grammy-winning musician was asked whether he was skipping the US “out of concern about the [mass deportations of] Latinos”.
Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning
Continue reading...‘Despicable’: Republicans and Democrats condemn violence after Charlie Kirk killing
US lawmakers, in bipartisan rebuke, say violence has no place in America as Trump orders flags lowered
The killing of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk at a Utah college on Wednesday afternoon prompted outrage from Democrats and Republicans over the latest act of political violence in the United States, with Donald Trump lamenting the loss of a key ally.
“The Great, and even Legendary, Charlie Kirk, is dead. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie,” the US president posted on his Truth Social platform.
Continue reading...Global press freedom suffers sharpest fall in 50 years, report finds
The International IDEA’s survey of democratic markers finds US is offering ‘encouragement’ to populist leaders
Press freedom around the world has suffered its sharpest fall in 50 years as global democracy weakens dramatically, a landmark report has found.
According to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), democracy has declined in 94 countries over the last five years and only a third have made progress.
Continue reading...Anti-Islamic biker gang members hired to run security at controversial Gaza aid sites
More than 10 Infidels MC members deployed to sites run by US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation
Senior members of an anti-Islamic biker gang have been hired by US contractors and deployed to Gaza to oversee security at food distribution sites backed by the US and Israeli governments, according to a BBC investigation.
The investigation found that more than 10 members of Infidels MC, a US biker gang that uses the Crusader cross as its symbol and whose members have anti-Islamic tattoos, have been hired by UG Solutions and deployed to food aid sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. According to the BBC, seven members of the gang are in “senior positions overseeing [GHF] sites”.
Continue reading...