Category Archives: US News

Cyntoia Brown: trafficked, enslaved, jailed for life at 16 – and fighting back

Posted on by

She was still a teenager when she was sold into sexual slavery and sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. Now Cyntoia Brown-Long hopes her new memoir will highlight the flaws in the US justice system that failed her so badly

Cyntoia Brown-Long was just 16 when she was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a man she claims bought her for sex. The homeless runaway had been in and out of the juvenile justice system, survived multiple rapes and assaults and was forced into sex slavery by her then-boyfriend, a pimp known as Kut Throat, who regularly sold her for drug money.

Yet few details of Brown-Long’s troubled childhood were heard by the Tennessee court in 2004, which instead repeatedly described her as a “teen prostitute” and tried her as an adult. Today, 15 years on and just months after her life sentence was commuted by the state governor, Brown-Long has rewritten the narrative behind her incarceration – and her past – in a memoir she began while still in prison.

Continue reading...

Impeachment inquiry: Democrats say diplomat’s testimony is a ‘sea change’ – live

Posted on by

Bill Taylor, acting US ambassador to Ukraine, says he was told Trump made aid conditional until Ukraine publicly announced investigations into Biden and the 2016 election

Bill Taylor does not respond to questions as he leaves Capitol Hill following a deposition that lasted 9+ hours pic.twitter.com/FtQYNrNpo4

Here’s what Trump has done *just this week*:

- He called the constitutional ban on profiting from the presidency “phony.”
- His Administration has defied lawful subpoenas and document requests.
- He stood by his shakedown of a foreign government and called it “perfect.”

Even as House Republicans rally behind Trump and seek to discredit the impeachment inquiry, Pelosi is promoting a public petition to condemn Trump.

Continue reading...

‘I don’t regret enforcing the law’: Nielsen defends family separation at summit

Posted on by

In a heated 15-minute public interview, the former US homeland security secretary defended her decision as protests raged outside

The former US homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, repeatedly defended her decision to separate thousands of children from their parents at the southern border, in her first public interview since she resigned in April.

At Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Woman summit in Washington DC on Tuesday, the PBS NewsHour correspondent Amna Nawaz asked Nielsen four times if she regretted signing off on the family separation policy, before Nielsen responded: “I don’t regret enforcing the law.

Continue reading...

US mother charged with murdering daughter she said was terminally ill

Posted on by
  • Kelly Renee Turner, 41, promoted ‘bucket list’ of dreams to fulfil
  • Olivia Gant, seven, died in unclear circumstances in 2017

A Colorado mother who sought donations to cover medical treatments for her daughter and promoted the girl’s “bucket list” of dreams to fulfil before she died has been indicted on a murder charge in the seven-year-old’s death, which was previously believed to be from a terminal disease.

In a grand jury indictment revealed on Monday, Kelly Renee Turner, 41, also known as Kelly Gant, was charged with 13 criminal counts that included child abuse, theft and charitable fraud in the death of Olivia Gant in 2017.

Continue reading...

WeWork board weighs up $10bn rescue plan from Japan’s SoftBank

Posted on by

Proposal for US office-sharing company would lead to exit of co-founder Adam Neumann

The board of WeWork is meeting on Tuesday to consider a rescue plan worth almost $10bn (£7.7bn) from its biggest investor, Japan’s SoftBank, according to reports.

The proposal would keep the struggling US office-sharing company afloat and lead to the departure of its controversial chairman and co-founder, Adam Neumann.

Continue reading...

Harry Dunn death: police head to US to interview Anne Sacoolas

Posted on by

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, says there are ‘no barriers to justice being done’

Northamptonshire police have sent officers to the US to interview the woman who claimed diplomatic immunity following her alleged involvement in the death of Harry Dunn.

The 19-year-old died when his motorbike crashed into a car driven by the American Anne Sacoolas outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August.

Continue reading...

Republicans’ steadfast support for Trump begins to show cracks

Posted on by

They’ve backed him through scandal after scandal. But concerns over Ukraine, Syria and the G7 summit are proving too much for some

No call summary has yet emerged of a phone chat Donald Trump held with Republican members of Congress on a retreat at Camp David last Saturday.

But hours after the call, the president announced that he had done a most un-Trumpian thing: reversed a decision to host next year’s G7 summit at one of his own properties, “based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility”.

Continue reading...

Syrian residents pelt retreating US troops with food and insults

Posted on by

Angry scenes demonstrate sense of betrayal amid rushed US pullout as Trump says remaining force is to protect oil not Kurds

Pelted with fruit and hounded by insults, the American military’s exit from Syria was very different from its time on the ground. The remnants of the US presence in the north-east of the country made an ignominious departure on Monday, driving through towns that had welcomed them for the past four years.

The regional capital of Qamishli, a hub of cooperation between US officers and Kurdish officials throughout the war against Islamic State, was among the least hospitable spots on the road out. As US battle trucks, sporting large American flags, made their way through town and headed towards Iraq, groups of locals threw rotting fruit and vegetables at them, cursing soldiers that only two weeks ago many in the region had considered to be their protectors.

Continue reading...

Facebook discloses operations by Russia and Iran to meddle in 2020 election

Posted on by

The company confirmed it had dismantled the four accounts and announced initiatives to prevent foreign interference in US campaigns

Facebook on Monday disclosed it had taken down four new foreign interference operations originating from Iran and Russia, including one targeting the US 2020 presidential elections that appears to be linked to the Russian troll agency, the Internet Research Agency (IRA).

The suspected IRA campaign “had the hallmarks of a well-resourced operation that took consistent operational security steps to conceal their identity and location”, Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, said in a blogpost.

Continue reading...

Facebook reports Russia’s ‘well-resourced operation’ to meddle in 2020 US election – live

Posted on by

Facebook discloses it has taken down a new foreign interference operation that appears to be linked to a Russian troll agency – follow the latest

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren responded to a report that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has quietly recommended potential hires to Pete Buttigieg’s campaign.

Warren said that she believed Facebook has “too much political power” and echoed her proposal to break up major tech companies but avoided criticizing Buttigieg by name.

Warren was asked in gaggle about the news that Zuckerberg recommended hires to Buttigieg, and while she declined to criticize Buttigieg, she did say FB already has "way too much influence in Washington" pic.twitter.com/eO41EKL9EH

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg sent multiple emails to Mike Schmuhl, Buttigieg’s campaign manager, with names of individuals that he might consider hiring, campaign spokesman Chris Meagher confirmed. Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg’s wife, also sent multiple emails to Schmuhl with staff recommendations. Ultimately, two of the people recommended were hired.

The emails between Zuckerberg and Buttigieg have come to light as Zuckerberg faces unrelenting attacks from politicians from both parties over such issues as misinformation, privacy, election meddling and bias. Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee on Facebook’s impact on the financial services and housing sectors.

Facebook on Monday disclosed that it had taken down a new foreign interference operation targeting the US 2020 presidential elections that appears to be linked to the Russian troll agency, the Internet Research Agency (IRA).

Continue reading...

China overtakes US in rankings of world’s richest people

Posted on by

Credit Suisse survey shows Brexit effect has reduced number of UK millionaires by 27,000

The number of wealthy Chinese people has overtaken the number of rich Americans for the first time, according to a report by Credit Suisse.

The bank’s annual wealth survey found there were 100 million Chinese people among the world’s top 10% of richest people, compared with 99 million in the US.

Continue reading...

Could Mitt Romney be Trump’s nemesis in the Senate?

Posted on by

The 2012 presidential nominee has criticized the president over Syria and Ukraine – could he rally Republicans in the event of an impeachment trial?

With most of his colleagues unable to choke out a syllable of opprobrium for Donald Trump, Republican senator Mitt Romney has stood out as a willing, if reserved, critic of the president.

Related: Cracks appear in Republican effort to shield Trump as scandals mount – live

Continue reading...

‘Cluck off’: UK’s only Chick-fil-A outlet to shut in LGBT rights row

Posted on by

Reading branch of US chain to close after protests over stance on same-sex relationships

A US fast food chain is to close its first branch in the UK after protests and boycott calls by LGBT campaigners.

Chick-fil-A faced demands to “cluck off” when the fried chicken outlet opened in a shopping mall in Reading this month.

Continue reading...

US troops pelted with rotten fruit and stones as they leave Syria – video

Posted on by

People have thrown rotten fruit and stones at US troops as they left Syria in armed vehicles, with one man appearing to shout: ‘You liars!’

Donald Trump’s decision to suddenly withdraw US forces from Syria, which prompted an incursion by Turkish forces, has also created concern on what to do about accused Isis fighters and their families

Continue reading...

The lost river: Mexicans fight for mighty waterway taken by the US

Posted on by

The Colorado River serves over 35 million Americans before reaching Mexico – but it is dammed at the border, leaving locals on the other side with a dry delta

The temperature is rising toward 45C (113F) as young brothers Daniel and Dilan Rodríguez skip towards a bridge over the Colorado River in the Mexican border town of San Luis Río Colorado. But there is no water flowing through the channel of one of the world’s mightiest waterways. The pair run down the river bank and cheerfully splash through stagnant puddles dotted about the riverbed.

“We wish we had a river, so we could swim, and jump and sail my cousin’s boat,” said Daniel, 12. “At least we have puddles to make mud balls, that can be fun.”

Continue reading...

Wife’s harrowing 911 call as Australian man Brenton Estorffe lay dying after home invasion

Posted on by

Angeleanna Estorffe tells operator ‘I think he’s really hurt’ after her husband was shot by intruders

Harrowing audio has been released of Angeleanna Estorffe struggling to tell a 911 dispatcher her Australian husband was dying after being shot by intruders in their Texas family home.

Brenton Estorffe and his wife were asleep when the intruders broke a window at the rear of their home in Katy, near Houston, just after midnight on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

‘Don’t be a dick, OK?’ Hillary Clinton tweets parody of Trump Erdoğan letter

Posted on by

Former Democratic nominee trolls president by mocking missive sent to Turkish president over Syria invasion

Donald Trump is known to many opponents as the troll in the Oval Office, but the woman he beat for the most powerful seat in the world seems to have learned something from his willingness to tweet provocative pictures and memes.

Related: Mick Mulvaney seeks Trump damage control over impeachment and more

Continue reading...

Mick Mulvaney seeks Trump damage control over impeachment and more

Posted on by

Senior Trump administration officials were on Sunday scrambling to defend the president from escalating domestic and foreign policy scandals, ranging from impeachment proceedings in Washington to the US troop withdrawal in northern Syria.

Related: 'Meltdown': Donald Trump's week of intense political peril

Continue reading...

Kurdish fighters leave Syrian border town, giving Turkey control

Posted on by

Evacuation part of US-brokered ceasefire, as Nancy Pelosi leads congressional visit to region

Kurdish officials say their fighters have evacuated Ras al-Ayn, giving Turkey and its allies control of one of the border cities that has borne the brunt of fighting since Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US troops from north-eastern Syria.

The Turkish defence ministry said a convoy of 86 vehicles left the city on Sunday afternoon carrying fighters from the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Front (SDF) and wounded civilians south to cities beyond the 20-mile buffer zone that Turkey is seeking to clear along its border with Syria.

Continue reading...