Category Archives: US News

Biden warns Isis fighters will strike US over Syria withdrawal

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Former vice-president said at Democratic debate ‘they are going to damage’ the US and blasted Trump for abandoning Kurdish allies

The former US vice-president Joe Biden warned during a Democratic debate on Tuesday night that Islamic State fighters would strike the US as a result of Donald Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of American forces in northern Syria.

“We have Isis that’s going to come here,” Biden said. “They are going to damage the United States of America. That’s why we got involved in the first place.”

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Warren under attack as Democrats spar in largest primary debate in US history

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Twelve Democrats targeted Warren over healthcare, taxes and big tech in first debate since Trump impeachment inquiry

Elizabeth Warren came under sustained attack from her Democratic rivals during Tuesday night’s presidential debate, a reflection of the threat her ascendant candidacy poses to the crowded field of hopefuls competing to take on Donald Trump in the 2020 US election.

Twelve Democratic candidates took to the stage in Westerville, Ohio, for the largest presidential primary debate in modern US history, and the first since the launch of an impeachment inquiry into the president’s efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his leading rival, Joe Biden.

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Tonight’s Democratic debate in Ohio: five things to expect

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Twelve Democratic 2020 presidential candidates will share the stage in the perpetual swing state on Tuesday

The Democratic 2020 presidential candidates will gather once again on Tuesday night to face off in their fourth debate, this time in the perpetual swing state of Ohio.

Twelve of the candidates have qualified to participate, and they will all share one stage – marking the most crowded debate stage of this election cycle so far. But the dynamics of the race have changed since the candidates last met in September, and some of the contenders face the prospect of this being their last debate.

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UK family arrested in US for ‘inadvertently crossing border’

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Four adults and three children were held in ‘baby jail’ in what they call ‘scariest experience’ of their lives

The Foreign Office is helping a British family of seven who were arrested in the US and subject to the “scariest experience” of their lives at the hands of the immigration authorities after inadvertently crossing the border from Canada.

David and Eileen Connors and their three-month-old son were on a family road trip on 3 October near Vancouver with David’s cousin Michael, his wife Grace, and their two-year-old twin daughters.

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California legalized public banks. But can they work?

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Public banks could allow government agencies access to low-interest loans for infrastructure or affordable housing

San Francisco and Los Angeles are moving forward with plans to create their own public banks following the passage of historic legislation that made California the second state in the continental US to legalize the financial institutions.

Experts say their success and that of other California counties and cities with similar plans will depend on the governance structures they put in place and the financing they are able to secure.

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Ronan Farrow book on sale in Australia despite legal threat from journalist Dylan Howard

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One online distributor has withdrawn the #MeToo memoir, but other stores have stocked it, and the publisher insists it will not be withdrawn

Ronan Farrow’s book on the #MeToo movement has been withdrawn from sale in Australia by one online bookseller but was available in bookstores on Tuesday despite a legal threat from an Australian journalist who Farrow has previously alleged helped to protect the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein from negative publicity.

The book, Catch and Kill, was released in Australia on Tuesday and was on sale in some shops, including Readings and WH Smith in Melbourne. But customers who ordered it from the online seller Booktopia were told it had been “withdrawn from sale” and had their payment refunded.

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Trump-Ukraine: John Bolton ‘sounded alarm about Giuliani’s actions’

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The former US national security adviser, John Bolton, was reportedly so alarmed at a back-channel effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate Donald Trump’s political rivals that he told a senior aide to report it to White House lawyers.

The revelation of Bolton’s involvement in the effort to block a shadow foreign policy aimed at Trump’s political benefit emerged from congressional testimony given by his former aide, Fiona Hill, the former top Russia expert in the White House.

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Native American canoes circle Alcatraz to honor 50 years since occupation – in pictures

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Native American tribes from up and down the west coast came together on the San Francisco Bay to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day on 14 October. Starting at dawn people rode traditional tribal canoes around Alcatraz Island – the famous former prison site which was occupied by Native Americans from 1969-71. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the historic act of resistance that launched the modern era of indigenous rights

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Trump asks Turkey for ceasefire and orders sanctions as violence escalates

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  • President freezes negotiations on $100bn trade deal
  • Trump vows to ‘swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy’

Donald Trump spoke directly to the Turkish president, Tayyip Erdoğan, on Monday to demand an immediate ceasefire in Syria while announcing a series of punishments for Ankara that critics saw as an attempt to save face.

The US president’s conversation with Erdoğan was revealed by the vice-president, Mike Pence, who said he would soon be travelling to the Middle East. “The United States of America did not give a green light for Turkey to invade Syria,” Pence insisted to reporters at the White House.

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Cancer-causing chemical found in WeWork phone booths

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In latest headache for cash-strapped company, WeWork says it has closed about 2,300 phone booths amid formaldehyde scare

WeWork, the cash-strapped office-sharing company, has a new problem that may prove costly. It has closed about 2,300 phone booths at some of its 223 sites in the United States and Canada after it says it discovered elevated levels of formaldehyde.

The company said in an email to its tenants on Monday that the chemical could pose a cancer-risk if there is long-term exposure.

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Former top aide to testify that she opposed Trump calling Zelenskiy – live

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Fiona Hill, the former top adviser on Russia who resigned shortly before Ukraine call, is to appear behind closed doors in Congress today

In a rare moment of agreement, senator Lindsey Graham said he is working with the Democratic speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, to pass sanctions on Turkey for their military operation in Syria.

I will be working across party lines in a bicameral fashion to draft sanctions and move quickly, appreciating President Trump’s willingness to work with the Congress. The Speaker indicated to me that time was of the essence.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, said that he would meet with Trump this afternoon to discuss the president’s Syria policy.

Lindsey Graham says on Fox he’s meeting with Trump this afternoon to discuss Syria and sanctions on Turkey

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Harry Dunn’s parents give tearful account of finding dying son to US TV

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Parents of teenager killed in road accident say they will only meet US diplomat’s wife if she commits to UK return

The parents of Harry Dunn have given their first US TV interview, recounting the death of their son in a road accident as part of a campaign to pressure a US diplomat’s wife involved in the collision to return to the UK and face police questioning.

Anne Sacoolas, 42, left the UK shortly after the collision between Dunn’s motorbike and a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August. She is believed to have been driving the car and met Northamptonshire police afterwards. But no investigation followed after the force was advised by the UK government that she had the protective status granted to foreign diplomats.

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Fort Worth woman was playing video games at home when officer killed her

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Family attorney says Atatiana Jefferson, 28, was playing video games with her eight-year-old nephew when she was shot dead

Protesters gathered on Sunday in Fort Worth to call for the arrest of the white police officer who shot dead a black woman in her home after arriving to conduct a welfare check.

Related: 'That's murder': Fort Worth police officer shoots woman inside her home

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Trump and Syria: the worst week for US foreign policy since the Iraq invasion?

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A close ally is abandoned, and Isis is regrouping. The speed of the unravelling is breathtaking

In the week since Donald Trump’s fateful phone conversation with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the US has entirely abandoned the Kurds, its most effective allies in the Middle East, and with them a Syria strategy that was five years in the making.

The Islamic State flag has been raised once more and the last vestige of US credibility as a reliable partner lies crushed under Turkish tank tracks. It has arguably been the worst seven days for US foreign policy since the invasion of Iraq.

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Digital dystopia: how algorithms punish the poor

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In an exclusive global series, the Guardian lays bare the tech revolution transforming the welfare system worldwide – while penalising the most vulnerable

All around the world, from small-town Illinois in the US to Rochdale in England, from Perth, Australia, to Dumka in northern India, a revolution is under way in how governments treat the poor.

You can’t see it happening, and may have heard nothing about it. It’s being planned by engineers and coders behind closed doors, in secure government locations far from public view.

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Kurds reach deal with Damascus in face of Turkish offensive

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Agreement to hand over border towns comes after more than 700 Isis affiliates escape camp

More than 700 people with links to Islamic State have escaped from a detention camp in north-east Syria, as the Kurdish-led forces in control of the area reached a deal with the Assad regime to stave off a bloody five-day-old Turkish assault.

Kurdish fighters controlling the region would surrender the border towns of Manbij and Kobane to Damascus in a deal brokered by Russia, officials said on Sunday night.

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‘That’s murder’: Fort Worth police officer shoots woman inside her home

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  • Lawyer and family of Atatiana Jefferson, 28, demand answers
  • Police called after report front door standing open

After a white police officer responding to a report of a house door standing open killed a black woman inside her own home on Saturday, an attorney for the woman’s family said the officer had not had time to perceive a threat before shooting.

“You didn’t hear the officer shout, ‘Gun, gun, gun,’” attorney Lee Merritt said after viewing video taken from a Fort Worth officer’s bodycam during the shooting death of Atatiana Jefferson, 28.

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National Coming Out Day marked by worry over supreme court LGBTQ case

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National Coming Out Day festivities across the US were tempered this year by anxiety that some LGBTQ people may have to go back into the closet so they can make a living, depending on what the supreme court decides about workplace discrimination.

Related: The US decision on LGBT workers could turn employers into the gender police | Arwa Mahdawi

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Trump impeachment: Esper indicates Pentagon will cooperate with inquiry

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Donald Trump’s secretary of defense said on Sunday the Pentagon would cooperate with the House’s impeachment inquiry, while cautioning that Trump may try to restrict his disclosure of information.

Related: Trump calls Rudy Giuliani a 'great guy' as impeachment pressure mounts

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James Mattis says Trump’s troop pullout has led to ‘disarray’ in Syria

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  • Ex-defense secretary calls resurgence of Isis ‘a given’
  • Withdrawal will ‘have an impact’ on Kurds’ ability to fight Isis

The former defense secretary James Mattis has said Donald Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of US troops from the Syria-Turkey border has led to “disarray” in the war-torn territory, increasing the chances of a resurgence of Islamic State militants.

Related: Betrayal on the border: Kurds fear future as Turkish assault intensifies

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