Category Archives: US News

2020 Democrats renew calls for impeachment after Mueller testimony

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Warren urged House to rise ‘above politics’ and launch proceedings against Trump while Biden said president ‘should be tried’

Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren urged the House of Representatives to rise “above politics” and launch impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump after the former special counsel Robert Mueller testified that his report on Russian election interference did not exonerate the president.

The candidates, speaking on Wednesday at the annual convention of the NAACP, the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organization, said Mueller’s testimony highlighted the urgency for brining articles of impeachment against a president whose bigotry while in office has harmed communities of color.

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‘It is not a witch-hunt’: Mueller defends Trump-Russia inquiry findings – video highlights

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The former US special counsel Robert Mueller insisted on Wednesday that Donald Trump was not exonerated by his report into Russian interference in the 2016 US election and denied his investigation was a 'witch-hunt'. Mueller said the US president could be charged after he leaves office, but offered little new ammunition to boost the case for Trump's impeachment

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Mueller’s testimony on Trump and Russia: six of the biggest takeaways

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The former special counsel explained Trump was not exonerated and that his team was never going to indict the president

In highly anticipated testimony before the US Congress on Wednesday, the former special counsel Robert Mueller submitted to hours of questioning.

His testimony comes four months after he concluded the two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and the Trump campaign’s ties to Moscow, the findings of which were detailed in a 448-page report released in April.

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Iran hints at ship swap with UK amid de-escalation efforts

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Hassan Rouhani spoke after Iraqi president’s visit to Iran at request of UK defence ministry

Iran has indicated it wants to de-escalate the British-Iranian crisis, hinting at swapping two captured tankers.

“We do not seek the continuation of tension with some European countries,” Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, said on Wednesday during a weekly cabinet meeting. “If Britain steps away from the wrong actions in Gibraltar, they will receive an appropriate response from Iran.”

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Facebook to pay $5bn fine as regulator settles Cambridge Analytica complaint

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Penalty by US government reflects scale of breach, first reported by the Observer

Facebook will pay a record $5bn (£4bn) penalty in the US for “deceiving” users about their ability to keep personal information private, after a year-long investigation into the Cambridge Analytica data breach.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US consumer regulator, also announced a lawsuit against Cambridge Analytica and proposed settlements with the data analysis firm’s former chief executive Alexander Nix and its app developer Aleksandr Kogan.

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Capitalism gone wrong: how big pharma created America’s opioid carnage

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A web of firms ramped up narcotic painkiller sales, creating the biggest drug epidemic in American history as profits surged

As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Mike Hunter laid out his indictment against one of the biggest corporations in America, he made a point of saying that he was not hostile to big business.

“The fact that I am a Republican, a conservative and a believer in capitalism and the marketplace does not require me to turn a blind eye when corporations hurt people,” Hunter told a state court.

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Neil Armstrong’s family ‘paid $6m by hospital’ in wrongful death claim

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Settlement reportedly reveals hospital’s fears of adverse publicity over family’s allegations of botched surgery

A hospital has paid the estate of astronaut Neil Armstrong $6m in a confidential agreement to settle allegations that post-surgical complications led to his death seven years ago, according to court documents.

The 2014 settlement went to 10 relatives of the space explorer who made history 50 years ago by becoming the first man to walk on the moon. They included Armstrong’s two sons, sister, brother and six grandchildren, according to documents filed with the Hamilton county probate court in Cincinnati, Ohio which became publicly available on Tuesday.

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US justice department targets big tech firms in antitrust review

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Officials to look into whether Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple are unlawfully limiting competition

The US justice department is opening a broad antitrust review into major technology firms, as criticism over the companies’ growing reach and power heats up.

The investigation will focus on growing complaints that the companies are unlawfully stifling competition.

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Donald Trump calls congresswoman Rashida Tlaib a ‘crazed lunatic’ – video

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Donald Trump renewed his attack on members of 'the Squad' of Democratic congresswomen of colour on Tuesday, this time targeting representative Rashida Tlaib, calling her 'vicious' and a 'crazed lunatic'. The US president has been engaged in a back-and-forth with the women, following racist tweets he fired off suggesting they return to their countries, though all are American citizens and all but one born in the US

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Mueller testimony: expectation builds in Washington for ‘explosive’ hearing – live

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The special counsel will make an opening statement in his appearance before Congress tomorrow to discuss the Trump-Russia investigation

Here’s where things stand:

In his comments to the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Trump praised the incoming British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.

Trump notes that Nigel Farage is in the crowd for his speech to Turning Point USA. "I said 'what's Nigel doing here?' He's a little older than you folks. He's going to work well with Boris. They're going to do tremendous things."
He adds: "Boris is good. he'll do a good job."

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Brain scans of US embassy staff to Cuba may show abnormalities

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Diplomats had reported falling ill after what was thought to be ‘acoustic attack’

Brain scans of US embassy staff who became ill in mysterious circumstances while serving in Cuba have found potential abnormalities that may be related to their symptoms.

The scans taken from 40 US government workers who suffered strange concussion-like symptoms during their deployment to Havana revealed that particular brain features looked different to those in healthy volunteers.

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Donald Trump’s trade war hurting China more than US, says IMF

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Brexit uncertainty and impact of Iran sanctions also likely to slow world growth, says Fund

Donald Trump’s claim that his protectionist measures are hurting China more than the US has received support from the International Monetary Fund in new forecasts showing how a fresh slowdown in the global economy has been concentrated in emerging economies.

The Washington-based IMF said the outlook was gloomier than it envisaged three months ago due to the tit-for-tat tariff war between the world’s two biggest economies, Brexit uncertainty and the impact of sanctions against Iran on oil prices.

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Budget deal: Republicans and Democrats agree to raise debt ceiling – as it happened

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The US was on track to run out of money in September if there was no deal

We’re ending our live coverage for the day, thanks for following along. Tune in tomorrow for what is sure to be a busy day as DC braces for Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony this week. Here are some key events and links from the day:

Here’s a story from today about a neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee that apparently collectively organized to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) from detaining a man:

When we #ProtectEachOther we win ✊https://t.co/uK9e1vFZBe

I’m outside a home in Hermitage where neighbors say ICE agents tried to take a man from his home early this morning. Neighbors say the man was in his van with his young son and they stayed there for 4 hours or so. Neighbors say they refused to let agents take the man.

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Trump and congressional leaders announce critical debt and budget deal

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The two-year, $1.37tn agreement would avoid the possibility of a government shutdown or first-ever federal default

Donald Trump and congressional leaders announced Monday that they had struck a critical debt and budget agreement. The deal amounts to an against-the-odds victory for Washington pragmatists seeking to avoid a politically dangerous tumult over the possibility of a government shutdown or the first-ever federal default.

The deal, announced by Trump on Twitter and in a statement by the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, will restore the government’s ability to borrow to pay its bills past next year’s elections and build upon recent large budget gains for the Pentagon and domestic agencies.

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UK must look after its own ships in the Gulf, says Pompeo

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US secretary of state’s comment reflects tensions with UK over Iran nuclear deal

The UK must be responsible for the safety of its own ships in the Gulf, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has said.

His remarks reflect unresolved tensions between Britain and the US over Donald Trump’s plans for a US-led military taskforce to protect international shipping operating off the Iranian coast. The UK is meanwhile seeking to assemble a European naval protection force.

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Cristiano Ronaldo will not face criminal charges over rape allegations

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  • Juventus star had been accused of 2009 assault in Las Vegas
  • Prosecutor says there is not enough evidence to bring charges

Prosecutors in Las Vegas say that Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo will not face criminal charges over allegations he raped a woman at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.

After reviewing a police investigation into the claims, Clark County district attorney Steve Wolfson said on Monday there is not enough evidence to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt, and no charges will be filed.

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Trump says he could win Afghan war ‘in a week … but I don’t want to kill 10m’

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  • President hosts Pakistani PM Imran Khan amid aid dispute
  • US pursues talks with Taliban with Islamabad’s cautious support

Donald Trump has said that he could win the Afghanistan war “in a week” but did not want to wipe the country “off the face of the Earth”.

At the same White House, the president also made a quixotic offer to mediate the longstanding Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, claiming the Indian government had invited to act as broker – a claim quickly denied in New Delhi.

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Equifax to pay $700m over breach that exposed data of 150m people

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  • Credit agency exposed social security numbers and other data
  • Settlement to provide up to $425m in relief to consumers

Equifax will pay up to $700m to settle with the US and states over a 2017 data breach that exposed social security numbers and other private information of nearly 150m people.

Related: Equifax hack: credit monitoring company criticized for poor response

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Iran claims to have arrested 17 CIA spies

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Tehran says some of the Iranians allegedly spying for US have been sentenced to death

Seventeen Iranian nationals allegedly recruited by the CIA to spy on Iran’s nuclear and military sites have been arrested, Tehran said on Monday, adding that some of them had already been sentenced to death.

The arrests took place over the past months and those taken into custody worked on “sensitive sites” in the country’s military and nuclear facilities, an Iranian intelligence official told a press conference in Tehran.

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US military: Venezuelan plane ‘aggressively’ shadowed Navy aircraft

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  • US says incident occurred in international airspace
  • Caracas slams ‘incursion’ by ‘intelligence aircraft’

The US military on Sunday accused a Venezuelan fighter aircraft of “aggressively” shadowing a US Navy EP-3 Aries II plane over international airspace, a fresh sign of growing hostility between the two countries.

Related: Trump administration to continue deporting Venezuelans despite crisis

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