Category Archives: US News

US joins four rogue countries seen as likely forces for bad, poll finds

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Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran and the US are also seen as less likely to use their influence for good than they were 10 years ago

The United States has joined Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Iran in a rogue’s gallery of countries perceived as likely to use their influence for bad. All five countries are also seen as less likely to use their influence for good than they were 10 years ago.

Related: ‘Credible evidence’ Saudi crown prince liable for Khashoggi killing – UN report

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US beekeepers lost 40% of honeybee colonies over past year, survey finds

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Study marks worst winter on record for beekeepers, despite intensive push to stem losses

Beekeepers across the US lost four in 10 of their honeybee colonies over the past year, as the worst winter on record for tracked bee populations raised fresh concerns over the plight of the crucial pollinators.

Over the past winter, 37% of honeybee colonies were lost to beekeepers, the worst winter decline recorded in the 13-year history of a nationwide survey aimed at charting bees’ fortunes. Overall, 40% of colonies died off over the entire year to April, which is above the 38% average since the survey began.

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‘Stain of slavery’: Congress debates reparations to atone for America’s original sin

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Danny Glover among witnesses who debated the legacy of slavery – and the modern scourges of inequality and poverty that afflict black Americans

For the first time in more than a decade, a debate has taken place between lawmakers in Congress on the original sin of the United States – the enslavement of 4 million Africans and their descendants – and the question of what can be done to atone for it through reparations.

Related: Nuclear weapons: experts alarmed by new Pentagon 'war-fighting' doctrine

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The Guardian view on Jamal Khashoggi’s murder: Saudi Arabia and its friends | Editorial

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One way to honour Khashoggi is to celebrate his life. Another is to recognise the lessons of his death

The UN report into October’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul is the fullest account yet of events and as horrifying as one would expect. Agnes Callamard, the special rapporteur, describes a “deliberate, premeditated execution”; secretly recorded conversations before his visit discussed the arrival of the “sacrificial animal” and dismemberment of a body. She concludes that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia should be investigated because there is “credible evidence” that he and other senior officials are liable for the killing – a conclusion also reached by the CIA – despite the kingdom’s insistence that it was a rogue operation.

No reminder should be needed of the brutality of the killing of Khashoggi, a widely respected journalist living in Washington. Even Saudi Arabia’s business and diplomatic allies blanched, or at least felt obliged to put some distance between themselves and the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The kingdom, after repeated lies about what happened, announced that it would try 11 suspects for his murder.

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Adult performers to picket Instagram HQ over company’s nude photo rules

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Artists, activists and models join in condemning confusing guidelines leading to account suspensions

Dozens of adult performers are set to picket Instagram’s Silicon Valley headquarters over guidelines about photos containing nudity. The inconsistency of the rules, they say, has led to hundreds of thousands of account suspensions and is imperiling their livelihoods.

Adult performers are leading the protest on Wednesday, but other users including artists, sex workers, queer activists, sex education platforms, and models say they have been affected by the platform’s opaque removal system.

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Pride sale celebrates 50 years since Stonewall – in pictures

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To mark WorldPride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, Swann Galleries in New York is holding a Pride sale, which explores and celebrates the art, influence and history of the LGBTQ+ community. Books, manuscripts, photographs, archives, art and objects from the last two centuries will be auctioned

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Trump sets stage for 2020 fight with false claims and recycled attacks

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President kicked off his bid with lies, attacks on the press and claims a Democrat president would ‘shut down your free speech’

Donald Trump has set the stage for the nastiest US presidential race in modern times with a campaign rally that recycled old themes and stoked resentment towards Democrats and the media.

Related: Trump's 2020 campaign launch: the key takeaways

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Trump’s 2020 campaign launch: the key takeaways

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After two and a half years in office, Trump remains fixated on the same grievances – and successes

Donald Trump launched his 2016 presidential campaign on 16 June 2015, by descending an escalator in front of a small crowd in Trump Tower. Four years on, he launched his 2020 pitch to be re-elected to the White House to 20,000 people at Orlando’s Amway Center on a humid, rainy Florida night.

Related: Trump 2020 launch: Bernie Sanders attacks president's 'lies' and 'distortions' – live

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Trump announces departure of acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan – live

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WaPo’s Josh Rogin tweets:

Officials confirm to me Patrick Shanahan is not only withdrawing from consideration, he is resigning his current Pentagon post. Last day unclear. https://t.co/zufBzZ9nmz

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Pompeo blocks inclusion of Saudi Arabia on US child soldiers list

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State department experts recommended addition of Riyadh after assessing it had hired child fighters from Sudan to fight in Yemen

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has blocked the inclusion of Saudi Arabia on a list of countries that recruit child soldiers, dismissing his experts’ findings that a Saudi-led coalition has been using underage fighters in Yemen’s civil war, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The decision, which came after a fierce internal debate, could prompt new accusations by human rights advocates and some lawmakers that the Trump administration is prioritizing security and economic interests in relations with Saudi Arabia, a major US ally and arms customer.

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Father of Sandy Hook massacre victim wins defamation lawsuit

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Lenny Pozner, whose six-year-old son was killed in the shooting, sued authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened

The father of a victim of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre has won a defamation lawsuit against the authors of a book that claimed the shooting never happened; the latest victory for victims’ relatives who have been taking a more aggressive stance against conspiracy theorists.

The book, Nobody Died at Sandy Hook, has also been pulled from shelves to settle claims against its publisher filed by Lenny Pozner, whose six-year-old son, Noah, was killed in the shooting.

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Method of attack on tankers remains key evidence against Iran

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Release of colour images adds more clarity to debate but fails to prove responsibility

The sophistication of the attacks on two shipping tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week had already led most independent analysts to conclude Iran was responsible for the high-profile explosions.

But there has been scepticism from some key countries, including Germany and Japan, after the US initially released a grainy black and white video it said showed Iranian forces removing an unexploded mine from one of the two targeted ships. Iran has denied involvement.

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US to send more troops to Middle East in response to Iran concerns – live

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The secretary of defense has authorized the order to send soldiers to Iran, who has been blamed for attacks on oil tankers last week

The New York Times is reporting that the Justice Department has intervened to keep former Trump adviser Paul Manafort out of the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

JUST IN: Manafort is not going to Rikers after unusual Justice Dept intervention. https://t.co/zZzlSmvLJ7 https://t.co/zZzlSmvLJ7

Manafort was set to be transferred to Rikers this month to await trial on a separate state case, according to the New York Times. But then Manhattan prosecutors received a letter from Jeffrey Rosen, the top deputy for attorney general William Barr, that indicated that “he was monitoring where Mr. Manafort would be held in New York”.

And then, on Monday, federal prison officials weighed in, telling the Manhattan district attorney’s office that Mr. Manafort, 70, would not be going to Rikers.

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US to send 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East, citing ‘hostile behavior’

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Concerns of a confrontation between the two countries have mounted since two oil tankers were attacked in the Gulf of Oman

Acting US defense secretary Patrick Shanahan announced on Monday the deployment of about 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East for what he said were “defensive purposes”, citing concerns about a threat from Iran.

“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said in a statement.

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Galápagos Islands: outcry after Ecuador allows US military to use airstrip

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Political row sparked after government gave US permission to use island for anti-narcotics flights

The Galápagos Islands are at the centre of political row in Ecuador after the government agreed to allow US anti-narcotics planes to use an airstrip on the archipelago which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Dozens of people demonstrated outside the main government office in Quito on Monday to protest against a plan they described as a threat to the world heritage site’s unique environment – and an attack on Ecuador’s sovereignty.

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Pete Buttigieg returns to South Bend after fatal police-involved shooting

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  • Eric Jack Logan, 53, died in parking lot in Indiana city
  • Mayor interrupted campaign schedule to return to South Bend

Authorities said a man died after a shooting involving a police officer in South Bend, the Indiana city where the Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is mayor.

Buttigieg said he changed his campaign schedule to return to South Bend on Sunday and hold a late-night news conference. He said the circumstances of the death would be thoroughly investigated, and called on any witnesses of the shooting to come forward and speak to investigators.

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Hunt defends Trump quoting Katie Hopkins in attack on Sadiq Khan

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Foreign secretary says he agrees 150% with sentiment of tweet which quoted Katie Hopkins

Jeremy Hunt has vigorously defended Donald Trump for quoting the far-right commentator Katie Hopkins in an attack on the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, as Downing Street declined to condemn the US president’s words.

The foreign secretary said that while he would not have used the same words as Trump he would “150% agree” with the overall sentiment.

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Matteo Salvini: Italy wants to be Washington’s closest partner in Europe

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Hard-right leader speaks on arrival in US of ‘common vision’ with Trump administration amid EU turmoil

Matteo Salvini has said Italy wants to be Washington’s closest partner in Europe during the hard-right leader’s visit to the US capital for talks with the Trump administration.

Salvini made it clear that he sees an opportunity to forge a closer US-Italian relationship at a time of European turmoil and alignment between populist governments in both countries.

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‘Trump Heights’: Israeli settlement in Golan named after US president

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‘It will mean something for him, that there is a place in the world, far away from the States, with his name,’ says resident in community

It is a world away from the grandiose high-rises that bear his name.

A sleepy, crumbling hamlet of fewer than a dozen Israeli residents surrounded by sun-parched fields of crisp hay. Weeds punctuate the cracked asphalt of a basketball court, its rusted hoops leaning at angles.

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