Woman in stolen campervan leads Los Angeles police on chase in which she smashes into cars and curbs before crashing to a stop against a palm tree with a large dog hanging out of the shattered windscreen. Another dog had jumped out of the moving vehicle and run away before the final crash.
Continue reading...Category Archives: US News
‘We’ll fight to the end’: China’s media ramps up rhetoric in US trade war
Voices within Chinese state and private media grow more strident as tensions mount
Over the last week, China’s state media outlets have called the US government delusional, compared it to apes shouting on a river bank, and offered to teach the Americans a Chinese idiom: diandao heibai, “to invert black and white”, or deliberately distort the truth.
As trade tensions mount between the US and China, Beijing faces the difficult task of appealing to national pride to shore up confidence in the leadership while also keeping public anger in check.
Continue reading...American who fought for Taliban to be freed early from US prison
John Walker Lindh to be released but some politicians say he may still be security risk
John Walker Lindh, the American captured in 2001 fighting for the Taliban, is to be released early from federal prison despite some US politicians expressing concerns he may still be a security risk.
Lindh, photographed as a bearded 20-year-old when captured in Afghanistan, will leave a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, on probation on Thursday after serving 17 years of a 20-year sentence, according to a prison official.
Continue reading...New York state passes bill to allow Congress to access Trump’s tax returns – live
- Bill would allow lawmakers to get access to any New York state tax returns filed by elected and appointed officials
- Sign up for the US briefing and get a new perspective
Arguments have begun in Donald Trump’s lawsuit to block Congressional subpoenas of his financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One.
Patrick Strawbridge, one of Trump’s lawyers, reiterated in court his argument that Congress is overstepping its role by issuing such broad subpoenas.
Related: Trump lawyers to appear in court over subpoenas for financial records
Donald Trump Jr is set to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming an author.
The first son, who earlier today was described as “a good young man” by his father – has signed a deal with Center Street Books, and the tome will be published later this year.
Continue reading...UK suffers crushing defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands
General assembly strongly condemns British occupation of Indian Ocean territory
The United Nations general assembly has overwhelmingly backed a motion condemning Britain’s occupation of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
The 116-6 vote left the UK diplomatically isolated and was also a measure of severely diminished US clout on the world stage. Washington had campaigned vigorously at the UN and directly in talks with national capitals around the world in defence of the UK’s continued control of the archipelago, where there is a US military base at Diego Garcia.
Continue reading...Trump refuses to work with Democrats unless they stop investigating him
President halted infrastructure meeting and condemned Pelosi in a snap press conference after she said he was ‘engaging in a cover-up’
Donald Trump on Wednesday terminated a meeting with Democratic leaders after just a few minutes, saying he refuses to work with them on an infrastructure plan unless they stop investigating him and lift the threat of impeachment.
Democrats quickly fired back, claiming that the US president had planned the stunt in advance and what happened at the White House would “make your jaw drop”.
Continue reading...US repatriates family from Syrian detention camp for Isis suspects
Exclusive: removal of four people could put pressure on other countries to follow suit
A US family have been removed from a Syrian detention centre for suspected members of Islamic State and returned to the US. The move could have implications for hundreds of children born to non-Syrians who have been in legal limbo since the disintegration of the terror group.
The family of four were taken from al-Roj camp in the country’s north-east over the weekend, sources inside the camp have confirmed to the Guardian. They are believed to be US citizens of Cambodian ancestry and to include children born under Isis rule.
Continue reading...Nigel Farage discussed fronting far-right group led by Steve Bannon
Footage shows Brexit party leader calling Bannon’s plan a ‘fightback against globalists’
Nigel Farage discussed the idea of fronting a global alliance of populist and far-right politicians being put together by the controversial former White House strategist Steve Bannon, it has emerged.
Farage said he would be keen to take the role after Bannon discussed the idea of forming a group based around populism and “economic nationalism”, with potential members including Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines leader who is accused of presiding over mass rights abuses and who has admitted authorising extrajudicial killings.
Continue reading...Is John Bolton trying to drive Trump to war with Iran? – podcast
Donald Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, was a key architect of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Now he is stoking tensions with Iran. Julian Borger describes how the standoff could get out of control. Also today: Katharine Viner on how the Guardian is updating its language when reporting on the climate crisis
John Bolton, who has been called “the most dangerous man in the world”, was not Donald Trump’s first pick for his national security adviser. But after a series of resignations, he was plucked from a life of Fox News appearances to reprise his career as the foremost military hawk in the US. Now he has his sights set on Iran and has pushed for a buildup of US military assets in the Gulf.
The Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, tells Anushka Asthana that as tensions rise, so do the chances of an accidental – or deliberate – escalation towards war. The echoes of the drumbeat to war in Iraq in 2003 are all too apparent, and it was Bolton’s role in that crisis that prompted a Guardian columnist to attempt to make a citizen’s arrest of him in the tranquil surroundings of the Hay literary festival in 2008. George Monbiot describes how he came out second best from that encounter.
Continue reading...Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she’d be ‘hard pressed’ to back Biden in primary
Bernie Sanders appears to be the favorite to secure Ocasio-Cortez’s prized endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive US congresswoman and social media sensation, has said she would be “hard pressed” to endorse the frontrunner, Joe Biden, in the Democratic presidential primary.
The statement is the latest sign of the left’s apathy towards the former vice-president, who has surged ahead of the Senator Bernie Sanders and other rivals in recent polls.
Continue reading...Eco-friendly ending: Washington state is first to allow human composting
Legislation would let facilities offer ‘natural organic reduction’ which turns a body into about two wheelbarrows’ worth of soil
Ashes to ashes, guts to dirt.
Governor Jay Inslee signed legislation Tuesday making Washington the first state to approve composting as an alternative to burying or cremating human remains.
Continue reading...Louisiana senate passes anti-abortion bill in latest attack on women’s rights
Amendment, which would change state constitution to say Louisianans have no right to abortions, set to go before voters
The Louisiana senate approved a state constitutional amendment on Tuesday declaring that citizens have no constitutional right to abortions. The move is the latest salvo in a broader assault against reproductive rights in the state, and it comes on the heels of extreme legislation in Georgia, Missouri, and Alabama all aimed at near-total bans of the procedure.
The measure now heads back to the house, which has already passed a version, for final approval. The amendment still, however, needs to be ratified by Louisiana voters in a referendum this fall.
Continue reading...Congresswoman teaches housing secretary Ben Carson his own job – video
Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter grills the housing and urban development secretary, Ben Carson, on a series of mortgage-related policy questions that he is unable to answer. In an uncomfortable exchange, Porter asks Carson about 'REOs', a basic term related to foreclosure, to which he replies: 'An Oreo ...'
Continue reading...Thousands rally across US against abortion bans – in pictures
About 400 events were set to take place across all 50 US states in defense of abortion rights
Continue reading...Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood review – Tarantino’s dazzling LA redemption song
With Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt playing a TV actor and stuntman who cross paths with the Manson cult, Tarantino has created outrageous, disorientating entertainment
Quentin Tarantino’s exploitation black-comedy thriller Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood finds a pulp-fictionally redemptive take on the Manson nightmare in late-60s California: a B-movie loser’s state of grace.
It’s shocking, gripping, dazzlingly shot in the celluloid-primary colours of sky blue and sunset gold: colours with the warmth that Mama Cass sang about. The Los Angeles of 1969 is recovered with all Tarantino’s habitual intensity and delirious, hysterical connoisseurship of pop culture detail. But there’s something new here: not just erotic cinephilia, but TV-philia, an intense awareness of the small screen background to everyone’s lives. Opinions are going to divide about this film’s startling and spectacularly provocative ending, which Tarantino is concerned to keep secret and which I have no intention of revealing here. But certainly any ostensible error of taste is nothing like, say, those in the much admired Inglourious Basterds. And maybe worrying about taste is to miss the point of this bizarre Jacobean horror fantasy.
Quite simply, I just defy anyone with red blood in their veins not to respond to the crazy bravura of Tarantino’s film-making, not to be bounced around the auditorium at the moment-by-moment enjoyment that this movie delivers – and conversely, of course, to shudder at the horror and cruelty and its hallucinatory aftermath.
Our first non-hero is Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, a failing cowboy actor and alcoholic going to seed in the autumn of his career and in moments of bad temper beginning to resemble Jack Black. His best friend – pathetically, his only friend – is Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt in his Ocean’s-Eleven mode of easygoing competence and imperturbability. Cliff is Rick’s stunt double and has an awful secret in his life: a grisly event for which he may or may not be guilty. Cliff has to drive Rick everywhere because he has lost his licence, and he is Rick’s best pal, assistant, factotum, and the person who has to straighten Rick when he bursts into boozy tears of self-pity.
Don McGahn defies subpoena as Trump clash with Congress intensifies
- White House had blocked former counsel from testifying
- House Democrats push leadership to impeach
Democrats faced another brazen attempt by Donald Trump to stonewall their investigations on Tuesday, this time with former White House counsel Donald McGahn defying a subpoena to appear before Congress on orders from the White House.
The House judiciary committee held a brief hearing on Tuesday morning in McGahn’s absence, with an empty chair where he was supposed to sit.
Continue reading...Revealed: 1.6m Americans live near the most polluting incinerators in the US
Lower-income and minority communities are exposed to majority of the pollution coming from waste-burning plants, report finds
A total of 1.6 million Americans live next to the most polluting incinerators in the country, with lower-income and minority communities exposed to the vast majority of pollution coming from these waste-burning plants.
The burning of household and commercial waste can give off a stew of pollutants, including mercury, lead and small particles of soot. This pollution isn’t evenly distributed, however. Of the 73 incinerators across the US, 79% are located within three miles of low-income and minority neighbourhoods, according to research by the Tishman Environment and Design Center at New York City’s New School.
Continue reading...Venezuela’s ambassador to Italy resigns, blaming government’s lack of money
Isaías Rodríguez says US sanctions against Caracas means he cannot afford to carry out his duties
The Venezuelan ambassador to Italy has resigned, saying his government’s financial difficulties have made his job impossible.
In a letter addressed directly to President Nicolás Maduro and posted on Twitter, Ambassador Isaías Rodríguez reiterated his “immense respect for Maduro’s battle” but insisted the sanctions imposed by the US mean he cannot carry out his duties.
Continue reading...Trump’s China trade war risks damaging US economy, says OECD
Intensification of tariff dispute also likely to knock almost $600bn off world economy
Donald Trump has been warned by the west’s most influential economics thinktank that further escalation of the US-China trade war would unleash significant damage for the American economy, as well as the rest of the world.
The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said that an intensification of the dispute between Washington and Beijing would likely knock as much as 0.7% off the level of global GDP by 2021-22.
Continue reading...White House blocks Trump’s ex-counsel from testifying before Congress – live
Justice department said Don McGahn, who was subpoenaed by the House judiciary committee, cannot be compelled to answer questions under oath
President Trump’s attorneys have been fighting a House oversight committee subpoena of one of the president’s accounting firms, Mazars USA, for eight years of Trump’s personal and business records.
Today, Judge Amit Mehta ruled in favor of the House oversight committee.
BREAKING: A federal judge in DC will not block a House subpoena to Trump's accounting firm — expect a quick notice of appeal from Trump's lawyers https://t.co/Izk2q1F2Yh More shortly. pic.twitter.com/ZlgQnFPT6c
MONEY QUOTE: Congress says it wants Trump files to guide future legislation. "[I]t is not for the court to question whether the Committee’s actions are truly motivated by political considerations. Accordingly, the court will enter judgment in favor of the Oversight Committee.
Hey all, Vivian Ho taking over for Sabrina Siddiqui. It appears a federal judge has ruled against the efforts of President Trump’s attorneys to overturn the House oversight committee subpoena for the president’s financial documents.
BREAKING: U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta rules in favor of House Democrats in their subpoena to Mazars for Trump’s financial records.
More TK