Category Archives: US News

Police release body-cam video of Willie McCoy killing, showing him asleep in car

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Footage is consistent with claims of McCoy’s family, who said officers did not try to wake him or talk to him before shooting

Vallejo police have released footage of the killing of Willie McCoy at a Taco Bell, showing six officers shooting the 20-year-old who was sleeping in his car.

The disturbing body-camera videos show the young rapper had moved his hand to scratch his shoulder before officers opened fire. The footage is consistent with key claims of McCoy’s family, who watched footage earlier this month and said the officers “executed” him while he was not alert or awake. The videos, released after significant pressure, show:

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William Barr to give Congress redacted version of Mueller report by mid-April

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Lawmakers will receive findings from the Trump-Russia investigation, with no plans for Trump to add his own edits

Congress will be given a redacted version of Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia report by mid-April and there are no plans for Donald Trump to add his own edits, the US attorney general, William Barr, said on Friday.

Related: Mueller report release: Barr says Congress will get redacted version by mid-April – live

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Investigators ‘believe Ethiopian 737 Max’s anti-stall system activated’

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Reports of high-level briefing with US regulators come as lawsuit is filed against Boeing

Investigators believe Boeing’s controversial anti-stall system on its 737 Max aircraft was activated before Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashed, killing all 157 people onboard, according to reports of a high-level safety briefing with US regulators.

The apparent findings, reported in the Wall Street Journal, would be the strongest indication yet that the same software problem could have contributed to the crash and that of Lion Air flight 610, which killed 189 people in Indonesia in October.

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A US immigration system ‘at breaking point’ results in border town chaos

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El Paso officials, aid workers and churches are scrambling to find shelter and legal counsel for a surge of Central American migrants

US authorities’ failure to keep up with a steep increase in Central American families seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border has left El Paso aid workers, churches and city government scrambling to respond.

After a sudden surge in arrivals, migrants have been crowded into hotels, churches and even held under a bridge behind a chain-link fence and razor wire while their asylum claims are processed.

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Donald Trump rails against ‘greatest hoax’ at first rally since Mueller report

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President wrongly claims special counsel’s report fully exonerated him as he woos voters in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Donald Trump continued his assault on the media and Democrats on Thursday night, wrongly claiming “total exoneration, complete vindication” at his first rally since Robert Mueller submitted his report.

Trump dedicated about half of his approximately 90-minute speech in front of a raucous audience at Grand Rapids to the topic, labeling the accusations and investigation “ridiculous bullshit”. The president bounced between theories about why the special counsel’s investigation happened and attacks on his opponents.

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Boeing faces US lawsuit over Ethiopian Airlines crash

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The family of Jackson Musoni have filed a suit saying the 737 MAX has a defectively designed control system

A lawsuit against Boeing Co was filed in US federal court on Thursday in what appeared to be the first suit over an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX crash that killed 157 people.

The lawsuit was filed in Chicago federal court by the family of Jackson Musoni, a citizen of Rwanda, and alleges that Boeing, which manufactures the 737 MAX, had defectively designed the automated flight control system.

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‘Ridiculous bullshit’: Donald Trump’s rambling rally in Michigan

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In his first rally since the release of Robert Mueller's report to US attorney general William Barr, Donald Trump has given a 90-minute diatribe against the media and the US Democratic party, claiming he had been 'totally exonerated' after an investigation he described as the 'single greatest hoax in the history of politics in this country'. He also spoke on several other issues critical to his Michiganian audience, including the automobile industry and preservation programs for the Great Lakes. 

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Jussie Smollett: Chicago orders actor to pay $130,000 for cost of investigation

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Donald Trump has said the FBI and justice department will review the case after city prosecutors abruptly dropped charges

Chicago city officials on Thursday ordered the Empire actor Jussie Smollett to pay $130,000 to cover the cost of the investigation into his report of a street attack that police say was staged to promote his career.

A letter from the city’s legal department to Smollett and his attorneys said that figure covers overtime worked by more than two dozen detectives and officers who spent weeks looking into Smollett’s claim in January, including reviewing video and physical evidence and conducting interviews.

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Mosquito-spread diseases may endanger millions in new places due to climate change

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Study finds that places where people have never had the diseases could see bad outbreaks if they aren’t prepared

Half a billion more people could be at risk from mosquito-transmitted diseases within 30 years as a result of the warming climate, according to a new study.

Canada and parts of northern Europe could be newly exposed to the threat. People there could come into contact with yellow fever, Zika, dengue and chikungunya, as well as other emerging diseases.

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Mueller report ‘more than 300 pages’, raising questions over four-page summary – live

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The Oklahoma Democratic Party’s headquarters were vandalized with anti-semitic graffiti early on Thursday morning, KFOR.com is reporting.

“Employees of the building on NW 37th and Classen Blvd reported Swastika drawings, neo-Nazi messages, and death threats spray painted in the parking lot and on the door of the property,” KFOR said.

It’s upsetting to the extent that our culture now and our country, it drives people to this type of expression [...] It encourages people to speak out violently. It’s clearly a crime. It’s clearly a hate crime.

Kirsten Gillibrand, senator for New York and Democratic presidential hopeful, released her tax returns yesterday – the first candidate for president to do so.

The return showed that she earned about $218,000 in 2018: $167,634 from her salary and $50,000 from book sales. The New York Times reported that Gillibrand paid $29,170 in federal taxes.

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Purdue’s opioid settlement set to herald barrage of lawsuits against big pharma

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Oklahoma chooses to settle for $270m over Purdue’s criminal marketing of OxyContin – but more lawsuits are likely to come

Oklahoma’s attorney general, Mike Hunter, thought it best to take the money and run.

Just weeks from the start of a much-anticipated trial against the company at the heart of the US opioid epidemic, Hunter was unnerved when Purdue Pharma began making noises about declaring bankruptcy in the face of mounting lawsuits over its powerful narcotic prescription painkiller, OxyContin.

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Ex-Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe reportedly ‘leaning toward’ 2020 run – live

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Meanwhile, key Republican reportedly tells Trump renewed plan to scrap Affordable Care Act ‘makes no sense’

Gabrielle Canon here, taking over for Jessica Glenza

Former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe is getting closer to a decision on whether or not to enter the already heavily-saturated Democratic race for the white house in 2020, CNN reports.

While McAuliffe has spent the last week on a spring break vacation with his family, he has also been making calls to donors and longtime friends as he comes closer to making a final decision. One friend described him as ‘almost ready to jump in — he sees no reason not to’”.

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US-China soy trade war could destroy 13 million hectares of rainforest

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Study suggests Brazil likely to rush to fill China’s sudden soy shortfall by boosting farming

The Amazon rainforest could be the greatest casualty of the trade war between the United States and China, warns a new study showing how deforestation pressures have surged as a result of the geopolitical jolt in global soy markets.

Up to 13m hectares of forest and savannah – an area the size of Greece – would have to be cleared if Brazil and other exporters were to fill the huge shortfall in soy supply to China that has suddenly appeared since Donald Trump imposed hefty tariffs, according to the paper published in Nature.

US exports of the commodity, primarily used to feed livestock, to China plummeted by 50% last year, which the authors say is an unusually sharp level of decline between two trading partners outside wartime.

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Biden condemns ‘white man’s culture’ as he laments role in Anita Hill hearings

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Potential 2020 contender regrets not giving Hill ‘the hearing she deserved’ during Clarence Thomas confirmation process

The former vice-president Joe Biden condemned “a white man’s culture” on Tuesday night as he lashed out against violence against women and, more specifically, lamented his role in the supreme court confirmation hearings that undermined Anita Hill’s credibility nearly three decades ago.

Biden, a Democratic presidential prospect who often highlights his white working-class roots, said Hill, who is African American, should not have been forced to face a panel of “a bunch of white guys”.

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Trump says hurricane-hit Puerto Rico has received too much aid

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President opposes additional disaster aid for territory, saying funds were out of proportion to what mainland states got

Donald Trump told a meeting of Republican lawmakers that hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico had gotten too much rebuilding money compared with mainland states like Florida and Texas, hardening his opposition to further disaster aid for the US island territory.

Trump’s ardent opposition to additional Puerto Rico funding sets up a showdown with House Democrats, who insist that a $13bn to $14bn disaster aid package that’s a top priority for southern Republicans won’t advance without further aid for the island.

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Double standards on oil spills in Nigeria must end | Letters

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Oil companies must respect human lives and clean up the damage their industry does wherever they operate, say Dr John Sentamu, Baroness Amos, Prof Michael Watts, Njeri Kabeberi and James Thornton

The devastating impact of oil spills is widely recognised. The past decade has witnessed the destruction caused to human life and the environment from spills including the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and the Montara spill in Australia in 2009.

On each occasion the global community has reacted with horror, demanding the oil industry clean up local ecosystems and communities. Yet in Nigeria, and particularly in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta, these calls are ignored.

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Jussie Smollett: prosecutors drop charges against actor accused of fabricating attack

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State’s attorney’s office says 16 counts against Empire actor dropped ‘after reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case’

Prosecutors agreed on Tuesday to drop criminal charges against the Empire actor Jussie Smollett for faking a hate crime attack in Chicago.

Smollett was charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly hiring two men to stage a racist, homophobic attack against him in downtown Chicago earlier this year.

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Jussie Smollett: Chicago mayor attacks ‘whitewash of justice’ as charges dropped

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  • Decision to suddenly drop 16 charges questioned
  • Smollett: ‘I have been truthful and consistent on every level’

Prosecutors have agreed to drop criminal charges against the Empire actor Jussie Smollett for apparently faking a hate crime attack in Chicago, drawing claims from mayor Rahm Emanuel of a “whitewash of justice”.

Smollett was earlier this year charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly hiring two men to stage a racist, homophobic attack against him in downtown Chicago.

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Spanish court: FBI was offered stolen data by North Korean embassy intruder

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One of 10 people who entered consulate by force in February contacted FBI, high court says

The details of how mysterious intruders raided North Korea’s embassy in Madrid last month, tricked the Spanish police and made off with a stash of stolen intelligence which they offered to the FBI have been laid out by a Spanish judge.

Spanish police were called to the embassy in the middle of the raid, but were warded off by the Mexican citizen Adrian Hong Chang who pretended to be a diplomat, the Spanish newspaper El País reported.

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