Category Archives: US News

Teen’s round-the-world yacht Wild Eyes found floating eight years after boat abandoned

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Yacht spotted near Kangaroo Island off South Australian coast after being abandoned by 16-year-old sailor Abby Sunderland in 2010

Eight and a half years after it was abandoned in the middle of the Indian Ocean when 16-year-old solo sailor Abby Sunderland had to be rescued in rough seas, a yellow yacht named Wild Eyes has been found floating upside down off the coast of South Australia.

The 40-foot yacht was encrusted with barnacles, the signature eyes on the hull scratched and faded. Its mast snapped off in the wild weather that forced Sunderland’s rescue midway through her world record attempt to be the youngest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe in 2010.

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Trump and top lawmakers fail to resolve shutdown after meeting

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Nancy Pelosi said Democrats will still vote on Thursday despite impasse at ‘border security briefing’

Donald Trump and top congressional leaders failed to resolve a partial government shutdown that has stretched well into a second week as the president refused to back off from his demands for billions of dollars for a long-promised wall along the southern US border with Mexico.

Related: Mitt Romney: Trump's biggest failure is a lack of character in leading 'divided' nation

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Parkland commission recommends teachers be allowed to carry guns

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Commission unanimously approved 446-page report containing the proposed policy and other changes to ‘harden’ schools

The commission investigating the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida has included a recommendation in its preliminary report that classroom teachers who volunteer and undergo training should be allowed to carry guns in school.

Related: Parkland parents channel their grief at children's deaths into advocacy

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Apple stocks tumble after company cuts forecasts for key quarter

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Tim Cook cited unforeseen ‘magnitude’ of economic slowdown in China in a letter to shareholders explaining the change

Apple cut its revenue forecasts for the key end of year holiday quarter late Wednesday, citing the unforeseen “magnitude” of the economic slowdown in China.

Related: US markets start 2019 with a whimper as Trump blames 'glitch' for 2018 losses

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US markets start 2019 with a whimper as Trump blames ‘glitch’ for 2018 losses

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Trump claims ‘We’re the talk of the world’ as weak data in Asia and Europe confirmed fears of a global economic slowdown

After their worst year in close to a decade US stocks started the new year with a more than 1% decline on Wednesday before inching their way back into the black as Donald Trump blamed a “glitch” for last year’s losses.

Markets wobbled between gains and losses all day on Wednesday as weak data in Asia and Europe confirmed fears of a global economic slowdown while the US government shutdown dragged on.

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US ambassador visits ex-marine held in Russia on spy charges

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Embassy in Moscow offers help to arrested US citizen during meeting in ex-KGB prison

The US ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, has visited a former marine in a Moscow prison where he is being held on espionage charges, the state department has confirmed.

Paul Whelan, who is head of global security for a Michigan-based car parts supplier, was detained in Russia on Friday. In announcing the arrest three days later, the Russian Federal Security Service said he was caught “during an espionage operation”, but gave no details.

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Yemen: Houthi rebels’ food aid theft only tip of iceberg, officials say

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Questions over relief effort multiply as it emerges aid officials knew for months of armed groups diverting food

The theft of food aid in Yemen by Houthi rebels might be only the tip of the iceberg, officials believe, as questions multiply over international relief efforts in the famine-ravaged country.

It has emerged that aid officials have been aware for months that armed groups – most prominently Houthi rebels in the capital, Sana’a – have been diverting food aid into the key areas they control, including by manipulating data in malnutrition surveys used by the UN.

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Trump to convene border security briefing in bid to reopen government

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Democratic and Republican congressional leaders expected to attend session as shutdown enters 12th day

Donald Trump is convening a border security briefing on Wednesday for Democratic and Republican congressional leaders as a partial government shutdown over his demand for border wall funding entered its 12th day.

Related: Mitt Romney: Trump's biggest failure is a lack of character in leading 'divided' nation

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Development project threatens endangered Florida panther, experts say

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Almost half of proposed area of construction falls within hunting and roaming zone that is essential to animal’s survival

The extinction of the endangered Florida panther could be hastened by a large development proposed for the state, environmental groups are warning, as a major project is expected to win approval from the Trump administration as early as April.

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Mitt Romney: Trump’s biggest failure is a lack of character in leading ‘divided’ nation

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Incoming Utah senator says president has abandoned allies and failed to lead a ‘divided, resentful and angry’ nation

Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential candidate and incoming US senator, has sharply criticised Donald Trump both personally and professionally, accusing him of deserting the nation’s allies and lacking the character to lead a “divided” nation.

In a Washington Post essay published on Tuesday evening, Romney said Trump’s presidency “made a deep descent” in December and blamed him for the departures of defence secretary Jim Mattis and White House chief of staff John Kelly.

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US authorities fire tear gas across border to repel Central Americans

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Women, children and members of the press were affected by gas as authorities said it was aimed at rock throwers on Mexican side

US authorities fired tear gas into Mexico during the first hours of the new year to repel about 150 Central Americans who they claimed were trying to breach the border fence in Tijuana.

Related: 'I don't want to go back': what's next for the Central American migrant caravan?

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Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft ‘phones home’ after flyby of Ultima Thule

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Scientists celebrate probe’s successful completion of most distant space flyby in history

Nasa scientists are celebrating after a spacecraft “phoned home” to confirm it had successfully performed the most distant space flyby in history in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

Thousands of photographs of the dark, icy space rock called Ultima Thule were snapped by the New Horizons probe as it barrelled past it on the outer edge of the solar system at 0533 GMT.

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Donald Trump ‘ready’ to negotiate on government shutdown – video

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Donald Trump tells Fox News he is ready to negotiate an end to the partial government shutdown. In an interview broadcast on Monday night, Trump adds: ‘We have to have border security and the wall is a big part of border security’

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The top Democrats set to make Trump’s life miserable in 2019

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With Democrats now in the majority in the House, five committee chairs will wield considerable power to investigate the president

The midterm elections brought an end to a period of one-party rule in Washington. In January, Donald Trump will face a newly empowered House Democratic majority eager to take him on.

The incoming Democratic committee chairs have vowed rigorous oversight of Trump and his administration. Armed with committee gavels, they will now have the power and resources to pursue investigations, issue subpoenas and compel testimony.

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Why Trump’s Middle East peace plan is just a sideshow

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Palestinian leaders have rejected Washington as a mediator and Israeli politicians openly deride peace efforts

After two years of drum-rolling, Donald Trump’s “ultimate deal” for Israelis and Palestinians is about to enter what its architects claim is the pre-launch phase.

The US president has said the peace plan drawn up by his team – two former personal lawyers and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner – will be ready to unveil by the end of January.

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Gov.-elect Tim Walz names first 5 commissioners

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From the back left Jennifer Ho, Housing Finance Agency, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Department of Transportation, Alice Roberts-Davis, Department of Administration, Nora Slawik, Metropolitan Council, and Myron Frans, Department of Management, stood behind Governor-elect Tim Walz and Lt. Governor-elect Peggy Flanagan at the State Capitol in St. Paul Tuesday.

With Senate passage, bill to prevent shutdown goes to House

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The Senate approved legislation to temporarily fund the government, a key step toward averting a federal shutdown after President Donald Trump backed off his demand for money for a border wall with Mexico. Senators passed the measure, which would keep government running to Feb. 8, by voice vote without a roll call Wednesday night.