Category Archives: US News

Doge reportedly using AI tool to create ‘delete list’ of federal regulations

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‘Department of government efficiency’ is proposing to use tool to cut 50% of federal regulations by January

The “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is using artificial intelligence to create a “delete list” of federal regulations, according to a report, proposing to use the tool to cut 50% of regulations by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration.

The “Doge AI Deregulation Decision Tool” will analyze 200,000 government regulations, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, and select those which it deems to be no longer required by law.

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Revealed: Debate opponent of Mehdi Hasan organized violent far-right protests

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Richard Black, who appeared on controversial Jubilee video, organized Proud Boys-linked protests in 2017

A debating opponent of the leftwing media figure Mehdi Hasan in a controversial viral YouTube video was previously the organizer of two violent far-right protests in Berkeley, California, in 2017, the Guardian can reveal.

The video debate session with Hasan, published to the 10 million-subscriber Jubilee channel, has already attracted scrutiny due to platforming a self-described “fascist”, Connor Estelle, who reportedly lost his job after he was identified by online researchers.

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World’s most premature baby celebrates first birthday

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Nash Keen, born at exactly 21 weeks, 133 days ahead of his mother’s due date, has been recognized by Guinness World Records

An Iowa toddler who was born when his mother was less than five months pregnant isn’t only the most premature baby recognized by Guinness World Records after recently turning one.

As his mother, Mollie Keen, put it, Nash Keen is also “very determined, curious … and he’s just all smiles all the time” after surviving against what Guinness described as “phenomenal odds”.

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China calls for global AI cooperation days after Trump administration unveils low-regulation strategy

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Chinese premier warns at global conference AI development must be weighed against security risks, urges ‘further consensus from the entire society’

Chinese premier Li Qiang has proposed establishing an organisation to foster global cooperation on artificial intelligence, calling on countries to coordinate on the development and security of the fast-evolving technology, days after the US unveiled plans to deregulate the industry.

Speaking at the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Li called AI a new engine for growth, adding that governance is fragmented and emphasising the need for more coordination between countries to form a globally recognised framework for AI.

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Democrats request copy of Epstein ‘birthday book’ that reportedly contains Trump poem

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Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia seek ‘complete and unredacted copy’ of book from Epstein estate lawyers

House Democrats on Friday sent a letter to the attorneys representing the estate of Jeffrey Epstein requesting a copy of the so-called “birthday book” that reportedly contains a crude poem and doodle from Donald Trump in celebration of the late sex offender’s 50th birthday.

In the letter, California congressmen Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia say the contents of the book may be “essential” to congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein controversy. In the letter, they ask for a “complete and unredacted” copy of the book by 10 August.

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Family sues after funeral home sends son’s brain in unmarked leaking box

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Remains of Timothy Garlington shipped from Georgia funeral home to another in Pennsylvania

Two funeral homes allegedly gave grieving parents their deceased son’s brain in a box, which began to smell, leaked into their car and got on the father’s hands when he moved it, according to an updated lawsuit filed this week.

The father, Lawrence Butler, said the discovery was overwhelming at a news conference on Thursday, leaving a horrific memory that mars the other memories of a “good young man”, their son, Timothy Garlington.

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Judge dismisses Trump officials’ lawsuit over Chicago sanctuary policies

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Blow to US president as judge rejects claim that sanctuary policies ‘thwart’ federal efforts to enforce immigration laws

A judge in Illinois dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit Friday that sought to disrupt limits Chicago imposes on cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police.

The lawsuit, filed in February, alleged that so-called sanctuary laws in the nation’s third-largest city “thwart” federal efforts to enforce immigration laws.

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‘Come with me, Chuck E’: Florida police arrest mascot for credit card fraud as children look on

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Police arrested employee of the chain after credit card stolen from customer was allegedly found in his possession

Florida police have arrested a Chuck E Cheese mascot for credit card fraud, telling him “Chuck E, come with me” and leading him away in handcuffs while still in his gigantic mouse head costume as horrified children looked on.

Police confirmed to the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper that they had arrested Jermell Jones, an employee of the chain of family entertainment centers, on three felonies.

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Trump cranks up distraction machine but focus refuses to budge from Epstein

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The president is a master of ‘look over there’ – but not when his supporters’ core beliefs about the ‘deep state’ are in play

Donald Trump displayed the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Sitting in the Oval Office, he was asked by a reporter about the justice department’s hunt for evidence about the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “I don’t really follow that too much,” he said. “It’s sort of a witch-hunt.”

And then the pivot: “The witch-hunt you should be talking about is that they caught President Obama absolutely cold.” Trump was claiming a plot by Barack Obama to rig the 2016 election, accusing his predecessor of “treason”. For good measure he warned: “Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people.”

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‘We’re terribly sorry’: South Park creators respond with humour to White House anger over naked Donald Trump

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Speaking at Comic-Con on Thursday, Trey Parker and Matt Stone revealed they spent days negotiating with producers to show the US president’s genitals

South Park co-creator Trey Parker had the briefest of responses on Thursday to anger from the White House over the latest season premiere, which showed a naked Donald Trump in bed with Satan.

“We’re terribly sorry,” Parker said, followed by a long, deadpan-comic stare.

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Bill Clinton reportedly sent Jeffrey Epstein note for birthday album

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Wall Street Journal reports ex-president’s letter, while New York Times reports Trump called Epstein ‘the greatest’

Donald Trump apparently isn’t the only president that sent a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein. “The biggest name in the album” was Bill Clinton, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The ex-president’s letter appeared alongside nearly 50 others, including other prominent celebrities and executives.

Last week, the Journal reported that Trump had authored a “bawdy” letter to Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 after he was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges. The letter was included in an album Epstein’s former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell compiled on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 2003. Trump has sued Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal newspaper reporters and the newspaper’s publisher Dow Jones for libel and slander over the reporting.

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‘Extortion’: Columbia University’s deal with White House met with mixed reactions

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Some slammed the agreement with the Trump administration to reinstate $400m in federal funds while others praised it as an ‘excellent outcome’

Columbia University’s long anticipated deal with the Trump administration after months of negotiations has drawn both condemnation and praise from faculty, students, and alumni – a sign that the end of negotiations will hardly restore harmony on a campus profoundly divided since the beginning of Israel’s war in Gaza.

The deal will reinstate $400m in federal funds the administration cut from the university after it accused it of allowing antisemitism to fester on campus. But it will cost Columbia some $220m in legal settlements, as well as a host of new measures that critics warn significantly restrict the university’s independence and will further repress pro-Palestinian speech.

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South Park targets Paramount after signing $1.5bn deal and skewers Trump: ‘He can do anything to anyone’

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Show begins 27th season covering Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount and cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show, depicting Trump in bed with Satan

South Park has kicked off its 27th season with a blistering episode taking aim at Donald Trump and its newly minted parent company, Paramount, just one day after signing a $1.5bn deal with the network.

The premiere episode, “Sermon on the Mount,” sees Trump in bed with series regular Satan and covers topics including Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount, the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, wokeness, Trump’s attacks on Canada and more.

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First Thing: Late Jesuit global leader allegedly let known child molester become a priest

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Court records show Pedro Arrupe, a candidate for sainthood, failed to stop Donald Dickerson being ordained. Plus, deadly clashes on Thai-Cambodian border

Good morning.

The former worldwide leader of the Jesuit religious order Pedro Arrupe acknowledged he was warned that one of his aspiring priests had been accused of sexually molesting two children and had admitted making sexual advances on a third, court documents reveal.

What is the claim in the Louisiana case? The lawsuit claims Dickerson raped a 17-year-old student at a Jesuit-run university in New Orleans.

Should we expect further developments? Yes. On Wednesday, the House oversight committee voted 8-2 to subpoena the justice department to release files related to Epstein, and subpoenaed Ghislaine Maxwell for a deposition.

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Newsman or businessman? Murdoch walks tightrope in battle with Trump

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Longstanding relationship between media mogul and US president is being tested amid Trump’s lawsuit over a WSJ story about his ties to Epstein

Rupert Murdoch had made up his mind. “We want to make Trump a nonperson,” he assured one of his former executives in a 2021 email, two days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Over seven decades, Murdoch has sought to charm, challenge and change prime ministers and presidents as he built one of the world’s most powerful media empires. In this particular endeavor, however, he failed.

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Columbia announces deal to pay Trump administration more than $220m

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Deal falls short of starkest measures, including consent decree and overhaul of university’s governance structure

Columbia University announced a much-anticipated deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220m, an agreement meant to bring a resolution to the threat of massive funding cuts to the school, but certain to rankle critics given the extraordinary concessions made by the Ivy League university.

Under the agreement, the school will pay a $200m settlement over three years to the federal government, the university said. It will also pay $21m to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

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Insurance claims from LA fires could ‘fully exhaust’ $21bn state fund

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If regional utility is found responsible for January blaze, fund would pay claims and lawsuit settlements

Insurance claims from the Eaton wildfire could “fully exhaust” a state fund that was set up to protect customers when a wildfire is caused by a utility company.

The devastating wildfire in Los Angeles killed 17 people and destroyed more than 9,000 structures in January. One leading theory is that ageing equipment belonging to Southern California Edison, the primary electricity provider in the region, ignited the fire.

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Trump signs three executive orders targeting ‘woke’ AI models

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Crackdown on what the White House claims is bias echoes longstanding conservative grievances against tech

Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a trio of executive orders that he vowed would turn the United States into an “AI export powerhouse”, including a directive targeting what the White House described as “woke” artificial intelligence models.

The anti-woke order is part of the administration’s broader anti-diversity campaign that has also targeted federal agencies, academic institutions and the military. “The American people do not want woke Marxist lunacy in the AI models, and neither do other countries,” Trump said during remarks at an AI summit in Washington on Wednesday.

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French president and wife sue rightwing US commentator Candace Owens for defamation

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Owens has claimed that France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, is a man, and that French president is controlled by CIA

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte Macron, are suing the rightwing commentator Candace Owens for defamation.

In a suit filed on Wednesday in Delaware against Owens and her businesses, the Macrons say Owens has engaged in ongoing defamatory attacks against them in order to elevate her media platform, gain more audience and make money.

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From Canada to Finland, a US neo-Nazi fight club is rapidly spreading across the globe

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‘Active clubs’ that use martial arts to espouse far-right, fascist ideologies are proliferating in the US and abroad

More than a dozen men wearing black masks and sunglasses – obstructing any open source investigators from easily identifying them – appeared in a Telegram video in front of city hall in London, Canada, in June.

“Mass deportations now,” the men yelled in unison, holding up banners with the same slogan. “No blood for Israel.”

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