Category Archives: US News

Trump names pro-Israel media activist as US ambassador to South Africa

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Leo Brent Bozell III, founder of a conservative media group, is president’s nomination amid rising diplomatic tensions

Donald Trump has nominated a conservative, pro-Israel media activist as US ambassador to South Africa, at a time when the relationship between the two countries is at a nadir.

Leo Brent Bozell III founded the Media Research Center – whose website states it is “a blog site designed to broadcast conservative values, culture, and politics [and] to expose liberal media bias” – in 1987.

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Canada’s ex-spy chief says White House response to Signal leak threatens ‘Five Eyes’ security

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Former intelligence head said leak and White House response was ‘very worrying’ to allies of the US

Canada’s former spy chief has said the Trump administration’s attempts to downplay the leak of top-secret attack plans is a “very worrying” development, with implications for broader intelligence sharing among US allies.

On Wednesday, the Atlantic magazine published new and detailed messages from a group chat, including plans for US bombings, drone launches and targeting information of the assault, including descriptions of weather conditions. Among the recipients of the messages was a prominent journalist, who was inadvertently added to the group.

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Intelligence chiefs deny they discussed war plans on Signal in House hearing

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National intelligence head Tulsi Gabbard and CIA director John Ratcliffe argue ‘no classified information’ was leaked

US intelligence chiefs on Wednesday denied breaking the law or revealing classified information in a group chat where they discussed details of air strikes on Yemen in the presence of a journalist, despite allegations from Democrats that the leak was reckless and possibly illegal.

The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA director, John Ratcliffe, were giving their second day of congressional testimony on global threats facing the United States, which Democratic lawmakers seized on to condemn their use of the Signal app to discuss arrangements to bomb the Houthis in a group that included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic.

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Trump officials pause some green card applications in immigration crackdown

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Approved refugees reportedly affected by freeze on processing after Trump demands more aggressive vetting

The Trump administration has paused the processing of certain green card applications as the US government continues to implement a hardline immigration agenda.

CBS News reported that approved refugees are part of the processing freeze, as the White House enacts an effort to more aggressively vet immigrants to the US.

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Newly shared Signal messages show Trump advisers discussed Yemen attack plans

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The Atlantic releases more text from chat after Trump officials claimed none of it was ‘classified information’

The Atlantic magazine has published fresh messages from a group chat including top US officials where they discuss operational details of plans to bomb Yemen.

The initial revelations by the magazine and its editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was accidentally added to the chat on the messaging app Signal, have sparked a huge outcry in the US, with the Trump administration facing withering attacks over the disastrous leak of sensitive information.

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Iowa law banning books including 1984 and Ulysses blocked by US federal judge

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Judge rules that law banning school libraries and classrooms from carrying books depicting sex acts had been applied unconstitutionally

A lawsuit brought by publishers and authors including John Green and Jodi Picoult has led to a portion of a law banning Iowa school libraries and classrooms from carrying books depicting sex acts being halted.

On Tuesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the measure, writing that it had been applied unconstitutionally in many schools and that books of “undeniable political, artistic, literary, and/or scientific value” had been caught up in it, including Ulysses by James Joyce, Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell, Beloved by Toni Morrison and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

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California Uber and Lyft drivers push for settlement in wage theft claims

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Ride-share drivers held demonstrations from San Francisco to San Diego amid ongoing negotiations affecting 250,000

Ride-share drivers in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego held demonstrations in front of city hall buildings on Wednesday as California state attorney General Rob Bonta, city attorneys and attorneys representing ride-share drivers continue negotiations next week with Uber and Lyft to settle thousands of claims of wage theft for drivers.

At least 250,000 individual ride-share drivers in California who drove for the apps between 2016 and 2020 are estimated to be eligible for the settlement for wage theft claims of tens of billions of dollars, according to Rideshare Drivers United in California.

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Trump outburst prompts removal of his ‘distorted’ portrait from Colorado capitol

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Painting of Trump was commissioned by Republicans, though president blamed Colorado’s Democratic governor

A portrait of Donald Trump that was commissioned by fellow Republicans – but which he evidently came to believe had been “purposefully distorted” – was removed from a wall at the Colorado state capitol where it had been since 2019.

After Trump posted complaints about the painting on his Truth Social platform, Colorado’s senate minority leader, Paul Lundeen, a Republican, asked that it be taken down and replaced with one that “depicts his contemporary likeness”. Colorado Republicans had raised more than $10,000 to commission the oil painting that was the target of the president’s ire.

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Rising fears of Trump tariffs pummel US consumer confidence to four-year low

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Tariffs panned by economists for sowing uncertainty that they said made it challenging for businesses to plan ahead

US consumer confidence plunged to the lowest level in more than four years in March, with households fearing a recession in the future and higher inflation because of tariffs.

The Conference Board said on Tuesday that write-in responses to the survey showed “worries about the impact of trade policies and tariffs in particular are on the rise”, adding: “There were also more references than usual to economic and policy uncertainty.”

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China remains top military and cyber threat to US, intelligence report says

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Annual report says Beijing making ‘steady but uneven’ progress on capabilities to capture Taiwan

China remains the United States’ top military and cyber threat, according to a new report by US intelligence agencies that said Beijing was making “steady but uneven” progress on capabilities it could use to capture Taiwan.

China has the ability to hit the United States with conventional weapons, compromise US infrastructure through cyber-attacks, and target its assets in space, as well as seeking to displace the US as the top AI power by 2030, the Annual Threat Assessment by the intelligence community said.

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Trump dismisses Signal security failure as ‘the only glitch in two months’

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President says national security adviser Mike Waltz, suspected of adding journalist to chat, ‘has learned a lesson’

Donald Trump defended his embattled national security adviser on Tuesday and said the leak of highly classified military plans was “the only glitch in two months”, as scrutiny intensified into how top US officials shared operational details for bombing Yemen in a group chat.

In an interview with NBC, the president said, “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” as Democrats called for an investigation into the sharing of the plans for this month’s major airstrikes in Yemen on the Signal app. Later on Tuesday, during a meeting with ambassadors, Trump said his administration would investigate the incident but claimed “there was no classified information” shared on Signal.

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Danish PM accuses US of ‘unacceptable pressure’ as JD Vance says he will join Greenland visit

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US vice-president says he will join unsolicited visit to Arctic island, which Mette Frederiksen says is ‘not what Greenland needs or wants’

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, has accused the US of putting “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland – which she has vowed to resist – before an unsolicited visit to the Arctic island by members of the Trump administration.

Later, just hours after her comments, the White House sprang a fresh surprise, as the US vice-president, JD Vance, announced he would join his wife on a trip to the territory this week.

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Former Yankees star Brett Gardner left with ‘many questions’ after son’s death in Costa Rica

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  • Miller Gardner died in sleep on Friday morning
  • Authorities awaiting analysis of toxicology testing

A former New York Yankees player and his wife say they have “many questions” and “few answers” after their youngest son fell ill and died during a family vacation.

Miller Gardner – the son of Brett and Jessica Gardner – was 14.

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Ukraine accuses Moscow of ‘hollow statements about peace’ after latest attack

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Ukrainian officials say 88 injured in missile strike as US and Russian officials start talks on ceasefire deal

Ukraine has accused Moscow of making “hollow statements about peace” after 88 people were injured in a Russian missile attack as US and Russian officials began talks that Washington hopes will mark the first step toward lasting peace.

Seventeen children were among the casualties after the missile hit schools and residential buildings in the city of Sumy, Ukrainian officials said late on Monday, as Moscow appeared to be exploiting the window before any ceasefire to launch attacks on Ukraine.

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US postmaster general resigns with immediate effect

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Louis DeJoy led dramatic effort to restructure the US postal service over past five years

The US postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, who said earlier this month that he had asked the government efficiency team led by Elon Musk for assistance with a number of issues, is resigning effective on Monday, the agency said.

DeJoy, who has headed the agency since 2020, in February said he had asked the US Postal Service (USPS) governing board to identify his successor but had given no indication in recent days that he planned to step down abruptly.

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Alaska teen dies in avalanche, the state’s fourth snow slide fatality this month

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Tucker Challan, 16, was found on Sunday after triggering and being buried in an avalanche in Turnagain Pass

A teenager has died after triggering an avalanche, the fourth person killed in snow slides in Alaska this month.

Alaska State Troopers said the body of 16-year-old Tucker Challan of Soldotna was recovered from the avalanche on Sunday by the Alaska mountain rescue group.

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Trump’s shuttering of global media agency endangers reporters, staff say

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Employees who may have to return home risk death or imprisonment at hands of authoritarian governments

Foreign workers at US government-backed media outlets being cut by the Trump administration say they face deportation to their home countries, where some risk imprisonment or death at the hands of authoritarian governments.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration moved to defund the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), an independent federal agency that oversees the Voice of America (VoA), the US’s largest and oldest international broadcaster, and provides grants to Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and other news agencies. The agency had around 3,500 employees with an annual budget of $886m in 2024.

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US and Russia begin talks in Saudi Arabia on Ukraine ceasefire

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Uncertainty remains over how and when 30-day halt on energy strikes would take effect amid a gulf on expectations

US and Russian officials have begun talks in Saudi Arabia as Donald Trump pushes to broker a limited ceasefire that Washington hopes will mark the first step toward lasting peace in Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia have agreed in principle to a one-month halt on strikes on energy infrastructure after Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders last week. But uncertainty remains over how and when the partial ceasefire would take effect – and whether its scope would extend beyond energy infrastructure to include other critical sites, such as hospitals, bridges, and vital utilities.

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Mark Carney laments Canada’s lost friendship with US in visit to 9/11 town

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Canadian PM makes remarks on visit to Newfoundland town that sheltered US airline passengers after attacks

Mark Carney has lamented Canada’s lost friendship with the United States as he visited the town that sheltered thousands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks.

The Canadian prime minister’s visit to Gander, Newfoundland, on the second day of a national election campaign comes against the backdrop of a trade war and sovereignty threats from Donald Trump.

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Ukraine war live: US and Russia start ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia as Zelenskyy says Putin must give ‘real order’ to stop attacks

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Washington expresses optimism with latest round of negotiations beginning in Riyadh a day after Kyiv said it had ‘constructive’ US talks

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) say they have destroyed four Russian military helicopters in Russian border region of Belgorod using US-made Himars missiles with cluster munitions.

The SSO said, in a post on X, that two Ka-52 strike helicopters and two Mi-8 transport helicopters were concealed in a “hidden position” used for “rapid redeployment or attacks against Ukraine”.

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