Category Archives: US News

Wisconsin woman missing for more than 60 years found ‘alive and well’

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Audrey Backeberg who disappeared at age 20 in 1962 was found living out of the state, county sheriff’s office says

A Wisconsin woman missing for more than 60 years has been found “alive and well”, according to authorities.

In a press statement, Wisconsin’s Sauk county sheriff’s office said that 82-year old Audrey Backeberg, who initially disappeared in July 1962 at the age of 20, had been found living out of the state. The sheriff’s office did not disclose which state Backeberg was found in.

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Trump says he ‘doesn’t rule out’ using military force to control Greenland

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President has repeatedly expressed idea of expansion into autonomous territory within fellow Nato member Denmark

Donald Trump would not rule out using military force to gain control of Greenland, the world’s largest island and an autonomous territory within Denmark, a fellow Nato member with the US.

Since taking office, the US president has repeatedly expressed the idea of US expansion into Greenland, triggering widespread condemnation and unease both on the island itself and in the global diplomatic community. Greenland is seen as strategically important both for defense and as a future source of mineral wealth.

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Major delays at Newark airport as FAA cites air traffic control staffing issues

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One of US’s biggest airports, in New York area, experiences 210 delays and 88 cancellations amid aviation safety fears

Flight delays continued on Sunday as a major crisis gripped one of the US’s biggest airports amid aviation safety fears.

As of Sunday morning, there were 210 delays and 88 cancellations at Newark Liberty international airport (EWR) in New Jersey, according to FlightAware. The large airport is one of the major hubs for New York city and its surrounding area.

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Trump says he doesn’t know if he needs to uphold constitutional due process

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President also says he sees himself as leaving office at the end of his current term and not seeking a third one

Donald Trump said “I don’t know” when asked if he needed to uphold the US constitution when it comes to giving immigrants the right of due process as he gave a wide-ranging TV interview broadcast on Sunday.

At the same time the US president also said he saw himself as leaving office at the end of his current term and not seeking a third one – something he has not previously always been consistent on even though a third term is widely seen as unconstitutional.

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Arts agency terminates dozens of grants after Trump proposes eliminating NEA

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National Endowment for the Arts notifies organizations that offers of government grants were terminated

Dozens of US arts organizations have been notified that offers of government grants have been terminated, hours after Donald Trump proposed eliminating federal agencies that support arts, humanities and learning.

The cancellation of grant offers were reported from organizations across the US, including a $25,000 offer to a playhouse in Portland, Oregon, hours before the opening of a new production, August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.

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France and EU to incentivise US-based scientists to come to Europe

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Macron and von der Leyen expected to announce protections for researchers seeking to relocate amid Trump’s crackdown

France and the EU are to step up their efforts to attract US-based scientists hit by Donald Trump’s crackdown on academia, as they prepare announcements on incentives for researchers to settle in Europe.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, alongside the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will make speeches on Monday morning at Sorbonne University in Paris, flanked by European university leaders and researchers, in which they are expected to announce potential incentives and protections for researchers seeking to relocate to Europe.

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Father of teen fatally shot by Cincinnati police allegedly kills officer with his car

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Man who became distraught after viewing footage of the fatal shooting of his son crashed into officer the next day, authorities say

The distraught father of an 18-year-old shot and killed by police in Cincinnati allegedly killed a police officer with his car less than 24 hours after the death of his son.

The double killing has shocked the Ohio city amid ongoing concerns about American law enforcement’s involvement in lethal encounters with citizens.

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Biden aides discussed a cognitive test but decided against it, book reveals

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Debate around Joe Biden’s mental acuity and his age was a critical issue during the run up to the 2024 election

Joe Biden’s top staff debated the possibility of the embattled Democratic president taking a cognitive test last year as he geared up for re-election but eventually decided against the idea, a new book is set to reveal.

Debate around Biden’s mental acuity and his age was an acute issue during the run up to the 2024 election, which eventually saw Biden step down from his re-election campaign in favor of his vice-president, Kamala Harris.

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US jury’s $30m verdict brings hope for Cuban exiles over confiscated land

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Lawsuit brought under Helms-Burton could spur others pursuing compensation for property seized by Castro

Long before it became one of Cuba’s most popular tourist destinations in the 1990s, the small island of Cayo Coco, with its pristine beaches and powdery white sands, attracted a different kind of clientele.

Inspired by its unspoiled beauty, and his observations of shack-dwelling fishermen scratching out a meager living, Ernest Hemingway set scenes from two of his most famous books there, including the 1952 classic The Old Man and the Sea.

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Elon Musk’s company town: SpaceX employees vote to create ‘Starbase’

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Residents – most of them SpaceX workers – in remote Texas community approve plan to create new city

Voters in a small patch of south Texas voted on Saturday to give Elon Musk a town to call his own, officially creating a new city called Starbase in the area where Musk’s SpaceX holds rocket launches.

A couple of hundred residents of what was previously known as Boca Chica decided to make their unincorporated neighborhoods into a town that will grant them the authority to pass city ordinances.

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Police disband pro-Palestinian camp at Swarthmore College and arrest nine activists

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Some students were also temporarily suspended as other colleges respond with disciplinary action to protests

On the morning of 3 May, the Swarthmore borough police department disbanded a four-day pro-Palestinian encampment on Swarthmore College’s campus and arrested nine activists.

The demonstration calling on the college to divest from the tech company Cisco due to its ties to the Israeli government was a rare uprising in an academic year where higher-education institutions have been quick to quash them. One current and one former Swarthmore College student were among those arrested, while the rest were from outside the college community, the college’s president, Valerie Smith, said in a statement.

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Arizona governor pauses deportation for Guatemalan who gave birth days ago

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‘Erika’, 24, gained public attention after lawyer said federal agents denied him access to her in a Tucson hospital

A Guatemalan immigrant who crossed the US border eight months pregnant and gave birth in Arizona has avoided fast-track deportation after intervention by the state’s governor, her lawyer and a federal official said on Saturday.

The 24-year-old woman gained public attention after lawyer Luis Campos said federal agents had denied him access to her in a Tucson hospital after she gave birth on Wednesday and told him she was set for rapid removal after entering the country illegally.

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Texas governor signs largest US school voucher law in win for conservatives

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State becomes 16th to allow public funds to be used for private schools, which opponents say will benefit mostly wealthier children

The Texas governor Greg Abbott on Saturday signed a law making more than 5 million students eligible to use state funds for private schools, a watershed moment in the conservative campaign to remake public education in the US.

Texas is allocating $1bn for the first two years of the program to offer parents vouchers to pay for school. It is the 16th state to make all students eligible to receive public funds for private education.

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Police expert testifies that officers who fatally beat Tyre Nichols used excessive force

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Expert testifying for the defense acknowledged that Memphis officers’ blows had been unnecessary

A police training expert testifying on Saturday as a defense witness in the trial of three former Memphis officers charged in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols acknowledged that kicks and punches to Nichols’s head had been unnecessary and excessive.

Don Cameron took the stand on the sixth day of the trial of Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith, who have pleaded not guilty to state charges including second-degree murder. They already face the prospect of years in prison after they were convicted of federal charges last year.

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Warren Buffett announces retirement from leading Berkshire Hathaway

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Billionaire shocked audience of investors with disclosure and said his vice-chair, Greg Abel, should take over

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, has announced his intention to retire at the end of this year. He is 94 years old.

Buffett, the fifth-richest person in the world, shocked an arena full of shareholders on Saturday when he announced that he would step down as the CEO and chair of the trillion-dollar conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025. He will recommend to the 11-person board that his vice-chair, Greg Abel, who currently oversees most of the company’s investments, be named as his successor, Buffett said.

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Germany hits back at Marco Rubio after he panned labeling of AfD as ‘extremist’

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Far-right German party was labeled a ‘confirmed rightwing extremist group’ by country’s domestic intelligence service

Germany’s foreign ministry has hit back at the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, following his criticism of Germany’s decision to label the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party as a “confirmed rightwing extremist group”.

On Thursday, Rubio took to X and wrote: “Germany just gave its spy agency new powers to surveil the opposition. That’s not democracy – it’s tyranny in disguise. What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD – which took second in the recent election – but rather the establishment’s deadly open border immigration policies that the AfD opposes.”

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‘What is left of our democracy?’: freed Palestinian human rights advocate warns of US authoritarian rule

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Mohsen Mahdawi, student detained by Ice last month, pens blistering attack on Trump’s deportation policies

Mohsen Mahdawi, the Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student freed on Wednesday after more than two weeks in immigration detention, has issued a stark warning about the US’s descent into authoritarianism.

“Once the repression of dissent, in the name of security, becomes a key objective of a government, authoritarian rule and even martial law are not far off. When they look at my case, all Americans should ask themselves: what is left of our democracy, and who will be targeted next?” said Mahddawi in an op-ed for the New York Times.

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Scientific societies to do climate assessment after Trump administration dismissed authors

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Two groups join forces for peer-reviewed research after key contributors on Congress-mandated report dismissed

Two major US scientific societies have announced they will join forces to produce peer-reviewed research on the climate crisis’s impact days after Donald Trump’s administration dismissed contributors to a key Congress-mandated report on climate crisis preparedness.

On Friday, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) said that they will work together to produce over 29 peer-reviewed journals that will cover all aspects of climate change including observations, projections, impacts, risks and solutions.

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Huge hound and pocket-sized pup: meet-and-sniff with world’s tallest and smallest dogs

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Reginald, a great dane, and Pearl, a chihuahua, met after winning their respective Guinness World Records categories

A playdate between the world’s tallest and smallest living dogs went the way of most dog park encounters despite the 3ft (0.91-meter) height difference – lots of tail wagging, sniffing and scampering.

Reginald, a seven-year-old great dane from Idaho, and Pearl, a chihuahua from Florida, are both certified winners in their respective height titles by Guinness World Records. The fact that Reginald is the size of a small horse and Pearl is as small as an apple didn’t stop them from getting along famously.

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Mass resignations at labor department threaten workers in US and overseas, warn staff – as more cuts loom

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Exclusive: Insiders sound alarm over ‘catastrophic’ impact of widespread departures and cuts under Trump

A “catastrophic” exodus of thousands of employees from the US Department of Labor threatens “all of the core aspects of working life”, insiders have warned, amid fears that the Trump administration will further slash the agency’s operations.

The federal agency has already lost about 20% of its workforce, according to employees, as nearly 2,700 staff took retirement, early retirement, deferred resignation buyouts or “fork in the road” departures earlier this year.

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