Category Archives: US News

US releases Russian cybercriminal as part of exchange for teacher Marc Fogel

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Alexander Vinnik, owner and operator of cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, was arrested in 2017 for money laundering

The Trump administration has released Alexander Vinnik, a cybercriminal who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, to Russia, as part of an exchange that freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel on Tuesday.

Vinnik, who arrived in Moscow on a flight from Turkey on Tuesday after having been released from custody in California, is accused of owning and operating one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, BTC-e, which prosecutors allege facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars in transactions for criminals worldwide.

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Elon Musk says he’ll drop his $97bn bid for OpenAI if it remains a non-profit

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Billionaire’s lawyers say offer will be withdrawn if firm he helped found a decade ago ‘preserves the charity’s mission’

Elon Musk says he will abandon his $97.4bn offer to buy the non-profit behind OpenAI if the ChatGPT maker drops its plan to convert into a for-profit company.

“If OpenAI, Inc’s Board is prepared to preserve the charity’s mission and stipulate to take the ‘for sale’ sign off its assets by halting its conversion, Musk will withdraw the bid,” lawyers for the billionaire said in a filing to a California court on Wednesday. “Otherwise, the charity must be compensated by what an arms-length buyer will pay for its assets.”

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Trump proposes nuclear deal with Russia and China to halve defense budgets

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‘We’re all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things,’ the US president said

Donald Trump said that he wants to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and that eventually he hopes all three countries could agree to cut their massive defense budgets in half.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump lamented the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent and said he hopes to gain commitments from the US adversaries to cut their own spending.

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Trump’s Ukraine call with Putin leaves UK sounding at odds with reality

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Statements that there can be no negotiations without Kyiv ring hollow when the US president has just sidelined it

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s incendiary call with Vladimir Putin, UK ministers and officials have had to do some extraordinary contortions.

There is no greater priority in the UK’s foreign policy than keeping the volatile occupant of the White House on side. And that has meant over the past 24 hours that some pronouncements by the British government have seemed at odds with reality.

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Pete Hegseth says ‘everything is on the table’ to end Ukraine war

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US defence secretary suggests cutting number of American troops in Europe could even be part of a deal with Russia

The US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said “everything is on the table” to bring peace to Ukraine and suggested reducing the number of American troops in Europe could be part of any deal.

European leaders are reeling from several abrupt US moves since Wednesday in relation to the Ukraine war and the continent’s security, which has been underpinned by the US since Nato was formed at the end of the second world war.

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Israel says it will stick to agreed hostage demands after Trump causes confusion

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Government says it will follow ceasefire agreement as long as Hamas releases three hostages on Saturday

The Israeli government has signalled it intends to stick to the hostage release schedule agreed in the ceasefire deal with Hamas, but warned that if the anticipated three surviving hostages were not released on Saturday, it would go back to war in Gaza.

The statement from the prime minister’s office ends nearly three days of confusion after Donald Trump’s declaration that Israel should demand Hamas release all the remaining hostages, more than 70 people, by Saturday or failing that, end the ceasefire.

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‘No to ethnic cleansing’: over 350 rabbis sign US ad assailing Trump’s Gaza plan

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Jewish creatives and activists also sign New York Times ad after US president’s proposal to ‘take over Gaza’

More than 350 rabbis, alongside additional signatories including Jewish creatives and activists, have signed an ad in the New York Times in which they condemn Donald Trump’s proposal for the effective ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.

The ad, which was signed by rabbis including Sharon Brous, Roly Matalon and Alissa Wise, as well as Jewish creatives and activists including Tony Kushner, Ilana Glazer, Naomi Klein and Joaquin Phoenix, says: “Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish people say no to ethnic cleansing!”

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USAid cuts sow feeling of betrayal among Yazidis, 10 years after IS genocide

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Figures who backed rights of religious minorities in Trump’s first term fall silent as vital work halted on the ground

During the first Trump administration, Mike Pence, the vice-president, pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly through USAid and the state department, to help Christians and other religious minorities who were persecuted by Islamic State and – in the case of the Yazidis – suffered a genocide.

But under the second Trump administration, the same figures who championed the rights of religious minorities have fallen silent or actively participated in the destruction of USAid, cutting crucial aid to support the same communities they once helped – who now feel abandoned by the US.

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Caught in the middle: UK firms brace for fallout from Trump’s global trade war

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While UK may not be in direct line of fire, knock-on effects on global trade has British businesses worried

“We’re vulnerable at the moment,” says Fiona Conor, the managing director of Trust Electric Heating, a Leeds-based radiator manufacturer, who has been considering expanding into the US market.

After a predictably unpredictable start to Donald Trump’s second term as US president, Conor is worried her options could be limited, as businesses across the UK brace for a global trade war.

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Belarus frees three detainees including US citizen and journalist

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Journalist with US-funded broadcaster among those in release hailed by ambassador as ‘big day for team America’

Belarus has released three detainees including a veteran journalist for a US government-funded broadcaster and a US citizen, the White House said on Wednesday.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed the release on Wednesday of three people including “one American and two individuals from Belarus, one of whom worked for Radio Liberty”. The released American has not been identified.

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US justice department sues New York over immigration rules

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Attorney general Pam Bondi targets state law allowing people to get driver’s licenses without legal residency

The US attorney general announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration is suing New York state over its immigration policies, accusing state officials of choosing “to prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens”.

Standing in front of federal agents who have been tasked with helping in Trump’s immigration crackdown, Pam Bondi echoed the president’s rhetoric as she vowed the justice department would take on communities that thwart federal immigration efforts.

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Ex-officer convicted in fatal shooting of Black man at New Mexico gas station

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Prosecutors said Brad Lunsford, found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, shot Presley Eze at point-blank range in 2022

A former police officer was found guilty on Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of Presley Eze during a 2022 confrontation at a New Mexico gas station.

Brad Lunsford, who is white, had pleaded not guilty in the fatal shooting of Eze, who was Black. The former Las Cruces officer’s attorney, Jose Coronado, said he would ask the judge to review the verdict for its legal sufficiency.

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California insurance plan asks private insurers for $1bn after wildfires

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Private plans, such as State Farm, required to give to Fair plan so all residents have access to fire insurance

California’s home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims.

All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 – more than double the number in 2020. As of 4 February, the plan had received more than 4,700 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, almost half of which were for “total losses”.

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X to pay Donald Trump $10m to settle lawsuit over Capitol attack – report

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President brought suit under X’s previous leadership after he was banned from platform following January 6 events

Elon Musk’s social media platform X will pay Donald Trump $10m to settle a lawsuit the president filed after he was banned from the platform following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, according to a report.

The lawsuit was filed against X under the leadership of its previous CEO, Jack Dorsey. After Musk purchased X, reinstated Trump’s account, began developing a relationship with the president and spent $250m on his re-election campaign, Trump’s legal team considered abandoning the lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the case.

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Arab mediators scramble to save Gaza ceasefire as Israel bolsters troop numbers

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Both sides accuse other of violating terms of truce, but Hamas says there are ‘positive signals’ hostage exchange will go ahead

Arab mediators are scrambling to save the Gaza ceasefire as the Israeli military bolsters troop and tank deployments to the strip’s periphery in advance of the possibility the truce breaks down this weekend.

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to “discuss ways to end the current crisis”, the Palestinian militant group said. Meanwhile, Egyptian and Qatari mediators were working “intensively” to compel Israel to address Hamas’s new demands before Saturday’s scheduled release of three Israeli hostages, Egypt’s state-run al-Qahera television reported.

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Democratic Senator accuses FBI head nominee Kash Patel of orchestrating agency purge

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Patel’s alleged purge of FBI calls into question if he perjured himself at his Senate confirmation hearing

A senior Democrat has accused Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s controversial nominee as FBI director, of having already secretly orchestrated a purge of the bureau’s agents even as senators debate whether to confirm him in the post.

Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said he had “highly credible information” that Patel had given orders to sack senior personnel when he had no power to do so as a private citizen – directly contradicting testimony he had given at a confirmation hearing.

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Trump says he has spoken to Putin and agreed to negotiate Ukraine ceasefire

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US president says he called Russian leader and agreed to have teams start negotiations immediately

Donald Trump has said that he and Vladimir Putin have spoken directly and agreed to begin negotiations to broker a ceasefire to the war in Ukraine.

In a social media post, Trump said that held a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” with Putin and that they agreed to “have our respective teams start negotiations immediately”.

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Tulsi Gabbard confirmed as intelligence head despite fears of pro-Russia stance

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Senate approves nomination of former Democrat as Mitch McConnell is sole Republican to vote against Trump pick

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who has been publicly questioned over her affinity for foreign dictators and promoting conspiracy theories, has been confirmed as director of national intelligence by the US Senate.

The Senate voted 52 to 48, with just one Republican – the senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky – voting against her confirmation.

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New inflation numbers are at odds with Donald Trump’s promise to lower prices

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The president repeatedly claimed he would lower prices during the election campaign, but that’s not an easy task

As tens of millions of Americans prepared to watch the Super Bowl this weekend, Donald Trump sat for the customary pre-game presidential interview.

Trump was elected after pledging to bring down prices fast as much of the country grappled with the cost of living after years of heightened inflation. So when the Fox News anchor asked would families start to feel the impact, the president changed the subject.

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Texas may allow families to pay for private schools with public funds

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School voucher bill likely to benefit wealthier families, allowing $10,000 of taxpayer dollars per student per year

Donald Trump’s executive order on school choice last month may soon be wholly embraced by the state of Texas.

Earlier this month, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, announced school choice as an emergency item during his State of the State address, and just last week, the Texas senate easily passed a school voucher bill (known as senate bill 2 or SB2), which House Republicans expect to pass imminently.

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