Category Archives: US News

US House Democrat backing El Salvador’s strongman president

Posted on by

Vicente Gonzalez tirelessly promoting Nayib Bukele, including reposting calls to ‘impeach corrupt judges’

A Texas Democrat is co-chair of a congressional caucus that has tirelessly promoted El Salvador’s authoritarian president, Nayib Bukele, including on the caucus’s X account by reposting calls to “impeach the corrupt judges” who impede the actions of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Bukeke is also currently at the center of a scandal in the US involving the transport of hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, where they have entered the country’s notorious prisons for gang members – despite clear evidence that some of them have no gang links.

Continue reading...

US immigration officials detain doctoral student at University of Alabama

Posted on by

Justification for arrest not clear as Trump administration increasingly targets students for arrest and deportation

US immigration authorities have detained a doctoral student at the University of Alabama, campus officials confirmed on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the state’s flagship university said in a brief statement that a student was arrested “off campus” by federal immigration officials, but declined to comment further, citing privacy laws.

Continue reading...

The White Lotus ‘goes too far’: Duke University unhappy over their prominence in show

Posted on by

Two characters in the troubled Ratliff family are Duke alumni, but the association has displeased the US university

  • This article contains spoilers for the third season of The White Lotus

In the aftermath of an incestuous threesome, many viewers of the latest season of The White Lotus may think the show has stepped over a line. But audiences have an unlikely ally in Duke University, which is unhappy that two characters happen to be Duke alumni.

The third season of the popular TV show, which follows wealthy guests and workers at a luxury resort in Thailand, includes the Ratliff family, with the father, Timothy (played by Jason Isaacs) and one of his sons, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) both having attended Duke, a prestigious institution located in Durham, North Carolina.

Continue reading...

Private data of Trump officials in Signal scandal accessible online: report

Posted on by

Der Spiegel reports that in some cases it found password details for Mike Waltz, Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard via hacked data dumps and commercial providers

The private data of top security advisers to US President Donald Trump can be accessed online, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday, adding to the fallout from the officials’ use of a Signal group chat to plan airstrikes on Yemen.

Mobile phone numbers, email addresses and in some cases passwords used by national security adviser Mike Waltz, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, and director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard can be found via commercial data-search services and hacked data dumped online, it reported. It is not clear in all cases how recent the details are.

Continue reading...

Judge at centre of row with Trump over Venezuela deportations will hear Signal lawsuit

Posted on by

US president had previously called for the impeachment of James Boasberg after the judge blocked his deportation flights

The US judge set to hear a new lawsuit over the Signal fiasco is the same judge whom Donald Trump has argued should be impeached for blocking him from using wartime powers to deport Venezuelan migrants.

James Boasberg, a district judge in Washington, was assigned on Wednesday to a lawsuit alleging Trump officials violated federal record-keeping laws by using a Signal group chat to discuss looming military action against Yemen’s Houthis.

Continue reading...

Vehicle of four US soldiers missing in Lithuania found submerged in water

Posted on by

US army says search efforts are ongoing after Nato secretary general tells reporters servicemembers were ‘killed’

The vehicle of four United States soldiers missing in Lithuania has been discovered submerged in water, the US army said, adding that search efforts for the soldiers were ongoing.

The soldiers went missing during a military drill during an exercise at the General Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, a town located less than 10km (6 miles) from the border with Belarus.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Trump officials pause some green card applications in immigration crackdown

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Newly shared Signal messages show Trump advisers discussed Yemen attack plans

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.”

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by
  • 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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...