Category Archives: US News

‘Etched in my mind’: reporter describes South Carolina firing squad execution

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Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press recalls experience of watching Brad Sigmon die for 2001 murders

A reporter for the Associated Press who watched as South Carolina executed a convicted murderer by firing squad has described the experience, saying that the killing was now “etched” in his mind.

Jeffrey Collins, who has witnessed executions in South Carolina for the news agency for 21 years and has seen 11 people killed using three methods, wrote a short essay about the experience.

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Trump pick for Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia would be ‘crazy’ if Taiwan tensions flare

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Nominee for undersecretary for defense policy says Aukus deal to deliver Virginia class submarines could leave US sailors ‘vulnerable’

One of Donald Trump’s top picks for the Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia under the Aukus agreement poses a “very difficult problem” for the US and could endanger its own sailors.

Elbridge Colby, Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy – the number three post at the US Department of Defense – has previously admitted he is “skeptical” about Aukus and said this week he is worried selling submarines to Australia could leave US sailors “vulnerable” because the vessels won’t be “in the right place in the right time”.

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Iran’s supreme leader rails against Trump’s ‘bullying’ military threat

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Ayatollah Khamenei says US demand to reopen talks on Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at domination

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has criticised what he described as bullying tactics a day after Donald Trump threatened military action against Iran.

“Some bully governments – I really don’t know of any more appropriate term for some foreign figures and leaders than the word bullying – insist on negotiations,” Khamenei told officials after Trump threatened military action if Iran refused to engage in talks over its nuclear programme.

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Trump policies could fuel illicit drug trade despite vow to curb fentanyl

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‘Coercive’ tariffs and federal funding cuts could worsen flow of illicit drugs into US, ex-government officials warn

Donald Trump’s policies could leave the US more vulnerable to dangerous synthetic drug trafficking from abroad, even as the administration has vowed to stop fentanyl from entering the country, former government officials say.

This week, Trump imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, ostensibly as a tactic to stem the flow of illicit drugs into the US.

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‘She is evil’: Amy Coney Barrett under attack by right wing after USAid ruling

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Supreme court justice who frequently votes alongside conservative colleagues branded ‘DEI judge’

Amy Coney Barrett, the Donald Trump-appointed conservative supreme court justice, has been branded a “DEI judge” by furious rightwing figures, after she voted to reject Trump’s attempt to freeze nearly $2bn in foreign aid.

Coney Barrett, part of the court’s rightwing majority, split with her fellow conservative justices this week. She and John Roberts, the chief justice, voted to leave in place a ruling from a US district judge that ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze the nearly $2bn in aid for foreign aid work that had already been performed, and that had been approved by Congress.

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Mormon church rocked by child sexual abuse allegations in California

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Look-back window results in nearly 100 allegations against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in the US has been rocked by a slew of sexual abuse allegations launched against it in California in the latest scandal to hit the organization that is better known as the Mormon church.

A three-year look-back legal window that allows adult survivors of sexual assault to file claims in California has produced almost 100 allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Mormon leaders.

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One in 15 Americans has witnessed a mass shooting – study

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Study found that 7% of Americans have been present at a scene of a mass shooting and 2% had been injured in one

One in 15 Americans has witnessed a mass shooting, a new study shows, revealing the depth and impact of the epidemic of gun violence that has washed over the US in recent decades.

The study found that about 7% of US adults have been present at the scene of a mass shooting in their lifetime, and more than 2% have been injured during one, according to new a report from the University of Colorado Boulder.

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Russia launches devastating attack on Ukraine after Trump’s defence of Putin

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Latest attacks came hours after Donald Trump said Vladimir Putin was ‘doing what anybody would do’

Russia launched a devastating attack on Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least 14 people and injuring dozens more, hours after Donald Trump defended Vladimir Putin and said the Kremlin leader was “doing what anybody would do”.

Two ballistic missiles hit the centre of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region. Fire engulfed a five-storey apartment building. As emergency services arrived, Russia launched another strike on the same area. Eleven civilians were killed, with five children among the 30 injured.

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US rise of cryptocurrency and fall of regulation pose ‘profound risks’ – report

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Center for Political Accountability, which advocates for corporate disclosure, warns of fallout from Trump’s efforts

A new report warns of “profound risks” in American politics as cryptocurrency companies increase their political spending and Donald Trump oversees regulatory retreat while promising to create a “crypto strategic reserve”.

The situation “illustrate[s] the profound risks that unchecked corporate political spending presents, particularly within the volatile and often unpredictable cryptocurrency industry”, reads the report, from the Center for Political Accountability (CPA), a non-profit that advocates for corporate political disclosure.

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Trump suspending US intelligence sharing is ‘suffocating’ Ukraine’s hope, says Ben Wallace

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Former UK defence secretary suggests Ukraine can still win the war if it continues holding off Russian forces

Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, has said Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US intelligence sharing with Kyiv is “suffocating” Ukrainian hope of holding out against Russian aggression.

Last Friday, the US president, along with the vice-president, JD Vance, berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in full view of the media, telling the Ukrainian president that he was “gambling with world war three” and to come back to the White House “when he is ready for peace”.

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US support to maintain UK’s nuclear arsenal is in doubt, experts say

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Malcolm Rifkind joins diplomats and analysts urging focus on European cooperation to replace Trident

Britain’s ability to rely on the US to maintain the UK’s nuclear arsenal is now in doubt, experts have warned, but working with European states to replace it will be costly and take time.

An existing debate about the future of Trident – Britain’s ageing submarine-launched nuclear missile system – has taken a dramatic new turn in recent weeks amid fears Donald Trump could pull out of Nato.

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Woman kidnapped as a toddler in the US 25 years ago found alive in Mexico

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Andrea Michelle Reyes was two when her mother took her from her father in Connecticut and fled the country

A woman who was abducted in Connecticut as a toddler has been found alive 25 years later in Mexico.

Andrea Michelle Reyes was two years old when she was taken by her mother, Rosa Tenorio, in October 1999, according to a news release from the New Haven police department. Tenorio did not have legal custody of Reyes, who was in the care of her father at the time of the kidnapping, police said.

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South Carolina conducts first US firing squad execution in 15 years: ‘Barbaric’

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Brad Sigmon, 67, was shot dead by prison staff despite outcry over ‘cruel’ method and calls for clemency

The US has conducted its first execution by firing squad in 15 years, with South Carolina prison officials shooting to death Brad Sigmon, 67, on Friday evening, despite widespread concerns about the safety and cruelty of this method.

Sigmon was the oldest person to be executed in the state’s history and his death was part of a series of rapid killings the state has pursued in the last six months as it revives capital punishment. There had been growing calls for clemency, but minutes before Sigmon was killed, the state’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster, announced he would not be intervening.

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Multiple people face charges in hazing death of Southern University student

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Man surrenders to police and two more arrests expected in Caleb Wilson’s death after Omega Psi Phi fraternity ritual

Multiple people are facing criminal charges in the recent death of a 20-year-old student at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that evidently occurred amid a fraternity hazing, authorities have said.

Caleb McCray, 23, surrendered to police in Louisiana’s capital city on Thursday on counts of manslaughter as well as criminal hazing in the 27 February death of 20-year-old Caleb Wilson, a mechanical engineering student at Southern as well as a member of its famed Human Jukebox marching band.

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Justice department opens investigation into soaring US egg prices – report

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Officials said to be looking at whether producers have conspired to increase prices or have held back supply

The justice department has reportedly opened an investigation into what is driving the sharp rise in egg prices, including whether top producers have conspired to increase them.

Officials are also said to be looking at whether companies have held back supply. Their investigation is in its early stages, and may not lead to any formal action, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with the matter.

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EPA issues guidance that spending of $50,000 or more must gain approval of Doge

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Move comes even as Trump has tried to show that Musk’s cost-slashing agency doesn’t have the final say

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued new guidance directing that spending items greater than $50,000 now require approval from Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), even as Donald Trump began putting some distance between Musk’s reach and the power of government department heads – at least over job cuts.

“Any assistance agreement, contract or interagency agreement transaction [valued at] $50,000 or greater must receive approval from an EPA DOGE team member,” the EPA guidance says, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. The EPA did not respond to a request from the news agency on Friday for comment.

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Trump says he wrote to Iran and wants to negotiate nuclear weapons deal

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First step by president to open discussions comes as Iranian government locked in dispute over negotiating with US

Donald Trump has said he wants to negotiate a new deal with Iran to prevent its development of nuclear weapons and sent a letter to its leaders saying he hoped they would open talks.

It is the first practical step taken by the US president to see if new negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme are possible.

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Saudi Arabia is hosting more Ukraine talks – but how neutral is it?

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The US and Ukraine will meet in Jeddah next week, but the Saudi crown prince’s closeness to Putin is a concern

On the surface, the announcement that Saudi Arabia will host talks between the US and Ukraine in Jeddah next week appears promising news.

After the disastrous meeting between the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Donald Trump in the White House last week, a more neutral location for this meeting of lower-level figures makes sense in terms of trying to dial down the temperature.

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US foreign aid projects asked to justify their work in White House survey

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Staff questioned on eccentric list of criteria that meet Trump administration’s new national security priorities

Staff on hundreds of foreign aid projects left in limbo by the Trump administration’s funding freeze have received a survey that asks them to justify their work under an eccentric list of criteria that meet the White House’s new national security priorities.

The survey, copies of which have been obtained by the Guardian, asks foreign aid programme staff to detail whether they contribute to limiting illegal immigration or securing US borders, “combatting Christian prosecution”,and whether they help the US secure access to rare earth minerals.

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US owner of UK pharmacy chain Boots to be taken private in $10bn deal

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Walgreens Boots Alliance sold to Sycamore Partners and ends almost a century of trading on public markets

The US owner of the high street pharmacy chain Boots is to be taken private in a $10bn (£7.8bn) deal that will bring an end to almost a century of trading on public markets for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

The company, which operates more than 1,800 Boots stores in the UK, has been sold to the US private equity firm Sycamore Partners after struggling in the internet era as customers have turned to online shopping for cheaper products.

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