Category Archives: US News

Meta rides AI boom to stellar quarterly earnings, but slightly less than expected

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Company beats financial predictions but does not increase daily users as much as Wall Street thought it might

Meta’s blowout year continues after the company reported another stellar financial quarter on Wednesday. Shares fell in after-hours trading.

Wall Street analysts had high expectations for the Instagram and WhatsApp parent company, projecting an 18% jump in sales year over year. The company reported $40.6bn in sales, a 19% increase year over year that outpaced investor expectations of $40.19bn. Meta, which saw a 25% jump in its share price over the past two months, reported $6.03 in earnings per share (EPS), surpassing Wall Street’s expectations of an EPS of $5.29.

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North Korean troops in Russian uniforms heading to Kursk, says US

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Lloyd Austin says deployment near Ukraine border is a dangerous and destabilising development

North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving to the Russian region of Kursk, near Ukraine, according to the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, who described the deployment as a dangerous and destabilising development.

Austin was speaking at a press conference at the Pentagon with the South Korean defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, as concerns grow about Pyongyang’s deployment of as many as 11,000 troops to Russia. The US and South Korea said some of the North Korean troops are heading to Kursk, on the border with Ukraine, where the Kremlin’s forces have struggled to push back a Ukrainian incursion.

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US identified 500 cases where its weapons harmed Gaza civilians but hasn’t taken action

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Some the incidents might have violated international humanitarian law, according to the sources

US state department officials have identified nearly 500 potential incidents of civilian harm during Israel’s military operations in Gaza involving US-furnished weapons, but have not taken further action on any of them, according to three sources, including a US official familiar with the matter.

The incidents – some of which may have violated international humanitarian law, according to the sources – have been recorded since 7 October 2023, when the Gaza war started. They are being collected by the state department’s Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG), a formal mechanism for tracking and assessing any reported misuse of US-origin weapons.

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Biden’s ‘garbage’ comments gaffe hastens Harris’s slow-mo breakup with president

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Harris faces conundrum of showing deference to president while distancing herself after his ‘garbage’ comments

The delicate dance by Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign to simultaneously show deference to Joe Biden, separate herself from his presidency and thwart his ambition to campaign for her has reached a critical juncture as the 2024 election approaches its climax.

The steps of the dance, which has been ongoing since Harris assumed the Democratic party nomination in August and involves efforts to shield the 81-year-old president’s ego and feelings, became even more leaden overnight on Tuesday after Biden appeared to call supporters of Donald Trump “garbage”.

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Five charged in Texas over alleged $1m ring to certify unqualified teachers

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Prosecutors say impersonators took tests on behalf of applicants, and testing proctor was allegedly bribed

Five people in Texas have been charged in connection with an alleged fraudulent teacher certification scheme, which prosecutors say was used to improperly certify hundreds of unqualified teachers to work in local school districts throughout the state.

At a press conference on Monday led by the Harris county district attorney, Kim Ogg, prosecutors said the alleged scheme generated at least a million dollars and was used to certify more than 200 unqualified teachers who are currently or have previously worked in Texas public schools.

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Some US states have firearm death rates comparable to countries in conflict, report says

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Mississippi’s firearm-related violence rate nearly double that of Haiti, which is plagued by political and gang strife

A new report by the Commonwealth Fund finds some US states have firearm death rates comparable to countries in conflict, and even states with the fewest firearms deaths are far higher than peer developed democracies.

For instance, Mississippi’s rate of firearm-related violence (28.5 per 100,000 people) was nearly double that of Haiti (15.1 per 100,000) in 2021, when mercenaries assassinated the country’s president, unleashing a fresh round of gang warfare which pushed the country into a state of civil war.

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Hundreds of damaged ballots saved following fire at drop box in Washington

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FBI is investigating and workers are contacting voters about new ballots after incendiary devices were put in drop box

Officials in south-west Washington were able to salvage almost 500 damaged ballots from a ballot box that was set on fire on Monday in what officials have called an attack on democracy ahead of a contentious US election.

An unknown number of ballots were destroyed when someone placed incendiary devices in a drop box in Vancouver, Washington, while three ballots were damaged in a fire at a box in nearby Portland, Oregon. Those fires and one other are linked, officials have said.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger endorses Kamala Harris: ‘I will always be an American before I am a Republican’

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The former Republican governor said that he was backing the Democrat because a Trump victory would mean ‘four more years of bullshit’

The former Republican governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that he is backing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in next week’s election.

In a long post on X, Schwarzenegger, 77, said that while he doesn’t “really do endorsements” … “hate[s] politics” and doesn’t “trust most politicians”, he felt compelled to formally endorse Harris and her pick for vice president Tim Walz.

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Biden says he meant to condemn comedian, not Trump supporters, in ‘garbage’ comments

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Edited video clip of president’s remarks suggests he insulted Trump backers, but his wording is unclear

Joe Biden put out a statement that he had “meant to say” earlier on Tuesday that a pro-Trump comedian’s “hateful rhetoric” about Puerto Rico was “garbage”. But in an edited video clip already widely circulating on social media Tuesday evening, a phrase that came out of Biden’s mouth was “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters”.

Republican politicians and rightwing media outlets quickly picked up the clip to argue that Biden had called Trump’s supporters garbage, comparing his remarks with Hillary Clinton’s labeling of half of Trump supporters as belonging in “a basket of deplorables” in 2016, a comment that is widely seen as undermining her campaign.

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Trump claims ‘nobody loves Puerto Rican community more than I do’ at Pennsylvania rally

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Ex-president’s comments come after comedian at one of Trump’s recent rallies called Puerto Rico ‘island of garbage’

Donald Trump praised Puerto Ricans on Tuesday during a Pennsylvania rally, days after a comedian made a racist joke and referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at one of his rallies.

“Nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do,” the former president said a little over an hour into a rally in Allentown, in the Lehigh Valley, which has a sizable Latino population.

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Supreme court rejects RFK Jr plea to remove name from battleground ballots

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Kennedy, who suspended campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, will remain on ballot in Michigan and Wisconsin

The supreme court on Tuesday rejected an emergency appeal to remove Robert F Kennedy Jr from presidential ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Kennedy wanted to remove himself from the ballot in the two crucial swing states after dropping his independent bid and endorsing Donald Trump. He argued that keeping him on violated his first amendment rights by wrongly implying he still wanted to be elected president.

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UAW leader Shawn Fain makes final appeal to divided membership

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Fain asks members to vote for Harris in billionaire v working class framing in which Republicans ‘embraced’ theirs

The leader of the United Auto Workers (UAW) made a last plea to union members to vote for presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Tuesday night casting the election as a fight between the interests of the working-class and billionaires.

“I want you to know where your union stands. I want you to listen to how your UAW leadership thinks about this election and I want you to keep an open mind,” said Shawn Fain, president of the 391,00-strong union.

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Berlin summons Iran ambassador over execution of German-Iranian

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Daughter of Jamshid Sharmahd says family let down by US and German governments’ failure to save him

Germany has recalled its ambassador to Tehran and summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Berlin in protest over the execution of a German-Iranian dual national, Jamshid Sharmahd, accused of terrorism by Iran.

His daughter, Gazelle Sharmahd, who had pressed the German and US governments hard to save him, said she and her brother felt let down by the failure of both governments to do more. Sharmahd was executed on Monday.

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Sri Lanka’s Arugam Bay in shock after terror threat to Israeli tourists

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Israeli travellers told to evacuate area immediately as police set up patrols and roadblocks

The golden sands of Sri Lanka’s Arugam Bay are usually carefree, a place for tourists to surf the famous break and relax on the beach.

But last week, the slow rhythm of the bay was dealt a shock. The US embassy, followed up by Sri Lankan police and Israel’s national security council, warned of a serious terrorist threat in the area. Israeli travellers were believed to be the intended target of a planned attack and were told to evacuate immediately. Hundreds of police and senior intelligence officials descended on the small coastal town, setting up patrols and road blocks.

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Racist jokes about Puerto Rico at rally bring anger and disgust: ‘Truly how the Trump party sees us’

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Tony Hinchcliffe’s series of racist jokes at Donald Trump’s rally on Sunday were widely condemned

Some Americans, particularly those of Puerto Rican descent, said that the racist remarks aired at Donald Trump’s Sunday night rally at Madison Square Garden in New York helped them decide who to vote for.

The speaker and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe took aim at Puerto Rico, in a series of racist jokes including one in which he called it “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean”.

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Puerto Rico Republican chair demands Trump apology for rally’s racist remarks

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Angel M Cintrón, party’s chair on island, says he will not vote for Trump unless he says sorry for speaker’s comments

The president of the Republican party’s branch in Puerto Rico has said he will not vote for Donald Trump unless he apologises for racist remarks made at his rally referring to the US island territory as a “floating island of garbage”.

Outrage even among fellow Republicans is continuing to mount after the racist insult at the Republican nominee’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, with the podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe coming under fire for his inflammatory comments made about Puerto Rico in the opening speech.

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Kamala Harris delivers ‘closing argument’ in Washington – as it happened

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Most Americans are prepared to accept the election results as legitimate, according to a new ABC/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

The poll, conducted between 18 October to 22, 2024, states 83% of Americans surveyed and 86% of registered voters surveyed are prepared to accept the outcome of the presidential election as legitimate, regardless of which candidate they support.

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Steve Bannon released from prison early a week before US election

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Trump ally served four-month sentence for defying subpoena in investigation into 6 January attack

Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon has been released from prison early, after serving a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Bannon left the federal correctional institution in Danbury, Connecticut, according to Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons. He planned to hold a news conference later in the day in Manhattan, his representatives said. He is also expected to resume his podcast on Tuesday.

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Harris seeks to rally youth vote in Michigan | First Thing

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Democratic presidential candidate campaigns in university city of Ann Arbor as polls show state on knife-edge

Good morning.

Appearing together in the home town of Michigan’s largest university, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz sought to burnish their credentials with young voters and soothe Democrats who had grown nervous as the apparent deadlock in the race for the White House has dragged on.

Is Kamala Harris alienating progressives as she courts anti-Trump Republicans? The vice-president is relying on support of high-profile GOP refuseniks as she moves to the centre despite warnings from progressives. “I don’t think having Liz Cheney on the team helps at all, because she doesn’t bring a flock of votes with her,” said James Zogby, a member of the Democratic National Committee.

What’s the latest at the Post? Editorial board members David Hoffman and Molly Roberts both resigned yesterday, with forceful letters indicating their reasons.

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Robert Downey Jr: ‘I will sue all future executives who make AI replicas of me’

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The actor who will be returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom said he believed Marvel would ‘never’ recreate him on screen without his permission

Robert Downey Jr has said he will instruct his lawyers to sue future executives who attempt to create digital replicas of him using AI.

Speaking on the On With Kara Swisher podcast, he said: “I would like to here state that I intend to sue all future executives just on spec.”

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