Category Archives: US News

Trump demands CBS be stripped of licence over edited Harris interview

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FCC chair denounces ex-president’s threats and denies possibility of broadcast station’s licence being revoked

America’s top broadcasting regulatory body, the Federal Communications Commission, has denounced Donald Trump after the former US president demanded that CBS be stripped of its licence for airing an edited answer in a primetime interview with Kamala Harris.

He also called the network a “threat to democracy” and targeted other broadcasters for having their licences revoked also.

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Obama says Trump sees power ‘as a means to an end – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. You can find all of the Guardian’s US elections coverage here.

Georgia election workers Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman have settled their lawsuit against far-right site the Gateway Pundit, who they accused of defaming them following the 2020 election.

Here’s more on the agreement, from the Guardian’s Sam Levine:

The Gateway Pundit, the far-right news website that played a critical role in spreading false information about the 2020 election, has settled a defamation lawsuit with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Georgia election workers it falsely accused of wrongdoing.

Notice of the settlement was filed in circuit court in Missouri, where Freeman and Moss had sued the site for defamation. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in the filing.

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Tornadoes, mass outages and deaths: what to know about Hurricane Milton’s impact

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Storm brought up to 10ft of storm surge and left millions at risk from flooding after hitting Florida on Wednesday

Hurricane Milton has killed at least nine people and left extensive property damage across Florida, hitting some areas previously affected by Hurricane Helene last month.

Here are the key takeaways from what we know about its impact and what experts are saying about a hurricane that it had been feared could be one of the worst in the state’s history.

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Donald Trump will need Nato if elected as president, says new alliance chief

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Mark Rutte says US would risk isolation if Republican candidate decided to withdraw from military alliance

Mark Rutte, the new head of Nato, has brushed off anxieties about the possible election of Donald Trump, arguing that the US would risk isolation in “a harsh, uncompromising world” if he sought to withdraw from the military alliance.

Speaking in London on Thursday, after meeting the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rutte said he believed both Trump and his presidential rival, Kamala Harris, recognised the value of continuing military aid to Ukraine.

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Deaths expected to rise as Florida begins to assess Hurricane Milton destruction

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State battered by category 3 storm overnight, leaving more than 3.4m homes and businesses without power

The death toll from Hurricane Milton rose to at least nine on Thursday as Florida began to assess the damage from the category 3 storm that caused extensive property damage across the state and left more than 3.4m homes and businesses without power.

Authorities said four fatalities were in a senior community in St Lucie county that was struck by a tornado formed in Milton’s outer bands. The tornado happened before the hurricane made landfall near Sarasota on Florida’s western coast on Wednesday evening.

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Ethel Kennedy, activist and widow of Robert F Kennedy, dies aged 96

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Kennedy, who remained dedicated to social causes and the family’s legacy, had been hospitalized after having a stroke

Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy who raised their 11 children after he was assassinated and remained dedicated to social causes and the family’s legacy for decades thereafter, died on Thursday, her family said. She was 96.

Kennedy had been hospitalized after suffering a stroke in her sleep on 3 October, her family said.

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Russia shares AI images of Hurricane Milton as disinformation abounds in US

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Far-right trolls spout baseless theory that storm is a ‘simulation’ as Republicans jump on conspiracy train

As Hurricane Milton ripped across Florida, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, trolls and politicians alike spawned misinformation about the storm, questioning government preparations and calling it a “simulation” designed to hurt the Republican state.

But after it made landfall and exited into the Atlantic Ocean, there’s a new propaganda target among conspiracists: Walt Disney World in Orlando.

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Hurricane Milton: Biden says ‘outright lies’ risk lives as Florida deals with aftermath of storm – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. Find the full report on Hurricane Milton here

Footage coming in from the Tampa area as Hurricane Milton makes landfall shows the devastating consequences of what Joe Biden has called the “storm of the century”.

Reporters with NewsNation have captured video from Tampa Bay, where the storm sucked water back from the coast. At the mouth of Tampa Bay, a weather station has recorded a wind gust of 100mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

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‘I am your retribution’: Trump’s radical plan to remake the presidency – podcast

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Guardian US’s chief reporter, Ed Pilkington, explores Donald Trump’s plans for a second term as president if he wins next month’s election, and how they would give him unprecedented power

By the time Donald Trump left the White House in January 2021, he was frustrated by the limits of his office.

As Guardian US’s chief reporter, Ed Pilkington, explains to Michael Safi, Trump felt he had been held back as president not by the standard checks and balances of a democracy, but by a shadowy “deep state”.

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Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida as category 3 storm

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Powerful cyclone slams into coast, bringing deadly storm surge to Sarasota, Tampa, St Petersburg and Fort Myers

A weakening but still tremendously powerful Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida’s west coast on Wednesday night as a category 3, pushing ahead of it a massive and potentially deadly wall of water from the Gulf of Mexico, as well as “catastrophic” winds likely to cause significant property damage.

The cyclone, described earlier in the day by Joe Biden as “the storm of the century”, made landfall near Sarasota, Florida, just after 8:30pm ET, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said. The storm was bringing deadly storm surge to much of Florida’s Gulf coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers.

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Risk-to-life warnings remain in place as Hurricane Milton downgraded to category 3 – as it happened

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Here is some footage from the town of Treasure Island in Florida, which shows already deserted streets as Hurricane Milton approaches.

Adria R Walker reports for the Guardian that when people don’t flee their homes due to weather crises despite warnings from government officials, there are typically two reasons why. That is according to Cara Cuite, an assistant professor in Rutgers University’s department of human ecology. She said they either don’t believe they’re at risk or that the risk is overblown, or there are situational or structural elements that prevent them from doing so.

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Seven tornadoes hit Florida in advance of arrival of Hurricane Milton

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Tornado watch remains in place ahead of storm’s expected landfall late on Wednesday or early on Thursday

Seven tornadoes have hit Florida in advance of Hurricane Milton, the National Weather Service in Miami said on Wednesday.

Hurricanes and tropical storms have the ability to produce tornadoes.

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Hurricane Milton: tropical storm-force winds reach Florida before ‘storm of the century’

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Storm weakens to category 3 ahead of expected landfall late on Wednesday or early on Thursday

Officials urged residents of Florida’s western coast to shelter in place if they had not already evacuated on Wednesday evening as Hurricane Milton prepared to make landfall in the next few hours.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) urged Floridians to prepare for a storm surge of over 10ft, flooding and devastating hurricane-force winds as the state prepares for what Joe Biden has called the “storm of the century”.

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GSK strikes $2.2bn deal to resolve legal cases in US over heartburn treatment Zantac

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British drugmaker agrees payment to resolve 80,000 cases alleging cancers were linked to drug known generically as ranitidine

The British drugmaker GSK has struck an agreement to make a payment of up to $2.2bn (£1.7bn) to resolve litigation brought in the US over its heartburn treatment Zantac.

The company said it had struck agreements with 10 plaintiff law firms who represent about 93%, roughly 80,000, of the US state court product liability cases pending against it.

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Biden and Netanyahu speak as Gallant warns of ‘deadly’ surprise attack on Iran

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Leaders talk for first time in weeks as US administration seeks to weigh in on Israel’s plans

Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for the first time in weeks on Wednesday amid expectations of an imminent Israeli strike on Iran, which Yoav Gallant warned would be “deadly, precise and surprising”.

Netanyahu’s defence minister issued the warning in a video message on Israeli media on Wednesday night, broadcast after he postponed a scheduled trip to Washington.

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Google facing US government attempt to break it up, court filing shows

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Department of Justice examining ‘structural remedies’ to challenge tech corporation’s internet search monopoly

The US government may ask a judge to force the breakup of Google’s business as it attempts to challenge the tech corporation’s monopoly over the internet search market.

The Department of Justice has filed court papers that say it is considering enforcing “structural remedies” that would prevent Google from using some of its products such as Chrome, Android and Play, which the DoJ argues give the company an advantage over rivals.

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Rio Tinto to buy US lithium producer Arcadium in $6.7bn deal

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Acquisition by Anglo-Australian miner comes despite global headwinds in electric car market

Rio Tinto is to buy the US company Arcadium Lithium for $6.7bn (£5.1bn), in a huge bet on the energy transition despite global headwinds in the electric car market.

The Anglo-Australian metals and mining company said it would pay $5.85 a share for the US-based lithium miner. That represents an almost 90% premium to Arcadium’s closing price of $3.08 a share on 3 October, the day before news of a potential deal emerged.

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Women’s health being neglected worldwide, says Melinda French Gates

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Exclusive: Billionaire launches $250m fund to address problem as she warns of growth of ‘maternity care deserts’

Women’s health is being neglected worldwide with “maternity care deserts” more common, millions denied abortions and maternal death rates surging, Melinda French Gates has warned as she launches a $250m (£190m) fund to improve women’s physical and mental health globally.

Despite advances in medicine, women experience “unacceptable” inequities across all aspects of their health, spend more years living with ill health and still face barriers to accessing basic care. Women in rich and poor nations are affected and more than 700 are dying in childbirth each day, French Gates said.

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Hurricanes like Helene twice as likely to happen due to global heating, data finds

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Analysis shows Gulf’s heat that worsened Helene 200-500 times more likely because of human-caused global heating

As Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida, fueled by a record-hot Gulf of Mexico, a new analysis has shown how the Gulf’s heat that worsened last month’s Hurricane Helene was 200 to 500 times more likely because of human-caused global heating.

Helene, one of the deadliest storms in US history, gathered pace over the Gulf before crashing ashore with 140mph winds.

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The high life: Kamala Harris cracks open a beer with Stephen Colbert

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Democratic nominee shares a Miller High Life in late-night TV chat, and discusses Trump, Gaza and Vladimir Putin

When they go low, she goes high. Miller High Life to be precise.

Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, took her election campaign to late night television on Tuesday by cracking open a can of the lager with host Stephen Colbert. The moment set her apart from Joe Biden and Donald Trump – both, famously, teetotallers.

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