Category Archives: US News

California residents urged to avoid ocean as high surf pounds coastline

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At least one dead and three missing amid storm that has split wharf, wrecked boat and piled up debris

California residents are being warned to stay off wharves, piers and other waterside structures as 20-30ft waves are expected to batter the northern Pacific coast for the rest of the week.

The National Weather Service advisory comes after a 150ft section of the wharf in Santa Cruz collapsed amid high waves on Monday, and storm debris was blamed for the death of a Santa Cruz county man on a beach in Watsonville.

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Recall of raw and frozen cat food in Oregon after feline dies of bird flu

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Northwest Naturals has told customers to throw out Feline Turkey Recipe pet food after batch tested positive for virus

A voluntary recall of raw and frozen cat food has been issued in Oregon after a cat that died of bird flu was linked to the product, state officials have said.

Northwest Naturals has instructed customers of its Feline Turkey Recipe raw frozen pet food to throw out the product if its sell-by date falls between 21 May 2026 and 23 June 2026.

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Trump tells 37 people on death row with commuted sentences to ‘go to hell’

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On Truth Social, president-elect also lashes out at Chinese troops in Panama Canal and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau

Donald Trump has told 37 people on death row who had their sentences commuted by Joe Biden to “go to hell” in a lacerating Christmas Day social media post.

The president-elect – long a vocal advocate of capital punishment – lashed out at Biden’s decision on his Truth Social platform, after wishing a merry Christmas to political opponents he addressed as “Radical Left Lunatics”.

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Baby Driver actor Hudson Meek, 16, dies after fall from moving vehicle

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Family plans to livestream memorial service for teenage actor who died two days after getting hurt in Vestavia Hills, Alabama

The teenage actor Hudson Meek has died after he fell out of a moving vehicle in Alabama, authorities said.

Meek, 16, was hurt on December 19 while on a street in Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham. He died two days later, according to the Jefferson county coroner’s office.

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Family detentions to return in migration crackdown, says Trump ‘border czar’

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Tom Homan also said that undocumented parents of US-born children will be deported, with or without their kids

US immigration authorities will resume the controversial policy of putting families with children in detention centres as part of a drive to deport undocumented immigrants, the incoming Trump administration’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, has said.

Homan, regarded as the “architect” of the widely vilified family separation policy applied to undocumented immigrants in the first Trump administration, also said officials would not hesitate to deport parents whose children were American citizens because they had been born in the US.

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Trump nominates Miami-Dade official as Panama ambassador amid canal row

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Announcement comes as Trump has threatened to reassert control over canal, which US handed to Panama in 1999

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated the Miami-Dade county commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera to serve as ambassador to Panama.

Trump described Cabrera as “a fierce fighter for America First principles” who he said has been instrumental in driving economic growth and fostering international partnerships.

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A Silicon Valley nudist resort is on sale for $30m – but will its new owner ‘go textile’?

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Members are in limbo as Lupin Lodge is on the market after nearly 90 years – with next buyer likely to require clothes

After nearly 90 years as a historic nudist resort, California’s Lupin Lodge is up for sale – and its next owners are likely to require guests to wear clothes.

The 112-acre Silicon Valley property became a retreat for members of the “naturist” movement in 1935. Today, its hundreds of members enjoy the resort’s clothing-optional hiking trails, pickleball court and its nude-only community pool. (Yes: the members really do hike naked.)

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Tiger among 20 cats to die of bird flu at sanctuary in Washington state

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Bengal tiger, cougars, a lynx and bobcats dead as disease spreads rapidly among US poultry flocks and dairy herds

Twenty exotic cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.

The feline deaths come as bird flu, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in Louisiana.

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Body discovered in wheel well of United Airlines plane in Hawaii

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Flight left Chicago’s O’Hare airport on morning of Christmas Eve and body discovered at Hawaii’s Kahului airport

Police are investigating the discovery of a dead body in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Hawaii, the airline and the Maui police department said in statements on Wednesday.

The body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on flight 202, which arrived at Kahului airport from Chicago on Tuesday, United said in an emailed statement.

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US business leaders set to break record on donations to Trump inaugural fund

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Donations, not restricted by campaign finance laws, come as industries seek favor with incoming administration

US business leaders are spending big on Donald Trump’s second inaugural fund, which is predicted to exceed even the record-setting $107m raised in 2017.

The donations, which are not restricted by campaign finance laws, come as industries and business leaders seek to curry favor with the incoming administration after the president-elect decisively won a second, non-consecutive term in November.

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Save those holiday-gift lottery tickets: Mega Millions jackpot surpasses $1bn

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Odds of winning jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, compared with 1 in 24 for any Mega Millions prize, and tickets cost $2

The Mega Millions jackpot has surpassed $1bn after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Christmas Eve. That means the estimated jackpot for Friday’s drawing is $1.15bn, potentially the fifth-largest jackpot in the game’s history.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15bn jackpot,” Joshua Johnston, lead director for the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a Wednesday statement.

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Ex-drug lord Fabio Ochoa walks free in Colombia after 20 years in US prisons

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Victims of Medellín cartel demand justice as some express dismay former mob boss faces no charges in Colombia

The return of the former drug trafficker Fabio Ochoa to Colombia following his deportation from the United States has reopened old wounds among victims of the Medellín cartel, with some expressing dismay at the Colombian authorities’ decision to let Ochoa walk free.

Some of the cartel victims said they were hoping the former drug lord will at least cooperate with ongoing efforts by human rights groups to investigate one of the most violent periods of Colombia’s history and demanded that Colombian prosecutors also take Ochoa in for questioning.

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Mauritius holds out on Chagos Islands deal over Diego Garcia lease

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UK government accused of ‘nitpicking about compensation’ after being told to pay more to retain military base

Mauritius is holding out over a deal to gain control of the Chagos Islands from the UK, leaving ministers less than a month to rescue the agreement.

The government in Mauritius, which took office last month, has made clear it is dissatisfied with the terms negotiated by the previous administration. Over the weekend the deputy prime minister accused the British government of “nitpicking about the compensation”.

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Pete Hegseth says Donald Trump ‘supports us fully’ as he arrives on Capitol Hill to charm senators – US politics live

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Trump’s Pentagon pick says president-elect spoke to him on Thursday morning as media reports say Hegseth faced HR investigation over Fox Christmas party antics

Pete Hegseth has continued promoting his nomination for defense secretary on X, writing:

Maybe it’s time for a [defense secretary] who has…

Led in combat. Been on patrol for days. Pulled a trigger. Heard bullets whiz by. Called in close air support. Led medevacs. Dodged IEDs.

We’re going to confirm @PeteHegseth !

The importance of a warrior for the war fighter cannot be overstated. The Secretary of Defense must be clear-eyed, mission-oriented, and vigilant on behalf of the men and women they lead. I appreciate @PeteHegseth’s willingness to serve. The scrutiny of the nomination process and transparency matter. I look forward to his hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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Biden library reportedly under threat by Democrats enraged by Hunter pardon

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Senior party figures consider withholding contributions to presidential library to express anger at pardon for son

Senior Democrats are reportedly considering withholding contributions to Joe Biden’s future presidential library amid a mounting backlash over his decision grant a blanket pardon to his son Hunter.

The threat has emerged as simmering anger among congressional Democrats – already building over the president’s insistence on seeking a second term before belatedly stepping aside as the party nominee in favour of Kamala Harris – has burst into the open over Sunday’s pardon, which Biden had previously vowed not to give.

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Urgent manhunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect enters second day

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Bullet casings with the words ‘deny’, ‘defend’ and ‘depose’ found at scene where Brian Thompson was killed

An urgent manhunt continued on Thursday in New York City as police combed through a vast network of private and public surveillance cameras and pursued leads in search of the person who shot and killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, the previous morning.

Investigators deployed drones and dogs as well as sifting through data related to public-use electric bikes from the company Citi Bike, as the suspect remained at large after what police chiefs said was a targeted killing.

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Volunteers fill in for ‘Pancho Claus’ after Tex-Mex Santa has heart attack

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Richard Reyes has delivered Christmas gifts to low-income children in Houston area for decades in his red zoot suit

A heart attack and subsequent surgery are preventing the Mexican-American version of Santa known to generations of Texas children as Pancho Claus from suiting up this Christmas.

Yet members of Richard Reyes’s community have taken it upon themselves to organize toy drives – and even don his iconic look – to keep his spirit alive for his scores of believers.

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Twenty Minnesota ballots went missing in key race that hinges on 14 votes

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Race for state house seat, which will determine whether Republicans win control of chamber, separated by 14 votes

Twenty ballots went missing in a Minnesota precinct this November, the type of error that would typically result in an internal investigation but not receive much public attention. But the implications are much greater right now, as the race for the district’s state house seat is separated by 14 votes, and that seat will determine whether Republicans win control of the chamber.

The missing ballots, which were probably the result of human error, were never counted. Officials tried to track them down, only to learn that they had been sent to the shredder.

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How climate risks are driving up insurance premiums around the US – visualized

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‘Tight correlation’ between premium rises and counties deemed most at risk from climate crisis, experts say

Concern over the climate crisis may evaporate in the White House from January, but its financial costs are now starkly apparent to Americans in the form of soaring home insurance premiums – with those in the riskiest areas for floods, storms and wildfires suffering the steepest rises of all.

A mounting toll of severe hurricanes, floods, fires and other extreme events has caused average premiums to leap since 2020, with parts of the US most prone to disasters bearing the brunt. A climate crisis is starting to stir an insurance crisis.

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Bitcoin price hits record-high $100,027 as Trump win fuels crypto fever

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Largest cryptocurrency, prone to volatile market surges, lifts amid hopes of lighter regulation with Trump’s return

Bitcoin has crossed $100,000 for the first time, scaling a fresh record high amid a euphoric rally sparked by Donald Trump’s election victory.

The world’s largest and most valuable cryptocurrency – prone to volatile market surges and routs – has been lifted in recent weeks by hopes that the president-elect’s return to the White House will usher in a new era of lighter regulation and supportive policies.

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