Category Archives: US News

Special counsel can file oversized motion in Trump election-interference case

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Judge Tanya Chutkan grants Jack Smith’s request to file 180-page motion on presidential immunity in federal case

Special counsel Jack Smith can file an oversized, 180-page motion on presidential immunity in Donald Trump’s Washington DC federal court election interference case, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Judge Tanya S Chutkan’s decision stems from prosecutors’ 21 September request to exceed the typical 45-page limit for opening motions and oppositions. Smith’s motion must be filed by Thursday and will include both legal arguments and evidence and could provide additional insight into Trump’s efforts to throw out election results, though it is unclear when the public might be able to see the material given that it will initially be filed under seal.

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Keir Starmer heads to US for summit at UN as aides seek meetings with Harris and Trump

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PM to give speech on international issues as team hopes to set up talks with both presidential candidates

Keir Starmer is heading to the US for his third trip in three months, with aides pressing for meetings with the presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Fresh from his speech at the Labour conference, the prime minister headed to the United Nations general assembly in New York where the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, will be pushing for a deal on the use of Storm Shadow missiles against Russia.

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Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years after serving as star witness against FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried

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Ex-Alameda CEO and ex-girlfriend of fallen crypto mogul pleaded guilty, but prosecutors requested lenient sentence

Caroline Ellison, the former crypto executive and romantic partner of the disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 24 months in prison in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. Ellison was a central figure in the FTX bankruptcy saga and key witness for the prosecution in the $8bn fraud trial that ended with Bankman-Fried’s conviction.

Ellison served as the chief executive of Alameda Research, which was the trading arm of the now defunct FTX crypto exchange. The collapse of FTX, once valued at $32bn, was directly linked to revelations that it was attempting to financially prop up Alameda with fraudulent accounting. Subsequent investigations and criminal charges found that FTX and the hedge fund had used billions in customer funds for risky trades and lavish personal spending.

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Man charged with attempted assassination of Donald Trump at Florida golf course – as it happened

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Minutes after Joe Biden finished addressing the UN general assembly, Donald Trump’s campaign released a statement warning, in apocalyptic terms, of the consequences of electing Kamala Harris.

“Under President Donald J Trump, Iran was weak, ISIS was eliminated, Hamas was cut off, historic peace was descending on the Middle East, Russia was under control and there hadn’t been a US service member killed in Afghanistan in 18 months,” the lengthy email read.

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Brummies celebrate inaugural International Day of Birmingham

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Comedian Joe Lycett declares United States of Birmingham with 10 US towns and cities that share the name

Residents of Birmingham often admit the city is not accustomed to blowing its own trumpet – still maligned and mocked by others, it tends to favour self-deprecating humour.

So the launch of the inaugural International Day of Birmingham (IDOB), celebrated with cheerleaders, confetti cannon and actual trumpets, is not what you would expect to see on a walk through the city centre on a Tuesday afternoon.

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‘Can’t afford health insurance’: California CVS workers take strike vote

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More than 7,000 workers to hold strike vote this week amid accusations of staff shortages and expensive healthcare

More than 7,000 workers at CVS stores across California are holding a strike vote this week after accusing the US’s largest pharmacy chain of shortchanging staff and failing to provide affordable healthcare.

CVS and its union remain far apart in negotiations on a new contract. Their current union contract expired on 30 June 2024.

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CrowdStrike to apologize for global IT outage in congressional testimony

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Faulty update from cybersecurity company ground hospitals, airports and payment systems to halt in July

A CrowdStrike senior executive will apologize for causing a global software outage that ground the operations of hospitals, airports, payment systems and personal computers around the world to a halt in July.

Adam Meyers, senior vice-president for counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, is slated to testify before Congress on Tuesday. Meyers will speak to the House homeland security cybersecurity and infrastructure protection subcommittee. In testimony made available before the hearing, he wrote: “I am here today because, just over two months ago, on July 19, we let our customers down … On behalf of everyone at CrowdStrike, I want to apologize.” He will say the company has undertaken “a full review of our systems” to prevent the cascade of errors from occurring again.

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New species of invasive flatworm discovered in three southern US states

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Amaga pseudobama was first spotted in 2020 in North Carolina and has now spread to Florida and Georgia

A new species of invasive flatworm has been discovered in the United States and has been found in several states in the south, according to a new paper.

The species, named Amaga pseudobama, was discovered by an international team of researchers and first spotted in 2020 in North Carolina. It is thought to be native to South America.

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Lady Gaga announces 13-song Joker companion album Harlequin

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The singer and actor has revealed the upcoming release of a companion album to her role in Joker: Folie à Deux

Lady Gaga has announced an accompanying 13-song album to her new film Joker: Folie à Deux.

The singer and actor had been teasing the news on social media and has now shared that the album, Harlequin, will be released on 27 September.

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Biden tells UN ‘we cannot grow weary’ in Ukraine’s defence in valedictory speech

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US president assumes mantle of elder statesman, defending his foreign policy record and urging Gaza deal

Joe Biden has sought to defend his foreign policy achievements on the world stage with an address to the United Nations general assembly against a backdrop of three brutal, intractable wars that have stymied world diplomats seeking an end to the bloodshed.

Addressing the assembly hall in New York on Tuesday, Biden took on the mantle of elder statesman as he alternated between a message of hope and a full-throated defense of his record on foreign policy.

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US-UK airstrikes have not seriously hurt Houthis’ capability, says Yemeni leader

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Yemen government vice-chair fears strikes intended to end shipping chaos are instead helping Houthis rally support

US-UK airstrikes in Yemen designed to end the Houthi disruption of commercial shipping have not seriously degraded the group’s military capability, the vice-chair of the UN-recognised government in Yemen has said.

Aidarous al-Zubaidi told the Guardian in an interview he feared the Houthis were using the strikes to rally support behind their cause by portraying the west as the aggressor in Yemen.

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Pennsylvania crucial to White House hopes, Trump says at campaign rally

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Ex-president gives meandering address in swing state and paints dark vision of America under Democratic rule

Donald Trump returned to Pennsylvania, telling his rally attendees that their state was critical to his ability to win back the White House and encouraging them to turn out to vote, though he also called early voting “stupid stuff”.

“If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing,” Trump said, soon after taking the stage more than 45 minutes later than scheduled. “It’s very simple.”

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Tennessee man testifies that he and another man killed rapper Young Dolph

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Cornelius Smith said he and Justin Johnson shot Young Dolph after brother of rival rapper Yo Gotti put a hit on him

A Memphis man testified on Monday that he and a second person shot and killed rapper Young Dolph after Big Jook, the brother of rapper Yo Gotti, put a hit on him.

Cornelius Smith identified himself and Justin Johnson as the two people seen on a 17 November 2021, surveillance video exiting a white Mercedes outside a Memphis, Tennessee, cookie store about 30 seconds after Young Dolph entered the store and then opening fire in broad daylight.

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Kerry gives scathing rating on climate action: ‘Is there a letter underneath Z?’

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Former secretary of state accuses oil and gas companies of ‘business as usual’ at major climate summit in New York

Countries are ignoring commitments they made less than a year ago to shift away from fossil fuels and to provide aid to those most vulnerable to the climate crisis, a host of leading figures have admitted during a gloomy start to a major climate summit in New York.

Al Gore, the former US vice-president, and John Kerry, the former US secretary of state and climate envoy, have led the condemnation of the largest greenhouse gas emitters, led by China and the US, for failing to follow a UN pact signed in Dubai by nearly 200 countries in December to “transition away” from oil, coal and gas.

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FBI confirms US murders declined in 2023, contrary to Republican claims

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Murder dropped by more than 11% in largest single-year decline in decades while rape and other crimes also fell

Murder dropped by more than 11% from 2022 to 2023, the largest single-year decline in two decades, according to FBI data released on Monday.

Meanwhile, the broader category of violent crime nationwide decreased about 3%, said the data, which is audited and confirms earlier reporting from unaudited statistics.

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Telegram’s Pavel Durov announces new crackdown on illegal content after arrest

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Platform with millions of subscribers discloses a more proactive approach to reporting infringers to authorities

Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov said Monday that the messaging platform had removed more “problematic content” and would take a more proactive approach to complying with government requests. The announcement comes weeks after his arrest in France on charges of failing to act against criminals using the app.

Telegram’s search feature “has been abused by people who violated our terms of service to sell illegal goods”, Durov told the 13 million subscribers of his personal messaging channel.

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Elon Musk to present Atlantic Council global citizen award to Giorgia Meloni

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Choice of recipient and presenter causes anger at council as Italy’s far-right PM renews links with Trump allies

Elon Musk is to present Giorgia Meloni with the Atlantic Council’s global citizen award in New York, as Italy’s far-right prime minister resurrects links with allies of Donald Trump before the US presidential elections.

Meloni will receive the prize during a gala dinner on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in recognition of her “groundbreaking role as Italy’s first female prime minister, her strong support of the European Union and the transatlantic alliance, and her 2024 chairmanship of the Group of Seven”.

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Trump tells supporters at campaign rally ‘if we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing’ – as it happened

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Kamala Harris has seen a surge in favorability among voters and is increasingly viewed as the candidate most likely to bring change, a NBC News poll released on Sunday found.

Among registered voters nationwide, the vice-president is ahead by five percentage points, with 49% support against Donald Trump’s 44%. She is also seen as the candidate more likely to bring “change”, a potentially significant finding given that other surveys have found many Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Among respondents, 47% say Harris represents change, while 38% say the same of Trump.

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‘Octomom’ Natalie Suleman, mother of 14, welcomes her first grandchild

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Suleman, who made headlines for giving birth to the first surviving octuplets, announces granddaughter’s birth

Natalie (formerly Nadya) Suleman – the so-called “Octomom” – has added yet another young addition to her already impressively large family. The mom of 14 announced Sunday on her Instagram that she is now a grandmother to a baby girl.

Suleman, 49, accompanied the announcement with a photo of an infant’s tiny foot behind a pink baby blanket.

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California’s Gavin Newsom signs law banning all plastic bags at grocery stores

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State had already banned thin plastic shopping bags, but new measure bans all plastic bags starting in 2026

“Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed on Sunday by the governor, Gavin Newsom, that bans all plastic shopping bags.

California had already banned thin plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other stores, but shoppers could purchase bags made with a thicker plastic that purportedly made them reusable and recyclable.

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