Category Archives: US News

Iran-backed militias intensify attacks against US, Israel and allies

Posted on by

Iraq emerges as key front in new and often clandestine confrontation after launching dozens of attacks

Iran-backed militias around the Middle East are intensifying attacks against Israel, the US and their allies, in retaliation for the ongoing joint US-Israeli offensive against Tehran as the war draws in new armed actors, threatening wider chaos and violence.

Israel and the US have targeted Iran’s network of militant groups, with Iraq emerging as a key front in this new and often clandestine confrontation.

Continue reading...

Bernard LaFayette, civil rights leader who helped launch Voting Rights Act, dies aged 85

Posted on by

Early in a life of service, LaFayette did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama

Bernard LaFayette, the advance man who did the risky groundwork for the voter registration campaign in Selma, Alabama, that culminated in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has died.

Bernard LaFayette III said his father died Thursday morning of a heart attack. He was 85.

Continue reading...

Minneapolis killings and deportation outrage: Kristi Noem’s scandal-plagued DHS tenure

Posted on by

Backlash grew against homeland security secretary after slew of controversies from Trump’s immigration crackdown

Kristi Noem’s year-long tenure as homeland security secretary has been plagued by controversies as she led an aggressive immigration crackdown that hasprompted protests and lawsuits.

There have been scandals, legally dubious deportations condemned by human rights groups, taxpayer-funded publicity campaigns, and false claims about US citizens.

Continue reading...

New York and other US states sue Trump over ‘illegal and reckless’ tariffs

Posted on by

Lawsuit says president does not have authority to impose levies and demands refunds from federal government

A coalition of Democratic attorneys general and governors across 24 US states are suing Donald Trump to block his latest round of tariffs.

The White House is planning to enact a new 15% tariff on all imports after the supreme court declared Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs illegal. The tariffs have yet to go into effect, though the White House said the new rate would start this week.

Continue reading...

Trump ousts DHS secretary Kristi Noem and replaces her with Republican senator

Posted on by

Noem’s tenure was marked by killings of US citizens by federal agents, a rumored affair and $220m spent on ads

Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was replacing Kristi Noem as the homeland security secretary, capping weeks of bipartisan complaints about her leadership after immigration agents killed two US citizens and reports emerged that she was involved in a personal relationship with a top deputy.

Noem’s firing was the first major personnel shake-up of Trump’s second term. The president made it public in a post on Truth Social, in which he said Markwayne Mullin, a Republican Oklahoma senator, would take over from Noem starting on 31 March – though Congress would need to vote to confirm the choice first. The secretary, who he said “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)”, would become special envoy for “the Shield of the Americas”, a security initiative Trump said he planned to announce over the weekend.

Continue reading...

Dismay as Hegseth urges Latin American allies to join ‘offense’ against cartels

Posted on by

Critics sceptical Pentagon chief’s plan for increased military force – amid rising US intervention – will stop drug gangs

Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has urged Latin American countries to adopt a more aggressive approach against drug cartels, warning that the Trump administration may otherwise act unilaterally in the region.

Hegseth’s remarks come in a context of escalating US intervention in the region, both militarily and in elections, which culminated in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro – the first US ground military attack on a South American country.

Continue reading...

RFK Jr urges medical schools to increase nutrition education training

Posted on by

As part of his Maha agenda, health secretary wants schools to incorporate 40 hours of instruction

Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr unveiled a new effort on Thursday aimed at increasing the amount of nutrition education taught in medical schools.

For months, Kennedy has urged medical schools to expand their nutrition curriculum and warned that institutions refusing to do so could face cuts to federal funding, while those that adopt the changes may receive public acknowledgment.

Continue reading...

Israel orders more than 500,000 people to evacuate Beirut’s southern suburbs

Posted on by

Instruction comes as Israel continues to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launches retaliatory strikes

The Israeli military has ordered the entire population of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate, as it continued to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel and US bases across the region.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told all residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs – more than 500,000 people – to “save your lives and evacuate your homes immediately”, before Israel launched airstrikes on what he described as Hezbollah targets. The area covered by the order included several hospitals and government ministries.

Continue reading...

Three men deported by US file legal case against Eswatini over detention

Posted on by

The men, sent to Africa after completing criminal sentences in the US, are from Cuba, Jamaica and Yemen

Three men deported by the US to Eswatini – rather than their home countries – have filed a case against Eswatini’s government with the African Union’s human rights body, claiming their detention was an unlawful violation of their rights.

Two of the claimants, from Cuba and Yemen, have been in prison in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, for eight months. The third, Orville Etoria, was repatriated to his home country, Jamaica, in September.

Continue reading...

South Africa’s president calls Trump’s policy to offer refuge to white Afrikaners ‘racist’

Posted on by

US president is ‘truly uninformed’ for spreading claims of ‘white genocide’ in South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa tells New York Times

South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has called Donald Trump’s policy of allowing white Afrikaners to apply for refugee status in the US “racist”, saying the US president was “truly uninformed” in a rare instance of direct criticism.

Ramaphosa told the New York Times that last year’s Oval Office meeting with the US leader, when Trump turned down the lights and played a video that he falsely claimed showed there was a “white genocide” in South Africa, was a “spectacle” and an “ambush”.

Continue reading...

Pentagon releases names of final two soldiers of six killed in Kuwait

Posted on by

Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, 54, and Maj Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, were from California and Iowa

The Pentagon has released the names of the final two of the six soldiers who were killed during a recent drone strike in Kuwait. They were killed on Sunday, the day after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Their names were released by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday.

The two soldiers were identified as Chief Warrant Officer Robert Marzan, 54, and Maj Jeffrey O’Brien, 45. They were from Sacramento, California, and Indianola, Iowa, respectively.

Continue reading...

Louisiana mayor convicted of raping 16-year-old boy at her home while still in office

Posted on by

Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after July 2024 sexual assault at pool party

The former mayor of a Louisiana city has been convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy during a party at her house while she was still in office.

Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after a jury in the municipality of DeRidder on Tuesday found her guilty of two felonies: carnal knowledge of a juvenile – or statutory rape – as well as indecent behavior with a minor.

Continue reading...

How a clump of moss helped convict grave robbers in Illinois

Posted on by

Four cemetery workers dug up and moved more than 100 bodies to resell the burial plots nearly 20 years ago

It was a particularly heinous crime. Four workers at a cemetery near Chicago dug up more than 100 bodies and dumped the remains elsewhere in the grounds, in order to resell the burial plots for profit.

Now, nearly two decades after the scandal broke at Burr Oak cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, scientists have released details of how a tiny clump of moss became crucial forensic evidence that helped convict the grave robbers.

Continue reading...

Montana Republican Steve Daines drops Senate re-election bid minutes before deadline

Posted on by

Trump ally Daines confirms resignation and withdraws bid for a third term, saying: ‘It is time for new leaders’

Republican US senator Steve Daines of Montana dropped his bid for re-election to a third term Wednesday.

Daines withdrew his name just minutes before the deadline for candidates to file for the November election with the Montana secretary of state’s office. Daines confirmed his resignation in a written statement as well as a video posted to social media.

Continue reading...

Starmer’s slow start in the war against Iran could leave UK playing catch-up

Posted on by

Prime minister’s initial refusal to help US could constrain Britain’s ability to protect its nationals in the Gulf and reassure allies

Britain knew that the US was considering attacking Iran from the moment Donald Trump told protesters that “help is coming” in the middle of January. It was obvious to the world that the White House was serious when the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group was sent to the Arabian Sea in late January.

But as Trump gradually built up his “massive armada”, reinforcing it with a second carrier strike group in mid-February, UK deployments were constrained and limited even though there was a recognition that it was likely allies and bases with British soldiers would be attacked in an Iranian retaliation.

Continue reading...

Blackout in Cuba leaves millions without power amid US oil chokehold

Posted on by

Latest outage darkens island facing dwindling oil reserves and increasing pressure from Washington

A blackout hit the western half of Cuba on Wednesday, leaving millions of people in Havana and beyond without power in the latest outage to affect an island struggling with dwindling oil reserves and a crumbling electricity grid.

The government’s Electric Union confirmed the outage on social platform X, saying it affected people from the eastern town of Pinar del Rio to the central town of Camaguey.

Continue reading...

Labour MP says she had no reason to suspect her husband may have broken law after his arrest on suspicion of spying for China – as it happened

Posted on by

Joani Reid asks for privacy after it was revealed her husband David Taylor was one of the three men arrested

Starmer begins PMQs by telling the Commons that his thoughts are with Sarah Everard “on this very painful anniversary” of her death.

He says the government is working hard to prevent boys and men from becoming abusers.

Continue reading...

House opens inquiry into Texas lawmaker over alleged affair with aide

Posted on by

Tony Gonzales allegedly had affair with Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, who later died after setting herself on fire

The House ethics committee said on Wednesday that it has opened an investigation of Tony Gonzales, a Republican representative from Texas, over allegations that include having an affair with an aide.

The top Republican and Democratic members on the committee said in a joint statement that an investigative panel would look into whether Gonzales engaged in sexual misconduct toward an employee in his office and whether he discriminated unfairly by dispensing special favors or privileges.

Continue reading...

Gavin Newsom likens Israel to ‘an apartheid state’ and decries war on Iran

Posted on by

California governor, promoting his memoir in LA, was asked if US should rethink military partnership with Israel

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic California governor, likened Israel to “an apartheid state” on Tuesday in comments sharply critical of the country’s joint war with the US against Iran.

Newsom, seen as a frontrunner for his party’s presidential nomination in 2028, made the comment during an appearance in Los Angeles to promote his book, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery. He was asked if the US should rethink its military partnership with Israel.

Continue reading...

Israel strikes Tehran and Beirut as Iran vows ‘complete destruction’ in region

Posted on by

Rapidly escalating war enters fifth day and spreads as far as Indian Ocean with sinking of Iranian vessel off Sri Lanka

Israel has carried out a wave of airstrikes on Iranian security targets and Hezbollah in Beirut as Tehran threatened the “complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure” as the rapidly escalating war entered its fifth day and reached as far as the Indian Ocean off Sri Lanka.

The Israeli military said it had hit buildings in Iran belonging to the Basij, the volunteer police arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and buildings belonging to internal security forces. Police stations and IRGC headquarters in the Kurdish regions of north-western Iran were also razed by strikes, Kurdish media reported.

Continue reading...