Category Archives: US News

US Congress agrees to funding deal to avert shutdown in blow to Trump

Posted on by

Mike Johnson announces compromise after decoupling government funding from Trump-backed citizenship bill

US congressional leaders have agreed to a short-term funding deal in a move that averts a damaging pre-election government shutdown and also amounts to a snub for Donald Trump.

The prospect of a shutdown at the expiration of the current government funding on 30 September had been looming after Republicans insisted on tying future funding to legislation that would require voters to show proof of US citizenship – known as the Save Act and backed by Trump but opposed by Democrats.

Continue reading...

Alabama police search for suspect in Birmingham shooting that killed four

Posted on by

Seventeen people injured in shooting outside nightclub after being caught in crossfire, police say

A manhunt in Alabama for a suspect in the shooting outside a nightclub that killed four people and wounded 17 on Saturday night entered its second full day on Monday.

The shooting in Birmingham was at least the 24th mass murder in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive defines a mass murder as one in which four victims are killed or wounded.

Continue reading...

Trump golf club suspect left note saying he intended to kill ex-president – DoJ

Posted on by

Suspect also maintained a list of dates and venues where Trump was to appear, justice department says

The man accused in the apparent assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a golf course in Florida left behind a note saying that he intended to kill the former president and maintained in his car a handwritten list of dates and venues where the Republican White House nominee was to appear, the justice department said on Monday.

The new allegations were included in a detention memo filed ahead of a hearing on Monday at which the justice department was expected to argue that 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh should remain locked up while the case is pending.

Continue reading...

Harris calls out Trump again for ‘looking for an excuse’ to avoid a second debate

Posted on by

Democratic nominee says she accepted an invitation from CNN to debate Republican rival, who said it was ‘too late’

Kamala Harris laid down another challenge to Republican rival Donald Trump to meet her for a second debate before November’s presidential election, telling supporters in New York that her opponent “seems to be looking for an excuse” to avoid a second confrontation.

On Saturday, the vice-president and Democratic nominee said she had accepted an invitation from CNN to debate the former president, but Trump said it was already “too late”.

Continue reading...

Trump says he won’t run for president again in 2028 if he loses in November

Posted on by

Republican nominee says in interview that he ‘doesn’t see that at all’ and he hasn’t made deals with Musk or RFK Jr

Donald Trump said in an interview released on Sunday that he did not think he would run for president again in 2028 if he loses this year’s race for the White House.

In an interview on the Full Measure television show with Sharyl Attkisson, the former US president – who ran in 2016 and 2020 – was asked whether he saw himself running yet again in four years time.

Continue reading...

‘This isn’t the real Oprah’: Trump lashes out at talkshow host over Harris support

Posted on by

Ex-president attacks influential entertainment figure after Winfrey hosts livestreamed interview with vice-president

Just over a week ago, it was the pop superstar Taylor Swift. Now Donald Trump is taking aim at Oprah Winfrey over her support of Kamala Harris.

Whether or not attacking some of the most popular and powerful entertainment figures in US history will prove a solid campaign strategy is yet to be proven, but the former president has not held back.

Continue reading...

Gretchen Whitmer calls Trump ‘deranged’ after comments on abortion

Posted on by

Michigan governor responds to ex-president saying women will no longer be thinking about abortion if he wins election

Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, called Donald Trump “just deranged” on Sunday after he said women would no longer be thinking about abortion if he is elected as president in November.

“This guy just doesn’t understand what the average woman is confronting in her life in this country, and how could he? He’s not lived a normal life,” Whitmer said in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union.

Continue reading...

Lindsey Graham calls reports of Mark Robinson’s ‘black Nazi’ posts ‘beyond unnerving’

Posted on by

Senator does not call for Robinson to drop out of governor race and says he ‘deserves a chance to defend himself’

The senior Senate Republican Lindsey Graham has said reports that the North Carolina Republican candidate for governor, Mark Robinson, calling himself a “black NAZI!” in posts on the porn forum Nude Africa a decade ago are “beyond unnerving” and should see him end his political career if proven true.

“If they’re true, he’s unfit to serve for office,” the long-serving South Carolina senator said Sunday. “If they’re not true, he has the best lawsuit in the history of the country for libel.”

Continue reading...

Manhunt under way after four killed and 17 injured in Alabama shooting

Posted on by

Police say multiple victims were caught in crossfire in nightlife area of Five Points South in Birmingham

A major manhunt is under way in Birmingham, Alabama, for those responsible for a shooting at a nightclub late on Saturday night in which four people have died and 17 were wounded.

The violence is just the latest shocking incident that highlights the epidemic of gun violence and killings that continues to plague the US and yet prompts little to no political action.

Continue reading...

US navy apologizes for razing of Native Alaska community in late 1800s

Posted on by

In ceremony in Kake, military acknowledges bombardment of village that destroyed it and led to many deaths

In a ceremony Saturday afternoon, the US navy apologized for firing upon and torching the Alaska Native village of Kake in 1869.

Surrounded by tribal Chilkat weavings, historic photographs and other Lingít artwork in the Kake elementary and high school gymnasium, R Adm Mark B Sucato expressed the military’s regret, in the first of two apologies planned by the military for bombardments of Alaska Native communities in the late 1800s.

Continue reading...

Trump rejects Harris call for second debate, saying ‘it’s too late’

Posted on by

Tim Ryan, former Ohio Democratic representative, says Trump is avoiding debate because ‘he is scared’

Kamala Harris has accepted an invitation from CNN to participate in another debate with Donald Trump, on 23 October, her campaign said on Saturday.

“Donald Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate. It is the same format and setup as the CNN debate he attended and said he won in June, when he praised CNN’s moderators, rules and ratings,” the Harris campaign chair, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Could this be the week Netanyahu goes from pariah to fugitive? | Andrew Roth

Posted on by

The last time the Israeli PM spoke at the UN, he was touting his vision of a new Middle East. Now he is on the brink of catastrophe

One year ago, Benjamin Netanyahu came to the UN with a vision of a “new Middle East” anchored by Israel’s growing ties with its Arab partners in the region. Now he is on the brink of launching a major escalation against Hezbollah, ignoring calls for restraint from his allies over the Gaza war and defying criticism that he is prevaricating in negotiations over a temporary ceasefire.

The Israeli PM remains scheduled to speak on Friday at the UN general assembly in an appearance that is sure to lead to walkouts and protests on the streets of midtown Manhattan.

Continue reading...

Mother of Georgia teen from school shooting indicted in separate incident

Posted on by

Marcee Gray, 43, charged with exploiting an elderly person in Ben Hill county, 200 miles from Apalachee high school

The mother of a Georgia teenager charged with fatally shooting four people at his high school has been indicted in connection with an alleged domestic incident last year.

The indictment handed down earlier this week charges Marcee Gray, 43, with exploiting an elderly person and other crimes in Ben Hill county, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. It appears unrelated to the school shooting at Apalachee high school earlier this month, which occurred in a different Georgia county nearly 200 miles away.

Continue reading...

Harris campaign raised triple the funds in August that Trump team took in

Posted on by

Vice-president and Democratic national committee pulled in $257m while former president and Republicans saw $85m

Kamala Harris’s presidential election campaign raised more than triple the funds that Donald Trump’s did in August, according to the latest figures released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The US vice-president and the Democratic National Committee saw $257m (£193m) flow into their coffers, compared with $85m (£64m) raised by the former president and the Republican National Committee, continuing a towering financial fundraising advantage that has been leveraged since Joe Biden stepped away from his re-election bid in July and Harris became the party’s nominee for the White House.

Continue reading...

At least 37 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut, Lebanon says

Posted on by

Women and children confirmed among dead, as US and UN officials warn against further escalation

Three children and seven women were among 37 people killed by an Israeli strike on Beirut that targeted a top Hezbollah leader in a densely populated neighbourhood, Lebanese authorities have said, as US and UN officials warned against further escalation.

On Saturday, Israel closed its northern airspace as it awaited Hezbollah retaliation for the assassination of Ibrahim Aqil, a veteran commander of the elite Radwan unit, along with more than a dozen other militants. On Saturday afternoon, fires broke out after a barrage of rockets from Lebanon.

Continue reading...

Supreme court’s Chevron decision adds ambiguity to cannabis law: ‘It’s a mess’

Posted on by

Decision that weakened power of government regulatory agencies sows confusion to already chaotic cannabis law

A recent supreme court decision that weakened the power of US government regulatory agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has added additional confusion to America’s already chaotic cannabis law.

This month, a federal court was able to overrule the DEA on what qualifies as legal hemp, in part because of a supreme court decision that nullified the Chevron doctrine, which once directed courts to defer to the expertise of federal agencies. But now the reverse will apply and courts may have the final say over even highly technical regulations.

Continue reading...

Activist with far-right ties fronts Marco Rubio-linked anti-immigration effort

Posted on by

Nate Hochman recorded several videos for America 2100, a thinktank linked to the Republican Florida senator

The rightwing activist Nate Hochman, who was fired last year by the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, for employing neo-Nazi imagery in a campaign video, is now the face of a Marco Rubio-linked thinktank’s efforts to spread anti-immigrant panic from Ohio to Pennsylvania.

Videos featuring Hochman recorded in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, have been boosted on X by a range of rightwing figures including the platform’s owner, the tech billionaire Elon Musk.

Continue reading...

Louisiana Catholic church turns to federal court to attack law aiding abuse victims

Posted on by

‘If anyone could undo … the will of Louisiana … the Catholic church can and will,’ says survivor whose case is targeted

Months after Louisiana’s supreme court upheld the constitutionality of a state law that let child molestation victims sue for long-ago abuse, despite arguments to the contrary by a Roman Catholic diocese, another church organization is asking the federal government to strike the statute down.

Behind the request in question are the Dominican Sisters of Peace and a law firm that boasts about having represented Catholic institutions in Louisiana courts for more than a century. Another of the law firm’s clients in question, the archdiocese of New Orleans, is offering clergy molestation victims less than 10% of what they are requesting in a bankruptcy settlement, in part by arguing the so-called “lookback window” law doesn’t apply to more than 600 abuse claims.

Continue reading...

Harris ups lead over Trump, although presidential race still on knife-edge

Posted on by

After another shocking week, latest Guardian 10-day polling averages survey shows vice-president ahead by 2.6 points

The US presidential election remains on a knife-edge 45 days before voters go to the polls, despite Kamala Harris enjoying one of her most encouraging spells of opinion polling since becoming the Democrats’ nominee nearly two months ago.

During yet another momentous week that began with a suspected second assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the latest Guardian 10-day polling averages survey shows Harris increasing her lead to 2.6 points, 48.5% to 45.9%.

Continue reading...

Strikes inside Russia with US missiles key to Ukraine’s plan to end war, says Zelenskyy

Posted on by

Zelenskyy will present ‘victory plan’ to US president during trip to Washington next week, when he is also likely to hold talks with Trump

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to carry out long-range strikes inside Russia with US-supplied weapons, and to earn “a place in history” by “strengthening Ukraine” before he leaves office.

Speaking before a crucial trip next week to Washington, where he will meet Biden and the US vice-president and presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, and address the UN, Zelenskyy said he would present a “victory plan” to end the war.

Continue reading...