Category Archives: US News

Campaigners press US to ban Israel arms sales after UK’s partial halt

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Activists say Britain’s decision bolsters case for Congress to follow suit and may embolden opposition to Biden policy

The UK decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel has bolstered the case for Congress to follow the example of its ally, US campaigners for a ban have said.

The campaigners are pressing the US Senate and the house to pass a joint resolution of disapproval blocking authorisation for an unprecedented $20bn (£15.2bn) weapons sale. The massive transfer was notified to Congress last month when it was in recess.

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Harris campaign raised $361m in August, triple the amount of Trump campaign

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The Trump team raised $130m in same month, with $285m cash in hand compared with Harris’s $404m

Kamala Harris raised triple the amount of her opponent in this election, Donald Trump, last month, in what her campaign claimed was the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history.

With less than 60 days until the 2024 presidential election, the campaign team for Harris, the Democratic party’s nominee for president, following the departure of US president Joe Biden from his re-election race in July, announced on Friday that it raised $361m in the month of August.

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Owner of 7-Eleven rejects $39bn takeover offer from Canadian rival

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Japanese group says Couche-Tard plan undervalues firm, but leaves door open to higher offer

The parent company of the global convenience store chain 7-Eleven has rejected a near $39bn (£29.6bn) takeover offer from a Canadian rival, arguing it “grossly undervalues” the company.

Last month, Tokyo-based Seven & i revealed that it had received a bid from Alimentation Couche-Tard setting the scene for what could be Japan’s biggest ever foreign takeover.

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China says it is ending foreign adoptions, prompting concern from US

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US diplomats seeking clarity for hundreds of families in the process of international adoption

The Chinese government is ending its international adoption programme, and the US is seeking clarification on how the decision will affect hundreds of American families with pending applications.

At a daily briefing on Thursday, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Beijing was no longer allowing intercountry adoptions of children from China, with the only exception for blood relatives to adopt a child or a stepchild.

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Trump tells Jewish donors they would be ‘abandoned’ if Harris is elected

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In Las Vegas summit speech, Republican candidate paints potential Harris presidency in cataclysmic terms for Israel

Donald Trump told Jewish donors on Thursday that they would be “abandoned” if Kamala Harris becomes president.

In his speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, the Republican presidential candidate also said he would ban refugee resettlement from “terror-infested” areas such as Gaza and arrest “pro-Hamas thugs” who engage in vandalism, an apparent reference to the college student protesters.

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Woman dies 18 years after Amish village mass shooting left her severely injured

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Rosanna King was just six when gunman shot her and nine other girls, killing five, in Pennsylvania community in 2006

A woman who was severely injured when a gunman killed five girls and wounded her and four other girls during a mass shooting at their one-room, rural Amish schoolhouse has died 18 years later, a funeral director said on Thursday.

Rosanna King, 23, died at her home in the farming community of Paradise, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday and a funeral is planned there on Friday, according to an obituary from Furman Home for Funerals in Leola.

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Russian TV presenter charged with violating US sanctions and money laundering

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Dimitri Simes, who had contacts in Donald Trump’s orbit, charged as White House targets Kremlin influencers before US presidential elections

US investigators have indicted a prominent Russian state television personality and his wife for violating sanctions and money laundering as the White House targets Kremlin influence operations ahead of the US presidential elections.

Dimitri Simes, a television presenter and producer for Russia’s state-owned Channel One, was charged with receiving over $1m (£759,000) in compensation, a personal car and driver, a stipend for a flat in Moscow, Russia, despite the television station’s designation in 2022 by the US’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. He and his wife, Anastasia, were charged with money-laundering to hide the proceeds of his work for Channel One.

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Georgia school shooting: teen suspect was interviewed over threats last year

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Officials say 14-year-old charged with fatally shooting four at Apalachee high school used assault-style rifle

The 14-year-old boy charged with fatally shooting two students and two teachers with an assault-style rifle at a high school in Georgia on Wednesday had previously been interviewed by investigators, with his father insisting the teenager did not have unsupervised access to the family’s guns.

The small city of Winder is in deep shock and mourning over the shooting at Apalachee high school, about 50 miles from Atlanta, as the victims who died were named.

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Hunter Biden offers unusual guilty plea in tax case in surprise back-and-forth

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US president’s son, who previously pleaded not guilty, seeks new plea deal wherein he would not admit to allegations

Hunter Biden offered to plead guilty to federal tax charges but avoid admitting any wrongdoing, in an unusual, last-minute legal maneuver that federal prosecutors quickly opposed.

The surprise back-and-forth unfolded on Thursday morning as the president’s only surviving son entered a Los Angeles courthouse for the start of his tax-avoidance trial.

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Kamala Harris will win election, predicts leading historian Allan Lichtman

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Polling ‘Nostradamus’, said to have correctly forecast since 1984 all races except Gore’s loss, says Trump on track to lose

Allan Lichtman, the historian dubbed the “Nostradamus” of US presidential elections, has predicted that Kamala Harris will win the White House in November’s poll.

Having previously warned the Democrats of the dangers of removing Joe Biden from the ticket, Lichtman nevertheless forecast that the vice-president, who became the party’s nominee after the president withdrew in July, would be elected in a video for the New York Times.

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Retired New Orleans priest accused of child rape found competent – but trial could be delayed

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Lawrence Hecker, 92 and diagnosed with dementia, will be evaluated again to see if he is capable of defending himself

A court-ordered psychiatrist evaluated self-acknowledged child molester and retired priest Lawrence Hecker for a third time on Thursday, declaring him “fragilely competent” to stand trial on rape and kidnapping charges.

New Orleans criminal court judge Benedict Willard stopped short of declaring Hecker competent to stand trial and assist in his own defense but kept a 24 September trial date in place.

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UK signs first international treaty to implement AI safeguards

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Also signed by the EU, US and Israel, the declaration aims to mitigate the threats that AI may pose to human rights, democracy and the rule of law

The UK government has signed the first international treaty on artificial intelligence in a move that aims to prevent misuses of the technology, such as spreading misinformation or using biased data to make decisions.

Under the legally binding agreement, states must implement safeguards against any threats posed by AI to human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The treaty, called the framework convention on artificial intelligence, was drawn up by the Council of Europe, an international human rights organisation, and was signed on Thursday by the EU, UK, US and Israel.

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US conservative influencers say they are ‘victims’ of Russian disinformation campaign

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Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson addressed allegations that a company they were associated with had been paid to publish videos with messages in favour of Russia

A number of high-profile, conservative influencers in the US have said they are “victims” of an alleged Russian disinformation campaign, after the Biden administration accused Moscow of carrying out a sustained campaign to influence the outcome of November’s presidential elections.

Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson published statements on Wednesday evening addressing allegations that a US content creation company they were associated with had been provided with nearly $10m from Russian state media employees to publish videos with messages in favour of Moscow’s interests and agenda, including over the war in Ukraine.

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Trump lobs same insults at Harris and Walz in Pennsylvania town hall

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Ex-president repeats false claims to Sean Hannity of asylum seekers and crime and says: ‘We’re going to heal our world’

Donald Trump lobbed his usual insults and accusations at Kamala Harris and Tim Walz during a town hall aired on Fox News and then falsely claimed that migrants from around the world are pouring into the US.

The pre-taped interview aired Wednesday evening. The former president walked onto the stage in a Pennsylvania arena to cheers, applause and chants of “USA” from his supporters.

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Liz Cheney, ex-Republican Wyoming representative, endorses Kamala Harris

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Daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney is the latest GOP member to publicly renounce ex-president

Liz Cheney, the Republican former representative of Wyoming, has endorsed Kamala Harris for president. The former legislator made the pronouncement on Tuesday at an event at Duke university in North Carolina. This move makes her the latest Republican to publicly say that they will not be supporting Donald Trump.

“I don’t believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, particularly in swing states,” Cheney, daughter of former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney, told the crowd. “And as a conservative, as somebody who believes in and cares about the constitution, I have thought deeply about this and the present danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, I am voting for Kamala Harris.”

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Harris and Trump accept debate rules, including allowing mics to be muted

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Campaigns had clashed over whether candidates should be audible while opponent is speaking

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have accepted the rules for the presidential debate in Philadelphia, due to air on ABC next week, the network said on Wednesday – including muted mics when the other candidate is speaking.

ABC News said in a release that Harris, the Democratic nominee, and Trump, her Republican rival, “have qualified for the debate under the established criteria, and both have accepted the following debate rules”.

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US arms advantage over Russia and China threatens stability, experts warn

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Academics say vulnerability of the two countries’ nuclear launch sites makes dangerous mistakes more likely

The US and its allies are capable of threatening and destroying all of Russia and China’s nuclear launch sites with conventional weapons, creating what two experts describe as a potentially unstable geopolitical situation.

Prof Dan Plesch and Manuel Galileo, from Soas University of London, describe a “quiet revolution in military affairs” reflecting increased US military power relative to Moscow and Beijing, particularly in missile technology.

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Trump appears in town hall hosted by Sean Hannity – as it happened

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This blog is now closed. Here is our full story on US conservative influencers saying they are ‘victims’ of a Russian disinformation campaign.

Half of gen-Z voters said they will vote for Kamala Harris in November, according to a new NBC News poll published today.

The poll shows one-third of gen-Z voters said they plan to vote for Donald Trump, and 1 in 10 said they do not plan to vote in the presidential election.

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Boy, 11, charged with murder in deaths of former Louisiana mayor and his daughter

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Joe Cornelius Sr, 82, and Keisha Miles, 31, were found dead with multiple gunshot wounds on Sunday

An 11-year-old boy has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after the fatal shootings of a former Louisiana mayor and his daughter.

In a press conference on Tuesday, police chief Jared McIver of Minden, a small town in north-west Louisiana, said that at about 6.30am on Sunday police responded to reports of a shooting inside a house on Austin Street, according to local reports.

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Georgia high school shooting: student charged with murder after four people killed in Apalachee

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Authorities say suspect, 14, also wounded nine others, with FBI later saying they had investigated him and his father a year ago

Two students and two teachers were killed at a Georgia high school on Wednesday in a mass shooting authorities say was committed by a 14-year-old male student at the school.

At least nine others were taken to the hospital following the incident at Apalachee high school in Winder, about 50 miles north-east of Atlanta.

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