Category Archives: US News

Tim Walz will speak at Democratic convention in opportunity to address wider audience

Posted on by

The ‘joyful warrior’ will seek to build on the momentum of his and Kamala Harris’s campaign

Tim Walz will seek to build on the intense enthusiasm surrounding his and Kamala Harris’s campaign on Wednesday, as the newly anointed vice-presidential nominee headlines the third night of the Democratic national convention in Chicago.

The speech will give Walz an opportunity to introduce himself to a much wider audience of voters, as most Americans were unfamiliar with the Minnesota governor before Harris selected him as her running mate earlier this month. An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted last month, shortly after Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed Harris, showed that only 13% of Americans knew enough about Walz to register an opinion of him.

Continue reading...

Her unusually wide tongue was once her secret. Now it’s given her a world record

Posted on by

Brittany Lacayo clinches Guinness World Record mark with tongue wider than a hockey puck and as wide as a credit card

An American lawyer was once so secretive about her unusually wide tongue that she avoided giving even a glimpse of it to her legal office colleagues – but she has overcome her reticence and used the prodigious organ to clinch a Guinness World Record mark.

Brittany Lacayo of Houston, Texas, secured the organization’s title for female with the world’s widest tongue after hers came in wider than a hockey puck – and at about the same width as a credit card.

Continue reading...

Barack Obama calls on Americans to elect Kamala Harris – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is closed

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, has turned up at the Democratic national convention, for reasons unknown.

Cohen fell out with Trump years ago, and was a witness for the prosecution in the former president’s hush-money trial in New York, which ended with him being found guilty of 34 felonies related to falsifying business documents.

Continue reading...

Jennifer Lopez files for divorce from Ben Affleck after two years of marriage

Posted on by

Actors, dubbed ‘Bennifer’ in 2000s, married in Las Vegas in 2022 after re-sparking relationship from two decades prior

After just over two years of marriage, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have filed for divorce.

According to a report from Variety magazine, Lopez filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles county superior court. The official separation date is listed as 26 April.

Continue reading...

Republicans line up to speak at Democratic convention: ‘Trump has no morals’

Posted on by

Stephanie Grisham, ex-press secretary who excoriated Trump on Tuesday, to be followed by lawmakers and voters

Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump’s former press secretary, excoriated the Republican presidential nominee at the Democratic national convention on Tuesday, saying: “He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.”

Grisham, a Republican operative who also served as a spokesperson to Melania Trump, offered firsthand accounts of the former president’s behavior behind closed doors.

When are Michelle and Barack Obama speaking?

The lineup of notable Democratic speakers tonight

Obama to bring message of hope to convention speech

Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week

What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Continue reading...

Trump attacks Kamala Harris and ‘Marxist left’ in speech to police

Posted on by

Ex-president falsely claims US is in grip of violent crime wave, and vows to shield officers from legal accountability

Donald Trump has pledged to shield police officers from legal accountability if he is re-elected as president after falsely claiming the US is in the grip of a wave of violent crime that he blamed on the Black Lives Matter movement and migrants crossing the Mexican border.

Speaking to police officers in Michigan on Tuesday, the former president sought to pin responsibility for the imagined crisis on his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, who he characterised as among “Marxist district attorneys” with a record of being anti-police and pro-criminal during her term as the DA in San Francisco in the 2000s.

Continue reading...

Obama to bring message of hope 20 years after famous convention speech

Posted on by

Ex-president headlining in Chicago on Tuesday brings memories of 2004 appeal for unity that inspired Democrats

From “skinny kid with a funny name” to elder statesman: Barack Obama, the former US president, will be the headline speaker at the Democratic national convention in Chicago on Tuesday – 20 years after he first burst on to the national political scene.

Obama, a state legislator from Illinois, was days from his 43rd birthday and months from being elected to the Senate when he was given a slot at the party’s 2004 convention in Boston. “Rising star to woo voters with upbeat keynote speech,” was the Guardian headline on 27 July 2004.

Continue reading...

Who are the six people missing after Sicily yacht sinking?

Posted on by

What we know about four Britons and two Americans still unaccounted for after boat sank during storm

Fears are growing for six people who are missing after a superyacht, the Bayesian, sank off the coast of Sicily when it was hit by a tornadic waterspout during a storm on Monday morning.

On Monday the body of one man, the yacht’s chef, was recovered from the water. There were 15 survivors. A rescue mission is under way to search for six others who remain unaccounted for. The four Britons and two Americans have all been named. Here is what we know about them.

Continue reading...

Countries fueling Israel’s Gaza war may be complicit in war crimes, experts warn

Posted on by

Exclusive: research tracks dozens of oil and fuel shipments that could have aided Israel’s war on Gaza

Israeli tanks, jets and bulldozers bombarding Gaza and razing homes in the occupied West Bank are being fueled by a growing number of countries signed up to the genocide and Geneva conventions, new research suggests, which legal experts warn could make them complicit in serious crimes against the Palestinian people.

Four tankers of American jet fuel primarily used for military aircraft have been shipped to Israel since the start of its aerial bombardment of Gaza in October.

Continue reading...

Obama to deliver ‘forceful affirmation’ for Kamala Harris – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed. Please join us for all the latest developments from day two of the DNC in Chicago in our dedicated live blog:

Joe Biden described selecting Kamala Harris as his vice-president as “the best decision I made my whole career”, and he drew a sharp contrast between her and Donald Trump. Mocking Trump over his recent conviction on 34 felony counts, Biden said:

Violent crime has dropped to the lowest level of more than 50 years, and crime will keep coming down when we put a prosecutor in the Oval Office instead of a convicted felon.

When he talks about America being a failing nation, he says, we’re losing. He’s the loser. He’s dead wrong.

Guess who cast the tie-breaking vote? Vice-president, soon-to-be-president, Kamala Harris.

With a grateful heart, I stand before you now on this August night to report that democracy has prevailed. Democracy has delivered, and now democracy must be preserved.

Continue reading...

Gold prices hit record high amid prospect of US interest rate cuts

Posted on by

Spot price increases to $2,522.99, with record run meaning standard gold bar is worth more than $1m

Gold prices have hit a fresh high as increasing hopes of US interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve prompted investors to buy more of the precious metal.

The spot price of gold rose to a record $2,522.99 (£1,941.69) on Tuesday morning, up 0.7% on the day. Gold bars generally weigh 400 troy ounces (12.4kg), so a standard gold bar is now worth more than $1m.

Continue reading...

Barack and Michelle Obama to speak on second day of Democratic national convention

Posted on by

Theme set for Tuesday of Kamala Harris’s ‘bold vision’ will contrast with Trump’s dystopian vision of the US

The Democratic National Convention enters its second day in Chicago on Tuesday with Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign seeking to lay out what it calls a “bold vision for America” as it seeks to move forward from Joe Biden’s emotional valedictory speech.

Carrying the flame on the second night of primetime speeches will be the Obamas, with Michelle Obama addressing the convention shortly before her husband Barack takes the stage. The couple’s endorsement of Harris in July was seminal in securing the Democratic presidential nomination for the current US vice-president, helping to bypass a potentially ugly internal fight.

What is the DNC?

Joe Biden speaks at DNC night one following surprise appearance by Kamala Harris

Pro-Palestinian protesters march before DNC

Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week

What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Continue reading...

Biden at the Democratic convention was unrecognisable from his disastrous debate

Posted on by

Biden’s voice was strong and clear, and the crowd was far warmer to him as an outgoing president

Joe Biden took the stage and held his daughter, Ashley, in a long embrace, whispered some tender words and wiped tears from his eyes. She smiled and kissed the hand of her ageing dad. The pair seemed to be at the quiet centre of a storm.

Around them more than 20,000 stood, applauded, roared and chanted, “We love Joe.” They held tall narrow signs that said, “We ♥️ Joe”. The US president walked to the lectern, smiling, pointing, looked pensive, smiled again and dabbed his nose with a handkerchief.

What is the DNC?

Joe Biden speaks at DNC night one following surprise appearance by Kamala Harris

Pro-Palestinian protesters march before DNC

Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week

What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

Continue reading...

Biden says he gave ‘heart and soul to our nation’ as he passes torch – as it happened

Posted on by

This blog is now closed. You can read our full report on Biden’s speech here.

Democrats aren’t shying away from discussing the Covid-19 pandemic, with Minnesota’s lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan taking the stage to talk about the tragedy the virus brought upon her family, and how Donald Trump was to blame.

“My brother Ron was the second person to die of Covid in the state of Tennessee. We couldn’t see him. We couldn’t have a memorial. And millions of American families went through the same thing. Our communities were suffering, our economy was struggling, and Donald Trump was playing games. Our country was brought to the brink by his failure to respond, but the Biden-Harris administration stepped in with quick and decisive action,” Flanagan said.

Continue reading...

Biden urges voters to elect Harris in order to ‘preserve democracy’ in hopeful speech

Posted on by

US president delivers reflective and optimistic address on first night of the Democratic national convention

Just one month after making the historic choice to withdraw from the presidential race, Joe Biden took the stage at the Democratic national convention on Monday to deliver a reflective and optimistic address, urging the nation to elect Kamala Harris to protect American democracy.

Looking back on his one and only presidential term, Biden reminded Americans that he took office just two weeks after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, when the country was still in the early grips of the coronavirus pandemic.

Continue reading...

Democratic convention live: Demonstrators begin filling Chicago’s Union Park; national guard ‘on standby’, says Illinois governor

Posted on by

JB Pritzker says 250 national guard members on standby; tens of thousands expected to protest in Chicago to demand US ends aid to Israel

The Harris-Walz campaign has launched a WhatsApp channel targeting Latino voters in what it described as a “first-of-its-kind in a presidential election”.

The channel aims to reach voters with “tailored, culturally competent content” to “create an organic avenue to reach Latino families from the abuelos to tías and tíos and primos”, it said in a statement on Monday.

While Donald Trump vilifies our community at every turn and uses us as a political punching bag, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know the power of our community and are fighting everyday on the issues that matter to Latino voters.

Continue reading...

Coyote sightings raise panic in a New York City neighborhood

Posted on by

Bronx’s Claremont Park has seen increased numbers of coyotes, but officials say there’s no need for concern

Officials are urging calm in a New York City neighborhood after it became alarmed by an increase in sightings of coyotes.

Over the summer, residents around Claremont Park in New York’s Bronx borough say that they have seen an uptick in coyotes, leaving some park-goers scared for their safety and that of their pets.

Continue reading...

When is Biden’s Democratic convention speech? How to watch and what to know

Posted on by

The president will speak at the Democratic national convention in Chicago on Monday night

The Democratic national convention is under way, with a primetime address scheduled tonight from Joe Biden.

The president’s speech in Chicago opens a convention that, until 21 July, was meant to serve as his coronation as the Democratic nominee in a re-election bid. Having dropped out, Biden will now use his convention speech as a chance to highlight the accomplishments of his administration, and support the Harris-Walz ticket.

Continue reading...

UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch among missing in Sicily yacht sinking

Posted on by

One man dead and six people missing including Lynch and his daughter after superyacht carrying 22 sank in storm

The British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch is missing after a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm.

The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre sailboat, was carrying 22 people and was anchored just off shore near the port of Porticello when it was hit by a tornado in the early hours, the Italian coastguard said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Ten states join lawsuit against Live Nation and seek triple damages

Posted on by

Concert giant of monopolistically inflating ticket prices and hurting artists in suit now including 26 states and DC

Attorneys general from about two dozen US states are going after three times the monetary damages originally sought against Live Nation Entertainment and its ticket-selling unit, Ticketmaster. In an updated version of a lawsuit first filed in May, the states allege the concert giant monopolized markets across its industry.

The attorneys general had sought damages under state law in the initial version of the lawsuit. By adding claims under the federal anti-monopoly law, states can seek three times the monetary damages, a penalty for especially egregious conduct known as treble damages.

Continue reading...