Category Archives: US News

Private equity ownership of US hospice centers boomed in recent years – study

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Investors spent about $1tn buying healthcare facilities over last decade, leading to reports of worsening patient care

Private equity investors are increasingly buying up hospice centers – healthcare facilities meant to focus on pain relief and emotional support for people near the end of their lives.

The new study was published in the journal Health Affairs and provides more evidence of how private equity have acquired firms using often sophisticated and opaque ownership structures.

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US gambling sector’s ‘relentless’ social media posts breached own rules, study claims

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Exclusive: University of Bristol academics say gambling industry code ‘not being followed’ after analysis of social media posts by leading firms

As gambling companies target social media users, the four leading online brands appear to be routinely breaching the industry’s self-imposed marketing regulations, according to a new study.

Over one week this summer, academics at the University of Bristol found that BetMGM, DraftKings, ESPN Bet and FanDuel published more than a thousand posts – 75% of their non-sponsored content on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok – that did not include problem gambling support messages or a helpline number.

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Trump and allies plant seeds for ‘chaos and discord’ if he loses, experts warn

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Spread of conspiracy theories seeks to foment early election doubts in case Trump loses, some Republicans say

Donald Trump and election denialist allies at Turning Point USA, True the Vote and other Maga stalwarts are spreading conspiracy theories about election fraud in order to lay the groundwork for charging the election was rigged if Trump loses, warn election experts and some veteran Republicans.

The consequences of the strategy could be dire. John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa Arizona who spoke at the Democratic national convention in August in support of Vice-President Kamala Harris’s campaign for the presidency, said that former president Trump and his allies “will throw everything at the wall and see what sticks”, if Trump loses.

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London workers slower to return to office than New York or Paris, study says

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Office attendance in UK capital similar to levels in Toronto and Sydney, thinktank finds

Workers in London have been slower to return to the office than those in other global cities such as Paris and New York, a report has found.

London was near the bottom of the pack, with office attendance similar to levels in Toronto and Sydney, according to research by the Centre for Cities thinktank, which surveyed employees and employers in six big cities.

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Harris and Biden pitch for steel votes in Pittsburgh in first joint appearance on campaign trail

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Kamala Harris and Joe Biden join forces in Labor Day outing, their first joint event since Harris accepted Democratic nomination for presidency

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Monday made their first post-convention joint appearance on the presidential campaign trail, celebrating Labor Day with a tribute to union workers in Pittsburgh.

“We are so proud to be the most pro-union administration in American history,” Harris said. “I love Labor Day. I love celebrating Labor Day, and Pittsburgh is the cradle of the American labor movement.”

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Chase warns against using system glitch to filch cash: it’s ‘fraud, plain and simple’

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Warning comes after viral TikTok posts where customers purportedly tried to withdraw more money than they had

The US banking giant Chase has made clear that taking advantage of a system “glitch” to extract cash was “fraud, plain and simple” despite it becoming a TikTok trend.

Chase Bank’s warning on Monday came in response to viral social media posts where customers purportedly tried to withdraw more money than they had in their accounts by exploiting a banking system delay.

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Defiant Netanyahu insists Israel must control strategic border corridor in Gaza

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Comments follow criticism from Joe Biden and protests against his handling of war and efforts to free hostages

Benjamin Netanyahu has defied protests at home and criticism from Joe Biden by vowing that Israel would not relinquish control over a strategic corridor along the Gaza-Egyptian border.

In a combative press conference, the Israeli prime minister presented control of the Philadelphi corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt as a primary war aim, entrenching a position that has emerged as a key obstacle to a ceasefire deal.

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Two US soldiers assaulted by nationalist youth group in Turkey, authorities say

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Fifteen suspected assailants, members of the Turkey Youth Union, were detained after attack in port city of Izmir

Two US military service members were “physically attacked” in the port city of Izmir in western Turkey on Monday by members of an anti-American youth group, authorities said.

Fifteen suspected assailants were detained in the attack on the two service members, who were dressed in civilian clothing at the time of the incident. Five other US service members joined in the incident after seeing the violent encounter, officials said.

Reuters contributed to this report

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US seizes Nicolás Maduro’s jet and flies it to Florida

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Move is apparent escalation of pressure on Venezuelan leader over heavily contested claim of victory in July poll

US authorities have seized Nicolás Maduro’s plane in an apparent escalation of pressure on the Venezuelan president, more than a month after his widely contested claim of victory in the country’s national elections.

US authorities confirmed on Monday they had seized Maduro’s jet in the Dominican Republic after determining it was allegedly purchased in violation of US sanctions. The plane, described by US officials as Venezuela’s equivalent to Air Force One, has been flown to Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

Additional reporting Tom Phillips

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Biden to join Harris on campaign trail for first time since dropping out of race

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Pair due to appear together in Pittsburgh in vital swing state of Pennsylvania, aimed at cementing support from unions

Joe Biden will join Kamala Harris on the campaign trail for the first time on Monday since standing aside six weeks ago to let the vice-president claim the presidential nomination following a poor debate performance.

The pair were due to appear together in Pittsburgh in the vital swing state of Pennsylvania at a Labour Day event aimed at cementing support from trade unions, a key Democrat constituency and a bedrock of Biden’s support as he has styled himself as “the most pro-union president in US history”.

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Hewlett Packard to pursue Mike Lynch’s estate for up to $4bn

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Tech company says it will follow legal proceedings ‘to their conclusion’ after tycoon’s death last month

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has confirmed it will push ahead with a high court lawsuit against the estate of the deceased tech tycoon Mike Lynch in which it is seeking damages of up to $4bn (£3bn).

The US company said in a statement it would follow the legal proceedings “through to their conclusion” despite Lynch’s death last month when his yacht sank off the coast of Italy.

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San Francisco 49er player Ricky Pearsall released from hospital after shooting

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Suspected shooter, a 17-year-old boy, arrested after football player shot in chest during attempted robbery, police say

San Francisco 49er football player Ricky Pearsall was released from the hospital after being shot in the chest during an attempted robbery this weekend.

The suspected shooter, a 17-year-old boy, was arrested and will be charged in juvenile court, according to NBC Sports. He has not been publicly identified.

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Trump ridiculed after accusing Kamala Harris of mistreating Mike Pence

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Harris campaign responds: ‘In a stunning senile moment Trump suggested it was Harris who treated Pence poorly’

Donald Trump has drawn ridicule and accusations of hypocrisy after accusing Kamala Harris of mistreating Mike Pence, the former vice-president who his supporters said should be hanged during the January 6 insurrection that he incited.

The Republican’s nominee’s comments came in an interview with Fox News, when he also singled out Harris’s 2018 cross-examination of Brett Kavanaugh during Senate confirmation hearings after Trump, then president, nominated him as a justice on the US supreme court.

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Hiker deaths in Grand Canyon rise amid extreme weather linked to climate crisis

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Fourteen hiker deaths reported in the park this season, with total fatalities at almost the annual average of 15

More than one dozen park-goers have died in Grand Canyon national park this summer, with three perishing in just over one week in August, as weather extremes linked to climate change make for increasingly dangerous conditions.

With 14 deaths reported in the park this season, total fatalities have already almost reached the annual average of 15, the Hill reported.

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Trump shares posts of Gold Star families praising cemetery visit and criticizing Harris

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Soldiers’ relatives hit out at vice-president after she said Trump ‘disrespected sacred ground’ for a political stunt

Donald Trump shared statements from the relatives of 13 soldiers killed during the chaotic US evacuation from Kabul as they hit out at Kamala Harris after she criticized the former president’s involvement in a ceremony honoring the service members.

The dispute over the ceremony at Arlington national cemetery, during which Trump campaign aides allegedly shoved a cemetery worker so they could film Trump laying a wreath, contravening rules against political activity at the site, escalated after the vice-president said Saturday that Trump “disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt”.

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Senior adviser rejects rumors of shake-up in Trump campaign leadership

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Corey Lewandowski says management will remain despite reports of ex-president ‘feeling superstitious and nostalgic’

Trump campaign senior official Corey Lewandowski has rejected rumors of shake-up in the management of the former president’s election bid, saying the operation’s leadership will not change.

Lewandowski, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager who recently joined the 2024 team, told Fox News Sunday that campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita will remain at the top.

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More than 10,000 US hotel workers strike on Labor Day weekend

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Staff demand wage increases and reversal of pandemic-era cutbacks that impose ‘painful’ working conditions

Thousands of US hotel workers went on strike on Sunday for improved pay and conditions in a dispute likely to disrupt many Labor Day weekend holiday travelers, amid union warnings that industrial action could escalate.

More than 10,000 workers walked off the job at hotels in Boston, Seattle, Honolulu, Kauai and Greenwich, Connecticut, as well as the Californian cities of San Francisco, Sand Diego and San Jose after contract talks with the establishments’ owners collapsed.

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RFK Jr sues North Carolina elections board to remove his name from ballot

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Action comes after a series of ballot woes are threatening to undermine the impact of his decision to end campaign

Robert F Kennedy Jr is suing North Carolina’s state board of elections after it refused to remove his name from the electoral ballot following his decision to drop his independent presidential campaign and endorse Donald Trump.

The legal action comes after a series of ballot woes that initially impeded Kennedy’s campaign but are now threatening to undermine the impact of his decision to end it.

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Mosquito-borne virus prompts public health restrictions in Massachusetts – and backlash

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Climate crisis could accelerate spread of mosquito-borne diseases like eastern equine encephalitis, experts warn

Local officials in Massachusetts have issued warnings about mosquitoes carrying eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), and, in one case, placed restrictions on the use of public fields at night, prompting backlash from some residents.

Public health experts, and others, are also concerned that such mosquito-borne viruses could become more common in the United States because of the climate crisis.

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