Category Archives: US News

Project 2025 ex-director accuses Trump campaign advisers of ‘malpractice’

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Paul Dans slams Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita for allegedly failing to properly prepare Trump for potential Biden exit

The former head of Project 2025, a rightwing blueprint for remaking the US government that was created by many of Donald Trump’s former officials, has urged the former president to replace his two campaign managers if he wants to win November’s presidential election.

Paul Dans, who stepped down as the project’s director in July after Trump dissociated himself from it, turned his fire on Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, blaming the advisers for a series of errors that he claims have jeopardised the Republican nominee’s chances of beating Kamala Harris.

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Blinken says Russia has received new ballistic missiles from Iran

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US and Europe impose new sanctions on Iran in response to supply of weapons that US says Russia could use in Ukraine

Russia has received new deadly ballistic missiles from Iran for use in Ukraine and is likely to use them, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced on Tuesday in London as he prepared to travel with the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to Kyiv.

The news, confirmed by the US for the first time and seen as of huge significance to the battlefield balance ahead of Ukraine’s difficult winter, led the US and Europe to impose new sanctions on Iran, so apparently slamming the door on the prospect of a rapprochement between the new reformist Iranian government and the west.

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Israel says ‘highly likely’ its troops killed Turkish-American activist

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IDF expresses ‘regret’ over death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi on West Bank while US calls it ‘unprovoked and unjustified’

Israel’s military has said it was highly likely its troops fired the shot that killed Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the American-Turkish woman killed at a protest in the occupied West Bank.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said her death was unintentional and expressed deep regret.

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US and China hold high-level military talks in effort to stabilise ties

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Washington and Beijing hoping to open new regular communication channels to avoid misunderstandings

The United States and China have held high-level commander talks for the first time, Chinese authorities said, amid efforts to stabilise military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hotspots such as the South China Sea.

Washington hopes to open new channels of regular military communication with Beijing after ties sank to a historic low when the United States downed a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon last year.

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How China and a tariffs row cast a shadow over booming US solar power

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The source of new renewable energy is also a battleground over China’s cheap exports of panels that has split US firms

The Biden administration touts solar energy as one of its big success stories, a booming new industry that is curbing the effects of the climate crisis and creating high-paying jobs across the country. But the more complicated truth is that the United States is mired in a long-running trade war with China, which is flooding the market with artificially cheap solar panels that carry an uncomfortably large carbon footprint and threaten to obliterate the domestic industry.

The price of solar panels has plummeted 50% over the past year, largely, industry insiders say, because of deliberate Chinese overproduction of key components and a game of international cat-and-mouse over trade rules often likened to a game of “Whac-A-Mole”. As different sets of rules get established, Chinese companies have proved adept at moving their manufacturing plants to other countries, in south-east Asia, and shifting strategies to work around US tariffs and other deterrent measures.

This article was amended on 10 September 2014. An earlier version incorrectly stated that this year’s RE+ conference took place in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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White Stripes sue Trump over ‘flagrant misappropriation’ of hit song

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Band accuse campaign of unauthorised use of Seven Nation Army and seek ‘significant monetary damages’

The White Stripes’ Jack White and Meg White have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for what they allege is the “flagrant misappropriation” of a recording of their hit song Seven Nation Army in a campaign video.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Jack White shared the first page of the lawsuit, filed in court in New York, with the caption: “This machine sues fascists.”

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Bodycam shows police dragging NFL star Tyreek Hill from car before season opener

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  • Miami receiver was detained before game on Sunday
  • Player says he followed orders given by officers

New video surfaced on Monday showing police officers forcefully removing Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill from his car and throwing him to the ground during a heated traffic stop before his team’s home opener on Sunday.

The Miami-Dade Police Department said it was releasing the available bodycam footage while continuing to investigate the incident. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump posted a clip from the footage on X.

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Harvey Weinstein undergoes emergency heart surgery at New York hospital

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Representatives say Weinstein, 72, awaiting retrial on rape and sexual assault charges, is recovering after procedure

The disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was rushed from prison to a New York City hospital for emergency heart surgery after he experienced chest pains, his representatives told US media.

“Mr Weinstein was rushed to Bellevue Hospital last night due to several medical conditions,” Weinstein representatives Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer said in a statement first reported by ABC News.

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Fast-spreading wildfire east of LA forces thousands to flee amid fierce heatwave

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California’s Line fire, only 3% contained, has charred more than 21,000 acres as temperatures soar into triple digits

Thousands of people east of Los Angeles have been ordered to flee their homes from an out-of-control wildfire that has burned through a large area of forest.

In southern California, currently in the grip of a ferocious heatwave, the so-called Line fire has burned areas around San Bernardino national forest, about 65 miles (105km) east of Los Angeles.

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US says white supremacist group tried to incite followers on Telegram to spark race war

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Leaders Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison face 15 counts including soliciting hate crimes and support for terrorism

A white supremacist group that branded itself the Terrorgram Collective drew up a list of high-profile assassination targets including at least one senator and a district court judge, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Monday.

Prosecutors allege that the two leading agitators of the group incited followers on the messaging app Telegram to commit hate crimes against Black and Jewish people, immigrants and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

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Funeral procession held for US-Turkish peace activist killed in West Bank

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Palestinian Authority holds ceremony for Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi who was allegedly shot by Israeli troops during protest

The Palestinian Authority has held a funeral procession for an American-Turkish activist who a witness says was shot and killed by Israeli forces last week during a demonstration against settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Dozens of mourners – including several leading officials of the western-backed authority – attended the procession in Nablus for Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old from Seattle who also held Turkish citizenship.

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DoJ warns states over voter purges – as it happened

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Pew report says 49% of voters would choose Harris, with the same number planning to vote for Trump; justice officials remind states about voting laws

The statement of support for Kamala Harris by a group of retired top military officials comes a day before the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, will host a congressional gold medal ceremony honoring the 13 service members killed in the chaotic 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal.

Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans have tried to blame Harris for the Afghanistan pullout, including in a report by House GOP lawmakers today.

Our investigation reveals the Biden-Harris administration had the information and opportunity to take necessary steps to plan for the inevitable collapse of the Afghan government. At each step of the way, however, the administration picked optics over security.

Without involving the Afghan government, he and his administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban that freed 5,000 Taliban fighters and allowed them to return to the battlefield.

This chaotic approach severely hindered the Biden-Harris administration’s ability to execute the most orderly withdrawal possible and put our service members and our allies at risk.

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Thirty people injured after car crashes into Arizona restaurant

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Police say alcohol a factor as 73-year-old man arrested after accidentally driving truck into front of building

As many as 30 people were injured after a car crashed into an Elks Lodge restaurant in the Phoenix suburb of Apache Junction, authorities said on Sunday.

Police in the Arizona city said 73-year-old Thomas Edward Kain was arrested after he got into his truck to leave the restaurant and accidentally drove into the front of the building at about 7pm Saturday.

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Violence spreads in the Middle East | First Thing

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Israeli airstrikes killed at least 16 in Syria while a Jordanian truck driver killed three Israeli workers at a border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. Plus: The massive US toxic fire shrouded in secrecy

Good morning.

Overnight Israeli airstrikes killed at least 16 people in the central Syrian province of Hama, Syria’s state news agency is reporting. A military source told the Sana news agency that the strikes had been targeting a number of military sites, and a military research center for chemical arms production near Masyaf was hit.

Where else has there been a surge in violence? The West Bank, where there have been army raids on Palestinian towns and frequent attacks by Israeli settlers, as well as a sharp rise in attacks on Israeli settlers and security forces. One Israeli security coordinator blacklisted by the US last month for forcefully expelling Palestinians from their lands has essentially fashioned himself into a warlord of the whole Jabal Salman valley.

What else have we learned about the shooting? The mother of the teenage boy who has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting had called the school before the killings, warning staff of an “extreme emergency” involving her son.

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Three ex-Memphis officers charged in killing of Tyre Nichols to stand trial

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Trial for Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith Jr, and Demetrius Haley begins on charges linked to 29-year-old’s 2023 death

The federal trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in the killing of Tyre Nichols begins Monday.

Ex-officers Tadarrius Bean, Justin Smith Jr, and Demetrius Haley will stand trial for federal civil rights and conspiracy charges in connection to Nichols’s death, according to an announcement from the Department of Justice last year.

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Will Jennings, Oscar-winning lyricist of My Heart Will Go On, dies aged 80

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Songwriter wrote No 1 hits for Whitney Houston and Barry Manilow, as well as iconic ballads such as Up Where We Belong and Tears in Heaven

Will Jennings, the Oscar-winning US lyricist behind hit songs such as My Heart Will Go On, Tears in Heaven and Up Where We Belong, has died aged 80. His agent said Jennings died at home in Tyler, Texas, and did not give a cause of death.

Born Wilbur Jennings in 1944, he was raised in Tyler and initially went into academia, teaching at the University of Wisconsin. But in 1971 he headed to Nashville and became a lyricist in the city’s country music scene, earning his first country No 1 in 1975 with Feelins’ by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn.

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Celebrity ‘son of God’ pastor surrenders in Philippines after two-week manhunt

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Apollo Quiboloy, who is also wanted in US on child trafficking charges, hands himself over to police after ultimatum

An influential pastor wanted in the US on child trafficking charges has been arrested in the Philippines, after a 16-day manhunt across a vast compound that included a network of underground tunnels and dozens of buildings.

Apollo Quiboloy, the founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) church, who claims to be the “appointed son of God” and was a spiritual adviser of the former president Rodrigo Duterte, is facing various charges, including in the US where he is wanted over alleged trafficking of women and girls as young as 12.

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Advisers worry whether ‘happy Trump’ or ‘angry Trump’ will show up to debate

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Sources say campaign is concerned that Trump may engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in 2020

Donald Trump’s campaign is most concerned going into the debate against Kamala Harris with the former president’s mood, afraid that the mercurial Trump could engage in the kind of self-sabotage that turned off voters in the 2020 presidential election, according to people familiar with the situation.

The campaign’s internal refrain is whether they get “happy Trump” or “angry Trump”, the people said, as they count down the days to perhaps the final presidential debate this cycle.

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Weather tracker: Francine looking likely to be next Atlantic hurricane

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An area of low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico is moving landward, and is expected to bring intense rainfall

Francine could soon be the next to be ticked off the list of Atlantic hurricane storm names this week. On Friday, a broad area of low pressure emerged in the Gulf of Mexico, designated as Invest 91L. An “invest” – a shorthand for “investigative area” – refers to a region of atmospheric disturbance, characterised by low pressure and thunderstorms, and is closely monitored for its potential to evolve into a tropical cyclone.

Invest 91L is anticipated to encounter more favourable environmental conditions as it progresses northward over the coming days, meandering along the eastern coasts of Mexico and Texas. The National Hurricane Center has now labelled this as a potential tropical cyclone, and it is expected to reach hurricane status before reaching the Gulf coast of the US. It advises that hurricane and storm surge watches will probably be issued on Monday for coastal parts of Texas and Louisiana, with the impacts expected to be felt from Tuesday night.

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Liz Cheney calls Trump a ‘catastrophe’ and urges Republicans to vote for Harris

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‘We have to do everything possible to ensure that he’s not re-elected,’ ex-congresswoman says

The former congresswoman Liz Cheney called Donald Trump an “unrecoverable catastrophe” on Sunday and urged fellow Republicans to vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in November’s election.

“We see it on a daily basis – somebody who was willing to use violence in order to attempt to seize power, to stay in power, someone who represents unrecoverable catastrophe, frankly, in my view, and we have to do everything possible to ensure that he’s not re-elected,” Cheney said in an interview on ABC News This Week, a show on the network that is hosting Tuesday’s debate between Trump and Harris.

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