Category Archives: US News

Deceased New Jersey congressman wins primary

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Donald Payne suffered a heart attack on 6 April and died in hospital over two weeks later, after filing deadline for primary

A popular New Jersey progressive Democrat who served six terms as a congressman has won his party’s primary for the state’s 10th congressional district – despite dying in office more than a month ago.

Representative Donald Payne, 65, suffered a heart attack on 6 April and died in hospital more than two weeks later – after the filing deadline for the primary, and too late for a vacancy committee to meet to replace him on the primary ballot.

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Italian court upholds Amanda Knox slander conviction

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Knox hoped conviction for wrongly accusing bar owner of murdering Briton Meredith Kercher would be dropped

A Florence court has upheld a slander conviction against Amanda Knox for wrongly accusing a bar owner of murdering the British student Meredith Kercher.

The American, 36, had asked for the conviction to be dropped, saying she had returned to Italy in the hope of “clearing my name once and for all of the false charges against me”.

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Rock climber sentenced to life in prison for Yosemite sexual assaults

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Charles Barrett was accused of using his fame as a rock climber to lure victim to park and later making threatening phone calls to her

A professional rock climber who assaulted a woman three times during a weekend hiking trip to California’s Yosemite national park in 2016 has been sentenced to life in prison.

Charles Barrett, 40, had been accused of using his fame as a rock climber to lure the woman to the park, and then making hundreds of threatening phone calls against her and his other victims after he was arrested and placed in custody.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Biden’s migrant order is recipe for chaos at US border: ‘It will only cause suffering’

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With high levels of people seeking asylum, and after failed attempts to pass reforms, Biden has presented his most aggressive restrictions yet

Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an aggressive new immigration order suspending asylum rights, signalling that “securing the border” was a central tenet of his re-election bid.

At the southern US border, the policy is set to cause chaos and hardship for those seeking the protection of the United States.

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Asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border worry about their next move: ‘We cannot return’

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People at the border reel after hearing about Biden’s order and consider the CBP One app, where they can go and what’s next

Angel Ramos Girón was searching for a gap to breach the coils of concertina wire standing between him and the huge US fence near gate 36.

The port of entry divides the US from Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, where he stood on Tuesday afternoon looking towards El Paso, its American sister city in Texas.

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Andy Kim wins Democratic primary in race for Bob Menendez’s Senate seat

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Congressman bids to replace Menendez, who plans to run as independent despite being charged with accepting bribes

Democratic congressman Andy Kim has won New Jersey’s Senate primary, putting him in strong position for the general election in the blue-leaning state, though the win comes a day after Democratic senator Bob Menendez filed to run as an independent amid his federal corruption trial.

Menendez, who has denied allegations that he accepted bribes to promote the interests of the Egyptian government, has chosen not to seek the Democratic Senate nomination. Kim’s win comes after a bruising battle that led New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy to withdraw from the race in March.

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Merrick Garland hits back at Trump and Republicans: ‘I will not be intimidated’

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Attorney general defends stewardship of justice department and accuses Republican lawmakers of peddling conspiracy theories

US attorney general Merrick Garland has defended his stewardship of the justice department in a combative display on Capitol Hill that saw him accusing Republicans of attacking the rule of law while telling them he “will not be intimidated.”

Testifying before the House judiciary committee, Garland accused GOP congressmen of engaging in conspiracy theories and peddling false narratives.

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Democrats decry Biden executive order turning away some asylum seekers

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US representatives Nanette Barragán, Judy Chu and Raúl Grijalva say order guts legal rights, while ACLU threatens to sue

Progressive Democrats and immigration advocates have shared their outrage after Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday that would turn away some asylum seekers.

Biden’s order will temporarily shut down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers attempting to enter the country legally when authorities have determined that the border is “overwhelmed”.

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Biden issues order limiting asylum seekers from crossing US-Mexico border

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President’s move comes amid voter dissatisfaction over immigration as leftwing and Latino lawmakers express alarm

Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order that will temporarily shut down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers attempting to cross between lawful ports of entry, when a daily threshold of crossings has been exceeded.

The order will take effect immediately, senior administration officials said on a press call. Those seeking asylum will be held to a much more rigorous standard for establishing credible fear of returning to their home country, although certain groups – including human trafficking victims and unaccompanied children – would be excluded from the ban.

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Alec and Hilaria Baldwin to share family life in reality show

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The actor and his wife will be the focus of a TLC docuseries, announced just weeks before his manslaughter trial begins

Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria have announced a new TLC reality show following their family life.

The 66-year-old actor, whose films include Beetlejuice and Glengarry Glen Ross, shared a video on Instagram with his seven children.

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The-Dream, singer and producer for Beyoncé and Rihanna, accused of rape

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A lawsuit alleges the musician, involved with hits such as Umbrella and Single Ladies, of sexual battery and abuse by a former protege

Terius Gesteelde-Diamant, the songwriter and producer better known as The-Dream, has been accused of rape by a former protege.

Gesteelde-Diamant, who scored hits himself but had bigger success working with artists such as Beyoncé, Rihanna and Britney Spears, is the focus of a lawsuit filed by singer Chanaaz Mangroe, also known by her stage name Channii Monroe.

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Biden: ‘every reason’ to believe Netanyahu is prolonging Gaza war for political gain

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US president’s remarks to Time magazine about PM’s role in conflict draw heavily critical response from Israeli government

Joe Biden has said that there is “every reason” to draw the conclusion that Benjamin Netanyahu is prolonging the war in Gaza for his own political self-preservation.

Biden made the remarks about the Israeli prime minister in an interview with Time magazine published on Tuesday morning, drawing a sharp response from the Israeli government, which accused the US president of straying from diplomatic norms.

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Pressure grows on Benjamin Netanyahu to back Gaza ceasefire plan

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Biden-backed proposal is causing rifts in unstable coalition led by Israeli PM that could lead to his government falling apart

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing growing pressure at home and internationally to support a new ceasefire plan for Gaza, a move he is resisting over fears it will collapse his government.

Far-right members of the prime minister’s coalition have threatened to quit the coalition if Israel “surrenders” before “total victory” over Hamas, while his leading rival, the centrist Benny Gantz, has said he will resign from the emergency unity government if Netanyahu does not commit to a deal and “day after” plan for Gaza by 8 June.

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BDS founder hails campus protests for taking Israeli divestment mainstream

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Omar Barghouti, who attended Columbia University in 80s, says student solidarity with Palestine has educated the world

The student-led protests demanding universities cut financial and academic ties to Israel have led to unprecedented support for the Palestinian liberation struggle, and have propelled the divestment debate into the mainstream, according to the co-founder of the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian human rights defender who helped launch the BDS movement almost 20 years ago, said the students’ solidarity had helped educate the world about the Israeli occupation and “apartheid” while exposing the hypocrisy – and repressive tendencies – of some of the world’s most prestigious universities with investments in corporations which put “profit before people and the planet”.

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San Francisco police arrest pro-Palestinian protesters occupying Israeli consulate building

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Authorities confirmed 70 people were taken in to custody, cited for trespassing and released after they ‘refused to vacate’ the premises

Police on Monday arrested pro-Palestinian demonstrators who occupied the lobby of a San Francisco building that houses the Israeli Consulate.

Associated Press journalists saw police zip-tie the hands of about 50 people. Officers then put them in police vans and drove them away. San Francisco police later confirmed that 70 protesters were arrested and cited for trespassing after they “refused to vacate the building”. They have since been released from San Francisco county jail.

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Benjamin Netanyahu set to address joint session of US Congress for fourth time

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The Israeli PM’s invitation comes amid deep differences with the Biden administration

Benjamin Netanyahu is set to become the first foreign leader to address a joint session of the US Congress four times, despite deep differences with the Biden administration.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that a date for his address to Congress had yet to be set, but that it would not take place on 13 June as had been reported, due to a Jewish holiday.

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Republican governors gather to attack Biden’s climate agenda

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Governors say president has ‘done nothing but attack American energy’ and urge end to US fossil-fuel rules and regulations

Republican governors gathered in the fossil-fuel rich state of Louisiana on Monday to rail against the Biden administration’s climate agenda and lay out plans to “unleash American energy”, alarming community advocates and climate experts.

“President Biden has done nothing but attack American energy,” said the Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, who led the Wednesday press conference.

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Fauci describes ‘credible death threats’ for overseeing US Covid-19 response

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Doctor, who was head of infectious diseases unit during height of the pandemic, tells Congress he and his family still get harassed

Anthony Fauci, the former head of the US infectious diseases unit, has received “credible death threats” stemming from his time overseeing the nation’s fight against Covid-19, he has told Congress.

Fauci, who was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the height of attempts to halt the spread of the virus, told a hearing on Capitol Hill that the threats had continued until the present day, even though he retired in 2022.

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Hawaii’s Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, erupts

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The eruption began early Monday in a remote area that last saw lava a half-century ago, with ‘absolutely no property in danger’

Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting early on Monday in a remote area that last erupted a half-century ago, the US Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.

The eruption is about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the Kilauea caldera, in an area within Hawaii Volcanoes national park that last erupted in December 1974. The area surrounding the caldera has been closed to the public since 2008 because of other hazards, including ground cracking, instability in the crater wall and rockfalls.

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California firefighters contain 75% of state’s largest wildfire so far this year

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Fire east of San Francisco was significantly surrounded after reportedly scorching more than 22 sq miles over the weekend

California’s largest wildfire so far this year was significantly surrounded on Monday after blackening a swath of hilly grasslands between San Francisco bay and the Central valley.

The Corral fire was 75% contained after scorching more than 22 sq miles (57 sq km) over the weekend, the California department of forestry and fire protection, or Cal Fire, said. One home was destroyed and two firefighters were injured.

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