Category Archives: US News

Five dead after powerful storms tear through rural Texan community

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Storms began on Saturday night as tornado overturned vehicles and shut down an interstate north of Dallas

A Texas sheriff has said at least five people died after powerful storms tore through a rural community, obliterating homes and leaving thousands of people without power.

The Cooke County sheriff, Ray Sappington, told the Associated Press the victims included three family members who were found in one home near Valley View, a rural community near the border with Oklahoma.

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Idaho drag performer awarded $1.1m in defamation case against far-right blogger

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A blogger falsely claimed Eric Posey exposed himself to a crowd, including children

A jury has awarded more than $1.1m to an Idaho drag performer who accused a far-right blogger of defaming him when she falsely claimed that he exposed himself to a crowd, including children, during a Pride event in June 2022.

The Kootenai county district court jury unanimously found that Summer Bushnell defamed Eric Posey, a resident of Post Falls, Idaho, when she posted a doctored video of his performance that included a blurred spot that she claimed covered his “fully exposed genitals”, the Coeur D’Alene Press reported.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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How Oregon’s right-to-die law has inspired other US states and countries

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More than 3,000 people have used the law, inspiring legislation in Australia and Canada and debate in the UK, France and Japan

It’s three decades since Ann Jackson voted against the first assisted-dying law in the world.

But after watching two partners succumb to cancer, and fearing the prospect of a lingering death herself as she grapples with autoimmune diseases, Jackson is now a vigorous proponent of the Oregon legislation used by thousands of people to end their own lives, and providing a blueprint for other US states and countries considering similar laws, including the UK.

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US president warns new army officers to be ‘guardians of American democracy’

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President entreats graduates at commencement to ‘hold fast’ to oath to US constitution in veiled reference to Trump’s threat to democracy

Joe Biden has called newly graduating US military officers the “guardians of American democracy” at a commencement speech in New York state, where the US president, without mentioning Donald Trump by name, gave strong warnings of unprecedented threats to US freedom.

Biden told the West Point military academy graduating class of 2024 that it is being called upon to tackle threats across the globe as well as preserve America’s ideals at home.

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‘Knight in spiny armor’: could lobsters help save Florida’s dying corals?

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A three-year study found that the spiny lobsters’ urine scared off predatory worms and snails who snack on the delicate organisms

An unexpected champion has emerged in the increasingly grave battle to save Florida’s imperiled coral reefs: spiny lobsters that urinate in the water and scare off predatory worms and snails seeking to feast on the delicate organisms.

The finding is one of the more bizarre conclusions of a three-year study by scientists from the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC), who are also warning it may already be too late for some species of coral to survive without significant human assistance.

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California hospital hosts wedding so ailing dad can walk daughter down aisle

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Abraham Arceo was diagnosed with cancer a year ago, and family not sure he would make it to ceremony – until hospital intervened

Hospital staff in California helped a dying man fulfill his wish of walking his daughter down the aisle by hosting the pushed-up wedding ceremony in the facility’s chapel.

Abraham Arceo was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year ago, and his condition worsened in recent weeks to the point his family members were not sure he would make it to the planned date of his daughter Brittny’s marriage to her fiance, Alan Tran, on 28 June.

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Trump would ‘absolutely’ rehire Peter Navarro despite prison sentence

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Former White House trade adviser is currently serving four months in federal prison for contempt of Congress

Donald Trump has said he “would absolutely” rehire his federally imprisoned former economic adviser Peter Navarro if returned to the presidency in November.

“I would absolutely have Peter back,” Trump – who has spent more than a year grappling with more than 80 of his own criminal charges – told the Wall Street Journal. “This outrageous behavior by the Democrats should not have happened.”

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Hopes grow of G7 deal to support Ukraine with $300bn in frozen Russian assets

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Foreign ministers confident of agreement to use bank assets as security for Ukraine reconstruction loan

Hopes of a multi-country deal to use $300bn of Russian state assets frozen in the European banking system to support Ukraine have grown after it emerged that G7 ministers were confident of overcoming technical and political obstacles at a meeting in northern Italy on Saturday.

The Canadian finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, said she was optimistic that G7 leaders would reach an agreement, as support coalesced around a plan to use frozen Russian central bank assets as security for a $50bn (£39bn) loan.

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Trump ‘unified reich’ video reportedly traced to Turkish designer’s template

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CNN reports video published on Truth Social and removed hours later was made from template and placeholder text not changed

A video posted on social media by Donald Trump referencing a “unified reich” has been traced to a template made by a Turkish designer more than a year ago, according to a report from CNN.

Critics, including Joe Biden, condemned Trump over a video posted to his Truth Social account on Monday featuring a hypothetical headline from his second presidential term reading “industrial strength significantly increased … driven by the creation of a unified reich”.

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RFK Jr attacks Trump and Biden as he makes 2024 pitch to Libertarian voters

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Independent candidate pledges to pardon Snowden and drop Assange charges, and says Trump ‘caved’ over pandemic response

Robert Kennedy Jr, a longshot independent candidate for US president, has sought to woo Libertarian party voters by casting rivals Donald Trump and Joe Biden as enemies of individual freedom.

Kennedy, 70, brought Libertarians to their feet by promising to pardon government whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently exiled in Russia, and drop espionage charges against Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder battling US attempts to extradite him from Britain.

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Singer Sean Kingston and his mother charged for over $1m fraud

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Two were arrested on Thursday after Swat team raided rapper’s rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale

Rapper and singer Sean Kingston and his mother committed more than a million dollars in fraud in recent months, stealing money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade and furniture, documents released Friday allege.

Kingston, 34, and his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, have been charged with conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft and related crimes, according to arrest warrants released by the Broward county, Florida, sheriff’s office.

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Uvalde families sue Instagram and Call of Duty maker over deadly school attack

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‘Unholy trinity’ of Instagram, Activision and Daniel Defense accused of ‘working to convert alienated boys into mass shooters’

Families of children who were killed in the 2022 Uvalde mass shooting have filed wrongful death lawsuits accusing Instagram, game maker Activision and weapons manufacturer Daniel Defense of enabling the massacre.

The suits were filed on the second anniversary of the school shooting, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed, and accuse the “unholy trinity” of Instagram, Call of Duty, and Daniel Defense of “working together to convert alienated teenage boys into mass shooters”.

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‘Psychologically tortured’: California city pays man nearly $1m after 17-hour police interrogation

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Officers threatened to kill the dog of Thomas Perez Jr as they pressured him to falsely confess to killing his father, who was alive

A California city has agreed to pay $900,000 to a man who was subjected to a 17-hour police interrogation in which officers pressured him to falsely confess to murdering his father, who was alive.

During the 2018 interrogation of Thomas Perez Jr by police in Fontana, a city east of Los Angeles, officers suggested they would have Perez’s dog euthanized as a result of his actions, according to a complaint and footage of the encounter. A judge said the questioning appeared to be “unconstitutional psychological torture”, and the city agreed to settle Perez’s lawsuit for $898,000, his lawyer announced this week.

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Lloyd Austin to undergo new hospital treatment for bladder problem

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Duties of US defense secretary, 70, whose cancer treatment in December was initially undisclosed, will be carried out by deputy

The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, is to undergo hospital treatment for a bladder issue for the second time in just over three months, the Pentagon has announced.

A Pentagon spokesperson, Maj Gen Pat Ryder, said the 70-year-old Austin would enter Walter Reed military medical center on Friday evening to undergo what he called “a scheduled, elective, and minimally invasive follow-up non-surgical procedure” to treat his previously disclosed bladder condition.

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US and UK to back Israel over ICJ ruling after blurring their Rafah red lines

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Having initially vowed to oppose any offensive, Washington and London are showing signs of having backed down

The US and the UK will reject the international court of justice order directing Israel to end its offensive on Rafah after slowly blurring their red lines that once stated that they could not support a military offensive in Rafah.

The line was first adapted by saying they could not support a major ground offensive without a credible plan to protect civilians, but since then the definition of what constitutes a major offensive has become more flexible.

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Haiti gang kills US politician’s missionary daughter and her husband

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Missouri state representative Ben Baker’s daughter and her husband were reportedly ambushed when leaving a church

The daughter and son-in-law of a US Republican politician are among three Christian missionaries who have been killed by gang members in Haiti as it emerged that the long-awaited deployment of an multinational security force tasked with rescuing the Caribbean country from months of bloodshed had been delayed.

Ben Baker, a Republican state representative from Missouri, announced the news of the couple’s murder on Facebook late on Thursday, writing: “My heart is broken in a thousand pieces. I’ve never felt this kind of pain.”

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ICJ ruling underlines risks for Israel as its isolation grows

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Court order is a warning that Israel’s offensive in Gaza risks creating conditions that could be framed as potentially genocidal

The provisional measures issued by the international court of justice ordering an immediate halt to Israel’s military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah represent the starkest warning yet to Israel that its offensive risks creating conditions that could be framed as potentially genocidal.

The ruling, agreed by a majority of 13-2 judges, almost exclusively cited UN agencies and senior officials – including the UN’s secretary general – to paint a picture of the disastrous situation facing Palestinians in Gaza, half of whom are children.

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Daniel Duggan loses fight against extradition to US over allegedly training Chinese pilots, magistrate rules

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The Australian former US marine pilot faces a potential prison sentence of up to 60 years on charges of arms trafficking and money laundering

Australian man Daniel Duggan, a former US marine pilot wanted in America over allegations he trained Chinese fighter pilots, is eligible to be extradited to the United States where he faces a potential prison sentence of up to 60 years, a magistrate has ruled.

Duggan appeared in court for the first time since his arrest 19 months ago, dressed in a grey suit jacket, white shirt and blue tie. From behind the security glass of the dock he blew kisses to his family and supporters, and made a love-heart symbol towards his wife, Saffrine, mouthing the words “I love you” to her.

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ICJ expected to make new ruling on Israel’s war in Gaza

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Court may order a halt to offensive, in what would be another sign of growing international isolation for Benjamin Netanyahu

The international court of justice is expected to issue a new ruling on Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza at 3pm (1400 BST) on Friday, as the US expressed concern over Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation among countries that have traditionally supported it.

Amid speculation that the ICJ could order a halt to Israel’s offensive, a second top global court – the international criminal court – identified the three judges who will hear a request for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

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Tech titan Mike Lynch testifies at fraud trial that Autonomy was ‘not perfect’

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UK founder, accused of inflating sales and misleading regulators, takes stand and says he wasn’t fully responsible for firm’s decisions

The British entrepreneur Mike Lynch took the stand on Thursday in a San Francisco federal courthouse as a key witness in his own criminal fraud trial, defending his role at Autonomy, the tech firm he co-founded and then sold.

The trial continued as planned Thursday despite the defense team moving for a mistrial over alleged improper questioning of a witness by the prosecution. Lynch’s defense team called the questioning, which indirectly referenced the tech titan’s extradition, “egregious” and ‘’highly improper” in a filing.

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