Category Archives: US News

Peter Welch is first Democratic senator to publicly ask Joe Biden to withdraw

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Vermont senator of more than two decades implores president in an op-ed to step down for ‘good of the country’

Peter Welch, a long-serving member of Congress from Vermont, became the first Democratic senator to publicly call on Joe Biden to withdraw from the presidential race.

“We cannot unsee President Biden’s disastrous debate performance. We cannot ignore or dismiss the valid questions raised since that night,” Welch, wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Wednesday. “For the good of the country, I’m calling on President Biden to withdraw from the race.”

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Joe Biden hints UK should move closer to EU in Starmer meeting

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Two leaders meet during Nato summit in Washington as prime minister works on EU-UK security pact

Joe Biden has appeared to back Keir Starmer’s ambition for the UK having a closer relationship with the European Union as the leaders held their first bilateral talks at the White House.

The US president called the US and UK the “best of allies” as he met the new prime minister in the Oval Office, describing Britain as the “knot” that tied the transatlantic relationship together.

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Biden under renewed pressure to step aside as top Democrats make agonized appeals

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Senator Michael Bennet said Trump may win ‘by a landslide’ while two more senators echoed his concerns

Joe Biden came under renewed moral pressure on Wednesday to abandon his presidential candidacy amid agonised appeals by a succession of senior Democrats for him to consider the broader picture.

Those calls came as the US president dug in his heels to make it hard to supplant him as the nominee.

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Billionaire Sung Kook ‘Bill’ Hwang convicted of fraud by New York jury

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Archegos Capital Management’s founder guilty of 10 of 11 criminal counts over investment firm that collapsed in 2021

Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, the Archegos Capital Management founder, was convicted of fraud and other charges by a jury in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. Prosecutors at a criminal trial had accused him of market manipulation ahead of the 2021 collapse of his $36bn private investment firm.

The jury, which began deliberations on Tuesday, found Hwang guilty on 10 of 11 criminal counts and Patrick Halligan, his Archegos deputy and co-defendant, guilty on all three counts he faced. Hwang and Halligan sat flanked by their lawyers as the verdict was read by a soft-spoken foreperson.

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Las Vegas sets record for number of days over 115F amid its ‘most extreme heatwave in history’

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City hits all-time high of 120F as officials set up emergency cooling centers at community centers across south Nevada

Las Vegas set a new record on Wednesday as it marked a fifth consecutive day over 115F (46C), amid a lingering hot spell that will continue scorching much of the US into the weekend.

The blazing hot temperatures climbed to 115F shortly after 1pm at Harry Reid international airport, breaking the old mark of four consecutive days above 115F set in July 2005.

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US to resume sending 500lb bombs to Israel while withholding 2,000lb bombs, official says

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US had paused shipment of bombs of both sizes amid concern over their impact in Gaza

The Biden administration will resume shipping 500lb bombs to Israel but will continue to hold back on supplying 2,000lb bombs over concerns about their use in densely populated Gaza, according to a a US official.

The US in May paused a shipment of 2,000lb and 500lb bombs due to concern over the impact they could have in Gaza during the war that began with Hamas’ deadly 7 October cross-border raid.

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UK will be ‘leading European nation’ in Nato, defence secretary pledges

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John Healey acknowledges likely shift of US focus to China and says Britain and EU must raise military spending to counter Russia

Britain will be “the leading European nation” in Nato under a Labour government, the new defence secretary, John Healey, pledged in an interview at the Nato summit in Washington DC – though spending may have to rise significantly if the UK is to remain ahead of Germany.

The cabinet minister, appointed last Friday, acknowledged that European countries within Nato would have to take on more of the burden of defending the west against Russia – regardless of whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November.

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Nato summit live: Stoltenberg says Ukraine Nato membership is ‘not the question of if, but when’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on the Dutch and Danish governments’ statement at the summit, read our report:

Here’s the schedule for today’s talks in Washington (all in local time).

8:15am: Nato secretary general’s doorstep

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Move to reduce Lords retirement age to 80 is not about Joe Biden, says Keir Starmer

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Ahead of UK-US bilateral talks, PM says primary driver for cutting peers’ retirement age is size of Lords chamber

Keir Starmer has denied that his decision to bring in a retirement age of 80 for the House of Lords means he believes Joe Biden should stand down as US president.

Ahead of his first bilateral talks with Biden at the White House, the UK prime minister said the “primary driver” for bringing in a retirement age for peers was the size of the second chamber.

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US House to vote on bill that will require proof of citizenship for casting ballot

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Republicans to push Safeguard American Voter Eligibility bill in effort to quell unproved fraud of non-citizens voting

Congressional Republicans will vote this week on a bill to require people to show proof of citizenship to register to vote, a move that comes as they lay the groundwork for undermining election results in November.

The House will vote on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility bill, or Save bill, which would make states require, in person, documents that prove a person is a US citizen when registering to vote. This can include a Real ID, passport or other kinds of identification that show a person’s place of birth. It wouldn’t include a standard drivers license as a sole form of identification and calls for a secondary proof of place of birth alongside it, like a birth certificate.

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First Thing: Democrats torn over Biden amid concern deepens over whether he can win

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Seven House Democrats have so far called for president to quit. Plus, Israeli strike on Khan Younis shelter kills at least 25

Good morning.

After a day of private meetings on Capitol Hill, congressional Democrats appeared torn over whether Joe Biden should remain the party’s nominee, as concerns deepen over the 81-year-old president’s age, mental acuity and ability to win the White House for a second term.

Who has affirmed their support of Biden? Most prominent Democrats: the vice-president, Kamala Harris; Schumer, the Senate majority leader; the South Carolina representative James Clyburn; senior members of the Black and Hispanic caucuses; and progressives including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.

What did Biden say in his Nato speech? On Tuesday, in Biden’s headline speech – a critical step to convincing foreign leaders he remains up to the task – the president said in forceful tones: “Today, Nato is stronger than it’s ever been in its history.”

What’s the latest on ceasefire negotiations? Mediation efforts led by Egypt, Qatar and the US continue, with Egyptian media reporting that talks are due to continue in Doha and Cairo this week, attended by the CIA director and Israel’s Mossad chief.

What effect is latest wave of attacks having on the talks? On Monday night, Hamas’s Qatar-based political chief, Ismail Haniyeh, said that the “catastrophic consequences” of the latest battles on the ground in Gaza could “reset the negotiation process to square one”.

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Urban heat island effect making temperatures 8F hotter in 65 US cities – study

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Nearly 34 million people in those cities, or 15% of the US population, experiencing temperatures higher than in surrounding areas

Almost 34 million people in 65 major US cities, or 15% of the country’s population, are experiencing temperatures that are 8F higher than their surrounding areas, according to a new analysis from Climate Central, a non-profit research group.

That is largely due to built environments like parking lots and asphalt sidewalks, and a lack of trees, that contribute to what’s known as the urban heat island effect.

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European leaders use Nato summit to sell military alliance to US voters

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Issue of burden-sharing threatens to become major stumbling block should second Trump administration come into power

European leaders at the Nato summit in Washington are focused on explaining to ordinary American taxpayers that the military alliance is worth the money, as the issue of burden-sharing has become a political football for both parties in the US – and threatens to become a serious stumbling block for the alliance should a second Trump administration come to power.

“There is a debate in the United States that the US are doing a lot to support Ukraine and Europe is not doing enough. If you look at figures, it’s actually a different picture. Europe is doing more than the United States: the financial support, military support we all have provided so far has been enormous … We are taking the security and defense seriously,” said Edgars Rinkēvičs, the president of Latvia, during a speech on Tuesday alongside former CIA director Leon Panetta and the Estonian defense minister, Hanno Pevkur. “It’s also very important to explain to the American public.”

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Trump airs list of false grievances at Florida rally: ‘We don’t eat bacon any more’

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Ex-president returns to campaign trail in Doral and makes baseless accusations but doesn’t name running mate

Donald Trump returned to the campaign trail in Florida on Tuesday night, hurling insults at Joe Biden and airing a litany of familiar grievances, but declining to name a running mate for November’s general election.

The former president and presumptive Republican nominee was speaking to a crowd of several hundred supporters at his golf club in Doral, a western suburb of Miami, keeping them waiting in 90F heat for a freewheeling monologue that began more than an hour later than scheduled.

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Yellowstone gunman told woman held at gunpoint he planned mass shooting, park officials say

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Rangers fatally shot Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, 28, when he fired at a dining facility with nearly 200 people inside

A gunman killed by Yellowstone national park rangers, as he fired a semiautomatic rifle at the entrance of a dining facility with about 200 people inside, had told a woman he had held at gunpoint earlier that he planned to carry out a mass shooting, park officials said Tuesday.

Park rangers shot and killed the man during the attack Thursday morning. Yellowstone officials identified the lone shooter Tuesday as Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, 28, of Milton, Florida.

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Kamala Harris underscores support for Biden at Las Vegas rally: ‘He is a fighter’

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Vice-president warns Trump would turn US to dictatorship if re-elected at event focused on AANHPI communities

Kamala Harris doubled down on her support of Joe Biden on Tuesday, describing the embattled president as a “fighter” as she warned Donald Trump would turn the country from a democracy into a dictatorship if he is re-elected to the White House in November.

The vice-president, speaking at a campaign event in Nevada, alluded to Biden’s struggles since his calamitous debate performance last month. “We always knew this election would be tough, and the past few days have been a reminder that running for president of the United States is never easy,” Harris said.

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White House says time to ‘turn the page’ on Biden campaign questions as Democrats still appear split – live

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Party leaders have come out in support of president but rumbling continues as Tennessee Democrat says opinions are so vast they are ‘not even in the same book’

At the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, Senator Josh Hawley endorsed the idea of Christian nationalism.

“Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian nation – so I am,” said Hawley during remarks at the conference on Monday. “And some will say that I am advocating Christian nationalism – so I do.”

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US blocks UK from holding court hearing in British territory Diego Garcia

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Authorities refused to grant access for judge and legal teams to visit island, where dozens of Tamil asylum seekers are stranded

The US government has blocked the UK from holding a court hearing in one of its own territories, it emerged on Tuesday.

The hearing was due to take place on the remote island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to consider the fate of dozens of Tamil asylum seekers stranded there for more than 1,000 days who claim they are being unlawfully detained.

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Leaders head to Nato summit amid Biden doubts and concern for Ukraine

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Nato official warns there could be further Russian strikes on Ukraine this week to try to draw attention away from event

World leaders flew into Washington DC on Tuesday for a two-day Nato summit where they are expected to agree enhanced military support for Ukraine against a backdrop of questions about Joe Biden’s mental sharpness.

Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, were among those arriving at the US capital amid a warning that Russia could step up missile strikes on Ukraine this week, repeating a barrage that killed at least 38 on Monday.

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Democrats lean toward accepting Biden even as party members voice concerns

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Six House Democrats have so far called for president to step aside, evidence of a party in disarray after disastrous debate

Many House Democrats appeared ready to accept Joe Biden as their nominee, despite widespread concern about his electoral viability, as prominent Black, Hispanic and progressive lawmakers rally behind the president during a crucial day of meetings on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers emerged from a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning stone-faced, appearing uneasy about Biden’s path forward, even if most weren’t ready to publicly call on him to step aside as concerns deepen over the 81-year-old president’s age, mental acuity and ability to win the White House for a second term. Asked if the party was on the same page, Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee quipped: “We’re not even in the same book.”

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