Category Archives: US News

Tense wait in tight Virginia primary for House Republican who crossed Trump

Posted on by

Incumbent Bob Good, chair of far-right Freedom Caucus, appeals for patience as votes counted in congressional race

The conservative US representative Bob Good is asking for “patience from the people of Virginia’s fifth district over the coming weeks” as he hopes the final ballot count from Tuesday’s primary will allow him to fend off a fellow Republican challenger endorsed by former president Donald Trump.

Good, who chairs the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, currently trails state senator John McGuire by a little more than 300 votes as elections officials finalize their vote counts and mail-in ballots continue to trickle in.

Continue reading...

ByteDance alleges US’s ‘singling out of TikTok’ is unconstitutional

Posted on by

Chinese firm recounts talks with US government that ended abruptly and says it spent $2bn to draft security agreement

New legal filings from the Chinese tech firm ByteDance have challenged the US government’s “unconstitutional singling out of TikTok”, revealing fresh details about failed negotiations over a potential ban of the platform.

Legislation signed in April by Joe Biden gives ByteDance until 19 January to either divest TikTok’s US assets or face a ban. ByteDance claims in its new filings that such divestiture is “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally” and accuses the US government of refusing to engage in any serious settlement talks after 2022.

Continue reading...

Winklevoss twins donate $1m each to Trump as champion of cryptocurrency

Posted on by

Crypto tycoons claim Biden has ‘openly declared war against crypto’ in lengthy critique of administration policy

Cryptocurrency tycoons the Winklevoss twins have each donated $1m in bitcoin to Donald Trump’s campaign and pledged to vote for the former president in November, claiming Joe Biden had “openly declared war against crypto”.

Trump is “pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, pro-business”, Cameron Winklevoss declared on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. “And he will put an end to the Biden Administration’s war on crypto.”

Continue reading...

FBI raids home of Oakland’s first-term mayor Sheng Thao

Posted on by

Agents also conducted searches at two homes owned by members of the politically influential Duong family

Federal authorities have raided a home belonging to the mayor of Oakland, California, as part of an investigation that included a search of at least two other houses, officials said on Thursday.

The raid took place on Thursday morning, when FBI agents carried 80 boxes out of a four-bedroom home that property records link to Sheng Thao, who is serving her first term as the city’s mayor.

Continue reading...

Florida boaters find $1m worth of cocaine in Atlantic Ocean

Posted on by

Wrapped in bald eagle packaging, 21kg of cocaine was found off the Florida Keys coast

Boaters have discovered $1m worth of cocaine off the coast of the Florida Keys, authorities announced.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Monroe county sheriff’s department announced that recreational boaters discovered a package containing approximately 21kg (61lbs) of packaged cocaine around seven miles (11km) off Islamorada, a village of islands in the Florida Keys.

Continue reading...

Russian-American woman on trial for treason over $50 pro-Ukraine donation

Posted on by

Ksenia Karelina was detained in January during a trip to visit family and faces up to 20 years in prison

A Russian American ballerina who lives and works in Los Angeles has gone on trial for treason over an alleged donation of $50 to a pro-Ukrainian charity, in the latest court case to raise tensions between Washington and Moscow.

Ksenia Karelina, 32, was detained by police in the city of Yekaterinburg in late January while on a trip to visit her family in Russia.

Continue reading...

DS Smith’s £5.8bn takeover by US rival going ahead despite competition

Posted on by

Merger with International Paper moving at ‘absolutely full steam’ in face of separate interest from Brazil’s Suzano

The boss of the FTSE 100 company DS Smith has said its £5.8bn takeover by a US rival is going at “absolutely full steam”, despite concerns it could be derailed by another packaging sector merger.

Miles Roberts, DS Smith’s chief executive, said merger work with International Paper was “going very well” and that he definitely expected the deal to complete.

Continue reading...

Deadly heat in Mexico and US made 35 times more likely by global heating

Posted on by

Researchers find extreme heat four times more likely than at turn of millennium and urge reduction in fossil fuels

The deadly heatwave that scorched large swaths of Mexico, Central America and the southern US in recent weeks was made 35 times more likely due to human-induced global heating, according to research by leading climate scientists from World Weather Attribution (WWA).

Tens of millions of people have endured dangerous day – and nighttime temperatures as a heat dome engulfed Mexico – a large and lingering zone of high pressure that stretched north to Texas, Arizona and Nevada, and south over Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

Continue reading...

Madonna fans who sued singer over late concert start dismiss their own lawsuit

Posted on by

Michael Fellows and Jason Alvarez have dismissed their suit with prejudice, having previously argued that the late concert had impacted their sleep

Two Madonna fans have dropped their lawsuit against the singer for starting her show two hours late, having previously argued they had to get up early the next day.

In January, Michael Fellows and Jason Alvarez filed a class action case against the singer, Brooklyn venue the Barclays Center and her tour promoters Live Nation after she came on stage at 10.30pm at the Barclays Center on 13 December.

Continue reading...

Prosecutors say Alec Baldwin was ‘engaged in horseplay’ with gun before fatal shooting

Posted on by

Actor is due to go to trial over death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed on set of Rust

Fewer than three weeks before actor Alec Baldwin is due to go on trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, prosecutors have said that he “engaged in horseplay with the revolver”, including firing a blank round at a crew member on the set of Rust before the tragic accident occurred.

Baldwin is facing involuntary manslaughter charges in the 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Continue reading...

Ten Commandments to be displayed in Louisiana public school classrooms

Posted on by

Law passed requiring text to be displayed in every public school classroom, although lawsuits against it are expected

Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom under a bill signed into law by the Republican governor, Jeff Landry, on Wednesday.

The GOP-drafted legislation mandates that a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” be required in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities. Although the bill did not receive final approval from Landry, the time for gubernatorial action – to sign or veto the bill – has lapsed.

Continue reading...

US admits dams in Pacific north-west have devastated Native Americans

Posted on by

US says dams killed off salmon, inundated villages and burial grounds, and spirited wealth away from tribes

The US government, in a report published on Tuesday, acknowledged for the first time the harms that federal dams have inflicted on Native American tribes in the US Pacific north-west.

The report by the interior department details the “historic, ongoing and cumulative impacts of federal Columbia River dams on Columbia River Basin Tribes”, including how dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers have devastated salmon runs, inundated villages and burial grounds, and deprived tribal members of the ability to exercise traditional ways of life.

Continue reading...

Alex Murdaugh’s son sues Netflix over docuseries linking him to 2015 death

Posted on by

Son of convicted murderer says Netflix defamed him when suggesting he was involved in death of Stephen Smith

Richard Alexander “Buster” Murdaugh, the son of imprisoned South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the streaming giant of “reckless indifference to the truth” when it linked him to the 2015 death of his schoolfriend Stephen Smith in a documentary.

The 28-year-old son of Alex Murdaugh, who was convicted in 2022 of murdering his wife, Maggie, and youngest son, Paul, seeks actual and punitive damages from Netflix and other companies connected to documentaries examining the murders for damaging his reputation “irreparably” and causing “mental anguish”.

Continue reading...

White House disputes Netanyahu’s claim that US is withholding weapons from Israel

Posted on by

Israeli leader made claim in X post, although Biden administration says it does not ‘know what he is talking about’

The Biden administration has reacted furiously to criticisms by Benjamin Netanyahu that the US is holding back weapons and ammunition from Israel in its war in Gaza, reportedly cancelling a high-level meeting with Israeli officials on Iran in retaliation.

Netanyahu made the claims of a supposedly deliberate weapons delay in a video posted on X in which he implied that Israel’s ability to prevail in the nine-month war with Hamas was being hampered as a result.

Continue reading...

‘I’ve waited a long time for this’: woman earns Stanford master’s degree at 105

Posted on by

Virginia Hislop left school to care for her family during the second world war; 83 years later she received diploma

Virginia Hislop took 83 years to get her master’s degree from Stanford University. Now, at 105 years old, she’s finally graduated.

“My goodness, I’ve waited a long time for this,” she said, walking across the stage on Sunday to receive her diploma. She was cheered on by her family, grandchildren and the 2024 graduating class.

Continue reading...

Heatwaves and wildfires strike across US as tropical storm forms in gulf

Posted on by

Tropical storm due to form in Gulf of Mexico, adding to extreme weather as north-east and midwest bake

Potential Tropical Cyclone One – a slow churning system of low atmospheric pressure in the Gulf of Mexico – was badgering the Texas coast but had not fully developed, meteorologists said on Wednesday.

The storm, which will be named Tropical Storm Alberto when it forms fully, is set to unleash powerful winds, heavy rain and flood threats across the entire southern US, Mexico and Central America. Storm-force winds, which stretch more than 400 miles (640km) from the storm’s center, are already affecting southern Texas.

This article was amended on 19 June 2024 to correct a quotation from Bill Nye.

Continue reading...

Philippines accuses Chinese coastguards of piracy after violent confrontation

Posted on by

Filipino sailor lost a thumb when coastguards rammed and boarded boats ‘with knives and spears’ in South China Sea

The Philippines has accused China’s coastguard of piracy in the disputed South China Sea after a violent confrontation in which it says its boats were rammed, punctured with knives and boarded by Chinese personnel.

One Filipino sailor lost a thumb in the incident, according to the Philippines military, which said Chinese personnel also destroyed communication equipment, seized personal mobile phones and took away unopened cases containing guns.

Continue reading...

Some immigrants celebrate Biden’s extension of legal status while others left out

Posted on by

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants married to US nationals can now exit ‘the shadows’ while others remain stuck in limbo

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants had reason to rejoice when Joe Biden unveiled a highly expansive plan to extend legal status to spouses of US citizens but, inevitably, some were left out.

Claudia Zúniga, 35, was married in 2017, 10 years after her husband came to the United States. He moved to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, after they wed, knowing that, by law, he had to live outside the US for years to gain legal status. “Our lives took a 180-degree turn,” she said.

Continue reading...

‘Let kids be kids’: LA becomes largest US school district to ban phones in class

Posted on by

Measure passes 5-2 as Gavin Newsom calls for statewide ban on cellphones for students during the school day

The Los Angeles unified school board passed a resolution on Tuesday banning cell phones from district classrooms. As the second-largest school district in the US, the vote makes it the largest school district in the US to approve such a ban.

As more educators across the US explore similar policies, California governor Gavin Newsom called on Tuesday for a statewide ban on phones in class. The measure in Los Angeles was introduced by board member Nick Melvoin and will be implemented starting in January 2025 after passing in a 5-2 vote. Melvoin said in a statement the measure is meant to support “students’ academic success and wellbeing”, adding that studies have shown smartphones and social media distract kids from learning and stifle their in-person social connections.

Continue reading...

‘The sky was on fire’: New Mexico villagers flee two deadly wildfires

Posted on by

At least one killed as residents of Ruidoso escape blazes which are 0% contained

Two fast-moving fires killed at least one person in New Mexico, claimed 1,400 structures and forced the evacuations of thousands of residents as firefighters hope cooler temperatures and the chance of rain could bring some relief as they struggle to bring the “out of control” blazes to heel .

A state of emergency has been declared by New Mexico’s governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, and by the Mescalero Apache Tribal Council, to speed recovery and response funding into the region.

Continue reading...