Category Archives: US News

Trump appeals ruling letting Fani Willis stay on election interference case

Posted on by

Attorneys for ex-president and eight co-defendants ask Georgia’s appellate court to remove Fulton county district attorney

Donald Trump’s legal team on Friday sought to overturn a Fulton county, Georgia, judge’s decision allowing Fani Willis to continue as prosecutor of that state’s election interference case against the former president.

“[T]he indictment should have been dismissed and, at a minimum, [District Attorney] Willis and her office should have been disqualified from prosecuting the case,” Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow said, in part, in the appeal filed on Friday to an appellate court in Georgia.

Continue reading...

AOC and Sanders aim to place public housing at center of Green New Deal

Posted on by

Proposal aims to decarbonize all of nation’s public housing units, with an investment of between $162bn and $234bn over next decade

With a sweeping legislative proposal, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders are attempting to place public housing at the center of the green energy transition, tackling the twin crises of global warming and soaring housing costs.

“Public housing should be the gold standard for affordable, environmentally friendly, and safe communities,” Ocasio-Cortez said in an email. “This bill is how we ensure that.”

Continue reading...

Republican choice for vacated US House seat is surprise boon for Lauren Boebert

Posted on by

Colorado Republicans chose former mayor Greg Lopez, who plans to step down, leaving no incumbent or favored primary candidate

A Colorado Republican panel made the surprising decision on Thursday night to choose a former mayor, Greg Lopez, to be congressman Ken Buck’s likely replacement until the November general election, a saving grace for Lauren Boebert’s bid for another term in Congress.

Lopez will now run as the Republican candidate in the 25 June special election after Buck’s resignation at the same time GOP primary candidates are vying to be the congressman’s successor.

Continue reading...

Senate Democrats demand end to rightwing ‘judge shopping’ but move draws immediate attack from Republicans – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed. You can read all our politics news here

Why did Russia arrest Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and what might they want in return for his release? The Guardian’s Julian Borger looks into the question, one year into the American journalist’s detention:

Friday marks the grim first anniversary of the day when masked Russian officers grabbed Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist, at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg where he was waiting to eat on a reporting trip.

Continue reading...

‘Join us’: Biden campaign urges Haley supporters to turn against Trump

Posted on by

Campaign ad shows clips of Trump disparaging Republican rival as president courts ‘broad and diverse coalition of voters’

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign released an ad targeting Republicans who supported Nikki Haley in her losing primary against Donald Trump.

“If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote,” the president’s campaign ad says. “Save America. Join us.”

Continue reading...

Joe Biden to visit Baltimore after catastrophic collapse of bridge

Posted on by

US president to arrive next week, as crane moves in to begin weeks-long clearing of wreckage of Francis Scott Key Bridge

Joe Biden said on Friday he will go to Baltimore next week following the catastrophic collapse of the road bridge across the entrance to the Maryland city’s port after it was struck by a ship.

Four people were still missing, presumed dead and in the water on Friday afternoon, as the US president pledged to follow his transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, on a visit to the site after the tragedy in the early hours of Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Famine is now probably present in Gaza, US says

Posted on by

State department assessment comes after world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into territory

Famine is already probably present in at least some areas of northern Gaza, while other areas are in danger of falling into conditions of starvation, the US state department said on Friday a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to admit food aid into the territory.

“While we can say with confidence that famine is a significant risk in the south and centre but not present, in the north, it is both a risk and quite possibly is present in at least some areas,” a state department official told Reuters.

Continue reading...

Crystal Mason: Texas woman sentenced to five years over voting error acquitted

Posted on by

Appeals court rules Mason, now 49, did not know she was ineligible when she voted in 2016 and throws out conviction

A Texas appeals court has thrown out a five-year prison sentence for Crystal Mason, a Texas woman who was sentenced for trying to cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election that was rejected.

Mason, now 49, attempted to vote in Fort Worth in the 2016 even though she was ineligible because she was still on supervised release – which is like probation – for a tax felony. She has always maintained she had no idea she was ineligible and only tried to cast a ballot because her mother urged her to.

Continue reading...

Biden campaign raises $25m ‘money bomb’ at event with Obama and Clinton

Posted on by

Chuck Schumer and Lizzo made appearances before the presidents talked onstage in event that widens fundraising lead over Trump

Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with Bill Clinton on Thursday that organizers said raised more than $25m for the US president’s re-election campaign.

Such a haul, which Politico called an “NYC money bomb”, will widen Biden’s lead over Donald Trump in fundraising for the November election.

Continue reading...

US National Park Service sued over plan to trap Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats

Posted on by

Activists say plan to remove 200 felines near Old San Juan fortress within six months is not enough time and worry cats will be killed

A non-profit organization said Thursday that it sued the US National Park Service over a plan to remove Puerto Rico’s famous stray cats from a historic district in the US territory.

The lawsuit filed by Maryland-based Alley Cat Allies comes four months after the federal agency announced it would contract an animal welfare organization to remove an estimated 200 cats that live in an area surrounding a historic seaside fortress in Old San Juan.

Continue reading...

Teen girl who died from gunshot wound after grabbing LA officer’s gun identified

Posted on by

Attorney hired by family casts doubt on department’s claim that girl disarmed deputy, and will conduct investigation

Authorities have identified the teenage girl who died of a gunshot wound inside a Los Angeles county sheriff’s station as 17-year-old Johanna González, according to the county medical examiner, who has classified her death as a suicide.

Deputies were called to a home in the City of Industry, a small city 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, on 25 March for a teen allegedly having a mental health crisis. By the time they arrived, González, who was being fostered by her aunt and uncle, had already left.

Continue reading...

Biden approves $60m in aid after deadly Baltimore bridge collapse

Posted on by

Maryland governor warns of ‘very long road ahead’ as cranes and barges start work to remove twisted metal and concrete from river

The Maryland governor Wes Moore has warned of a “very long road ahead” to recover from the loss of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge as the Biden administration approved $60m in immediate federal aid after the deadly collapse.

The funding does not cover the reconstruction of the crippled bridge itself, but to instead remove shattered parts of the structure and deal with traffic in order to reopen Baltimore’s shipping channels.

Continue reading...

Rural California county keeps ultra conservative official who pushed to upend voting system

Posted on by

Shasta county’s Kevin Crye fought off recall effort, but a far-right official who pushed election conspiracies lost the race for his seat

Shasta county voters returned a mixed verdict on the ultra-conservative politics the rural enclave in northern California has become known for, ousting one far-right local official and offering another a political lifeline.

County residents on 5 March resoundingly declined to re-elect Patrick Jones to the board of supervisors, the county’s governing body. Jones, a leader of the local far-right movement, had repeatedly, and baselessly, argued that county and US elections are being rigged. Jones’s opponent, Matt Plummer, won the race for the seat with nearly 60% of the vote.

Continue reading...

Russia criticised for using veto to end UN monitoring of North Korea sanctions

Posted on by

Ukraine’s foreign minister calls veto ‘guilty plea’ amid claims Pyongyang is aiding Moscow’s war against Kyiv

Russia has blocked the renewal of a UN panel monitoring sanctions against North Korea, weeks after the body said it was investigating reports of arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang.

The move was met with a flurry of criticism, including by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, who took to social media to call the veto “a guilty plea” amid allegations that Pyongyang is aiding Moscow in its war against Kyiv.

Continue reading...

US repeatedly warned Russia ahead of Moscow attack, White House says

Posted on by

National security spokesperson says US passed on warnings and dismissed Russian allegations Ukraine was involved as ‘nonsense’

The US repeatedly alerted Russia that extremists were planning to attack large gatherings in Moscow ahead of last week’s concert hall attack that claimed more than 140 lives, the White House has said.

The national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Thursday that US officials passed on warnings – including one in writing – and dismissed Russian allegations that Ukraine was involved as “nonsense”.

Continue reading...

Heavy fighting reported around Gaza’s al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals

Posted on by

Israeli forces also blockading al-Amal hospital amid mounting concern for the safety of patients, civilians and medical staff

Heavy fighting took place around two key hospitals in Gaza on Thursday, while a third was reportedly under Israeli siege, amid mounting international concern for the safety of patients, civilians and remaining medical staff in the facilities.

The most intense fighting once again appeared to be focused on the al-Shifa complex, Gaza City’s main hospital before the war, where the Israeli army said it continued to operate around the site after storming it more than a week ago.

Guardian Newsroom: The unfolding crisis in the Middle East

Continue reading...

Bernie Moreno says he fled socialism in Colombia for the US in 1971. What does history say?

Posted on by

The Republican challenger to Democrat Sherrod Brown for US Senate in Ohio has made dubious claims in his campaign

Bernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Ohio who expected to mount a stern challenge to Sherrod Brown, the incumbent leftwing Democrat, says his family fled socialism when they came to the US from Colombia in 1971, when he was four years old.

Though such statements formed a central part of Moreno’s campaign message on his way to securing the Republican nomination with support from Donald Trump, they do not withstand historical scrutiny.

Continue reading...

Surge of new oil and gas activity threatens to wreck Paris climate goals

Posted on by

World’s fossil-fuel producers on track to nearly quadruple output from newly approved projects by decade’s end, report finds

The world’s fossil-fuel producers are on track to nearly quadruple the amount of extracted oil and gas from newly approved projects by the end of this decade, with the US leading the way in a surge of activity that threatens to blow apart agreed climate goals, a new report has found.

There can be no new oil and gas infrastructure if the planet is to avoid careering past 1.5C (2.7F) of global heating, above pre-industrial times, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has previously stated. Breaching this warming threshold, agreed to by governments in the Paris climate agreement, will see ever worsening effects such as heatwaves, floods, drought and more, scientists have warned.

Continue reading...

Daniel Kahneman, renowned psychologist and Nobel prize winner, dies at 90

Posted on by

The Israeli-American’s first book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, was a worldwide bestseller with revolutionary ideas about human error and bias

Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist who pioneered theories in behavioural economics that heavily influenced the discipline, and won him a Nobel prize, has died at age 90.

Kahneman, who wrote bestselling book Thinking, Fast and Slow, argued against the notion that people’s behaviour is rooted in a rational decision-making process – rather that it is often based on instinct.

Continue reading...

Baltimore bridge collapse: two bodies recovered from water, officials say

Posted on by

Authorities say bodies of Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera found by divers in pickup truck

The bodies of two men trapped in their vehicle have been recovered from the waters beneath the Baltimore bridge that collapsed early on Tuesday when a container ship crashed into it, officials announced on Wednesday.

The authorities identified the men as Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, a 35-year-old originally from Mexico who was living in Baltimore, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, who was from Guatemala and was living in Dundalk, Maryland.

Continue reading...