Category Archives: US News

Federal agents raid multiple properties of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

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While the musician faces several lawsuits alleging sexual assault, it was not clear if he was the target of the investigation

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Monday that agents have raided properties in Los Angeles, Miami and New York that local news outlets have reported are tied to rapper and mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.

NBC News and local stations in Los Angeles and Miami first reported the activity at Combs’s properties on Monday. Federal Homeland Security Investigations agents and other law enforcement were conducting searches of the properties as part of a sex trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York, two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press.

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US election officials face ‘new era’ of violent threats, taskforce chief warns

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John Keller says workers facing onslaught for ‘dutifully and reliably doing their jobs’ as man given 30 months for threats

Election officials across the US are facing an onslaught of unfounded hostility for “dutifully and reliably doing their jobs”, the head of a federal taskforce set up to protect the election community from violent threats said on Monday.

John Keller, who leads the day-to-day efforts of the election threats taskforce, based in Washington, told reporters that the wave of violent threats – unleashed by Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen – amounted to an attack “on the very foundation of our democracy – our elections”.

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Ex-RNC chair Ronna McDaniel: Biden won 2020 election ‘fair and square’

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New NBC hire, who resigned from committee less than three weeks ago, insisted there were still ‘problems’ in how Biden beat Trump

A little more than two weeks after resigning as the chair of the Republican National Committee, Ronna McDaniel admitted Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election over her party’s candidate “fair and square”.

But the newly hired NBC News contributor maintained it was acceptable to also say there were “problems” in the manner that the US president defeated Donald Trump – even after the former president’s supporters translated such sentiments into the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021 that has been linked to nine deaths, including law enforcement suicides.

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Liz Cheney: controversial NBC hire Ronna McDaniel enabled Trump ‘depravity’

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McDaniel ‘facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot’, says ex-congresswoman as NBC hosts and union group protest

The Republican National Committee chair turned NBC politics analyst Ronna McDaniel “enabled criminality and depravity” in her support for Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, the former congresswoman Liz Cheney said as controversy swirled over McDaniel’s media role.

“Ronna facilitated Trump’s corrupt fake elector plot and his effort to pressure Michigan officials not to certify the legitimate election outcome,” Cheney, a Republican who was vice-chair of the House January 6 committee, wrote on social media.

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Man charged with murder after stabbing of Black teen worker at Illinois Walmart

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Timothy Carter, 28, in custody over killing of Jason Jenkins, 18, in attack criminal complaint says appears to be racially motivated

An Illinois man has been arrested after the fatal stabbing of a teenage employee at a Walmart last Sunday, in what appears to be a racially motivated hate crime.

Timothy Carter, 28, has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly killing Jason Jenkins, 18, an employee of the Walmart in the town of Rockford.

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The security council vote is a significant moment – but the US says its Gaza policy is unchanged

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Washington’s decision not to use its veto is an acknowledgement of its failure to lead the UN Gaza agenda

Diplomacy occasionally has the capacity to surprise, and when it does it often portends a deep shifting in the landscape.

Few as recently as the end of last week saw much chance that the UN security council would be able to put aside five months of division over Gaza and agree terms for an immediate ceasefire, yet on Monday that is precisely what happened, in no small part due to some British diplomatic persuasion and a significant American change of heart.

Guardian Newsroom: The unfolding crisis in the Middle East

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EU investigates Apple, Meta and Google owner Alphabet under new tech law

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Technology groups face hefty fines if they are found guilty of breaching Digital Markets Act

Apple, Google’s parent company and Meta are being investigated by the EU for potential breaches of the bloc’s new laws designed to police anti-competitive behaviour by big technology companies.

The trio face significant fines if they are found guilty of breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of regulation that came into force on 7 March and is aimed at increasing choice for online consumers.

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Weather tracker: Flood fallout claims at least 20 lives in Brazil

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Heavy rainfall brings landslides to country’s south-east. Elsewhere, a wild temperature fluctuation in Iberia

Brazil was hit by devastating floods over the weekend that have so far claimed 20 lives in the resultant landslides and mudslides. There was heavy rainfall in parts of the south-east, including Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis and the larger Espírito Santo region, with hourly rainfall totals of about 20mm recorded in places. Cumulative totals from Friday through Sunday were close to 250mm, particularly along the coast: this is far higher than the monthly average.

Landslides and mudslides occurred across the region, and a number of houses collapsed. Rescue operations are under way to look for people who may have been stranded by the floods. Although there may still be a few showers over the following days, the worst of the rain has now passed.

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Northern lights predicted across US and UK on Monday night in wake of solar storms

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Spectacular aurora borealis caused by geomagnetic storms on sun’s surface may be visible in North America as far south as the midwest

Solar eruptions are sending a stream of particles towards Earth, creating spectacular auroras in both hemispheres.

The aurora borealis – in the northern hemisphere – will be potentially visible on Monday night in the US as far south as the midwest. The northern lights, more commonly associated with northern Europe, could also be visible in northern United Kingdom.

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Thousands of foreign nurses a year leave UK to work abroad

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Exclusive: Surge in nurses originally from outside the EU moving overseas prompts concern Britain is a ‘staging post’ in their careers

Almost 9,000 foreign nurses a year are leaving the UK to work abroad, amid a sudden surge in nurses quitting the already understaffed NHS for better-paid jobs elsewhere.

The rise in nurses originally from outside the EU moving to take up new posts abroad has prompted concerns that Britain is increasingly becoming “a staging post” in their careers.

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US-style executive pay packets in UK would ‘risk higher inequality’

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Leading social scientists issue warning after call by business leaders and London Stock Exchange

More than 20 leading social scientists have warned the UK’s biggest investment companies and pension funds that allowing US-style executive pay packages could “create a significant risk of higher inequality” and “much worse lower levels of happiness, health and wellbeing across society”.

The academics said they had decided to speak out as an increasing number of British business leaders and the London Stock Exchange have argued for much higher pay awards to improve the UK’s competitiveness.

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New Jersey’s first lady suspends Senate run: ‘It’s time to unify, not divide’

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Tammy Murphy was campaigning for Bob Menendez’s seat and her exit leaves Andy Kim as clear winner for Democratic nomination

New Jersey’s first lady Tammy Murphy has announced the suspension of her Senate campaign.

In a video message posted to Twitter/X on Sunday, Murphy said: “After many busy, invigorating, and yet challenging months, I am suspending my Senate campaign today. I’ve been genuine and factual throughout. But it is clear to me that continuing in this race will involve waging a very divisive and negative campaign, which I am not willing to do.”

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Mega Millions and Powerball combined at $1.9bn is ‘one of the largest’ jackpots

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The Powerball is at $800m and Mega Millions at $1.1bn, prompting people across the country to get tickets and try their luck

The combined jackpots of the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries stand at a whopping $1.9bn as of Sunday, prompting people across the US to get their tickets and try their luck.

After zero perfect matches in drawings over the weekend, the estimated jackpot of the Powerball is now at $800m, while that of the Mega Millions is at $1.1bn.

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‘No one’s ever seen a bond this size’: Eric Trump criticises $454m judgment against his father

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New York attorney general, Letitia James, could begin to seize Donald Trump’s assets as soon as Tuesday morning

Eric Trump has come out railing against the $454m fraudulent property valuations judgment against his father Donald Trump, saying bonds the size of the half-a-billion dollar one the former president is being required to put up “don’t exist in this country”.

As a court-imposed deadline ticks down on the former president’s family and their businesses to come up with almost half-a-billion dollars, the 40-year-old executive vice-president of the Trump Organization told Fox News on Sunday that bond issuers laughed when he approached them for that sum.

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Kamala Harris says Israel assault on Rafah ‘would be a huge mistake’

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Top Democrats urge Netanyahu to abandon planned assault days after Israeli leader rejected similar request by Antony Blinken

Senior US Democrats on Sunday increased pressure on Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abandon a planned offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Two days after a similar call by US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was rejected by the Israeli leader, vice-president Kamala Harris said that the Joe Biden White House was “ruling out nothing” in terms of consequences if Netanyahu moves ahead with the assault.

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Louisiana Democrat wins sheriff’s race do-over after first victory was disputed

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Henry Whitehorn, who won by a single vote in November, will be the first Black sheriff in Caddo county

Months after his disputed one-vote victory in a Louisiana sheriff’s race was tossed by a court, a Democrat was decisively elected over his Republican rival on his second try Saturday.

Henry Whitehorn got 53% of the vote in Saturday’s election in north-west Louisiana’s Caddo parish. He’ll be the first Black sheriff in the parish – which is the word Louisiana uses for county – after defeating John Nickelson, who is white.

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Mountain lion kills California man in state’s first fatal attack in 20 years

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Victim’s younger brother was badly wounded by animal before officials euthanized it in Georgetown area of El Dorado county

A mountain lion killed a 21-year-old man and badly wounded his younger brother before officials euthanized the animal Saturday afternoon in a remote wooded area of northern California, according to authorities.

It was the state’s first fatal mountain lion attack on a person in about 20 years, statistics from California wildlife officials show.

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Laurent de Brunhoff, author of Babar children’s books, dies at 98

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Painter and storyteller, who revived father’s picture-book series about elephant king, said he didn’t consciously write for young people

Babar author Laurent de Brunhoff, who revived his father’s popular picture-book series about an elephant-king and presided over its rise to a global multimedia franchise, has died at the age of 98.

De Brunhoff, who was from Paris and moved to the US in the 1980s, died on Friday at his home in Key West, Florida, after being in hospice care for two weeks, according to his widow, Phyllis Rose.

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Wyoming governor vetoes bill on concealed carry of guns in public schools

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Bill vetoed by Republican Mark Gordon, who expressed concerns about separation of powers, also covers government meetings

The Republican governor of Wyoming, Mark Gordon, has vetoed a bill that would have allowed people to carry concealed guns in public schools and government meetings.

In his veto letter Friday night, Gordon said he had concerns the bill would exceed the separation-of-powers provision in the state constitution since any policy, further regulation or clarification of the law could only be implemented by the Wyoming legislature.

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Israel defence chief to head to Washington for Gaza talks

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Yoav Gallant will leave Israel for the US on Sunday amid growing tensions between the allies

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant will leave on Sunday for talks in the United States, the Israeli government said, amid growing tensions between the allies over the war in Gaza.

Gallant will meet with US counterpart Lloyd Austin, US secretary of state Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan “and additional senior officials”, a statement said.

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