Category Archives: US News

Kamala Harris announces new office to implement ‘red flag’ gun control laws

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Vice-president launches national resource center at site of 2018 Florida school shooting where 17 were killed

The White House has announced a new national office to support states implementing “red flag” laws to combat gun violence, an initiative funded by the justice department.

Kamala Harris made the announcement on Saturday during a visit to Parkland, Florida, where she toured the site of the nation’s worst high school shooting, the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre that killed 17.

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Group to search for celebrated US pilot’s fighter plane in South Pacific

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Richard Bong downed 40 aircraft in a Lockheed P-38 Lightning before it crashed while being flown by another pilot

A Wisconsin museum is partnering with a historical preservation group in a search for the wreckage of the second world war ace fighter pilot Richard Bong’s plane in the South Pacific.

The Richard I Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior, Wisconsin, and the non-profit second world war historical preservation group Pacific Wrecks announced the search on Friday, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls Israeli Gaza campaign an ‘unfolding genocide’

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The progressive congresswoman also called on the White House to suspend aid to the Israeli military in House speech

Progressive US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the Israeli military campaign in Gaza an “unfolding genocide” in a scathing speech that demanded the Joe Biden White House suspend aid to Israel’s armed forces.

“As we speak, in this moment, 1.1 million innocents in Gaza are at famine’s door,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a speech on the House floor on Friday.

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Blake Lively ‘mortified’ over Catherine joke after princess’s cancer news

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The US actor apologized for post poking fun at Princess of Wales while other celebs face criticism for mocking the royal

After the Princess of Wales announced on Friday that she is undergoing treatment for cancer, the US actor Blake Lively apologized to Catherine for joking about a manipulated family photograph that the latter recently published as speculation about her whereabouts ran rampant.

“I’m sure no one cares today but I feel like I have to acknowledge this. I made a silly post around the ‘Photoshop fails’ frenzy, and oh man, that post has me mortified today,” Lively wrote on Instagram. The star of Gossip Girl and A Simple Favor added: “I’m sorry. Sending love and well wishes to all, always.”

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Claims of ‘lawlessness’ on New York City subways increase danger, critics say

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Violent crimes in 2024 have been used as ‘political tool’, and law enforcement response does not solve root issues, critics say

A high-profile string of violent crimes on New York City’s subway in 2024 has been used “as a political tool” by pundits and politicians, transit advocates say, leading to a false perception of spiraling underground crime, which could create more danger in the future.

Crime in the subway system, one of the world’s most used rapid transit systems, declined in 2022 and decreased again in 2023, according to police. But subway crime is up so far in 2024, and it is the nature and violence of the incidents that has captured public attention.

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‘It’ll be bedlam’: how Trump is creating conditions for a post-election eruption

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As the ex-president fans the flames of violence, experts and insiders say November will be a brutal test for US democracy

A bloodbath. The end of democracy. Riots in the streets. Bedlam in the country. Donald Trump has made apocalyptic imagery a defining feature of his presidential election campaign, warning supporters that if he does not win – and avoid criminal prosecution – America will enter its death throes.

The prophecies of doom, repeated ad nauseam at rallies and on social media, have raised fears that the former president is making an electoral tinderbox that could explode in November. While there has been much commentary assessing the implications of a Trump win, some experts warn that a Trump defeat could provide an equally severe stress test of American democracy.

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‘Rotten fruit thrown at you’: Robert Hur speaks out on vitriol after Biden report

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Ex-special counsel speaks to New Yorker about stunning criticism he’s received for doing a duty he felt he owed to the US

The former special counsel who investigated Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents has said he is stunned at “the level of vitriol” that greeted him across the US’s political spectrum after he declined to prosecute the president yet portrayed him in a report as an “elderly man with a poor memory”.

“I knew it was going to be unpleasant” taking on the investigation, Robert Hur told The New Yorker in a lengthy interview Friday, more than a week after he appeared at a congressional hearing in which both Democrats and Republicans heavily criticized him. “But the level of vitriol – it’s hard to know exactly how intense that’s going to be until the rotten fruit is being thrown at you.”

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US politicians exploit loophole to skirt campaign finance rules, study finds

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‘Red-boxing’ allows candidates to coordinate with outside spending groups, Election Law Journal researchers say

A new study published in Election Law Journal reveals politicians’ widespread exploitation of a loophole to skirt the law barring campaigns from coordinating with outside spending groups.

It’s a strategy that takes place not in smoke-filled rooms or encrypted chats, but out in the open.

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Dismay as Louisiana lookback law for child sexual abuse victims struck down

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Court rules 4-3 to overturn law that had allowed victims to file civil suits over sexual abuse that took place decades ago

In a split ruling that has major implications for hundreds of child sexual abuse victims, the Louisiana state supreme court has struck down a law that had allowed victims to file civil lawsuits over molestation that happened decades ago.

Child molestation victims and their advocates were devastated by the 4-3 ruling from a court whose members are elected.

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Prosecutors say Mike Lynch firm ‘paid customers to buy software’ as part of revenue fraud

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New Jersey executive testified that the UK company Autonomy made millions of dollars’ worth of deals offering to fund purchases

The British technology firm Autonomy struck millions of dollars’ worth of “handshake deals” through which it paid customers to buy its software, the jury in the fraud trial of its co-founder Mike Lynch has heard.

Lynch, who co-founded and led Autonomy, has pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy. He stands accused of orchestrating a huge fraud before Hewlett-Packard’s blockbuster takeover of the company in 2011.

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White House wishes Princess of Wales full recovery after cancer diagnosis

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Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says Biden’s thoughts are with princess’s family ‘during this incredibly difficult time’

The Joe Biden White House has expressed sympathy and support to the Princess of Wales after her announcement that she is being treated for cancer.

Biden’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, wished Catherine a full recovery at a Friday press briefing.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene files motion to remove House speaker Mike Johnson

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Far-right Republican says motion intended as ‘more of a warning than a pink slip’ and stops short of forcing vote to eject him

The far-right Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene filed a motion to remove Mike Johnson as House speaker on Friday but did not pull the trigger on a move that would probably pitch Congress into a repeat of chaos seen last October, when the right ejected Kevin McCarthy.

Speaking after Johnson relied on Democratic votes to pass a $1.2tn spending bill and avoid a government shutdown, Greene said her motion was meant as “more of a warning than a pink slip” because she did not want to “throw the House into chaos”.

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Trump could net $3bn after investors approve Truth Social to go public

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Plan approved by vote of shareholders in Digital World Acquisition, with which Trump’s business sought to combine

Investors approved plans to take Donald Trump’s social media platform public on Friday, netting the former president a paper fortune of $3bn.

Trump Media & Technology, the firm behind his minnow social network Truth Social, has spent years fighting to land on the stock market via a so-called “blank check” merger with a shell company.

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How Facebook Messenger and Meta Pay are used to buy child sexual abuse material

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Court documents and interviews detail the products’ role in alleged exploitation – and how some payments go undetected

When police in Pennsylvania arrested 29-year-old Jennifer Louise Whelan in November 2022, they charged her with dozens of counts of serious crimes, including sex trafficking and indecent assault of three young children.

One month earlier, police said they had discovered Whelan was using three children as young as six, all in her care, to produce child sex abuse material. She was allegedly selling and sending videos and photos to a customer over Facebook Messenger. She pleaded not guilty.

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Republican House majority to shrink as Mike Gallagher steps down

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Congressman once considered a rising Republican star to leave in April, further weakening party’s slim majority

The Republican majority in the US House of Representatives is set to dwindle further with the early exit of Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, once a rising star of the party.

A former US marine who twice deployed to Iraq, Gallagher, 40, is a relatively moderate voice in party at the mercy of the far right.

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Texas troops clash with migrants over barbed-wire breach at US border

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Wire barrier installed under governor’s border security program breached as migrants say they were forcefully pushed back

A group of migrants clashed with Texas national guard troops over a breach of barbed wire fencing in El Paso on Thursday as they waited to turn themselves in to federal border agents – underscoring the power struggle between the state and federal government over immigration law enforcement.

Video posted on social media showed migrants dragging away a temporary concertina wire barrier which was installed as part of Texas governor Greg Abbott’s controversial Operation Lone Star publicly-funded state border security program.

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Israel-Gaza war: US condemns ‘cynical’ Russia and China veto of ceasefire deal; Israel to go into Rafah ‘with or without US support’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on the US’s vetoed UN resolution, you can read our latest reporting:

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that “hundreds of worshipers” were “blocked” from reaching the al-Aqsa mosque compound by Israeli forces on Friday.

According to Wafa: “Eyewitnesses reported that Israeli forces significantly increased their military presence around checkpoints in Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, al-Zaytouna, east of Jerusalem, and Bethlehem to the south. The forces turned back hundreds of worshipers, citing a lack of necessary entry permits.”

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Candace Owens leaves Daily Wire site amid Israel and antisemitism tensions

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Far-right commentator posts ‘The rumors are true – I am finally free’ following clashes with site’s co-founder Ben Shapiro

The far-right commentator Candace Owens left the rightwing Daily Wire website amid tensions over her alleged antisemitism and opposition to US funding of Israel’s war in Gaza.

“Daily Wire and Candace Owens have ended their relationship,” said Jeremy Boreing, co-founder of the site with the rightwing commentator Ben Shapiro, who has clashed with Owens and is a strong supporter of Israel and its actions.

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What did US Gaza ceasefire resolution say and why did Russia and China veto it?

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Draft resolution put before UN represents important tonal – but not substantive – shift for White House

After months of vetoing other UN security council resolutions in an effort to defend Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the US has in recent weeks gone on to the diplomatic front foot in New York, drafting and tabling its own resolution that was put to a vote on Friday before being vetoed by Russia and China.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the resolution would send “a strong signal”. But what was that signal precisely?

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US fears Russia’s influence in Africa after Niger junta cancels security pact

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Washington fears loss of bases in Niger would risk the country following its neighbours and falling under Russian hegemony

US policymakers are scrambling after the ruling military junta in Niger cancelled a mutual security pact that could lead to American forces being expelled, stirring fears of a loss of vital influence to Russia in west Africa.

In a setback for Washington’s counter-terrorism strategy against jihadist groups in the region, Niger announced last weekend that it was revoking the pact, which had been in force since 2012. There are about 1,000 US military and civilian personnel in Niger.

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