Category Archives: US News

Cuba blames US for stoking protests amid power cuts and food shortages

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US embassy says ‘absurd’ to suggest Washington behind protests in Santiago de Cuba led by parents struggling to feed their children

The Cuban government has summoned the US ambassador, Benjamin Ziff, to its foreign ministry, accusing Washington of stoking a protest which saw hundreds of people take to the streets in the island’s second city of Santiago de Cuba.

The demonstration late on Sunday was a rare public show of disenchantment against Cuba’s communist government, and was apparently led by parents struggling to feed their children in the face of a worsening food crisis. The protesters reportedly chanted: “Without electricity and food, the people get hot.”

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Supreme court rules insurrection clause bars local official despite sparing Trump

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Decision on New Mexico election official’s 14th amendment appeal comes two weeks after court said ex-president could stay on ballot

The US supreme court declined an appeal on Monday from a former New Mexico county commissioner who was removed from office for his role in the January 6 attack, leaving intact a significant decision that enforced a constitutional ban on insurrectionists holding office.

The commissioner, Couy Griffin, is the only US public official thus far who has been removed from office for his role in the January 6 attack. Citing language in the 14th amendment that bars insurrectionists from holding office, a New Mexico judge removed him in 2022 after he was convicted of trespassing on the Capitol grounds. The New Mexico supreme court dismissed an initial appeal in the state.

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Arizona county fears ‘homelessness on steroids’ as migrant shelter funds end

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Additional federal funding for shelter has been caught in broader political battles about illegal migration and government spending

An Arizona migrant shelter that has housed thousands of asylum seekers plans to halt most operations in two weeks when funding from Washington runs out, a problem for towns along the border where officials fear a surge in homelessness and extra costs.

Arizona’s Pima county, which borders Mexico, has said that at the end of the month its contracts must stop with Tucson’s Casa Alitas shelter and services that transport migrants north from the border cities of Nogales, Douglas and Lukeville.

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Medical studies find no trace of physical harm in Havana syndrome patients

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Two new studies find no significant differences between US government officials suffering from condition and control group

Two new medical studies have found that US government officials suffering from Havana syndrome symptoms did not show any discernible physical damage or alteration.

One of the studies published on Monday by the federally funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) examined brain imaging, while the other looked at blood biomarkers and clinical assessments of hearing, vision, hand-eye coordination, cognitive ability and balance.

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Criminal fraud trial of UK tech tycoon Mike Lynch to begin

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Co-founder of Autonomy charged with 16 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy in 2011 sale of company to HP

A British technology tycoon once lauded as “Britain’s Bill Gates” was the “driving force” behind a “massive” years-long fraud, prosecutors alleged, as his criminal trial got under way in San Francisco on Monday.

Prosecutors said Mike Lynch, co-founder of the UK software company Autonomy, ruled the firm “with an iron fist” before its blockbuster takeover by Hewlett-Packard in 2011.

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US foundation cancels RBG awards for Musk and Murdoch after backlash

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Dwight D Opperman Foundation had planned to give award named for late supreme court justice to Tesla chief and News Corp mogul

A foundation which stirred controversy by planning to give awards named for the late US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch said on Monday it had canceled the ceremony.

“While we believe each of the honorees is worthy of our respect for their leadership and their notable contributions, the foundation has decided that the planned ceremony in April 2024 will be canceled,” Julie Opperman, chair of the Dwight D Opperman Foundation, said in a statement.

Musk, 52, the billionaire owner of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter/X, through which he has taken increasingly rightwing political stances;

Murdoch, 93 and the rightwing media baron owner of Fox News;

Michael Milken, 77, a financier jailed on securities charges, pardoned by Trump and now a philanthropist;

And Sylvester Stallone, 77, the star of films including the Rocky saga and the violent Rambo franchise.

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US citizens flee Haiti on government-chartered flight

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More than 30 Americans arrive in Miami from Cap-Haïten as US urges citizens to leave ‘as soon as possible’ amid gang violence

A charter flight carrying dozens of US citizens fleeing spiraling gang violence in Haiti landed on Sunday in Miami, state department officials said.

More than 30 US citizens were on the government-chartered flight, officials said in a statement. It arrived in Miami’s international airport after the US embassy in Port-au-Prince earlier this month urged US citizens to leave “as soon as possible” as chaos grips Haiti.

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Republican Bill Cassidy derides Trump and calls 2024 race ‘sorry state of affairs’

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Louisiana senator expressed disapproval of the former president, saying: ‘Is this a person we want to have an office?’

Louisiana’s Republican senator Bill Cassidy has issued new criticisms towards Donald Trump while calling the 2024 presidential race a “sorry state of affairs”.

In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Cassidy expressed his disapproval for Trump’s hostile rhetoric towards migrants, saying that it has “reflected poorly in terms of regarding folks who are coming here … illegally – and they shouldn’t be, but in a dehumanizing fashion”.

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Mega Millions and Powerball lotteries rack up record jackpots after rollovers

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Mega Millions has a pot of $875m while Powerball is at $645m, generating excitement among players even with unbeatable odds

If you’re feeling some St Patrick’s Day magic, you might want to buy a lottery ticket. Mega Millions and Powerball have racked up some massive jackpots after weeks of rollovers.

The Mega Millions jackpot is already estimated at a whopping $875m for Tuesday night’s drawing after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Friday night. Monday night’s Powerball jackpot is $645m after no tickets matched the winning numbers drawn Saturday night.

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FBI returns 22 looted artifacts to Japan after discovery in Massachusetts attic

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Investigation of items that were stolen during the Okinawa battle began after family discovered them in late father’s belongings

The FBI has returned 22 centuries-old artifacts to Okinawa, Japan, after a family discovered them in their late father’s attic in Massachusetts.

Agents with the FBI’s Boston division on Friday announced that the return of the looted items followed a lengthy investigation that began when they received a call from a family who came across the items while sorting through their dead dad’s belongings.

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Trump predicts ‘bloodbath’ if he loses election and claims ‘Biden beat Obama’

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Republican candidate insists at Ohio rally that Biden had beaten ‘Barack Hussein Obama’ in elections that never took place

Joe Biden tore into Donald Trump’s mental stability at a dinner in Washington DC on Saturday – just as the former president was making verbal gaffes at a campaign rally in Ohio as well as, during remarks on the economy and auto industry, predicting a “bloodbath” for the country if he met defeat in November’s election.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, confused the crowd at an appearance in Vandalia by insisting that Biden had beaten “Barack Hussein Obama” in elections nationally that never took place.

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Mike Pence will not endorse Trump, but will not rule out voting for him

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Former vice-president says he ‘respects the right’ of Republicans who plan to vote for the ex-president

Two days after saying he would not endorse a second Donald Trump presidency, former vice-president Mike Pence on Sunday declared his esteem for fellow Republicans who plan to vote for his former boss anyway – and he declined to rule out eventually following suit.

Pence reiterated on CBS’s Face the Nation that he “cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump” in November’s election for a number of policy-related decisions that he insisted were not personal between him and the former president whose supporters chanted for Pence to be hanged publicly as they attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

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Philadelphia shooting suspect will face charges in Pennsylvania and New Jersey

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The gunman is suspected of killing his stepmother, his sister, and the mother of his children before being arrested in New Jersey

The suspect involved in the fatal shootings of three people outside a Philadelphia-area suburb on Saturday morning has been arrested and will face charges in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, authorities said on Sunday.

According to authorities, 26-year-old Andre Gordon was found near a house in Trenton, New Jersey, after carrying out two separate shootings. Police had surrounded the home for hours in the belief that he was there, but Gordon apparently slipped out before the police cordon went up. He was arrested at around 5 pm, unarmed, when he was spotted walking down a street a few blocks away, police said.

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Massachusetts town grapples with sea rise after sand barrier fails

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A $500,000 sand dune collapsed in days after being erected, and residents are looking for help to protect their homes

On the border with New Hampshire and Massachusetts – about 35 miles north of Boston – is Salisbury, a coastal town and popular summer destination for tourists. But for those who live in the town year round, especially those who live on the coastline, life’s not a beach.

Last month, after a series of storms battered the area, local citizens came together to take the necessary steps to protect their homes. Volunteer organization Salisbury Beach Citizens for Change raised more than $500,000 to erect a 15,000-ton sand dune – a formidable barrier that would hopefully protect at least 15 beach houses from destruction.

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How the uncommitted movement rocked Biden over Gaza

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The success of this agile grassroots group underlines the discontent over the war – and represents a warning for Democrats

People in Michigan, and across the country, had been protesting for months over the Gaza war and the US government’s role in it, marching in the streets, showing up at the president’s public events, and pressuring their elected officials to support a ceasefire.

But it didn’t seem as though Joe Biden was listening to a groundswell of Democrats who opposed the war and US media coverage of the protests, and of the war itself, seems to be waning, too.

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‘A campaign for vengeance’: critics warn of a radical second Trump term

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After a chaotic first term, experienced advisers are ready to usher in a second presidency ‘driven by imaginary grievances’

The US election primary season is effectively over. Conventional wisdom holds that the two major candidates will now pivot towards the centre ground in search of moderate voters. But Donald Trump has never been one for conventional wisdom.

Detention camps, mass deportations, capital punishment for drug smugglers, tariffs on imported goods, a purge of the justice department and potential withdrawal from Nato – the Trump policy agenda is radical by any standard including his own, pushing the boundaries set during his first presidential run eight years ago.

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‘Longing for home’: letters of Irish emigrants to US reveal 400 years of trials and triumphs

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A collection of more than 7,000 letters will form a publicly accessible digital archive that offers a window to the past

In the week that Ireland turns ­everything green and celebrates its diaspora, a new online archive has given voice to the human cost paid by generations of emigrants.

More than 7,000 letters from emigrants to North America spanning four centuries have been collected and digitised, giving poignant insight into the homesickness, tribulations, and occasional triumphs, of those who crossed the Atlantic.

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Liberal MP urges Australia to follow US in TikTok crackdown, calling app a ‘serious threat’ to national security

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Shadow home affairs spokesperson James Paterson labels social media platform a ‘bad faith actor’

The shadow home affairs spokesperson has labelled TikTok a “bad faith actor” and a “serious threat” to Australia’s national security, urging the Albanese government to follow the United States in its crackdown on the video-sharing app.

The Liberal senator James Paterson said he was not advocating for a total ban on the popular app but wants Australia to emulate the United States in its bid to force the Chinese tech company that owns TikTok to divest its business in the US.

Paterson told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday he hoped changes to the app’s ownership structure would lower the risk of Australian data being harvested by the Chinese government and prevent its influence in spreading disinformation.

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Top senator calls on Biden to ‘use all levers’ to pressure Israel over Gaza

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Democrat Chris Van Hollen says Biden must cease giving arms to Israel until it lifts restrictions on aid and does more to protect lives

Joe Biden should use his leverage and the law to pressure Israel to change how it is prosecuting the war in Gaza, the Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen said.

Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, is among a group of senators urging Biden to stop providing Israel with offensive weapons until it lifts restrictions on the delivery of food and medicine into Gaza, where children are now dying of hunger and famine looms.

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Olivia Rodrigo stops distribution of morning-after pill at her concerts

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Singer was praised for earlier allowing distribution of Plan B at her shows, but is now stepping back citing the presence of children

Olivia Rodrigo has reportedly stepped in to halt the distribution of free contraceptives and the morning-after pill at her concerts, days after the American singer was praised for encouraging young people to take responsibility for their sexual health.

According to abortion organizations cited by Variety, Rodrigo’s “team” became concerned about the messaging and insisted groups no longer pass out lubrication, condoms and the emergency contraceptive pill known as Plan B because “children are present at the concerts”.

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