Category Archives: US News

Political operative and firms behind Biden AI robocall sued for thousands

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Steve Kramer and two Texas companies spoofed president’s voice to suppress turnout in New Hampshire

A political operative and two companies that facilitated a fake robocall using AI to impersonate Joe Biden should be required to pay thousands of dollars in damages and should be barred from taking similar future actions, a group of New Hampshire voters and a civic action group said in a federal lawsuit filed on Thursday.

The suit comes weeks after Steve Kramer, a political operative, admitted that he was behind the robocall that spoofed Biden’s voice on the eve of the New Hampshire primary and urged Democrats in the state not to vote. Kramer was working for Biden’s challenger Dean Phillips, but Phillips’s campaign said he had nothing to do with the call and Kramer has said he did it as an act of civil disobedience to draw attention to the dangers of AI in elections. The incident may have been the first time AI was used to interfere in a US election.

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Chuck Schumer’s call for new Israeli elections condemned as ‘grotesque’ and ‘inappropriate’ by Republican leaders – live

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Senate majority leader’s scathing speech draws criticism from Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson as well as Israel’s ambassador to the US

Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, has called for Israel to hold new elections, arguing that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “no longer fits the needs of Israel”.

Schumer, long a strong supporter of Israel and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US, strongly criticized the Israeli leader in a 40-minute speech on the Senate floor.

If prime minister Netanyahu’s current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down, and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing US standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course.

As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may. But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice.

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Oklahoma medical examiner rules death of teen Nex Benedict as a suicide

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The death of a nonbinary teenager followed a fight in a bathroom at Owasso high school in February

The death of a nonbinary teenager following a fight in a bathroom at Owasso high school in Oklahoma has been ruled a suicide, according to the state’s medical examiner.

In a summary report released on Wednesday, the state’s medical examiner listed 16-year-old Nex Benedict’s probable cause of death as combined toxicity from an antihistamine and an antidepressant.

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. A list of prevention resources can be found here. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org

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‘So angry with God’: Regina King says she’s ‘a different person’ after son’s suicide

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If Beale Street Could Talk star says sadness at death of son Ian in January 2022 ‘is a reminder of how much he means to me’

Regina King is “a different person” after her son’s death by suicide, the actor and director said in her first interview about her son since his death.

“Grief is a journey,” King told Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts in a segment that aired on Thursday morning. “I understand that grief is love, that it has no place to go. I know that it’s important for me to honor Ian in the totality of who he is.”

In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Hottest city in US saw record 645 deaths related to high temperatures in 2023

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Number of heat-related deaths in Phoenix, Arizona was more than 50% higher than 2022, which officials say ‘can be prevented’

Public health officials in Arizona’s most populous county on Wednesday reported they confirmed a staggering 645 heat-associated deaths last year – more than 50% higher than 2022 and another consecutive annual record in arid metro Phoenix.

The numbers in the preliminary report by the Maricopa county department of public health alarmed officials in America’s hottest big metro, raising concerns about how to better protect vulnerable groups such as homeless people and older adults from the blistering summer heat.

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Schumer faces backlash after calling for new Israeli elections to oust Netanyahu

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Senate majority leader says Israeli prime minister has ‘lost his way’ and warns that country risks becoming ‘a pariah’

Chuck Schumer, the US Senate leader and a top ally of Joe Biden, on Thursday broke with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over his handling of the invasion of Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections, in comments that upset its ruling party and allies on Capitol Hill.

The shift by Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States, came as he continued to press lawmakers to pass a military assistance package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, the countries Biden has named as America’s top national security priorities.

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Biden’s ‘bear-hugging’ of Netanyahu a strategic mistake, key Democrat says

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Ro Khanna, Biden campaign surrogate, believes US president should take tougher line with ‘insufferably arrogant’ Israeli PM

Joe Biden has committed a “strategic mistake” by “bear-hugging” the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as he prosecutes war with Hamas, a leading congressional progressive Democrat and Biden campaign surrogate said.

“The bear-hugging of Netanyahu has been a strategic mistake,” Ro Khanna said, accusing the Israeli leader of conducting “a callous war” in Gaza, in defiance of the United States.

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Guns and weapons trafficked from US fueling Haiti gang violence

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Experts say most guns smuggled from states with lax firearms laws such as Florida, Arizona and Georgia

As Haiti has again plunged into violent chaos, images of gang members bearing high-powered rifles, pump-action shotguns or automatic weapons in the streets of Port-au-Prince have become ubiquitous.

But this weaponry is not made in Haiti, a country with no firearms or ammunition manufacturing capabilities.

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Revealed: How the global oil industry is fueling Israel’s war on Gaza

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Analysis shows how jets and tanks are being kept fueled despite interim ICJ ruling warning Israel to prevent genocidal acts

Israeli jets and tanks bombarding Palestinians are being fueled by some of the world’s most profitable fossil fuel companies – and US tax-payers, according to research.

Israel relies on crude oil and refined products from overseas to run its large fleet of fighter jets, tanks and other military vehicles.

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California sheriff releases bodycam video of killing of boy, 15, holding gardening tool

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Outrage over killing of Ryan Gainer, shot three times on Saturday, as sheriff denounced for defending deputies’ use of lethal force

The San Bernardino, California sheriff released new body-camera footage of the fatal police shooting of 15-year-old Ryan Gainer, who was holding a gardening tool.

The Saturday killing of Gainer, who was autistic and having a mental health crisis, sparked national outrage and escalating criticisms, prompting the head of the department, sheriff Shannon Dicus, to show reporters additional footage during a Wednesday press conference. The sheriff also revealed that it appeared two deputies on the scene had fired three rounds at Gainer.

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House votes to force TikTok owner ByteDance to divest or face US ban

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CEO of China-based company says vote is ‘disappointing’ and that it will do all it can to protect the platform

The House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States.

The vote was a landslide, with 352 Congress members voting in favor and only 65 against. The bill, which was fast-tracked to a vote after being unanimously approved by a committee last week, gives China-based ByteDance 165 days to divest from TikTok. If it did not, app stores including the Apple App store and Google Play would be legally barred from hosting TikTok or providing web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications.

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US rancher used tissue and testicles to breed ‘giant’ sheep to sell for hunting

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Arthur Schubarth, 80, pleads guilty to trafficking in ‘audacious’ and unlawful scheme to cross-breed sheep for lucrative sale

A Montana rancher illegally used tissue and testicles from wild sheep killed by hunters in central Asia and the US to breed “giant” hybrid sheep for sale to private hunting preserves in Texas, according to court documents and federal prosecutors.

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, of Vaughn, Montana, pleaded guilty to felony charges of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to traffic wildlife during an appearance Tuesday before a federal judge in Great Falls.

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‘Gorilla hail’ expected in parts of Kansas and Missouri Wednesday night

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Hail as big as baseballs possible from Kansas to Missouri, with torrential rain from Louisiana to Arkansas

Volatile weather is expected to hone in on parts of Kansas and Missouri Wednesday night, and the biggest worry is the potential for massive chunks of hail.

Some are calling it “gorilla hail” because it has the potential to be so big, said Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. The Kansas City metro area is at the center of the worry zone.

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Landslide reduces LA home to rubble and leaves two other houses on edge

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Slide occurred in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood, where the fire department evacuated several people from a residence

A landslide in a wealthy neighborhood reduced a Los Angeles house under renovation to a jumble of lumber, pulled the pool and deck away from a second home, and left the pool at a third residence on the edge of a huge fissure early Wednesday.

The slide occurred just before 3am in Sherman Oaks, a neighborhood of expensive homes about 12 miles (19km) north-west of downtown. An initial search found no victims, but several people were evacuated from one house, the Los Angeles fire department said in a statement.

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Biden pledges billions to rebuild cities ‘torn apart’ by highways decades ago

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President announces $3.3bn in infrastructure spending to ‘right historic wrongs’ as he takes 2024 campaign to vital swing states

Joe Biden hailed the beginning of $3.3bn in infrastructure spending on US projects on Wednesday “to right historic wrongs” with efforts to reconnect city neighborhoods riven by interstate highways that plowed with particular impunity through many Black, brown, Asian American and Hispanic communities decades ago.

The US president was in Milwaukee, where he traveled to announce new infrastructure investment and officially open his election campaign’s Wisconsin office in the vital swing state.

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Congress passed a TikTok bill. Will the US really ban the app?

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A bill passed by Congress and signed by Biden requires owner ByteDance to sell or face a US ban – it’s its biggest threat yet

The House of Representatives passed a bill that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States. The Senate passed it less than a week later. Joe Biden signed it a day after the Senate voted yes.

TikTok is facing its biggest existential threat yet in the US. The app was banned in Montana last year, but courts found that prohibition unconstitutional, and it never went into effect.

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Neil Young to return music to Spotify as he attacks ‘disinformation’ across streaming services

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Rock star left Spotify in 2022 in protest over podcaster Joe Rogan, but says he can’t keep up fight as Rogan broadens distribution to Apple, YouTube and Amazon

Neil Young is to return his music to Spotify after keeping it off the streaming platform for more than two years.

Young removed his entire catalogue from the world’s biggest streaming company in January 2022, in protest against Joe Rogan whose chart-topping podcast was exclusive to Spotify.

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China could use TikTok to influence US elections, spy chief says

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The US House of Representatives is due to vote on a bill giving Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to sell that part of its business

China could use social media app TikTok to influence the 2024 US elections, the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, has told a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing.

Asked by Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi if China’s ruling Communist party (CCP) would use TikTok to influence the elections, Haines said “we cannot rule out that the CCP would use it”.

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Full live results of the 2024 presidential primaries, state by state

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Full state-by-state results as well as votes of Democrats abroad and in the Northern Mariana territory

Georgia, Mississippi and Washington chose their presidential candidates on Tuesday in contests that come as both Joe Biden and Donald Trump are already their parties’ presumptive nominees.

Hawaii also held its Republican caucuses on Tuesday and Democrats abroad and in the Northern Mariana territory voted as well.

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Google restricts AI chatbot Gemini from answering questions on 2024 elections

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Change, made out of ‘abundance of caution’, now applies to US and India and will roll out in nations where elections are held this year

Google is restricting its Gemini AI chatbot from answering election-related questions in countries where voting is taking place this year, limiting users from receiving information about candidates, political parties and other elements of politics.

“Out of an abundance of caution on such an important topic, we have begun to roll out restrictions on the types of election-related queries for which Gemini will return responses,” Google’s India team stated on the company’s site.

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