Category Archives: US News

George Santos attends State of the Union and announces another run for Congress

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Disgraced ex-congressman chummed about with Lauren Boebert and Matt Gaetz, and then tweeted his candidacy for New York seat

Disgraced ex-congressman and noted fabulist George Santos announced yet another run for Congress during a surprise appearance at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday.

Despite currently facing federal criminal charges, Santos wrote on X during the speech that he’s looking to face off against his former colleague Representative Nick LaLota: “Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick for the battle over #NY1. I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican. The fight for our majority is imperative for the survival of the country.”

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State of the Union guest list shows reproductive rights in spotlight after Alabama IVF bill signed into law – live

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Guests at Biden address to include Alabama woman whose IVF was cancelled, and Texas women who went through abortion ordeals

More than a quarter of Black female voters describe abortion has their top issue in this year’s presidential election, according to a new poll.

The findings by health policy research firm KFF reveal a significant shift from previous election years, when white, conservative evangelicals were more likely to put abortion as their biggest priority when voting, AP reported. Those voters were highly motivated in recent presidential elections to cast ballots for Donald Trump.

Abortion voters are young, Black women – and not white evangelicals.

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Biden announces US will build pier on Gaza shore for large-scale aid delivery

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President lays out plans in State of the Union speech while senior US official says ‘we are not waiting on the Israelis’

US forces will build a temporary dock on the Gaza shoreline to allow delivery of humanitarian aid on a large scale, Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union speech, amid warnings of a widespread famine among the territory’s 2.3 million Palestinians.

“Nearly two million more Palestinians under bombardment or displaced, homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin, families without food, water, medicine. It’s heartbreaking,” Biden said on Thursday night, declaring that the US was leading humanitarian relief efforts.

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Gunman who killed 18 in Maine shooting had brain injury, study shows

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Brain tissue analysis showed degeneration in the nerve fibers that allow for communication between different areas of the brain

An army reservist who shot and killed 18 people in Maine last year had evidence of traumatic brain injuries, according to a brain tissue analysis by researchers from Boston University.

There was degeneration in the nerve fibers that allow for communication between different areas of the brain, inflammation and small blood vessel injury, according to Dr Ann McKee of Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) center. The analysis was released Wednesday by the family of the deceased gunman and military reservist, Robert Card.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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US health secretary on Alabama’s IVF ruling: ‘Pandora’s box was opened’ after fall of Roe

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Xavier Becerra says US must provide federal protections for reproductive rights if it hopes to avoid further restrictions

The health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra, said the US must provide federal protections for reproductive rights if Americans hope to avoid further restrictions on in vitro fertilization, contraception and abortion in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.

Becerra’s comments come in the wake of an Alabama supreme court decision that gave embryos the rights of “extrauterine children” and forced three of the state’s largest fertility clinics to stop services for fear of litigation and prosecution. The fallout from the decision prompted the Alabama legislature to hastily sign new legislation that will give IVF providers with immunity from civil and criminal suits, which the governor signed into law on Wednesday night.

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Trump-backed former congressional candidate arrested for murder

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Daniel Rodimer, a former pro-wrestler, suspected in killing of Christopher Tapp in Las Vegas

A former pro wrestler who won a prominent endorsement from Donald Trump while unsuccessfully running for Congress in Nevada surrendered to authorities on Wednesday on an arrest warrant for murder.

Daniel Rodimer, 45, was booked in connection with the slaying of 47-year-old Christopher Tapp, who was reportedly beaten to death in Resorts World Las Vegas on 29 October.

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Biden’s State of the Union guests include mother whose IVF was canceled and Kate Cox

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White House says Cox and Latorya Beasley’s stories show ‘how the overturning of Roe v Wade has disrupted access to healthcare’

An Alabama mother who saw a second round of IVF canceled after the state supreme court ruled that embryos were children and a Texas mother forced to travel outside her state for a doctor-recommended abortion were due to attend Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, as guests of the first lady, Jill Biden.

The White House said the cases of Latorya Beasley of Birmingham, Alabama, and Kate Cox, from Dallas, Texas, showed “how the overturning of Roe v Wade has disrupted access to reproductive healthcare for women and families across the country”.

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Eight students injured in fourth consecutive shooting in Philadelphia

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At least one student, a 16-year-old who was hit nine times, was critically wounded while waiting at a bus stop on Wednesday

Police say eight Philadelphia high school students waiting to board a city bus after classes Wednesday were wounded by gunshots from suspects who jumped from a car and opened fire, the fourth shooting on the transit system in as many days.

The previous three shootings each involved a fatality. At least one student was critically wounded at the bus stop, a 16-year-old who was hit nine times, Kevin Bethel, the city’s police commissioner, said at a news conference. The others were in stable condition.

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California election results: Adam Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey advance to November Senate race

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Congressman and ex-Dodgers player emerge as top two contenders, boxing out progressives Katie Porter and Barbara Lee

Adam Schiff, the centrist Democratic congressman, is poised to be the next US senator from California after securing enough votes to advance to the November election. He will face off with Republican Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player, who also performed well in the non-partisan primary on Tuesday.

Schiff, a pro-Israel Democrat, was quickly called a winner by the Associated Press, and Garvey secured his spot in the general election about an hour after polls closed.

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Liberty University fined $14m over ‘culture of silence’ around sexual assault

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Christian evangelical institution punished victims ‘for violating the student code of conduct’ as ‘assailants were left unpunished’

Liberty University has been hit with a $14m Department of Education federal fine for creating “a culture of silence” around sexual assault, failing to support victims of violence and then failing to properly report them correctly under the law.

Announcing the fine on Tuesday, the department said in a statement that the Christian evangelical institution had punished sexual assault victims “for violating the student code of conduct”, while “their assailants were left unpunished” – a violation of federal law.

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Rust armorer found guilty of involuntary manslaughter over fatal film set shooting

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Hannah Gutierrez-Reed convicted over death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on New Mexico movie set in October 2021

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer for the film Rust, has been found guilty for her role in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a New Mexico film set.

Hutchins was fatally shot by Alec Baldwin while the actor was rehearsing a scene for the neo-western. Baldwin, who also served as a co-producer on the film, was pointing a prop gun at Hutchins during an October 2021 rehearsal when the weapon fired, hitting the 42-year-old and wounding the film’s director, Joel Souza.

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US uses loophole to keep 100 arms sales to Israel under the radar amid Gaza war – report

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Biden administration not required to disclose sales below set dollar amount, in addition to public shipments worth over $573m

The US is reported to have made more than 100 weapons sales to Israel, including thousands of bombs, since the start of the war in Gaza, but the deliveries escaped congressional oversight because each transaction was under the dollar amount requiring approval.

The Biden administration has become increasingly critical of the conduct of Israeli military operations in Gaza and the failure to allow in meaningful amounts of humanitarian aid, with the death toll now over 30,000 and with famine looming. But it has kept up a quiet but substantial flow of munitions to help replace the tens of thousands of bombs Israel has dropped on the tiny coastal strip, making it one of the most intense bombing campaigns in military history.

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‘The most exclusive guest’: rare yellow-billed loon lands in Las Vegas fountain

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Bird – one of the 10 rarest in the US – caused the fountain display at the Bellagio hotel and casino to be switched off

A rare yellow-billed loon – a bird more common to the high Arctic tundra in the summer that strays south of Canadian border in only small numbers – has caused a fountain display in Las Vegas, Nevada, to be switched off.

The yellow-billed loon, with a similarly haunting call to the smaller, more abundant common loon, was spotted in the fountains of the Bellagio hotel and casino, causing hotel management to call off the propulsive displays of water.

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After Michigan success, Biden ballot protest movement heads to Georgia

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Campaign to ‘leave it blank’ or vote ‘uncommitted’ aims to increase pressure on Biden to stop Israel’s incursion in Gaza

A protest movement in Georgia – a swing state that President Biden narrowly won in 2020 – is seeking to apply pressure to the incumbent over his support of Israel before the 12 March Democratic primary election.

On Monday, a group of multifaith and multiracial groups called the Listen to Georgia Coalition launched the Leave It Blank campaign, which urges voters to submit a blank ballot next Tuesday. The push follows a similar grassroots effort – Listen to Michigan – in which more than 100,000 voters marked their ballots “uncommitted” last month.

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Nikki Haley suspends presidential campaign; Biden calls Trump ‘wounded, dangerous’ candidate – live

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Republican candidate pulls out of race; Biden campaign says Trump running ‘on an extreme agenda’ in fresh warning after Super Tuesday

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nikki Haley is to pull out of the 2024 presidential election race. It says the candidate is expected to make a brief appearance at 10am ET (3pm GMT).

Haley has won only two primaries – the District of Columbia and Vermont – during her campaign.

Haley won’t announce an endorsement Wednesday, the people said. She will encourage Donald Trump, who is close to having the delegates needed to win the GOP nomination, to earn the support of Republican and independent voters who backed her.

She is expected to emphasize that she will continue to advocate for the conservative domestic and foreign policies she supports and caution against some of the dangers, such as isolationism and a lack of fiscal discipline, that she sees coming from Washington.

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California community comes together to find beloved cat: ‘It is so appreciated’

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Dundee the cat, survivor of 2018 Camp fire, was taken in a car theft – but he was reunited with his owner after locals rallied round

Susie Heffernan was just returning from the vet with her beloved cat, Dundee, last Wednesday when she stopped to pick up pet food at a Tractor Supply in Paradise, California. She covered Dundee’s carrier on the passenger seat, locked her truck and ran inside.

When she returned, the truck was gone, as was the eight-year-old Snowshoe Siamese. Video footage from a nearby store revealed someone had broken into her vehicle and driven off with Dundee still inside.

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Gray whale sighted off New England 200 years after species’ Atlantic extinction

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Scientists confirm cetacean’s presence but cite impact of climate change which has made North-west Passage ice-free in summer

Scientists have confirmed the presence of a whale off New England that went extinct in the Atlantic Ocean two centuries ago – an exciting discovery, but one they said that illustrates the impact of climate change on sea life.

Researchers with the New England Aquarium in Boston found the gray whale while flying 30 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, on 1 March. The whale, which can weigh 60,000 pounds (27,215kg), typically lives in the northern Pacific Ocean.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene lashes out as UK reporter asks about conspiracy theories

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Extremist tells Emily Maitlis ‘you’re a conspiracy theorist’ and dismisses interviewer over ‘Jewish space lasers’ question

Far-right Republican congresswoman, Trump ally and potential vice-presidential pick Marjorie Taylor Greene told a British interviewer to “Fuck off”, when asked about her frequent repetition of conspiracy theories.

Emily Maitlis, formerly a senior journalist at the BBC and now a presenter of the News Agents podcast, spoke to Greene at Donald Trump’s Super Tuesday celebration at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, as the former president closed in on the Republican nomination.

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Kentucky senate passes bill for child support of unborn children

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Measure allows parent to seek child support up to a year after giving birth to retroactively cover pregnancy expenses

The Republican-led Kentucky senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to grant the right to collect child support for unborn children, advancing a bill that garnered bipartisan support.

The measure would allow a parent to seek child support up to a year after giving birth to retroactively cover pregnancy expenses. The legislation – Senate Bill 110 – won Senate passage on a 36-2 vote with little discussion to advance to the House. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers.

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Donald Trump seeks new trial in E Jean Carroll defamation case

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Lawyers say judge erroneously excluded evidence of former president’s state of mind and also call for $83m award to be cut

Attorneys for Donald Trump have requested a new trial in the defamation case brought by the writer E Jean Carroll, hours before he was unofficially crowned the Republican party’s presidential candidate.

Trump’s attorneys, led by Alina Habba, filed papers in federal court on Tuesday arguing that the jury’s compensatory and punitive awards of $83m for denying he sexually abused her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s are out of proportion and should be reduced.

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