Category Archives: US News

Super Tuesday 2024 live: millions of voters head to polls in the US as Haley suggests she could stay in the race

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Donald Trump looks all but certain of Republican presidential nomination as Nikki Haley rejects suggestions of third-party bid and says she may keep fighting

Over at CNN, Ronald Brownstein has an analysis piece which looks a little at the potential weakness of Donald Trump support away from his core base. Brownstein writes:

[Trump’s] performance so far reflects his success at transforming the Republican Party in his image. He’s reshaped the Republicans into a more blue-collar, populist and pugnacious party, focused more on his volatile blend of resentments against elites and cultural and racial change than the Ronald Reagan-era priorities of smaller government and active global leadership that former South Carolina Gov Nikki Haley has stressed.

But while the primaries have underscored Trump’s grip on the GOP, they have also demonstrated continued vulnerability for him in the areas where he has labored since he first announced his candidacy in 2015 – particularly among the white-collar suburban voters who mostly leaned toward the GOP before his emergence. The early 2024 nominating contests have shown that a substantial minority of Republican-leaning voters remain resistant to Trump’s vision.

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Texts reveal Trump co-defendant Chesebro’s role in ‘fake electors’ plot

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Scheme was critical part of anti-democratic effort to overturn 2020 election and is now at center of two criminal cases against Trump

Kenneth Chesebro was eager to help.

It was five days after the 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden was projected to defeat Donald Trump and win Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes. Trump’s campaign was requesting a recount. Chesebro, a little-known Harvard-educated lawyer, believed there were abnormalities in the election and emailed Jim Troupis, a friend and former Wisconsin judge, to offer to help with any of the campaign’s legal efforts.

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New Menendez indictment charges senator and wife with obstruction

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Eighteen-count indictment adds to corruption charges New Jersey Democrat already faced

Senator Bob Menendez and his wife were charged with obstruction of justice in a new, 18-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday, adding to corruption charges the New Jersey Democrat already faces.

Menendez has pleaded not guilty to earlier charges of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen to impede law enforcement investigations they faced, and illegally acting as an agent of the Egyptian government.

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Independent senator Kyrsten Sinema will not seek re-election in Arizona

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Sinema won in 2018 as a Democrat and was first non-Republican to win a Senate seat for Arizona since 1994

Kyrsten Sinema, the former Democrat from Arizona who is an independent in the US Senate, said on Tuesday she would not run for re-election this year.

“I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we’ve delivered,” Sinema said in a video posted to social media. “Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year.”

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US says no troops to Haiti as country reels from explosion of gang violence

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Washington says no despite ‘frantic’ talks between diplomats, as bodies lie in street and army battles gun-toting gang members

The United States has said it will not send troops to Haiti after a stunning eruption of gang violence seemingly designed to bring down the Caribbean nation’s enfeebled government and its unpopular prime minister, Ariel Henry.

On Monday night, nearly five days after powerful organized crime bosses launched a wave of deadly and apparently coordinated attacks, the US news group McClatchy reported there had been “frantic” exchanges between US and Haitian diplomats that had raised the prospect of an emergency deployment of US special forces to help restore order.

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Texas hopes for relief from devastating wildfires as rain and snow is forecast

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Up to 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed and two people killed in state’s northern Panhandle area

Rain and snow are expected in parts of the Texas Panhandle area starting Thursday, bringing possible respite to the Lone Star state as firefighters continue to battle the largest wildfire in its history.

Up to 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed by the flames as of Monday, and two people have died: Cindy Owen, 44, and Joyce Blankenship, 83. Thousands of cattle have also either been killed or euthanized after being injured in the wildfires.

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An offer he couldn’t refuse: Sopranos diner booth sells for $82,600

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Co-owner Chris Carley asked for opening bids above $3,000 on eBay, reportedly aiming for $10,000 towards a renovation

More than 15 years after the cliffhanger final scene of The Sopranos screened in 2007, the classic American diner booth where it was filmed was sold at auction for a price that eventually cranked up to $82,600.

The TV mob drama, which the Guardian once described as “the most masterful show ever”, memorably saw the patriarch character Tony Soprano and his family sit in that booth in a New Jersey diner in the final scene of the series.

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Girl Scout troop disbands after parent chapter blocks Palestine fundraiser

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St Louis group wished to donate money from bracelet sale to children’s relief fund but Girl Scouts said it could make political statement

At the height of cookie season, a time when Girl Scouts across America fundraise by selling their famous Thin Mints, Caramel deLites and shortbread, one troop in Missouri wasn’t in the mood.

Instead, the eight girls of Troop 149 decided to make and sell bracelets, and donate the proceeds to a cause they felt was more urgent than their own: the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. As the violent siege in Gaza rages on with more than 30,000 killed, many of whom are children, troop leader Nawal Abuhamdeh agreed to the girls’ wishes.

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On the brink: California’s luxe clifftop mansions in peril after record rain

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Homeowners in wealthy towns watching anxiously in face of heavy storms that have caused flash floods and coastal erosion

The torrents of water coming from the sky are having ripple effects on the cliffs that hold up some of California’s most expensive real estate. In the first two months of the year, nearly 18in of rain has fallen in the southern California area, about 8in above normal to date – and more is on the way this week.

The California governor, Gavin Newsom, declared a state of emergency in eight counties covering more than 20 million people, and flash-flood warnings were issued for parts of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

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Cookie Monster and Ohio senator make odd allies in shrinkflation complaint

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Democratic senator Sherrod Brown endorsed the Sesame Street star’s complaint on products getting smaller as prices remain same

The Ohio Democratic senator Sherrod Brown endorsed a key voice in the American public square – Cookie Monster – in a complaint about shrinkflation.

“Me hate shrinkflation!” the Sesame Street character posted on social media on Monday, referring to an economic phenomenon Merriam-Webster defines as “the practice of reducing a product’s amount or volume per unit while continuing to offer it at the same price”.

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Police seek vehicle after masked men kill four at California party

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Shooting on Sunday evening at outdoor gathering in King City left four dead and seven others injured, police say

Police are offering a $20,000 reward for information on a shooting that took place on Sunday evening when a group of masked men pulled up to an outdoor birthday party in central California and opened fire, killing at least four.

Officers responded to a reported shooting at about 6pm in King City, California, about 106 miles south of San Jose, and found three men with gunshot wounds who were pronounced dead in a front yard, the King City police department said. A total of 11 people were hit by gunfire.

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Colorado moves to change law after 190 bodies found decaying in funeral home

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Proposals would stiffen state’s lax funeral home laws after series of gruesome cases, from sold body parts to fake ashes

After nearly 200 bodies were found stacked and rotting in a Colorado funeral home, lawmakers have proposed bills to overhaul the state’s threadbare funeral home regulations, which failed to prevent a string of gruesome cases – from sold body parts to fake ashes.

The cases have shattered hundreds of families. Many learned that their loved ones’ remains were not in the ashes they ceremonially spread or held tight for years but were instead decaying in a building or, in one case, the back of hearse.

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Baywatch: ‘action-packed’ reboot set for the small screen

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The hugely successful beach-set drama is returning to television after an underwhelming response to 2017 movie

A reboot of the highly successful drama Baywatch is heading to television.

The original series became one of the most watched shows in the world running for 11 seasons in the late 80s and 90s. The new version will again follow a group of Los Angeles county lifeguards as they deal with various emergencies.

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Northern California mountains brace for more snow after blizzard blocked roads

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Winter storm warning remains in effect through Wednesday morning with up to 12in more snow expected in the region

Forecasters are warning that more snow is on the way for northern California mountains after a powerful blizzard that closed highways and ski resorts over the weekend had mostly moved through the Sierra Nevada by early Monday.

The storm began barreling into the region on Thursday. A widespread blizzard warning through Sunday morning covered a 300-mile stretch of the mountains. Fierce winds – with gusts that reached up to 145mph in some areas – ripped down trees and power lines leaving residents in the dark.

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Texas town evacuated as firefighters battle state’s biggest ever wildfire

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Planes drop fire retardant on blazes that have destroyed up to 500 homes and businesses but weather change may offer some respite

Firefighters in Texas are battling strong winds and warm temperatures as they work to stop the largest wildfire in state history.

The large Smokehouse Creek fire was 15% contained and two other fires were 60% contained. Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes.

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First over-the-counter birth control pill in US to go on sale later this month

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Opill is being shipped to retailers and pharmacies, and its arrival on shelves comes at a deeply fraught time for reproductive rights

Opill, the first birth control pill approved for over-the-counter distribution, is now being shipped to retailers and pharmacies, the company behind the pill, Perrigo, announced on Monday. It will be available in stores and online later this month.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Opill last year, paving the way for the United States to join the dozens of countries that have already made over-the-counter birth control pills available. Opill, which works by using the hormone progestin to prevent pregnancy, is meant to be taken every day around the same time and, when used as directed, is 98% effective.

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Taylor Swift is related to Emily Dickinson, genealogy company reveals

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Ancestry.com says singer and poet are sixth cousins, three times removed, both descended from a 17th-century English immigrant

Taylor Swift is related to poet Emily Dickinson, according to Ancestry.com, who shared the news in an exclusive report with NBC’s Today.

On Monday, the genealogy company divulged that “Swift and Dickinson both descend from a 17th-century English immigrant (Swift’s ninth great-grandfather and Dickinson’s sixth great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut)”.

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Biden says in rare print interview he’ll beat Trump but polls say otherwise

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US president tells New Yorker he is ‘the only one who has ever beat’ Trump but clear majorities think he is too old for second term

In a rare print interview, Joe Biden addressed fears over his chances of victory in the coming US presidential election and said he was “the only one who has ever beat” his likely Republican challenger, Donald Trump, adding: “And I’ll beat him again.”

But the president was voicing a conviction at odds with most polling, in which clear majorities think that at 81 he is too old for a second term and narrow majorities put Trump ahead in a general election match-up.

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US lawmakers present bill to fund government and avert shutdown

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The bill sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66tn for fiscal 2024 and still faces opposition from hardline House Republicans

US congressional negotiators on Sunday revealed a bill to fund key parts of the government through the rest of the fiscal year that began in October, as lawmakers faced yet another threat of a partial shutdown if they fail to act by Friday.

The legislation sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66tn for fiscal 2024, a spokesperson for Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said. It fills in the details of an agreement that Schumer and Republican House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson set in early January.

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University of Maryland halts fraternity and sorority events amid hazing worries

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College announces new member activities are suspended pending investigation of possible activities that threatened people’s safety

Program activities of fraternities and sororities at the University of Maryland have been suspended indefinitely, the university announced.

The University of Maryland’s decision comes after the University of Virginia suspended its Kappa Sigma chapter and all fraternity events following an alleged hazing incident last month which left a student injured.

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