In a preliminary injunction on Thursday, Judge Donald Molloy said first-of-its-kind ban violates free speech rights of users
A US judge has blocked Montana’s first-of-its kind state ban on the use of short-video sharing app TikTok from taking effect on 1 January, saying it violated the free speech rights of users.
In a preliminary injunction on Thursday, US district judge Donald Molloy said the law “oversteps state power and infringes on the constitutional rights of users”.
Continue reading...Class-action lawsuit alleges footballer’s promotion of world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange was ‘deceptive and unlawful’
Cristiano Ronaldo has been hit with a class-action lawsuit seeking at least $US1bn in damages for his role in promoting cryptocurrency-related “non-fungible tokens,” or NFTs, issued by the beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida on Monday alleges the footballer’s promotion of Binance was “deceptive and unlawful”.
Continue reading...US statesman’s encouragement of Pinochet’s coup in Chile and his backing for Argentina’s military dictatorship left lasting stain
Henry Kissinger’s death has brought out some bitter epitaphs from Latin America where the legacy of US intervention helped saddle the region with some of the most brutal military regimes of the 20th century.
Nowhere has been the reaction been more damning than in Chile, where Kissinger was instrumental in the 1973 coup that led to the death of a democratically elected socialist president, Salvador Allende and the installation of a dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet, and his military junta.
Continue reading...Phillip Dean Hancock killed by lethal injection after Republican governor declines to commute sentence despite recommendation
Oklahoma executed a man on Thursday who claimed he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed two men in Oklahoma City in 2001.
Phillip Dean Hancock, 59, received a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma state penitentiary and was declared dead at 11.29am. His execution went forward once the Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, declined to commute his sentence, despite a clemency recommendation from the state’s pardon and parole board.
Continue reading...Altman says tech giant, which owns 49% of ChatGPT maker after investing $13bn, will take non-voting, observer position on board
Microsoft will take a non-voting, observer position on OpenAI’s board, CEO Sam Altman said in his first official missive after taking back the reins of the company on Wednesday.
The observer position means Microsoft’s representative can attend OpenAI’s board meetings and access confidential information, but it does not have voting rights on matters including electing or choosing directors.
Continue reading...Fact that planet 13 times bigger than Earth is orbiting star nine times smaller than sun shows ‘how little we know about the universe’
Astronomers have spotted an “overweight” planet that appears to be far too massive for its petite host star.
The planet, which is 13 times bigger than Earth, is orbiting a star called LHS 3154, which is nine times smaller than the sun. The planet’s heft is unremarkable in its own right, but its pairing with an ultracool dwarf star, the smallest and coldest stars in the universe, has puzzled scientists.
Continue reading...Former US president lays into Arthur Engoron’s wife on social media after being barred from making public statements about court staff
“I’m not running for re-election because I chose not to put myself, my family through this process because here’s the reality when it comes down… I would have an uphill battle against the press, I will have an uphill battle against the party,” said Santos.
“There’s a point in time where you just say, you know, enough is enough. I’m 35-years old which doesn’t mean that it’s goodbye forever,” he continued.
Continue reading...Republican congressman, facing possible expulsion following House vote on Friday, gives speech outside the US Capitol
George Santos appealed to democratic norms on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to resist an expected vote to expel him from the US House of Representatives, describing efforts to remove him as “bullying” and warning that “the undoing of a lot of members of this body” would follow.
The embattled Republican congressman, who is facing a third effort to expel him from Congress with a House vote due on Friday, told reporters outside the US Capitol in Washington DC that it was “an unfortunate circumstance to watch Congress waste the American people’s time over and over again on something that is in the power of the people, not the power of Congress”.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin among those offering condolences and praising former US secretary of state, amid division over legacy
World leaders have offered condolences and praise for Henry Kissinger, a former US secretary of state, who died on Wednesday at the age of 100, as his death elicited sharply divided responses over his legacy.
Kissinger shared the 1973 Nobel peace prize for his role in negotiating an end to the Vietnam war but his foreign policy efforts in support of US interests were controversial, and his involvement in foreign conflicts and in overthrowing democratically elected governments around the world saw him branded by opponents as a war criminal.
Continue reading...US justice department alleges Indian agent directed plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
The Indian government has responded to allegations by the US Department of Justice that an Indian agent attempted to assassinate a Sikh separatist on US soil, stating that such a crime would be “contrary to government policy”.
The DoJ indictment, which was made public on Wednesday, included damning details regarding the alleged attempted assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US citizen, by an Indian intelligence officer referred to only as CC-1.
Continue reading...The towering diplomat and Nobel prize winner shaped decades of US foreign policy but was seen by critics as a war criminal
Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state under Richard Nixon who became one of the most prominent and controversial figures of US foreign policy in the 20th century, has died. He was 100.
His consulting firm Kissinger Associates announced his death in a statement on Wednesday evening, but did not disclose a cause.
Continue reading...At New York event Wednesday, X owner had choice words for Walt Disney and others who pulled ads over antisemitic content
Elon Musk has issued a defiant and profanity-laced message for the advertisers who pulled money from X in recent weeks amid a backlash over his endorsement of an antisemitic tweet and reports of increased hate speech on the platform.
Video of the interview, which was widely circulated, showed that Musk said, “Don’t advertise,” on Wednesday during an on-stage interview at an event in New York. “If someone’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself.”
Continue reading...Stan, who recently played Tommy Lee in Pam & Tommy, will play the former US president in new film, joined by Strong as Roy Cohn and Bakalova as Ivana Trump
Marvel star Sebastian Stan will play Donald Trump in an upcoming biopic, to be joined by Succession’s Jeremy Strong and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova in leading roles.
Directed by Iranian film-maker Ali Abbasi, The Apprentice, which commenced production this week, is billed as an exploration of power and ambition in a world of corruption and deceit.
Continue reading...Creed actor accused by then girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, of slapping her across the face, twisting her arm, and throwing her into a car
The trial of the actor Jonathan Majors for assault and harassment against a former girlfriend following an alleged domestic dispute kicked off on Wednesday.
Jury selection began in the morning for the highly publicized case, according to Deadline, with Majors appearing in the courtroom. The 34-year-old actor, known for his role in the Creed movie franchise, Lovecraft Country and several current and forthcoming Marvel projects, faces several assault and harassment misdemeanours. He has pled not guilty to all counts; if found guilty, he faces up to a year in prison.
Continue reading...Union drive will cover nearly 150,000 workers at factories largely in US south
Less than two weeks after ratifying new contracts with Detroit automakers, the United Auto Workers union announced plans on Wednesday to try to organize workers simultaneously at more than a dozen non-union auto factories.
The UAW says the drive will cover nearly 150,000 workers at factories largely in the south, where the union has had little success in recruiting new members.
Continue reading...Move builds on decisions by states like Oregon to fully or partially prohibit the use of M-44s used to kill predators and other wildlife
A campaign to end the use of so-called “cyanide bombs” within the United States has received a major boost after the country’s largest public land management agency banned the poison devices on hundreds of millions of acres across the nation.
The move builds on decisions by states such as Oregon to fully or partially prohibit the use of cyanide bombs, also known as M-44s, within their jurisdictions. The US Department of Agriculture uses these devices to kill predators and other wildlife.
Continue reading...Former vice-president had planned to skip process to certify Joe Biden’s election victory but changed mind after son’s plea
Mike Pence reportedly decided to skip the congressional certification process for Joe Biden’s 2020 election win, because to preside over it as required by the constitution would be “too hurtful” to his “friend”, Donald Trump. He was then shamed into standing up to Trump by his son, a US marine.
“Dad, you took the same oath I took,” the then vice-president’s son Michael Pence said, according to ABC News, adding that it was “an oath to support and defend the constitution”.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read all our latest US politics coverage here:
Asked about the effort to impeach Joe Biden, the Democratic caucus chair, Pete Aguilar, accused the GOP of doing Donald Trump’s bidding.
From the House Democrats’ press conference earlier today:
Continue reading...Ryan Fournier, 27, charged with domestic assault on a female and assault with a deadly weapon over incident in North Carolina
The co-founder of Students for Trump, a supporters group formed ahead of the 2016 election, was arrested last week on domestic violence charges in North Carolina, court documents show.
Ryan Fournier, 27, was detained last Tuesday and accused of assaulting a woman, later identified as his girlfriend, by “grabbing her right arm and striking her in the forehead” with a handgun, according to an order issued by a magistrate in Johnston county.
Continue reading...CDC researchers say life expectancy has rebounded to 77 years and six months as pandemic wanes but still down on 2019 statistic
US life expectancy rose last year by more than a year but still is not close to what it was before the Covid pandemic.
The 2022 rise was mainly due to the waning pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said on Wednesday. But even with the large increase, US life expectancy is only back to 77 years and six months – about what it was two decades ago.
Life expectancy increased for both men and women, and for every racial and ethnic group.
The decline in Covid deaths drove 84% of the increase in life expectancy. The next largest contributor was a decline in heart disease deaths, credited with about 4% of the increase. But experts note that heart disease deaths increased during Covid-19, and both factored into many pandemic-era deaths.
Changes in life expectancy varied by race and ethnicity. Hispanic Americans and American Indians and Alaska Natives saw life expectancy rise more than two years in 2022. Black life expectancy rose more than one and a half years. Asian American life expectancy rose one year and white life expectancy rose about 10 months.
Continue reading...