Category Archives: US News

‘It’s a mess right now’: RFK’s sweeping changes place new vaccines in limbo

Posted on by

Health secretary’s effort to alter makeup of ACIP panel means no new recommendations coming – even as new vaccines are approved

US vaccine recommendations are in limbo, access to vaccines is suffering, and some of the uncertainty may continue for years following major blows to vaccination by the Trump administration, experts say.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has made sweeping changes to vaccination policy, cutting childhood immunization recommendations by a third and replacing experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with his own handpicked allies.

Continue reading...

Trump rallies for Mike Rogers – and Nicki Minaj’s derriere – in Michigan

Posted on by

Trump again congratulated Ohio senator’s rear end before his cheeky comment about rapper being ‘hard to miss’

Donald Trump reiterated his apparent love for buxom bums during a rally in Michigan on Sunday where he encouraged the crowd to compliment rapper Nicki Minaj’s behind.

Trump’s cheeky comments about Minaj’s derriere came as he explained his recent observation on the Republican Ohio senator Jon Husted’s rear end. Earlier in October, Trump said of the former college football player: “I don’t do this with men very often. I started examining his body, because I didn’t know he was a great athlete. And I looked and I watched up and down. I looked at his ass and I looked at the whole – and then I looked at his hands. Look at his hands. He’s got these, like, claws.

Continue reading...

US south-west braces for more flooding after stretch of heavy rain and storms

Posted on by

More inclement weather forecast in rain-soaked Four Corners region after evacuations and rescues last week

A rain-soaked swath of the south-west US braced on Sunday for another round of potentially heavy showers and thunderstorms after days of rain forced evacuations and water rescues.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for much of the Four Corners – the meeting point of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah – even as local officials forecast further receding of swollen rivers that surged since rains picked up on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

‘He’s not going to punk me. I’ll trick him’: Ali G: Who Iz I? stooge says he was in on joke but didn’t tell Sacha Baron Cohen

Posted on by

Exclusive: Joshua Loudermilk says suspicions first raised during filming by gun shaped like wearable plastic bottom: ‘You’re gonna put a butt on top of a butt? You can’t run in that’

• This article contains spoilers for Ali G: Who Iz I?

Joshua Loudermilk, one of two men apparently discredited by the new Ali G movie Ali G: Who Iz I?, has said that he was in on the joke, but that the film-makers didn’t realise this.

Loudermilk, a 54-year-old aspiring actor from North Carolina, has told the Guardian he recognised star Sacha Baron Cohen early in the shoot but continued pretending to be a hard-right Maga sympathiser prepared to defend the US border at all costs.

Continue reading...

Suspect in shooting death of teen on Missouri highway charged in second road incident

Posted on by

Man accused of shooting teen, who was driving to a party, has also been linked to shooting of a vehicle days earlier

A man accused in the shooting death of a Missouri teen has been charged in a second shooting incident – both of which involve firing into cars on the highway.

Alyssa Wilson, 17, was shot and killed as she drove down Interstate 170 in Overland, Missouri, on 14 October. The teen was on her way to a Halloween party at St Louis Zoo, called Boo at the Zoo, when a suspect fired a single shot into the back of Wilson’s Buick Encore.

Continue reading...

Volkswagen to build $4bn Audi SUV factory in US despite job cuts at home

Posted on by

VW investment, creating 4,500 jobs in Georgia, comes amid Trump’s damaging tariffs, intense Chinese competition and costly shift towards EVs

Audi has said it will spend $4bn (£3bn) to build its first factory in the US, as its parent company, Volkswagen, struggles with the impact of steep tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.

The German brand’s chief executive, Gernot Döllner, joined Trump on stage at a campaign rally on Saturday night to announce the factory in Macon, Georgia, in an unusual move by a big European brand just days before the US midterm elections.

Continue reading...

Eleven sustain gunshot wounds in shooting near Florida university

Posted on by

Police said an altercation at a homecoming party escalated into gunfire, resulting in six adults and six juveniles injured

A shooting ⁠near a Florida university campus in Tallahassee has left 11 people ⁠with gunshot wounds ⁠and ​another person injured, authorities say.

The shooting took place near the Florida Agricultural + Mechanical University’s campus ⁠on Perry Street on Saturday night, the university said, while police counted six adults and six ⁠juveniles among the injured.

Continue reading...

Ukraine’s military says Starlink satellite connection stable after recent restrictions

Posted on by

But Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX owns Starlink, accuses Ukrainian military of violating ⁠the company’s terms

Ukraine’s military has a “stable connection to Starlink”, the Ukrainian government said, 10 days after its ability to use the satellite communications system was suddenly restricted.

But hours after the announcement, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose company owns Starlink, accused the Ukrainian military of violating ⁠the company’s terms. Neither Musk nor the US government, which operates Starshield using Starlink technology, took responsibility for imposing the curbs.

Continue reading...

Additional 178 cases of measles reported by US health authorities amid outbreak

Posted on by

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 4,588 cases across the country, more than double the tally in 2025

Federal health authorities reported an additional 178 cases of measles in the US this week, as the vaccine-preventable illness continues to sicken people across at least 43 outbreaks.

The new data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) comes as experts criticize the agency for lack of transparency, and as health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr takes steps to further upend US vaccine infrastructure.

Continue reading...

Epstein files take back seat in midterms but experts say issue has not gone away

Posted on by

Other voter concerns have prevailed but return of Congress likely to see renewed focus on late sex offender’s activities

As US voters head to the polls for crucial and fraught midterm elections, some survivors’ advocates in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation have expressed concern that the scandal could recede into the background.

Political experts believe, however, the Epstein issue is not going away permanently and that many voters can balance day-to-day concerns such as affordability and AI with the scandal involving the late financier and accused sex trafficker whose social circle was widespread among America’s elite.

Continue reading...

ICC prosecutor says court making ‘significant progress’ despite US sanctions

Posted on by

Nazhat Shameem Khan claims some staff are facing ‘banking difficulties’ but their work is unaffected

The deputy prosecutor of the international criminal court has said new US sanctions are beginning to take effect on its staff but insisted they have not hindered the court’s work.

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced the sanctions this month, accusing the ICC – a frequent target of the Trump administration – of being a “rogue court” and declaring: “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.”

Continue reading...

New Trump rule allows hunters to bait bears in Alaska with doughnuts, bacon and more

Posted on by

Critics decry Trump administration rule that lets hunters lure bears with human foods on federal lands in Alaska

A new Trump administration rule allows hunters to bait bears on federal lands in Alaska with bacon, doughnuts, meat scraps or other human foods typically used to help kill the trophy animals at close range.

Opponents say the practice will cause bears to be more aggressive around humans, and allege that the rule change is a political gift to largely rightwing trophy hunters. The rule replaces a 2024 Biden administration rule that banned the practice, and environmental groups criticized the move as “indefensible and inexcusable”.

Continue reading...

Medical experts shocked by Tennessee team’s ‘malpractice’ in Christa Pike’s failed execution

Posted on by

New details of IV team’s attempts to find a vein shared by Pike’s lawyer ‘shocked and disturbed’ practitioners

Medical experts have expressed shock at the apparent incompetence shown by Tennessee’s execution team during the failed lethal injection of Christa Pike, the prisoner who survived a normally fatal dose of pentobarbital, which they say would be considered medical malpractice in any other setting.

New details emerged on Thursday of how Tennessee’s intravenous (IV) team struggled for almost an hour to set up a line into Pike’s arms through which she would be administered the fatal dose of sedative. A blow-by-blow account was released in legal proceedings from Pike’s lawyer, Randy Spivey, who was present inside the death chamber at her 30 September failed execution.

Continue reading...

Rubio tells Cubans ‘now is the time’ to act to see political change

Posted on by

US secretary of state makes comments after Trump tells US rally warships could intervene on return from Iran

Marco Rubio urged Cubans seeking political change in their country to act, saying “now is the time” moments after Donald Trump told a Friday rally for candidates in south Florida that US warships could intervene in Cuba on their way back from the Iran war.

The US secretary of state, in his social media post addressed “to those who seek to create positive change”, urged Cubans to capitalize on Trump’s plans. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete [sic] partnership with the CIA,” Rubio said.

Continue reading...

Father who killed Oregon school shooter speaks out for first time: ‘I have to go in’

Posted on by

Kaylub Giamanco recounts the day he confronted the Silver Rail elementary school shooter, who killed three boys and one teacher

The Oregon father hailed as a hero for stopping a school shooting last week spoke for the first time about the incident, describing his experience and how he told a 911 operator: “I have to go in. People are going to die.”

Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter, has received national attention and praise for stopping the bloodshed at Silver Rail elementary in Bend, Oregon, where his children attend school.

Continue reading...

Indiana police officer arrested for using Flock cameras to search wife’s details

Posted on by

Justin Craig charged with official misconduct and fraud, after searching plates of wife and ‘previous acquaintance’

An Indiana police officer has been arrested on allegations that he misused Flock cameras hundreds of times in a case involving his wife and a previous acquaintance of hers.

Justin Craig of Georgetown police department, was charged with official misconduct and two counts of fraud. Documents show that he searched his wife’s license plate more than 80 times and that of a “previous acquaintance” of hers nearly 250 times, the news outlet WLKY reported.

Continue reading...

Duchess of Sussex ‘deeply distressed’ over child sexual abuse image claims against father

Posted on by

Meghan reveals she was made aware of ‘disturbing allegations’ against him in 2018 by Met police

The Duchess of Sussex has said she is “deeply distressed” over accusations involving child sexual abuse images against her estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr, and revealed she was made aware of “disturbing allegations” against him in 2018 by the Metropolitan police.

Meghan issued a statement after the Sun newspaper published claims that her half-brother Thomas Markle Jr alleged he had found a stash of images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines.

Continue reading...

Department of Justice opens criminal investigation into Corey Lewandowski

Posted on by

Ex-Trump adviser and former top aide for homeland security alleged to have profited off government role

Corey Lewandowski, a former political adviser to Donald Trump and ⁠top aide at the Department ⁠of Homeland Security, ​is under criminal investigation over allegations he profited off his role in the US government, three US officials and a fourth person familiar with the matter told Reuters ⁠on Thursday.

The investigation began with a criminal referral to the justice department from the internal watchdog at DHS, according to the four people. The DHS inspector general’s office has been investigating ⁠Lewandowski’s involvement in the handling of certain government contracts, according to one of the people, a DHS official.

Continue reading...

A possible three tornados wallop Arizona, bringing golf-ball sized hail

Posted on by

Violent storms overnight knocked over utility poles and trees and carried thunder and heavy winds through state

Yet more severe weather struck Thursday in the US south-west as the Four Corners region surveyed blown-away roofs, trees knocked on to homes and power lines downed from overnight tornadoes that injured one person.

The injuries weren’t life-threatening but rare for an area better known for scalding heat. But this fall has been unusually soggy in the south-west with El Niño conditions that have sent one tropical system after another in from the Pacific, causing the Grand Canyon and surrounding deserts to rage with floods.

Continue reading...

Chiricahua monument in Arizona is now the 64th US national park

Posted on by

New designation of the Land of Standing-Up Rocks, known for its historic rock spires, passed with bipartisan support

An area of towering rock spires in south-eastern Arizona known among Native Americans as the Land of Standing-Up Rocks has become the nation’s newest national park.

Legislation to create Chiricahua national park was sent to the White House and Donald Trump signed it on Tuesday. It passed Congress with bipartisan backing and is now the 64th US national park.

Continue reading...