Category Archives: US News

Wife of financier who called for Harvard head’s exit faces plagiarism allegations

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After Claudine Gay was ousted amid accusations of plagiarism, Neri Oxman was accused of copying from Wikipedia in dissertation

The wife of Bill Ackman, the hedge fund billionaire who accused Claudine Gay of being a plagiarist and led calls for her resignation as Harvard president, is now facing allegations of plagiarism herself.

Neri Oxman, a prominent former professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has apologized after Business Insider identified multiple instances in which she lifted passages from other scholars’ work without proper attribution in her 2010 dissertation. She also pledged to review the primary sources and request the necessary corrections.

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Trump tells Iowans to ‘get over’ school shooting at campaign event

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Former president made the comment 36 hours after one student was killed and seven people wounded during the first day of school

Donald Trump told an audience at a campaign event on Friday in Iowa to “get over” a deadly shooting at a high school in the state a day earlier.

After offering sympathy and emotional support for the victims of the shooting in Perry, Iowa, and their families, Trump said at the event in Sioux Center: “It’s just horrible – so surprising to see it here. But we have to get over it. We have to move forward.”

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US and EU launch twin diplomatic mission to calm tensions in Middle East

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Escalation of violence comes as US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Europe’s Josep Borrell begin tours of the region

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The most senior diplomats from the US and the EU launched a dual diplomatic offensive in the Middle East on Saturday aimed at calming tensions that threaten chaos and wider conflict across the region.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, began a five-day tour of the region with meetings in Turkey and the EU’s most senior diplomat Josep Borrell, visited the Lebanese capital Beirut.

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Third batch of Jeffrey Epstein documents unsealed

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Latest documents bring renewed attention to Prince Andrew and claims the royal ‘spent weeks’ at Epstein’s Palm Beach home

New batches of documents related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse were released on Friday afternoon, bringing renewed attention to his longtime friendship with Prince Andrew and prior claims that the royal “spent weeks” at the late financier’s Palm Beach home.

Juan Alessi, Epstein’s former house manager, said he routinely saw famous faces around the south Florida house – including the Duke of York. Alessi also said he saw Andrew’s wife, Sarah Ferguson.

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Fired-up Biden shows gloves are off in January 6 anniversary speech

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In address near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, US president tore into Donald Trump like never before, including calling him a ‘loser’

This time it’s personal. On Friday Joe Biden tore into his predecessor Donald Trump as never before. He brimmed with anger, disdain and contempt. He apparently had to stop himself from swearing. So much for “when they go low, we go high” – and plenty of Democrats will be just fine with that.

If Biden was seeking to jolt his half-conscious 2024 re-election campaign into life, this may have done the trick. The palpable loathing of Trump took a good 10 or 20 years off him. Keep hating like this and he might do a Benjamin Button all the way to election day.

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Ex-police officer sentenced to 14 months in jail for killing Elijah McClain in 2019

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Randy Roedema, found guilty of criminally negligent homicide, is the first official to be sentenced in the 23-year-old’s killing

A former Colorado police officer convicted in the 2019 killing of Elijah McClain was sentenced to 14 months in county jail on Friday.

Randy Roedema, an ex-Aurora police department (APD) officer, was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault in October. He is the first official to face jail time for the killing of McClain, a 23-year-old whose death led to years of protests and calls for reforms.

This story was amended on 6 January 2024 to clarify that Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper are paramedics, not EMTs.

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Biden accuses Trump of ‘assault on democracy’ and says ‘it’s what he’s promising for the future’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For our latest reporting on Biden, read our most recent:

We are going to hear a lot about January 6 at 3.15pm today, when Joe Biden marks the third anniversary of the deadly attack on the Capitol with a speech that doubles as the start of his presidential campaigning in 2024.

Republican presidential contenders, by contrast, tend to have little to say about the insurrection, even when asked directly. A questioner at CNN’s town hall in Iowa last night asked Ron DeSantis for his views on the attack, and the Florida governor responded with a brief condemnation, then changed the subject. Here’s the moment:

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Biden attacks Trump as grave threat to democracy in rousing 2024 speech

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On eve of January 6 anniversary, US president condemns likely rival and warns voters ‘democracy is on the ballot’ in November

A day before the third anniversary of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, Joe Biden delivered a pointed speech to warn voters against re-electing Donald Trump, criticizing the likely Republican presidential nominee as a fundamental threat to democracy in an attempt to shape the dynamics of the 2024 election.

“Today we’re here to answer the most important of questions: is democracy still America’s sacred cause?” Biden said. “Today, I make this sacred pledge to you: the defense, protection and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.

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Shia LaBeouf mulls plan to become deacon after Catholic confirmation

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Actor, 37, received sacrament on New Year’s Eve and Capuchin friar Alexander Rodriguez says he wishes to be a deacon ‘in the future’

The Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf is seeking to becoming a Catholic deacon after receiving the sacrament of confirmation on New Year’s Eve.

A California-based chapter of the Capuchin Franciscans, a Catholic religious order, shared the news in a Facebook post on Tuesday alongside photos of the 37-year-old actor smiling next to several of the organization’s members.

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Israel tries to appease US with proposals for Gaza as Blinken heads to Middle East

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Washington wants concessions from the Netanyahu administration, as critics say plans lack detail or commitment

Israeli officials are scrambling to head off mounting frustration in Washington in the run-up to a potentially difficult meeting between the top US diplomat and Benjamin Netanyahu by offering a series of policy proposals on Gaza that critics say lack detail or commitment.

The US has offered staunch support to Israel since the outbreak of its war with Hamas three months ago but is anxious to secure some concessions from Netanyahu to lower regional tensions and help avert a wider conflict in the Middle East.

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Met rejects calls to investigate Prince Andrew after release of Epstein files

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Scotland Yard suggest recently unsealed documents containing allegations of sexual assaults do not provide new information

The Metropolitan police has rejected calls to launch an investigation into Prince Andrew, after the release of court documents relating to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Accusations against Prince Andrew, including allegedly groping a woman’s breast during an encounter involving a puppet version of the prince and claims he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was 17, were given a new airing in the unsealing of 1,200 pages by a US court.

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FDA approves program to allow Florida to import Canadian prescription drugs

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State will be first to import drugs under federal program that Florida governor says could save consumers $150m in first year

A public health policy that won rare backing from both the Biden and Trump administrations looks ready to open a flow of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada to Florida, ending a decades-long block on the importation of certain pharmaceuticals to the US.

The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the state approval under a drugs importation program that seeks to lower the cost of medicines for US consumers without imposing additional risks to their health or safety.

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Second wave of court documents related to Jeffrey Epstein unsealed

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More than 300 additional pages deepen the picture of Epstein’s elite orbit while resurfacing old claims

A new batch of documents related to the disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein’s sexual abuse were released on Thursday.

The additional 19 documents, totaling around 300 pages, add to the more than 900 pages of documents already unsealed on Wednesday evening, the release of which prompted an online frenzy that crashed a website hosting the documents.

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New York mayor sues bus operators that brought migrants from Texas for $708m

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Lawsuit announced by Eric Adams says 17 bus companies violated state law by transporting 33,000 people to the city

New York City has sued 17 charter bus companies that transported migrants from Texas, the mayor, Eric Adams, announced on Thursday.

The lawsuit, filed in New York state court in Manhattan, says the city is seeking $708m from the firms because that was the cost it incurred to house the migrants and provide services to them over the past two years.

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Al Sharpton says ousted Harvard chief was ‘scapegoat’ in fight against diversity

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Civil rights leader hosts protest outside office of alumnus who spearheaded campaign to remove Claudine Gay and criticized DEI

The civil rights leader the Rev Al Sharpton hosted a protest outside the office of the Harvard alumnus Bill Ackman on Thursday after Ackman criticized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Harvard following the resignation of the former university president Claudine Gay.

“[Ackman] declared war on DEI. He declared war on affirmative action. He’s defining himself as a rightwinger in terms of dealing with racial equality,” Sharpton told the Guardian during the protest alongside his organization, National Action Network, outside Ackman’s office in New York City.

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Sixth-grader killed and five people wounded in Iowa high school shooting

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Investigators believe suspect died of self-inflicted gunshot wound, and at least one of the victims is a school administrator

Police said that a 17-year-old suspect killed a sixth grader and wounded five others in a shooting early Thursday at a high school in the small town of Perry, Iowa.

The suspect was identified as Dylan Butler, a 17-year-old student at Perry high school, officials said at a news briefing on Thursday afternoon. He was found dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound by responding officers.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting

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Police clear Berkeley’s historic People’s Park in surprise midnight operation

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In latest move by University of California, Berkeley, law enforcement agencies arrested protesters and erected barrier

In a midnight operation, hundreds of police officers descended on People’s Park in Berkeley, California, to clear out the activists and unhoused campers occupying the area, to make way for the construction of a housing complex for students.

By dawn, the park that was once the centre of the 1960s antiwar and counterculture movement was walled off with shipping containers and surrounded by police.

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US Department of Justice sues Texas over new state immigration law

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Suit is aimed at stopping a law allowing police to detain people suspected of crossing the US border without authorization

The US Department of Justice has sued Texas and its Republican governor, Greg Abbott, to block a new and controversial state immigration law from going into effect.

After threatening the state with legal action after last year’s passage of SB4, a new Texas law which allows state police to arrest any person they suspect has crossed the US-Mexico border without authorization, the justice department did so on Wednesday. Immigration and border control officially falls under the purview of the federal government – not individual states.

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Carrefour pulls PepsiCo products in four EU countries over price hikes

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Stores in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium will no longer stock PepsiCo drinks, Lay’s and Doritos crisps and Quaker cereals

The French supermarket chain Carrefour has said it will stop selling PepsiCo products in stores in four European countries because the global food company has put its prices up by too much.

Shelves at Carrefours in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium will from Thursday carry signs saying the store will no longer stock PepsiCo products such as fizzy drinks, Lay’s and Doritos crisps and Quaker cereals “due to unacceptable price increases”.

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Trial of Salman Rushdie’s attacker postponed because of author’s memoir

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Rushdie’s book about the incident will be published in April, but the delay ‘will not change the ultimate outcome’ of the trial says district attorney

The trial of the man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie has been postponed because of the publication of the author’s memoir about the attack.

A lawyer representing Hadi Matar, who was charged with attacking Rushdie on stage in New York state in 2022, successfully petitioned judge David Foley to delay the trial shortly before it was due to begin on 8 January.

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