Category Archives: US News

Homebuilder shares tumble as UK housing market weakens – business live

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A profit warning from housebuilder Crest Nicholson has compounded fears of a housing market slowdown, as Rightmove data reveals a further drop in asking prices

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said that while weak house price data (as was “hardly a surprise”, Crest Nicholson’s profit warning has “laid bare the the scale of the impact of a housing slowdown on the housebuilding sector.”

Sales of new homes have plunged alarmingly and, while not all developers in the space are created equal, the news, allied to Rightmove’s latest reading on the property market, has had a knock-on effect on share prices in the rest of the sector this morning.

The £7,000 drop in the average asking price observed by Rightmove in the last month, allied to a big drop in transaction volumes, is the kind of statistic to make estate agents distinctly uneasy.

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Storm Hilary could still threaten life, experts say, as nearly 25m under flood warnings in US south-west – live

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Storm downgraded to post-tropical cyclone as of Monday morning but mudslides still possible

First responders rescued over a dozen unhoused people who were trapped in knee-deep water in Southern California, AP reported.

Fire officials saved 13 people who were caught in a flooded homeless encampment near the San Diego River.

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Weakening Storm Hilary leaves floods and mud behind in California

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Damage from rare tropical storm is less than feared, but experts warn of further danger as it heads to Nevada and Oregon

Vast swaths of the US south-west are reeling after Tropical Storm Hilary pummeled the region with historic amounts of rain and strong winds, even as the storm weakened on its path northward on Monday.

The rare tempest left downed trees, flooded streets, and cascades of mud and debris in its wake after slamming into the US west coast on Sunday. In California, the storm had largely cleared by Monday afternoon, and officials celebrated that damage had been less severe than feared.

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Trump should drop out of 2024 presidential race, says Republican

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Senator Bill Cassidy says ‘he will lose to Joe Biden’ as ex-president faces more than 90 pending charges

Donald Trump should drop out of the 2024 race for the White House because polling shows the former US president trailing Joe Biden as he grapples with more than 90 pending criminal charges, according to Republican US senator Bill Cassidy.

Cassidy’s comments to State of the Union host Kasie Hunt were not the first time he has denounced Trump. About two months earlier, he went on CNN and predicted that Trump would lose if his party nominated him to run for the Oval Office again, citing the poor performance of his endorsed candidates during the 2022 midterms.

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Tropical Storm Hilary reaches southern California | First Thing

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The first tropical storm to hit southern California in 84 years prompted flash-flood and tornado warnings for the region

Good morning.

Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall in Mexico yesterday and is now pummelling southern California with wind and rain. It is the first tropical storm to hit the region in 84 years, and experts are predicting life-threatening floods and landslides, with some desert regions expected to receive two to three years’ worth of rain in three days.

At least nine rainfall records were broken across California, including in downtown Los Angeles.

Amid flash-flood and tornado warnings, an 5.1-magnitude earthquake hit southern California on Sunday afternoon, and at least five aftershocks were recorded at between 2 and 4 magnitude.

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Nerves build as India moon mission prepares to make first successful south pole landing

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Chandrayaan-3 moves into prelanding orbit amid failure of Russian mission

As it was announced that Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years had crashed on to the moon, India’s own mission, the Chandrayaan-3 lander, moved into prelanding orbit.

News on Sunday of the Russian failure was met with excitement and nervousness in India: excitement that India was now poised to win the race to become the first country to land a craft on the moon’s south pole; nervousness that its mission could also go horribly wrong at the last moment.

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Weather tracker: tropical storm makes landfall in California for first time in 84 years

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Storm Hilary expected to cause severe flooding, as other parts of US and Mexico put under extreme heat warnings

For the first time in 84 years, a tropical storm has made landfall in California. Tropical Storm Hilary, with maximum sustained wind gusts of 130mph (210km/h) and a central air pressure of 943mb, advanced towards the Baja California peninsula this weekend as a category 4 hurricane, before arriving as a tropical storm in southern California late on Sunday. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in southern California was in 1939, when it flooded Los Angeles and killed nearly 100 people.

Hilary triggered California’s first ever tropical storm warning, extending from the Mexican border to just north of Los Angeles amid rainfall totals estimated to have reached 70-150mm (3-6in) across southern California. This amount of rainfall is expected to cause life-threatening flooding, and would amount to more than a year’s worth of rain across parts of California and Nevada.

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California shop owner shot dead over LGBTQ+ Pride flag displayed at store

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An man made comments about flag at Laura Ann Carlton’s store in Cedar Glen and killed her before being shot and killed by police

A business owner in California was shot and killed after a dispute over a LGBTQ+ Pride flag displayed outside her store, authorities said.

Officials from the San Bernardino county sheriff’s office said Laura Ann Carleton, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting on Friday night.

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Former top Trump aide says he was unaware of document declassification – report

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Ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows’ admission could complicate the ex-president’s defense in his classified documents case

The former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told investigators he had no knowledge of Donald Trump either talking about or declassifying confidential information, it was reported on Sunday, potentially skewering the ex-president’s defense in his classified documents case.

Meadows’ alleged admission to the special counsel Jack Smith, reported by ABC News, suggests Trump made no blanket declassification of secret papers later seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort by FBI agents, leading to 40 criminal counts against him.

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Biden will reassure Maui fire victims they will control rebuild, says Fema chief

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Deanne Criswell says the president will visit Lahaina on Monday to meet with first responders, officials and victims

The administrator of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, said Joe Biden will on Monday reassure the people of Lahaina they will be in control of how they rebuild when he visits the Maui community devastated by a historically deadly wildfire.

The president and the first lady, Jill Biden, will meet first responders, officials and victims, getting a first-hand look at the widespread devastation, Criswell told CNN’s State of the Union.

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Pence won’t say if criminal conviction should rule Trump out as president

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Former vice-president who once voted to expel felon from Congress says American people should decide

Donald Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, refused to say Trump should be barred from returning to the White House if he is convicted on any of 91 criminal charges against him.

“I think that he’s to be left to the American people,” Pence told ABC’s This Week, on Sunday. “Let’s have the former president have his day in court. Let’s maintain a presumption of innocence.”

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Australia to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles in $1.7bn spend on long-range defence capability

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Anti-radiation and anti-tank missiles among purchase which will be locked in just days after raucous internal debate at Labor conference over Aukus pact

The Albanese government has announced a $1.7bn spend on hi-tech missiles which the defence minister, Richard Marles, said are needed “to hold our adversaries further from our shores and keep Australians safe”.

Australia will become just the third nation after the US and the UK to have access to Tomahawk cruise missiles, with $1.3bn being spent on 200 of the long range missiles to boost the capability of the three Hobart-class air warfare destroyers.

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Hurricane Hilary approaches California amid warnings of ‘serious threat’

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‘Catastrophic’ flooding expected despite weakening to category 1 cyclone after wildfires in Maui and Washington state

Hurricane Hilary was closing in on southern California on Sunday as federal emergency officials, stretched by deadly wildfires in Maui and Washington state, warned of a “serious impact and threat”.

Despite weakening to a category 1 cyclone, the storm was still packing winds of 80mph as it approached Mexico and the south-western US, with “catastrophic” flooding expected to follow landfall.

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Ron Cephas Jones, This Is Us actor who won two Emmys, dies aged 66

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Actor had a double lung transplant in 2020 because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Ron Cephas Jones, a veteran stage actor who won two Emmy awards for his role as a long-lost father who finds redemption on the NBC series This Is Us, has died at age 66, a representative said.

Jones’s manager, Dan Spilo, said the actor died “due to a long-standing pulmonary issue”.

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Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in ‘final chapter’, ex-president’s grandson says

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‘It’s clear we’re in the final chapter,’ Josh Carter says of grandparents, the first couple between 1977 and 1981, in interview

Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, are “still holding hands” as they enter their “final chapter” together at home in Plains, Georgia, the former US president’s grandson said.

“It’s clear we’re in the final chapter,” Josh Carter said of his grandparents, the first couple between 1977 and 1981, in an interview published by People magazine on Saturday.

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Washington state wildfire leaves one dead and nearly 200 structures destroyed

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Evacuations ordered after wind-fueled blaze expands unchecked near eastern city of Spokane and shuts highway

A wind-driven wildfire in eastern Washington state has destroyed at least 185 structures, closed a major highway and left one person dead, authorities have said.

The blaze began shortly after midday on Friday on the west side of Medical Lake, about 15 miles (24km) west of Spokane, and then expanded, state Department of Natural Resources spokesperson Isabelle Hoygaard said on Saturday.

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Hurricane Hilary downgraded amid warnings of ‘catastrophic’ flooding

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Drowning reported in Baja California peninsula ahead of storm’s arrival on Saturday night before hitting southern California on Sunday

Hurricane Hilary was downgraded to a category 1 storm as it moved towards the Baja California region on Saturday evening, amid warnings of deadly flooding.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory on Saturday night that “catastrophic and life-threatening flooding” was still likely and that the storm had maximum sustained winds of 90mph (145km/h).

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Drug dealer gets 10 years in prison for role in actor Michael K Williams’s death

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Irvin Cartagena sentenced after pleading guilty to providing The Wire actor with fentanyl-laced heroin, causing his death

A New York City drug dealer was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison for providing the actor Michael K Williams, best known for his role in the TV series The Wire, with fentanyl-laced heroin, causing his death.

Irvin Cartagena, 40, of Aibonito, Puerto Rico, was sentenced by the US district judge Ronnie Abrams. Cartagena had pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to distribute drugs.

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American Airlines sues travel website Skiplagged over ticket price ‘loophole’

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Lawsuit accuses website of deception as it allows travelers to book typically cheaper connecting flight and get off after first leg

American Airlines has filed a lawsuit against Skiplagged, a travel website for cheap flights that shows “hidden-city” ticketing trips.

The lawsuit, which American filed this week in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, accuses Skiplagged of deception, as the website allows travelers to book a connecting flight that is typically cheaper than a non-stop flight and not flying to the route’s final destination.

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Cruise agrees to cut fleet of San Francisco robotaxis in half after crashes

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State DMV asks for reduction after autonomous Cruise vehicle collided with unspecified emergency vehicle

General Motors’ Cruise autonomous vehicle unit has agreed to cut its fleet of San Francisco robotaxis in half as authorities investigate two recent crashes in the city.

The state department of motor vehicles asked for the reduction after a Cruise vehicle without a human driver collided with an unspecified emergency vehicle on Thursday.

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