Category Archives: US News

Japanese PM promises golden age in relations with US during Trump visit

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Sanae Takaichi says she will nominate Trump for peace prize as two leaders sign agreement on rare earths

Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has pledged to realise a “golden age” in relations with the US and to “fundamentally reinforce” her country’s defence posture at the start of a visit by Donald Trump.

The US president, who is in Japan on the second leg of a week-long tour of Asia, and Takaichi quickly signed an agreement laying out a framework to secure the mining and processing of rare earths and other minerals.

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Atlanta journalist says he ‘won’t be the only’ one deported by Trump officials

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Emmy award-winner Mario Guevara warns administration ‘has the power’ after he was arrested and sent to El Salvador

Mario Guevara has said he may have been “the first” immigrant journalist whom Donald Trump’s administration deported from the US while working – but the Emmy award-winner added: “I don’t think [I’ll] be the only one.”

“Just be careful because [immigration agents are] very aggressive,” Guevara recently said from El Salvador in a virtual interview with the US Freedom of the Press Tracker, during which he was asked whether he had any message for other immigrant colleagues in the industry. “They showed they are – they don’t care about journalists. They don’t believe in the media.”

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New Yorkers sue state elections board as battle over House maps intensifies

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Lawsuit alleges congressional map illegally dilutes voting power of Black and Latino residents of Staten Island

A group of New Yorkers has filed a lawsuit against the state’s board of elections alleging that its congressional map unconstitutionally dilutes the voting power of Black and Latino residents of Staten Island.

The complaint, filed Monday, is another volley in the battle between Democrats and Republicans to redraw congressional districts in a way that favors their party in advance of the midterm elections.

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Exxon sues California over climate laws, alleging free speech violations

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Oil firm asks court to block enforcement of laws that would require disclosure of planet-heating carbon emissions

Exxon, an oil firm consistently ranked among the world’s top contributors to global carbon emissions, is suing the state of California over two climate-focused state laws, arguing that the rules infringe upon the corporation’s right to free speech.

The 2023 laws, known collectively as the California Climate Accountability Package, will require large companies doing business in the state to disclose both their planet-heating carbon emissions and their climate-related financial risks, or face annual penalties.

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Two crucial Florida coral species left ‘functionally extinct’ by ocean heatwave

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Climate crisis drives near-total collapse of staghorn and elkhorn corals that formed backbone to state’s reefs

Two of the most important coral species that made up Florida’s reef are now functionally extinct after a withering ocean heatwave caused catastrophic losses, scientists have found.

The near-total collapse of the corals that once formed the backbone of reefs in Florida and the Caribbean means they can no longer play their previously crucial role in building and sustaining reef ecosystems that host a variety of marine life.

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Republican Indiana governor calls special session to redraw congressional maps

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GOP-led state is latest that Trump administration has put pressure on to undertake redistricting to favor Republicans

The Indiana governor, Mike Braun, announced on Monday that he is calling a special session to consider redrawing congressional districts in the state, the latest state to work on its maps ahead of 2026.

Indiana is one of several Republican-led states the Trump administration has pressured to undertake mid-decade redistricting to favor Republicans, which began with a push in Texas to redraw lines to add Republican seats.

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Republican senator calls Trump’s military airstrikes ‘extrajudicial killings’

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Rand Paul’s comments come days after president claimed US lawmakers wouldn’t take issue with Venezuelan strikes

The Trump administration’s military airtrikes against boats off Venezuela’s coast that the White House claims were being used for drug trafficking are “extrajudicial killings”, said Rand Paul, the president’s fellow Republican and US senator from Kentucky.

Paul’s strong comments on the topic came on Sunday during an interview on Republican-friendly Fox News, three days after Donald Trump publicly claimed he “can’t imagine” federal lawmakers would have “any problem” with the strikes when asked about seeking congressional approval for them.

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Japan’s new PM will hope the Abe effect endears Trump to her at crucial talks

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Sanae Takaichi leads a minority government and needs a successful meeting with the US president on Tuesday. Thankfully her mentor, Shinzo Abe, is one of Trump’s ‘favourites’

Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, faces the first real test of her diplomatic and personal skills when she meets Donald Trump for talks in Tokyo that are expected to focus on trade and security.

Takaichi, who this month became Japan’s first female leader after winning a vote to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP), made her international debut at this weekend’s Asean summit.

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US Boeing workers continue midwest strike after rejecting latest contract offer

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Nearly three-month strike includes 3,200 machinists at plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed

Boeing workers at three midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed voted Sunday to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago.

The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in Mascoutah, Illinois, and the Missouri cities of St Louis and St Charles is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners but threatens to complicate the aerospace company’s progress in regaining its financial footing.

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US airports report over 20 air traffic controller shortage incidents in one day

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Transportation secretary says figure is ‘one of the highest we’ve seen’ since 1 October as shutdown drags on

US airports have reported more than 20 incidents of air traffic controller shortages on Saturday, said Sean Duffy, transportation secretary, in the latest sign of the government shutdown’s impact.

A ground stop was issued by the agency at Los Angeles international airport due to the air traffic controller staffing shortages at around 11.30am ET (15.30 GMT). The restriction covered most of the southern California region and delays are likely when flights resume.

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One killed and six injured after shooting at Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University

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One armed person detained as historically Black school shooting comes amid rising violence at homecoming events

At least one person was killed and six others wounded in a shooting at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania late on Saturday, as students and alumni celebrated homecoming at outdoor festivities at the historically Black university, authorities said.

A person who had a firearm was detained, and officials are investigating the possibility that there was more than one shooter but don’t believe there is any active threat to the campus, Chester county’s district attorney, Christopher de Barrena-Sarobe, said during a brief news conference early on Sunday.

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Gavin Newsom confirms he is considering 2028 presidential run

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Democratic California governor and high-profile Trump critic plans to make decision after 2026 midterms

Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, told CBS News Sunday Morning he plans to make a decision on whether to run for president in 2028 once the 2026 midterm elections are over.

“Yeah, I’d be lying otherwise,” Newsom said in response to a question on whether he would give serious thought to a White House bid after the 2026 elections. “I’d just be lying. And I’m not – I can’t do that.”

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US and China reach ‘final deal’ on TikTok sale, treasury secretary says

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Scott Bessent said plan was part of framework for trade deal but did not share details on transferring app’s ownership

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent claimed on Sunday that the US and China have finalized the details of a deal transferring TikTok’s US version to new owners.

“We reached a final deal on TikTok,” Bessent said on Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan. Alluding to Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, Bessent continued: “We reached [a deal] in Madrid, and I believe that as of today, all the details are ironed out, and that will be for the two leaders to consummate that transaction” during a meeting scheduled for Thursday in Korea.

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Trump told Pence ‘you’ll go down as a wimp’ in January 6 phone call, book says

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Book cites Pence’s notes from call with Trump, who called vice-president a ‘wimp’ if he certified Biden’s 2020 victory

On the day that his supporters attacked the US Capitol because his 2020 re-election run ended in defeat, Donald Trump called his vice-president at the time, Mike Pence, and told him he would go down in history as a “wimp” if he certified the election result, a new book says.

Those details were revealed on Sunday when ABC News published a preview excerpt of an upcoming book by its political correspondent Jonathan Karl. The book, titled Retribution, cites Pence’s notes from the 6 January 2021 phone call with Trump, who was purportedly trying to shame his vice-president into refusing to certify Joe Biden’s victory weeks earlier in the White House.

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‘Islamophobia is endemic,’ Mamdani says of Republicans’ push to deport him

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Two House Republicans push justice department to investigate Zohran Mamdani’s path to US citizenship

Two US House Republicans are pushing the federal justice department to investigate the path to citizenship of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate favored to win the 4 November election for New York City mayor.

Congressman Randy Fine of Florida and Andy Ogles of Tennessee – both staunch proponents of Donald Trump’s presidential administration – have been leading the push, which has been condemned by Democratic officials and Muslim civil rights groups as “racist and anti-Muslim”.

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Food benefits set to expire for 41 million people as US shutdown continues

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Department of Agriculture says no benefits will be issued in November and it would not draw on emergency reserves

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Saturday that food benefits under one of the country’s biggest social assistance programs will not be issued in November amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The shutdown was in its 25th day at the time of the announcement, which came after more than 200 Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Friday called on USDA to draw on its emergency reserves to fund November food benefits.

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US judge rules ICE illegally detained man whose daughter is battling cancer

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Detention of Chicago man violates his due process and he must be given a bond hearing by 31 October, judge says

The detention by immigration authorities of a Chicago man whose 16-year-old daughter is undergoing treatment for advanced cancer is illegal, and he must be given a bond hearing by 31 October, a federal judge has ruled.

Attorneys for Ruben Torres Maldonado, 40, who was detained on 18 October, have petitioned for his release as his deportation case goes through the system. While US district judge Jeremy Daniel said in an order Friday that Torres’s detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is illegal and violates his due process rights, he also said he could not order his immediate release.

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Gun violence prevention groups disqualified from grants built around their work

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Trump administration altering program that was a lifeline for pioneering non-profits helping reduce gun violence

The Trump administration has released solicitations for a grant program meant to stop gun violence in underserved communities. But this year, the non-profits the grant was built around are disqualified from applying, according to an application notice released by the Department of Justice (DoJ) in September.

The Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI), was created in 2022, to support groups working in rural and urban communities struggling to address violence and fund research studying the programs’ efficacy.

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New Jersey officer charged after going out for pizza instead of responding to shooting

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Sgt Kevin Bollaro accused of misconduct and falsifying report after blowing off investigation of a double homicide

A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors say he didn’t quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead stopping at an ATM and pizzeria.

Franklin township police sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of 1 August when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) from Manhattan in central New Jersey, according to Hunterdon county prosecutor Renée Robeson’s office.

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Trump raises tariffs on Canada by 10% in retaliation for anti-tariff TV ad

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Move is response to ad sponsored by Ontario that referenced Ronald Reagan’s support for free trade

Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he will raise US tariffs on Canada by 10% in retaliation for an anti-tariff advertisement sponsored by the Ontario government, which has further strained one of the world’s largest trade partnerships.

The statement, posted on Trump’s Truth Social account, came after several days of public disputes over the ad, which referenced Ronald Reagan’s support for free trade and provoked the US president’s anger.

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