Category Archives: US News

High levels of toxic chemicals in pets living near US manufacturing plant

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Researchers alarmed by results of study of dogs and horses living close to Chemours factory in North Carolina

Pets living near a PFAS manufacturing plant in Fayetteville, North Carolina have concerning levels of the toxic chemicals in their blood, and show evidence of health effects linked to exposure, new research finds.

PFAS were present in all 32 dog and 31 horse blood samples checked, and the findings provide evidence that human and animal exposures to the chemicals impacts their bodies, said Scott Belcher, a North Carolina State University researcher and co-author.

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China accuses UK of protecting ‘fugitives’ after bounty put on Hong Kong democracy activists

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Chinese embassy in London tells UK to ‘stop interfering’ in China’s affairs, as Hong Kong leader says overseas activists will be ‘pursued for life’

China has accused the UK of protecting fugitives after the British foreign secretary criticised Hong Kong’s decision to offer HK$1m bounties for the arrest of eight democracy activists based overseas, as the territory’s leader said the group would be “pursued for life”.

In a statement late on Monday, China’s embassy in London said: “British politicians have openly offered protection for fugitives. This is crude interference in Hong Kong’s rule of law and China’s internal affairs.”

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US ambassador to Russia says jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in ‘good health’

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Ambassador Lynne Tracey was allowed to meet the journalist in a Moscow jail in her second such visit since his arrest in March

Russia has granted the US consular access to jailed Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich after a more than two-month gap, with the US ambassador reporting him in good health.

The state department said ambassador Lynne Tracey met Gershkovich at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow on Monday, only her second such meeting with him since he was arrested on 29 March during a reporting trip in the Urals.

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Millions swelter under extreme heat as climate crisis tightens grip on US – live

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Heat dome of high pressure hovers over Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma as thousands remain without power in Chicago with heavy rains knocking down trees and power lines

The heating of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans by the burning of fossil fuels made the current extreme heatwave across the us at least five times more likely, according to a recent analysis by Climate Central, a climate science non-profit.

The rolling heatwave marks the latest in a series of recent extreme “heat dome” events that have scorched various parts of the world.

If you have this sort of high-pressure system sitting stationary over a region, you can have these really impressive heatwaves.

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California man hid mother’s death for more than 30 years to collect benefits

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Donald Felix Zampach collected over $830,000 in his mother’s social security and military retirement payments

A California man has pleaded guilty to hiding his mother’s death for more than three decades while he collected her social security and military retirement payments, a scheme the US attorney said is believed to be the longest-running and largest fraud of its kind in the district.

Donald Felix Zampach of Poway, about 20 miles north of San Diego, collected over $830,000 of public funds and nearly $30,000 in fraudulently opened credit cards over the course of three decades, US attorney Randy Grossman said last week.

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Trump said president under indictment would create ‘constitutional crisis’

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Former president made comments in 2016 days before election he won, and predicted Hillary Clinton would face criminal trial

The election of a president under indictment and facing criminal trial would “create an unprecedented constitutional crisis” and “cripple the operations of government”, Donald Trump said.

But the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, who faces 71 criminal counts in state and federal cases and is expected to face more, was not speaking about himself – or speaking this year.

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Meta’s new parental tools will not protect vulnerable children, experts say

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Tech firm gives parents greater control over their children’s online activities, but not all kids have consistent supervision

Social media giant Meta this week introduced new parental supervision tools, but child protection and anti-sex trafficking organizations say the new measures offer little protection to the children most vulnerable to exploitation, and divert the responsibility from the company to keep its users safe.

On Tuesday, Meta launched new features aimed at increasing parents’ awareness of their children’s activities on its platforms. For Messenger, its private message service, parents can now view and receive updates on their child’s contacts list and monitor who views any stories their child posts. On Instagram, the company has introduced a new notice to alert parents if their child has blocked somebody.

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Robert De Niro’s grandson Leandro De Niro Rodriguez dies aged 19

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Actor’s eldest daughter, Drena, makes announcement on Instagram but family has not released details about cause of death

Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, the grandson of actor Robert De Niro, has died at the age of 19, family members announced on Monday.

De Niro’s eldest daughter, Drena, posted on Instagram to say her son had died. She said the family had lost a “sweet angel”.

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US passport application delays ground summer travelers

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Applicants are facing the brunt of pandemic-related staffing issues and the agency flooded with a record 500,000 applications a week

Seeking a valid US passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you venture to the airport.

A much-feared backup of US passport applications has hit a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide post-pandemic travel rebounds – with too few humans to handle the load.

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US warns against efforts to interfere with Guatemala election result

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Frontrunner Sandra Torres alleged votes were manipulated after centrist Bernardo Arevalo claimed surprise runner-up spot

The US has issued a warning over possible efforts to interfere with Guatemala’s presidential election result, after the country’s top court ordered ballots from the first-round vote be reviewed, setting up the potential for a recount.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Washington had endorsed findings from observers over the vote’s validity, and said undermining the outcome would be a “grave threat to democracy with far-reaching implications”.

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Supreme court’s student loan decision ‘usurps Congress’s authority,’ says Democrat

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Ro Khanna of California said he will support another relief plan that Joe Biden is proposing under the Higher Education Act

The US supreme court’s decision to strike down Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan late last week “usurped the authority of Congress”, Democratic House representative Ro Khanna said on Sunday.

Khanna, of California, argued that if anyone thought Biden was unduly empowered by the legislation which the president used to issue the debt relief program, “then the solution is Congress can repeal the … act”.

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Chris Christie calls Trump-DeSantis nomination feud ‘a teenage food fight’

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Former New Jersey governor speaks out after bizarre video from Florida’s governor and ‘juvenile’ nicknames from the ex-president

An escalating feud between the two main rivals for the Republican presidential nomination is akin to a “teenage food fight”, another challenger, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, said on Sunday.

He made the comment after the campaign of Ron DeSantis, the rightwing Florida governor who has slipped in the polls to Donald Trump, released a “homophobic” video attacking the former president for his previous support of the LGBTQ+ community.

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EPA begins to clean up black globs of asphalt from Yellowstone River train derailment

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Environmental agency officials said workers are cooling the gooey material with river water and putting it into garbage bags for recycling

Globs of asphalt binder that spilled into Montana’s Yellowstone River during a bridge collapse and train derailment could be seen on islands and riverbanks downstream from Yellowstone National Park a week after the spill occurred, witnesses report.

Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency said cleanup efforts began on Sunday, with workers cooling the gooey material with river water, rolling it up and putting the globs into garbage bags. It will probably be recycled, said Paul Peronard with the EPA.

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Twitter faces lawsuit over alleged non-payment for office services in four countries

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Australia-based company Facilitate seeks more than A$1m for work done at offices in London, Dublin, Sydney and Singapore

Twitter is facing another lawsuit after the company was accused of failing to pay for services for offices in London, Dublin, Sydney and Singapore.

Sydney-based infrastructure company Facilitate is seeking a collective payment over A$1m ($666,000) across the three businesses in alleged owed payments dating back to October last year, when Elon Musk bought Twitter.

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US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen to visit China to build ‘healthy’ ties with Beijing

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Yellen heads to Beijing this week in move one expert calls an attempt to ‘put some floor’ under strained economic ties

US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen will visit Beijing this week, marking the second trip by a cabinet official to China since ties between the world’s top two economies deteriorated earlier this year.

Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries “to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges”, said the Treasury Department in a statement on Sunday.

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Drug agency chief calls on China and Mexico to help stem US fentanyl crisis

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The majority of the extremely powerful illegal opioid entering the US is manufactured in Mexico using Chinese precursors

Drug Enforcement Administration administrator Anne Milgram has called for further cooperation from China and Mexico in the fight against the US’s fentanyl crisis.

In an interview with Chuck Todd, the host of NBC’s Meet the Press, on Sunday, Milgram said that despite the DEA standing “ready to work with anyone who will work with us”, the US has “not had the cooperation that we want to have” from China, adding that the Mexican government also “needs to do more”.

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Thousands of hotel workers in LA area begin strike for better pay and benefits

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As the tourist season is taking off, workers walked off the job at more than 60 hotels for higher pay and better benefits

Thousands of hotel workers in southern California walked off the job on Sunday, as the Fourth of July extended holiday weekend begins, demanding higher pay and better benefits in what their union is calling the largest strike in its history.

Cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, servers, bellmen and front desk agents at hotels were picketing outside major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties just as the summer tourist season is ramping up.

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Another bus with dozens of migrants from Texas arrives in Los Angeles

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Bus with 41 people, including 11 children who were with families, was welcomed by collective of faith and immigrants’ rights groups

Another bus carrying asylum seekers arrived in downtown Los Angeles from a Texas border city early on Saturday, the second such transport in less than three weeks.

The bus, which arrived at about 12.40pm at Los Angeles’s Union Station from Brownsville, Texas, held 41 people including 11 children who were with their families, according to a statement from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles (Chirla).

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Baltimore shooting: two dead and dozens injured in US city

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Two adults killed and 28 wounded in incident, according to local police who are still searching for shooter

Two people have been killed and 28 wounded in a mass shooting in Baltimore, including three who are in critical condition, police have said.

The Baltimore Police Department acting commissioner, Richard Worley, confirmed there were a total of 30 victims during a press conference at the scene on Sunday. Police said they were still looking for the shooter.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting

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Rick Froberg, acclaimed post-hardcore frontman for Drive Like Jehu and more, dies aged 55

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Impassioned singer and guitarist, who has died of natural causes, also fronted the bands Hot Snakes, Pitchfork and Obits

Rick Froberg, the strident frontman with US post-hardcore bands Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes, Pitchfork and Obits, has died aged 55.

His death was announced by longtime collaborator John Reis, who wrote on Instagram:

Rick passed away suddenly last night from natural causes. His art made life better. The only thing he loved more than art and rock n roll was his friends. He will forever be remembered for his creativity, vision and his ability to bring beauty into this world. I love you, Rick. I will miss you for the rest of my life.

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