Category Archives: US News

Susan Sarandon sues over ‘extensive problems’ with $2m eco dream home

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Thelma & Louise star, 76, had planned ‘entirely off-the-grid’ home for her retirement but alleges faulty work by construction firm

The Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon has taken a construction firm to court over what she calls “extensive problems” at what she envisioned as a $2m eco-friendly dream home she had built in Vermont for her retirement.

Buckled siding, missing insulation, mold and an unfinished primary bedroom ceiling are among 47 issues found by engineers, contractors and Sarandon’s staff, according to a lawsuit filed against DeGrenier Contracting and Property Management in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts.

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US government seeks 33 years for ex-Proud Boys leader over Capitol attack

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Request for Enrique Tarrio sentence comes as another convicted member of far-right group goes missing days before court date

The US justice department is seeking 33 years in prison for Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases to emerge from the attack on the US Capitol, according to court documents.

The harsh sentence request came as it emerged that Christopher Worrell, another member of the extremist group, has disappeared, days before he was due to be sentenced on Friday

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Georgia steps up investigation into threats against Trump grand jurors

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Private information about members of grand jury that indicted former president has been published online

Law enforcement officials in the US state of Georgia were on Friday intensifying their investigations into threats targeting members of the grand jury that indicted former president Donald Trump and 18 of his allies earlier this month, after private information about jurors was published online.

The Fulton county sheriff’s office announced that it was “aware that personal information of members of the Fulton county grand jury is being shared on various platforms” and was working to track down the origins of the threats in Fulton county, where Atlanta is located, and other jurisdictions.

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

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‘One big adventure’: the Russian minister who fled the draft to drive trucks in the US

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Denis Sharonov is part of a historic exodus as hundreds of thousands of Russians seek to escape Vladimir Putin’s war

The former minister drove his big white truck north until he reached Michigan. The Great Lakes provided a welcome relief from the scorching Texas heat.

After years navigating the byzantine corridors of provincial Russian power, Denis Sharonov now works as a truck driver, steering his way through the vast highways of the US.

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The Nun actor accuses Warner Bros of ‘hiding’ her share of merchandise revenue

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Bonnie Aarons, who plays demonic nun in billion-dollar Conjuring franchise, is suing studio for ‘obscuring’ the ‘true amount of her rightful share’

The actor who plays the demonic nun in the billion-dollar Conjuring film franchise is suing Warner Bros, claiming the studio is hiding the true amount of money it made from merchandise featuring her character.

Bonnie Aarons first played the nun, also known as “Valak”, in the 2016 horror film The Conjuring 2. The box office hit spawned a spin-off franchise just for her character: the 2018 film The Nun and the impending sequel The Nun 2, set to be released on 8 September.

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US reportedly approves sending F-16 jets to Ukraine from Denmark and Netherlands

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Secretary of state Antony Blinken confers ‘full support’ for transfer of F-16s and training of pilots

The United States has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, says in a letter seen by the Reuters news agency.

Washington will expedite the approval of transfer requests for F-16s, the letter – sent to Blinken’s counterparts in Denmark and the Netherlands – was reported to say. The US must approve the transfer of the military jets from its allies to Ukraine.

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Head of Maui emergency agency resigns after defending not sounding sirens

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Herman Andaya’s resignation comes after the deadly blaze in Maui killed at least 111 people and razed thousands of buildings

The head of the Maui emergency management agency, who has been under fire for not activating disaster sirens during last week’s wildfire response, resigned Thursday, citing health reasons.

Richard Bissen, the Maui mayor, accepted the resignation of Herman Andaya, the county of Maui announced on Facebook.

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Britney Spears’ estranged husband Sam Asghari denies he will challenge prenup in their divorce

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Asghari says he and Spears will ‘hold onto the love and respect’ they have for each, after filing for divorce after 14 months of marriage

Sam Asghari has denied he will challenge the prenuptial agreement he has with Britney Spears after filing for divorce after 14 months of marriage.

In a statement posted online on Thursday, the model and fitness trainer acknowledged that asking for privacy “seems ridiculous” but asked that the media be “kind and thoughtful”.

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Names and addresses of Georgia grand jurors posted on rightwing websites

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Sheriff’s office said investigators are working with local, state and federal agencies to track down origins of threats in Fulton county

Law enforcement officials in Georgia said they’re investigating threats targeting members of the grand jury that indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies, after private information about jurors was published online.

On Thursday, the Fulton county sheriff’s office announced that it is “aware that personal information of members of the Fulton county grand jury is being shared on various platforms”.

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Fossil fuel firms move to dismiss climate lawsuit in Hawaii as Maui faces wildfires

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In 2020, Honolulu officials had sued eight oil and gas companies over the steep costs of abating damages from extreme weather

Hawaii’s supreme court on Thursday heard attempts by fossil fuel companies to dismiss a climate accountability lawsuit. The hearing came as the deadly fires in Maui capture global headlines.

“This is the first time the court has been in session since the fires in Maui last week,” the Hawaii supreme court chief justice said as the hearing began, before calling for a moment of silence for those who lost their lives in the blazes.

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FBI arrest California police officers involved in racist text messages scandal

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A grand jury had indicted officers from Antioch and Pittsburg for a wide range of offenses, including criminal conspiracy

The FBI arrested nine current and former California police officers on Thursday as part of a major criminal investigation into racist text messages of dozens of law enforcement officials, prosecutors said.

Early-morning federal raids, first reported by the Bay Area News Group, rounded up officers from Antioch and Pittsburg, two cities east of San Francisco, after they were charged in four grand jury indictments.

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Drinking water of millions of Americans contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’

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Water of about 26 million is contaminated as new data offers the most robust look into exactly which communities are polluted

Drinking water consumed by millions of Americans from hundreds of communities spread across the United States is contaminated with dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, according to testing data released on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The data shows that drinking water systems serving small towns to large cities – from tiny Collegeville, Pennsylvania, to Fresno, California – contain measurable levels of so-called “forever chemicals”, a family of durable compounds long used in a variety of commercial products but that are now known to be harmful.

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Trump indictment sparks fears of calls to violence as Georgia grand jury doxxed – as it happened

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This blog is now closed, but continuing coverage of Trump’s Georgia indictment can be found here and here.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, dismissed the suggestion that she is running in the 2024 GOP presidential race in order to become the vice president.

In an interview with Politico, Haley said:

I think everybody that says, ‘She’s doing this to be vice president,’ needs to understand I don’t run for second.

That’s something that I hear all the time, and I’ll tell you that, look, we have a country to save, and I don’t trust anybody else to do it.

Sources tell ABC News that Trump’s legal advisers have told him that holding such a press conference with dubious claims of voter fraud will only complicate his legal problems and some of his attorneys have advised him to cancel it.

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Ron DeSantis campaign suffers another blow after debate memos published

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Rightwing Florida governor’s talking points for the first Republican debate include defending Trump and attacking Biden

Seeking to resurrect his flagging US presidential campaign, Ron DeSantis suffered a major embarrassment when memos about his preparation for the first Republican debate were reported by the New York Times.

Including advice not to attack the clear frontrunner, Donald Trump, the memos to the rightwing Florida governor ahead of the debate in Milwaukee next Wednesday were posted online by a consulting firm owned by Jeff Roe, chief strategist to Never Back Down, a Super Pac backing DeSantis.

Attack Joe Biden and the media 3-5 times.

State [DeSantis’s] positive vision 2-3 times.

Hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response.

Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack.

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Hurricane Hilary heads towards Mexico after strengthening from tropical storm

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Storm moves toward Baja California and could bring high winds, surf and rain to southern California

A storm located about 300 miles off the coast of Mexico was upgraded to a hurricane overnight as it heads toward Baja California, potentially bringing heavy rain and winds to the region and the south-western United States this weekend.

Hurricane Hilary formed as a tropical storm about 470 miles off the coast of Manzanillo, Mexico. It is currently about 320 miles (515km) south-west of Manzanillo and is moving about 13mph west-north-west. It is expected to turn north-west on Friday morning.

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‘Out of reach’: median home price in Los Angeles nears $1m

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House prices have increased more than 30% in five years in the state’s largest city, which has at least 50,000 people living outside

The median price for a home in Los Angeles, California’s largest city, will soon hit $1m, as skyrocketing housing costs fuel a humanitarian crisis that has left at least 50,000 people living in the streets.

In the past five years, the median listed home price in the Los Angeles area has increased more than 30%, according to estimates from the real estate company Zillow. As of late July, the median price for homes in the Los Angeles metropolitan area was estimated at $992,300.

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Mar-a-Lago worker’s lawyer has conflicts of interest in documents case, prosecutors say

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Attorney for Carlos De Oliveira also represents witnesses who could testify against him, according to special counsel’s office

Special counsel prosecutors asked on Wednesday for a hearing to inform the Mar-a-Lago club’s maintenance chief, charged with helping Donald Trump to obstruct the government’s attempt to retrieve the classified documents at the property, that his lawyer might be hamstrung at trial due to potential conflicts of interest.

The issue, according to prosecutors, is that De Oliveira’s lawyer, John Irving, represents three other witnesses who provided incriminating evidence against Carlos De Oliveira and could be called to testify against him at trial.

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Pig kidney keeps working for over a month in brain-dead man’s body

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Medical breakthrough marks longest pig kidney has functioned in a human, setting stage for operations in living patients

A pig’s kidney transplanted by surgeons into a brain-dead man has continued to function normally for more than a month – a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients.

The latest experiment, announced on Wednesday by New York University Langone Health, marks the longest a pig kidney has functioned in a person, albeit a deceased one, and it’s not over. Researchers will track the kidney’s performance for a second month.

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Kansas newspaper raided by police to have seized items returned

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Police raid on office of Marion County Record drew widespread condemnation by press freedom advocates

Authorities have announced the controversial search warrant of a local Kansas newspaper office has been withdrawn.

The Marion county attorney Joel Ensey announced that following a review of the search warrants made last Friday at multiple locations in Marion county, he has “come to the conclusion that insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized”.

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US senator warns top Saudi over refusal to testify on PGA golf deal

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Richard Blumenthal to consider ‘other legal methods’ to compel Yasir al-Rumayyan to speak to Senate oversight committee

A senior US lawmaker has challenged a Saudi Arabian official’s refusal to voluntarily testify before a Senate committee investigating the kingdom’s controversial golf deal with the PGA Tour, saying officials should be prepared to be subject to American laws and oversight if they invest in the US.

Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic senator from Connecticut who serves as chairman of the Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations, also said he would consider “other legal methods” to force Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), to testify if he continued to refuse.

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