Category Archives: US News

US and Beijing spar over shipwreck-turned-military outpost

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Vessel becomes potential flashpoint as Beijing orders Philippines to remove wreck housing marines in South China Sea

An international row is growing between the Philippines, the US and China over a rusting ship that has been turned into a crucial military outpost in the South China Sea.

The dilapidated second world war-era ship was deliberately run aground on a tiny reef in the South China Sea in 1999 by the Philippines, and a small contingent of troops continue to stay on board to stake the country’s claim in the highly disputed water.

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Win for reproductive rights as Ohio voters reject effort to make it harder to amend state constitution

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Proposal would have made it considerably harder to amend state constitution as voters give verdict on Issue 1

Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would have made it considerably harder to amend the state constitution in a major win for reproductive rights and democracy advocates in the state.

The result means that Ohio will keep its current process for amending the state constitution in place. The procedure first requires voters to collect a certain number of signatures from at least 44 of the state’s 88 counties to send an amendment proposal to the ballot and then a simple majority to pass it.

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Zimmermann becomes Australia’s first billion-dollar fashion label after private equity acquisition

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Brand founders Simone and Nicky Zimmermann retain minority shareholding and say they and current management will continue to run the label

Zimmermann has become Australia’s first billion-dollar fashion label after a majority acquisition by private equity firm Advent International.

The label’s founders, sisters Simone and Nicky Zimmermann, have retained a minority shareholding in the brand and said the company would continue to be run by them and current management.

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Tory Lanez sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion

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Canadian musician was found guilty last year for three felonies related to the shooting which injured the rapper in the foot

Musician Tory Lanez was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday for the shooting of fellow artist Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.

Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, was found guilty in December 2022 of three felonies related to the shooting, which left his fellow artist injured in the foot.

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Starbucks loses court challenge against order to rehire union supporters

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Judge writes: ‘Fear of retaliation will exist unless Memphis seven, apparently terminated for their union support, are reinstated’

A US appeals court on Tuesday rejected Starbucks Corp’s challenge to a ruling requiring the coffee chain to rehire seven employees at a Memphis, Tennessee, store who were allegedly fired for supporting a union.

The decision by the Ohio-based sixth US circuit court of appeals is the first from an appeals court involving a nationwide campaign that has seen workers at more than 300 Starbucks locations vote to unionize.

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Massachusetts governor declares emergency and urges help for migrants

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Maura Healey calls on federal government to provide ‘urgent action’ as shelters housing migrants and refugees reach capacity

Massachusetts governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as shelters housing migrants and refugees reached capacity, and called on the federal government to help.

In a letter addressed to US secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas, Healey said: “To our partners in the federal government, Massachusetts has stepped up to address what sadly has been a federal crisis of inaction that is many years in the making.

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Three white men face assault charges in Alabama riverfront brawl

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One man in custody and two others expected to surrender after a group of white men attacked a Black boat worker in Montgomery

Three arrest warrants were issued on Tuesday by authorities in Montgomery, Alabama, relating to the chaotic riverfront brawl that broke out on Saturday during which punches were thrown, people were hit with chairs, and others were thrown into the river.

Montgomery police chief Darryl Albert announced on Tuesday that one man is in custody and two others were expected to turn themselves in. Montgomery mayor Steven Reed said none of the three are residents of the city.

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Files reveal Nixon role in plot to block Allende from Chilean presidency

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President hosted rightwing mogul Agustín Edwards in September 1970 and discussed plans to foil socialist election-winner

Days before Salvador Allende’s confirmation as Chile’s president in 1970, US President Richard Nixon met with a rightwing Chilean media mogul to discuss blocking the socialist leader’s path to the presidency, newly declassified documents have revealed.

The documents, published in a new Spanish edition of the Pinochet files by archivist and writer Peter Kornbluh, include Nixon’s agenda for 15 September 1970, which shows a meeting in the Oval Office with Agustín Edwards, the owner of the conservative El Mercurio media group.

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China-Philippines dispute could escalate into superpower conflict, say analysts

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Expert warns of ‘significant escalatory potential’ after Chinese coastguards used water cannon on Philippine boat

A territorial dispute between China and the US-aligned Philippines is at increasingly high risk of escalating into a conflict involving the two superpowers, analysts have said, after Chinese coastguards used a water cannon on a Philippine boat.

Global concern about China’s naval activities is growing as the country expands and modernises its military, and shows increasing aggression in its claims over the South China Sea and Taiwan. Joint drills with Russia – during which a flotilla sailed near Alaska this weekend – have also heightened concern over military coordination between Beijing and Moscow.

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Storms in US north-east leave two dead and lead to thousands of flight cancellations

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Tornado watches and warnings posted across 10 states from Tennessee to New York

A wave of destructively strong storms moving through the US north-east have left two people dead, caused thousands of flight cancellations and left more than 1.1m homes and businesses without power.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the greater DC area, lasting until 9pm, as well as a flood warning extending through Tuesday morning. A special statement warned: “There is a significant threat for damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.”

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San Diego teens charged in killing of unhoused woman known as ‘Granny Annie’

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Annette Pershal, 68, who was shot multiple times with a pellet gun, was ‘full of love’, said daughter Brandy Nazworth

Two San Diego teenagers have been arrested in the fatal shooting of Annette Pershal, a 68-year-old unhoused woman who had lived on the streets for years and was known to locals as “Granny Annie”.

Pershal was found on the street unconscious on 8 May and taken to the hospital where doctors discovered she’d been shot multiple times with a pellet gun, officials said. She died several days later and her death was ruled a homicide.

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Junta leaders in Niger refuse to let top US official meet ousted president

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Victoria Nuland said commanders rejected calls to restore democracy and blocked her from meeting Mohamed Bazoum, who is under house arrest

Junta leaders in Niger have refused to let a senior US official meet the West African country’s ousted president and rejected her calls to restore democracy after last month’s coup.

Victoria Nuland, the US acting deputy secretary of state, described “frank and difficult” talks during a two-hour meeting in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, on Monday, as the rebellious commanders again refused to give in to international pressure to stand down.

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California judge pauses sweeping of homeless encampments amid heatwave

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Order was issued against the city of Sacramento after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order

Amid a heatwave that is sweeping through parts of the American west, a federal judge in California has placed a temporary ban on sweeps of homeless encampments.

US district court judge Troy L Nunley issued the order against the city of Sacramento on 3 August, after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order by sweeping an encampment during a time of excessive heat, which is anything over 90F.

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Norway to fine Meta $98,500 a day over user privacy breach from 14 August

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Country’s data protection regulator said firm cannot harvest user information such as physical locations for showing targeted ads

Facebook owner Meta Platforms will be fined 1m crowns ($98,500) a day over privacy breaches from 14 August, Norway’s data protection authority told Reuters on Monday, a decision that could have wider European implications.

The regulator, Datatilsynet, had said on 17 July that the company would be fined if it did not address privacy breaches the regulator had identified.

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Judge says E Jean Carroll allegation Trump raped her is ‘substantially true’ in court dismissal

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Ex-president claimed that writer defamed him when saying he raped her, but judge said term is commonly ‘used and understood’ in context

Donald Trump suffered another legal reversal on Monday, losing his counterclaim for defamation against E Jean Carroll, the writer against whom he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation and fined $5m, and who continues to pursue a separate defamation case against him.

Dismissing the counterclaim, a judge in New York, Lewis A Kaplan, said that when Carroll repeated her allegation that Trump raped her, her words were “substantially true”. Kaplan also set out in detail why it may be said that Trump raped Carroll.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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New York City plans to house migrants on an island in the East River

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Mayor Eric Adams plans to house as many as 2,000 adults seeking asylum, in tent city where center opened and then closed last year

New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, announced a plan Monday to house as many as 2,000 migrants on an island in the East River where a migrant center was set up last year and then taken down weeks later.

The state will reimburse the city for the cost of operating a tent city for adult migrants on Randalls Island, Adams said.

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Five-hundred-pound bear ‘Hank the Tank’ caught after home break-ins in Tahoe area

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Bear was not, as initially thought, solely responsible for all instances of property damage – there are ‘other Hanks’

A notorious, “extremely food-habituated” 500lb female black bear known as Hank the Tank has been detained in the Lake Tahoe area of California more than a year after the wildlife equivalent of an APB was issued by the state’s wildlife authorities.

Hank, who was initially misgendered as a male, was matched by DNA to more than 21 home break-ins and other instances of property damage in the Lake Tahoe region since 2022. She was “safely immobilized” by tranquilizer dart and apprehended Friday morning, according to state officials, and will now be moved to a sanctuary in southern Colorado.

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DeSantis says Trump ‘of course lost’ in 2020 when pressed in interview

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Florida Republican governor admits Biden won as Trump leads DeSantis by more than 30 points in most polling averages

“Of course” Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, Ron DeSantis said in an interview broadcast Monday – after being pressed on the issue.

Appearing on NBC, the Florida governor and nearest challenger to Trump for the nomination in 2024 was asked: “Yes or no – did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?”

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William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist and The French Connection, dies at 87

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The Oscar-winning film-maker has died in Los Angeles, leaving behind a career as one of his generation’s most admired talents

• Gallery: Friedkin’s life in pictures

William Friedkin, Oscar-winning director of The Exorcist and The French Connection, has died at the age of 87.

The film-maker died in Los Angeles, confirmed by Chapman University dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of his wife and former producer Sherry Lansing.

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Nancy Pelosi calls indictments against Trump ‘beautiful and intricate’

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Trump antagonist and former House speaker also says classified documents and 2020 election interference charges are ‘exquisite’

Indictments of Donald Trump regarding his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his retention of classified information are “exquisite … beautiful and intricate”, the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

“The indictments against the president are exquisite,” Pelosi, 83 and a regular antagonist of the 77-year-old former president, told New York magazine in an interview published on Monday.

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