Category Archives: US News

Shein warns on Trump tariff uncertainty after profits slip

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Fast-fashion retailer records 20% growth in sales and fees to $37bn but big hit is expected from US changes to import tax rules

Shein has reported a 20% rise in global revenues to $37bn (£27.7bn) but profits have fallen as the fast-fashion retailer faced increased costs, even before it felt the impact of recent changes to US tax laws.

The Singaporean parent company of the rapidly growing retailer said pre-tax profits had fallen by 13% to $1.3bn last year from $1.5bn in 2023 after an increase in selling and marketing costs, according to new accounts.

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Candace Owens: Australia’s high court backs minister’s decision to deny visa to US rightwinger

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Home affairs minister’s 2024 decision to reject visa application for planned speaking tour on character grounds upheld

Australia’s high court has unanimously backed the government’s 2024 decision to refuse the rightwing provocateur Candace Owens a visa to enter the country.

The full bench of the court ruled on Wednesday that the minister’s denial did not infringe an implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

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LA to declare state of emergency over Ice raids to assist affected families

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Move will allow county board of supervisors to provide rent relief for tenants amid immigration crack down on city

Los Angeles county officials voted Tuesday to declare a state of emergency that gives them power to provide assistance for residents they say have suffered financially from ongoing federal immigration raids.

The move allows the LA county board of supervisors to provide rent relief for tenants who have fallen behind as a result of the crackdown on immigrants. A local state of emergency can also funnel state money for legal aid and other services.

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Chicago ‘Splatatouille’ was probably a squirrel, say researchers

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Scientists from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, look at 37 species to identify cause of ‘rat hole’ in pavement

With a front paw outstretched and its tail at an angle, the creature that fell on to wet concrete in Chicago left quite the memento mori.

Now, researchers say they have unmasked the identity of the victim, revealing the famous “rat hole” was most probably made by a squirrel.

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Trump threatens to cut US aid to Argentina if Milei loses election

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US president says ‘we will not be generous’ if leader fails to win key midterms after promising $20bn to prop up struggling economy

Donald Trump has warned he could cut financial aid to Argentina if his ally Javier Milei loses crucial legislative elections later this month.

“If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” the US president said as Milei visited the White House to seek the Republican’s political and economic support. “I’m with this man because his philosophy is correct. And he may win and he may not win – I think he’s going to win. And if he wins we are staying with him, and if he doesn’t win we are gone.”

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Trump says six were killed in US strike on another boat allegedly carrying drugs near Venezuela

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UN has condemned US strikes on small boats it believes to be trafficking drugs as extrajudicial executions

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States has struck another small boat that he accuses of carrying drugs in waters off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people aboard.

“The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike,” Trump said in a statement on his Truth Social social media platform. “No U.S. Forces were harmed.”

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Trump says Hamas will be forced to disarm or ‘we will disarm them’

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US president says it should take place in a ‘reasonable period of time’ amid questions over group’s status

Donald Trump has said that Hamas will be forced to disarm after questions swirled around the group’s status following the signing of a peace deal meant to bring an end to the war in Gaza.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Trump said: “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them and it will happen quickly and perhaps violently.

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US revokes visas of at least 50 Mexican officials in Trump’s drug cartel crackdown

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The administration’s sweeping visa cancellations extend to Mexico’s political elite, alarming allies and rivals alike

The US government has revoked the visas of at least 50 politicians and government officials in Mexico amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on drug cartels and their suspected political allies, according to two Mexican officials.

The move has sent quiet shock waves through Mexico’s political elite, who regularly travel to the US. It also marks a significant broadening of US anti-narcotics action, with the Trump administration targeting active politicians usually seen as too diplomatically sensitive.

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‘Instability and confusion’ as CDC slashes 1,300 jobs before reinstating half

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Entire offices erased at health agency in Friday move before Trump administration says 700 notices were sent in error

More than a thousand employees at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received notice that they were losing their jobs on Friday in a move that erased entire offices and was partially reversed over the weekend.

It caused “instability and whiplash”, said Debra Houry, former chief medical officer at the CDC.

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Tennessee authorities identify 16 people killed in blast at explosive plant

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Local pastor among victims of huge explosion in rural area where ‘everybody knows each other’

Authorities on Monday identified the 16 people killed in a devastating blast at a rural Tennessee explosives plant on 10 October, as investigators promised a painstaking process to figure out what happened by tracking down pieces of evidence that may now be miles apart.

At a news conference, Chris Davis, the sheriff of Humphreys county, said people in the tight-knit community probably at least knew relatives of the victims killed in the explosion at the plant owned by Accurate Energetic Systems. The company supplies and researches explosives for the military and is a well-known employer in the area.

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Four people arrested after shooting in Mississippi town that left six dead

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Three charged with murder and one with attempted murder following shooting in Leland after school football game

Three people have been arrested on murder charges – and a fourth person on an attempted murder charge – in a weekend shooting that left six dead and more than a dozen injured in a small Mississippi town, the FBI announced on Monday.

Teviyon L Powell, 29, William Bryant, 29, and Morgan Lattimore, 25, have been charged with capital murder, while Latoya A Powell, 44, has been charged with attempted murder in the mass shooting, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Jackson field office said.

Guardian staff contributed reporting

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China says it will ‘fight to end’ after US said it was trying to hurt world economy

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Commerce ministry says US is ‘threatening to intimidate’ with plans for new Trump tariffs on exports

China has hit back at accusations from the US that it is trying to hurt the world economy, as the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies appeared to re-escalate, amped up by aggressive rhetoric on both sides.

China’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday that the US was “threatening to intimidate” with the prospect of new tariffs on Chinese exports, “which is not the right way to get along with China”. Its spokesperson said that China would “fight to the end” in trade talks.

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Right to protest is under sustained attack in the west, report finds

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Counter-terror laws being ‘weaponised’ against pro-Palestine groups in UK, US, France and Germany, says FIDH

The right to protest has come under sustained attack in the west, according to a report highlighting the growing criminalisation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The study by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) pays particular attention to the UK, the US, France and Germany, where it says governments have “weaponised” counter-terrorism legislation as well as the fight against antisemitism to suppress dissent and support for Palestinian rights in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

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Trump sets sights on peace with Iran as he hails ‘end of Gaza war’

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In speech to Israeli Knesset hours after hostages released, US president spoke of ‘historic dawn of new Middle East’

Donald Trump has vowed to use the power of his presidency to ensure that Israel recognises it has achieved “all that it can by force of arms”, and begin an age of cooperation in the Middle East that may ultimately extend as far as peace with Iran.

In a speech to the Israeli Knesset, made hours after the last remaining Israeli hostages were released from Gaza, Trump hailed the “historic dawn of a new Middle East” and an end to the “long and painful nightmare” of the Gaza war.

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Obama takes aim at companies cutting deals with Trump: ‘We have capacity to take a stand’

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Universities, law firms and businesses that have changed course should have stood by convictions, says ex-president

Barack Obama took aim at institutions and businesses who made deals or worked out settlements with the Trump administration, noting on a new podcast episode: “We all have this capacity, I think, to take a stand.”

In a talk with Marc Maron on the comedian’s last edition of his long-running WTF With Marc Maron, the former US president said institutions – including law firms, universities and businesses – that have changed course during the Trump administration should have stood by their convictions.

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Majority of special education staff in US education department laid off – report

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Layoffs ‘decimating’ office responsible for protecting rights of infants, children and youth with disabilities, says worker

The majority of staff in the education department handling special education has been laid off, according to multiple reports.

Friday’s total of 466 layoffs across the education department also impacted the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, which oversees programs that support millions of children and adults with disabilities nationwide, according to sources speaking to various outlets.

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Plane crashes on to Massachusetts highway and kills two people on board

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Blazing debris on road amid rain and wind, with one person on ground hurt and no known survivors found on plane

A small plane crashed along a major highway in south-eastern Massachusetts early on Monday amid rain and strong winds, killing both people on board and wounding another person on the ground, authorities said.

In videos taken by people in passing vehicles, smoke could be seen billowing up above Interstate 195 from scattered, blazing debris. The highway was closed in both directions near the crash site in Dartmouth, a town about 50 miles (80km) miles south of Boston, the state department of transportation said.

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Republican and Democratic senators dig in heels over government shutdown

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Lindsey Graham says closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands on Obama-era healthcare subsidies

Republican and Democratic senators Lindsey Graham and Mark Kelly have dug their heels in over the government shutdown – which is now approaching two weeks, with the former saying that the closure won’t push him to meet Democrats’ demands for a restoration of Obama-era healthcare subsidies.

Graham said on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday that he was in favor of the Senate voting to reopen the government and prepared to “have a rational discussion” with Democrats – but not with the government shut down.

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US Smithsonian museums and National Zoo close due to government shutdown

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Washington DC-based institution says it’ll temporarily close museums and research centers in response to shutdown

Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo closed their doors on Sunday in response to the ongoing government shutdown.

In a statement over the weekend, the Washington DC-based Smithsonian Institution announced that it was temporarily closing its museums, research centers and its zoo due to the government shutdown which has now entered the third week.

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Trump says ‘war is over’ in Gaza as Israel awaits release of hostages

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US president says Middle East will ‘normalize’ before he boarded flight to Israel for world leaders’ peace summit

The war in Gaza has ended and the Middle East is going to “normalize”, Donald Trump said on Sunday as he flew to Israel, which was waiting for Hamas to release Israeli hostages as world leaders were gathering to discuss the next steps toward peace.

“The war is over, you understand that,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One as he began a flight from Washington DC to Israel.

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