Category Archives: US News

White House blames Trump for 2021 Afghanistan troop withdrawal chaos

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Biden administration releases review saying president’s options were ‘severely constrained’ by decisions of predecessor

The US government has released a review of the chaotic 2021 troop withdrawal from Afghanistan which largely lays the blame on Donald Trump, saying President Joe Biden was “severely constrained” by the decisions of his predecessor.

The White House on Thursday publicly released a 12-page summary of the results of the US policies around the ending of the nation’s longest war, taking little responsibility for its own actions. The administration said most of the after-action reviews, which were transmitted privately to Congress, were highly classified and would not be released.

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Trump drawing to be first New Yorker cover featuring courtroom sketch

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Jane Rosenberg was one of three permitted sketch artists during the hearing involving the ex-president on Tuesday

The next cover of the New Yorker will feature a drawing of Donald Trump at his arraignment on felony charges this week – the first time a courtroom sketch has graced the cover of the famous magazine.

Jane Rosenberg was one of three permitted sketch artists during the hearing involving the former president at the Manhattan criminal courthouse on Tuesday.

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Effort to repeal Texas sodomy law advances with bipartisan support

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Senator Ted Cruz among those backing repeal of law criminalising homosexual conduct was ruled unconstitutional in 2003

Texas lawmakers are edging closer to repealing the state’s sodomy ban, two decades after the law was ruled unconstitutional.

A state house committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to pass a bill that would repeal the 1973 law criminalising homosexual conduct, which been unenforceable since it was deemed unconstitutional by the US supreme court in 2003.

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Greenhouse gas emissions rose at ‘alarming’ rate last year, US data shows

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Noaa report shows rapid increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide

Record temperatures, devastating floods and superstorms are causing death and destruction across the planet but humans are failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions fueling the climate emergency, new US data shows.

Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide – the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity that are the most significant contributors to global heating – continued to increase rapidly during 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (Noaa).

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Anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr announces run for president

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Nephew of JFK and son of former attorney general launches long-shot challenge to Biden for Democratic nomination

Robert F Kennedy Jr, an anti-vaccine activist and scion of one of the most famous American political families, is running for president.

Kennedy, 69, filed a statement of candidacy on Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.

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Idaho governor signs law banning adults from helping minors get abortions

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‘Abortion trafficking’ law mandates up to five years in prison for acting without parental consent even when child has been raped

The Republican governor of Idaho, Brad Little, signed a bill into law on Wednesday that makes it illegal for an adult to help a minor get an abortion without parental consent.

The law is the first of its kind in the US, creating a new crime of “abortion trafficking”, barring adults from obtaining abortion pills for a minor or “recruiting, harboring or transporting the pregnant minor” without the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian.

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Marjorie Taylor Greene calls New York City disgusting, filthy and repulsive

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Georgia representative calls city ‘a terrible place’ after visit to support Donald Trump at court appearance

The far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene risked stoking the wrath of New Yorkers for a second time this week, calling their city “disgusting”, “filthy”, “repulsive” and a “terrible place”.

“I compared it to what I called Gotham City,” the Georgia Republican told Fox News. “The streets are filthy, they’re covered with people basically lying, on drugs. They can’t even stand up. They’re falling over. There’s so much crime in the city. I can’t comprehend how people live there.”

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Indigenous Peruvians condemn US ambassador’s visit to palm oil company

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Outrage as Indigenous communities claim company is operating on illegally deforested land and lacks environmental permits

The US ambassador to Peru has sparked outrage among Indigenous groups and environmental NGOs by visiting a controversial palm oil company and praising it for abstaining from deforestation and as a leader of sustainable agricultural practices.

In a tweet last week, Lisa Kenna commended the company, Ocho Sur, as an example of US-Peruvian ties and as the leading employer in the Peruvian Amazon region of Ucayali. Her expression of support came after she made the solo visit last week while on a trip with her British, German and Norwegian counterparts to the Peruvian Amazon city of Pucallpa.

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Saudi Arabia and Iran work to restore relations as foreign ministers meet

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Faisal bin Farhan and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing for talks after Chinese-brokered agreement

The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers have met for the first time in seven years, weeks after the two countries came to an agreement, brokered by Chinese officials, to restore diplomatic relations.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Iran’s Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met in Beijing to discuss the reopening of embassies, the appointment of ambassadors and a planned visit to Saudi Arabia by Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president. They also discussed resuming flights between the two countries and issuing travel visas for each others’ citizens.

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US teen to cycle across Europe after completing perilous ride from Alaska to Argentina

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Liam Garner’s Pan-American adventure lasted a year – now he’s eyeing another odyssey, and planning to write a book about it

A US teenager who reported being robbed and even hospitalized while spending more than a year bicycling from northern Alaska to southern Argentina is now mulling plans for a similar trip from Europe to Asia.

Liam Garner and his trip across the Americas, which he completed in January, has drawn headlines from international news outlets including CNN, Insider and the BBC. But he is insisting he’s not done with his efforts, which he says demonstrate that one doesn’t have to be rich to travel internationally.

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Taiwan monitoring Chinese strike group off the coast after president meets US speaker

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China has said it would take ‘resolute’ measures to defend sovereignty, after denouncing Tsai’s meeting in California with McCarthy

Taiwan authorities are monitoring Chinese military activity including a carrier strike group about 200 nautical miles (370km) off the main island’s coastline, after the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, met US House speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

In the meeting, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, McCarthy stressed the urgency of arms deliveries to Taiwan, while Tsai praised the “strong and unique partnership” with the US..

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Joe Biden accepts King Charles’s invitation for state visit

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News of invitation follows announcement that US president will visit Ireland and Northern Ireland next week

Joe Biden has accepted an invitation from King Charles III for a state visit, a White House spokesperson has said.

The invitation was made during a “friendly” 25 to 30 minute phone call in which Biden congratulated the king on his upcoming coronation, which the US president will not attend.

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Cash App creator Bob Lee stabbed to death in San Francisco

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Death confirmed by Lee’s family as they and tech colleagues remember a ‘force of nature’

Bob Lee, the creator of the payment platform Cash App, was killed in a stabbing in San Francisco early on Tuesday morning.

Lee’s death was confirmed by his father on Facebook, who said he and his son had recently relocated to Miami from the Bay Area.

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Mike Pence will not appeal order to testify to January 6 grand jury

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Decision clears way for former vice-president to appear before panel looking into 2020 election interference and Capitol attack

The former vice-president Mike Pence will not appeal an order compelling him to testify in the US justice department investigation of Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, attempts which culminated in the deadly January 6 attack on Congress.

The order was handed down last week. A spokesperson for Pence announced the decision on Wednesday, clearing the way for Pence to appear before a grand jury in Washington.

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Mike Pence will comply with subpoena to testify before January 6 grand jury – as it happened

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Former vice-president will not fight a judge’s order compelling him to appear before a special grand jury

Moira Donegan writes for the Guardian today that Trump isn’t the ringmaster he once was, but we’re still watching his show:

Will the criminal charges be good for Trump? Trump seems to think so, or at least that’s what he’s trying to project to the public. He raised a lot of money for his third presidential bid over the five days between his indictment and his arraignment: $7m, according to campaign officials. And as he was inside the courthouse being charged, his campaign sent out a fundraising email, asking supporters to purchase tee shirts featuring a fake mug shot of the former president, along with the words “NOT GUILTY.” They cost $47 a piece.

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Judge willing to force Rupert Murdoch to testify in $1.6bn Fox News case

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US judge says he ‘would not quash’ subpoena from Dominion Voting Systems requesting testimony from mogul and son Lachlan

A judge in Delaware on Wednesday said Dominion Voting Systems can compel Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch to testify in the election machines company’s $1.6bn defamation suit against Fox News.

If Dominion files the appropriate subpoena, Judge Eric M Davis said, “I would not quash it and I would compel them to come.”

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Missouri tornado kills five people and causes widespread destruction

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Twister is part of a system of extreme storms and severe weather that has already battered areas of Michigan, Illinois and Iowa

A tornado that tore through south-eastern Missouri overnight has caused widespread destruction and killed at least five people.

The twister that struck overnight is part of a system of extreme storms that is spawning tornadoes and threatening more death and destruction across the central US.

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Angel Reese says LSU will not visit White House after Jill Biden comments

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  • First lady appeared to extend invite to rivals Iowa
  • Reese says team wants to meet Obamas instead

College basketball star Angel Reese says she and her LSU teammates will not visit the White House in the aftermath of comments made by first lady Jill Biden.

LSU won their first-ever national title on Sunday with victory over Iowa. It is traditional for national champions in the US to meet the president, but on Monday Biden said she would be happy for Iowa to join LSU.

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Rival protests in Los Angeles as Taiwan’s president arrives for visit

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Tsai Ing-wen to meet the US House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, which China has called a ‘provocation’

Pro- and anti-Taiwan protesters gathered at Los Angeles airport for the arrival of Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, before a meeting scheduled for Wednesday with the US House speaker, Kevin McCarthy.

Protesters also crowded outside Tsai’s LA hotel on Tuesday evening, banging drums, chanting and holding Taiwanese flags and photos of the president, who shook hands with supporters as she entered. A smaller, pro-Beijing group gathered nearby on the pavement, separated by a police line, at times chanting “One China”.

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‘I’ll always support him’: Republicans back Trump as he faces charges

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Many on the right liken the legal battle to an attack on democracy itself and have made threats to the district attorney

To Republicans across the US, the charges unveiled in a New York courtroom against Donald Trump were not just the start of the latest legal battle in the life of a man who has known no shortage of them, but an attack on democracy itself.

“Today is the day of the real insurrection,” tweeted Mark Levin, the conservative radio host whom Trump reportedly dined with after the indictment was announced last week.

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