Category Archives: US News

US may restrict visas for Ugandan officials in wake of anti-LGBTQ+ laws

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Antony Blinken says he’s looking to ‘promote accountability’ for Ugandan officials who have violated rights of LGBTQ+ people

The US may restrict visas issued to Ugandan officials in its latest condemnation to the African country’s enactment of stringent – and highly controversial – anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said that Joe Biden’s White House is “deeply troubled” by the Anti-Homosexuality Act, which was signed into law by Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s president, on Monday. Blinken said that he was looking to “promote accountability” for Ugandan officials who have violated the rights of LGBTQ+ people, with possible measures including the curtailment of visas.

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US political leaders push for lawmakers’ support on debt ceiling deal

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Some members of Congress question if they received enough concessions in Biden and McCarthy’s agreement

US political leaders appeared bullish on Monday that they can sell a bipartisan compromise debt ceiling deal to enough mainstream lawmakers – overcoming boisterous criticism from left and right – urgently enough to avert a first-ever national default on the $31.4tn the US owes creditors.

Despite a lot of diplomacy and even arm-twisting still to come on Capitol Hill in the next few days, Joe Biden left the White House to head to Delaware on Monday afternoon smiling and teasing reporters as he took questions, while the first lady, Jill Biden, waited on the lawn.

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No confirmed fatalities after Iowa apartment building collapse

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Eight person rescued Monday morning after part of six-story building collapsed but damaged structure remains unstable

Officials in Iowa are making plans to demolish a six-story apartment building a day after it partially collapsed, injuring at least one person and displacing countless residents and businesses.

There were no confirmed fatalities and no known people still trapped the morning after the incident in the eastern Iowa city of Davenport. The damaged structure remains unstable, authorities said on Monday.

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Drax-owned wood pellet plant in US broke air pollution rules again

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Amite BioEnergy, which was fined $2.5m in 2021, notified Mississippi facility had breached emission limits

A US plant that supplies wood pellets to the UK power generator Drax has violated air pollution limits in Mississippi, it has emerged.

The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has written to Amite BioEnergy notifying the Drax-owned company that it had violated emissions rules.

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Students graduate around the country, with flags, politicians and a furry friend

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A Colorado student defied officials with a Mexican flag, the vice-president visited West Point and a service animal lent a paw

A Colorado high school student defied a federal judge’s ruling and wore a Mexican flag sash to her high school graduation after fending off repeated resistance from the school.

The event was just one of a clutch of unusual graduations and commencements across the country in the last week, with some firsts – and one furry companion.

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Biden hails debt ceiling deal and urges lawmakers to pass agreement

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President says deal struck with Kevin McCarthy protects ‘historic economic recovery’ but it needs approval from a divided Congress

Joe Biden has said a bipartisan deal to raise the $31.4tn US debt ceiling and avoid a default is ready to move to Congress and urged lawmakers to pass the agreement he struck with Kevin McCarthy.

“This is a deal that’s good news for ... the American people,” the president said at the White House on Sunday night after a call with McCarthy to put the final touches to a tentative deal struck the previous day. “It takes the threat of catastrophic default off the table, protects our hard-earned and historic economic recovery,” he said.

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Ohio police continue search for fugitive who escaped prison last week

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Safecracker James Lee was apprehended last Wednesday, while convicted killer Bradley Gillespie is still on the lam

Authorities on Sunday were searching for a convicted killer who escaped an Ohio prison by hiding in a trash container.

The manhunt for Bradley Gillespie began last week when he and another man incarcerated at Allen-Oakwood correctional institution in Lima, Ohio, James Lee, were discovered missing, according to reports.

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The Little Mermaid hooks audiences with whale of an opening weekend

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The live-action remake brought in nearly $100m over the Memorial Day weekend, knocking Fast X out of the top spot

The Little Mermaid live-action remake of Disney’s 1989 animated classic made a splash at the box office on Memorial Day weekend, bringing in almost $100m in North America, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.

The film starring Halle Bailey, winning praise from critics as the titular mermaid Ariel, and Melissa McCarthy as her sea witch nemesis, Ursula, ranks as the fifth biggest Memorial Day weekend opening on record.

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Guantánamo detainee accuses UK agencies of complicity in his torture

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Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri wants to bring case examining alleged role of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ in his mistreatment by CIA

A Guantánamo Bay prisoner tortured by the CIA has accused British intelligence agencies of complicity in his mistreatment in a new case before one of UK’s most secretive courts.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is alleged by the US to have plotted al-Qaida’s bombing of an American naval ship, is seeking to persuade the court to consider his complaint against MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.

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US seeks to fine January 6 rioters to claw back donations they raked in

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Prosecutors are asking judges to impose fines on top of prison sentences to offset donations from supporters of Capitol rioters

Less than two months after he pleaded guilty to storming the US Capitol on January 6 2021, Texas resident Daniel Goodwyn appeared on Tucker Carlson’s then Fox News show and promoted a website where supporters could donate money to Goodwyn and other rioters whom the site called “political prisoners”.

The justice department now wants Goodwyn to give up more than $25,000 he raised – a clawback that is part of a growing effort by the government to prevent rioters from being able to personally profit from participating in the attack that shook the foundations of American democracy.

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Three people killed and five injured in shooting at New Mexico biker rally

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Mayor of Red River says the shooting was gang-related, and that the shooters have all been taken into custody

Three people were killed and five injured in a shooting at a biker rally in Red River, New Mexico, on Saturday.

Neither the victims nor the shooters were local residents and were among bikers who were visiting for the rally over the long weekend holiday leading into Memorial Day, Red River mayor Linda Calhoun told the Guardian on Sunday.

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Biden and McCarthy reach ‘in principle’ deal to raise debt ceiling days before US default

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Agreement will reportedly raise debt limit for two years, but deal still needs approval from a divided US congress

Lawmakers in Washington were busily drafting legislation on Sunday after Joe Biden and the House Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, reached a deal in principle on Saturday night to raise the federal government’s $31.4tn debt ceiling, with just days left before America was expected to default.

There was a slim chance that a bill could be finalized as early as Sunday and be presented on Capitol Hill, where it is expected to have a stormy passage in a divided Congress.

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Biden and McCarthy hold debt ceiling talks amid signs a deal is close

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Default deadline pushed to 5 June as work requirements for food aid recipients reportedly emerge as final sticking point

President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy held a phone conversation on Saturday evening, according to a person familiar with their plans, amid signs that a deal in the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations was close to being struck.

McCarthy said earlier on Saturday that he was making “progress” in negotiations on raising the federal government’s debt ceiling, as the nation faced risk of default in little more than a week.

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Texas attorney general impeached by Republican-led House in historic vote

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Ken Paxton drew support from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz prior to the vote

Texas’ Republican-led House of Representatives impeached state attorney general Ken Paxton on Saturday on articles including bribery and abuse of public trust, a historic rebuke of a GOP official who rose to be a star of the conservative legal movement despite years of scandal and alleged crimes.

Impeachment triggers Paxton’s immediate suspension from office pending the outcome of a trial in the state Senate and empowers Republican governor Greg Abbott to appoint someone else as Texas’ top lawyer in the interim.

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Impeachment proceedings against scandal-hit Texas attorney general begin

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Republican-led state house of representatives to debate whether to impeach Ken Paxton over allegations of bribery

Texas’s Republican-led house of representatives launched historic impeachment proceedings against attorney general Ken Paxton on Saturday as the scandal-plagued lawyer called on supporters to protest a vote that could lead to his ouster and Donald Trump came to his defense.

The house convened on Saturday afternoon to debate whether to impeach and suspend Paxton from office over allegations of bribery, abuse of public trust and that he is unfit for office. They’re just some of the accusations that have trailed Texas’s top lawyer for most of his three terms.

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Republican Iowa governor rolls back state’s child labor law protections

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Change in law allows teenagers to serve alcohol in restaurants and could allow children to operate heavy machinery like power saws

Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, has signed a bill that rolls back several child labor law protections in the midwestern state, including how many hours children can work and at what type of establishments.

Iowa and several other states in the US have loosened regulations on child labor in response to some businesses complaining about a workforce shortage. The moves have been met with widespread criticism by Democrats and labor groups.

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Kamala Harris becomes first woman to give West Point commencement speech

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Vice-president addresses graduating cadets at elite US military academy and warns of threats of Russian and Chinese aggression

Vice-President Kamala Harris on Saturday became the first woman at West Point’s 221-year history to deliver a commencement speech.

Addressing over 900 graduating cadets at the elite American military academy in West Point, New York, Harris told them that they are graduating “into an increasingly unsettled world where long-standing principles are at risk”, and cited the threats of Russian and Chinese aggression in her speech.

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Texas attorney general urges supporters to protest at capitol ahead of impeachment vote

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Ken Paxton’s call for protesters to be ‘peacefully’ heard at the state capitol echoes similar request from Donald Trump before 6 January 2021

The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has urged his supporters to protest at the state capitol when Republicans in the House of Representatives take up historic impeachment proceedings against him.

The state House has set a Saturday vote to consider impeaching Paxton and suspending him from office over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust – just some of the accusations that have trailed him for most of his three terms.

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Black bear takes 60 cupcakes from US bakery, scaring staff

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Animal charged at one worker before dragging container into parking lot amid a series of human encounters with bears in Connecticut

A hungry black bear barged into the garage of a Connecticut bakery, scared several employees and helped itself to 60 cupcakes before ambling away.

Workers at Taste by Spellbound in the town of Avon were loading cakes into a van for delivery on Wednesday when the bear showed up. There are 1,000 to 1,200 black bears living in Connecticut, the state environmental agency says, with sightings last year in 158 of the state’s 169 towns and cities.

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Report: ‘massive’ Tesla leak reveals data breaches, thousands of safety complaints

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Whistleblower files reveal customer and employee information plus complaints about driver assistance system

Tesla has failed to adequately protect data from customers, employees and business partners and has received thousands of customer complaints regarding the carmaker’s driver assistance system, Germany’s Handelsblatt has reported, citing 100 gigabytes of confidential data leaked by a whistleblower.

The Handelsblatt report said customer data could be found “in abundance” in a data set labelled “Tesla Files”.

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