Category Archives: US News

US justice department steps in on behalf of xAI in Colorado regulation case

Posted on by

Move creates conflict between state and administration as Trump seeks federal framework over states handling issue

The US justice department said on Friday it had intervened in a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s xAI challenging a Colorado law aimed at regulating artificial intelligence systems.

In its intervention, the justice department said the law violated the 14th amendment’s equal protection guarantee by requiring companies to guard against unintended discriminatory effects while allowing some discrimination aimed at promoting diversity.

Continue reading...

Colorado funeral home owner sentenced to 30 years in decomposing bodies case

Posted on by

Carie Hallford, 48, whose ex-husband, Jon, was earlier sentenced, expressed remorse over corpse abuse scheme

The co-owner of a Colorado funeral home was sentenced in state court on Friday to 30 years in prison for her part in a corpse abuse scheme that involved hiding nearly 200 decomposing bodies.

Carie Hallford, 48, was also sentenced to 18 years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to a federal fraud charge related to the scandal.

Continue reading...

Roommate arrested after body of University of South Florida doctoral student discovered

Posted on by

Hisham Abugharbeih, 26, taken into custody after remains of Zamil Limon found, as search for Nahida Bristy continues

The body of one of two Bangladeshi doctoral students missing from the University of South Florida (USF) was found on a bridge over Tampa Bay, and his roommate has been taken into custody, law enforcement authorities said Friday.

Zamil Limon’s remains were found on the Howard Frankland Bridge on Friday morning, but Nahida Bristy is still missing, Hillsborough county sheriff’s office chief deputy Joseph Maurer said.

Continue reading...

US millionaire big-game hunter dies after being crushed by elephants

Posted on by

Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old vineyard owner, was hunting an antelope species in Africa when the incident occured

An American millionaire big-game hunter has died after being crushed by a group of elephants during a hunting expedition in Gabon.

Ernie Dosio, a 75-year-old vineyard owner, was hunting yellow-backed duiker, an antelope species, in the central African country of Gabon when the incident occurred last Friday. While in the Lope-Okanda rainforest, he and his guide unexpectedly came across five female elephants accompanied by a calf.

Continue reading...

US won’t give unredacted Epstein documents to UK police without formal request

Posted on by

Police investigating allegations Mandelson and former prince Andrew passed sensitive info to Epstein will struggle to make charges stick without files

British police investigating the former prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson are preparing to start interviewing witnesses in royal and government circles.

It comes as police fear that prosecutors will be “reluctant” to bring charges unless the Trump administration agrees to hand over the original documents from the Epstein files.

Continue reading...

Iran foreign minister to embark on three-nation tour as US peace talks remain stalled

Posted on by

Abbas Araghchi to visit Pakistan, Oman and Russia to see if talks can be reopened, with both sides still in stalemate

The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is planning a tour of Pakistan, Russia and Oman in an effort to see if there is a basis to reopen peace talks that can end with a permanent US-Israeli commitment to cease its attacks on Iran, now one of Tehran’s key demands.

Araghchi is also likely to discuss a potential permanent new arrangement on governing the strait of Hormuz with Oman, which oversees the south of the strait.

Continue reading...

Police across the US worry officers are being misidentified as ICE, records show

Posted on by

Exclusive: Emails and internal memos reveal concerns immigration enforcement is interfering with police work

Law enforcement and local government officials across the US have over the last year expressed concerns that immigration operations were interfering with police work and leading to threats to officers, according to internal emails and briefings shared with the Guardian.

The development comes as the US public has become afraid and distrustful of officers in their communities due to the Trump administration’s aggressive and at times indiscriminate immigration crackdown.

Continue reading...

Massive tornado tears through homes in Oklahoma, injuring at least 10

Posted on by

Homes were reduced to rubble as twister touched down for 30 minutes and carved out a trail of destruction

At least 10 people were injured after a tornado hit northern Oklahoma, as a strong weather system produced a dozen reported twisters that tore destructively through parts of the central US overnight.

Emergency services began assessing the most extensive damage in the rural town of Enid as dawn broke on Friday. Homes were reduced to rubble and splintered wood in the city of about 50,000 people near the state’s northern border. A number of videos showed terrifying wind funnels touching down and roaring across the land towards settlements. The largest tornado was reported to have stayed on the ground for 30 minutes, carving a snaking trail of damage.

Continue reading...

Florida officials investigate planned ‘Sloth World’ attraction after 31 sloths die in warehouse

Posted on by

Languorous tree dwellers from Guyana and Peru died from ‘cold stun’ in warehouse with no power or running water

Wildlife officials in Florida said in a newly released report that dozens of sloths taken from South American rainforests for display at a controversial new tourist attraction in Orlando died in the care of their new owners.

An incident report from the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC) said that 31 of the mammals procured from Peru and Guyana by the owners of a forthcoming attraction called Sloth World perished in a storage warehouse more than a year ago, between December 2024 and February 2025.

Continue reading...

Trump psychedelics order largely symbolic, analysts say

Posted on by

Executive order to speed access to psychedelic treatments likely to have limited legal impact despite high-profile push

The Trump administration issued an executive order earlier this month to accelerate access to psychedelic medication for people with “serious mental illnesses”, but experts say the order is more likely to make a difference symbolically than legally.

“Policymakers and the medical field have long struggled to address the burden of suicide and serious mental illness rates in America,” the order reads, noting that some people do not respond to available treatments.

Continue reading...

After Italian law change, Americans hope supreme court ruling will reopen door to citizenship

Posted on by

Sabrina Crawford among those refused citizenship because of new law stopping access via distant ancestry

In 2025, after a long and arduous journey in her attempts to gain Italian citizenship, including a pivotal genealogical research trip to a village in Calabria, US-born Sabrina Crawford was hoping to fulfil her lifelong dream of building a life in Italy as she edged towards the final hurdle of the bureaucratic process.

But her plans were scuppered when Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government enacted a law stopping access to Italian citizenship via distant ancestry. Since May last year, only those with a parent or grandparent who was an Italian citizen at birth, and who did not take on dual nationality, are eligible to apply.

Continue reading...

Trump says he will ‘probably put a big tariff on the UK’ if it doesn’t drop digital services tax

Posted on by

US president accuses UK of thinking it can ‘make an easy buck’ from US tech companies, weeks after warning that UK–US trade deal can be changed

Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on the UK if it does not drop its digital services tax on US social media firms.

The digital services tax, introduced in 2020, imposes a 2% levy on the revenues of several major US tech companies.

Continue reading...

Paige Shiver says ex-Michigan coach Moore ‘controlled’ her, reveals she was pregnant

Posted on by

  • First interview since Moore’s firing, sentencing

  • Ex-assistant details alleged control, repeated contact

  • Shiver says she was pregnant with coach’s child

Paige Shiver said former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore “had complete control over me” and characterized their relationship as an “open secret” in the school’s athletic department in an interview that aired Friday on ABC’s Good Morning America, her first public appearance since Moore’s high-profile firing and sentencing.

Shiver, 32, said Moore controlled “my emotions, my career … and he knew that, and he used it against me”. She also said she became pregnant with Moore’s child during their relationship but was advised by doctors to have an abortion to avoid complications from a rare disorder.

Continue reading...

LaGuardia firefighter heard ‘stop’ before crash but didn’t know who it was for, report says

Posted on by

National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report further says crash prevention system didn’t generate alert

A firefighter whose truck collided with an Air Canada jet last month on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia airport, killing both pilots, heard an air traffic controller warn “stop, stop, stop” but didn’t know who it was for, federal investigators said Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report on the 22 March collision that a crash prevention system for air traffic controllers didn’t generate an audio or visual alert, and lights on the runway that act as a stop light for crossing traffic were on until about three seconds before the collision.

Continue reading...

Trump may talk of regime infighting, but Iran seems united by strategy born of war

Posted on by

Tensions around US negotiations may reflect mistake of assassinating more pragmatic and experienced figures

Donald Trump has claimed that the infighting between moderates and hardliners in Iran’s leadership is so intense that Iranians have “no idea who their leader is”, but many experts questioned his analysis, saying, given the mass assassinations of senior commanders, the country had shown remarkable institutional cohesion.

Trump’s allegations of “CRAZY” splits in the Iranian leadership – the second outing for this argument in three days – is remarkable since he has previously said either he has little knowledge of the new Iranian leadership or that there has already been regime change.

Continue reading...

Extended naval blockade is admission US military escalation poses even greater risk

Posted on by

Battle of the blockades may still have more time to run as the US and Iran try to assert control over the strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump’s decision to extend the naval blockade of Iran indefinitely may do nothing to reduce world oil prices – but it could amount to a recognition that further US military escalation in breach of the nominal ceasefire comes with greater risk against a regime disinclined to surrender.

In theory, Trump’s military options are increasing. A third US carrier strike group, the George HW Bush, is due to arrive in the Middle East within days after rounding South Africa. A second taskforce of 2,500 US marines is sailing from the Pacific and is due to arrive by the end of April.

Continue reading...

UK prepared to deploy RAF Typhoons to keep strait of Hormuz open after Iran war

Posted on by

Proposal at heart of offer made during a 30-country two-day meeting jointly organised by France

Britain is prepared to deploy a squadron of RAF Typhoons based in Qatar to patrol over the strait of Hormuz as part of a multinational mission to keep open the strategic waterway once the Iran war comes to an end.

The UK military also offered to deploy mine-hunting drones and specialist divers to help clear the strait mined by Iran – but no decision has been made on whether HMS Dragon or another warship would also be deployed.

Continue reading...

Dozens of Mexican mafia members arrested in California crackdown

Posted on by

Prosecutors say 43 people indicted on charges including murder, kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking

More than two dozen members and associates of the Mexican mafia were arrested during an early morning crackdown in southern California, federal authorities said on Thursday.

The FBI and other federal and local agencies executed search and arrest warrants at locations mostly in Orange county, south of Los Angeles, according to the US attorney’s office.

Continue reading...

Trump claims US has total control over strait of Hormuz after Iran seizes two container ships

Posted on by

US president says Tehran hobbled by infighting as Pentagon reportedly briefs mine clearance may take six months

Donald Trump has again said that the US has “total control over the strait of Hormuz”, adding that Iran’s leadership was so hobbled by infighting that it was unclear who was in charge.

But the US president’s claim seemed questionable in the face of the seizure of two container ships by Iranian commandos and a US report warning it could take six months to clear the strait of mines.

Continue reading...

Democrats say cuts to social security have caused ‘customer service chaos’ for American seniors

Posted on by

Report from Elizabeth Warren calls Trump administration cuts to Social Security Administration ‘catastrophic’

Cuts to the Social Security Administration have caused “customer service chaos” for millions of older Americans and those with disabilities who rely on the agency’s services, according to a new report from a group of Democratic senators.

An investigation found that phone wait times were more than 10 times higher than what the agency claimed on its website, if the calls were even answered at all.

Continue reading...