Category Archives: US News

‘The president is unhinged’: Trump’s online behavior grows increasingly odd

Posted on by

The US president’s recent behavior is strange to many, from reposting a false AI video of himself to confusing comments during press conferences

To many observers, both in the US and abroad, Donald Trump has been behaving strangely recently. Especially online.

As a government shutdown loomed in the US last week, the president posted an AI video which depicted Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black House minority leader, wearing a sombrero and exaggerated moustache, with mariachi music playing in the background.

Continue reading...

Trump authorizes national guard deployment to Chicago, White House says, as border patrol there shoots woman

Posted on by

Illinois governor JB Pritzker says administration is escalating ‘aggression against Illinois citizens and residents’

Donald Trump has moved to deploy the national guard in another city by authorizing 300 troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago, where the government said border patrol agents shot and injured a woman while firing at someone who tried to run them over.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson confirmed that the president had authorized using Illinois national guard members, citing what she called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders have not quelled.

Continue reading...

Judge blocks Trump administration from deploying national guard to Portland

Posted on by

US district judge agrees with Oregon assertion that deployment would likely inflame rather than calm protests in city

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from deploying the national guard to Portland, Oregon, according to court documents.

Donald Trump had announced on 27 September that he would deploy troops to Portland, “authorizing Full Force, if necessary”, ignoring pleas from local officials and the state’s congressional delegation, who suggested that the president was misinformed or lying about the nature and scale of a single, small protest outside one federal immigration enforcement office.

Continue reading...

US treasury considers special $1 Trump coin reading ‘fight, fight, fight’

Posted on by

US treasurer says officials looking at drafts for country’s 250th anniversary featuring president with raised fist

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US’s independence, the treasury department is mulling production of a $1 coin displaying Donald Trump with a clenched first under an American flag and the words “fight, fight, fight”.

The words overtly reference what Trump said immediately after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt four months before he won a second presidency.

Continue reading...

Kristi Noem warns immigrants away from Super Bowl: ‘We’ll be all over that place’

Posted on by

Homeland security chief also excoriates NFL for selecting Bad Bunny to perform during game’s half-time break

Kristi Noem, Donald Trump’s homeland security secretary, has said that only Americans should attend next year’s Super Bowl and warned that Ice agents “will be all over” the event.

Speaking to the rightwing podcaster Benny Johnson on Friday, Noem also said the NFL will “not be able to sleep at night” over its decision to choose Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican rapper who has criticized the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies, as its half-time performer.

Continue reading...

Costco to sell weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy at half-price

Posted on by

The move comes as GLP-1 drug prices have soared as supply continues to be increasingly limited

Costco has struck an agreement with drugmaker Novo Nordisk to make anti-obesity GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy available to its members at roughly half the usual cost.

Through the store’s prescription program, members with a valid prescription can buy a four-week supply of the injectables for $499. The offer is available only to those paying out of pocket, since many insurers still do not cover these medications.

Continue reading...

Two children killed and two critically injured in shooting near Houston

Posted on by

A 13-year-old and a four-year-old died in shooting as police say all parties involved have been detained

Two children were killed and two more were critically injured in a shooting early on Saturday near the Houston suburb of Angleton, Texas, authorities said.

The Brazoria county sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post that deputies responded to reports of the shooting and found two children, ages 13 and four, fatally shot. Two other children, aged eight and nine, were flown by medical helicopter to a hospital and were in critical condition.

Continue reading...

White House official inadvertently reveals plans to send elite army unit to Portland

Posted on by

Anthony Salisbury displayed chat about deployment of 82nd airborne division on cell phone while in Minnesota

A senior White House official accidentally leaked details of plans to send an elite army unit to Portland, in the latest intelligence leak by the Trump administration.

Anthony Salisbury, a top deputy to Stephen Miller, the influential White House policy adviser, was observed using Signal in a public place to discuss a plan to deploy the army’s 82nd airborne division to Portland, the Democratic-run Oregon city which Donald Trump has repeatedly castigated as being “war-ravaged”.

Continue reading...

US supreme court allows Trump to strip temporary status from Venezuelans

Posted on by

Justices’ order puts on hold lower-court ruing that found officials had wrongly ended temporary protected status

The US supreme court on Friday allowed Donald Trump’s administration to strip legal protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants.

The justices issued an emergency order, which will last as long as the court case continues, putting on hold a lower-court ruling by US district judge Edward Chen in San Francisco that found the president’s administration had wrongly ended temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans. The three liberal justices dissented.

Continue reading...

Arkansas man seeks to have visa status restored after being arrested for ‘Opium’ perfume bottle

Posted on by

Police thought bottle contained drugs and arrested Kapil Raghu, who was then taken into custody by Ice

An Arkansas man, who was detained for a month by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) after authorities mistook his bottle of perfume for opium, is seeking to have his visa status restored after the charges were dropped.

Kapil Raghu, an Indian national married to an American woman and working towards American citizenship, was detained on 3 May after police officers in Benton, a suburb of Little Rock, pulled him over for having a non-moving traffic violation, according to his attorney, Mike Laux.

Continue reading...

Hegseth says four killed in US strike on alleged drug boat off Venezuelan coast

Posted on by

Pentagon chief says strike – fourth by US military in recent weeks – targeted boat with ‘substantial amounts’ of drugs

The United States carried out a strike against an alleged drug-trafficking boat on Friday that killed four people, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said, a day after the Trump administration told Congress it was entering a new “non-international armed conflict” with cartels.

The strike, which Hegseth said he directed on Donald Trump’s orders, appears to be at least the fourth in recent weeks. Hegseth gave few details about the boat or the evidence that it was carrying narcotics, other than saying the US had confirmed it was carrying drugs.

Continue reading...

Journalist Mario Guevara deported to El Salvador after 100 days in Ice custody

Posted on by

Removal comes after Emmy-winning Salvadorian reporter was arrested while covering ‘No Kings Day’ protest

Journalist Mario Guevara’s imprisonment by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) ended with deportation to El Salvador on Friday, his family announced on social media.

Guevara has been a media mainstay in the Atlanta area for about 20 years, after fleeing El Salvador to escape leftwing militias in 2004. Though he has a work permit and two of his children are American citizens, he has operated under the “administrative closure” of deportation orders for much of that time.

Continue reading...

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sentencing: what to know

Posted on by

Rapper to be sentenced on two counts that each carry maximum 10-year term – what might the judge decide?

Sean “Diddy” Combs is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday morning by a federal judge in New York, following his conviction earlier this year on federal prostitution-related charges.

Here’s a recap of his criminal case: what he was indicted for, what happened at trial, and what might happen next.

Continue reading...

Large fire breaks out at el Segundo refinery in Los Angeles

Posted on by

Emergency services attending scenes after receiving multiple reports of an explosion, according to US media

A fire broke out at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery, California governor Gavin Newsom’s press office said, with a county official adding that the flames had been confined to one area.

The cause of the blaze was not clear, the Los Angeles Times reported, while CBS said firefighters were called to the refinery in Los Angeles county after reports of an explosion.

Continue reading...

US archivist ousted after refusing to let Trump give Eisenhower’s sword to King Charles – reports

Posted on by

The Trump administration ultimately gave the King a replica sword on the president’s recent state visit

The Eisenhower Presidential Library’s director has exited his position after advocating against giving a sword from the collection to King Charles as a gift during Donald Trump’s recent state visit, according to US media reports on Thursday.

Todd Arrington left his post on Monday after being told to “resign or be fired”, he told CBS News, which did not specify who had relayed the message to the historian.

Continue reading...

Anti-abortion groups furious as FDA approves generic abortion pill

Posted on by

Abortion rights supporters hail win for evidence-backed medicine as Evita Solutions’ generic version of mifepristone given approval

In a move that has left anti-abortion advocates reeling, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly approved a request to manufacture a new abortion pill earlier this week.

Thanks to the approval, a company called Evita Solutions will be able to manufacture its generic version of mifepristone, one of two drugs typically used in most US medication abortions. A generic version of mifepristone, which was first approved as a brand-name drug in 2000, is already available on the market.

Continue reading...

Treasure hunters discover $1m in silver and gold coins off Florida coast

Posted on by

Valuables were being transported in 1715 from American colonies when a hurricane wrecked a Spanish fleet

Hidden beneath the turquoise waters off a stretch of Florida known as the “treasure coast”, a team of divers from a shipwreck salvage company have uncovered exactly that – a load of long-lost Spanish treasure they estimate is worth $1m.

More than 1,000 silver and gold coins thought to be minted in the Spanish colonies where Bolivia, Mexico and Peru now sit were uncovered this summer off Florida’s Atlantic coast, 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels LLC announced this week.

Continue reading...

Government shutdown could cost US economy billions of dollars a week, analysts says

Posted on by

According to one report, each week of shutdown could cost up to $7bn, with another suggesting a $15bn loss in GDP

Senior officials inside Donald Trump’s administration have acknowledged the federal government shutdown, without an end in sight, could hurt the US economy. The damage could be worth billions of dollars each week, according to analysts.

“This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP,” Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, told the CNBC financial news network. “We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth and a hit to working America.”

Continue reading...

‘Cancel Netflix’: Elon Musk leads rightwing backlash over trans character in canceled series

Posted on by

Resurfaced clip from Dead End: Paranormal Park led Musk to encourage his followers to cancel their subscriptions

Elon Musk, the multibillionaire and self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”, has in recent days trained his attention on getting people to cancel their Netflix subscriptions in protest of what he claims is the company’s “woke bias” and inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters.

Musk, the richest person in the world with a net worth of approximately $500bn, has repeatedly encouraged his 227 million followers on X, the platform he controls, to cancel their Netflix subscriptions. In the past three days alone, he has posted or reposted calls to cancel Netflix for its content at least 26 times.

Continue reading...