Category Archives: US News

Carlson fired on Murdoch’s orders, report says – as it happened

Posted on by

As one of the top proponents of Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, Tucker Carlson loomed large over Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox. But messages released before the case’s settlement show Carlson apparently did not think much of Trump, or necessarily believe some of the claims he was putting on air. Here’s the Guardian’s Edward Helmore with a look back at what the Dominion case revealed about Carlson:

Tucker Carlson was once seen as untouchable. Now the most popular TV host on American cable news is at the center of a firestorm threatening to engulf Fox News and also anger Donald Trump, whose conspiracy theory-laden political cause he has long championed and who his audience loves.

Continue reading...

Proud Boys were ready for ‘all-out war’ before January 6, prosecutors argue

Posted on by

The neo-fascist group’s leader and four lieutenants are accused of seditious conspiracy to forcibly stop the transfer of power in 2021

Ready for “all-out war”, leaders of the far-right Proud Boys viewed themselves as foot soldiers for Donald Trump as he clung to power after the 2020 election, a prosecutor said on Monday at the close of a historic trial over the January 6 Capitol attack.

After more than three months of testimony, jurors began hearing closing arguments in the seditious conspiracy case accusing the former Proud Boys national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and four lieutenants of plotting to forcibly stop the transfer of power.

Continue reading...

Tucker Carlson leaves Fox News in surprise announcement

Posted on by

Far-right cable news host leaves with immediate effect with interim presenters replacing him

The far-right host Tucker Carlson has left Fox News, it was abruptly announced on Monday.

“Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the network said in a statement. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”

Continue reading...

Biden expected to announce 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday

Posted on by

Launch would come exactly four years after president announced his 2020 bid, where he warned ‘soul’ of the nation is at stake

Joe Biden is expected to announce his 2024 re-election campaign as early as Tuesday, possibly setting the stage for an extraordinary rematch with Donald Trump.

A Tuesday launch would come exactly four years after Biden announced his 2020 presidential bid, in which he warned that the “soul” of the nation was at stake after four tumultuous years under Trump.

Continue reading...

2023 Goldman environmental prize winners include Texas Gulf coast defender

Posted on by

Diane Wilson took on Formosa Plastics and won a $50m settlement to help clean up decades worth of toxic plastic waste

Grassroots activists who took on British mining giants and a serial plastics polluter – and won – are among this year’s recipients of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize.

The environmental campaigns led by the six 2023 Goldman prize winners highlight the hurdles faced by some local activists, who are often on the frontlines confronting the toxic mix of corporate greed and systemic corruption that is fuelling the climate emergency, biodiversity collapse and increasingly forced displacement.

Continue reading...

Pilot who offered flights to women for medical care fired from seminary job

Posted on by

Greg Williams offered transportation for women seeking out-of-state care after the supreme court’s Dobbs decision last year

About three weeks after the US supreme court last year struck down the federal right to abortion, Greg Williams, a volunteer pilot for a group that provides free flights to people who need to travel for medical care, posted a Facebook message.

“If any women need to make an unexpected trip from the south to, say, Illinois or New Mexico or Virginia for reasons that are none of my business, I can provide safe, private air transport that would get you where you need to go and back the same day at a price that will work for you,” Williams wrote, on 28 June 2022.

Continue reading...

UN human rights experts begin US tour focusing on racial justice and policing

Posted on by

Panel established in response to George Floyd killing will visit Washington DC, Atlanta, LA, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York

A team of United Nations experts has arrived in the US on a tour that will focus on racial justice, law enforcement and policing.

On Monday, the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement, an independent panel appointed by the UN human rights council, began its two-week visit to the US.

Continue reading...

Republicans ‘glorify political violence’ by embracing extreme gun culture

Posted on by

Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two people at an anti-racism protest, was guest of honor at Idaho Republican party fundraiser

Republicans in Idaho have been criticized for “glorifying political violence” after the party hosted Kyle Rittenhouse, the American who shot and killed two people at an anti-racism protest and injured another, as a celebrity guest at a fundraiser.

The 20-year-old was the guest of honor at a Bonneville county Republican party event, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on 15 April, where an AR-15 style rifle signed by Rittenhouse was auctioned off as part of a fundraiser and people could buy tickets to “Trigger time”: a Rittenhouse-hosted shooting event at a gun range.

Continue reading...

Credit Suisse says £55bn left bank in lead-up to rescue by UBS

Posted on by

Results reported for what is likely to be the last time as lender’s takeover by Swiss rival nears completion

Credit Suisse said customers pulled more than 61bn Swiss francs (£55bn) worth of assets from the bank at the start of the year, laying bare the scale of the panic that contributed to its failure and emergency takeover by its rival UBS last month.

The Swiss lender said the “significant withdrawals” were partly to blame for its poor financial performance in the first quarter, with its adjusted pre-tax loss ballooning to 1.3bn Swiss francs for the first three months of the year. That compares with a profit of 300m Swiss francs during the same period in 2022.

Continue reading...

Scientists discover why sea urchins are dying off from US to the Caribbean

Posted on by

A research team has discovered a parasite that’s been killing off sea urchins, but there’s no method to eliminate it yet

Marine biologists at a Florida university say they have solved the mystery of a mass die-off of long-spined sea urchins from the US to the Caribbean.

The scientists blame a microscopic, single-cell parasite for the die-off, which took hold early last year. Affected Diadema antillarum urchins lose their spines and suction, then succumb to disease.

Continue reading...

Defence spending in western and central Europe tops last year of cold war

Posted on by

Stockholm International Peace Institute’s annual report finds UK was region’s biggest spender in 2022 at $68.5bn

Defence spending in western and central Europe has surpassed that of the last year of the cold war, an annual report has found, as military expenditure across the world hit an all-time high of $2.24tn (£1.8tn) last year.

The outbreak of war in Ukraine has triggered the steepest increase in military expenditure in Europe in three decades, according to the Stockholm International Peace Institute (Sipri).

Continue reading...

Florida prosecutor investigates shots at couple lost while delivering groceries

Posted on by

Incident in Broward county was one of a spate involving people lost, at wrong address or getting into wrong car by mistake

A Florida prosecutor on Sunday ordered an investigation into a confrontation in which a homeowner fired shots into a couple’s car after they mistakenly turned on to his property while making a late-night grocery delivery.

Police closed the case without consulting the state attorney.

Continue reading...

Ken Potts, survivor of sinking of USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, dies at 102

Posted on by

Lou Conter, 101, is now final survivor of ship on which 1,177 were killed when Japanese attack brought US into second world war

Ken Potts, one of the last two survivors of the USS Arizona battleship, which sank during the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, has died. He was 102.

Howard Kenton Potts died on Friday at the home in Provo, Utah, that he shared with his wife of 66 years, according to Randy Stratton, whose late father, Donald Stratton, was Potts’s Arizona shipmate and friend.

Continue reading...

NBC Universal chief Jeff Shell out over inappropriate relationship

Posted on by

Media giant parent Comcast says investigation by outside counsel led to departure of executive

The chief executive of NBC Universal, Jeff Shell, left the media giant on Sunday after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, following a complaint that prompted an investigation, parent company Comcast said.

“I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret,” Shell said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Republican Graham loses cool over abortion after supreme court pill ruling

Posted on by

Senator Lindsey Graham deflects questions with false claims that Democrats want a ‘barbaric’ law allowing abortions until birth

Republican frustration with the supreme court decision which on Friday blocked restrictions on a widely used abortion pill spilled into public on Sunday, as the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham lost his cool in a television interview when challenged on his flip-flopping position.

Graham, who last September proposed a national 15-week abortion ban only a month after insisting it was an issue for states to decide, became angry on CNN’s State of the Union, deflecting questions with false claims Democrats wanted a law allowing abortions until birth.

Continue reading...

‘Four-time loser’ Trump might not be nominee for 2024, Republican insists

Posted on by

New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu says ‘we need a candidate that can win’ even as Trump dominates national primary polls

Donald Trump is a “four-time loser” who will not necessarily be the Republican presidential nominee despite dominating primary polling, the New Hampshire governor said on Sunday.

“Donald Trump is positioning himself to be a four-time loser in 2024,” Chris Sununu said. “We need candidates that can win.”

Continue reading...

Bed Bath & Beyond help: home goods retailer files for bankruptcy protection

Posted on by

Company which shot to popularity in the 1990s has seen demand drop off as a strategy to sell more store-branded products flopped

Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday, after failing to secure funds to stay afloat, and began a liquidation sale.

The home goods retailer, which shot to popularity in the 1990s as a go-to for couples making wedding registries and planning babies, has seen demand drop off as a strategy to sell more store-branded products flopped.

Continue reading...

Western and other nations escalate plans to evacuate diplomats from Sudan

Posted on by

Death toll passes 420, including 264 civilians, and more than 3,700 wounded as ceasefires fail to hold

Western and other nations have intensified increasingly desperate efforts to evacuate diplomats and their dependents from Khartoum, as battles raged in the centre of the Sudanese capital and in its twin city of Omdurman.

With a series of ceasefires failing to hold, the death toll has now passed 420, including 264 civilians, and more than 3,700 have been wounded, according to local and international NGOs. However, most analysts believe the true total of fatalities and injuries in more than nine days of fighting is much higher.

Continue reading...

Mike Pence will enter presidential race ‘well before late June’ – if he does at all

Posted on by

Former vice-president, adrift of Trump and DeSantis in polls, makes less-than-bold presidential prediction to CBS

Mike Pence has not decided whether to enter the Republican presidential primary but if he does he will enter “well before late June”.

The former congressman, Indiana governor and vice-president to Donald Trump has been moving towards a run for months, releasing a memoir, visiting early voting states and establishing a political staff.

Continue reading...

‘The dragon’s head started to glow’: Disneyland fire sends crowds running

Posted on by

Spectacular conflagration prompts evacuation of Tom Sawyer Island at California resort but no injuries reported

A 45ft-tall Disneyland dragon caught fire late on Saturday during a show in Anaheim, California, causing those in attendance to flee, local media and officials said. No injuries or deaths were reported.

“The dragon’s head started to glow, and I see fire and kind of smoke coming out,” Elaine Gilmer, who was at the event, told ABC News.

Continue reading...