Category Archives: US News

Trump-Russia: ‘investigation of investigators’ leaves little but questions over bias

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Durham inquiry into origins of FBI’s Trump-Russia scrutiny has sparked allegations of a weaponization of justice department

When the Trump justice department tapped a US attorney to examine the origins of the FBI inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, conservatives and many Republicans hoped it would end the idea Donald Trump’s campaign was boosted by Moscow and back his charges that some FBI officials and others had conspired against him.

But instead, as the multi-year investigation winds down, it is ending with accusations that unethical actions by that special counsel – John Durham – and ex-attorney general William Barr “weaponized” the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to help Trump.

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High costs and discrimination: US study details obstacles for Black students

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Research finds that Black students have lowest completion rates for post-secondary education than any other group

Black students have lower six-year completion rates for any kind of degree or certificate program than students in any other racial or ethnic group, a new study has found.

According to the study by Gallup and Lumina Foundation, which was released on Thursday, Black students must contend with various challenges to completing post-secondary programs including high costs and racial discrimination.

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‘Finch-smuggling kingpin’ sentenced to prison for bird trafficking into US

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Insaf Ali smuggled songbirds in hair curlers from Guyana to New York when JFK airport authorities discovered the ruse

A man who repeatedly admitted scheming to smuggle finches from Guyana into New York for birdsong competitions was sentenced on Thursday to a year and a day in prison.

It was Insaf Ali’s second time being sentenced in a Brooklyn federal court for a crime related to bird trafficking, and he vowed it would be his last.

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Chick-fil-A to test plant-based sandwich next week at three locations

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Fast food chain reportedly experimented with mushrooms and chickpeas before settling on breaded cauliflower

Chick-fil-A is jumping on the plant-based bandwagon.

The Atlanta-based chain said on Thursday that it’s testing its first plant-based entree – a breaded cauliflower sandwich – at restaurants in Denver; Charleston, South Carolina; and the Greensboro, North Carolina, area. The test begins 13 February.

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Woman who poisoned lookalike with cheesecake to steal identity convicted

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Woman found guilty of trying to kill 35-year-old woman with cake laced with powerful sedative and then stealing her passport

A New York City woman accused of feeding poisoned cheesecake to her lookalike in a bid to steal the other woman’s identity has been convicted of attempted murder, prosecutors said Thursday.

Viktoria Nasyrova, 47, was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday of trying to kill 35-year-old Olga Tsvyk with cheesecake laced with a powerful sedative and then stealing her passport and other valuables in August 2016, Queens district attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release.

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Alec Baldwin sued by Halyna Hutchins’ family over fatal Rust set shooting

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Lawsuit, filed by parents and sister of cinematographer, accuses actor and others of battery and negligence

The family of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer killed on the set of Rust, have filed a lawsuit against Alec Baldwin and others involved with the film.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of Hutchins’ parents, Anatolii Androsovych and Olga Solovey, and sister, Svetlana Zemko, accuses Baldwin and others, including the film’s armorer, of battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and loss of consortium.

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Most US Republicans sympathetic to Christian nationalism, survey finds

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Survey also finds that 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers

Two-thirds of white evangelicals and most Republicans are sympathetic to Christian nationalism, a new survey has found.

According to a national survey released on Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute and Brookings Institution, 29% of white evangelical Protestants qualify as Christian nationalism adherents while 35% qualify as sympathizers.

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China using spy balloon drama to drum up nationalistic fervour

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The communist party’s propaganda machine pulled out all the stops to ensure the public opinion was in accordance with party narrative

Amid the diplomatic spat over the high-altitude balloon that flew across North America before being shot down by the US air force, China is taking the opportunity to drum up nationalistic fervour among its citizens – and the tactic appears to be working well.

The balloon incident has burst the facade of a three-month, uneasy peace between China and the US since the summit between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in November.

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News Corp to cut 1,250 jobs after missing second-quarter estimates

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Reduced ad spends due to rising inflation and higher interest rates have battered Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate

Media conglomerate News Corp said on Thursday that it would cut 1,250 jobs after it missed estimates for second-quarter earnings due to weakness in its news and digital real estate businesses.

Rising inflation and higher interest rates are forcing companies to curb their ad and marketing spend, denting one of the major sources of revenue for companies such as News Corp, which has major publishing platforms including the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the US, The Sun and The Times in the UK, and The Australian.

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Thirst for rare bourbon led Oregon liquor officials to ‘abuse’ their position

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Investigation concludes six officials violated state ethics laws by diverting alcohol, including Pappy Van Winkle, for own purchase

Officials with Oregon’s liquor and marijuana regulating agency allegedly “abused their position for personal gain” and violated state ethics laws to obtain rare bottles of top-shelf bourbon worth thousands of dollars.

The state’s governor on Wednesday asked the Oregon liquor and cannabis commission to remove the executive director, Steve Marks, and five other officials after an internal investigation concluded they used their knowledge and connections to obtain the pricey whiskey.

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Biden says he’s Republicans’ ‘nightmare’ over social spending cuts – as it happened

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Francine Prose, the novelist and Guardian US columnist, takes a look today at Republican attacks on reading in schools, particularly in Florida under Ron DeSantis, a leading (notional) contender for the presidential nomination in 2024.

For some time now, conservative groups pressured libraries and classrooms to remove certain “controversial” books from their shelves and their syllabi. These are texts that tell uncomfortable or unpopular truths about our nation’s origins, including inequality, race, history, gender, sexuality, power and class – a range of subjects that a small but vocal group of Americans would prefer to ignore or deny.

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Chinese balloon was ‘clearly’ for spying, says US

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State department source says balloon was carrying equipment capable of intercepting communications

The Chinese balloon that flew over North America for more than a week before being shot down over the Atlantic was carrying equipment capable of intercepting and geolocating communications, the US government has claimed.

A senior state department official said on Thursday that equipment was identified by a U-2 spy plane sent up to scrutinise the balloon.

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US senator John Fetterman hospitalised after feeling ‘lightheaded’

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Democrat who suffered a stroke while campaigning last year is in good spirits, says spokesperson

US senator John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke during his election campaign last year, was hospitalised after feeling lightheaded while attending a Senate Democratic event, his office said.

Fetterman’s communications director, Joe Calvello, said in a statement issued on Wednesday night: “Towards the end of the Senate Democratic retreat today, Senator John Fetterman began feeling lightheaded. He left and called his staff, who picked him up and drove him to the George Washington university hospital.”

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Friendly Ghost: white dog running with coyotes gets help from rescue group

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Animal spotted in the desert of southern Nevada likely to have been abandoned as a puppy, rescuers say

For the last few months, a ghost has roamed the desert of southern Nevada near Las Vegas with a pack of coyotes. The apparent phantom is actually a white dog named Ghost, who observers say the animals accepted as one of their own.

Residents in Henderson spotted the dog running through their neighborhood at night, sometimes with the coyotes as they played together, for at least six months, according to a fundraiser for the animal. But neighbors, who documented his movements on social media, grew concerned about an injury on Ghost’s leg that was causing a severe limp and tried unsuccessfully to catch him.

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Disney announces 7,000 layoffs while teasing Toy Story and Frozen sequels

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Cuts represent an estimated 3.6% of Disney’s global workforce in effort to save $5.5bn in costs and follow major job losses at other top US companies

Disney has announced a sweeping corporate restructuring that will result in 7,000 people losing their jobs as part of an effort to achieve US$5.5bn (£4.5bn, A$7.9bn) in cost savings, at the same time as revealing plans for sequels to Toy Story and Frozen.

The layoffs represent an estimated 3.6% of Disney’s global workforce and come after major job cuts at other US giants including Alphabet, Amazon, Ford and Meta.

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Ex-Twitter exec details ‘homophobic and antisemitic’ abuse over handling of Hunter Biden story

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Yoel Roth testifies before congressional committee that Elon Musk’s release of company’s internal records led to harassment

A former Twitter executive testified on Wednesday that he was forced to leave and sell his home following a campaign of “homophobic and antisemitic” harassment over the company’s handling of a New York Post story about Hunter Biden.

Yoel Roth, the former head of safety at Twitter, made the comments while speaking to a committee in the newly Republican-controlled House of Representatives, at a hearing convened to scrutinize the social network’s handling of a 2020 report on Joe Biden’s son.

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George Santos is a ‘sociopath’, fellow New York Republican congressman says

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Nick LaLota is one of a growing number of people from both parties to call on Santos to quit over made-up résumé and investigations

George Santos is a “sociopath” who thrives on negative attention, another New York Republican congressman said.

“He’s a sociopath,” Nick LaLota told CNN on Wednesday, after Santos’s confrontation with Mitt Romney at Joe Biden’s State of the Union address made headlines the night before.

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Ukraine denounces Roger Waters as ‘another brick in the wall’ of Moscow propaganda

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Kyiv outraged as Pink Floyd star accepts Russian invitation to speak at UN security council and calls for immediate ceasefire

The veteran Pink Floyd rocker, Roger Waters, has addressed the UN security council at Russia’s invitation, and called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. But he was denounced by the Ukrainian ambassador as “just another brick in the wall” of Moscow’s propaganda.

Waters spoke via a video link, dressed in a light brown tweed jacket, appearing on a screen looming over representatives of the 15 nations on the council, convened on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

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Facial recognition bias frustrates Black asylum applicants to US, advocates say

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Migrants from Africa and Haiti reportedly cannot utilize app to accept their photos, which is now required to apply for asylum

The US government’s new mobile app for migrants to apply for asylum at the US-Mexico border is blocking many Black people from being able to file their claims because of facial recognition bias in the tech, immigration advocates say.

Non-profits that assist Black asylum seekers are finding that the app, CBP One, is failing to register many people with darker skin tones, effectively barring them from their right to request entry into the US.

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Iowa teen saves man and dog after vehicle falls into icy lake

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Joe Salmon, 17, was ice fishing when he saw a Jeep driven by Thomas Lee, 83, drop through the ice under a highway bridge

A 17-year-old, three-sport athlete from Iowa has earned acclaim as a hero after jumping into an icy lake to save a man in his 80s and a dog who were trapped in a car that had fallen in the water over the weekend – a dramatic rescue caught on camera by a drone.

The teen, Joe Salmon, was ice fishing with his mother and watching snowmobile races on East Okoboji Lake when he saw a Jeep driven by 83-year-old Thomas Lee drop through the ice under a highway bridge at about 3pm on Saturday, the local sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post.

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