Category Archives: US News

Nashville council votes to reinstate expelled Democrat Justin Jones

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Republican majority had ousted Jones and fellow house member Justin Pearson over protests they led demanding gun control

The city of Nashville’s governing council on Monday afternoon voted unanimously to return expelled Black lawmaker Justin Jones to the Tennessee state legislature.

The body’s Republican majority state lawmakers had expelled Jones and fellow house member Justin Pearson late last week because they led protests in the chamber demanding gun control after yet another mass shooting in an American school, this one at an elementary school in the city days before.

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Senate Democrats urge supreme court investigation of Clarence Thomas

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Chief justice John Roberts pressed to open inquiry into conduct deemed inconsistent with ethical standards

The US Senate judiciary committee’s Democratic members on Monday unanimously urged the supreme court chief justice, John Roberts, to investigate luxury trips taken by associate justice Clarence Thomas that were paid for by a hugely wealthy Republican party donor.

The senators deemed the justice’s conduct inconsistent with ethical standards for “any person in a position of public trust”, they said.

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Senate calls on supreme court chief justice to investigate Clarence Thomas’s ‘gift’ trips – as it happened

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Judiciary committee will review supreme court justice’s undeclared luxury travel with Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow

Donald Trump is trying to prevent his former vice-president, Mike Pence, from testifying to the grand jury investigating the January 6 insurrection, NBC News reports:

Earlier this month, Pence decided to drop his legal challenge to the subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating the insurrection at the Capitol in addition to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the classified documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago.

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US appeals Texas judge’s ruling to suspend abortion pill approval

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Justice department calls decision ‘especially unwarranted’ because it undermines the FDA’s scientific judgment

The US government on Monday appealed a Texas judge’s decision to suspend the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of a key abortion drug, saying the ruling endangered women’s health by blocking access to a pill long deemed safe.

In a filing with the 5th US circuit court of appeals, the Department of Justice (DoJ) called judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision on the drug mifepristone “especially unwarranted” because it would undermine the FDA’s scientific judgment and harm women for whom the drug is medically necessary.

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Latest leak highlights how many have access to US top secret material

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Classified documents revealing Ukraine military troubles and US intel gathering against allies were probably spread through gaming servers

The evidence emerging on the leak of classified US defence documents suggests that it was probably not some dastardly hacking or disinformation plot by Russia or the US, but rather another example of how carelessly Washington handles its secrets.

The least likely version of reality is the one being circulated among Kremlin supporters, that it was a clever piece of CIA distraction ultimately aimed at demoralising Russians by showing how many lives they had lost, and how badly their war was going in Ukraine.

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Macron sparks anger by saying Europe should not be ‘vassal’ in US-China clash

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Alarm on both sides of Atlantic as French president warns against being drawn into any Taiwan conflict

Emmanuel Macron has flown into a storm of criticism after he said Europe should not become a “vassal” and must avoid being drawn into any conflict between the US and China over Taiwan.

The French president made the remarks in an interview on his plane after a three-day state visit to China, where he received a red carpet welcome by China’s president, Xi Jinping – a show of pageantry that alarmed some European China watchers.

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Trump ‘dug himself a hole’ on classified documents and role in January 6 – Barr

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Ex-attorney general says former president has ‘penchant for engaging in reckless behavior’ and why he’s facing indictments

Donald Trump “has a penchant for engaging in reckless and self-destructive behavior” and is facing a serious threat of a federal indictment over his handling of classified documents and his supporters’ deadly January 6 attack on the US capitol, his former attorney general William Barr said on Sunday.

“He’s dug himself a hole on the documents and also on the January 6 stuff,” Barr said of the former president during an interview on ABC’s This Week. “That was reckless behavior that was destined to end up being investigated. So it doesn’t surprise me that he has all these legal problems.”

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Trump lawyer says he aims to get hush money case dismissed before trial

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Jim Trusty, on ABC’s This Week, said the ex-president’s team will file ‘robust motions’ before the case even reaches its trial stage

While Donald Trump launches verbal attacks against the prosecutor and judge overseeing his criminal charges in connection with hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, an attorney for the former US president has said his main focus is on legal maneuvers aiming to get the case dismissed long before a trial jury is ever seated.

Jim Trusty appeared on Sunday on ABC’s This Week and argued that “there’s a lot to play with” when examining whether New York state prosecutors waited too long to secure an indictment against Trump and if the ex-president intended to commit any crimes with the payments at the center of the case.

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Fox News settles lawsuit with Venezuelan over election vote-rigging claims

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Majed Khalil took Murdoch broadcaster to court after presenter Lou Dobbs accused him of ‘orchestrating a non-existent scheme to fix the election’

Fox News has announced a settlement with a Venezuelan businessman, Majed Khalil, ending a defamation case in which Khalil said he was falsely accused on air of helping to rig the 2020 US presidential election against Donald Trump.

It comes with jury selection set to begin on Thursday ahead of a separate trial in Dominion Voting Systems Corp’s $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp, over their coverage of debunked election-rigging claims.

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Ukraine’s air defences could soon run out of missiles, apparent Pentagon leak suggests

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Documents dating from February suggest looming risk to Ukraine’s ability to protect troops and vital sites from Russian airpower

Ukraine’s air defences risk running out of missiles and ammunition within weeks, an apparent leak of Pentagon documents dating from February suggests, as US defence officials raced to trace how the files became public.

One of the documents, dated 23 February and marked “Secret”, outlines in detail how Ukraine’s Soviet-era S-300 air defence systems would be depleted by 2 May at the current usage rate. It is unclear if the usage rate has since changed.

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US woman, 78, charged with bank robbery for third time

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Prosecutors say the woman was later stopped in a car with cash scattered on its floor and was ‘very stern’ with police

A 78-year-old woman with two past bank robbery convictions faces new charges after allegedly carrying out a heist in Missouri during which she handed a teller a note that said “I didn’t mean to scare you”.

Bonnie Gooch has been jailed on a $25,000 bond after she was charged with one count of stealing or attempting to steal from a financial institution in the holdup last Wednesday in Pleasant Hill, the Kansas City Star reported.

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Hawaii shark attack: surfer in Honolulu in serious condition

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A 58-year-old received life-saving treatment after being bitten on the leg by a shark, said authorities

A surfer is in serious condition after being bitten on the leg by a shark off Honolulu, authorities in Hawaii have said.

The 58-year-old man was attacked shortly before 7am on Sunday near Kewalo Basin, according to Honolulu Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Local reports suggested an 8-foot tiger shark was seen in the area.

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Puppy flung from pickup in high-speed Los Angeles police chase survives

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Eight-week-old beige pup with one blue and one brown eye tossed out of moving vehicle in designer bag ‘miraculously’ OK

A puppy that was thrown out of a moving pickup truck in Los Angeles during a high-speed police chase “miraculously” survived, according to authorities.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Los Angeles police department announced that on 7 April, at about 12.10pm in a south-east part of the city, officers started a car chase in pursuit of a suspect who was wanted in connection to an attempted murder and carjacking which occurred on 26 March.

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Profits at Apple’s subsidiary in Ireland rise to $69bn

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Main non-US division pays $7.7bn in corporation tax but $20.7bn in dividends to California parent

Apple’s main Irish subsidiary paid €7.7bn (£6.8bn ) in corporation tax last year, but paid out nearly triple that amount in dividends to its California parent company, after reporting more than $69bn (£56bn) in profits.

The latest financial filings for the subsidiary, which is facing legal challenges over its tax arrangements in Ireland, show the Irish division made the equivalent of nearly $190m a day over the year to September.

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China sends dozens of warplanes towards Taiwan as US urges restraint amid military drills

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Show of force comes after Taiwanese president Tsai met US House speaker McCarthy this week, despite Beijing warning against it

China sent dozens of warplanes towards Taiwan for a second day of military drills on Sunday, launching simulated attacks in retaliation to the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, meeting the US House Speaker during a brief visit to the US.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said it was monitoring the movements of China’s missile forces, as the US said it too was on alert.

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San Jose police union director fired over attempted opioid import charges

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Joanne Segovia, 64, dismissed following internal investigation into charges filed against her

The director of the San Jose police union who was charged with attempting to import synthetic opioids has been fired from the organization.

On Friday, the San Jose Police Officers’ Association fired Joanne Segovia after it completed the first phase of the internal investigation that it launched into the charges filed against her.

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US army sergeant found guilty of murdering BLM protester in Austin

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Texas governor moves to pardon Daniel Perry, who was convicted of shooting Garrett Foster during rally in 2020

A US army sergeant and ride-share service driver has been found guilty of the murder of a protester during a Black Lives Matter rally in 2020 in Austin, Texas.

After an eight-day trial and two days of verdict deliberations, a jury in Travis county, Texas, found 33-year-old Daniel Perry guilty of murdering air force veteran Garrett Foster, 28. Perry is white, as was Foster.

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‘What next?’ Schumer lambasts Texas judge’s abortion pills ruling

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Democrats including Senate majority leader warn of ‘dangerous new precedent’ set by ruling and vow to fight it

Democratic lawmakers are doubling down on outrage against Friday’s ruling that threatens access to a widely used abortion medication, saying the ruling sets a “dangerous new precedent” that could harm future medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

“Make no mistake, the decision could throw our country into chaos,” said the Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on a call with reporters on Saturday. “Republicans have completely eviscerated the FDA as we know it and threatened the ability of any drug on the market to avoid being prohibited.

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Justice Clarence Thomas’s megadonor friend collects Hitler memorabilia – report

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Harlan Crow, closely linked to judge, has a signed copy of Mein Kampf and dictator’s paintings

The Republican megadonor whose gifts to the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas have come under the spotlight has a private collection including a garden of statues of dictators, including Mussolini and Stalin; Nazi memorabilia; and paintings including two works by Adolf Hitler, the Washingtonian reported.

“I still can’t get over the collection of Nazi memorabilia,” the Washingtonian quoted an anonymous source as saying, regarding a visit to Harlan Crow’s Texas home. “It would have been helpful to have someone explain the significance of all the items. Without that context, you sort of just gasp when you walk into the room.”

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New Mexico police kill homeowner after showing up at wrong address

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Farmington officers on paid administrative leave after shooting Robert Dotson while responding to call from across the street

Officers with the Farmington police department of north-western New Mexico shot and killed a homeowner when they showed up at the wrong address in response to a domestic violence call this week, according to state authorities.

The shooting happened about 11.30pm Wednesday. New Mexico state police released more details late on Thursday, and Farmington police confirmed on Friday that the three officers involved were on paid administrative leave pending a review of the case.

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