Category Archives: US News

What can Democrats push through Congress in the lame-duck session?

Posted on by

Legislation on the debt ceiling, civil liberties and elections is still possible before Republican House majority kicks in

As a new era of divided government looms in the US, Democrats are rushing to complete a lengthy legislative to-do list that includes landmark civil liberties legislation, a routine but critical spending package and a bill to prevent another January 6.

There are only a handful of working days left before the balance of power in Congress shifts and Democrats’ unified control of government in Washington ends. In January, Republicans will claim the gavel in the House, giving them veto power over much of Joe Biden’s agenda.

Continue reading...

US bans new Huawei equipment sales over ‘unacceptable risk’ to national security

Posted on by

Bar on telecommunications products from firms including ZTE, Dahua and Hikvision are part of latest crackdown on Chinese tech giants amid spying fears

The Biden administration has banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE because they pose “an unacceptable risk” to US national security.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Friday it had adopted the final rules, which also bar the sale or import of equipment made by Chinese surveillance equipment maker Dahua Technology, video surveillance firm Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and telecoms firm Hytera Communications Corp.

Continue reading...

Elon Musk says he will back Trump rival Ron DeSantis in 2024 if he runs for president

Posted on by

Billionaire says he prefers ‘someone sensible and centrist’ but that he had been disappointed by the Democrats so far

Elon Musk has said he would support Donald Trump’s arch rival, Ron DeSantis, in 2024 if the Florida governor were to run for president.

“Yes”, Musk said in a tweet when asked if he would support DeSantis in 2024, after suggesting he had not found his ideal candidate among Democrats.

Continue reading...

Cruise passenger who fell overboard rescued in ‘Thanksgiving miracle’

Posted on by

US coast guard located man about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, after he fell overboard the Carnival Valor ship

In what some officials were hailing as a “Thanksgiving miracle” a passenger was rescued from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday evening after falling overboard from a cruise ship, the US coast guard (USCG) announced.

At 8.25pm on Thursday, the coast guard located a 28-year-old man in the sea about 20 miles south of Southwest Pass, Louisiana, after he apparently fell overboard the New Orleans-to-Mexico Carnival Valor cruise ship on Wednesday evening.

Continue reading...

Trump reportedly dines with white nationalist at Mar-a-Lago

Posted on by

Ex-president ‘dined and conversed’ with Nick Fuentes and Kanye West a week after announcing his 2024 campaign

Donald Trump reportedly “dined and conversed” with infamous white nationalist Nick Fuentes at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach on Tuesday.

Trump’s encounter with the openly racist Fuentes – who was in the company of disgraced rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye – came one week after the former US president declared his 2024 campaign.

Continue reading...

Walmart shooter purchased handgun legally the same day, authorities say

Posted on by

Gunman bought firearm at a local store, police say, and took it to the Virginia branch where had worked since 2010

The gunman who killed six people on Tuesday at a Walmart store in Chesapeake, Virginia, purchased the handgun legally the same day, authorities said.

The 31-year-old suspect bought the 9mm handgun at a local store, according to police. He took it to the Walmart branch where he had worked since 2010 shortly before the store was due to close. Investigators have said he was carrying several magazines of ammunition, and killed himself with the weapon before authorities arrived.

Continue reading...

Kanye West announces 2024 presidential bid amid far-right ties

Posted on by

Declaration comes amid Adidas investigation and fashion brands dropping the rapper over antisemitic comments

The disgraced rapper and designer formerly known as Kanye West has said he plans to run for president in 2024, amid a series of antisemitic tirades and new far-right associations.

The declaration of his candidacy, which referenced several political figures and aides associated with US white supremacist and anti-democracy movements, would make him the second person to enter the race after Donald Trump.

Continue reading...

Six million Americans carried guns daily in 2019, twice as many as in 2015

Posted on by

The trend is expected to continue, after the supreme court ruling earlier this year overturning strict limits on public gun-carrying

An estimated 6 million American adults carried a loaded handgun with them daily in 2019, double the number who said they carried a gun every day in 2015, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The new estimates highlight a decades-long shift in American gun ownership, with increasing percentages of gun owners saying they own firearms for self-defense, not hunting or recreation, and choosing to carry a gun with them when they go out in public, said ​​Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington, and the study’s lead author.

Continue reading...

Alarming manatee death toll in Florida prompts calls for endangered status

Posted on by

Mammals were downgraded from endangered to threatened in 2017, even as pollution and habitat loss drive starvation

The deaths of almost 2,000 manatees in Florida’s coastal and inland waterways over the last two years has provoked an alliance of environmental groups to demand an urgent reclassification of the species to officially endangered.

The advocates, led by the non-profit Center for Biological Diversity, insist the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) made a critical error in 2017 by prematurely downgrading the status of the giant aquatic mammals from endangered to merely threatened.

Continue reading...

The Mousetrap: Agatha Christie’s West End hit to make Broadway debut after 70 years

Posted on by

Whodunnit running in the West End since 1952, interrupted only by Covid, will open in New York in 2023

The world’s longest-running play, The Mousetrap, is to finally make its Broadway debut. The announcement was made on Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of the London production of Agatha Christie’s whodunnit.

The only surviving piece of the original set from 1952, a mantelpiece clock, will be lent from London for the run in New York when it opens in 2023. The play will be co-produced by The Mousetrap’s UK producer, Adam Spiegel, and US producer Kevin McCollum, whose credits include Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights and the Broadway outings of the British am-dram spoof The Play That Goes Wrong and the musical Six.

Continue reading...

Crime coverage on Fox News halved once US midterms were over

Posted on by

Just a week after elections, number of weekly segments focused on crime slashed in half on Rupert Murdoch’s flagship network

In the weeks leading up to the US midterm elections, the message from Fox News was clear: violent crime is surging, cities are dangerous hellscapes and Democrats are responsible.

With the vote over, however, the rightwing news channel appeared to decide things weren’t that bad after all, and decreased its coverage of violent crime by 50% compared with the pre-election average.

Continue reading...

Amazon warehouse workers stage Black Friday strikes and protests around world

Posted on by

On one of firm’s biggest shopping days of year, employees demand better wages and conditions

Amazon warehouse workers in the UK and 40 other countries are to strike and stage protests timed to coincide with the Black Friday sales, one of the company’s biggest shopping days of the year.

Employees in dozens of countries, from Japan and Australia to India, the US and across Europe, are demanding better wages and conditions in a campaign called “Make Amazon Pay”.

Continue reading...

Colorado Springs shooting shows LGBTQ+ people facing ‘different kind of hate’

Posted on by

Co-owner of Club Q, where five people were killed, says targeting of drag event is linked to hate fostered by lies about the community

The co-owner of the Colorado Springs gay nightclub that was the scene of a mass shooting believes the attack is a reflection of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment that has evolved from prejudice to incitement.

Authorities haven’t said why the suspect allegedly opened fired at the club on Saturday, killing five people and wounding 17 others. The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, has not entered a plea or spoken about the incident but is facing possible hate crime charges.

Continue reading...

‘He has razzle dazzle’: Winston the French bulldog wins National Dog Show

Posted on by

The ‘perfect ball of marzipan’ has become the highest-ranked all-breed dog in the country with 78th win

A French bulldog with “personality and beauty”, owing to his “razzle-dazzle”, is the winner of the National Dog Show, which aired on Thursday following the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

Winston, who was aptly described by a cheerleader on social media as a “perfect ball of marzipan”, is now the highest-ranked all-breed dog in the country, with this latest win delivering him his 78th best in show title.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden renews call for assault weapons ban after latest mass shootings

Posted on by

President says he will seek to pass gun control before new Congress is seated in January, but odds of success are low

Joe Biden reiterated his calls on Thursday to ban assault weapons after mass shootings at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs on Saturday and a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, on Tuesday left 11 people dead.

While visiting a firehouse on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, to thank first responders on Thanksgiving, Biden told reporters he would attempt to pass some form of gun control before a new Congress is seated in January, possibly renewing his attempt to ban assault weapons.

Continue reading...

Two Colorado sheriff’s deputies indicted after roadside death of Christian Glass

Posted on by

Law enforcement killed Glass, 22, after he called 911 amid what his mother called a mental health crisis

A grand jury has indicted two Colorado sheriff’s deputies in the death of a 22-year-old man who was shot after calling 911 for roadside assistance while experiencing what his mother described as a mental health crisis, according to online court records.

The indictments of the former Clear Creek county sheriff’s deputies Andrew Buen and Kyle Gould were returned on Wednesday, five months after law enforcement killed Christian Glass. The case has become a flashpoint amid a national outcry for police reforms focused on crisis intervention and de-escalation.

Continue reading...

San Francisco police propose using robots capable of ‘deadly force’

Posted on by

City’s board of supervisors to consider proposal involving remote-controlled devices

The San Francisco police department has proposed that it be allowed to use robots with “deadly force” while responding to incidents, according to a policy draft.

The document outlines how the department proposes to use its collection of robots, which number 17 in total although 12 are not operational.

Continue reading...

Family of Katie Meyer sues Stanford over soccer star’s death

Posted on by

Suit alleges university caused ‘acute stress reaction’ that led to goalie’s suicide

The family of Katie Meyer, a star soccer goalie for Stanford University who died by suicide in March, has sued the university for wrongful death.

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday and reviewed by CNN, alleges that the university administrators’ actions caused her to “suffer an acute stress reaction that impulsively led to her suicide”.

Continue reading...

Lauren Boebert accused of hypocrisy over prayers for LGBTQ+ club shooting

Posted on by

Far-right Republican congresswoman has record of anti-LGBTQ+ statements that advocates call ‘dangerous’

LGBTQ+ advocates in the US have criticized the far-right Colorado Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert as a hypocrite in light of her past anti-LGBTQ+ statements after she offered prayers to the victims of the recent Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs.

The shooting at the LGBTQ+ club that left five dead took place on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. ACLU-Colorado’s senior policy strategist and trans activist Anaya Robinson called Boebert’s condolences “disingenuous”, and blamed incendiary comments about the community for such tragedies.

Continue reading...

Mary Peltola, first Alaska Native in Congress, wins bid to retain seat

Posted on by

Peltola made history to become the first woman to represent the state when she won a special election in August

Mary Peltola, a Democrat and the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, has won her bid to retain the state’s sole seat in the House of Representatives.

Peltola made history when she won a special election this summer to replace the Republican Don Young after his death. She is also the first woman to represent Alaska in Congress since it became a state in 1959.

Continue reading...