Category Archives: US News

Microsoft co-founder’s collection poised to raise $1bn in ‘largest art auction in history’

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Proceeds from sale of 150 works owned by the late billionaire Paul Allen will go to charity

The vast private art collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is expected to fetch a record-breaking $1bn (£890m) when it is auctioned next week.

The collection of more than 150 masterpieces includes Georges Seurat’s Les Poseuses, Ensemble (petite version) and Paul Cézanne’s landscape La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, which are both expected to sell for more than $100m, and Gustav Klimt’s 1903 work Birch Forest, which has an auctioneer’s estimate of $90m.

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Republicans appear better positioned than ever ahead of midterms

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History shows that the president’s party typically loses seats in midterm, and Democrats seem likely to follow that pattern

With just a few days left before polls close in America’s crucial midterm elections, Republicans appear better positioned than ever to regain control of the House of Representatives and potentially the Senate as well.

History shows that the president’s party typically loses seats in midterm elections, and despite some optimistic signs over the summer, Democrats now seem likely to follow that pattern on 8 November.

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Twitter’s mass layoffs, days before US midterms, could be a misinformation disaster

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Internal chaos at the company – and the decimation of its staff – has created ideal conditions for falsehoods and hateful content

The mass layoffs at Twitter that diminished several teams, including staff on the company’s safety and misinformation teams, could spell disaster during the US midterm elections next week, experts have warned.

The company has laid off around 50% of its workforce, according to news reports; a figure that Musk and others have not disputed, amounting to an estimated 3,700 people.

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US accuses Russia and China of protecting North Korea from UN

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China and Russia, meanwhile, accuse US of inflaming tensions with large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea

The United States has accused Russia and China of providing “blanket protection” to North Korea from further UN Security Council action and said the pair had “bent over backwards” to justify Pyongyang’s ballistic missile launches.

The US, Britain, France, Albania, Ireland and Norway requested that the Security Council meet on Friday after North Korea, formally known as the DPRK, fired multiple missiles, including a possible failed intercontinental ballistic missile.

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Democrat John Fetterman gets boost from Oprah Winfrey in key Senate race – live

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In less than an hour, Twitter employees expect official notification of whether or not they will keep their jobs under Elon Musk’s ownership.

A bloodbath is expected, and Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco has been closed today while the news is delivered and employees digest their fates, or, as Musk may prefer, let the news “sink in”.

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Backlash after 500 drones light up New York City sky to celebrate Candy Crush

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Drones show marked game’s 10th anniversary but some argued it threatened birds and ‘spoiled’ the skyline

Was it a bird, was it a plane, a UFO? No, it was free advertising and sky pollution – but it was also unmissable and, to some, a reminder of the little obsession on their phones that is the game Candy Crush Saga.

On Thursday evening under clear skies, 500 lighted drones were flown in a synchronized show against the Manhattan skyline to mark 10 years of the wildly popular cellphone game.

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US adds 261,000 jobs in October as unemployment rate rises slightly

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Final jobs report before midterms shows unemployment rate at 3.7%, a day after Federal Reserve announced further raise hike

The US economy added 261,000 jobs in October, the labor department announced on Friday in its last snapshot of the health of the employment market before next week’s midterm elections.

The latest report confirmed the remarkable strength of the US jobs market. The unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, still close to a 50-year low. The news comes after the Federal Reserve once again raised interest rates in a bid to slow investment and bring down inflation, a move that economists and the Fed predict will eventually cost jobs.

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Paul Pelosi released from San Francisco hospital after hammer attack

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Husband of House speaker Nancy Pelosi underwent successful surgery for a fractured skull and other injuries after assault

Paul Pelosi, the husband of House speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been released from the San Francisco hospital six days after being attacked by a man wielding a hammer in the couple’s home.

The House speaker said in a statement on Thursday: “Paul remains under doctors’ care as he continues to progress on a long recovery process and convalescence. He is now home.”

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Twitter sued by former staff as Elon Musk begins mass firings | First Thing

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The reduction, to be delivered by email, comes amid speculation the new Twitter CEO will cut as much as 50% of staff. Plus, climate on the ballot of the midterms

Good morning.

Twitter is facing a class action lawsuit from former employees who say they were not given enough notice under US federal law that they had lost their jobs, finding out they had been made redundant when they were locked out of their work accounts on Thursday.

Why is Musk cutting so many staff? Musk’s job cuts come as part of a broader effort to make the company profitable after purchasing it for $44bn, a price he said was “overpaying”. To complete the deal, he put forward a combination of his own funding and loans of approximately $13bn, which he is now under pressure to pay back.

What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 254 of the invasion.

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Beauty queens Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Argentina marry in a secret ceremony

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Fabiola Valentín and Mariana Varela posted a video highlighting their two years together and their courthouse wedding

The former pageant queens Miss Puerto Rico and Miss Argentina have revealed a romantic secret: not only have they been in a relationship, but last weekend they tied the knot.

After two years together, Fabiola Valentín of Puerto Rico and Mariana Varela of Argentina posted an Instagram reel celebrating their romance.

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FBI says it has credible information of ‘broad’ threat to New Jersey synagogues

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Specific details weren’t released but Jersey City mayor said police have been posted at city’s seven synagogues

The FBI said on Thursday it had received credible information about a “broad” threat to synagogues in New Jersey.

The FBI’s Newark office released a statement urging synagogues to “take all security precautions to protect your community and facility”.

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Judge orders independent monitor to oversee Trump’s real estate empire

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Move will restrict his company’s ability to freely make deals, sell assets and change its corporate structure

A Manhattan judge said Thursday that he would appoint an independent monitor to oversee Donald Trump’s real estate empire.

The move will restrict his company’s ability to freely make deals, sell assets and change its corporate structure.

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Chuck Schumer insists Democrats can hold or expand Senate majority – as it happened

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In Pennsylvania, Chris McGreal reports that a major pro-Israel group is facing criticism for backing Republicans who denied the 2020 election, but not a Democratic candidate who would make history if elected:

More than 240 Jewish American voters in Pittsburgh have signed a letter denouncing the US’s largest pro-Israel group for backing extremist Republican election candidates while spending millions of dollars to oppose a Democrat who would be Pennsylvania’s first Black female member of Congress.

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Trump sues New York attorney general, claiming ‘war of intimidation’

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The former president claims civil suit mounted by Letitia James could cause ‘great harm’ to his company and reputation

Donald Trump has sued the attorney general of New York state, Letitia James, over what he claims is a “relentless, pernicious, public, and unapologetic crusade” against him, in the shape of her recent civil lawsuit against the former president and three of his adult children, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric.

Filed on Wednesday in a circuit court in Florida, the lawsuit says James’s suit, which she announced in a dramatic press conference in September, will cause “great harm” to the company, brand and reputation of the thrice-married, oft-sued, twice-impeached and extensively legally imperiled former president.

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Nuclear attack on US or allies would end Kim regime, says defense secretary

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Lloyd Austin makes remark while Kim Jong-un’s government in Pyongyang has in recent days mounted a number of missile tests

The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on Thursday any nuclear attack on the US or its allies by North Korea would “result in the end of the Kim regime”.

Kim Jong-un’s government in Pyongyang has in recent days mounted a number of missile tests. The South Korean military said a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday may have ended in failure. Japan called the launch “outrageous and absolutely intolerable”.

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‘Get ready’: Trump’s third White House run appears a matter of when not if

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Flurry of reports suggests former president will move swiftly after midterms, as soon as 14 November – but who will challenge him?

As the midterm elections loom and Republican hopes of retaking Congress rise, it appears to be a matter of when, not if, Donald Trump will announce his third White House run.

The former president has trailed another campaign ever since his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, a contest Trump refused to concede, pursuing the lie about electoral fraud which fueled the deadly attack on Congress and his second impeachment.

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Mehmet Oz campaigns at venue that bans same-sex weddings

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Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate has said he supports legislation that would enshrine same-sex marriage in federal law

Mehmet Oz, the Republican nominee for the Pennsylvania Senate seat who says he is in favour of same-sex marriage, hosted a campaign event on Wednesday at a venue that bans same-sex marriages.

Oz, who has campaigned on supporting legislation that would enshrine same-sex marriage in federal law, held a campaign event at the Stone Gables Estate, a venue that only holds weddings between a man and a woman, reported the Washington Post.

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US group campaigning against Australia’s reversal of recognition of West Jerusalem as Israeli capital

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StandWithUs places ad in the Weekend Australian and asks readers to email Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong about issue

A US-based pro-Israel group has launched a campaign against the Albanese government’s decision to revoke recognition of West Jerusalem as the capital – and now plans to expand its operations in Australia.

But the campaign has sparked accusations that the Los Angeles-based organisation was “trying to trick the Australian government into thinking that the only way to be pro-Israel was to follow the Trump playbook”.

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Biden addresses nation on threats to democracy ahead of midterms – live

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The president speaks against election deniers running for office, saying they are leading a path to ‘chaos in America’

Donald Trump’s lawyers tailored their petition specifically to supreme court justice Clarence Thomas for reasons both practical and symbolic, Politico reports.

Thomas is well known for his conservative jurisprudence, but Politico notes he is also the justice responsible for handling emergency filings out of Georgia – which means he would get the Trump legal team’s petition about its election conduct, Politico says.

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Parkland school shooter sentenced to life without parole

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Nikolas Cruz gets 17 life terms for the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school that left 17 dead

Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz formally received a sentence of life without parole on Wednesday after families of his 17 slain victims spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman.

Cruz, shackled and in a red jail jumpsuit, watched intently as Judge Elizabeth Scherer sentenced him to 17 life terms for the 14 February 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in suburban Fort Lauderdale and an additional 17 for the attempted murders of those he wounded.

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