Category Archives: US News

Open letter to top publisher condemns $2m Amy Coney Barrett book deal

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More than 250 literary figures rail against acquisition by Penguin Random House of book by conservative US supreme court justice

Nearly 250 figures from the US literary world have signed an open letter protesting the acquisition by Penguin Random House of a book by the conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett.

The hardline Catholic conservative was Donald Trump’s third appointee, her nomination rushed through by Senate Republicans after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a liberal lion, shortly before the 2020 election.

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Kroger-Albertsons merger could cause more US food deserts, experts say

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Agreement between two of the largest supermarket chains in the US could also make prices increase

The proposed $24.6bn merger of Kroger and Albertsons could have dramatic consequences for customers, including higher prices for groceries and more food deserts, experts say.

The agreement between two of the largest supermarket chains in the US – which own brands such as Ralphs, Mariano’s, Fred Meyer, Safeway and Vons – would give the combined company control of nearly one-fifth of the US grocery market, with about 5,000 stores across 48 states. If the deal is approved by regulators, it is expected to close in 2024.

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Kanye West escorted out of Skechers office after showing up unannounced

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Executives removed the rapper from the Los Angeles building and said the footwear brand has ‘no intention of working with West’

Executives at Skechers escorted Kanye West out of the company’s corporate offices in Los Angeles, after the rapper and fashion designer showed up “unannounced and without invitation” on Wednesday.

In a statement released after the incident, the footwear brand said it “has no intention of working with West” and that the artist, now known as Ye, was engaged in “unauthorized filming”.

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Meta shares plummet alongside billion-dollar losses in metaverse division

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Latest in a series of difficult quarterly earnings reports forced Mark Zuckerberg to defend his virtual reality project

Shares of Meta plummeted on Wednesday after the company announced mixed results in its third-quarter earnings report, alongside billion-dollar losses in the division devoted to its ambitious “metaverse” project.

The Facebook parent company beat analyst predictions for revenue but offered a weak forecast for the upcoming quarter. It posted $27.7bn in revenue for the third quarter, higher than the $27.4bn predicted but 4% less than the same period last year. Its earnings a share, which accounts for expenses, was $1.64 – lower than the $1.89 predicted.

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Second woman says Herschel Walker pressured her to have abortion

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Lawyer Gloria Allred introduces woman as Jane Doe who alleges anti-abortion candidate drove her to a clinic in the 1990s

Another woman has claimed that Herschel Walker pressured her into having an abortion and drove her to a clinic to obtain one.

On Wednesday, lawyer Gloria Allred – who has represented numerous alleged victims of sexual misconduct and assault – introduced to reporters a woman who alleges Walker, the anti-abortion Republican candidate for Senate in Georgia, took her to an abortion clinic to have an abortion in the 1990s.

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Elon Musk makes splashy visit to Twitter headquarters carrying sink

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Tesla CEO changes his profile to ‘Chief Twit’ as Friday deadline to finalize his takeover deal nears

Elon Musk paid a visit to Twitter’s headquarters ahead of an end-of-week deadline to close his deal to buy the company, posting a video of himself in the company’s San Francisco lobby carrying a sink.

“Entering Twitter HQ - let that sink in!” he tweeted on Wednesday.

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Fetterman’s performance in high-stakes Pennsylvania debate splits Democrats – live

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Joe Biden is the oldest president ever inaugurated, and will turn 80 this year – but still plans to run for re-election, according to a reporter who recently interviewed the president, Martin Pengelly reports:

Joe Biden is “totally running” for a second term, the MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart has said, just days after interviewing the US president.

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Florida teen wins top prize by capturing 28 pythons in annual competition

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1,000 people participated in the annual challenge, which removed 231 unwanted pythons from the wild

A 19-year-old south Florida man captured 28 Burmese pythons in a 10-day competition created to increase awareness about the threat the invasive snakes pose to state ecology.

Matthew Concepcion was among the 1,000 people from 32 states, Canada and Latvia who participated in the annual challenge, which removed 231 of the unwanted pythons, the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission said.

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US mortgage rates hit 21-year high as Fed action weighs on housing sector

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Average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose by 22 basis points to 7.16% last week

The average interest rate on the most popular US home loan rose to its highest level since 2001 as tightening financial conditions weigh on the housing sector, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed on Wednesday.

The average contract rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose by 22 basis points to 7.16% for the week ended October 21 while the MBA’s Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, fell 1.7% from a week earlier. Mortgage application activity is at its slowest pace since 1997.

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Alito says leak of draft abortion ruling put justices at risk of assassination

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‘Grave betrayal of trust’ made conservative supreme court justices targets, author of opinion reversing Roe v Wade claims

The leak of the draft supreme court opinion abolishing the right to abortion put members of the conservative majority at risk of assassination, Samuel Alito, the author of the draft, has said.

Speaking in Washington at a rightwing thinktank, the Heritage Foundation, Alito called the leak a month before the final ruling was released “a grave betrayal of trust by somebody” that put several justices in danger.

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Tulsa race massacre: 14 bodies to be re-exhumed in effort to identify victims

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New exhumations will be followed by new search for bodies in Oklahoma cemetery linked to 1921 atrocity

Some of 19 bodies previously exhumed for testing in an effort to identify victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre and then reburied in an Oklahoma cemetery will be exhumed again starting on Wednesday, to gather more DNA.

None of the remains recovered thus far have been confirmed as victims of the massacre, in which more than 1,000 homes were burned, hundreds were looted and a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed.

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Trump bragged about new US nuclear weapons, Woodward tape shows

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Former president told Washington Post reporter: ‘We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before’

In a taped conversation with Bob Woodward, Donald Trump boasted about US nuclear weapons development.

“I have built a weapon system that nobody’s ever had in this country before,” the then president told the veteran Washington Post reporter. “We have stuff that you haven’t even seen or heard about. We have stuff that Putin and Xi have never heard about before.”

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Harvey Weinstein accuser testifies she wanted to ‘destroy’ herself after assault

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The woman alleges the producer raped her in 2013 and is the first of eight witnesses providing testimony during the trial

A woman who accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her in 2013 testified on Tuesday that the attack left her wanting to “destroy” herself.

The woman, a model and actor living and working in Rome who was in Los Angeles at the time for a film festival, is the first of eight Weinstein accusers set to testify in a courtroom in Los Angeles where the 70-year-old movie mogul is on trial on multiple counts of rape and sexual assault.

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California sheriff’s office stops Black drivers five times more often than white people, data shows

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A new report says sheriffs’ patrols spend more time conducting racially biased stops than they do responding to calls for help

Black drivers in California’s capital are nearly five times more likely than white motorists to get pulled over by sheriffs for traffic violations, according to a new report on racial profiling across the state.

Records from the county sheriff’s departments of Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Riverside show that Black Californians were disproportionately stopped across those regions in 2019, especially for minor infractions.

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Deadliest summer for heat-related deaths in Arizona’s biggest county

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Maricopa county’s 359 heat-associated fatalities this year outpace 339 deaths confirmed in 2021, figures show

This summer was the deadliest on record for heat-related deathsin Arizona’s largest county, with public health statistics this week confirming 359 such deaths just days before the end of the six-month heat season.

The jump comes amid a growing homelessness crisis in the area and raises questions about how to better protect vulnerable people in the desert south-west as temperatures soar.

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Pamela Moses sues officials after voter fraud conviction overturned

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Tennessee woman was serving six-year sentence before prosecutors’ withholding of crucial document came to light

A Tennessee woman who had a six-year prison sentence for voter fraud overturned this year is suing state and local officials for damages, claiming she was wrongfully prosecuted and incarcerated.

Pamela Moses, a 44-year-old Memphis activist, was sentenced to six years in prison in January after prosecutors said she tried to register to vote knowing she was ineligible because of a prior felony conviction. She was convicted even though two government officials, including a probation officer who conceded he made an error, signed off on a state form affirming her eligibility. The case prompted national outrage.

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Kanye West reportedly no longer a billionaire as companies cut ties

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For years critics have denounced Ye for his rightwing views and comments – but only now are they costing him his career

In the span of two weeks, Kanye West has lost his talent representation, connections to major fashion houses and other lucrative relationships over recent anti-Black and antisemitic comments.

As sports brand Adidas ended its estimated €250m partnership with West on Tuesday, reportedly costing the Black American rapper his billionaire status, many are asking if the fashion and music mogul’s actions have ended his decades-long career.

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Florida governor debate: DeSantis defends abortion ban with false claims

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Charlie Crist, former Republican who switched parties, puts governor on defensive during Florida’s sole gubernatorial debate

In the sole debate of the Florida governor’s race, the Republican incumbent, Ron DeSantis, was put on the defensive by his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, on subjects including abortion and DeSantis’s presidential ambitions.

Crist called Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest, “callous and barbaric”.

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Trump aides reportedly face pressure to testify in Mar-a-Lago case – live

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Prosecutors urging two aides for more information about how documents were handled at the resort

Good morning, US politics blog readers. The steady drip of details about the investigation into government secrets found at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort continues, with the New York Times reporting yesterday that prosecutors are pressuring two aides to the former president for more information about how documents were handled at the south Florida property. There’s no saying yet what the revelation means, but it makes clear how many avenues investigators are pursuing as they look for answers about sensitive documents Trump took with him when he left the White House.

Here’s what’s happening in politics today:

Joe Biden will speak about America’s fight against Covid-19 at 2.05pm eastern time.

There’s a slew of debates between candidates standing in the 8 November midterm elections, including Pennsylvania’s Senate candidates Mehmet Oz, a Republican, and John Fetterman, a Democrat, who face off at 8pm eastern time.

Progressive Democrats appear to be walking back a letter sent to Biden yesterday urging more diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.

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Man killed by New York City subway train after clothes got caught in car

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Victim’s harrowing death comes after two people were pushed in front of trains, seemingly at random, in recent weeks

A 20-year-old man was killed on Monday after his clothes were caught in a New York City subway car, which dragged him onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train, police said, in the latest grim episode for the largest transit system in the United States.

The victim’s harrowing death comes just three days after David Martin, 32, was shoved in front of a train on Friday, seemingly at random, suffering a broken collar bone. A convicted felon identified as Lamale McRae, 41, was arrested Monday in that attack.

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