Category Archives: US News

Marijuana, abortion, climate crisis: what was down the ballot in the midterm

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The ‘green wave’ expanded to Maryland with voters opting for recreational cannabis while California voted to enshrine abortion

Voters across the US weighed in on a variety of ballot measures during the US midterms on Tuesday, passing judgement on everything from recreational drugs to abortion rights, to sports betting and the climate crisis.

Multiple states voted on whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana, part of a growing “green wave” that has already seen many relax their laws on cannabis use.

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Fetterman defeats Oz in Pennsylvania Senate race, giving Democrats a boost

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Victory overturns a Republican-held Senate seat and increases his party’s chances of retaining control of chamber

The Democratic party received a huge boost in Pennsylvania in the early hours of Wednesday morning, when John Fetterman won the state’s US Senate race to increase his party’s chances of retaining control of the chamber.

Fetterman was declared the winner over Mehmet Oz, the Republican celebrity doctor, six hours after the polls closed, overturning a Republican-held Senate seat to bolster Democrats’ chances of retaining the chamber.

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Midterm elections 2022: US voters head to polls as Republicans fight to take Senate control – live

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Millions across the country vote while Florida state department tells DoJ that federal election monitors won’t be permitted

Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States at Leiden University and host of the podcast America Explained, and he writes for the Guardian today to argue that the future of American democracy is at stake in the midterm elections:

Never before in American history has there been an organized movement which was only one vote away from having the motivation and opportunity to make that election America’s last. Never that is, until now. Today’s anti-democratic movement is propelled not by genuine controversy or scandal, but rather by their commitment to ending competitive elections in the United States. There is no other way to interpret their belief that only one side, the Republicans, can legitimately be considered to win, and the plans that they hold to make this belief a reality.

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Voters hold political fate of US in their hands as they cast midterm ballots

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Voters across the US described a range of urgent concerns, from reproductive rights to anxieties about the economy and crime

Millions of Americans took to the polls on Tuesday for the 2022 midterm elections, a series of bitter contests that will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control Congress for the next two years, as well as key state and local offices. The outcome could also help determine whether 2020 election deniers gain more political power, and potentially set the stage for still more discord among an increasingly fractious electorate.

Voters across the US described a range of urgent concerns, whether over the ongoing assault on reproductive rights or anxieties about the economy and crime. Many also described a heightened level of worry about possible challenges to accurate election results and the disenfranchisement of voters, including protracted litigation that could sow dangerous distrust in the US’s electoral system.

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Ukraine urges US to ‘stay united’ as potential Republican win threatens aid

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Prominent Republican party figures have signalled they would aim to reduce military support for Ukraine

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the US to stay united in its support amid worries about the consequences of a Republican win in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

If the US Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the colossal financial and military support provided to Ukraine under the Democrats could falter.

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Tropical Storm Nicole expected to hit Florida as rare late-season hurricane

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Nicole expected to strengthen and make landfall on Thursday as state of emergency is declared in 34 counties

A rare late-season hurricane is expected to hit Florida, after the Sunshine state dealt with the impact of Hurricane Ian a month ago.

Tropical Storm Nicole is expected to make landfall in eastern Florida this week. As the storm continues to strengthen, it is expected to make landfall as a category 1 hurricane on Thursday morning, reported CNN citing the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

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Drake and 21 Savage sued over use of Vogue name to promote new album

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Condé Nast files complaint in Manhattan federal court after rappers allegedly use trademark without permission

The rappers Drake and 21 Savage have been sued by Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue magazine, for allegedly using the Vogue name without permission to promote their new album, Her Loss.

Condé Nast claimed the musicians’ promotional campaign, including to their more than 135 million social media followers, was built “entirely” on the unauthorised use of Vogue trademarks and false representations that they would appear on Vogue’s next cover, and with the “love and support” of the magazine’s longtime editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour.

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California ticket holder scoops $2bn jackpot in biggest lottery payout ever

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Winner of $2.04bn Powerball prize – $400m greater than previous record – not identified by name

The largest ever lottery prize in history, the $2.04bn Powerball jackpot, has been won.

The US lottery’s official website on Tuesday showed a ticket holder in California had matched the winning numbers, hours after an early Tuesday drawing that had been marred by delays.

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Influencer ‘Ray Hushpuppi’ jailed over plan to launder $300m

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Ramon Abbas, described by FBI as one of world’s most prolific money launderers, sentenced to 11 years

A social media influencer who called himself Ray Hushpuppi and flaunted a lavish lifestyle fuelled by his efforts to launder millions of stolen dollars has been sentenced in Los Angeles to more than 11 years in federal prison.

Ramon Abbas, 40, also was ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.7m in restitution to two fraud victims, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.

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TikTok’s ties to China: why concerns over your data are here to stay

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Harvesting data is the norm for social media apps, but the question that many have is where it goes and who has access to it

In 2021 Android phone users around the world spent 16.2tn minutes on TikTok. And while those millions and millions of users no doubt had an enjoyable time watching clips on the addictive social video app, they also generated a colossal amount of data.

TikTok collects information on how you consume its content, from the device you are using to how long you watch a post for and what categories you like, and uses that information to fine tune the algorithm for the app’s main feed.

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‘Big announcement’: Donald Trump holds back decision on 2024 presidential run

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At Ohio rally on eve of US midterm elections, ex-president suggests the reveal will come on Tuesday 15 November at Mar-a-Lago

Confidants spent much of Monday putting it about that former US president Donald Trump was on the brink of announcing his intention to become a future president at a campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio.

The crowds shuffling into a corner of the local airport, run by a company named after the Wright brothers who invented the first aeroplane in their Dayton bicycle shop, were excited that they might be about to witness history and their man on his way back to the White House.

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Biden makes final plea for high stakes midterms: ‘Next year will shape our lifetimes’

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In his final speech before election day, the president attacked Republicans on the economy but also offered a hopeful note

Joe Biden rallied with fellow Democrats on Monday night, delivering a message of optimism and determination in the face of widespread concerns about his party’s showing in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Addressing a boisterous crowd in Maryland, Biden stressed the high stakes of the races that will determine control of the US Congress for the next two years. Painting a grim picture of a Republican-controlled Congress, Biden predicted that the opposing party would use their majorities to roll back Americans’ rights and dismantle social welfare programs.

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Deadline extended for 1,000 absentee Georgia voters who didn’t receive ballots

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ACLU of Georgia, SPLC and Dechert LLP had filed an emergency lawsuit urging election officials to extend deadline

A judge has agreed to extend the deadline to return absentee ballots for voters in a suburban Atlanta county who didn’t receive their ballots because election officials failed to mail them.

The move came after the ACLU of Georgia, Southern Poverty Law Center and Dechert LLP joined forces to file an emergency lawsuit urging officials to extend the deadline for these voters to return their ballots.

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California woman describes harrowing shark attack: ‘I saw it clamp my leg’

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The 50-year-old, who survived the encounter, is being treated for the wounds to her upper right thigh

A California woman has given her first interviews about surviving a shark attack while swimming off the coast of San Diego.

Lyn Jutronich, 50, said she was resting in the water during her morning ocean swim when something rammed her hard out of the water.

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Midterms live: Biden says Maga Republicans ‘some of the darkest forces’ in US history – as it happened

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President to speak in Maryland while predecessor travels to Ohio, amid surge in early voting

Volker Türk, the new United Nations high commissioner for human rights, yesterday urged Twitter owner Elon Musk to make respect for human rights central to the social media platform, amid savage cuts to the tech company’s staff under its new chief.

In an open letter, Türk said that reports of the new owner laying off the platform’s entire human rights team were “not, from my perspective, an encouraging start”.

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‘Blood moon’ total lunar eclipse to arrive on Tuesday

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Total eclipse to be visible in North America, Asia and the Pacific, but Africa, Middle East and Europe will have to wait until 2025

The moon is set to pull off a disappearing act on Tuesday, and those who miss it will have to wait three years for another chance to see something like it again.

A total lunar eclipse will be visible throughout North America before dawn on Tuesday, giving those further west the best view. In Asia, Australia and the rest of the Pacific, it will be visible after sunset.

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Twitter bans comedian Kathy Griffin for impersonating Elon Musk

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Users adopt Musk’s name after he announces suspension of accounts pretending to be someone else

Elon Musk has banned a US comedian’s Twitter account after taking on users who impersonate him on the platform.

Twitter’s new owner announced an immediate ban on accounts pretending to be someone else without flagging them as parodies. The move resulted in the removal of an “Elon Musk” account held by the comedian Kathy Griffin, who had changed her account name to match that of the Tesla chief executive.

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US falls billions short of climate mitigation funding ‘fair share’ | First Thing

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Rich countries not upholding finance promises to developing states. Plus, Republicans expected to take Congress

Good morning.

Billions of dollars of promised to developing countries by the US, UK, Canada and Australia to aid carbon emission reduction plans and help make communities more resilient to more extreme weather have not yet been delivered.

Only Canada responded to requests for comment. A government spokesperson said it remained committed and would double its climate finance in order to overdeliver, despite appearing to so far have covered only a third.

“Hey, don’t ask us.” Billionaires should not be expected to make up for climate finance gaps caused by failures to uphold promises to less developed states, the head of the Bezos Earth Fund has said.

Democrats are on the defensive. Even in places they thought were safe, like New York and Washington, while Biden’s low ratings continue to burden his party’s most vulnerable candidates.

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Karl Rove on the midterms: ‘Trump looms over this. No ifs or buts’

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The veteran political strategist on why he believes his Republican party will benefit from dissatisfaction with the status quo

On the eve of a crucial midterms election that Joe Biden has warned “will preserve democracy or put us at risk”, veteran top Republican strategist Karl Rove says his party will benefit from dissatisfaction with the status quo, despite the specter of a Trump 2024 run and the end of federal abortion rights.

Rove, widely as a villain by the left for his orchestration of George W Bush’s victory over Al Gore in 2000, and for his senior role in Bush’s two terms as president, says American voters are being propelled by fears over inflation, the economy, crime in some areas, and feelings about the overall direction the country.

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Biden fights to stop midterms defeat as Republicans poised for sweeping gains

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Momentum appears to be with Republicans capitalising on economic frustration as experts say party peaking at right time

Joe Biden is fighting a rearguard action to stave off defeat in Tuesday’s midterm elections as Republicans look poised to make sweeping gains in the US Congress, setting up two years of political trench warfare.

The president, along with former president Barack Obama, has been criss-crossing America in a last-ditch bid to persuade voters that a Democratic victory is critical not only to Biden’s legislative agenda but the preservation of American democracy.

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