Category Archives: US News

Russia to step up strikes on civilians, US says, as Ukraine independence day nears

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Alert from US embassy comes a day before Ukraine is set to mark 31 years since it became an independent state

The US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is “stepping up” efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.

The warning, issued on Tuesday, is the first specific security alert issued by the US embassy in Kyiv in recent months. It does not say what places it believes Russia plans to target, but advised US citizens to leave Ukraine if safe to do so.

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Texas school district pulls the Bible, The Bluest Eye and other books from library

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School board in Dallas-Fort Worth area requires reviewing books facing challenges from parents

A Texas school district is scrambling to remove books from its library shelves ahead of the fall semester, after they were challenged by parents and community members. Among the books removed are a graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, and the Bible.

It’s not clear why more than 40 books were challenged.

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Colorado Republican turns Democrat over ‘existential threat’ from GOP

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In letter announcing defection, state senator Kevin Priola cites political and environmental threat from his erstwhile party

Announcing his switch to the Democrats, a Colorado state senator said Republican attacks on democracy were not the only “existential threat” posed by his former party.

“I have become increasingly worried about our planet and the climate crisis we are facing,” Kevin Priola said, in a letter posted to social media on Monday.

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Kiely Rodni: missing California teen’s body apparently found after weeks

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Volunteers locate vehicle after police scale back efforts to find Rodni, last seen at campground party

A weeks-long search for a missing 16-year-old has come to an end after divers found what is believed to be the body of Kiely Rodni submerged in a car in a California reservoir.

Rodni went missing on 6 August after attending a party with hundreds of other young people at a campground in Truckee, California. Her disappearance prompted a search effort that drew in multiple law enforcement agencies and volunteers, who spent thousands of hours looking for her.

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Ben & Jerry’s lose bid to block sale of ice-cream in Israeli West Bank settlements

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Damage to Vermont-based company’s reputation of licensee’s sales in occupied Palestinian territories ‘too speculative’, US judge rules

Ben & Jerry’s has lost its attempt to block its parent company Unilever from selling its ice-cream in West Bank settlements, which the US firm said would run counter to its values.

The company, known for its political activism, took the unusual step seeking an injunction after London-based Unilever announced it had sold its interest in the ice-cream to an Israeli license-holder.

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Anthony Fauci to step down as chief US medical adviser at end of year – as it happened

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The departure of Anthony Fauci comes amid what is looking to be a major shake-up of American public health institutions. Last week, the head of the CDC announced reforms to the agency, which was criticized for its response to Covid-19 and, more recently, monkeypox:

The head of the top US public health agency on Wednesday announced a shake-up of the organization, intended to make it more nimble.

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Fauci to step down in December to ‘pursue next chapter’ of career

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Expert, 81, who has led National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, clashed with Trump over Covid response

Top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci plans to step down from his post in December to “pursue the next chapter” of his career, he announced in a statement on Monday.

Fauci, 81, has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niaid) since 1984. He has advised seven presidents, as far back as Ronald Reagan, on emerging infectious disease outbreaks that have plagued the nation, testifying before Congress and the World Health Organization on the HIV/Aids epidemic to Ebola to, most recently, the coronavirus pandemic.

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Torrential rains lash southern US as millions under flood warnings

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Meteorologists issue warnings for more than 13 million people in north-east Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico and Arizona

Millions of Americans are under flood warnings after heavy rain this weekend in a large portion of the south and south-western US.

Government meteorologists issued flood warnings for more than 13 million people after torrent rainfall created life-threatening conditions in a region including north-east Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico.

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Former Fox News politics editor says network stoked ‘paranoia and hatred’

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Chris Stirewalter, who was forced out after Donald Trump’s electoral defeat, says Fox failed its viewers with 2020 election coverage

A former Fox News politics editor who was forced out of the conservative television network shortly after its opinions hosts’ preferred candidate Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential race has said that the channel failed its viewers with its election coverage.

In his upcoming memoir, Chris Stirewalt says Fox News resigned its duty to prepare Trump followers for the possibility that he would lose, instead stoking the “black-helicopter-level paranoia and hatred” which fuels white supremacist groups but translates into big ratings.

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CIA unable to corroborate Israel’s ‘terror’ label for Palestinian rights groups

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Exclusive: sources say report shows CIA unable to find evidence to support Israeli claim, but finding does not prompt US rebuttal

A classified CIA report shows the agency was unable to find any evidence to support Israel’s decision to label six prominent Palestinian NGOs as “terrorist organizations”.

In October, Israel labeled as terror groups Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International–Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees.

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Ford to appeal $1.7bn verdict against it in Georgia truck crash case

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Civil suit centering on what was argued to be defective roofs came after couple killed when vehicle rolled over

The American automaker Ford Motor Co has promised to appeal a $1.7bn verdict leveled against it in connection with a pickup truck crash that killed a Georgia couple, a manufacturer representative said Sunday.

Jurors in Gwinnett county, just north-east of Atlanta, returned the verdict late last week in a yearslong civil case centering on what the plaintiffs’ lawyers argued were dangerously defective roofs on the Ford pickup involved in the crash and other vehicles like it, lawyer James Butler Jr said Sunday.

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Brian Stelter rebukes CNN on final show: ‘It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues’

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Host says, ‘It is not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue,’ after CNN cancels media show Reliable Sources

Brian Stelter, host of CNN’s media affairs show Reliable Sources which was cancelled last week after 30 years on air, used his final episode Sunday to make a pointed rebuke of the network’s new bosses and their intention to pursue a more “neutral voice” to its coverage.

“It is not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue,” Stelter said in his final monologue, which he stressed was unvetted by CNN management before he delivered it live. “It is not partisan to stand up to demagogues – it’s required, it’s patriotic.”

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US and South Korea begin largest military drills for years as North ramps up tensions

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The show of force is expected to prompt an angry response from Pyongyang and follows failure of Trump-era policy of engagement

The US and South Korea have begun their biggest joint military drills in years – a show of force that is expected to raise tensions with an increasingly hostile North Korea.

The exercises, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, are being seen as a sign of the allies’ determination to restore large-scale training after they cancelled some regular drills and scaled down others to facilitate nuclear talks, and because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Leon Vitali, Stanley Kubrick collaborator and Barry Lyndon actor, dies aged 74

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Vitali, who gave up acting to become the demanding director’s right-hand man, died in Los Angeles on Friday


Leon Vitali, the Barry Lyndon actor who became one of Stanley Kubrick’s closest associates, has died at the age of 74.

Vitali died on Friday in Los Angeles, his family said on Sunday. He died peacefully surrounded by loved ones including his three children, Masha, Max and Vera.

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Walmart expands abortion coverage for employees after Roe overturned

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Memo to staff says that new healthcare policy will also offer ‘travel support’ for workers seeking abortions

The US’s largest private employer, Walmart, is expanding its abortion coverage for employees after staying largely mum on the issue following the supreme court ruling that in June scrapped a nationwide right to abortion.

In a memo sent to employees Friday, the retail giant said its healthcare plans will cover abortion for employees “when there is a health risk to the mother, rape or incest, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or lack of fetal viability”. The plans will be “effective immediately”, the memo added.

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Wendy’s pulls lettuce from sandwiches in three states amid E coli outbreak

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CDC is trying to determine whether romaine lettuce is the source of an outbreak that has sickened 37 people

The fast-food chain Wendy’s says it is pulling lettuce from sandwiches in its restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania after people eating them there reported falling ill.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday it is trying to determine whether romaine lettuce in Wendy’s sandwiches is the source of an E coli outbreak that has sickened over 30 people – and whether romaine used by the chain was also served or sold at other businesses.

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Cheney vows to fight other Republicans who embrace Trump’s election lie

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Cheney says two Republican US senators – Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley – have both made themselves ‘unfit for future office’

The former top Republican Liz Cheney, who lost her Wyoming seat in Congress last week when she was beaten in a primary by a Donald Trump-endorsed challenger, is threatening to turn her political muscle against other prominent politicians in her party who have embraced the former president’s attack on democracy.

In an interview with ABC News aired on Sunday, she said that some of the best known Republican figures are now within her sights. She name-checked Kevin McCarthy, Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley – all of whom have openly supported Trump’s lie that electoral fraudsters stole the 2020 presidential race from him and handed it to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.

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Gary Busey charged with sexual offenses at New Jersey convention

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Police say charges for US actor, 78, include criminal sexual contact at Monster Mania horror film convention last weekend

Actor Gary Busey is facing charges of sexual misconduct and harassment stemming from his behavior at a fan convention in New Jersey, police said on Saturday.

Police in Cherry Hill, a New Jersey suburb of Philadelphia, charged the 78-year-old Busey with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, one of attempted criminal sexual contact and another of harassment, officers said in a statement.

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Trump set to ask court for ‘special master’ to review Mar-a-Lago evidence

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Legal motion would seek appointment of official to decide what materials can be used in investigation, attorney and sources say

Donald Trump is expected to seek the appointment of a special court official to determine whether materials that the FBI seized from his Florida resort can be used in a criminal investigation, according to his lead attorney Jim Trusty and two sources familiar with the matter.

The motion would be the first formal legal action by the former president after federal agents last week confiscated about 30 boxes of highly-sensitive documents from his Mar-a-Lago resort in connection with an investigation into the unauthorized retention of government secrets.

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Student shot dead in Alabama forest by woman posing as stranded motorist, police say

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Duo charged with murder over killing of Adam Simjee, 22, who was forced to walk into woods with girlfriend and died after gunfight

When Adam Simjee and his girlfriend Mikayla Paulus stopped their car in the Talladega national forest in Alabama last week, after being flagged down by what the college students thought was a stranded driver, the couple did not think much of it.

But the “stranded driver” – a woman named Yasmine Hider – turned out to be a gun-wielding robber who forced Simjee, 22, and Paulus, 20, to walk into the woods. Simjee pulled out his own handgun and shot Hider in defense of his girlfriend and himself, but he did not survive the confrontation – police allege Hider shot him dead.

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