Category Archives: US News

One dead and 17 injured after car plows into crowd at Pennsylvania event

Posted on by

Crash happened at fund-raiser for victims of fire that killed 10 on 5 August as suspect then went on to kill his mother, police say

One person died and another 17 people were injured when a car plowed into a crowd gathered at a Pennsylvania bar Saturday evening for a fundraiser benefiting families devastated by a house fire that killed 10 earlier this month, according to authorities.

The driver was arrested shortly afterward in connection with the beating death of his mother nearby, police added.

Continue reading...

GOP governors rebuke party members’ ‘outrageous rhetoric’ over Trump search

Posted on by

Larry Hogan describes comparisons of the FBI to Nazi Germany’s secret police, made by Florida senator Rick Scott, as dangerous

A handful of Republican governors have criticized the “outrageous rhetoric” of their party colleagues in the US Congress, who have accused federal law enforcement officers of a politicized attack on former president Donald Trump after executing a court-approved search warrant on his Florida home this week.

Maryland governor Larry Hogan, a Republican moderate, described attacks by party members as both “absurd” and “dangerous”, after a week in which certain Republicans have compared the FBI to the Gestapo and fundraised off the slogan: “Defund the FBI”.

Continue reading...

Man fatally shoots himself after driving car into barricade near US Capitol

Posted on by

Police did not determine motive for the man’s actions, but no indication he was targeting Congress members, who are in recess

A man drove into a barricade near the US Capitol in Washington DC on early Sunday morning, fired several shots into the air after his vehicle ignited, and then shot himself to death, according to police.

Officials were quick to note they had not determined a motive for the man’s actions, though they did say there was no indication he was targeting any Congress members, who were in recess at the time.

Continue reading...

US congressional delegation visits Taiwan on heels of Pelosi trip

Posted on by

Five-member group including a senator will meet president and attend banquet hosted by foreign minister

A US congressional delegation has arrived in Taiwan, days after China held military drills around the island in retaliation for the House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit.

The five-member delegation, led by Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, will meet President Tsai Ing-wen and attend a banquet hosted by the foreign minister, Joseph Wu, during the visit, according to Taiwan’s foreign ministry.

Continue reading...

Shipwreck of Captain Cook’s Endeavour being eaten by ‘termites of the ocean’, expert says

Posted on by

Shipworms and crustaceans called gribbles have infiltrated the wood of the vessel off Rhode Island

There are fears the wreck of Captain James Cook’s Endeavour is being destroyed by shipworms, the “termites of the ocean”.

In February the Australian Maritime Museum announced that the shipwreck, in waters off the coast of Rhode Island in the US, was “the final resting place” of that famous historical ship.

Continue reading...

Arizona police Taser two parents as they try to enter locked-down school

Posted on by

Incident followed reports of armed man being seen and comes in wake of criticism of handling of Uvalde shooting

Police fired a stun gun at two Arizona parents as they tried to force their way into a school that police had locked down after an armed man was seen trying to get on campus.

The parents were arrested, along with one other, as they tried to get to their children to protect them, authorities said. Officers in the Phoenix suburb of El Mirage used a Taser stun gun to stop two of them as they tried to help a man whose own handgun fell to the ground while he was being taken into custody.

Continue reading...

Salman Rushdie ‘road to recovery has begun’ but ‘will be long,’ agent says

Posted on by

Author is off ventilator and able to talk after suffering stab wounds to his neck, stomach, eye, chest and thigh in New York attack

Salman Rushdie’s “road to recovery has begun” but “will be long” after his stabbing in western New York late last week, the novelist’s agent has said.

“The injuries are severe,” the agent, Andrew Wylie, said Sunday in an email to the Guardian, alluding to stab wounds that the author suffered to his neck, stomach, eye, chest and thigh two days earlier. “But his condition is headed in the right direction.”

Continue reading...

Emmett Till accuser received protection from police, she says in memoir

Posted on by

Recently emerged book sheds new light on lynching after grand jury declined to charge Carolyn Bryant Donham

By her own telling, Carolyn Bryant Donham received preferential treatment rather than prosecution by Mississippi authorities after her encounter with Emmett Till led to the lynching of the Black teenager in the summer of 1955.

Instead of arresting Donham on a warrant that accused her of kidnapping days after Till’s abduction, an officer passed along word that relatives would take her and her two young sons away from home amid a rising furor over the case, Donham said in a 2008 memoir made public last month. The sheriff would later claim Donham, 21 at the time, could not be located for arrest.

Continue reading...

Salman Rushdie attack: suspect pleads not guilty to attempted murder charge

Posted on by

Suspect from New Jersey is accused by prosecutors of ‘preplanned’ attack on author in New York before being remanded without bail

The man suspected of stabbing the novelist Salman Rushdie at a literary festival in western New York pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a court appearance on Saturday.

District attorney Jason Schmidt alleged on Saturday that Hadi Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. “This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr Rushdie,” Schmidt alleged.

Continue reading...

Rushdie attack prompts questions over security at New York event

Posted on by

Suspect had a ticket for Chautauqua event but some say protections should have been enhanced given sensitivies

A day after the bloody attack on Salman Rushdie in western New York, questions are being asked about how the perpetrator gained untrammeled access to the event with apparently minimal security precautions.

Rushdie, 75, was attacked at 10.47am on Friday, moments after he had sat down on stage in the Chautauqua Institution, a historic community of artists and thinkers about 15 miles south of Lake Erie. The auditorium, which accommodates about 4,000 people, was two-thirds full.

Continue reading...

Britney Spears’ ex-husband convicted of crashing her wedding

Posted on by

Jason Alexander arrived uninvited at pop star’s California home as she got ready to marry Sam Asghari

A man once briefly married to Britney Spears has been convicted of aggravated trespassing and battery after appearing uninvited at the pop star’s wedding in June.

Jason Alexander, 40, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanour counts in a California court, prosecutors in Ventura County said.

Continue reading...

Ex-Khashoggi lawyer Asim Ghafoor freed in UAE after money laundering conviction

Posted on by

US citizen released after paying fine as United Arab Emirates court confiscates $4.9m it says illegally moved through country

The US citizen and civil rights attorney Asim Ghafoor, who had represented Jamal Khashoggi before the Saudi journalist was murdered, has been freed from custody in the UAE where he was convicted on money laundering charges.

Ghafoor was headed home to the US, said his lawyer, Faisal Gill, having been freed after paying a fine and with help from the US embassy in the UAE.

Continue reading...

Nuclear or not, classified or not, Mar-a-Lago files spell out jeopardy for Trump

Posted on by

President says he declassified secret and sensitive documents – but that may not matter for him to be prosecuted.

Over the course of Friday, the circumstances of Monday’s FBI search of Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago have come into much sharper focus, which makes them look much worse for the former president.

The unsealed search and seizure warrant shows that it was carried out, in part, under the Espionage Act, a set of statutes dating to 1917 that have been used aggressively to go after leakers, whistleblowers and the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange. The code quoted in the warrant carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.

Continue reading...

Breonna Taylor death: former detective to plead guilty to federal charges

Posted on by

Kelly Goodlett plea means prosecutors to secure first conviction in case that ignited widespread protests following March 2020 killing

A former Louisville detective is planning to plead guilty to federal charges filed against her in the police killing of Breonna Taylor, leaving prosecutors on the verge of securing their first conviction in a case that ignited months of racial justice protests in Kentucky’s largest city.

The ex-detective in question, Kelly Goodlett, is one of four white current and former Louisville police officers the US justice department last week charged with civil rights violations in the 2020 shooting death of Taylor, who was Black.

Continue reading...

Terror and blood shatter tranquil arts festival after attack on Salman Rushdie

Posted on by

Witnesses describe screams as people rushed to render aid to the novelist and subdue his assailant

• Salman Rushdie: author in surgery after being stabbed in New York – live

The Chautauqua summer arts festival in upstate New York is normally a calm and pleasant affair, drawing thousands of literary-minded people eager to commune with their favorite writers.

That changed dramatically on Friday, when the famed novelist Salman Rushdie, who had just walked on to a stage to give a lecture, was stabbed by a man wielding a knife – transforming the faculty-lounge atmosphere into a blood-spattered scene.

Continue reading...

‘Catastrophic failure’ kills 21,000 fish at California university

Posted on by

Chlorine exposure appears to be cause of death of animals at UC Davis research center

A “catastrophic failure” at a university research facility in California killed 21,000 fish this week, some of which were endangered.

The University of California, Davis, reported the loss of about 21,000 fish at its Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture. Chlorine exposure, which the university noted fish are particularly sensitive to, appears to have caused the deaths.

Continue reading...

Salman Rushdie is on ventilator and may lose an eye after attack, agent says – as it happened

Posted on by

Here are more reactions on Rushdie’s stabbing from those in the writing community, from Maya Yang for the Guardian:

Journalists, writers and celebrities reacted with shock and horror after author Salman Rushdie was attacked onstage at an event in New York state on Friday.

Rushdie was attacked as he was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, according to witnesses. Police later said he had been taken to hospital with an apparent stabbing wound to the neck.

Continue reading...

Trump under criminal investigation for potential violations of Espionage Act – live

Posted on by

FBI was seeking evidence about whether the mishandling of documents violated three criminal statutes, search warrant shows

Further evidence that things are looking up for Democrats: Joe Biden’s approval rating is above 40 percent for the first time since early June, per RealClearPolitics’ polling average:

Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned attacks by Donald Trump and other Republicans on the FBI following their search this week of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Continue reading...

US and Chinese officials discuss Biden-Xi meeting amid Taiwan friction

Posted on by

Two leaders raised possibility of in-person encounter when they last talked by phone in late July, US official confirms

US and Chinese officials have been discussing a face-to-face meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, amid a significant escalation in friction over Taiwan.

Kurt Campbell, the coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs in Biden’s national security council, confirmed on Friday that the two leaders had raised the possibility of an in-person meeting when they last talked by phone in late July “and agreed to have their team’s follow up to sort out the specifics”.

Continue reading...

Trump under investigation for potential violations of Espionage Act, warrant reveals

Posted on by

Details contained in explosive search warrant show US officials investigating whether three criminal statutes violated

Donald Trump is under criminal investigation for potential violations of the Espionage Act and additional statutes relating to obstruction of justice and destroying federal government records, according to the search warrant executed by FBI agents at the former president’s home on Monday.

The search warrant – the contents of which were confirmed by the Guardian – shows the FBI was seeking evidence about whether the mishandling of classified documents by Trump, including some marked top secret, amounted to a violation of three criminal statutes.

Continue reading...