Category Archives: US News

Texas supreme court blocks order that allowed abortions to resume

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New decision temporarily overturns stay issued by lower court last week, and illustrates legal chaos for US abortion providers

The Texas supreme court on Friday overturned a block on a state abortion ban linked to the recent US supreme court decision reversing Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling granting nationwide rights to abortion.

The order – an emergency motion for temporary relief – ordered parties on both sides of the abortion issue to submit briefings to the court by 7 July on a lawsuit seeking to delay implementation of so-called trigger bans, which would outlaw abortions in Texas in most circumstances.

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Friends co-creator to donate $4m amid embarrassment over show’s whiteness

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Marta Kauffman will fund professorship in African and African American studies at her alma mater

The co-creator of the TV sitcom Friends is planning to donate $4m to an African and African American studies project because she’s so “embarrassed” by – and feels such “guilt” at – the white homogeneity of the characters on the classic coming of age series.

Marta Kauffman told the Los Angeles Times that she intends for her planned gift to fund the Marta F Kauffman ’78 Professorship in African and African American Studies at her alma mater, Brandeis University, a liberal arts college in Massachusetts.

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Three police die in Kentucky shooting while serving domestic violence warrant

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Officers encountered ‘pure hell’ at scene, sheriff says, before man taken into custody after hours-long standoff

Three law enforcement officers were killed and five others wounded in eastern Kentucky when a man with a rifle opened fire on police attempting to serve a warrant, authorities said.

An emergency management official was also injured and a police dog was killed during the confrontation at a home in Allen, a small town in the hills of Appalachia.

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Biden urged to do more to defend abortion rights: ‘This is a five-alarm fire’

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Furious Americans have taken to the streets, but many Democrats believe Biden has failed to capture the urgency and anger

High above America’s capital, pro-choice activists scaled a construction crane, inching across its latticed steel arm, to affix a banner with a message for the president to see. It read: “BIDEN PROTECT ABORTION.”

In the days since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion, legions of furious Americans have taken to the streets to protest a decision that was once unimaginable. But as a new reality takes shape, many are demanding the president and Democratic leaders do more to defend reproductive rights.

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Incendiary Republican ads boasting of ‘hunting’ rivals raise fears of violence

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Ads like Eric Greitens’, in which he says ‘get a Rino hunting permit’, could lead people to rationalize violence – experts

Before the Capitol attack on 6 January, Robert Pape, a University of Chicago professor, had studied political violence around the world but not in the United States because there had not been much to examine, he said.

Pape worries that could soon change because of politicians like Eric Greitens, a former Navy Seal from Missouri running for Senate, who recently released an advertisement in which he racked a shotgun and led a team of armed men as they stormed a house to hunt more moderate members of his own party, know derisively as Rinos, as in “Republicans in name only”.

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Google will delete location history data for abortion clinic visits

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The company said that sensitive places including fertility centers, clinics and addiction treatment facilities will be erased

Alphabet will delete location data showing when users visit an abortion clinic, the online search company said on Friday, after concern that a digital trail could inform law enforcement if an individual terminates a pregnancy illegally.

As state laws limiting abortions set in after the US supreme court decided last month that they are no longer guaranteed by the constitution, the technology industry has fretted police could obtain warrants for customers’ search history, geolocation and other information revealing pregnancy plans.

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Florida teen bitten by shark survives but faces losing her leg

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The girl was collecting scallops in 5ft deep water off Keaton Beach when she was attacked; her brother jumped in to save her

A teenager is facing the loss of one of her legs after a shark bit her while swimming off the coast of Florida, according to authorities.

Facebook posts shared by the Taylor county sheriff’s office and the girl’s father, Shane Bethea, recounted the nearly fatal attack Thursday.

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Back from the depths: shrinking Lake Mead reveals second world war-era boat

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The Higgins landing craft, once 185ft below the surface, is now halfway out of the water as drought deepens

A sunken boat dating back to the second world war is the latest object to emerge from a shrinking reservoir that straddles Nevada and Arizona.

The Higgins landing craft that has long been 185ft (56 meters) below the surface is now nearly halfway out of the water at Lake Mead.

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Biden calls court’s Roe ruling ‘tragic reversal’ during meeting with Democratic governors – as it happened

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Speaking first, New York governor Kathy Hochul, said her state is acting quickly to shore up women’s reproductive rights in its constitution and protect access to contraception and other rights.

“This is frightening time for women all across our nation, a lot of fear and anxiety out there,” she said.

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Simone Biles and nurse who received first Covid vaccine to get top US honor

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World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe also among 17 recipients of Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honor

The gymnast Simone Biles and soccer player Megan Rapinoe are among 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honor, the White House announced on Friday.

The two sport stars are being celebrated for their accomplishments in competition and in social activism.

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Pearl Harbor’s toxic water caused by shoddy management, navy finds

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US military investigation points to human error after fuel leak that poisoned thousands

A US navy investigation has revealed that shoddy management and human error caused fuel to leak into Pearl Harbor’s tap water last year, poisoning thousands of people and forcing military families to evacuate their homes for hotels.

The investigation, released on Thursday, is the first detailed account of how jet fuel from the Red Hill bulk fuel storage facility, a huge second-world-war-era military-run tank farm in the hills above Pearl Harbor, leaked into a well that supplied water to housing and offices in and around the sprawling base.

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‘Napalm girl’ Phan Thi Kim Phuc receives final burn treatment after 50 years

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Phuc, pictured in 1972 running from napalm attack during Vietnam war, has final laser treatment in Miami

Phan Thi Kim Phuc, whose photograph became a symbol of the horrors of the Vietnam war, has had her final skin treatment with a burn specialist, 50 years after her village was struck by napalm.

Phuc was photographed aged nine as she ran, unclothed and screaming in agony, after napalm was dropped by a South Vietnamese Skyraider attack aircraft. Nick Ut, the photographer who captured the image in June 1972, drove her away to find medical treatment.

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Tesla hit by new lawsuit alleging racial abuse

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Fifteen black former or current employees allege they faced racial abuse and harassment at carmaker’s factories

Fifteen black former or current employees at Tesla filed a lawsuit against the electric carmaker on Thursday, alleging they were subjected to racial abuse and harassment at its factories.

The workers said they were subjected to offensive racist comments and behaviour by colleagues, managers, and human resources employees on a regular basis, according to the lawsuit filed in a California state court.

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Explosive testimony piles pressure on Trump – how likely are criminal charges?

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The January 6 committee cannot charge Trump, but they can make criminal referrals. Here are the key legal issues at stake

In six televised hearings, the House January 6 committee has presented extraordinary testimony about Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election and its culmination, the deadly attack on the US Capitol by a far-right mob.

The committee is made up of seven Democrats and two rebel Republicans, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney, who refused to follow their party in bending the knee to Trump.

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US travel chaos unlikely to improve as Fourth of July looms, experts say

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Over the Memorial Day and Juneteenth holiday weekends more than 3,000 flights were canceled and over 19,000 were delayed

As Fourth of July travel chaos looms, experts are warning that a combination of factors including pilot shortages, the climate crisis and even the rise of drones means the situation is unlikely to get better soon.

Over the Memorial Day and Juneteenth holiday weekends more than 3,000 flights were canceled and more than 19,000 were delayed. About 1,800 flights have been canceled so far this week, according to the Hill.

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Brand new bang: Lake Tahoe resort scraps July 4 fireworks for drones

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Pyrotechnic displays pose a heightened fire risk in a time of intense drought and cause distress to wild animals

Lake Tahoe’s north shore is breaking with tradition and will replace its Fourth of July fireworks celebration with a colorful light display of an entirely different nature.

The tourist town on the Nevada side of the storied lake will offer a night-time drone light show, a display officials at the Incline Village Crystal Bay visitors bureau said carries less danger in a parched landscape primed to burn.

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New Zealand declares US far-right Proud Boys and the Base terrorist groups

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Proud Boys’ involvement in US Capitol attack cited in ruling outlawing organisation

New Zealand’s government has declared that the American far-right groups the Proud Boys and the Base are terrorist organisations.

The two groups join 18 others, including the Islamic State group, that have been given an official terrorist designation, making it illegal in New Zealand to fund, recruit or participate in the groups, and obligating authorities to take action against them.

The US groups are not known to be active in New Zealand, but the South Pacific nation has become more attuned to threats from the far right after a white supremacist shot and killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in 2019.

The New Zealand massacre inspired other white supremacists around the world, including a white gunman who killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, in May.

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Mark Meadows’ associate threatened ex-White House aide before her testimony

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It was the second warning Cassidy Hutchinson had received before her deposition, cautioning her against cooperating with the panel

Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson received at least one message tacitly warning her not to cooperate with the House January 6 select committee from an associate of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The message in question was the second of the two warnings that the select committee disclosed at the end of its special hearing when Hutchinson testified about how Donald Trump directed a crowd he knew was armed to march on the Capitol, the sources said.

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US supreme court hobbles government power to limit harmful emissions

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Court sides with Republican states as ruling represents landmark moment in rightwing effort to dismantle ‘regulatory state’

The US supreme court has sided with Republican-led states to in effect hobble the federal government’s ability to tackle the climate crisis, in a ruling that will have profound implications for the government’s overall regulatory power.

In a 6-3 decision that will seriously hinder America’s ability to stave off disastrous global heating, the supreme court, which became dominated by rightwing justices under the Trump administration, has opted to support a case brought by West Virginia that demands the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) be limited in how it regulates planet-heating gases from the energy sector.

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Supreme court decisions: court deals blow on climate but Biden wins immigration case – live

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In its second and final decision of the day, the Supreme Court on Thursday said Biden can terminate a controversial Trump-era immigration policy, known as Remain in Mexico. The ruling affirms a president’s broad power to set the nation’s immigration policy.

The ruling concludes the most consequential supreme court term in recent memory.

The case, which was backed by a host of other Republican-led states including Texas and Kentucky, was highly unusual in that it was based upon the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era strategy to cut emissions from coal-fired power plants that never came into effect. The Biden administration sought to have the case dismissed as baseless given the plan was dropped and has not been resurrected.

Not only was this case about a regulation that does not exist, that never took effect, and which would have imposed obligations on the energy sector that it would have met regardless. It also involves two legal doctrines that are not mentioned in the constitution, and that most scholars agree have no basis in any federal statute.

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