Category Archives: US News

House panel considers gun control bill after Texas school shooting – US politics live

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Republican Dan Bishop challenged David Cicilline’s argument that Democrats’ gun-control bill is fully compliant with the constitution, instead insisting that the proposals would infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

“And let me be clear, you are not going to bully your way into stripping Americans of fundamental rights,” Bishop said.

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‘It’s very painful’: Sarah Jessica Parker lifts lid on Kim Cattrall rift

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Actor speaks at length for first time about supposed falling out with her ex-Sex and the City colleague

Sarah Jessica Parker has spoken at length for the first time about her supposed feud with former Sex and the City co-star Kim Cattrall. For six seasons, the pair starred together in the show, which focused on the lives of four New York women.

They went on to appear alongside each other in the two follow-up movie adaptations, but in recent years there has long been talk of a falling out between the two actors, largely fuelled by barbed statements Cattrall has made.

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Uvalde school district police chief says he’s still cooperating with investigators

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Pete Arredondo, focus of anger over allegations he delayed sending officers, tells CNN he’s been speaking regularly with investigators

The school district police chief who served as on-site commander during the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, has said he is talking daily with investigators, contradicting claims from state law enforcement that he has stopped cooperating.

In a brief interview, Pete Arredondo told CNN he was speaking regularly with Texas state investigators.

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Michael Avenatti faces sentencing for cheating Stormy Daniels in book deal

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Prosecutors say the lawyer gets no points for showing remorse after berating his former client on the witness stand

The lawyer Michael Avenatti will be sentenced on Thursday for cheating Stormy Daniels, the adult film-maker and actor who catapulted him to fame, of hundreds of thousands of dollars in book proceeds.

The California lawyer, who is incarcerated, is expected to learn his fate in Manhattan federal court, where he was ordered to appear in person rather than remotely.

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Police arrested teen for allegedly planning shooting at Berkeley, California, high school

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Authorities received tip that the teenager was recruiting students for mass violence, in one of many recent threats against US schools

A teenage boy was arrested in Berkeley, California, on Monday after police received a tip he was “recruiting other high school students to participate in a mass shooting and/or bombing” at a local high school.

When authorities searched the teen’s home they found explosives, assault rifles, knives and electronic devices that could be used to make more weapons, police said.

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Tulsa hospital shooting: number of wounded not known after four killed

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Gunman also dead, police deputy chief says, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound

A gunman carrying a rifle and a handgun killed four people on Wednesday at a medical building on a hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, police said, detailing the latest in a series of mass shootings across the US. The number of wounded was not known.

The Tulsa police deputy chief, Eric Dalgleish, said the gunman also was dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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Rwanda accused of stalking, harassing and threatening exiles in US

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African state that signed deal with UK to host asylum seekers perpetrates ‘transnational repression’, Freedom House report says

Rwanda has been accused of being among the worst perpetrators of “transnational repression” in the US, stalking, harassing and threatening exiles there, according to a new report.

The report by the Freedom House advocacy group in Washington, names Rwanda alongside China, Russia, Iran and Egypt as the principal offenders in seeking to extend the reach of their repressive regimes into the US.

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Sheryl Sandberg steps down as chief operating officer of Facebook parent company Meta

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Sandberg joined the company in 2008 and will leave the company this fall, although she will continue to be on Meta’s board

Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook and its parent company Meta, has announced she will step down from her role, ending 14 years in the job that made her one of the most powerful figures in the tech world and saw the company weather a meteoric rise and multiple controversies.

Sandberg announced the move in a post on her own Facebook page on Wednesday, adding that she was not sure of what the future holds for her but plans to focus on her foundation and philanthropic work going forward.

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Adm Linda Fagan becomes first female to lead US armed forces branch

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Fagan, who has been second-in-command at the coast guard, will serve as the 27th commandant

Adm Linda L Fagan will be the first woman to lead a branch of the US armed forces, serving as the 27th commandant of the US coast guard.

Fagan will lead the coast guard after being sworn into the position on Wednesday, reported the Associated Press.

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Depp-Heard trial verdict: jury rules in favor of Johnny Depp

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The focus of the case was a 2018 editorial Heard wrote calling herself ‘a public figure representing domestic abuse’

The jury in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial has ruled in favor of Johnny Depp, finding that a Washington Post editorial she wrote defamed her former husband.

The jurors’ unanimous decision on Wednesday capped a seven-week trial in a Virginia courtroom which featured dozens of witnesses and experts weighing in on whether Depp was abusive to Heard – or vice versa – during their 15-month marriage.

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Bipartisan group of US senators push for compromise on gun control legislation – as it happened

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In more midterms news, independent Tiffany Bond of Maine has secured enough verified signatures to qualify for a spot on the ballot this November, according to the Press Herald.

This upends one of the most closely-watched races of the cycle: a rematch between Democratic congressman Jared Golden and former Republican congressman Bruce Poliquin for Maines second congressional district.

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Key moments from the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial

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After six weeks of testimony, a split verdict is returned on the former couple’s dueling defamation claims

More than three years after Johnny Depp sued ex-wife Amber Heard for defamation over an op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post about surviving domestic abuse, jurors returned a split verdict on the former couple’s dueling defamation claims.

After six weeks of testimony, amounting to 61 hours granted to each side, the Depp-Heard saga was only on its face a defamation case. It gave Depp an opportunity to air his narrative of a 15-month, love-to-hate marriage, and Heard, by return, to describe hers.

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Buffalo shooting suspect charged with domestic terrorism and murder

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Grand jury’s 25-count indictment includes attempted murder as a hate crime and weapons possession

A grand jury on Wednesday charged the white 18-year-old accused of fatally shooting 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket with domestic terrorism motivated by hate and 10 counts of first-degree murder.

The suspect, who has been in custody since the 14 May shooting, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Erie county court.

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Cali cartel boss Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela dies in US prison

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Rodríguez Orejuela, 83, was a rival of Pablo Escobar and controlled 80% of the global cocaine market

Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, an elderly leader of the Cali cartel – and bitter rival of Pablo Escobar – has died in a US prison, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

Sometimes known by his alias ‘The Chessplayer,’ Rodríguez Orejuela, 83, helped lead the Cali cartel, which once controlled 80% of the global cocaine market, according to a report from the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

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US says Ukraine will not use US-supplied rocket systems to hit Russian territory

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Washington says it has assurances as Moscow warns supply risks ‘third country’ being drawn into war

Ukraine has promised Washington it will not use advanced rocket systems supplied by the US to hit targets inside Russian territory, as Moscow warned that the move risked a “third country” being drawn into the war.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Wednesday that after Joe Biden’s agreement to provide Ukraine with multiple-launch rocket systems, Ukraine had “given us assurances that they will not use these systems against targets on Russian territory”.

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US supreme court blocks Texas law targeting social media rules

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Measure passed by Republican-led legislature seeks to bar platforms from removing user posts based on ‘viewpoint’

The US supreme court temporarily blocked a Texas law that would bar social media companies from removing user posts based on their “viewpoint”, as lower courts battle over whether it would violate first amendment rights.

In a 5-4 decision, the justices granted a request from two technology industry groups that have argued the Republican-backed measure would turn platforms into “havens of the vilest expression imaginable”.

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Biden praises Ardern for ‘galvanising action’ on gun control and climate change

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US president welcomes New Zealand’s PM to Oval Office and speaks of devastation caused by mass shootings

New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has met US president Joe Biden to discuss shared concerns about China’s growing influence in the Pacific, as well as extremism and dealing with the aftermath of mass shootings.

The two leaders spoke for more than an hour, with Biden saying Ardern’s leadership on issues like climate change, violence and extremism was of international importance.

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‘Humble and charismatic’: Uvalde shooting victims mourned at first funerals

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Service for Amerie Jo Garza took place in afternoon and a second scheduled for the evening as 11 funerals planned for this week

The first funeral of a victim of the Uvalde elementary school shooting took place in the small Texas town on Tuesday.

The service, before a second scheduled for the evening, came a week after an 18-year-old gunman who was eventually killed by law enforcement murdered 19 children and two teachers at Robb elementary school.

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Clinton lawyer acquitted of lying to FBI when he briefed them on Trump-Russia links – as it happened

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Jury’s verdict is setback for special counsel John Durham’s search for alleged misconduct in investigation of Trump’s 2016 campaign

• Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer acquitted of lying to the FBI

US supreme court clerks may be required to hand over phone records – report

• ‘We have to do something’: calls mount for Texas gun control laws after latest deadly attack

• Trump aide Peter Navarro ordered to testify before grand jury over January 6

In an unprecedented move, US supreme court clerks may be required to release their phone records as the investigation into who leaked the Roe v Wade opinion draft widens.

The possible mandated release of private cell records and signed affidavits, reported by CNN, is reportedly causing some clerks to consider retaining legal counsel.

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Trump aide Peter Navarro ordered to testify before grand jury over January 6

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Former White House adviser reveals federal subpoena, which also calls for documents to be handed over, in court filing

Peter Navarro, a top White House adviser to Donald Trump, revealed in a court filing on Monday that he had been ordered to testify before a federal grand jury and produce to prosecutors any records concerning January 6, including communications with the former president.

The grand jury subpoena to Navarro, which he said was served by two FBI agents last week, compels him to produce documents to the US attorney for the District of Columbia and could indicate widening justice department action ensnaring senior Trump administration officials.

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