Category Archives: US News

5,000 firefighters tackle wildfires across US south-west

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High winds have hampered operations as crews fight blazes in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico

More than 5,000 firefighters have battled multiple wildland blazes in dry, windy weather across the south-west, including a fire that has destroyed dozens of structures in west Texas and another picking up steam again in New Mexico.

Evacuation orders remained in place on Thursday for residents near the wildfires in Texas, Colorado and New Mexico. High winds prevented officials from sending aircraft to drop retardant or water in many places.

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Pete Buttigieg says US backs new Marshall plan to rebuild Ukraine

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Exclusive: Transportation secretary says there is global support for reconstruction effort to help recovery from Russian invasion

A leading figure in the Biden administration has backed a recovery programme for Ukraine in the style of the Marshall plan, which helped rebuild Europe after the second world war.

Pete Buttigieg, the US transportation secretary, said there was plenty of political will at home and internationally towards cooperating in long-term reconstruction efforts including to buttress existing infrastructure in Ukraine.

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US delegation to fly to UK over Northern Ireland tensions

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Nine-strong delegation led by close Biden ally will also visit Brussels and Dublin in significant intervention on division over Brexit protocol

One of Joe Biden’s closest allies is due to arrive in London on Saturday as part of an influential US congressional delegation seeking to calm tensions over Northern Ireland.

The nine-strong delegation includes Democratic and Republican delegates from the House of Representatives and Senate including members of the powerful ways and means committee chaired by Richard Neal, who will lead the group.

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Pelosi warns changes to Northern Ireland protocol could affect US trade deal with Britain

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Bluntly worded intervention comes as tensions rise over plans by Liz Truss to nullify parts of the protocol

The US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has warned that unilateral UK legislation affecting the Northern Ireland protocol could endanger British prospects for a free trade deal with the US.

Pelosi’s bluntly worded intervention came two days after the UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, confirmed that the government was planning to table legislation that would nullify parts of the protocol by exempting some goods moving between Great Britain and Ireland from EU customs checks.

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Senate bill will help food aid recipients find baby formula amid shortage

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Wic voucher requirements are being waived to allow holders to purchase any brand of infant formula as it becomes available

The Senate approved a bill Thursday aimed at easing the baby formula shortage for families participating in a government assistance program that accounts for about half of all formula purchased in the US.

The House passed the bill the day before, so it now goes to Joe Biden to be signed into law.

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Average price of gas surpasses $6 a gallon for first time in California

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The price is a record high for the state and follows a record high average price nationwide at nearly $4.59 a gallon

The average price of gas in California has surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time ever as fuel costs across the US reach record highs.

Drivers in the Golden state are paying more for a gallon of fuel than anywhere else in the country at an average of $6.06, an all-time high for California and the US, according to AAA. The national average is nearly $4.59 a gallon, also a record, increasing 10 cents since Monday. Meanwhile, in some rural regions of California prices are even higher – fuel costs more than $7 a gallon in Mono county in the state’s east.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets engaged to longtime partner Riley Roberts

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Democratic congresswoman confirms engagement to Roberts, whom she met as a student at Boston University

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a break between visiting Amazon union workers and endorsing progressive candidates to get engaged to her longtime partner Riley Roberts.

Ocasio-Cortez, 32, confirmed to Insider on Thursday that she and Roberts, who met while both were at Boston University, got engaged last month while visiting her parents’ home town in Puerto Rico.

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Oklahoma Republican-led legislature passes nation’s strictest abortion ban

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Bill bans abortion at conception and if signed into law it would allow citizens to sue anyone who ‘aids or abets’ a patient

Oklahoma’s Republican-led legislature passed the nation’s strictest abortion ban on Thursday. The bill, if signed into law, would allows citizens to sue anyone, anywhere who “aids or abets” a patient in terminating a pregnancy.

The bill bans abortion from conception, even before an egg implants in the uterus, and would go into effect immediately if signed by Republican governor, Kevin Stitt. Abortion providers expect he will do so before the coming week.

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Biden takes action on baby formula shortage | First Thing

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US president authorized defense department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies from overseas

Good morning.

As parents across the country continue to struggle to find infant formula to feed their babies, Joe Biden yesterday invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas.

The 1950 law requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfil orders from those companies before other customers.

Biden also authorized the defense department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the US, in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula”.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is streamlining its review process to make it easier for foreign manufacturers to begin shipping more formula into the US.

At the start of May, 43% of baby formula was out of stock at retailers. Read more here on how this crisis came to be.

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Indigenous and Alaska Native women could face escalated violence if Roe is repealed

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They are also two to three times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women, according to the CDC

The repeal of federally protected abortion rights would result in an increase in violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and all those who birth, predicted the director of one of the leading research institutes on Indigenous and Alaska Native people across the US.

“The only option we have right now if this was to be overturned, is to provide the limited resources and support, but it will be limited, especially initially. As a direct result our people are going to suffer,” Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, told the Guardian.

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US reports rare case of monkeypox amid small outbreaks in Europe

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Man who recently traveled to Canada has first case in US this year, but officials are preparing for more

Massachusetts officials on Wednesday reported a rare case of monkeypox in a man who recently traveled to Canada, and health officials are looking into whether it is connected to small outbreaks in Europe.

Monkeypox is typically limited to Africa, and rare cases in the US and elsewhere are usually linked to travel there. A small number of confirmed or suspected cases have been reported this month in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain.

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Biden invokes Defense Production Act to tackle baby formula shortage

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President also authorizes Pentagon to use commercial aircraft to import supplies amid growing political pressure

Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant.

The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Biden is also authorizing the defense department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the US, in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula”.

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US stock markets fall sharply as investors worry about recession

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Dow Jones sinks more than 1,100 points as S&P closes down 4%, its largest fall since June 2020, and Nasdaq loses 4.7%

The wild ride on the US stock markets continued on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sinking more than 1,100 points as investors worried about a looming recession.

All of the major US markets fell sharply, with the S&P closing down 4%, its largest fall since June 2020, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq losing 4.7%.

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The person in the room? US court mulls if elephant has human rights

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Nonhuman Rights Project argues that Happy the elephant’s right to ‘bodily liberty’ is being violated at the Bronx Zoo

Happy, by species, is an Asian elephant. But can she also be considered a person?

That question was before New York’s highest court on Wednesday in a closely watched case over whether a basic human right can be extended to an animal.

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White House braced for North Korean nuclear test during Biden’s Asia trip

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National security adviser says intelligence reflects ‘long-range missile test or a nuclear test, or frankly both’

The White House is braced for a North Korean missile or nuclear test while Joe Biden is on a trip to South Korea and Japan, which begins on Friday.

The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Wednesday: “Our intelligence does reflect the genuine possibility that there will be either a further missile test, including long-range missile test, or a nuclear test, or frankly both in the days leading into, on or after the president’s trip to the region.

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US withdrawal triggered catastrophic defeat of Afghan forces, damning watchdog report finds

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Report by special inspector general blames Trump and Biden administrations, as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani

Afghan armed forces collapsed last year because they had been made dependent on US support that was abruptly withdrawn in the face of a Taliban offensive, according to a scathing assessment by a US government watchdog.

A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) on the catastrophic defeat that led to the fall of Kabul on 15 August, blamed the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani.

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Former police officer pleads guilty to manslaughter in George Floyd killing

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Thomas Lane agrees to spend three years in prison after accepting guilty plea, a year after Derek Chauvin convicted of murder

A former Minneapolis police officer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to manslaughter in the murder of George Floyd and agreed to spend three years in state prison, officials said.

Thomas Lane’s plea to a count of aiding and abetting manslaughter came a year after his former colleague Derek Chauvin, who was recorded by a bystander killing Floyd by kneeling on his neck, was convicted of murder and sentenced to more than two decades in prison.

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‘Amazing and loyal’ dog defends woman from mountain lion attack in California

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Erin Wilson says Eva jumped to her defense and was badly wounded in protecting her after the cougar attacked during a walk

A woman who was attacked by a mountain lion in northern California says her dog jumped to her defense and was badly wounded in protecting her.

“I don’t think I will ever be able to live up to how amazing and loyal she is to me,” Erin Wilson told the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday.

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US primary elections: Dr Oz tied with McCormick in test of Trump’s influence on Republicans – live

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Joe Biden will welcome the prime minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, and the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö to Washington tomorrow.

It will be a very visual symbol of US support for those two European, Russia-adjacent nations joining the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato).

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Ringling Bros circus returns after five years – without animals

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Famous circus ended 146-year-run in January 2017 after customer sales declined in wake of criticism over animal acts

“The Greatest Show on Earth” is making a comeback – without animal acts – five years after shutting down its three-ring circus, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey announced on Wednesday.

The interactive live show will launch in September next year, celebrating performers from around the world “displaying incredible feats that push the limits of human potential”, the Florida-based company said in a news release.

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