Category Archives: US News

Soldier in Texas border operation missing and feared to have drowned

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Officials dismiss reports that body of soldier, who was part of a security operation overseen by governor, has been found

A Texas national guard soldier who was part of a border security operation overseen by the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, went missing on Friday amid fears the soldier might have drowned in the Rio Grande.

The Texas military department said the disappearance occurred in the river in Eagle Pass during a mission associated with Abbott’s so-called Operation Lone Star.

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Lifting of Covid mask mandate on US transportation horrifies health experts

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Warning that ‘This is not the time to be pulling back on mitigation measures’ as CDC appeals judge’s overturning of face-covering rule

When the US federal government’s mandate requiring masks on transportation was lifted this week, reports of celebration ensued.

Videos were shared of people removing their masks and cheering, music was blasted over plane speakers, pilots shared the news from the cockpit and flight attendants jumped with joy.

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Kevin McCarthy said Trump recognized ‘some responsibility’ for Capitol attack, report says – as it happened

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The questioning moves on to Greene’s use of social media to communicate with her “hundreds of thousands of followers” and possibly millions of other people. There is extensive argument about what Greene tweeted about the 2020 election and whether it was fraudulent, and what she was trying to tell her Twitter followers.

Things are not proceeding smoothly. The court did swear Greene in, even though the prosecutor thought it didn’t. He then asks: “Can I ask the court to acknowledge that this is an adverse witness?”

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Biden: Republicans’ Disney law shows ‘far right has taken over party’

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Florida strips company of self-governing power for opposing Governor Ron DeSantis’s ‘don’t say gay’ law

For Joe Biden, the vote by Florida Republicans on Thursday to strip Disney of its self-governing powers was a step too far.

“Christ, they’re going after Mickey Mouse,” the president exclaimed at a fundraiser in Oregon, in apparent disbelief that state governor Ron DeSantis’s culture wars had reached the gates of the Magic Kingdom.

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Donald Trump Jr to appear before House Capitol attack panel – report

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The meeting comes in the wake of other family members such as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner testifying to the committee

Donald Trump Jr. has agreed to meet in the near future with the US House of Representatives panel that is investigating the 6 January 2021, attack on the US Capitol, the New York Times reported Thursday, citing a source.

Trump, the eldest son of former president Donald Trump, is set to meet with the House committee of his own will and without the threat of a subpoena, the outlet said without reporting when the testimony was scheduled.

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‘Democracy will wither’: Barack Obama outlines perils of unregulated big tech in sweeping speech

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In a keynote address at Stanford University, the former president made his most extensive remarks yet about the tech landscape

Technology companies must be reined in to address the “weakening of democratic institutions around the world”, Barack Obama said Thursday, in a sweeping keynote speech on the perils of disinformation.

Speaking at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, the former president made his most extensive remarks yet about the technology landscape, which he said is “turbo-charging some of humanity’s worst impulses”.

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Disney to lose special tax status for opposing Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ bill

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Governor Ron DeSantis is set to sign bill revoking 1967 law allowing Disney to self-govern a roughly 25,000-acre Orlando area

Florida legislators passed a bill on Thursday that would revoke Walt Disney Co’s special tax status in a move widely seen as tit-for-tat for the company’s opposition to a new “don’t say gay” state law limiting discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in schools.

The bill now heads to the desk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who is all but guaranteed to sign it.

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Ex-president of Honduras extradited to US on drugs charges

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Juan Orlando Hernández accused of involvement with drug cartels and related weapons charges

US Drug Enforcement Administration agents have extradited the Honduran former president Juan Orlando Hernández to New York, where he will face federal drug trafficking and weapons charges.

Honduran national police delivered a handcuffed Hernández to DEA agents at the Tegucigalpa airport just over two months after he was arrested outside his home on 15 February following an extradition request from the US Department of Justice.

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Pandemic disrupted routine vaccinations of US kindergarteners

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About 350,000 fewer children were vaccinated against preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough, CDC reports

Yet another hidden cost of Covid-19 was revealed on Thursday as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented new data showing how the pandemic has dramatically impeded the US effort to vaccinate kids for other diseases.

According to the CDC’s report, national vaccine coverage among American children in kindergarten dropped from 95% to below 94% in the past year – which may seem like a small amount but meant 350,000 fewer children were vaccinated against common diseases.

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Florida Republicans pass congressional map severely limiting Black voter power

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Plan drawn by Ron DeSantis gives Republicans a significant boost and is one of the most aggressively gerrymandered maps in US

Florida Republicans approved a new congressional map that severely curtails Black voting power in the state on Thursday, taking a final vote as Black lawmakers staged a sit-in on the floor of the legislature.

The new plan, which was drawn by Governor Ron DeSantis, gives Republicans a significant boost in the state and is one of the most aggressively gerrymandered maps passed in recent months. Republicans would be expected to win 20 of the state’s 28 congressional districts, a four seat increase from the 16 they hold now. It also eliminates two of four districts where Black voters have been able to elect the candidate of their choice.

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Biden announces another $800m in military aid for Ukraine: ‘We’re in a critical window’ – as it happened

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Here are some more details from the defense department on the new $800m military assistance package to Ukraine:

For those keeping track on how much the US has provided Ukraine so far in military assistance:

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US Capitol evacuated as baseball parachute display seen as ‘probable threat’

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  • Army parachutists landed at home of Washington Nationals
  • Congressional staffers as police alert of possible threat

The US Capitol was briefly evacuated on Wednesday evening after police identified an aircraft that they said posed “a probable threat” to the heart of American government.

The plane turned out to be members of the US Army Golden Knights, who parachuted into Nationals Park for a pregame display. The stadium, home of the Washington Nationals baseball team, is a little more than a mile away from the Capitol.

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Putin orders blockade of Mariupol steelworks | First Thing

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Russia changes tactics as US warns of risk of cyber-attacks on Ukraine’s allies. Plus, Trump campaign ordered to pay Omarosa Manigault Newman over $1.3m

Good morning.

Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian forces to blockade the Mariupol steelworks rather than storming the area, after his defence minister admitted thousands of Ukrainian troops continued to resist there.

Facebook posts disputing evidence of alleged war crimes in Bucha have been shared hundreds of thousands of times, analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue has found.

Russian forces are moving towards Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, British intelligence suggests, while Putin likely wants to demonstrate “significant successes” ahead of 9 May Victory Day celebrations.

Russia has fined Google 11m roubles ($137,000) for failing to delete what it called “fake” information about the Ukraine war.

What did the memoir say? Among other allegations, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House included the claim that the Trump was a “racist” who used the N-word. She also released audio recordings of Trump officials.

Is this the first Trump NDA case? No – the former president has lost other cases, including by a former campaign worker who said he forcibly kissed her.

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Rust fined maximum amount by New Mexico for failures that led to gun death

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State officials deliver highest level of rebuke and say production demonstrated ‘plain indifference’ to employee safety

The state of New Mexico on Wednesday issued its maximum citation against the producers of the western movie Rust for safety lapses before what the authorities called the “avoidable” shooting death of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming last autumn.

An investigation into Hutchins’ death found the company, Rust Movie Productions, knew firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and demonstrated “plain indifference” to employee safety, the New Mexico environment department said in a statement.

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Tesla revenues beat expectations in tumultuous period for Elon Musk

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Electric car company reports $18.8bn in revenue for the first quarter, up 81% from a year before

Tesla surpassed Wall Street estimates for its first-quarter revenue and profit Wednesday, despite a tumultuous few months for its CEO, Elon Musk, and ongoing supply chain concerns.

The electric car manufacturer reported $18.8bn in revenue for Q1 of 2022, up 81% from a year earlier. The report beat analyst expectations of $17.8bn, sending Tesla shares up 4% in after hours trading.

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Joe Biden weighs appeal as judge’s lifting of travel mask mandate sows confusion – live

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Ruling by district court judge in Florida that Covid-19 measure was illegal is opposed by 49% of Americans, poll shows

Defense secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his counterpart in China today for the first time since Austin became Pentagon chief more than a year ago, breaking a communications stalemate that had American officials concerned amid the possibility that Beijing might provide military support to Russia in its war on Ukraine, the Associated Press is reporting.

Austin had requested the telephone call with general Wei Fenghe after months of failed efforts to speak with general Xu Qiliang, the highest ranking uniformed officer in the Communist Party military structure.

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Johnny Depp details severed finger incident in court: ‘Nothing made sense’

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Actor continues testimony on his life and marriage with Amber Heard, including events that marked the end of their relationship

Johnny Depp’s courtroom exploration of his life and marriage with Amber Heard continued in the US on Wednesday, with the court viewing a photograph of the actor’s partially severed finger.

Depp testified that Heard had become enraged when he had started drinking in Australia during the filming of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise films and had thrown a bottle of vodka at him, severing the top of his finger.

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‘Wall of fire’ sends residents of more than 700 homes fleeing in Arizona

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Wildfire doubles in size overnight as wind gusts of up to 50mph kick up flames as high as 100ft outside a tourist town

An Arizona wildfire doubled in size overnight into Wednesday, a day after heavy winds kicked up a towering wall of flames outside a northern Arizona tourist and college town.

Flames as high as 100ft raced through an area of scattered homes, dry grass and Ponderosa pine trees on the outskirts of Flagstaff as wind gusts of up to 50mph pushed the Tunnel fire over a major highway. The blaze has ripped through two dozen structures and sent residents of more than 700 homes scrambling to flee.

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A$AP Rocky arrested at Los Angeles airport in connection to 2021 shooting

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Rapper was detained at LAX in connection to a November 2021 shooting not previously reported in the media

A$AP Rocky was detained at Los Angeles international airport on Wednesday in connection to a November 2021 shooting, NBC News reported.

The 33-year-old rapper, legal name Rakim Mayers, was returning from vacation in Barbados with his girlfriend, Rihanna, when he was arrested by the Los Angeles police department with assistance from Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s homeland security investigations team. The couple are expecting a child this spring.

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Scott Morrison fends off claim Solomon Islands-China pact is worst foreign policy failure since 1945

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Prime minister defends Canberra’s ‘calibrated’ approach to Honiara and tries to turn criticism back on Labor

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has fended off accusations that he is responsible for “the worst Australian foreign policy failure” in the Pacific since the end of the second world war after the Solomon Islands struck a new security pact with China.

Labor has seized on the new agreement as evidence that Australia has been asleep at the wheel while China has cemented its influence in the region, with leader Anthony Albanese saying more should have been done to prevent it from going ahead.

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