Category Archives: US News

‘You are a jackass’: video of Rudy Giuliani rant at Israel parade goes viral

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Former Trump lawyer hurls profanities at parade attender in New York City days after reportedly testifying with January 6 panel

With a reporter’s cellphone recording him, Donald Trump’s sometime lawyer Rudy Giuliani hurled profanities at a pro-Israel parade attender in New York City and said, “You are probably as demented as Biden.”

The video of the former New York mayor’s verbal clash had racked up more than 440,000 views on Monday morning, just two days after he reportedly met for hours with the US House committee investigating the deadly Capitol riots on 6 January 2021.

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Zelenskiy urges ‘maximum sanctions’ against Russia in Davos speech

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Ukrainian president tells business leaders they need to decide whether ‘brute force’ should rule the world

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged the west to intensify its economic sanctions against Russia as he said business leaders in Davos needed to decide whether “brute force” should rule the world.

In a keynote video address to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Zelenskiy called for a full oil embargo, the severing of Russian banks from the global financial system, the complete isolation of the Russian IT sector and a ban on trade with Russia.

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US would defend Taiwan if attacked by China, says Joe Biden

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President says US’s responsibility to protect island is ‘even stronger’ after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Joe Biden has said the US would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan if it came under attack from China, in an unusually forceful presidential statement in support of self-governing that drew a defiant response from Beijing.

Speaking in Tokyo on the second day of his visit to Japan, and against the backdrop of growing concern over Chinese military activity in the region, Biden said the US’s responsibility to protect the self-ruled island – which China considers a renegade province – was “even stronger” after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Up to 100 Ukrainians dying every day in east, Zelenskiy says | First Thing

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Ukraine rules out any ceasefire deal that involves ceding territory to Russia as the conflict makes its mark in Davos. Plus, Putin’s gift to Londoners damaged

Good morning.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said 50 to 100 Ukrainians are dying every day on the war’s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties. The Ukrainian president’s comments were made as he prepares to address the World Economic Forum in Davos.

How is Russia retaliating against what it has called hostile US actions? Russia has released a list of 963 Americans it said were banned from entering the country, a punctuation of previously announced moves against president Joe Biden and other senior US officials.

What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 89 of the invasion.

What is the US position on Taiwan? In accordance with Beijing’s “one-China principle”, the US acknowledges Beijing’s position that there is only one Chinese government and does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. But it maintains unofficial contact, including a de facto embassy, and supplies it with military equipment.

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Trader Joe’s workers push to unionize amid wave of organizing efforts

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Branch in Hadley, Massachusetts, would be the first unionized store out of more than 530 locations in the US

Organizers have begun a unionization campaign at the upscale supermarket chain Trader Joe’s after workers at a branch in Hadley, Massachusetts, announced they were forming a union and intend to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election.

It would be the first unionized Trader Joe’s store out of more than 530 locations in the US. Workers are organizing independently, citing the similar framework of the Amazon Labor Union, which is not affiliated with traditional, established labor unions.

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Tiny Texas community shaken by arrest of official over cattle rustling

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Loving county judge and top official, Skeet Lee Jones, 71, is alleged to have taken stray cattle and sold them

A senior county official in west Texas has been arrested over cattle rustling in a case that has stirred up anger in the tiny community of Loving.

Skeet Lee Jones, 71, a judge and chief elected official in the county, faces three counts of theft of livestock worth less than $150,000 and one of engaging in organised criminal activity after his arrest on Friday, the sheriff of neighbouring Winkler county, Darin Mitchell, said on Sunday.

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UN denounces ‘homophobic and racist’ reporting on monkeypox spread

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Some media portrayals of cases among African and LGBTI people fueling blame, agency says, as infections reported in Europe, US and Australia

The United Nations’ Aids agency has called some reporting on the monkeypox virus racist and homophobic, warning of exacerbating stigma and undermining the response to the growing outbreak.

UNAIDS said “a significant proportion” of recent monkeypox cases have been identified among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

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Shapiro: ‘Dangerous’ Republican rival Mastriano could override will of voters

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Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania governor says if Mastriano wins he could wield power to choose his own slate of electors and overturn presidential election results

Josh Shapiro, who was nominated this week as the Democrats’ candidate for governor in the electorally critical state of Pennsylvania, has accused his Republican rival of intending to override the democratic will of voters and pick his own winners in future elections.

Shapiro launched his attack on Doug Mastriano in an interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. He called Mastriano, a far-right state senator, “dangerous and divisive” and warned that were he to become Pennsylvania’s governor he could wield power to choose his own slate of presidential electors as a means of overturning the results of the 2024 presidential election.

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Couple say they killed bear who charged through window and attacked them

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Wisconsin couple say they stabbed bear with a kitchen knife and then killed animal with a firearm after it attacked them at home

A Wisconsin couple say they killed a bear who attacked them inside their home after they spotted it eating from their bird feeder.

The Taylor county sheriff’s office said the attack happened at about 11pm Friday at a home near Medford in north-central Wisconsin. The couple told authorities that the bear charged through a window after they yelled at it to go away.

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Arkansas Republican admits abortion trigger law would cause ‘heartbreak’ if Roe is reversed

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Governor Asa Hutchinson signed near-total abortion ban bill, even though he disagreed with the lack of exceptions for incest and rape

The Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, has admitted that an anti-abortion trigger law that he signed on to the books would lead to “heartbreaking circumstances” if Roe v Wade is overturned, in which girls as young as 11 who became pregnant through rape or incest would be forced to give birth.

Hutchinson’s remarks give a revealing insight into the twisted human and political quandaries that are certain to arise should the US supreme court, as expected, destroy the constitutional right to an abortion enshrined in Roe v Wade when it issues its ruling next month. The governor told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that in 2019 he had signed the Arkansas trigger law, Senate Bill 6, which would ban almost all abortions the instant Roe were reversed, even though he disagreed with its lack of exceptions for incest and rape.

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Baby formula shipment arrives from Europe, providing ‘some relief’ for US families

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Biden economic adviser says US to see more baby formula on shelves as 70,000lb of product lands in Indianapolis on Sunday

A top White House economic adviser on Sunday said he was hopeful there would be more baby formula on American store shelves this upcoming week, especially after a plane full of the product arrived from an airbase in Germany.

Brian Deese, the director of the National Economic Council, told CNN State of the Union host Dana Bash that the plane carrying 70,000lb of baby formula – enough for half a million bottles – from Ramstein airbase in Germany which landed in Indianapolis on Sunday morning should cover about 15% of the product’s nationwide shortage. About 45% of baby formula products were out of stock across the US last week, according to figures that Bash cited during her interview of Deese, who didn’t dispute them.

“We’re going to see more formula … in stores starting as early as this week,” said Deese, adding that the incoming Nestlé product was “a specialty medical grade formula, the type that we most need in this market”.

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‘I’m not afraid’: after Buffalo racist attack, Black residents remain unbowed by terror

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If the alleged mass murderer’s goal was to inflict terror, then the man responsible for this trauma failed miserably

Less than an hour after the city of Buffalo, New York, took a 123-second pause on Saturday to memorialize the victims of the terrorist attack that shook the city a week ago, June Bloomfield held her own moment of silence.

Standing outside the Tops Market, the only grocery store in the area, where white supremacy stole the lives of 10 people, Bloomfield’s tears were obscured by sunglasses, a mask and her quiet resolve. “It’s not fear”, she said, trying to summon the words that described her feelings. “It’s … All I can say is, I’m not afraid.”

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Russia bans 963 Americans from entering country

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List includes Biden and other senior officials, but not Trump, as country says it is retaliating against what it calls hostile US actions

Russia on Saturday released a list of 963 Americans it said were banned from entering the country, a punctuation of previously announced moves against president Joe Biden and other senior US officials.

The country, which has received global condemnation for its 24 February invasion of Ukraine, said it would continue to retaliate against what it called hostile US actions, Reuters reported.

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Biden says ‘everybody’ should be concerned about spread of monkeypox

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National security adviser assures public that the US has a ‘vaccine that is relevant to treating’ virus

Joe Biden said Sunday that “everybody” should be worried about the spread of monkeypox recently, and his national security adviser assured the public that the US has a “vaccine that is relevant to treating” the virus.

During an official visit to South Korea, Biden told reporters, “They haven’t told me the level of exposure yet but it is something that everybody should be concerned about.” The president, who was speaking at Osan airbase, also added: “It is a concern in that if it were to spread it would be consequential.”

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‘I still owe $123,379’: pressure grows on Biden to tackle student loan debt

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Many have been paying thousands of dollars in interest alone, with their principal debt hardly affected despite monthly payments

In 2001, Karen Herrera of Minnesota took advice from a Sallie Mae representative to consolidate her student loan debt with her husband’s. They both worked in the public sector, but due to their type of loans, they did not qualify for public service forgiveness. Herrera lost her job in 2009 due to the economic recession, and though the couple filed for bankruptcy, their student loan debts remained.

Herrera and her husband have continued to make monthly payments throughout the pandemic, as their loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program were not eligible for the pause on payments.

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US air force academy cadets denied commission over vaccine refusal

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Trio will receive college degrees but will not be commissioned ‘as long as they remain unvaccinated’, spokesperson says

For refusing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, three US air force academy cadets won’t be commissioned as military officers, though they will receive college degrees, a spokesperson for the school said Saturday.

Academy spokesperson Dean Miller said in a statement that the three cadets in question won’t be commissioned as air force officers “as long as they remain unvaccinated,” though they would get their bachelor’s of science degrees. The military branch had not decided yet whether to require the trio to reimburse the US for education costs in lieu of service, Miller said.

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Human skull found by Minnesota kayakers 8,000 years old, experts say

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Skull discovered in drought-depleted Minnesota River last summer to be returned to Native American officials

Native American officials will be given a partial skull discovered last summer by two kayakers in Minnesota after investigations determined it was about 8,000 years old.

The kayakers found the skull in the drought-depleted Minnesota River about 110 miles (180km) west of Minneapolis, Renville county sheriff Scott Hable said.

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US heatwave brings historically high temperatures to dozens of states

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Temperatures between 20 and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east, with Washington set to hit 96F (35.5C)

Dozens of states across the US began the weekend grappling with historically high spring temperatures, as a blistering heatwave that has scorched the country’s south and west moves east.

The early arrival of sweltering weather, before what’s expected to be another hot, dry summer, is forecast to break or tie roughly 130 heat records for this time of year, with temperatures between 20F and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east.

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Monkeypox outbreak: WHO working on sexual contact theory, top adviser says

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David Heymann says experts developing guidance for countries, as New York City resident tests positive for Orthopoxvirus

A senior adviser for the World Health Organization has said the monkeypox outbreak seems to be spreading through sexual contact, and warned that case numbers could spike over the summer months as people attend major summer gatherings and festivals.

David Heymann, chair of the WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential, led a meeting of the group on Friday “because of the urgency of the situation”.

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San Francisco archbishop bars Pelosi from communion over abortion stance

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Ultra conservative Salvatore Cordileone accuses pro-choice House speaker of failing to ‘understand the grave evil she is perpetrating’

The Roman Catholic archbishop in Nancy Pelosi’s home town of San Francisco has banned her from receiving communion there over her staunch support of abortion rights, which she has strengthened as supreme court justices weigh finalizing a draft ruling outlawing the termination of pregnancies in more than half the county.

In a letter addressed to the US House speaker and posted on his Twitter account, ultra conservative Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone argued that Pelosi’s “position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months,” and he had decided to block her from communion after she had ignored his requests to explain her stance to him.

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