Category Archives: US News

Biden accuses Vladimir Putin of committing genocide | First Thing

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US president says Russian leader ‘trying to wipe out the idea of even being Ukrainian’. Plus, the first youth-led climate case to go to trial

Good morning.

Joe Biden has accused Russia of carrying out genocide in Ukraine, saying that Vladimir Putin is “trying to wipe out the idea of even being Ukrainian”.

What did Biden say? “More evidence is coming out of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine. And we’re going to only learn more and more about the devastation. We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me.”

What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 49 of the invasion.

Do we know anything about the suspect? As of late Tuesday night, officials had no one in police custody, but authorities named Frank James, 62, as a person of interest in connection to the shooting. A $50,000 reward has been offered for information.

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US teen overdose deaths double in three years amid fentanyl crisis

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Deaths rise even as teen drug use drops overall, with researchers pointing to flood of deadly counterfeit pills

Drug overdose deaths among high school-aged US teens have more than doubled since 2019, driven by a rise in the deadly opioid fentanyl, a new study has found.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, who analyzed mortality rates among 14- to 18-year-olds over the past decade, found that while drug use among this age group is actually falling, fatalities are on the rise, jumping from 492 in 2019 to 954 in 2020, then climbing to 1,146 in 2021.

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Brooklyn subway attack: NYPD names ‘person of interest’ – live

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A press conference updating on the Brooklyn subway shooting that happened this morning in the Sunset Park neighborhood just wrapped up, with officials updating that 16 people were injured in today’s attack, including 10 people who were shot, and five people who are in critical but stable condition.

Officials also noted that other injuries from the incident included smoke inhalation, shrapnel, or panic induced from the incident, but said that the shrapnel was not from an explosive device.

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California jogger Sherri Papini admits faking her kidnapping in plea deal

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Papini will plead guilty to lying to authorities and mail fraud over 2016 incident that led to three-week search

Sherri Papini, the northern California woman charged last month with faking her kidnapping in 2016, accepted a plea bargain with prosecutors on Tuesday and acknowledged she had made up the story that prompted a frantic search and international headlines.

Her defense attorney William Portanova said his client would plead guilty to charges of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud.

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Brooklyn shooting: over 20 injured, including 10 shot, in subway attack

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Biden says ‘we’re not letting up until we find the perpetrator’ as manhunt under way for shooter

A gunman wearing a gas mask filled a crowded New York subway car with thick black smoke from a canister and opened fire on morning rush-hour passengers, injuring more than 20, including 10 with gunshot wounds.

A manhunt was under way on Tuesday after the shooter, described as a heavy-built Black male about 5ft 5in tall, wearing a green construction-type vest and hooded grey sweatshirt, fled the scene of the shooting. Officers were searching for a U-Haul truck with an Arizona license plate as of Tuesday afternoon, police told multiple media outlets, and the vehicle was later found.

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New York lieutenant governor quits after arrest on bribery and fraud charges

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Democrat Brian Benjamin pleads not guilty to several charges, as arrest creates political crisis for governor Kathy Hochul

New York’s lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, resigned on Tuesday in the wake of his arrest in a federal corruption investigation, the state’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said.

The development created a political crisis for Hochul seven months after she selected Benjamin as a partner to make a fresh start in an office rocked by scandal after Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.

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Mexican truckers blockade border crossings over Texas inspection delays

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Business groups warn of supply chain disruptions after Governor Greg Abbott orders checks for people and contraband smuggling

Mexican truck drivers have blockaded bridges at the border with the United States for a second day to protest against an order by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, to increase safety inspections that has snarled traffic at ports of entry and led business groups to warn of supply chain disruptions.

“Yesterday it took me 17 hours to cross into the United States and return,” said Raymundo Galicia, a Mexican driver participating in a protest at the Santa Teresa bridge connecting San Jerónimo, Chihuahua, to Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

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Gilbert Gottfried, comedian and actor, dies aged 67

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The standup comic, also known for voicing Iago in Disney’s animated Aladdin, has died after a long illness

Comedian and actor Gilbert Gottfried has died at the age of 67.

His family announced his death after a long illness via his Twitter page. Gottfried was known for his standup comedy and for roles in films including Aladdin and Problem Child.

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Gay references removed from Fantastic Beasts 3 for Chinese release

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Big-budget fantasy sequel has had six seconds cut, as Warner Bros releases statement to say ‘the spirit of the film remains intact’

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has been edited for release in China to ensure any gay references have been removed.

The fantasy sequel, which has an estimated budget of $200m, contains allusions to a romantic history between the characters of Dumbledore and Grindelwald, played by Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen respectively. Six seconds of dialogue, including the lines “Because I was in love with you” and “The summer Gellert and I fell in love”, were taken out for the Chinese release on 8 April.

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US tells some consulate staff to leave Shanghai as Covid outbreak worsens

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State department cites risk of children and parents being separated as EU warns zero-Covid strategy eroding investor confidence

The US has said it has asked all its non-essential staff and their family members at the Shanghai consulate to leave, in Washington’s latest response to the financial hub’s handling of the worsening Covid outbreak.

The state department ordered the departure “due to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak” there, according to a spokesperson from its Beijing embassy. “It is best for our employees and their families to be reduced in number and our operations to be scaled down as we deal with the changing circumstances on the ground,” the person said on Tuesday.

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Philadelphia becomes first major US city to reinstate indoor mask mandate

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Covid-19 cases have risen more than 50% in 10 days, the threshold at which city’s guidelines call for masking indoors

Philadelphia on Monday became the first major US city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, with the city’s top health official saying she wanted to forestall a potential new wave driven by an Omicron sub-variant.

Confirmed Covid-19 cases had risen more than 50% in 10 days, the threshold at which the city’s guidelines called for people to wear masks indoors, said Dr Cheryl Bettigole, Philadelphia health commissioner.

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San Francisco police stop self-driving car – and find nobody inside, video shows

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Clip prompts amusement online as car stops, then drives across an intersection, leaving police behind

A video recently posted online shows what happens when police try to apprehend an autonomous vehicle – only to find nobody inside.

Police in San Francisco stopped a vehicle operated by Cruise, an autonomous car company backed by General Motors, in a video posted on 1 April. Officers approached the car, which had been driving without headlights, only to find it was empty.

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California university sues YouTubers who allegedly filmed disruptive pranks

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A judge also granted a restraining order to the pair accused of terrorizing students who ‘provoked extreme fear and anxiety’

A pair of YouTubers are facing a lawsuit and a restraining order after allegedly filming themselves disrupting classes at the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles and uploading footage of the staged pranks online.

The University of Southern California sued Ernest Kanevsky and Yuguo Bai over the incidents, USC Annenberg Media reported last week. A judge granted a restraining order banning Kanevsky and Bai, who are not USC students, from campus after university attorneys said the pranks had terrorized “students to the point where they are running out of lecture halls for fear of their lives”.

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Britney Spears is pregnant with third child, Instagram post suggests

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Announcement comes after singer was released from conservatorship she says required her to stay on birth control

Britney Spears has apparently revealed she is pregnant with her third child, months after she was released from a conservatorship that she said prevented her from marrying and having additional children.

The Toxic singer shared the news in a post on Instagram on Monday, saying she had taken a pregnancy test after her partner, Sam Asghari, had teased her about being “food pregnant”.

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Biden vows to crack down on ghost guns – ‘weapons of choice for many criminals’

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President promises to tackle gun violence and vows prosecution for those who use untraceable guns assembled from kits

Joe Biden has announced a crackdown on “ghost guns”, untraceable firearms assembled from kits that have been used in a rising number of shooting crimes.

The US president, who promised to tackle gun violence across America, said the new rule would make it easier for law enforcement officials to track and catch those who use illegal firearms.

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Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ bill inspired a chilling wave of Republican legislation

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Anti-LGBTQ+ measures among more than 156 bills targeting issues of identity, says PEN report

Since Florida passed its controversial “don’t say gay” bill, conservative states across America have been advancing similar bills as they attempt to ban the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms.

Last month, Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed into law the Parental Rights in Education bill. The law prohibits all discussion of sexuality and gender identity in schools, a move that advocates say will “erase” LGBTQ+ students and history.

This article was amended on 11 April 2022. An earlier version of the standfirst suggested all 156 bills in question related to LGBTQ+ issues.

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Joe Biden vows to tackle ‘grave threat’ of untraceable ‘ghost guns’ – as it happened

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The Democrat with perhaps the best chance to unseat Chuck Grassley, the Republican senator from Iowa, in the midterm elections in November has been knocked off the 7 June primary ballot – for now.

As the Associated Press reports, late on Sunday a state judge ruled that Abby Finkenauer cannot appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary, because of a technicality.

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Family sues LA Angels after stray baseball fractured boy’s skull

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Bryson Galaz was six years old when ball hit his head, causing brain damage, during warmup at Angel Stadium in Anaheim

The family of a boy who suffered a fractured skull and brain damage after being hit with a baseball during the warmup for a Los Angeles Angels game has sued the Angels, claiming negligence on the team’s part.

In 2019, Bryson Galaz, who was then six years old, was walking with his father in the first row of Angel Stadium, where players were mingling with fans more than an hour and half prior to the game, the lawsuit said. Bryson was struck on the side of his head when Keynan Middleton, an Angels pitcher who was warming up on the field, threw a ball at a teammate who missed the catch.

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Job ad for US bureau of prisons highlights patients’ mental illness as recruiting tool

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Some readers offended by its reference to high rates of mental illness among incarcerated people to attract psychologists

Psychologists who work for the bureau that runs federal prisons in the US can treat incarcerated people with every mental illness imaginable, according to an employment ad that stirred controversy on social media.

The ad, bought by the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on Facebook as part of a broader campaign, asks readers to flip to any page in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a standard US text.

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Sword found hidden in cane during X-ray scan at Logan airport

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Man carrying the cane said he had no idea it concealed a sword and was able to catch his flight after it was confiscated

A man passing through a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) checkpoint was stopped for having a sword concealed in his cane – and claimed he had no idea the blade was there.

Around noon last Tuesday, TSA officers at Logan airport in Boston were searching the traveler, a Massachusetts resident headed to New York.

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