Category Archives: US News

Global heating linked to early birth and damage to babies’ health, scientists find

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Exclusive: Studies show high temperatures and air pollution during pregnancy can cause lifelong health effects

The climate crisis is damaging the health of foetuses, babies and infants across the world, six new studies have found.

Scientists discovered increased heat was linked to fast weight gain in babies, which increases the risk of obesity in later life. Higher temperatures were also linked to premature birth, which can have lifelong health effects, and to increased hospital admissions of young children.

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Joe Biden’s low point: can the president revive his sinking popularity?

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After a week of setbacks, some analysts say time is running short to impress voters ahead of the November polls

Even for a White House familiar with roadblocks and frustration, Thursday’s setbacks on vaccine mandates and voting rights came as hammer blows.

Aside from the immediate derailing of two key policy tenets of Joe Biden’s administration, the vaccine ruling by the supreme court, which quickly followed Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema’s public assassination of his voting reform efforts, prompted a new round of questions over whether his presidency was doomed.

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Is the US nearing its Covid peak? Experts warn against letting guard down

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Cases seem to be subsiding in states with high vaccination rates, but observers are reluctant to make firm predictions

In February 2021, Dr Craig Spencer wrote in a Medium post that he was as “eager as anyone to see the end of this pandemic. Thankfully, that may be in sight”.

“Covid cases and hospitalizations are dropping,” wrote Spencer, director of Global Health in Emergency Medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. “Vaccines are getting into arms. So, what happens next?”

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Lawsuit claims Facebook and Google CEOs were aware of deal to control advertising sales

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Newly revealed documents from the complaint against Google shed light on potential advertising sales manipulation

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were allegedly aware of and approved a deal to collaborate on the potential manipulation of advertising sales, according to newly revealed documents.

The documents, which came to light on Friday, were filed as part of a lawsuit against Google brought by the attorneys general of multiple US states. The lawsuit was first filed in December 2020 and claimed Google misled publishers and advertisers about the price and process of advertising auctions. At that time, many documents and parts of the lawsuit were redacted, but court rulings have since made them public.

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Virginia Giuffre seeks testimony from Prince Andrew’s former assistant

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Attorneys say they have ‘reason to believe’ that Robert Olney has ‘relevant information’ about duke’s relationship with Epstein

Prince Andrew’s longtime accuser Virginia Giuffre is seeking testimony from his former equerry, according to court papers in her sexual abuse lawsuit against the royal.

Giuffre’s attorneys said on Friday that they had “reason to believe” that Robert Olney, the Duke of York’s past assistant, has “relevant information about Prince Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein”.

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US ‘concerned’ Russia preparing for an invasion in Ukraine – live

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The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, is now holding her daily briefing with reporters, and she opened her remarks with an important announcement about Joe Biden’s schedule.

The president will hold a formal press conference next Wednesday at 4pm, as he marks one year in office.

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US claims Russia planning ‘false-flag’ operation to justify Ukraine invasion

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  • Officials: Moscow has already positioned saboteurs in Ukraine
  • Allegation arrives on day Ukraine hit by ‘massive’ cyber-attack

The US has alleged Russia has already positioned saboteurs in Ukraine to carry out a “false flag” operation to use as a pretext for a Russian attack, which Washington says could begin in the coming month.

The allegations came on the same day as a large-scale cyber-attack on Ukrainian government websites, and amid new reports of Russian military hardware on the move from the far east heading westwards.

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Virginia Giuffre praises ruling to allow Prince Andrew lawsuit to go to trial

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Giuffre says she will ‘continue to expose truth’ and ‘seek justice from those who hurt me and others’

Virginia Giuffre has praised a court ruling enabling her sexual assault civil lawsuit against the Duke of York to proceed to trial and said she will “continue to expose the truth”.

Giuffre wrote on Twitter she was “pleased” with the ruling, adding: “I’m glad I will have the chance to continue to expose the truth & I am deeply grateful to my extraordinary legal team.

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Group whose anti-abortion ad Amy Barrett signed accused of promoting harassment of doctors

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In one case, a doctor whose name was published by Indiana group was warned by FBI of kidnapping threat against her daughter

An Indiana group whose anti-abortion campaign was endorsed in a signed advertisement by Amy Coney Barrett before she became a supreme court justice, keeps a published list of abortion providers and their place of work on its website, in what some experts say is an invitation to harass and intimidate the doctors and their staff.

In one case, court records show, a doctor whose name was published by the group, which is called Right to Life Michiana, was warned by the FBI of a kidnapping threat that had been made online against her daughter.

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‘Breeding grounds for radicalization’: Capitol attack panel signals loss of patience with big tech

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Subpoenas are an escalation in the committee’s efforts for answers as companies ignored information requests

The House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol has ordered several social media firms to hand over data relating to the attack, asignificant step toward transparency that could have broader privacy implications.

The committee on Thursday subpoenaed Twitter, Meta, Alphabet and Reddit for private messages exchanged on the platforms about the attack aas well as information regarding moderation policies that allowed communities to remain online even as they incited violence in early 2021.

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Kyrsten Sinema blocks filibuster reform as Biden continues ‘fight’ for voting rights – video

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US president Joe Biden said he was not sure if his administration could push voting rights legislation through Congress, but he would continue fighting to change the law. ‘I don't know if we can get it done,' he said to reporters. ‘But I know one thing, as long as I have a breath in me … I am going to be fighting to change the way these legislatures are moving.' Earlier, Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema reaffirmed she would not support any change to the filibuster rules, effectively killing her party’s hope of passing the most sweeping voting rights protections in a generation.

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What have Ukraine talks achieved, and is war now more likely?

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Russia calls talks a ‘dead end’ and it becomes clear that troop build-up is not a bluff to achieve other ends

The Guardian’s world affairs editor assesses the outcome of three rounds of talks this week about the fate of Ukraine, involving Russia, the US, Nato and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Did the talks achieve anything?

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Biden to address US Covid response as Omicron causes record hospitalizations – live

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Joe Biden confirmed that his administration will order another 500 million at-home coronavirus tests to address the surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant.

That brings the total number of tests ordered by the administration to 1 billion, but the first batch of 500 million tests has not yet been distributed to Americans.

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Covid live: Germany recommends boosters for 12-17-year-olds; Hungary offers fourth jab and cuts quarantine

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Germany one of first countries in the world to recommend boosters for teenagers; Hungary to make fourth Covid jab available to people who ask for it

Daily coronavirus cases in Japan have exceeded 13,000 for the first time in more than four months, as the country confronts a sixth wave of infections driven by the Omicron variant.

It reported 13,244 new cases on Wednesday, including 2,198 in Tokyo and 1,711 in Osaka. The number of new infections in the Japanese capital was more than double that recorded the previous day and a fivefold increase from the same day the previous week.

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Blinken says US stumped over Havana syndrome as more diplomats fall ill

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Secretary of state says officials do not know what illness is or who is responsible, with more sickness reported in Paris and Geneva

The United States still does not know what the illness known as Havana syndrome is or who is responsible for it, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said in an interview on Thursday after more American diplomats were reported ill in Paris and Geneva.

Blinken said the entire federal government is working to get to the bottom of the illness, which has afflicted about 200 US diplomats, officials and family members overseas.

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Australian man pleads guilty to murdering American in 1988 gay hate crime

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Scott White yelled in court during a pre-trial hearing on Monday that he was guilty, having previously denied the crime

An Australian man has pleaded guilty to murdering a US mathematician who fell from a Sydney cliff in 1988 in a homophobic hate crime that was dismissed by police at the time as suicide.

Scott White was charged in 2020 with murdering 27-year-old Los Angeles-born Scott Johnson, whose naked body was found at the base of North Head cliff on 8 December 1988.

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Virginia Giuffre ‘unlikely to accept purely financial settlement’ with Prince Andrew

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Giuffre wants vindication of herself and her claims, says her lawyer David Boies

The Duke of York’s accuser Virginia Giuffre would be unlikely to accept a “purely financial settlement” to end her sexual assault civil lawsuit against the royal, her lawyer has said.

David Boies was speaking after a US judge rejected Prince Andrew’s motion to have the civil case against him dismissed, paving the way for a possible civil trial in the autumn.

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Prince Andrew fails in bid to dismiss US sexual abuse lawsuit

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Civil claim against duke by longtime accuser Virginia Giuffre can move forward, federal judge rules in New York

  • This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse

A judge in New York has rejected Prince Andrew’s attempt to persuade a US court to throw out a sexual abuse lawsuit brought against him by longtime American accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Giuffre, now 38, says she was forced into sex at 17 with Andrew, the Duke of York, by associates of his, the late sex offender and financier, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell, the British media heiress who was convicted in New York last month of sex-trafficking girls for Epstein.

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Manchin and Sinema condemned for opposing filibuster reform urged by Biden – live

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Joe Biden will travel to Capitol Hill tomorrow to join Senate Democrats’ meeting about the path forward for passing voting rights bills.

“President Biden is expected to attend tomorrow’s Senate Dem Caucus lunch to discuss the push to pass voting rights and potential changes to Senate rules,” a senior Democratic aide said.

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Quebec health tax for unvaccinated residents prompts fierce Covid debate

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  • ‘Health contribution’ for those who do not want Covid vaccine
  • Critics warn move could target vulnerable members of society

Quebec’s announcement that it will impose a healthcare tax on unvaccinated residents has prompted a fierce debate, as the province looks to salvage its crumbing healthcare system amid the latest wave of the coronavirus.

The Canadian province’s premier, François Legault, said on Tuesday that those who had chosen to remain unvaccinated would pay a “health contribution”, acknowledging growing friction in the province as the unvaccinated draw on a greater share of the scarce medical resources.

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