Category Archives: US News

Ukraine claims Russia has ‘verbally’ accepted peace proposals, except on Crimea – as it happened

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Deputy defence minister says territory is ‘liberated from the invader’ as disturbing images in Bucha show bodies had been bound and hooded

At least 158 children have been killed and more than 254 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, the country’s office of the prosecutor general has said.

The office said two of the fatalities were among 13 people killed when Russian forces fired at civilian cars on a highway in Chernihiv around 18 March.

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DoorDash driver’s video shows officer firing stun gun in Tennessee traffic stop

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Local district attorney’s office calls for investigation following incident involving police officer Evan Driskill and Delane Gordon


A Tennessee police officer who used his stun gun on a DoorDash driver wrote an arrest report saying the man had become argumentative while denying he was speeding, refused to hand over identifying information, demanded to see a supervisor and stayed in his car when ordered to get out.

The driver – who faces charges of speeding, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct based on the officer’s sworn affidavit – pressed record on his phone after he was pulled over. That recording, made public by the driver’s attorney, tells a different story.

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Hula teacher and composer Edith Kanaka’ole to be featured on US quarters

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Native Hawaiian musician to be depicted in 2023 as part of program honoring eminent American women

The late Native Hawaiian hula teacher Edith Kanaka’ole is among five women who will be individually featured on US quarters in 2023 as part of a program that depicts notable women on the coins.

The US Mint described Kanaka’ole, who died in 1978, as a composer, chanter, dancer, teacher and entertainer.

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How the Islamic State trial could change the future of US terrorism cases

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As a Virginia jury hears horrific allegations, experts say the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh sets an important precedent

As the trial against the accused Islamic State fighter El Shafee Elsheikh began this week on American soil, jurors in a northern Virginia courtroom were quickly exposed to accounts of unimaginable brutality.

Elsheikh, prosecutors alleged, carried out terrorist acts that involved the grisly deaths of four Americans – the journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as the aid workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig.

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Union chief vows to pressure Amazon after historic New York vote

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Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien says the e-commerce company has ‘total disrespect’ for its workers

The Teamsters’ new president has pledged his powerful union will step up the pressure on Amazon and mount its own efforts to unionize the company after workers in New York voted to form the company’s first US union.

In an interview with the Guardian Sean O’Brien said it was vital to organize Amazon, asserting that the e-commerce company has “total disrespect” for its workers and was putting downward pressure on standards for unionized warehouse workers and truck drivers across the US.

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Sarah Palin announces run for US Congress in Alaska

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The former governor says she will ‘combat the left’s socialist, big-government, America-last agenda’

Sarah Palin has announced her run for Alaska’s only seat in the US House of Representatives, marking her first run for public office in over a decade.

“America is at a tipping point,” Palin said in a statement released on her Twitter account announcing her candidacy. “As I’ve watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight.

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Will Smith resigns from Academy, saying he betrayed its trust

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Actor will accept ‘any further consequences’ the body’s board considers appropriate after Oscars slap

Will Smith has resigned from Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after he slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony, saying that he “betrayed the trust of the Academy” and will accept “any further consequences”.

In a statement released on Friday afternoon, the actor described his actions at the 94th Academy Awards as “shocking, painful, and inexcusable”.

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Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid for new trial denied, judge rules

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Maxwell repeatedly requested a new trial after a juror on her case failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection

Ghislaine Maxwell’s bid for a new trial has been denied, the judge in her Manhattan federal court sex-trafficking case said on Friday.

The daughter of the late British media baron Robert Maxwell repeatedly requested a new trial after a juror in the case failed to disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection.

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Biden ends Trump-era asylum curbs amid border-region Democrat backlash

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Administration signals end of Title 42 immigration restrictions – ostensibly to fight Covid – but some fear electoral consequences

Joe Biden will next month end a controversial pandemic-related expulsion policy that effectively closed America’s asylum system at its border with Mexico, it was announced on Friday.

The decision to lift the Title 42 public health order, which will take effect on 23 May, is seen as long overdue by immigration advocates who regard the order as inhumane. But it was seized on by Republicans and some electorally vulnerable Democrats, who warned of chaos at the border.

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US ends Trump-era policy of blocking asylum seekers on Covid grounds – live

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention terminates Title 42 from 23 May, ending policy widely criticized as pretext to keep migrants out

• Senate deal on drastically pared-down Covid aid package may be imminent

US adds 431,000 jobs as hiring spree cuts unemployment rate to 3.6%

• Disney staff stage walkouts over ‘don’t say gay’ bill

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The late supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is to be honoured by having a US navy ship named after her.

The yet-to-be-built fuel tanker will join a fleet of John Lewis-class “replenishment oilers” named for historical figures in human and civil rights. The navy took delivery of the first of the fleet, a tribute to the former Democratic congressman, last summer.

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Biden press secretary Jen Psaki to become TV host at MSNBC, reports say

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Psaki will reportedly stay on until end of April before joining liberal cable news network

Jen Psaki is reportedly preparing to quit as Joe Biden’s White House press secretary, to become a TV host with MSNBC.

Axios first reported the move on Friday, citing anonymous sources “close to the matter”. Other outlets said they had confirmed the news, and reported that Psaki was expected to stay through the end of April.

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Mafia hitman escapes from federal custody in Florida

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Dominic Taddeo, 64, pleaded guilty in 1992 to killing three men in 1980s mob wars for Rochester, New York, crime family

A New York mobster who killed three people and attempted to kill two others has escaped from federal custody after recently being moved to a halfway house, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Dominic Taddeo, a hitman from a Rochester-area crime family, pleaded guilty in 1992 to racketeering charges that included the killings of three men during mob wars in the 1980s.

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New Florida bill ‘basically erases’ state’s only pro-solar energy policy

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Republican-led Senate passes bill that could hamper growth of solar energy by removing popular financial incentive

In one of America’s sunniest states, a Republican-led Senate recently passed a bill that could hamper the growth of solar energy by removing a popular financial incentive among consumers.

Environmentalists are decrying the measure, arguing that the expansion of rooftop solar is a necessary step in the fight against the climate crisis. The bill was passed in Florida, as another extremely sunny state, California, considered a similar update to its solar policies.

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Trump may face day in court thanks to lawsuit from reggae singer Eddy Grant

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The musician sued the former president and his administration over the use of his song Electric Avenue in an ad in 2020

Reggae singer Eddy Grant may succeed where the attorney general of New York state and other powerful figures have struggled – by forcing Donald Trump to answer questions under oath in a legal proceeding.

Grant sued the former president and his campaign over the use of the song Electric Avenue in an ad in 2020.

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Betty Reid Soskin, America’s oldest active ranger, retires at the age of 100

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She began working with the National Park Service at 84 to reveal ‘untold stories’ of Black people’s efforts during the second world war

Betty Reid Soskin, the National Park Service’s oldest active ranger, has retired at the age of 100.

Soskin, who worked at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front national historical park in Richmond, California, spent her last day as she had for the last decade and a half: sharing her experiences and those of other women who worked on the home front in the second world war.

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Ariana Grande giving $1.5m to support trans youth amid ‘disgraceful’ legislative attacks

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The pop star vowed on International Transgender Day of Visibility to match donations to groups that advocate for trans rights

On International Transgender Day of Visibility, Ariana Grande is using her star power to rally her millions of fans to support trans youth.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, the pop star announced the Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund, which she founded with the fundraising platform Pledge.

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Trump swooped in to profit from White House photographer’s book deal – report

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Ex-president blocked Shealah Craighead plan and then made up to $20m from publishing images in own memoir, New York Times says

Donald Trump blocked plans by his chief White House photographer to publish a book of pictures of his time in power – then published a book of such images himself, the New York Times reported.

One former White House photographer told the Times that by using Shealah Craighead’s images for his own profit – with books selling for as much as $230, Trump is reported to have made $20m – the former president had dealt her “a slap in the face”.

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Amazon workers in New York close to forming historic union after key vote

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Elsewhere, a unionization vote by Alabama workers is pending as hundreds of votes were challenged

Amazon workers in New York are close to voting to form a union – a major win for labor activists who have failed in previous efforts to organize at the tech giant that is now the second largest private employer in the US.

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island will find out on Friday whether or not they want to form a union, Amazon’s first in the US where it now employs over one million people.

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Number of fentanyl-filled pills seized by US law enforcement up 4,850%

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A study found that more than 2m counterfeit pills were confiscated in the last quarter of 2021 alone

Over the past four years, the number of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl that have been seized by US law enforcement jumped by 4,850%, according to a new study, underscoring how an alarming surge in the deadly drug is putting people at increasing risk for accidental overdose.

The study by a consortium of academic researchers, led by New York University, was released on Thursday. Using a first-of-its-kind, real time analysis of federal data, it found that more than 2m fake pills were seized by officials in the last quarter of 2021 alone – up from 42,000 in the first quarter of 2018. Researchers also found that the number of individual seizures involving fentanyl pills increased by 834%.

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Ukraine prepares for new wave of attacks in east | First Thing

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Russian forces continue to bombard Chernihiv and parts of Kyiv despite announcing their withdrawal. Plus, 500 ghost flights leave the UK monthly

Good morning.

Russia is preparing its forces for a fresh assault in the breakaway Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed, despite peace talks resuming on Friday.

A special tribunal must be set up immediately to investigate the crime of Russian aggression, the leading international lawyer Philippe Sands has argued. While the investigations were needed, he said, “war crimes and crimes against humanity investigations alone could end up as a means of letting the main man off the hook”.

The White House has rebuked Donald Trump after he called on Vladimir Putin to release potentially damaging information about Hunter Biden. The remarks came during an interview on the Just the News TV program that raised unsubstantiated questions about Biden’s past business dealings in Russia.

How many people could it affect? Voting rights advocates fear it risks affecting 200,000.

It comes amid an unprecedented supreme court ruling that threw out Wisconsin’s redrawn electoral map, which created a new district to represent Black population growth.

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