Category Archives: US News

Arkansas tornado: two dead after nursing home ‘pretty much destroyed’

Posted on by

Five seriously injured, says county judge in Arkansas, as rescue workers in Illinois attend site of roof collapse at Amazon warehouse

At least two people were killed when a tornado ripped through an Arkansas nursing home, while a roof collapsed at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, reportedly causing many injuries.

Craighead county judge Marvin Day said the tornado struck the Monette Manor nursing home in north-east Arkansas at about 8.15pm, trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed. About 90 minutes later the building had been cleared and everyone initially believed to have been inside had been accounted for, but Day said crews still must search the debris for possible additional victims.

Continue reading...

Trump launched profane tirade about Netanyahu in interview – report

Posted on by

Former president was furious over ex-Israeli PM’s acknowledgment Biden won election, book says

Donald Trump spat an expletive about his old ally, Israel’s ex-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for congratulating Joe Biden on his victory in last year’s election, according to a new book.

Trump lashed out in an interview for a book on US-Israel relations during his presidency, the author Barak Ravid wrote on the Axios website on Friday. Trump’s remarks were also published by the English-language website of Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

Continue reading...

Capitol attack panel obtains PowerPoint that set out plan for Trump to stage coup

Posted on by

Presentation turned over by Mark Meadows made several recommendations for Trump to pursue to retain presidency

Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over to the House select committee investigating the 6 January Capitol attack a PowerPoint recommending Donald Trump to declare a national security emergency in order to return himself to the presidency.

The fact that Meadows was in possession of a PowerPoint the day before the Capitol attack that detailed ways to stage a coup suggests he was at least aware of efforts by Trump and his allies to stop Joe Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January.

Continue reading...

Ghislaine Maxwell gave me nude massage when I was 16, accuser says

Posted on by

Annie Farmer testifies about encounter at New Mexico ranch in 1996, and recounts how she met Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein

The fourth accuser to testify in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial said Friday that she was only 16 when the British socialite gave her a nude massage at Jeffrey Epstein’s New Mexico ranch.

This accuser, Annie Farmer, also said that the morning after her encounter with Maxwell, Epstein climbed into bed with her and said he “wanted to cuddle” and she “felt kind of frozen”.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

Continue reading...

Sotomayor decries abortion ruling but court’s conservatives show their muscle

Posted on by

The highest court in the US has been defied by a group of extremist Republicans openly flouting the court’s own rulings

Sonia Sotomayor, the liberal-leaning justice on the US supreme court, put it plainly. For almost three months, lawmakers in the Republican-controlled legislature of Texas had “substantially suspended a constitutional guarantee: a pregnant woman’s right to control her own body”.

“The court should have put an end to this madness months ago,” Sotomayor said.

Continue reading...

Covid live: Israel extends travel ban over Omicron; German parliament debates healthcare vaccine mandate

Posted on by

Ten day extension to restrictions announced as Israel detects 21 cases; lawmakers debate first of two German vaccine mandate laws

Fury over the release of a video showing Downing Street staffers joking about alleged lockdown breaches in the UK are only the latest scandal to rock British prime minister Boris Johnson’s premiership.

For days, a succession of government ministers batted away questions about whether an illegal party had been held in Downing Street last December during Covid restrictions that banned gatherings of more than 30 people. But on Tuesday night that all changed: a video emerged of Downing Street staffers appearing to joke about a party alleged to have been held inside No 10 just days earlier.

Continue reading...

Staff shortages are hobbling vaccination campaigns as demand runs high

Posted on by

Most Covid doses are now dispensed at pharmacies and some are struggling to manage the workload

Officials in the US are encouraging eligible adults to get boosters amid a new surge of the Covid-19 pandemic and the discovery of the Omicron variant, but some areas are facing shortages – not of the vaccines, but of pharmacy staff to administer them.

More than two in three Covid vaccines are now given at pharmacies, the White House has said, but pharmacies are facing a double bind of increased workloads and staffing shortages and are struggling to keep up with demand for vaccination appointments.

Continue reading...

Julian Assange can be extradited to US to face espionage charges, court rules

Posted on by

Decision overturns previous ruling that Wikileaks co-founder could not be extradited due to mental health concerns

Julian Assange can be extradited to the US, the high court has ruled as it overturned a judgment earlier this year.

The decision today deals a major blow to the Wikileaks co-founder’s efforts to prevent his extradition to the US to face espionage charges, although options to appeal remain open to his legal team.

Continue reading...

Biden faces vaccine mandate pushback from own party despite support of scientists

Posted on by

Two Democratic senators push back against president’s rules for large businesses as cases continue to rise in the US

Two Democratic senators have resisted Joe Biden’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large businesses, illustrating problems the US president faces even within a faction of his own party, despite having the support of scientists and public health experts.

The US Senate on Wednesday evening voted to overturn the mandate as new cases and hospitalizations continue rising in the country.

Continue reading...

Coastal species are forming colonies on plastic trash in the ocean, study finds

Posted on by

Termed “neopelagic communities”, these colonies are thriving in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and going where the current flows

Masses of ocean plastic are providing artificial habitat for otherwise coastal species, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature Communications.

The study’s authors observed floating water bottles, old toothbrushes and matted fishing nets. The possibility exists that species may be evolving to better adapt to life on plastic.

Continue reading...

Dozens killed after truck packed with people crashes in Mexico

Posted on by

At least 53 people died and many were injured after the vehicle rolled over on a highway in Chiapas

A cargo truck jammed with more than 100 people thought to be migrants from Central America has rolled over and crashed into a pedestrian bridge in southern Mexico, killing at least 53 people and injuring dozens more.

The crash on Thursday on a highway near Tuxtla Gutierrez, state capital of Chiapas, might have been triggered by the weight of the truck’s human cargo causing it to tip over on a bend, local officials said.

Continue reading...

Court rules against Trump effort to shield documents from Capitol attack panel – live

Posted on by

House speaker Nancy Pelosi said she considered it to be a point of pride that Bob Dole started his career in the lower chamber before being elected to the Senate.

Praising the former Republican senator’s “legendary service” and “inspiring resilience,” Pelosi said it was hard to think of another American more worthy of having a flag draped over his casket.

Continue reading...

Court rules Trump cannot block release of documents to Capitol attack panel

Posted on by

The former president is expected to appeal the ruling to the supreme court

Donald Trump, the former US president, suffered a major defeat on Thursday when a federal appeals court ruled against his effort to block the release of documents related to the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

Trump is expected to appeal to the supreme court.

Continue reading...

Saudi women’s rights activist sues three ex-US intel operatives over hacking for UAE

Posted on by

Loujain al-Hathloul says actions of men on behalf of the UAE led to her iPhone being hacked and to her imprisonment and torture

Loujain al-Hathloul, the prominent Saudi women’s rights activist, has filed a lawsuit against three former US intelligence and military officers who have admitted in a US court to helping carry out hacking operations on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

In her lawsuit, which was filed in a US district court in Oregon in conjunction with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Hathloul alleged that the actions of three men – Marc Baier, Ryan Adams, and Daniel Gericke – led to her iPhone being hacked and communication being exfiltrated by UAE security officials.

Continue reading...

‘An urgent matter’: Biden warns democracy is under threat at summit

Posted on by

President opens two-day summit with 80 world leaders as experts warn democratic rights are under assault in the US

Joe Biden has launched his virtual Summit for Democracy with a warning that democratic rights and norms are under threat around the world, including in the US.

Facing video links with 80 world leaders arrayed on two oversize electronic panels, the US president said: “This is an urgent matter on all our parts, in my view, because the data we’re seeing is largely pointing in the wrong direction.”

Continue reading...

New York’s Met museum to remove Sackler family name from its galleries

Posted on by

Art museum announces change in the wake of leading members of the family being blamed for fueling the deadly US opioids crisis

New York’s famed Metropolitan Museum of Art is going to remove the name of arguably its most controversial donor groups – the billionaire Sackler family – from its galleries.

The news comes in the wake of leading members of the US family, one of America’s richest, being blamed for fueling the deadly opioids crisis in America with the aggressive selling of the family company’s prescription narcotic painkiller, OxyContin.

Continue reading...

Germany’s foreign minister under pressure over Nord Stream 2 sanctions

Posted on by

Annalena Baerbock has sympathy with US demands, but there is considerable Social Democrat support for Russia’s pipeline

Germany’s new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has been caught a diplomatic vice days into the job, as US puts pressure on the coalition government in Berlin to vow to block the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the event of Russia invading Ukraine.

The controversial pipeline project, which runs from Ust-Luga in Russia to Lubmin in north-east Germany, is also likely to be the first test of the new German government’s unity of approach.

Continue reading...

Hillary Clinton’s victory speech – and others that were never heard

Posted on by

The defeated 2016 candidate has read aloud what she would have said in victory – joining a cast of thwarted speechmakers

It was one of the most significant branching points in recent history – and at least one artefact of the way things might have been still exists.

On Wednesday the Today show in the US released a video of Hillary Clinton reading the speech she would have given if she had beaten Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Clinton, who is giving a course in “the power of resilience” with the online education company Masterclass, teared up as she read aloud from her speech. She said reading it entailed “facing one of my most public defeats head-on”.

Continue reading...

Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial adjourned after attorney becomes ill

Posted on by

Judge Alison Nathan says she expects proceedings will resume on Friday

Ghislaine Maxwell’s New York sex-trafficking trial was unexpectedly adjourned early Thursday because an “ill” attorney needed medical care. “I’ve been informed there’s an attorney in the case who’s ill, and that attorney has to get care,” the judge, Alison Nathan, told jurors this morning.

Nathan’s disclosure came several moments after attorneys on the case asked to speak with her in private. It’s unclear from proceedings which attorney is ill.

Continue reading...

CDC chief says Omicron is ‘mild’ as early data comes in on US spread of variant

Posted on by

Agency is working on detailed analysis of what the new mutant form of the coronavirus might hold for the US

More than 40 people in the US have been found to be infected with the Omicron variant so far, and more than three-quarters of them had been vaccinated, the chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said. But she added nearly all of them were only mildly ill.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said the data is very limited and the agency is working on a more detailed analysis of what the new mutant form of the coronavirus might hold for the US.

Continue reading...