Category Archives: US News

West has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan, says David Miliband

Posted on by

‘We are not punishing the Taliban, we are making it worse for the people,’ says former UK foreign secretary

The west has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan and its own reputation by imposing a policy of starvation on the country, according to David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.

“If we wanted to create a failed state we could not have a more effective policy mix than the one we have at the moment,” he told the Guardian.

Continue reading...

Bisquey business: Maine politicians bemoan China lobster deal flop

Posted on by

Senator Angus King urges US trade representative to press Beijing to live up to promise to increase spending on tasty crustaceans

China has failed to live up to its promise to buy more Maine lobster under a deal that opened the door to an easing of a trade war under Donald Trump, Maine’s congressional leaders say.

Maine’s lobster industry was hurt by retaliatory Chinese tariffs in 2018 but failed to see substantial export gains after China committed to buying an additional $200bn in US goods, the delegation contends.

Continue reading...

Ukraine crisis: Putin and Macron agree to try to secure ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and urgent summit

Posted on by

Leaders spoke on the phone for 105 minutes and outcome suggests Russia might be willing to step back from brink of invasion of Ukraine

Russian media has confirmed the deaths of two Ukrainian soldiers in the government-held part of Donetsk on Saturday, claiming the servicemen were part of a “sabotage group” planning “terrorist attacks” against gas pipelines and electrical substations in the region.

The claim comes as western leaders continue to accuse Moscow and Russian-backed rebels of spreading misinformation as pretext for a possible invasion.

Continue reading...

Trump’s social media app to be released in App Store on Monday: executive

Posted on by

The beta version of Truth Social has been under testing since last week, with full launch date listed for 21 February

Donald Trump’s new social media venture, Truth Social, appears set to launch in Apple’s App Store on Monday, according to posts from an executive on a test version viewed by Reuters, potentially marking the return of the former president to social media on the US Presidents’ day holiday.

In a series of posts late on Friday, a verified account for the network’s chief product officer, listed as Billy B, answered questions on the app from people invited to use it during its test phase. One user asked him when the app, which has been available this week for beta testers, would be released to the public, according to screenshots viewed by Reuters.

Continue reading...

Trump golf courses could host events for controversial Saudi-funded league – report

Posted on by

Trump Organization has held discussions with Saudi-backed body, Washington Post reports

US golf courses owned by Donald Trump could host events in a hugely controversial new league funded by Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Citing three anonymous sources, the newspaper said courses in Bedminster, New Jersey, and Doral, Florida, could host events after discussions between the Trump Organization and LIV Golf Investments, a body funded by the Saudis.

Continue reading...

Purdue Pharma owners willing to pay up to $6bn to settle opioid suits

Posted on by

Members of Sackler family would contribute sum over 18 years under latest proposal

Members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, are willing to kick in more money – up to $6bn in total – to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids as the company tries to work out a deal with state attorneys general who torpedoed an earlier settlement.

The offer was detailed in a report filed on Friday in US bankruptcy court by a federal mediator who asked the court to let her have until the end of the month to broker a new settlement.

Continue reading...

Website of Queen’s charity promotes Prince Harry’s US coaching firm

Posted on by

Queen’s Commonwealth Trust site contains glowing review of California-based BetterUp, which the prince joined last year

A leading Commonwealth charity which has the Queen as its patron is promoting the online coaching business that employs Prince Harry as its chief impact officer.

The coaching, by BetterUp, is described as “truly phenomenal” in testimony by one user on the website of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT). Prince Harry was previously president of the trust.

Continue reading...

US FDA considers approving second Covid-19 booster shot – report

Posted on by

Wall Street Journal says regulator could authorize fourth shots of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by the fall

US health regulators are looking at authorizing a potential fourth dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in the fall, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been reviewing data to authorize a second booster dose of vaccines from Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna, the report added.

Continue reading...

EU praises ‘restraint’ of Kyiv government; Blinken denounces Kremlin claims – as it happened

Posted on by

European Council urges Moscow to ‘de-escalate’ its military buildup; Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says global security architecture is failing

The Kremlin has confirmed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron will speak by phone on Sunday, the TASS news agency reported.

A second separatist leader, Leonid Pasechnik of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR), has signed a decree calling for a full military mobilisation, according to Reuters.

Continue reading...

Austin: 19 officers charged with aggravated assault over 2020 protests

Posted on by

Police tactics used against protesters following murder of George Floyd widely condemned

A Texas grand jury has indicted 19 Austin police officers on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, for actions during 2020 protests over racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd.

The president of the Austin Police Association, Ken Casaday, confirmed 19 officers faced charges.

Continue reading...

Lindsey Pearlman, US TV actor, found dead after being reported missing

Posted on by
  • Pearlman, 43, appeared in General Hospital and Chicago Justice
  • Los Angeles police said Pearlman had failed to return home

Lindsey Pearlman, an actor known for television series including General Hospital and Chicago Justice, was found dead in Hollywood several days after going missing, authorities and her husband said. She was 43.

“Today around 8.30am, Hollywood area officers responded to a radio call for a death investigation at Franklin Avenue and North Sierra Bonita Avenue,” Los Angeles police said on Friday.

Continue reading...

Jean-Luc Brunel, held on suspicion of supplying girls to Epstein, found hanged

Posted on by

Former model agency boss accused of rape and suspected of trafficking minors has died in prison

The former boss of a French model agency accused of rape and under investigation on suspicion of supplying underage girls to the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead in prison.

The body of Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, was reportedly found hanging in his cell in the early hours of Saturday. The French prosecutors’ office confirmed the report and said an inquiry had been opened into the exact cause of death, but early indications pointed to suicide.

Continue reading...

AOC calls Tucker Carlson ‘trash’ for saying she is not a woman of colour

Posted on by

‘You’re a creep, bro,’ says New York congresswoman after Carlson attacked Ocasio-Cortez in Fox News segment

The Fox News host Tucker Carlson attacked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday night, claiming the US congresswoman was not a woman of colour.

“She’s a rich entitled white lady,” he said.

Continue reading...

Greta stands with Sami and Navalny on trial again: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

Posted on by

A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Mexico

Continue reading...

Row about Congolese statue loan escalates into legal battle over NFTs

Posted on by

Gallery at site of uprising against colonial rule accuses US museum of stonewalling request for artefact

A statue depicting the angry spirit of a Belgian officer beheaded during an uprising in Congo in 1931 is at the centre of a tug of war between a US museum and a Congolese gallery at the site of the rebellion.

The statue of Maximilien Balot, a colonial administrator, has travelled to Europe but the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is accused of stonewalling requests for a loan to the White Cube gallery in Lusanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Continue reading...

Black workers accused Tesla of racism for years. Now California is stepping in

Posted on by

The company has been hit with several discrimination lawsuits but this from a government agency may have wider implications

For Black employees at Tesla’s flagship California plant, coming into work could mean being harassed, bullied by a supervisor or finding racist graffiti sprayed on factory walls.

That’s according to a new lawsuit filed by California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), which alleges that Black workers in the company’s Fremont factory experienced “rampant racism” that the company left “unchecked for years”.

Continue reading...

‘We get to breathe’: Chicagoans celebrate as city blocks metal shredder

Posted on by

City won’t issue final permit necessary for potentially toxic plant in majority Latino neighborhood to open

A year after a hunger strike brought national attention to a potentially toxic metal shredder in a majority Latino neighborhood in Chicago, the city has announced it will not issue the final permit necessary for the plant to open, calling it an “unacceptable risk”.

“In an already vulnerable community, the findings from the [city’s health impact assessment] combined with the inherent risks of recycling operations and concerns about the company’s past and potential noncompliance are too significant to ignore,” said the Chicago department of public health commissioner, Allison Arwady, in a press release.

Continue reading...

Canadian police arrest at least 100 protesters in bid to break up Ottawa truck blockade

Posted on by

At least 21 vehicles towed as police start breaking up protest camp that has paralysed Canada’s capital for several weeks

Police in Ottawa have begun arresting protesters and towing away vehicles in an effort to break up the so-called “freedom convoy” that has paralysed Canada’s capital for weeks and prompted the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, to declare a national emergency

By Friday evening, at least 100 people had been arrested, mostly on mischief charges, and at least 21 vehicles had been towed, including all of those blocking one of the city’s major streets, as police exercised emergency powers that Trudeau invoked earlier this week.

Continue reading...

Trump improperly took away classified material, National Archives says

Posted on by

Archives says it has alerted Department of Justice about former president’s removal of files from White House

The US National Archives confirmed on Friday that officials found classified materials in boxes of documents Donald Trump improperly removed from the White House – and that they had alerted the Department of Justice (DoJ).

The disclosure is expected to escalate an investigation by the House oversight committee into whether Trump violated the Presidential Records Act of 1978 by removing and destroying White House documents.

Continue reading...

What does it mean to ‘plead the fifth’ – and will Donald Trump do it?

Posted on by

The ex-president has been ordered to testify in a New York fraud case. Will he invoke his constitutional right to remain silent?

Donald Trump and his two eldest children have been ordered by a New York judge to appear for a deposition within 21 days, as part of an investigation into the Trump family finances. The development presents the former US president with a dilemma: should he invoke his right to silence by pleading the fifth?

Continue reading...