Category Archives: US News

‘Nobody ever put hands on me before’: flight attendants on the air rage epidemic

Posted on by

Although travelers’ hissy fits are nothing new, incidences of bad behavior have spiked amid the tense landscape of Covid-19

Alexander Clark had only just boarded the Los Angeles-bound United airliner when the man seated behind him became incensed. As Clark tells it, a flight attendant had repeatedly asked the passenger to alternately stop talking on his phone or don a face mask when, after the fourth ask, the passenger snapped.

“I will find your name, date of birth, and address! I will know your social security number before I get off this plane!” yelled the passenger, who appeared to be in his 30s. He leapt to his feet mid-shout, spittle arcing from his maskless mouth, and stomped over to the male flight attendant.

Continue reading...

Pressure mounts on ex-DoJ official Jeff Clark over Trump’s ‘election subversion scheme’

Posted on by

Former assistant attorney general faces possible disbarment and charges after report details machinations on Trump’s behalf

Jeffrey Clark, a former top environmental lawyer at the Trump justice department accused of plotting with Trump to undermine the 2020 election results in Georgia and other states, is facing ethics investigations in Washington that could lead to possible disbarment, as well as a watchdog inquiry that might result in a criminal referral.

The mounting scrutiny of the ex-assistant attorney general, who led the justice department’s environment division for almost two years and then ran its civil division, was provoked by a report from the Senate judiciary committee whose Democratic chairman, Richard Durbin, has asked the DC bar’s disciplinary counsel to examine Clark’s conduct and possibly sanction him.

Continue reading...

Spies next door? The suburban US couple accused of espionage

Posted on by

Jonathan and Diana Toebbes’s story is like a fictional spy caper, blending an all-American couple with technology and betrayal

When accused spies Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were escorted into a West Virginia court to be arraigned on espionage charges, they looked as any middle-aged, suburban couple might: struck by a dramatic turn in circumstances that comes when placed in an orange jumpsuit and restricted by manacles.

But the story of the Toebbes, 42 and 45, is now about as far from typical suburbia as you can get. It’s a story that reads like a fictional spy caper, blending a seemingly normal couple with high technology and low espionage.

Continue reading...

Group of 17 missionaries and family members kidnapped in Haiti

Posted on by

Five children were among group of 16 US citizens and one Canadian abducted by gang members after orphanage visit

A group of 17 missionaries, including five children, have been kidnapped by an armed criminal gang in Haiti.

The group – 16 Americans and one Canadian citizen – were on their way home from building an orphanage, according to a statement from the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, which supports 9,000 children in Haitian schools and sent out a message asking supporters to pray for its members.

Continue reading...

‘Brutal aggression’: Venezuela halts talks with opposition after envoy extradited to US

Posted on by

Alex Saab, an ally of president Nicolás Maduro, was extradited to face money laundering charges after a 16-month legal battle

Venezuela’s government is halting negotiations with its opponents in retaliation for the extradition to the US of a close ally of president Nicolás Maduro, who prosecutors believe could be the most significant witness ever about corruption in the South American country.

Jorge Rodríguez, who has been heading the government’s delegation, said his team wouldn’t travel to Mexico City for the next scheduled round of negotiations.

Continue reading...

Pete Buttigieg hits back at Fox News host’s criticism of his paternity leave

Posted on by

The US transportation secretary and his husband recently adopted newborn twins and praised ‘an administration that’s actually pro-family’

US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has been on paternity leave since mid-August with newborn twins, called right-wing attacks on his paternity leave “strange” and from “a side of the aisle that used to claim the mantle of being pro-family”.

Buttigieg – who is gay – was the subject of criticism from Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday, who belittled the secretary’s paternity leave while making homophobic comments and criticizing the administration for supply chain woes.

Continue reading...

US officials set stage for vaccination campaign for younger children

Posted on by
  • US makes plans to approve vaccines for children five to 11
  • Vaccinating children will reduce virus spread to adults – officials

US health officials are setting the stage for a national Covid-19 vaccination campaign for younger children, inviting state officials to order doses before the shots are authorized.

Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine is currently being given to people as young as 12 in the US. Over the next three weeks, federal officials plan to discuss making smaller-dose versions available to the nation’s 28 million children between the ages of five and 11.

Continue reading...

‘I kept finding snakes’: more than 90 rattlesnakes found under California home

Posted on by

Rescuers used 24in snake pole to remove snakes preparing to hibernate from mountainside home in Santa Rosa

Al Wolf is used to clearing one or two snakes from under houses but recently was called by a woman who said she had seen rattlesnakes scurry under her northern California house and was surprised to find more than 90 rattlesnakes getting ready to hibernate.

Wolf, director of Sonoma County Reptile Rescue, said he crawled under the mountainside home in Santa Rosa and found a rattlesnake right away, then another and another. He got out from under the house, grabbed two buckets, put on long, safety gloves, and went back in.

Continue reading...

Nasa’s Lucy rockets into the sky with diamonds to explore asteroids

Posted on by

Spacecraft with name inspired by a skeleton and the Beatles, and with lab-grown gems, starts 12-year quest

A Nasa spacecraft named Lucy has rocketed into the sky with diamonds on a 12-year quest to explore eight asteroids.

Seven of the mysterious space rocks are among swarms of asteroids sharing Jupiter’s orbit, thought to be the pristine leftovers of planetary formation.

Continue reading...

Biden administration to ask supreme court to halt Texas abortion ban

Posted on by

Government will ask court to reverse appeals court decision leaving in place the law that all but bans abortions in the state

The Biden administration said on Friday it will turn next to the US supreme court its attempt to halt a Texas law that has banned most abortions since September.

The move by the justice department comes after an appeals court on Thursday night left in place the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions at roughly six weeks, or before most women know they are pregnant. The appeals court, the fifth circuit, is among the most conservative in the nation.

Continue reading...

Chicago mayor files complaint against police union for defying vaccine mandate

Posted on by

The city’s Fraternal Order of Police encouraged members to ignore the city’s vaccine requirement

The Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, has filed a complaint in court against Chicago’s largest police union and its president after the union issued a directive for officers to ignore a citywide mandate to report their vaccination status, the latest in a battle between government officials and first responders over vaccine mandates.

In a statement issued Friday morning, Lightfoot announced that she had instructed the city’s law department to file a complaint for injunctive relief against the Chicago chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police union and its president, John Catanzara, for actions the mayor regarded as encouraging an illegal strike.

Continue reading...

Parkland shooting suspect to plead guilty to 17 counts of murder

Posted on by
  • Nikolas Cruz, 23, to enter guilty pleas over 2018 school shooting
  • Florida attack sparked nationwide movement for gun control

The gunman who killed 14 students and three staff members at a Parkland, Florida, high school will plead guilty to their murders, his attorneys said Friday, bringing some closure to a south Florida community more than three years after an attack that sparked a nationwide movement for gun control.

The guilty plea would set up a penalty phase where Nikolas Cruz, 23, would be fighting against the death penalty and hoping for life without parole.

Continue reading...

US to lift restrictions for fully vaccinated international travelers on 8 November

Posted on by

Early last year, the US banned visitors from more than 30 countries, including China, the UK and most of the EU

The US will lift restrictions for international travelers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 on 8 November, a White House official said on Friday, allowing people from dozens of countries to reunite with their families and take leisure trips to the US for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

The White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz said international air and land travel would be permitted for vaccinated travelers on 8 November.

Continue reading...

‘If it were the UK, police would have opened fire’: the explosive film about Trump’s Capitol Hill rioters

Posted on by

It was the day rampaging Trump supporters stormed the Capitol – and almost derailed democracy. Now, using footage from rioters’ cameras, an unsettling film takes you into the thick of the mayhem

When Dan Reed and Jamie Roberts began approaching networks about a film focused on the storming of the US Capitol – an attack on American democracy on the scale of 9/11, and all the more shattering for having come from within – they were met with a lack of enthusiasm.

“The response was, ‘Why do we need a documentary? Everyone knows what happened’,” says Reed, whose previous hits include Leaving Neverland. It is true the January insurrection – in which thousands of Trump supporters rampaged in protest over the “stolen” election, leaving five dead and 140 police officers injured – had been documented in real time. Authorities reviewed 15,000 hours of footage, making it the largest digital crime scene in history.

Continue reading...

FDA expert panel endorses Moderna vaccine booster shot – as it happened

Posted on by

The attorney general, Merrick Garland, will make his first appearance before the House Judiciary Committee next week. The testimony is likely to touch on everything from a severe near-total abortion ban in Texas to voting rights and gun violence.

Garland is scheduled to testify 21 October. His appearance was first reported by Politico.

Continue reading...

Wreck of legendary naval cutter USS Bear found off coast of Boston

Posted on by

The Bear served in two world wars, carried out daring Arctic rescues and was the first government ship with a Black captain

The wreck of a legendary US naval ship that served in two world wars, performed patrols in waters off Alaska for decades, and at one point was captained by the first Black man to command a government vessel has been found.

A wreck thought to be the USS Bear, which sank in 1963 about 260 miles (418km) east of Boston as it was being towed to Philadelphia, where it was going to be converted into a floating restaurant, was located in 2019.

Continue reading...

Robert Durst sentenced to life in prison for murdering his friend Susan Berman

Posted on by

The real estate heir had been convicted of first-degree murder last month as prosecutors argued he shot Berman in her home

Robert Durst, the real estate heir suspected in a string of killings over nearly four decades, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering his friend and confidante Susan Berman.

A Los Angeles jury convicted Durst, 78, of first-degree murder last month for the 2000 killing. Prosecutors argued that Durst had shot Berman at point-blank range in her home to prevent her from telling police what she knew about the 1982 disappearance of Durst’s first wife, Kathie McCormack Durst. The verdict marked the first homicide conviction for Durst, who has been linked to the deaths of three people in three states.

Continue reading...

Woman in new lawsuit accuses Bill Cosby of rape in hotel room in 1990

Posted on by
  • Lili Bernard says Cosby drugged and raped her in Atlantic City
  • Bernard, 57, says lawsuit prompted by actor’s prison release

A prominent Bill Cosby accuser filed suit on Thursday against the actor over a 1990 hotel room encounter in Atlantic City, New Jersey, before the state’s two-year window to file older sexual assault claims expires.

Los Angeles artist Lili Bernard told the Associated Press she was prompted in part by Cosby’s recent release from prison. The 84-year-old Cosby has been free since June, when the Pennsylvania supreme court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction in another case on procedural grounds.

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...

Steve Bannon: Capitol attack panel to consider criminal contempt referral

Posted on by

House 6 January select committee to decide on Trump’s former strategist, who has snubbed subpoena requests, on Tuesday

Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack on Thursday announced the panel’s intention to consider a criminal contempt referral against Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon for defying a subpoena as part of its 6 January inquiry.

The vow to initiate contempt of Congress proceedings against Bannon – one of Donald Trump’s top advisers – puts the select committee on the path to enforce the subpoena issued to uncover what the former president knew in advance of plans to mount an insurrection.

Continue reading...

Norway attack suspect ‘showed signs of radicalisation’ | First Thing

Posted on by

Five people killed and two injured in bow and arrow attack in Kongsberg. Plus, firefighters battle California blaze

Good morning.

A Danish man suspected of a bow and arrow attack that killed five people and injured two others in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg is a Muslim convert who previously showed signs of radicalisation, police have said.

Who were the victims? Four women and one man aged between 50 and 70 were killed, police said.

When and where were the attacks? Police were alerted to the attacks, which happened across a number of crime scenes in Kongsberg including a supermarket, at 6.15pm local time. The suspect was arrested 30 minutes later.

When did the Alisal fire start? It broke out on Monday, closing Amtrak lines and US 101, the area’s only large highway.

How bad have California’s fires been this year? Wildfires have scorched almost 3,900 sq miles of land, destroying more than 3,6o0 buildings.

Continue reading...