Category Archives: US News

Explosives and weaponry found at US far-right protests, documents reveal

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Law enforcement discovers wide range of incendiary devices while NYPD document defines rightwing groups as extremists

Federal government documents obtained by the Guardian show a wide range of explosives, flamethrowers and incendiary devices found by law enforcement agencies outside political conventions, public buildings and protests during 2020 and 2021.

The extent of the weaponry – including timed devices deposited as part of a suspected pro-Trump bomb plot –reveals the perils and potential violence circulating through American politics in the grip of unrest linked to pandemic shutdowns, anti-racism protests and rightwing activism and insurrection that culminated in the attack on the Capitol in Washington.

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The US won’t reach herd immunity this year. So how will it live with Covid?

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Daily life will vary depending on where you live, and how local officials decide to implement – or ignore – public health measures

For many months, members of the public have equated a return to “normal life” with the phrase “herd immunity”: that threshold reached when the Covid-19 pandemic would be boxed in by immunization campaigns, find no new hosts and society would return to a 2019-style normal.

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Donald Trump returns to social media with glorified blog

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Ex-president unveils retro webpage featuring series of statements resembling blogposts ahead of Facebook oversight board’s decision on his suspension

Banned by Facebook and Twitter, Donald Trump has gone back to the future with an online communication tool that might be described as a glorified blog.

His retro webpage, billed “From the Desk of Donald J Trump”, appears at DonaldJTrump.com/desk and features a small photo of the 45th president writing in a book on his desk.

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Biden says US ‘ready to move immediately’ if vaccine approved for young teens – live

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Jack Herrera reports:

Just months after ICU capacities were at zero in Los Angeles, the county has made a turnaround. But officials advise caution, and warn that vaccine hesitancy is catching up.

Related: LA reports no Covid deaths for two days in a row in major pandemic milestone

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

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Melinda Gates could become world’s second-richest woman

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Lack of prenuptial agreement with Bill Gates could herald $73bn divorce settlement as fears focus on future of couple’s charity

Melinda Gates, a philanthropist and campaigner for female empowerment, could be about to become the world’s second-richest woman, with a fortune estimated at $73bn.

In her divorce petition filed on Monday at King County superior court in Seattle, Washington, Melinda Gates stated that her marriage to multibillionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, one of the richest men on the planet, had “irretrievably broken” and called on the courts to divide up the couple’s combined $146bn (£105bn) fortune

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CIA forges unity in diversity: everybody hates their ‘woke’ recruitment ad

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A social media campaign featuring a self-described cisgender millennial Latin intelligence officer drew ire from right and left

In its long and colourful history, US intelligence has come in for a lot of criticism, for engineering coups, drug trafficking and torture, but just over 100 days into the Biden administration it faces a new charge no one saw coming: is the CIA just too woke?

A social media campaign, Humans of CIA, aimed at boosting diversity at the agency has united critics on the right and left in a moment of shared derision, albeit for different reasons.

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Why won’t this giant oil pipeline reveal its secret backers?

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Expansion will stretch hundreds miles and is fiercely opposed by numerous groups – but despite repeated calls the Canadian government has not forced the pipeline reveal its insurers

Nestled in the harbors of Vancouver, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation has lived for thousands of years within an inlet set against the mountain views of the Pacific north-west.

But across the water from Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s reserve, less than 2km away, or a little over a mile, is a jarring juxtaposition: an industrial terminal for the large Trans Mountain oil pipeline.

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Three dead and dozens injured after boat capsizes near San Diego

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  • Officials believe boat was being used to bring migrants into US
  • Commercial boat reported vessel overturning on rocks

The US coast guard has ended its search for survivors after a boat capsized off the coast of San Diego, leaving three people dead and dozens injured.

Officials believe the boat, which had at least 30 people onboard, was being used to smuggle migrants into the US and the man who was captaining the vessel has been taken into custody.

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Baby born on plane that happened to be carrying doctor and neonatal nurses

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Woman only 29 weeks pregnant delivers son on flight between Salt Lake City and Honolulu after appeal for a doctor on board

A woman who went into labour prematurely on a plane was fortunate to have chosen a flight with some highly qualified fellow passengers.

Lavinia “Lavi” Mounga was travelling from Salt Lake City to Hawaii on 28 April for a family holiday when she went into labour at 29 weeks with her son, Raymond.

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Bill and Melinda Gates announce divorce after 27 years

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Pair say in statement ‘we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple’ but will continue to run foundation together

Bill and Melinda Gates have announced they are to divorce after 27 years of marriage, saying they “no longer believe we can grow together as a couple”.

The Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist and his wife have built up a combined $124bn (£89bn) fortune, making them among the five richest couples in the world.

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Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial postponed until autumn at her request

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Judge agrees to delay amid new charges and planning difficulties related to coronavirus

A US judge has granted Ghislaine Maxwell’s request to delay her trial on charges she procured teenage girls for the late financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse, saying the trial will begin in the fall.

The US district judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan said on Monday that a “short” postponement of the scheduled 12 July trial was appropriate because federal prosecutors had added new charges to the case, and Covid-19 protocols had made trial preparation harder.

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Biden raises US refugee admissions cap to 62,500 after delay sparks anger

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President said last month he would leave Trump-era figure of 15,000 in place this year

Joe Biden has formally raised the US cap on refugee admissions to 62,500 this year, weeks after facing bipartisan blowback for his delay in replacing the record-low ceiling set by Donald Trump.

Refugee resettlement agencies have waited for Biden to quadruple the number of refugees allowed into the United States this year since 12 February, when a presidential proposal was submitted to Congress saying he planned to do so.

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Liz Cheney says Trump’s ‘big lie’ poisons democracy as split with Republicans grows

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Republican who voted to impeach Trump under increasing fire from members of her own party who are loyal to former president

Liz Cheney, the Wyoming Republican who voted to impeach Donald Trump, is coming under fire from members of her own party after her tweet that the former president did not lose the election unfairly. The spat illustrates the split between Republicans loyal to Trump and those willing to criticize the former president.

“The 2020 presidential election was not stolen,” Cheney tweeted. “Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”

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Top New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park goes vegan

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Daniel Humm, owner of foodie haven with three Michelin stars, says modern food system ‘simply not sustainable’

One of New York’s top fine dining restaurants is abandoning meat and going for a plant-based menu after its chef and owner posted a message on its website saying the modern food system was “simply not sustainable”.

Daniel Humm is the driving force behind Eleven Madison Park, which has won three Michelin stars and is one of the top names in Manhattan’s elite foodie scene.

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Fifty new outlets, 250 journalists: Canadian startup unveils plan to revive local news

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As local papers close their doors, a morning newsletter defied the odds. Now its founder aims to push the model nationwide

Local journalism has shed jobs faster than the coal industry, leaving swaths of North America as news deserts with little or no regular coverage.

But the grim prospects for an industry in decline didn’t deter the Canadian tech entrepreneur Andrew Wilkinson, who in 2019 hired a reporter and launched a daily newsletter in his home town, Victoria.

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‘Decades ahead of his time’: history catches up with visionary Jimmy Carter

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A new film rejects the popular narrative and recasts the former president, 96, as hugely prescient thinker, particularly on climate change

When I reach Jimmy Carter’s grandson by Zoom, he answers wearing a Raphael Warnock campaign T-shirt. Jason Carter is a lawyer and politician himself, mid-40s, animated and well-read, with blue eyes reminiscent of his grandfather’s. He’s just got off the phone with his 93-year-old grandmother, Rosalynn. It’s a special day; Joe Biden is on his way to the Carter house in Plains, Georgia.

“My grandfather has met nearly everyone in the world he might want to,” Jason Carter says. “Right now, he’s meeting with the president of the United States. But the person he’d say he learned the most from was Rachel Clark, an illiterate sharecropper who lived on his family’s farm.

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Hopes raised for two Americans jailed in Tehran being freed

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Morad Tahbaz and Siamak Namazi moved to cells where previously prisoners were held before release

Two high profile American-Iranian dual nationals detained in Tehran have been moved to a new location inside Evin prison in a procedure that has previously led to the release of detainees, according to sources inside the jail.

The moves could add credence to Iranian media reports at the weekend that a prisoner swap involving four unidentified detainees might be, or had been, imminent.

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‘Ground zero of the opioid epidemic’: West Virginia puts drug giants on trial

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A series of federal cases over the pharmaceutical industry’s push to sell narcotic painkillers which created the worst drug epidemic in US history

The trial of the three biggest US drug distributors for illegally flooding West Virginia with hundreds of millions of prescription opioid pills, and driving the highest overdose rate in the country, is due to open on Monday.

Related: Empire of Pain review: the Sacklers, opioids and the sickening of America

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Iguanas with chips: Florida seeks solution to invasive reptile problem

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  • ‘Tag day’ initiative opposed by some owners of exotic pets
  • State official ‘proud that Florida is looked at as a leader’

From Key West’s high-summer Hemingway Days, in which bearded hopefuls vie for the title of best Papa lookalike, to the annual hunt for the elusive (and imaginary) skunk ape, Florida is renowned for its calendar of curiosities.

Related: Toilet-invading iguanas among invasive species now banned in Florida

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Billie Eilish says all her age group have suffered sexual misbehaviour

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US singer, 19, made claim in Vogue interview when discussing new single about abusive relationship

Billie Eilish has spoken about the prevalence of sexual exploitation of minors in an interview, saying “it’s everywhere”.

Speaking about her new single, Your Power, which addresses an abusive relationship between a minor and an older person, the 19-year-old singer told Vogue that all her peers had experienced some sort of sexual impropriety.

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