Category Archives: US News

Joe Biden strikes new tone but Mexico remains US’s wall against migrants

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As senior US officials arrive in Mexico for talks experts say deal to send Covid vaccine shows that migrants are still a bargaining chip

Joe Biden took office promising to put a friendlier face on US immigration policy. He put an end to a scheme requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico, promised to restore the US asylum system and pledged to spend $4bn on addressing the root causes of migration in Central America.

But as ever-increasing numbers of unaccompanied minors arrive at the US southern border and create a domestic political crisis for the US president, he is turning to a tactic used by his predecessors – including Donald Trump: outsourcing immigration enforcement to Mexico.

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Polish writer charged for calling president a ‘moron’

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Jakub Żulczyk faces possible prison term for insulting Andrzej Duda over his comments on Biden election win

A Polish writer faces a possible prison sentence for insulting President Andrzej Duda by calling him a “moron” over comments the latter made about Joe Biden’s US election victory.

Jakub Żulczyk, the screenwriter behind the popular TV series Blinded by the Lights and Belfer, said prosecutors had charged him under an article in the criminal code for insulting the head of state in a Facebook post.

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Colorado shooting: police chief holds back tears as she pays tribute to victims – video

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A gunman at a Colorado supermarket killed 10 people on Monday, including a police officer, and a suspect was in custody, authorities said. The Boulder police chief, Maris Herold, announced the death toll at a news conference on Monday night, fighting back tears. She said police would try to identify the victims as quickly as possible, 'because I know there are people out there waiting for an answer and I am very sympathetic to that'.

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Colorado shooting: police officer among multiple people killed at Boulder supermarket

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  • Officer killed identified as Eric Talley, 51
  • One person of interest taken into custody

A shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, has killed 10 people, including one police officer, authorities said on Monday.

The Boulder police chief, Maris Herold, announced the death toll at a news conference Monday night, fighting back tears.

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Relaxing US Covid rules could cause ‘another avoidable surge’, warns CDC director – live

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Dr Rochelle Walensky pleads with Americans to remain vigilant about taking precautions to limit spread of coronavirus

Kamala Harris also told reporters that she plans to visit the US-Mexican border at some point, although she will not be doing so today.

“We were left with a very challenging situation. Let’s get these kids out of [Customs and Border Protection] custody and get them into [Health and Human Services] custody,” the vice-president said, per a pool report.

Kamala Harris is visiting a coronavirus vaccination site in Jacksonville, Florida, as part of the “Help is Here” tour to advertise the benefits of the relief bill.

After landing in Jacksonville, the vice-president took a few questions from reporters about the pandemic and the situation at the US-Mexican border.

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More than 1,000 arrests as Miami Beach pushes spring-break curfew into April

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  • Police condemned for use of ‘pepper balls’ to break up crowds
  • Spring-break curfew in place between Thursdays and Sundays

Miami Beach officials have extended a curfew and state of emergency into April, in response to large spring-break crowds of partygoers who have celebrated in the area’s bars and beaches despite the coronavirus.

Related: Relaxing US Covid rules could cause 'another avoidable surge', warns CDC director – live

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UFO report details ‘difficult to explain’ sightings, says US ex-intelligence director

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US military pilots and satellites have recorded ‘a lot more’ UFO sightings than have been made public, John Ratcliffe says

US military pilots and satellites have recorded “a lot more” sightings of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, than have been made public, Donald Trump’s former intelligence director John Ratcliffe said.

Related: The truth is out there … perhaps: CIA releases thousands of UFO files

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Covid: AstraZeneca vaccine 79% effective with no increased blood clot risk – US trial

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Study of over 32,000 people included review of risks of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis

The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca was 79% effective in preventing symptomatic illness in a large trial in the US, Chile and Peru, the company said on Monday, paving the way for it to apply for US approval.

The vaccine was 100% effective against severe or critical disease and hospitalisation and was safe, the drugmaker said on Monday, releasing results of the late-stage human trial study of more than 32,000 volunteers across all age groups.

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Miami Beach spring break chaos: more than 1,000 arrests as Covid curfew extended

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Miami Beach officials have warned that the unruly spring break crowd gathering by the thousands, fighting in the streets, destroying restaurant property and refusing to wear masks has become a serious threat to public safety, after 1,000 arrests were made.

At a last-minute meeting, city officials voted to extend a highly unusual 8pm curfew for another week along famed South Beach, with the possibility of extending it well into April if needed, and stressed this wasn’t the typical spring break crowd. They said it’s not college students, but adults looking to let loose in one of the few states fully open during the pandemic.

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Trump will use ‘his own platform’ to return to social media after Twitter ban

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  • Former president was banned over his incitement of Capitol riot
  • Adviser says Trump will ‘redefine the game’ with his return

Donald Trump will soon use “his own platform” to return to social media, an adviser said on Sunday, months after the former president was banned from Twitter for inciting the US Capitol riot.

Related: 'His new business': Trump seeks personal political brand as he grips Republican base

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‘We all know hate when we see it’: Warnock rejects FBI chief’s view of Atlanta shootings

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Law enforcement officials including the director of the FBI have said the shootings in Atlanta in which eight people were killed do not appear to have been racially motivated, but the Georgia senator Raphael Warnock said on Sunday: “We all know hate when we see it.”

Related: Atlanta spa shootings: Georgia hate crimes law could see first big test

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US defense secretary Austin visits Afghanistan as exit deadline looms

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  • Surprise visit and meeting with President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul
  • Trip comes ahead of 1 May deadline to bring US troops home

Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defense, made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, meeting President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul.

Related: Afghan peace summit includes just one female delegate

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Kamala Harris sidesteps question of her role to take Biden’s message on the road

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Aides and allies say it is too early to define the vice-president’s portfolio but she is unlikely to be confined to just one subject area

White House aides and allies stress it’s still too early to define the type of portfolio Kamala Harris will have as vice-president. They bristle at the suggestion that Harris would be confined to one project or focus on just one subject area, as some previous vice-presidents were pegged to do.

But over the last week, the former California senator has once again taken on an increasingly familiar mantle: top surrogate for promoting the Biden administration’s agenda.

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‘A new chapter in an old story’: what the Atlanta shootings reveal about the US

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After killings that followed a year of escalating hatred, Asian Americans ask why no one heeded the warnings

At 4.54pm on Tuesday, a Hyundai SUV pulled up outside Young’s Asian Massage parlor in the Atlanta suburb of Acworth. Earlier that day the driver, a white man, had popped into Big Woods Goods, a gun store that prides itself on being “fast and friendly”.

Service in the shop was so fast, in fact, that with the benefit of Georgia’s loose gun laws the man was able to buy a 9mm firearm on the spot.

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‘A similar challenge’: how Joe Biden echoes Kennedys on US foreign policy

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The president does not just share Irish roots with John, Robert and Ted Kennedy – he also wants to lead America in the world

It was a popular Washington sport: find the past president who best explained Donald Trump. There was a touch of Andrew Jackson’s populism, a dash of Richard Nixon’s skulduggery, a sprinkling of Ronald Reagan’s myth-making. But now all that is over, who are the closest matches to Joe Biden?

Related: Lucky review: how Biden beat Trump – and doubters like Obama and Hillary

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Atlanta spa shootings: Georgia hate crimes law could see first big test

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A hate crimes law passed in Georgia amid outrage over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery could get its first major test as part of the murder case against a white man charged with shooting and killing six women of Asian descent at Atlanta-area massage businesses this week.

Related: 'It's time for people to hear us': Georgia's Asian Americans vow to stand up against hate

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Unmasked: man behind cult set to replace QAnon

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The creator of the rapidly growing ‘Sabmyk Network’ is said to be a Berlin art dealer with a record of media manipulation

The mysterious individual behind a new and rapidly growing online disinformation network targeting followers of QAnon, the far-right cult, can be revealed as a Berlin-based artist with a history of social media manipulation, a prominent anti-racism group claims.

Since Donald Trump left the White House, QAnon’s vast online community has been in a state of flux as it comes to terms with the reality that its conspiracy theories – such as the former US president being destined to defeat a cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles – amount to nothing.

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Man accused of New Jersey killing says he is responsible for 16 deaths

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Sean Lannon is accused of killing a man he says abused him in childhood and is a person of interest in four other deaths

A man accused of killing a New Jersey man he says sexually abused him in childhood, and who is a person of interest in the deaths of his ex-wife and three other people in New Mexico, claims to be responsible for 16 deaths in all, prosecutors said.

Sean Lannon, 47, said he was responsible for the killings in New Jersey and New Mexico and claimed he had killed “11 other individuals”, NJ.com quoted Alec Gutierrez, an assistant prosecutor in Gloucester county, as saying at a detention hearing on Friday.

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Surveillance footage shows Atlanta shootings suspect leaving massage parlour – video

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Surveillance video has emerged showing the shooting suspect Robert Aaron Long leaving Young's massage parlour in Acworth, Georgia, which was attacked on Wednesday. Long has been charged with allegedly killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage businesses in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community. He told police the attack was not racially motivated, claiming to have a 'sex addiction'

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Four Proud Boys leaders charged over alleged roles in US Capitol attack

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Four men described as leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group have been charged in the US Capitol riot, as an indictment ordered unsealed on Friday presents fresh evidence of how federal officials believe members planned and carried out a coordinated attack to stop Congress certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Related: The decline of Proud Boys: what does the future hold for far-right group?

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