Category Archives: US News

Biden administration ‘to declassify report’ into Khashoggi murder

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Decision would mean US could assign blame for death on to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman

The Biden administration will declassify an intelligence report into the murder by the Saudi government of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to Avril Haines, who has been nominated to serve as director of national intelligence.

The decision means that the US is likely to officially assign blame for Khashoggi’s brutal murder to the kingdom’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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US coronavirus death toll passes 400,000 amid grim forecast over winter

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Thousands more deaths expected this season as more transmissible strain spreads and vaccinations move slowly

More than 400,000 Americans have now been killed by the coronavirus, a horrific marker of the misery the virus has spread across the country, as the rate of deaths from Covid-19 increases.

The latest death toll comes as thousands more deaths are expected in a bleak American winter with widespread Covid transmission, as a more transmissible strain spreads across the country and a mass vaccination campaign gets off to a slow start.

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New owners of Tiger King zoo ordered to turn over lion and tiger cubs

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Judge orders Oklahoma zoo featured in hit Netflix series to surrender cats and their mothers for violating animal welfare laws

A federal judge in Oklahoma has ordered the new owners of an Oklahoma zoo featured in Netflix’s Tiger King documentary to turn over all the lion and tiger cubs in their possession, along with the animals’ mothers, to the federal government.

Related: 'It's pretty messed up': Americans’ deadly love for tigers

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Joe Biden will launch presidency with appeal for unity – but whose unity?

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Analysis: The convergent crises call for a united response, the president-elect argues, but Republicans say that means forgetting Trump’s alleged role in insurrection

When Joe Biden takes the oath of office on Wednesday, the new president will appeal for national unity from the steps of the US Capitol, where two weeks ago a mob, incited by Donald Trump, stormed the building in a violent attempt to prevent this very moment.

Though their efforts failed, the bloody insurrection exposed the fragility of America’s commitment to a peaceful transfer of power, underscored by Trump’s absence at his successor’s inauguration ceremony.

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US presidential pardons: a potted history of a shabby convention

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Donald Trump is expected to pardon more than 100 people, following in the footsteps of White House predecessors

Donald Trump is hardly unique in his controversial use of presidential pardons, which have been a sometimes sordid feature of US politics for well over two centuries.

In his final hours in office, Trump is expected to pardon more than 100 people, including political allies, friends and cronies. He has already granted clemency to principal figures from his 2016 campaign.

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How will Trump pass ‘nuclear football’ to Biden if he’s not at swearing-in?

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Physical transfer of brief case containing nuclear attack plans has become part of inauguration ritual

It is a responsibility that has passed to every president since John F Kennedy – the custody of the so called “nuclear football” – the hardened brief case that is handed over on the day of the inauguration of new presidents by their predecessor.

The question being asked, given Trump’s almost unprecedented decision not to meet Joe Biden or attend his swearing in, is what will happen to the nuclear football?

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Melania Trump says ‘past four years have been unforgettable’ in recorded farewell speech – video

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The US first lady thanked Americans on Monday for the 'greatest honour of my life' in a recorded video she posted on Twitter.

Melania Trump said: 'The past four years have been unforgettable, as Donald and I conclude our time in the White House. I think of all of the people I have taken home in my heart and their incredible stories of love, patriotism and determination'

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Lights go out on Trump’s reality TV presidency but dark legacy remains

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For four years the outrages piled up so high they were hard to keep track of but the coronavirus pandemic proved to be one crisis he couldn’t bluster away

In a cold, sombre, damp Washington four years ago this Wednesday, Donald Trump took the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States and delivered an inaugural address now remembered for two words: American carnage.

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EU’s Covid vaccination debacle is down to institutional inflexibility

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Supply delays underline there was no legal or economic justification for central planning

A storm is raging over the EU’s failure to have ordered more of the approved Covid-19 vaccines ahead of time. Stéphane Bancel, the chief executive of the US pharmaceutical company Moderna, which gained approval for its vaccine shortly after Pfizer/BioNTech, claims that the EU has relied too much on “vaccines from its own laboratories”.

Did the European commission prioritise supporting its own pharmaceutical industry over protecting human lives? In fact, matters are not as simple as that. Contrary to what Bancel wants us to believe, the EU has actually ordered too little of its own vaccine. After all, the vaccine that is being administered most widely across the west was developed by a German company, BioNTech, and thus comes from the EU (though it was tested and partly produced in partnership with Pfizer in the US and with Fosun Pharma in China).

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‘The Capitol riot was our Chernobyl’: James Comey on Trump, the ‘pee tape’ and Clinton’s emails

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The former FBI director was sickened and angered by the attack incited by the president. But has he come to terms with his part in getting him elected?

As an investigator turned author, James Comey has developed a forensic eye for detail. The colour of the curtains in the Oval Office. The length of Donald Trump’s tie. Something about the US president that the camera often misses.

“Donald Trump conveys a menace, a meanness in private that is not evident in most public views of him,” says Comey, a former director of the FBI, from his home in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC.

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Trump administration to deport man to Haiti who has never been there

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Financial consultant Paul Pierrilus came to the US with his parents, who are both US citizens, when he was five

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) is to carry out a final deportation flight of the Trump era on Tuesday, with a plane bound for Haiti whose passengers include a man who is not a Haitian citizen, and who has never been there.

Paul Pierrilus, a 40-year-old financial consultant from Rockland County, New York, was born in the French Caribbean territory of Saint Martin, according to a birth certificate supplied by his family, who said he came to the US with his parents when he was five. His sister and parents are US citizens.

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Pink seesaws across US-Mexico border named Design of the Year 2020

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Creators say they hope the work encourages people to build bridges between communities

A collection of bright pink seesaws that allowed people to interact over the US-Mexico border has won the prestigious Design of the Year award, with its creators saying they hoped the work encourages people to build bridges between communities.

The Teeter Totter Wall, which bridged across El Paso in Texas and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico during a 40-minute session, was described as not only feeling “symbolically important” but also highlighting “the possibility of things” by the judging panel.

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Trump to hold early morning sendoff ceremony on Biden inauguration day

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Outgoing president has issued invites for event taking place in Maryland at 8am on Wednesday

Donald Trump is planning an early morning sendoff event for himself at a military airfield in Maryland on Wednesday several hours before his successor, Joe Biden, is inaugurated as the 46th US president at the Capitol in Washington DC.

For his last presidential ceremony, Trump reportedly wants an ostentatious military parade and an official armed forces farewell as the commander-in-chief, as well as a large crowd of supporters, selected backers and current and former officials in his administration and their guests at a huge red-carpet affair.

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Biden inauguration: Trump expected to issue flurry of pardons before leaving office – live

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Nearly a month after the presidential election, former attorney general Bill Barr told Donald Trump that his repeated claims of a stolen election were “bullshit,” according to a new report in Axios.

Per Axios, the exchange unfolded in the Oval Office, where Trump summoned Barr for a meeting after seeing a story by the Associated Press in which his attorney general told the agency there was evidence of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election.

Steve Dillingham, the director of the US census, is resigning effective on Wednesday, according to Talking Points Memo’s Tierney Sneed. That’s ahead of the end of Dillingham’s term and comes as he faces calls to resign.

Per Sneed:

Census Director Steve Dillingham will be stepping down on Jan. 20, cutting short by nearly a year the five-year director term, which was scheduled to expire on Dec 31.

Dillingham announced his resignation plans in an internal Census Bureau email obtained by TPM.

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FBI vets thousands of troops amid fears of insider attack on Biden inauguration

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  • Extra checks to prevent repeat of 6 January attack on Capitol
  • National guard plays down fears of extremism within ranks
  • US politics – live coverage

Thousands of military personnel guarding Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president on Wednesday are being vetted by the FBI amid fears of an insider attack.

Related: Texas woman who attacked Capitol says she was following Trump's orders

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I feel like a martyr: Capitol rioter says she was following orders of Trump – video

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A Texas real estate agent who was part of the pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol has said she was just following the orders of Donald Trump, even as she faced federal charges for her part in the insurrection.

Jenna Ryan, who flew to Washington on a private jet, hosted a Facebook live stream showing herself entering the Capitol, promoting her business and saying: 'We’re going to fucking go in here. Life or death.'

Ryan claimed on NBC News she had not been advocating aggression. She faces charges of disorderly conduct and knowingly entering a restricted area. Like other members of the mob, Ryan has asked Trump for a pardon, but said she would not hold it against Trump if no pardon were forthcoming

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Canada police officers refuse questions over one-year-old’s shooting death

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Watchdog says none of the officers who opened fire on pickup truck in Ontario in November have spoken to investigators

Two months after a one-year old boy was killed in a police shooting in rural Ontario, the officers involved have still not spoken to investigators, according to a police watchdog.

Ontario’s special investigations unit (SIU) said that none of the officers who opened fire on a pickup truck on 27 November have agreed to interviews, adding that they had no legal obligation to do so.

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How Biden era could kickstart coordinated approach to Russia

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Analysis: the west has been hampered by the fatal ambiguity of Trump’s US policy towards Moscow

Joe Biden’s accession to the US presidency has spawned a huge body of literature about his intentions towards China, but in his four years out of office Biden has in fact made Russia his primary focus in combatting authoritarianism.

Now, just days from coming into office, the arrest of the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has suddenly presented him with a test case, which may also lead to friction with two of his closest allies: Germany and the UK.

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How the Republican voter fraud lie paved the way for Trump to undermine Biden’s presidency

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Trump has accelerated a deliberate strategy by Republicans to weaken faith in elections by making it harder to vote

When an American president is inaugurated, it’s supposed to mark the height of American democracy and power. The elaborate ceremony is designed to convey the peaceful transfer of power and that no matter how bitter the election, the nation is moving on.

Related: Trump official admits family separation policy 'should never have been implemented'

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Tense calm in Washington as small pro-Trump groups gather at state capitols across US – live

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The FBI announced that authorities had arrested the guitarist of heavy metal band Iced Earth in connection to the Capitol riot.

Jon Schaffer was allegedly among those who sprayed Capitol police with bear spray.

Jon Schaffer, Columbus, IN, has been arrested in connection to Jan 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol. Schaffer faces 6 charges including engaging in an act of physical violence in a Capitol building. Schaffer was allegedly among rioters who sprayed Capitol police with "bear spray."

Jason Kenney, the premier of Alberta, Canada, has responded to the report that President-elect Joe Biden will cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit via executive action on his first day in office.

“The Keystone XL pipeline represents tens of thousands of good paying jobs that the American economy needs right now,” he writes.

I am deeply concerned by reports that the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden may repeal the Presidential permit for the Keystone XL border crossing next week.

My full statement: pic.twitter.com/vZjun1IdMH

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