Category Archives: US News

‘Not our war’: bipartisan US lawmakers back resolution to block involvement in Iran

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Republican Thomas Massie joins with Democrats in effort to require Congress approval before Trump attacks Iran

As Donald Trump publicly threatens to join Israel in attacking Iran, an unlikely coalition of lawmakers has moved to prevent the president from involving US forces in the conflict without Congress’s approval.

On Tuesday, Republican congressman Thomas Massie, whose libertarian-tinged politics have often put him at odds with Trump, joined with several progressive Democrats to introduce in the House of Representatives a war powers resolution that would require a vote by Congress before Trump could attack Iran. Democrat Tim Kaine has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

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Trump threatens to keep 25% tariff on UK steel imports over Port Talbot concerns

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Exclusive: Sources say US wants information on when importing of raw materials from abroad at Port Talbot site will stop

Donald Trump is threatening to keep 25% tariffs on some or all of its steel imports from the UK unless it gives specific guarantees over the Indian-owned steelmaking plant at Port Talbot in south Wales, sources have told the Guardian.

An agreement to reduce tariffs on UK car exports to the US and scrap them for the aerospace sector was signed off by the US president and Keir Starmer on Monday, on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.

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Ex-senator Bob Menendez arrives at prison to begin serving 11-year sentence

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The New Jersey Democrat will be held in Pennsylvania facility after his conviction on bribery charges

Bob Menendez arrived at a federal prison on Tuesday to begin serving an 11-year sentence for accepting bribes of gold and cash and acting as an agent of Egypt. The New Jersey Democrat and former US senator has been mocked for the crimes as “Gold Bar Bob”, according to his own lawyer.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed that Menendez was in custody at the Schuylkill federal correctional institution in Minersville, Pennsylvania. The facility has a medium-security prison and a minimum-security prison camp. Given the white-collar nature of his crimes, it is likely he will end up in the camp.

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Brush fire forces evacuation of 50 Maui residents as other wildfires burn in continental US

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Kahikinui fire is 85% contained as firefighting crews battle blazes in Pacific north-west, California and the Rockies

A fast-moving Hawaii brush fire fueled by fierce winds forced the evacuation of about 50 Maui residents on the opposite side of the same island where a devastating blaze killed more than 100 people two years ago.

The fire started on Sunday in a sparsely populated area with land set aside for Native Hawaiians.

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Could US attack Iran’s Fordow nuclear site? Military movements offer a clue

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Refuelling aircraft were tracked heading east, potentially to support B-2 jets carrying bunker-buster bombs

The US has stepped up its military presence in the Middle East since the weekend but has left certain details vague to preserve operational ambiguity for Donald Trump as he considers whether the US will intervene in the Israel-Iran war.

Critically, there has been no new information about the deployment of B-2 bombers that would be used to attack Iran’s deep-lying nuclear enrichment site at Fordow with 13.6-tonne (30,000lb) bunker-buster bombs, designed to penetrate 60 metres of rock.

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CDC official in charge of Covid data resigns ahead of vaccine meeting

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Fiona Havers says she does not have confidence data will be use to make ‘evidence-based vaccine policy decisions’

The scientist responsible for overseeing the CDC team that collects data on Covid and RSV hospitalizations resigned on Monday.

Dr Fiona Havers told colleagues in an email that she no longer had confidence the data would be used “objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions”, according to Reuters.

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Ice agents detain US citizen as LA immigration raids continue: ‘It’s racial profiling’

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Officers arrest people at swap meet in Santa Fe and detain people in Montebello as curfew in LA remains in place

US immigration raids continued to target southern California communities in recent days, including at a popular flea market and in a Los Angeles suburb where US citizens were detained.

On Saturday, as mass protests swept the nation, including tens of thousands demonstrating in LA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents descended on a swap meet in Santa Fe Springs in southeast LA county. Video showed dozens of heavily armed, masked officers carrying out the raid before a scheduled concert at the long-running event that features vendors, food and entertainment every weekend

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Doctor charged with supplying Matthew Perry ketamine agrees to plead guilty

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Salvador Plasencia, who gave Friends star the drug in month leading to overdose, to plead guilty to four counts

A doctor charged with giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the Friends star’s overdose death has agreed to plead guilty, authorities said Monday.

Dr Salvador Plasencia has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of distribution of ketamine, federal prosecutors said in a statement. They said the plea carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, and Plasencia is expected to enter the plea in the coming weeks.

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Trump administration notches first big win in assault on higher education

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Federal judge dismissed lawsuit brought by faculty groups over government cuts to Columbia University funding

The Trump administration scored its most significant legal victory in its sweeping effort to reshape American higher education when a federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by faculty groups over the government’s cuts to Columbia University’s federal funding.

The lawsuit concerned the Trump administration’s cuts to $400m worth of federal funding to Columbia on the grounds it tolerated antisemitism during pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Columbia largely accepted the government’s terms for restoring funding – in an agreement widely panned as a capitulation of its own academic freedom – several days before the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) sued the Trump administration over the cuts.

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Democratic senator proposes curbing Trump’s war powers amid Israel-Iran conflict

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Tim Kaine introduces measure to prohibit US forces from taking action against Iran without approval from Congress

As Iran and Israel exchange missile attacks for a fourth day, Democrats in Washington are moving swiftly to reassert congressional authority over US military engagement in the region amid fears of American involvement in a broader conflict.

Tim Kaine, a Democratic senator of Virginia, on Monday introduced a war powers resolution that would prohibit US armed forces from taking direct action against Iran without explicit authorization from Congress or a declaration of war. The measure, like other attempts to claw back power from the executive branch, faces a steep climb in the GOP-controlled Congress, where Republicans have been mostly unwilling to challenge Donald Trump’s authority.

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California bill proposes misdemeanor for officers who cover their face on duty

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Law enforcement officials would also be required to be identifiable by uniform carrying their name

Local, state, and federal law enforcement officers who cover their faces while conducting official business could face a misdemeanor in California under a new proposal announced Monday.

The bill would require all law enforcement officials show their faces and be identifiable by their uniform, which should carry their name or other identifier. It would not apply to the national guard or other troops and it exempts Swat teams and officers responding to natural disasters.

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Ant no stopping us now: insect with potent bite continues march across US

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Experts say Asian needle ant ‘not especially dangerous’ but warn some people have gone into anaphylaxis

Last year, Dan Suiter, a professor of urban entomology at the University of Georgia, received at least three calls from people who had been stung by an Asian needle ant – or knew someone who had been – and went into anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction that can be life-threatening.

While there is no new evidence on the continued spread of the ants in the US – detected now in 20 US states – Suiter and his colleagues are determined to raise public awareness of the risks the species poses.

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Markets stabilise as investors fear ‘adverse shock’ from higher oil prices – business live

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Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Over at the Paris Air Show, a row has broken out after four Israeli company stands at the trade fair were shut down.

According to Reuters, French authorities ordered that the four stands should be closed for “displaying offensive weapons”, after not complying with an order from a French security agency to remove offensive or kinetic weapons from the stands.

“This outrageous and unprecedented decision reeks of policy-driven and commercial considerations.

“The French are hiding behind supposedly political considerations to exclude Israeli offensive weapons from an international exhibition - weapons that compete with French industries.”

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Suspect in shootings of Minnesota lawmakers caught and charged with murder

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Vance Boelter accused of killing legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband, and wounding John Hoffman and his wife

The man suspected of opening fire on two Minnesota legislators and their spouses on 14 June, killing one legislator and her husband, was set to appear in court on Monday afternoon charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder, the state’s governor, Tim Walz, said at a news conference.

Vance Boelter, 57, is suspected of fatally shooting the Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their residence early on Saturday. Boelter is also suspected of shooting the state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home, seriously injuring them.

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Suspect in murders of Minnesota lawmakers caught and charged | First Thing

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Vance Boelter accused of killing Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounding John Hoffman and his wife. Plus, why a professor of fascism left the US

Good morning.

The man suspected of opening fire on two Minnesota legislators and their spouses on 14 June, killing one of them and her husband, was apprehended late on Sunday night and charged with two counts of murder and two of attempted murder, the state’s governor, Tim Walz, said.

How did the suspect get into the legislator’s homes? Authorities allege Boelter impersonated a police officer, wearing a uniform that most civilians would not be able to distinguish from the real thing and driving a vehicle made to resemble a police SUV.

Where did the manhunt end? After firing shots at police and fleeing on foot, he was finally caught in a rural area in Sibley county, south-west of Minneapolis, according to police.

Why did Israel say it launched the attack on Iran? Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had acted to pre-empt a secret Iranian programme to build a nuclear bomb, claiming Tehran already had the capacity to build nine.

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Jaguar Land Rover warns that Trump tariffs will hit profits

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Shares in parent company Tata Motors fall as JLR says it will reallocate vehicles to ‘accessible markets’

The British luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has warned of a hit to profits from Donald Trump’s tariffs, after the company temporarily paused deliveries to the US.

The carmaker, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, halted shipments to America in April after the US president imposed a 25% duty on all foreign-made vehicles, before resuming them last month. The country accounts for more than a quarter of JLR’s sales.

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Sex-trafficking trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs enters sixth week

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Lawyers for the music mogul deny allegations of sex trafficking or coercion, asserting that all sexual encounters were consensual and part of a ‘swingers lifestyle’

The high-profile federal sex-trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs is entering its sixth week in federal court in Manhattan on Monday as the government continues presenting its case against the 55-year-old music mogul.

Combs, who was arrested in September, faces charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.

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Trump’s ‘revenge tax’ could threaten foreign investment into US, analysts say

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Concerns raised that section 899 could backfire and also undermine dollar’s safe haven status

Foreign investment into the US could be threatened by Donald Trump’s new “revenge” taxes, analysts have warned.

A provision within the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will allow the US to apply higher taxes on foreign individuals, businesses and investors connected to jurisdictions that impose “unfair foreign taxes” on US individuals and companies.

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Israel and Iran broaden strikes during third day of escalating war

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Trump calls for end to conflict and warns Tehran against striking US targets in the region

Israel and Iran have broadened their strikes against each other on the third day of an escalating war that has killed and injured hundreds of people, as Donald Trump called for an end to the conflict and warned Tehran against striking US targets in the region.

G7 leaders flying to Canada for a summit that starts on Monday are likely to try to use their time with the US president to urge him to keep the US out of the conflict and use his influence with Israel to broker a ceasefire.

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Manhunt continues for suspect in shootings of Minnesota lawmakers

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Gunman believed to have left Minneapolis region after killing one legislator and wounding another

The hunt for the man suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses while impersonating a police officer, killing one legislator and her husband, continued on Sunday more than 24 hours after the killings.

Vance Boelter, 57, now on the FBI’s most wanted list, is believed to have left the Minneapolis region after allegedly gunning down Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home, according to CNN. Boelter is also suspected of shooting Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their residence, gravely injuring them; a relative posted on Facebook that they were out of surgery and recovering.

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