Category Archives: Washington, DC

‘No ceasefire, no votes’: tens of thousands attend pro-Palestinian rally in Washington DC

Posted on by

Protesters call on Biden to demand ceasefire in Israel-Gaza conflict and end military aid to Israel

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through downtown Washington DC on Saturday in what organizers hoped was the largest US demonstration of its kind since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas attacked the country last month.

The crowd waved Palestinian flags, carried posters and chanted slogans during the National March on Washington: Free Palestine, which took place alongside similar events across the US and elsewhere in the world.

Continue reading...

Hundreds arrested as US Jews protest against Israel’s Gaza assault

Posted on by

Protesters in Washington demand ceasefire, marking rift in community as Anti-Defamation League condemns demonstration

Leftwing Jewish activists campaigned against Israel’s bombardment and blockade of Gaza this week in Washington, culminating in protests that have seen hundreds arrested for civil disobedience outside the White House and Congress.

But groups like the Anti-Defamation League have dismissed the actions as unrepresentative of fellow Jews, signalling a growing rift in the community as the war in the Middle East continues to claim thousands of lives.

Continue reading...

Rightwing group behind regressive US state laws to face protest at DC gala

Posted on by

Rights groups to rally outside event, calling on corporations to cut ties with American Legislative Exchange Council

A broad coalition of opponents to the rightwing corporate agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) will hold a rally on Wednesday night outside a glitzy gala event to celebrate the secretive group’s 50th anniversary.

Environmentalists, gun reform campaigners, union leaders and voting rights activists will protest outside the $750-a-ticket event at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, calling on corporations to cut ties with Alec – a tax-exempt group behind a slew of regressive state laws including the stand your ground gun legislation, right-to-work labor policies and so-called critical infrastructure protections that criminalize protest against fossil fuel polluters.

Continue reading...

Tech leaders agree on AI regulation but divided on how in Washington forum

Posted on by

Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman and others gathered for ‘one of the most important conversations of the year’

A delegation of top tech leaders including Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman convened in Washington on Wednesday for a closed-door meeting with US senators to discuss the rise of artificial intelligence and how it should be regulated.

The discussion, billed as an “AI safety forum”, is one of several meetings between Silicon Valley, researchers, labor leaders and government and is taking on fresh urgency with the US elections looming and the rapid pace of AI advancement already affecting peoples’ lives and work.

Continue reading...

US to argue Google abused power to monopolize internet search as antitrust trial begins

Posted on by

Outcome could reshape how public accesses and interacts with the internet, or embolden Google to pursue tighter grip on the market

The watershed antitrust trial pitting the US government against Google begins on Tuesday in a Washington district court, as the government is set to make its case that the tech giant illegally abused its power to monopolize internet search. It is the biggest test of antitrust law in decades, and the first such case against Google to go to trial.

Big tech companies and regulators are closely watching the trial, which could force a shift in how the industry is allowed to operate. Its outcome could reshape how the public accesses and interacts with the internet, or embolden Google to pursue an even tighter grip on the market.

Continue reading...

‘Racism is still with us’: celebration of King’s 1963 speech shadowed by racist attack

Posted on by

Martin Luther King’s family decried the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, the overturning of Roe and gun violence in the US

On the eve of the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s legendary I Have a Dream speech, his son and granddaughter have decried continuing racial violence and hatred in the US, lamenting that the civil rights leader’s call for equality and justice has yet to be fulfilled.

Speaking a day after a vast crowd gathered in the nation’s capital in an echo of the 28 August 1963 march on Washington at which King made his famous remarks, his eldest son, Martin Luther King III, warned of a resurgence of hate crimes. Violence against minorities was “unconscionable” and “unacceptable”, he said.

Continue reading...

US government seeks 33 years for ex-Proud Boys leader over Capitol attack

Posted on by

Request for Enrique Tarrio sentence comes as another convicted member of far-right group goes missing days before court date

The US justice department is seeking 33 years in prison for Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader convicted of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases to emerge from the attack on the US Capitol, according to court documents.

The harsh sentence request came as it emerged that Christopher Worrell, another member of the extremist group, has disappeared, days before he was due to be sentenced on Friday

Continue reading...

Crowds gather under stormy skies for glimpse of Trump in court – again

Posted on by

Road closures and a huge police presence meant Trump slipped into court out of public view – but onlookers made their voices heard

After hearing that Donald Trump would appear at a federal courthouse in downtown Washington to answer charges filed against him for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, Joan Batista made plans to be outside, celebrating what she viewed as the former president’s long overdue comeuppance.

But when she arrived at the E Barrett Prettyman US courthouse, what she saw bothered her. City trucks equipped with snow plows blocked roads, hundreds of police monitored the building’s entrances and reporters from all around the world ringed its perimeter, hoping for a glimpse of the former president.

Continue reading...

Trump arraignment key takeaways: four charges and a swift return date

Posted on by

The ex-president was hit with four felony counts over efforts to overturn the election, and another hearing is due this month

Donald Trump’s third arraignment took place in a Washington courthouse on Thursday, the usual throng of media and smattering of protestors outside.

But as routine as a Trump indictment may seem to the public eye, this was the first time the former president has faced accountability for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.

Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding.

Conspiracy against rights.

Continue reading...

Trump pleads not guilty to January 6 charges and claims arraignment is ‘sad day for America’ – as it happened

Posted on by

In the minutes after the Trump indictment was filed in federal district court in Washington, conservative commentators rapidly scrambled to his defense. Rightwing pundits lined up to compare the charges to “criminalizing thoughts” and the dropping of “fifteen dozen” atomic bombs – and that was just on Fox News.

Rightwing TV channel Newsmax, which has drained some of Fox News’s audience in recent months, brought on Rudy Giuliani, an unnamed co-conspirator in Tuesday’s indictment, who railed for seven minutes about Hillary Clinton’s emails and Biden being a “crooked president”.

Continue reading...

Rudy Giuliani should be disbarred over 2020 election, DC panel recommends

Posted on by

Washington DC committee recommends revoking former New York City mayor’s law license over attempt to overturn election

Rudy Giuliani’s law license should be revoked over his work on a failed lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results on behalf of then president Donald Trump, a Washington DC attorney ethics committee has recommended.

He now faces being disbarred in the capital after the review panel late on Friday condemned the lawyer and ex-politician for aggressively pursuing the false assertions Trump made about his defeat by Democratic rival and now US president Joe Biden.

Continue reading...

Lyft driver who worked as US interpreter in Afghanistan shot dead in Washington

Posted on by

Nasratullah Ahmadyar, 31, who left Afghanistan on last flight from Kabul in 2021, died in hospital after being shot in his car

A Virginia man who previously served as an interpreter for the US military in Afghanistan was fatally shot this week working as a rideshare driver in Washington.

Nasratullah Ahmadyar, 31, was shot and killed on Monday while driving for Lyft, WUSA 9 reported. He had worked as an interpreter with the army special forces, but left Afghanistan on the last flight out of the country during the US withdrawal in 2021.

Continue reading...

Fourth of July overshadowed by 16 mass shootings across US

Posted on by

Fifteen people were killed and 94 injured across 13 states as well as Washington DC

From the nation’s capital to Fort Worth, Texas, from Florin, California, in the west to the Bronx, New York, in the east, the Fourth of July long weekend in the US was overshadowed by 16 mass shootings in which 15 people were killed and nearly 100 injured.

The Gun Violence Archive, an authoritative database on gun violence in America, calculated the grim tally using its definition of a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people excluding the shooter are killed or injured by firearms.

Continue reading...

US Secret Service investigating as cocaine reportedly found in White House

Posted on by

It wouldn’t be the first time illegal drugs were brought into the president’s residence

A preliminary field test on a white substance found in the White House has reportedly come up positive for cocaine, law enforcement authorities said, and the US Secret Service was investigating on Tuesday how it came to be at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The presence of the substance – which has been sent out for further testing – came to light late on Monday when a firefighter with the Washington DC fire department’s hazardous materials team radioed: “We have a yellow bar saying cocaine hydrochloride,” the Washington Post first reported.

Continue reading...

Armed man wanted for role in Capitol attack arrested near Obama’s house

Posted on by

Taylor Taranto found with materials to create an explosive device a few blocks away from former president’s Washington DC home

A man armed with explosive materials and weapons, and wanted for crimes related to the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, was arrested late on Thursday in the Washington DC neighborhood where the former US president Barack Obama lives, law enforcement officials said.

Taylor Taranto, 37, was spotted by law enforcement officials a few blocks from the former president’s home and fled, though he was chased by Secret Service agents. Taranto has an open warrant on charges related to the insurrection, two law enforcement officials said. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing case and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Continue reading...

US judge hears rightwing thinktank’s challenge over Prince Harry visa

Posted on by

Heritage Foundation, which claims duke may have lied about past drug use on application, wants US government to release records

A federal judge has given the US government a week to decide how to respond to a rightwing thinktank that alleges Prince Harry may have lied about past drug use on his visa application.

The Duke of Sussex moved to southern California with his wife, Meghan Markle, an American citizen, and their young family in 2020 after they left British royal life and embarked on new projects, including the release of his memoir, Spare in January.

Continue reading...

US jets pursue light aircraft over Washington DC before it crashes in Virginia

Posted on by

The fighter jets caused a sonic boom over the US capital that sent some residents into a brief panic

US authorities scrambled fighter jets to intercept an unresponsive light aircraft that violated the airspace over the Washington DC area and later crashed into mountainous terrain in south-west Virginia, officials have said.

Four people were onboard the Cessna Citation plane, according to CNN, which cited an unnamed source. Police said rescuers had found no survivors onboard the plane.

Continue reading...

Truck driver charged with threatening president after crash near White House

Posted on by

Suspect named as Sai Varshith Kandula also charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and accused of having Nazi flag

A driver who was arrested after crashing into security barriers near the White House has been charged with threatening to kill or harm the US president, along with other crimes.

Police named the suspect as Sai Varshith Kandula from Chesterfield, Missouri. He was accused of threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on the president, vice-president or a relative, said a statement from the US park police, who have jurisdiction of the area where the struck barriers are located.

Continue reading...

Intruder at home of Biden adviser Jake Sullivan bypassed Secret Service agents

Posted on by

National security adviser confronted apparently intoxicated man at 3am then told his protectors what happened, report says

The US Secret Service was investigating after an apparently intoxicated and confused man walked past agents and into the Washington home of Joe Biden’s national security adviser.

Jake Sullivan confronted the man and told him to leave, the Washington Post first reported, of an incident that happened at about 3am one night in late April. There were no signs of forced entry.

Continue reading...

UN human rights experts begin US tour focusing on racial justice and policing

Posted on by

Panel established in response to George Floyd killing will visit Washington DC, Atlanta, LA, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York

A team of United Nations experts has arrived in the US on a tour that will focus on racial justice, law enforcement and policing.

On Monday, the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement, an independent panel appointed by the UN human rights council, began its two-week visit to the US.

Continue reading...