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US auto strike expands with 7,000 more workers joining

Another 7,000 members of the biggest US automobile workers' union on Friday joined its already major strike against the country's "Big Three" Detroit car manufacturers.The latest walkouts leave a total of some 25,000 workers on strike in 21 states -- or around 17 percent of the Uni...

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Israel, S Arabia moving towards ‘framework’ for deal: US

Israel and Saudi Arabia are moving towards the outline of a historic US-brokered deal to normalize relations after decades of hostility, the White House said on Friday.President Joe Biden is hoping to transform the Middle East -- and score an election-year diplomatic victory -- by securing recogniti...

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US Fed official says interest rates ‘at, or near’ peak

US interest rates are rapidly approaching their highest level in the Federal Reserve's current battle against inflation, and may already be there, a senior Fed official said Friday.The US central bank has raised interest rates 11 times since March 2022 in a bid to tame inflation and bring it fir...

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Trump, in campaign mode, attempts to back off abortion

Donald Trump never misses a chance to remind voters that he was the one to appoint three justices to the US Supreme Court who voted to ditch the federal right to an abortion.But ask the 77-year-old what he thinks personally about abortion, and his position starts to shift, the self-declared "mo...

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US defense chief okays steps to curb military suicides

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has approved more than 100 recommendations aimed at curbing suicides in the US military, including through improving gun safety on bases, the Pentagon said Thursday.The recommendations follow reviews of 11 US military sites by the Suicide Prevention and Response Indepe...

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Asteroid debris may be found on opening of returned NASA probe

After a seven-year wait, NASA scientists on Tuesday finally pried open a space probe carrying the largest asteroid samples ever brought back to Earth, finding black debris.Researchers "found black dust and debris on the avionics deck of the Osiris-Rex science canister when the initial lid was r...

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US halts Gabon aid after military takeover

The United States said Tuesday it would halt assistance to Gabon after the military took charge last month."The US government is pausing certain foreign assistance programs benefiting the government of Gabon while we evaluate the unconstitutional intervention by members of the country's mil...

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Kamala Harris tasked with new role fighting US gun violence

US Vice President Kamala Harris took on a new role Friday fighting gun violence, a job likely to give her more visibility ahead of the 2024 election.The 58-year-old Democrat will head up the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which will provide coordination on the issue but largely l...

Business

US job market solid but Fed risks pushing too far

The US labor market is remarkably solid despite aggressive interest rate hikes to fight inflation and a recent rise in unemployment, but analysts warn that the central bank risks pushing too far.The Federal Reserve has lifted the benchmark lending rate 11 times since March last year, with consumer i...

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Biden’s national security adviser meets Chinese FM

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi over the weekend, officials said Sunday, in the latest effort to ease tensions between the superpowers.Sullivan and Wang met in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta on Saturday and Sunday, according to ...

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Biden’s national security adviser meets Chinese FM

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi over the weekend, officials said Sunday, in the latest effort to ease tensions between the superpowers.Sullivan and Wang met in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta on Saturday and Sunday, according to ...

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Drug lord ‘El Chapo’s son extradited to US

Mexico on Friday extradited the son of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States to face narcotics charges, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said.Ovidio Guzman Lopez, also known as "El Raton" or "The Mouse," was indicted earlier this year ...

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US, Cuba hold rare Washington talks

A top Cuban envoy held a rare meeting in Washington with US officials, but made no apparent progress on getting the island off a terrorism blacklist, diplomats said Thursday.Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio met this week with the top officials for Latin America at the State D...

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Biden to address UNGA next week: White House

US President Joe Biden will address the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week and discuss international security "threats" with other world leaders, the White House said Tuesday.Russia's war in Ukraine is again expected to dominate the annual UN forum, where nations las...

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US urges warring Sudan parties to start peace talks

Sudan’s warring parties must end their “unconscionable war” through dialogue, a senior US diplomat urged at a press briefing here on Tuesday, highlighting the acute suffering of refugees during a recent visit to camps at the border between Chad and Sudan.Linda Thomas-Greenfield, th...

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More than 330m children still in extreme poverty: UNICEF

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a sharp slowdown in the fight to end child poverty, with 333 million children still living in extreme poverty, according to a report published Wednesday.The report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank found that the pandemic led to the ...

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US takes on Google in landmark antitrust trial

A landmark case pitting the US government against Google over the dominance of the company's world-dominating search engine began in a Washington courtroom on Tuesday."This case is about the future of the internet and whether Google will ever face meaningful competition in search," sai...

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Biden’s son to be charged in gun case this month: prosecutor

US President Joe Biden's son Hunter will be charged before the end of September with a federal firearm offense after his plea deal went sour, the prosecutor said Wednesday in a court filing.Special Counsel David Weiss, who has investigated the president's son for five years, said a grand jur...

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Biden moves against unlicensed gun dealers

US President Joe Biden's administration moved Thursday to close loopholes that allow people to sell guns without a dealer license, which would require them to perform background checks on purchasers.The Justice Department released detailed rules that follow the Biden-backed Safer Communities Act...

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US judge sets March 4 for historic Trump trial

A judge on Monday set March 4, 2024 for former president Donald Trump's election subversion conspiracy trial -- placing one of the biggest criminal cases in American history at the height of the next White House race.The date -- a full two years before the defense team's proposal -- is ...