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Trump 'wants to take America back to 1800s' on abortion: VP Harris

Tucson (AFP) - Democrats came out swinging at Donald Trump on the divisive issue of abortion on Friday, blaming him for unpopular restrictions they said are turning back the clock on women's rights ahead of November's presidential election. Days after Arizona became the latest state to declare almost all abortions illegal, Vice President Kamala Harris told a rally the populist former president was the architect of the ban, and warned worse was to come if he wins the White House. "Here's what a second Trump term looks like: More bans, more suffering and less freedom," Harris told supporters in...

Alabama carries out first US execution using nitrogen gas

Washington (AFP) - The southern US state of Alabama on Thursday put to death a convicted murderer using nitrogen gas, the first time the controversial method criticized by human rights advocates has been used in the country. Kenneth Eugene Smith was pronounced dead at 8:25 pm (0225 GMT Friday), according to the state attorney general. "Justice has been served. Tonight, Kenneth Smith was put to death for the heinous act he committed over 35 years ago," the statement by Attorney General Steve Marshall said. Smith, 58, was on death row for more than three decades after being convicted of the 1988...

Giant waves flood key US military base on Marshall Islands

Majuro (Marshall Islands) (AFP) - A clean-up operation was underway Thursday after giant waves flooded a key US military base on the Marshall Islands in the heart of the South Pacific. Huge breakers pummelled the US garrison at Kwajalein Atoll last weekend on Roi-Namur island, where some of America's most sophisticated space and missile tracking equipment is housed. Video footage from inside the garrison showed surging water from the waves knocked over bystanders, smashed open glass doors and shattered windows. Around 80 of the 120 personnel had to be evacuated, the US military said, and a 60-...

Five takeaways from the New Hampshire primary

Manchester (United States) (AFP) - Former US president Donald Trump steamrolled to victory in New Hampshire, brushing aside challenger Nikki Haley and virtually cementing his grip on the Republican nomination as he chases another term in the White House. Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night. Trump appears unstoppableNo Republican who won both Iowa and New Hampshire has ever lost the nomination battle. That historical data point is gold for Trump, now widely seen as the party's presumptive flag-bearer heading into November -- despite multiple legal scandals and a chaos-filled record as pr...

AI and death: Sundance films grapple with our digital afterlife

Park City (United States) (AFP) - Artificial intelligence promises to make death "optional," as the technology learns to perfectly emulate our personalities, memories and dreams, keeping a version of ourselves alive long after our physical bodies have perished. But if rapidly improving AI achieves its lofty goal of digital immortality -- as its advocates believe it can -- will it be a force for good or for evil? "Eternal You" and "Love Machina," two new documentaries that premiered at the Sundance movie festival this weekend, grapple with the question, exploring AI's relationship to death from...

Talk shows coming back after Hollywood writers' strike ends

Los Angeles (AFP) - Late-night talk shows, a mainstay of the US TV schedule, will be back on the air within a week, hosts said Wednesday, after leaders of the Writers Guild of America called off a paralyzing strike. The densely written shows -- fronted by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver -- have been a glaring absence since writers downed pens in May over demands for better pay and guarantees against the threat from artificial intelligence. "Flash! Their mission complete, the founding members of Strike Force 5 will return to their network television show...

US news outlet posts job ad for Taylor Swift reporter

New York (AFP) - Many music reporters pass their days immersed in the phenomenon that is Taylor Swift, but one US news outlet said Tuesday it's hiring a journalist dedicated solely to the pop titan. Gannett's career site now includes a job post seeking a "Taylor Swift reporter" for the Tennessean and USA Today outlets. "The successful candidate is a driven, creative and energetic journalist able to capture the excitement around Swift's ongoing tour and upcoming album release, while also providing thoughtful analysis of her music and career," the post said. "We are looking for a journalist with...

As Trump wrestles indictments, Biden keeps focus on economy

Milwaukee (AFP) - As criminal charges against Donald Trump mount, his rival for the White House President Joe Biden is determined to avoid commenting on the Republican's legal troubles. A day after Trump was indicted for the fourth time, for alleged racketeering and election interference in Georgia, Biden delivered a public speech in another key swing state, Wisconsin, focused on wind power and job creation. In a factory busy with new orders for wind turbines, the Democrat boasted of new jobs and investments linked, in his view, to the major energy and infrastructure policies he has enacted d...

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Icon Grandmaster Flash leads the Bronx in 70s-style hip-hop jam

New York (AFP) - As a teenager Grandmaster Flash began pioneering the turntable-as-instrument, playing the now iconic Bronx block parties that gave birth to hip-hop and revolutionized music. On Friday, he was back home, commemorating 50 years of the genre with a performance that had New Yorkers born in the mid-20th century reliving their youth -- and hip-hop's. "This is not a concert -- this is a jam!" Flash, now in his 60s, shouted from the stage, as hundreds of fans roared in applause in the South Bronx's Crotona Park. The audience swayed with their hands in the air as Flash threw it back to...

Hollywood A-listers donate millions to aid striking actors

Los Angeles (AFP) - A dozen of Hollywood's highest-earning stars, from George Clooney to Meryl Streep, have each donated $1 million or more to support out-of-work actors as their strike enters its fourth week, their union's charitable foundation said Wednesday. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) walkout, and another strike by film and TV writers that began in May over pay and the threat of artificial intelligence, have brought US film and television production to a halt. The Hollywood "double strike" of writers and actors -- the first since 1960 -- has cost the entertainment industry and the ...

Brooke Shields describes rape in Sundance documentary

Park City (United States) (AFP) - Brooke Shields revealed she was raped as a young Hollywood actress in new documentary "Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields," which premiered at the Sundance film festival on Friday. The former supermodel did not reveal the identity of her attacker, but said she met with the man -- someone she already knew -- soon after she graduated college, believing it was a work meeting to discuss casting her in a new movie. He took her back to his hotel, claiming he would call her a taxi from his room. He instead disappeared to the bathroom before returning naked and assaulting he...

Major US pipeline shut by ransomware attack

Washington (AFP) - The largest fuel pipeline system in the United States was forced to shut down its entire network after a ransomware attack, the operating company said in a statement Saturday. The Colonial Pipeline Company ships gasoline and jet fuel from the Gulf Coast of Texas to the populous East Coast through 5,500 miles (8,850 kilometers) of pipeline, serving 50 million consumers. It said it had been "the victim of a cybersecurity attack" which involved ransomware -- attacks that encrypt computer systems and seek to extract payments from operators. "In response, we proactively took cert...

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New documentary paints disturbing picture of Woody Allen

New York (AFP) - A new documentary series premiering Sunday on the HBO network, "Allen v. Farrow," paints a damning picture of Oscar-winning director Woody Allen, particularly regarding his alleged sexual abuse of young adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow. Even if the four-part series contains no major revelations, it seems certain to further sully the already battered reputation of the aging New York filmmaker. Respected documentary directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering delve into Allen's past, using testimony and legal documents -- some not previously seen -- to dig deeper than anyone before them....

Harvard astronomer argues that alien vessel paid us a visit

Washington (AFP) - Discovering there's intelligent life beyond our planet could be the most transformative event in human history -- but what if scientists decided to collectively ignore evidence suggesting it already happened? That's the premise of a new book by a top astronomer, who argues that the simplest and best explanation for the highly unusual characteristics of an interstellar object that sped through our solar system in 2017 is that it was alien technology. Sound kooky? Avi Loeb says the evidence holds otherwise, and is convinced his peers in the scientific community are so consume...

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Russians see US democracy 'limping' after Capitol stormed

Moscow (AFP) - Russian officials on Thursday pointed to the storming of the US Capitol as evidence of America's decline, with one saying it showed US democracy was "limping on both feet". After the stunning events in Washington, many in Moscow said the United States was no longer in any position to lecture other countries on freedom and democracy. Under banners reading "Storm of the Capitol" and "Chaos in Washington", Russian state television showed rolling images of mobs of Donald Trump supporters breaking down barricades and swarming the building, as security forces fired tear gas and police...

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Major blast hits Nashville after chilling bomb warning

Washington (AFP) - A huge explosion tore through a section of downtown Nashville early Friday, after police responding to reports of gunfire discovered a parked motorhome playing a recorded bomb warning. The blast shattered windows and ripped apart trees but appeared calculated to spare lives, injuring just three people as it detonated at 6:30am (1130 GMT) in a section of the southern US city that was largely deserted due the early hour and the Christmas Day holiday. The blast left as many as 20 buildings including store fronts badly damaged and the road surface charred -- scattering glass, t...

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Facebook changing 'race-blind' hate speech policy

San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook on Thursday said it is revising its systems to prioritize blocking slurs against Black people, gays and other groups historically targeted by vitriol, no longer automatically filtering out barbs aimed broadly at whites, men or Americans. The change in Facebook's algorithm is a shift from the social network's ethnicity and gender-neutral system that removed anti-white comments and posts such as "Men are dumb" or "Americans are stupid." "We know that hate speech targeted towards under-represented groups can be the most harmful, which is why we have focused our tech...

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Disney adds new racism disclaimers to older streaming titles

Los Angeles (AFP) - Disney has added extended disclaimers to classics including "Peter Pan" and "Aristocats" on its streaming platform to warn viewers that the films contain derogatory stereotypes about minorities.Disney+ subscribers will be shown a text disclaimer before watching Peter Pan don a "redskin" headdress in the 1953 cartoon fantasy, or listening to a slant-eyed and buck-toothed "East Asian" cat singing in the 1970 animated feline movie.While previous disclaimers on the streaming platform already acknowledged "outdated cultural depictions," the new warning says certain Disney film s...

Ethiopia accuses Trump of inciting 'war' over Nile dam

Addis Ababa (AFP) - Ethiopia on Saturday accused Donald Trump of inciting "war" over a massive Nile River mega-dam after the US president spoke out against the project and suggested Egypt might destroy it.Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew summoned US ambassador Michael Raynor to clarify Trump's comments, which mark the US president's latest foray into a delicate, long-running dispute between Ethiopia and downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan. Gedu told Raynor that "the incitement of war between Ethiopia and Egypt by a sitting US president neither reflects the long-standing partnership and str...

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Mormons fed up with Trump's vulgar rhetoric and behavior are flocking to the Democratic Party

Los Angeles (AFP) - Mormons in the United States have traditionally been reliable Republican voters, but some members of the conservative church put off by President Donald Trump are switching sides and backing veteran Democrat Joe Biden.Support for Trump among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which emphasizes family values and morals, is especially lagging among women.Experts say that could have a significant impact in some key battleground states -- notably Arizona and Nevada, where Mormons represent six percent of the population."There are things about Biden that ...

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Trump mulls higher US stimulus offer as Mnuchin downplays deal

Washington (AFP) - Lawmakers and the White House are unlikely to finalize a new stimulus plan before the November election, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday, even as his boss President Donald Trump indicated he may raise his offer.But there were signs late in the day that the impasse might be easing, after Mnuchin said the administration would agree on a national testing plan Democrats have called for in the package to help ease the damage from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.It was a small but potentially significant step after month...

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Behind in polls, Trump launches swing state blitz

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump, trailing in the polls with the election just three weeks away, returns to the campaign trail on Monday after being hospitalized for Covid-19, embarking on a sprint through key swing states.As Trump heads for Florida -- the first of four battleground states he plans to visit over the next four days -- his Democratic opponent Joe Biden will be touting his economic plans in the midwestern state of Ohio.Trump, 74, who has declared himself "immune" after catching the coronavirus, plans to hold an outdoor campaign rally on Monday evening at the airport in S...

Citi report sees $16 tn drag on US economy from racism

New York (AFP) - Racial inequality has cost the US economy $16 trillion in wealth over the last two decades, Citigroup said in a report Thursday.The banking giant -- pointing to the drag from unequal pay, housing discrimination, education disparity and other longstanding ills in the United States -- simultaneously pledged $1 billion in initiatives for Black-oriented business needs."Addressing racism and closing the racial wealth gap is the most critical challenge we face in creating a fair and inclusive society and we know that more of the same won't do," said Citigroup Chief Executive Michael...

The Myanmar Army Is Slaughtering Rohingya by the Thousands

6,700 Rohingya killed in first month of Myanmar violence: MSF

At least 6,700 Rohingya Muslims were killed in the first month of a Myanmar army crackdown on rebels in Rakhine state that began in late August, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday. The figure is the highest estimated death toll yet of violence that erupted on August 25 and triggered a massive refugee crisis, with…

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In D.C., Protesters March in Solidarity With Hurricane-Hit Puerto Rico

Protesters marched Sunday in Washington in solidarity with hurricane-hit Puerto Rico, criticizing the lackluster US response to the storm and calling for reform. Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico in September, ravaging the US territory's infrastructure. Some 50 percent of its population of 3.4 million people still lacks electricity more than two months later. Demonstrators gathered…

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6,700 Rohingya killed in first month of Myanmar violence: MSF

Sexual abuse stories from around the world pour out on social media