Page 13 - United States

Jury orders Bill Cosby to pay over $19 million in 1972 sexual assault case

A civil jury in California found Monday that Bill Cosby was liable for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 1972 and awarded her USD 19.25 million. After a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica, jurors found the 88-year-old Cosby liable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger. Cosby's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said in an email that they are disappointed and fully intend to appeal the verdict. The decision came nearly five years after Cosby was freed from prison in Pennsylvania when the state Supreme Court threw out a criminal conviction based on similar allegations. Motsinger had been a server at a restaurant in Sausalito near San Francisco who said in her lawsuit, filed in 2023, that Cosby had invited her to his stand-up comedy show at a theatre in nearby San Carlos. Both were in their 30s at the time. She said Cosby gave her wine and two pills that she believed were aspirin, and that she was going in and out of consciousness as two men put her in a ...

Senate confirms Markwayne Mullin to lead DHS as TSA standoff deepens

The Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin as homeland security secretary late Monday, approving US President Donald Trump's nominee to take over the embattled department after the firing of Kristi Noem during a public backlash over the administration's immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations. Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma known for his close friendship with Trump, has tried to present himself as a steady hand, saying his goal as secretary would be to get the department off the front page of the news. He takes over at a difficult time as Trump has ordered ICE agents to bolster airport security during a budget standoff in Congress. And he tangled with the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, who questioned Mullin's character and temperament during last week's combative confirmation hearing. Senators confirmed him on a largely party-line vote, 54-45. Routine funding for the Department of Homeland Security has lapsed since February 14, leading

West Asia conflict: Trump pauses strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure

Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said there were no talks with US and that stance on the Strait of Hormuz, as well as conditions to end the war, did not change

Jaishankar speaks with Marco Rubio on West Asia conflict, energy concerns

The Jaishankar-Rubio phone conversation came hours after US President Donald Trump extended Washington's deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by five days

Oil prices not high enough to cause demand destruction: US energy chief

Oil prices have climbed to multi-year highs and fuel prices in the US are sur- ging, creating potential trouble for President Donald Trump's Republican party ahead of the mid-term elections

Wall Street jumps after Trump delays Iran strikes; oil falls, dollar dips

Global markets staged a sharp recovery after Trump's comments, with Europe's STOXX 600 and precious metals edging up while oil prices fell, signaling improving risk appetite

Trump admin asks Supreme Court to halt DOGE probe, block records access

The justices intervened in the same case last year in favor of the administration, halting CREW's fact-finding push

US halts strikes on Iran's power plants; retreated after warning, says Iran

Citing progress in talks with Iran, US President Donald Trump said he has directed a five-day halt to planned military strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure

Oil prices drop, dollar weakens: Top 5 developments after Trump's big move

Since Trump's claim of "productive" talks, global markets and geopolitical signals have shifted sharply

US airport chaos: What's driving the delays and what's being done about it

US airports are witnessing long delays as unpaid TSA workers increasingly skip duty, forcing the government to deploy ICE agents to help manage passenger flow

Trump is defanging Iran, bringing peace to West Asia: US treasury secy

Bessent said that Trump's actions are aimed at making the world a safer place

Declare 1971 Pak atrocities on Bengali Hindus as genocide: US lawmaker

US Congressman Greg Landsman has introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives seeking to recognise the atrocities committed by the Pakistani Army and its allies, Jamaat-e-Islami, against Bengali Hindus on March 25, 1971, as "war crimes and genocide". Landsman, a Democrat Congressman from Ohio, moved the resolution in the US House of Representatives on Friday, and it has been referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The resolution states that on the night of March 25, 1971, the Government of Pakistan imprisoned Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and its military units, in conjunction with radical Islamist groups inspired by the ideology of Jamaat-e-Islami, began a general crackdown throughout East Pakistan code-named ''Operation Searchlight'' that involved widespread massacres of civilians. It said that on March 28, 1971, United States Consul General in Dacca, Archer Blood, sent a telegram to Washington titled ''Selective Genocide'', in which he wrote, ''Moreover, with support

Taiwan says delayed US F-16 fighter jets to start arriving this year

Taiwan, which faces a rising military threat from China, has complained of repeated delays to weapons ordered from the US, the most important international backer and arms supplier for the island

Robert Mueller, ex-FBI chief who led Trump-Russia probe counsel, dies at 81

Robert S Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation's premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks and who later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign, has died. He was 81. "With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away" on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday. "His family asks that their privacy be respected." At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau's mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the Sept 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by Republican President George W Bush. The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau's top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on .

Federal judge rejects Trump admin's restrictions on Pentagon reporters

The court ruled in favor of a lawsuit brought by the New York Times, which accused the administration of free speech violations

US attack on alleged drug-smuggling boat leaves 2 dead in eastern Pacific

A US military attack on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean has left one survivor and two people dead, US officials have said, as the Trump administration pursues its campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America. US Southern Command said in a post on X on Friday that it immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate a search for three people who survived the strike. The Coast Guard said in a statement that one of its ships recovered two dead bodies and one survivor, and transferred them to the Costa Rican Coast Guard. The latest attack brings the number of people who've been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 159 since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls "narcoterrorists" in early September. As with most of the military's statements on the more than 40 known strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, US Southern Command said it targeted alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.

Jury finds Musk misled investors in Twitter deal, clears some fraud claims

A jury has found Elon Musk liable for misleading investors by deliberately driving down Twitter's stock price in the tumultuous months leading up to his 2022 acquisition of the social media company for USD 44 billion. But it absolved him of some fraud allegations, finding that he did not "scheme" to mislead investors. The civil trial in San Francisco centered on a class-action lawsuit filed just before Musk took control of Twitter, which he later renamed X. Jurors were asked to decide if two tweets and comments Musk made on a podcast in May 2022 amounted to him intentionally defrauding Twitter shareholders, who sold their shares based on Musk's statements. The nine-person jury returned the verdict after 3 days of deliberation, nearly three weeks after the trial began on March 2. They said that while Musk was liable for misleading investors with two tweets -- including one said the Twitter deal was "temporarily on hold," he did not do so with a statement he made on a podcast and that

Bill to fund DHS fails again as concern grows about airport lines in US

A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security failed to advance in the Senate amid growing concerns about long lines to get through screening at some of the country's biggest airports. Democrats declined to provide the support needed to move the funding measure toward final passage. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would offer an alternative measure Saturday to fund just the Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous items. That too is likely to fail as lawmakers hold a rare weekend session. Behind the scenes, work toward resolving the standoff intensified Friday as White House border czar Tom Homan was set to meet for the second consecutive day with a bipartisan group of senators. Democrats are demanding changes to immigration enforcement practices by federal agents following the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he sees "deal

Trump says US will not deploy troops to West Asia amid Iran conflict

Trump spoke at the White House during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi

Brent crude touches $119 as attacks on Gulf energy spots hit supply

US crude prices surged above $100 a barrel after Politico reported the US will not implement an export ban