Author: INDEPENDENT

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailWhen Hulk Hogan took the stage at the Fiserv Forum for the final night of the Republican National Convention, he said the vibe was so electric that he felt like he was back in his WWE days, wrestling Andre the Giant.He’s “in a room full of real Americans, brother,” he added, before ripping his shirt open to reveal a Trump-Vance shirt,The line probably went over the head of plenty of attendees. Conservatives have talked about “Real America” —…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailCongresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has died aged 74 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.The Houston area congresswoman was a fixture of Democratic Party politics for almost three decades and a well-loved figure in the state of Texas. Her family announced her passing on Friday evening.”Today, with incredible grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of US Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas.…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsOn a hot afternoon in the back room of the National Theatre in London, Cherry Jones is eating cherries. “Forgive me, but you’re now going to hear an old woman munching some salmon on toast,” says the actor, moving on from her namesake fruit to a small tinfoil package that she unwraps like a present, observing its contents with delight. “Oh, and with just a little bit of butter!”Jones is having lunch, on a break…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailAs Donald Trump wound down his rambling 93-minute speech on Thursday night to close out the 2024 Republican National Convention, the five-piece house band launched into Sam & Dave’s 1966 hit, “Hold On, I’m Coming.”The track has become a pneumonic device of sorts for the MAGA movement, playing Trump on- or offstage at rallies in a sonic ritual his followers have come to expect.But while Trump’s base seems to deeply enjoy this bit of theater, David Porter, a…

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the US The New York Yankees honored late Associated Press photojournalist Kathy Willens with a moment of silence before FRiday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.Willens died Tuesday at 74 of ovarian cancer, diagnosed shortly after her 2021 retirement.Willens was among the AP’s first female staff photographers and retired after nearly 45 years. Her more than 90,000 images included presidents, Pope John Paul II, protests, war, sports triumphs and human tragedy.Willens was so highly regarded that the…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe United Nations’ highest court said on Friday that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible, in its strongest findings to date on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.The advisory opinion by judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), known as the World Court, was not binding but carries weight under international law and may weaken support for Israel.“Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East…

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USOn Friday, tech outages swept the world from hospitals and airlines, to banks and courts. Flights were grounded, payments delayed and hospitals across the world reported problems. A worldwide glitch, which affected major companies including Microsoft, took much of the world’s infrastructure offline. The problems stemmed from a global software update sent out by cybersecurity specialists, CrowdStrike. Crowdstrike’s CEO, George Kurtz, later issued a statement reassuring customers that the outage was not “a security incident or…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe producers of a controversial Edinburgh Festival Fringe play about JK Rowling’s trans views are preparing for protests ahead of the show opening next month.The play, titled TERF, imagines the stars of the Harry Potter film franchise staging an “intervention” for the author who has repeatedly argued online that trans women are not women.“We expect that most people, if they’re intending on disrupting what we’re doing, that will happen in the auditorium of the theatre.…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made his endorsement decision for the 2024 election – declining to endorse anyone at all. Zuckerberg, 40, said he doesn’t plan on playing a major role in the 2024 election, in an interview with Bloomberg. He noted that he has “done some stuff personally in the past,” adding that “I’m not planning on doing that this time, and that includes not endorsing either of the candidates.”Other tech leaders, such as Elon Musk of…

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailDonald Trump and his Republican allies have called for the prosecution of members of a congressional committee that put him at the center of the attack on the Capitol, and his failed campaign to overturn 2020 election results.At least three of those committee members have joined a growing chorus of Democratic officials urging President Joe Biden to end his re-election campaign with a warning that his Republican rival poses a “grave” threat, if elected.Congressman Adam Schiff warned in…