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Australian PM Scott Morrison received a full-blown welcome from the US president. Katharine Murphy was on hand for an inside account
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Scott Morrison has made his first visit to the United States as prime minister. It was a trip that included a close encounter with the unpredictability of the Trump White House, a foreign policy pivot, and a backlash about a lack of climate policy action. Guardian Australia’s political editor, Katharine Murphy, travelled, with the prime minister. Here is what she witnessed:
News of US pressure on Volodymyr Zelenskiy has sparked fears among reformers, but on the streets it is seen as an American affair
The revelations that Donald Trump attempted to pressure Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden’s family have reverberated through civil society and political circles in Kyiv, prompting some to ask if the United States can be viewed as a trustworthy ally in the country’s attempts to reform and stave off pressure from Russia.
Members of Ukraine’s civil society and veterans communities on Thursday complained about the threat of withholding military funding and US political support to score points in domestic US politics.
Sitting down in front of cameras at the UN, Zelenskiy looked miserable and Trump rambled about his achievements
In this new screwball comedy, an American reality show host and a Ukrainian TV comedian somehow find themselves elected president and almost get away with it – until a seemingly routine phone call ends up determining the fate of both their nations.
It is a script that has bypassed the big screen to go straight to reality in 2019, and it was playing on Wednesday in both Washington and New York.
Donald Trump has said he put ‘absolutely no pressure’ on Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. He told reporters after the White House released notes of the phone call he had with the president of Ukraine that the impeachment inquiry was a 'disgraceful thing’. He added: ‘The way you built up that call it was going to be the call from hell. It turned out to be a nothing call, other than a lot of people said I never knew you could be so nice’
For decades there has been a “catch me if you can” quality about Donald Trump, skipping from casino bankruptcies to fraudulent universities to porn actor payoffs. As president, Trump has at times seemed likewise untouchable, even as the number of his discarded former allies piles up and his political capital pays out.
But documentation has never before emerged, as it did on Wednesday, of Trump as US president asking a foreign leader for dirt on his political opponents. And there’s reason to believe that much more, and worse, is about to come out.
Donald Trump’s new national security adviser studied at the segregated University of the Orange Free State
Donald Trump’s new national security adviser attended a segregated university in South Africa, described by one of its former vice-chancellors as “routinely racist”.
Robert O’Brien, a relatively junior official appointed to the top White House post on Wednesday, went to the University of the Orange Free State under the South African apartheid system. O’Brien’s LinkedIn page says he was there in 1987, while still an undergraduate. He received a scholarship from Rotary International and according to its records he was there from 1986. The first black undergraduate was admitted in 1988.
Attempt to ‘roll back the clock’ condemned as governments are urged to oppose UN support for reproductive rights
The US is understood to have written to UN member states urging them to join a “growing coalition” of countries rallying against abortion, in what seems to be the latest attempt by the Trump administration to rollback women’s rights.
A letter, seen by the Guardian, is believed to have been sent to governments deemed sympathetic to the administration’s view on reproductive health.
Donald Trump has gone on the offensive over what he and his allies claim is corruption involving Joe Biden and his son in Ukraine.
The president’s reported pressuring of the Ukrainian president to investigate claims about Biden, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, has clouded the White House in scandal. Biden has accused Trump of an 'overwhelming abuse of power'
Donald Trump, his aides and allies went on the offensive on Sunday, over what the president claims is un-investigated corruption involving Joe Biden and his son in Ukraine.
Asked whether it was true that he had lobbied to have Houston attend the dinner and been knocked back by the White House, the Australian prime minister told travelling reporters: “I don’t comment on gossip. It’s all gossip.”
Josh Campbell worked for James Comey – his book is a must-read indictment of the ‘mob boss’ in the White House
Few people had better seats than Josh Campbell for the drama that has shaped the Trump presidency. A supervisory special agent at the FBI, he was special assistant to James Comey and stayed on into Robert Mueller’s first year as special counsel.
Trump has for now decided not to authorize an immediate military strike on Iran in response to attack
The Pentagon on Friday announced it will deploy additional US troops and missile defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as Donald Trump has at least for now put off any immediate military strike on Iran in response to the attack on the Saudi oil industry.
The US defense secretary, Mark Esper, told Pentagon reporters this is a first step to beef up security and he would not rule out additional moves down the road. General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more details about the deployment will be determined in the coming days, but it would not involve thousands of US troops.
Deal could lead to migrants obtaining refuge in El Salvador, one of Central America’s most violent countries
The United States planned to sign an agreement on Friday to help make one of Central America’s most violent countries, El Salvador, a haven for migrants seeking asylum, according to a senior Trump administration official.
The official said the acting homeland security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, would sign a “cooperative asylum agreement”.
Emily England Clyburn, the wife House majority Jim Clyburn, has died at the age of 80. They met after he was jailed in a civil rights protest and were married for nearly 60 years.
“Emily Clyburn was a champion of equality and opportunity who made a difference for countless young people in her beloved South Carolina,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “As a librarian, she intimately understood the power of learning to transform lives, and dedicated decades to ensuring that every child, servicemember, veteran and worker could access a good education that would allow him or her to climb the ladders of opportunity in America. Her extraordinary leadership, together with Jim, to increase learning opportunities at their beloved alma mater South Carolina State will stand always as an enduring tribute to her beautiful life and legacy.”
Emily England Clyburn, known to most as Ms. Emily and a driving force behind some of her husband, @WhipClyburn's, biggest moments in his political and personal life, has died at the age of 80: https://t.co/tRQj48fwO1
.@WhipClyburn’s wife Dr. Emily England Clyburn passed away this morning. The couple, married for 58 years, met in jail after he was arrested in a civil-rights protest. The House won’t be in session on Monday so members can attend her funeral, per @heatherscope
As expected, the Trump administration said on Thursday that it would revoke California’s authority to set its own vehicle emissions standards and bar states from establishing their own regulations.
The decision is likely to set off a furious legal battle.
Our message to those who claim to support states' rights is: don't trample on ours. Doing so would be an attempt to undo the progress we've made over decades. cc @EPAAWheeler#CleanerCars
Hi, @realDonaldTrump. Let me break it down in simple terms for you...
Reducing emissions: -Protects our air & health -Is good for the economy -Allows families to pay less at the pump
We’re here in the 21st century. Let us know when you decide to join us. https://t.co/gZzUjXeFxo
Disentangling responsibility has been made so much harder by casual peacetime mendacity
Truth is notoriously the first casualty in war, but even more so in the run-up to a war.
The Middle East finds itself in the strange position at the moment where an undoubted crime has been committed, an apparent perpetrator has come forward providing elaborate supporting details of the weapon used, the motive and timing, but the victim refuses to believe the confessor, and instead accuses a third party.
Rumours over Trump’s reported promise to foreign leader mounts as his personal lawyer appears to admit to pressing Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden
Speculation in Washington was at fever pitch on Thursday over reports Donald Trump’s promise to a foreign leader so troubled a US intelligence official that it prompted a whistleblower complaint, with the focus now shifting to Ukraine.
The whistleblower’s claim centered on Russia’s neighbour, according to reports in the Washington Post and the New York Times, noting that the complaint was filed weeks before Trump spoke to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Teen climate activists attend a hearing to address the climate crisis and its traumatic effect on the younger generation
The climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has bluntly told members of Congress to heed scientists’ warnings over global heating on a day when the existential anguish of young activists was given a voice at the heart of Washington DC power.
Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who has ignited a global youth climate movement, said at a congressional hearing that she had no prepared remarks other than to submit the landmark IPCC report, published last year, that warned of the rapidly approaching catastrophe of global heating.
Defence spokesman calls on ‘international community to hold Iran responsible’
Saudi Arabia has ramped up the pressure on Donald Trump to respond to a devastating strike on two major oil installations, displaying drone and missile technology it insisted showed the attack was “unquestionably sponsored by Iran”.
At a press conference in Riyadh a Saudi defence spokesman claimed that 25 drones and cruise missiles were used in the attack on the Aramco facilities on Saturday, saying repeatedly they had been fired from the north, the direction of Iran.
New York Times details new claims against supreme court judge
Harris, Castro and Sanders lead calls for constitutional action
Donald Trump came storming to the defence of Brett Kavanaugh on Sunday, after the publication of new allegations about the supreme court justice’s behaviour while he was a student at Yale led to renewed calls for his impeachment.
Environmental organizations say ‘very concerning’ move could open floodgates for importing other endangered species
The Trump administration has authorized a Florida man to bring back the “skin, skull, teeth and claws” of a lion he hunted in Tanzania, granting the first permit to import a lion from that country since the species gained protection under the US Endangered Species Act.
Environmental organizations say the move could open the floodgates for importing other endangered species like lions and rhinos. A freedom of information request made public by the US Fish and Wildlife Services also revealed that the hunter, Carl Atkinson, was represented by lawyer John Jackson III, who is also a member of the Trump administration’s International Wildlife Conservation Council, a controversial advisory board that promotes trophy hunting.