Category Archives: Donald Trump

People in Gaza sifting through rubbish for food, UN head says

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Palestinians across Middle East suffering unprecedented poverty, says Philippe Lazzarini

People in Gaza are searching through rubbish to find food as Palestinians battle unprecedented levels of poverty, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said.

Across Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza and elsewhere, Palestinian refugees are suffering at new depths because of the pandemic, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency chief, Philippe Lazzarini. “There is despair and hopelessness,” he said in an interview.

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Anthony Fauci criticises Donald Trump for using his words out of context

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Doctor says use of his comments to praise president in Republican campaign ad is misleading

Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’s top infectious disease expert, has criticised Donald Trump’s reelection campaign for using his words out of context to make it appear as if he was praising the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate,” Fauci said in a statement to CNN on Sunday. “The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP [Republican] campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials.”

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Trump claims he’s Covid ‘immune’ as he aims for barrage of rallies in swing states

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Questions remain over the president’s health as he plans to return to the campaign trail in Florida on Monday

Donald Trump has claimed he no longer has coronavirus and is now “immune” to Covid-19 as he prepares to return to the campaign trail on Monday for a barrage of rallies in swing states in his pursuit of a second term in the White House.

Numerous opinion polls have continued to show the US president trailing his Democratic challenger Joe Biden by a significant margin nationally, adding urgency to Trump’s desire to get back to the in-person appearances he believes are key to his success on the 3 November election day.

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Some attendees skip masks as Trump speaks at White House event – as it happened

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Here is a summary of the latest events:

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden continued to frame the November election as a choice between the interests of Scranton and Park Avenue in a speech on Saturday night at the Plumbers Local Union No 27 training center in Erie, Pennsylvania.

“Anyone who actually does an honest day’s work sees him and his promises for what they are,” Biden told a masked, socially distanced crowd at a training facility for plumbers and other tradespeople in Pennsylvania’s fourth-largest city.

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Republicans express fears Trump will lose presidential election

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Ted Cruz says he’s afraid of ‘bloodbath of Watergate proportions’ as John Cornyn slams Trump for ‘creating confusion’ over Covid

Ted Cruz fears an election “bloodbath”. His fellow top Republican senator Thom Tillis is talking in terms of a Joe Biden presidency. And even Mitch McConnell, the fiercely loyal Senate majority leader, won’t go near the White House over Donald Trump’s handling of coronavirus protocols.

Individually, they could arguably be seen as off-the-cuff comments from Trump’s allies attempting to rally support for the US president just days ahead of a general election that opinion polls increasingly show him losing.

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Coronavirus live news: France sets daily record 20,000 cases; Australian state of Victoria reports 14 new infections

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Trump plans in-person rally on Monday as next presidential debate cancelled; Europe records 100,000 daily cases for first time; Canada at ‘tipping point’. Follow latest updates

I’m going to hand over to my colleague in London Aamna Mohdin.

Thanks for reading.

The ministry of health in India has said there were 73,272 new infections in the country over the past 24 hours.

There were also 926 new deaths, taking the death toll to 107,416. It is the seventh straight day where deaths have been below 1,000.

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Second presidential debate canceled but Trump plans in-person events

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  • Debate commission prepares for final debate on 22 October
  • Trump announces events despite Covid diagnosis

The second presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has been cancelled, the Commission on Presidential Debates confirmed Friday, a move that came as the president announced his first in-person events since being diagnosed with Covid-19.

The decision by the nonpartisan commission follows a public disagreement between the two candidates over the debate’s format. The commission had previously announced the debate would take place “virtually” due to Trump’s diagnosis. Trump, however, said he would refuse to participate in a virtual event, while Biden advocated for it for safety reasons.

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A critic’s view: the delusion of Trump’s Covid-19 victory photo

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President’s pose on the White House balcony was a manic act of narcissistic theatre

The trouble with Trump is that, as he told Bob Woodward, “I bring rage out.” It’s hard to see this picture of him posing maskless on the White House balcony after “winning” against Covid without the red mist coming down.

To anyone with a sense of history, the echo of Mussolini on the balcony of Rome’s Palazzo Venezia is unmistakable. But many of his core voters may know as little history as he does and, besides, this is the White House, with American flags flanking him – still for many a stage of democracy, not dictatorship. Perhaps the real shock of the pose is its delusion. There is no crowd – he’s performing for himself and the camera.

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Pelosi says Trump’s Covid medication has him ‘in an altered state’ – video

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Nancy Pelosi has announced that the House will invoke the 25th amendment, which gives Congress power to evaluate the health and stability of US presidents in conducting the duties of their office. 

Although the amendment enables the House Speaker to create a commission to review the president’s fitness for office, the House of Representatives would not be able to remove Donald Trump from office without the agreement of the vice-president, Mike Pence, and members of the cabinet. 

Pelosi insisted the proposed commission was not about Trump, but said of the president: 'He is under medication. Any of us who is under medication of that seriousness is in an altered state.'

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Gretchen Whitmer accuses Donald Trump of inciting domestic terror

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  • Michigan governor targeted by alleged far-right kidnapping plot
  • Tweets attacking Whitmer creating ‘very dangerous situation’

The Michigan governor who was the target of a foiled rightwing kidnapping plot said on Friday that Donald Trump’s rhetoric “incites more domestic terror”, after the president posted a series of aggressive tweets overnight that sought to shame the victim of the plot.

Related: How the domestic terror plot to kidnap Michigan's governor unravelled

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Trump unlikely to travel for weekend rally as Pelosi says medication has him ‘in an altered state’ – live

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Reports are coming out that Donald Trump will not hold campaign events over the weekend but is planning on heading back to the trail on Monday.

.@FoxNews is told @realDonaldTrump will likely not have campaign events this weekend, but is planning to be back on the trail on Monday.

The Supreme Court announced that it will hear oral arguments for cases virtually in November and December and will provide live audio feed of the hearings. The court will follow the same format it has been using for its new term starting this month.

The justices have not heard arguments in person since early March. In a press release, the court said it will determine plans for January’s arguments soon.

JUST IN Due to COVID-19 #SCOTUS announces they'll hear oral arguments for November & December via teleconference with live audio. pic.twitter.com/4X4HcVmKfm

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Biden blasts Trump for not condemning Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot – video

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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has slammed Donald Trump for not condemning right-wing militias following the foiled kidnapping plot against Michigan's governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Speaking from his campaign in Arizona, Biden criticised the president for not watching his words after Trump previously tweeted 'Liberate Michigan' in response to the state's Covid restrictions. 'You saw what the head of the FBI said a couple of days ago. He said the greatest terrorist threat in America is from white supremacists,' Biden said. 'Why can't the president just say, stop, stop, stop, stop, and we will pursue you if you don't"

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1MDB scandal: former Trump fundraiser charged with allegedly lobbying US to drop inquiry

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Elliott Broidy allegedly asked the US president to play golf with now disgraced Malaysian PM Najib Razak as part of effort to end investigation

A former leading fundraiser for president Donald Trump has been indicted on a charge that he illegally lobbied the US government to drop its probe into the Malaysia 1MDB corruption scandal and to deport an exiled Chinese billionaire.

Elliott Broidy was charged in Washington federal court with one count of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent after allegedly agreeing to take millions of dollars to lobby the Trump administration.

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Covid drug given to Trump developed using cells derived from aborted fetus

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Trump touts Regeneron antibody cocktail as a potential ‘cure’ while he has consistently sought to restrict abortion access

One of the drugs taken by Donald Trump that he has touted as a potential “cure” for coronavirus was developed using human cells originally obtained from an elective abortion, a practice repeatedly denounced by the president and many of his supporters.

The drug is a monoclonal antibody cocktail developed by Regeneron. The president received an 8-gram infusion under a “compassionate use” exemption when he was hospitalized over the weekend after testing positive for Covid-19. There is no cure for Covid-19, and the drug is not approved.

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Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer slams Trump in response to kidnapping plot – video

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Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer called for unity and condemned Donald Trump for stoking division during the coronavirus outbreak during a press conference in which she addressed a plot to kidnap her.

Members of two domestic terrorist groups have been charged with Whitmer's attempted kidnap, which she said she 'never could have imagined' when she took office.

Referencing the first presidential debate, when Trump told far-right group the Proud Boys to 'stand back and standby', the governor said he is 'rallying' groups such as the ones that plotted her kidnap

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Trump’s Afghanistan withdrawal announcement takes US officials by surprise

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Tweet calling for troops’ return by Christmas puts peace negotiations in jeopardy and was greeted enthusiastically by the Taliban

Donald Trump has announced on Twitter that he wants to bring all US troops home from Afghanistan by Christmas – a plan that came as a surprise to administration officials and which puts complicated peace negotiations in jeopardy.

Multiple officials told the Associated Press they had not been informed of any such deadline and military experts said it would be impossible to withdraw all 5,000 US troops in Afghanistan and dismantle the US military headquarters by the end of the year.

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Nancy Pelosi suggests future 25th Amendment discussion on Donald Trump’s fitness for office – video

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Nancy Pelosi teased a discussion about the 25th amendment, which pertains to the president’s removal from office if found unfit, which she said would be held tomorrow.

The House speaker also spoke about Trump calling himself a 'perfect physical specimen'. She said the president owed it to the American people to share when he tested positive for Covid-19 after the White House refused to provide a timeline of the president’s testing before he was admitted to the hospital

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Donald Trump says he will not participate in virtual debate with Joe Biden – video

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The US president made his announcement in a Fox Business interview, moments after the commission that oversees the presidential election debates said the next event would be conducted from remote locations after Trump's Covid-19 diagnosis. The White House has refused to say when the president's last negative test for the virus was and, as a result, it is unclear how long he has been positive. The next debate is scheduled for 15 October

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Trump says he won’t participate in virtual presidential debate with Biden – live

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It took maybe an hour for people close to Trump, as well as his opponents, to speculate that the president’s decision not to participate in the next presidential debate could change.

Trump economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, said in an interview with Fox News that Trump’s position could be a “negotiation point,” and that he would like to see the president participate.

In a wide ranging interview with Fox Business, Donald Trump provided an update on his coronavirus infection.

The president confirmed he is still taking the strong steroid dexamethasone. It’s widely available in hospitals and doctors have highlighted it can make the patient feel better than they actually are, which could help explain some of the president’s unusually upbeat descriptions of how he is feeling over the past several days.

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Mike Pence and Kamala Harris spar on Covid, race and climate in VP debate – video highlights

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Mike Pence and Kamala Harris met in Utah for the only vice-presidential debate of the election, separated by Plexiglass barriers as a protection against coronavirus.

From the pandemic to healthcare and race to the supreme court, via a fly, here are some of the key moments

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