Category Archives: US News

Hurricane Sally: level-two storm hits Florida and Alabama – video

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Hurricane Sally, a huge grade two storm with 100mph winds and torrential rain, has hit the US’s Gulf coast, reaching Florida and Alabama with fears of ‘life-threatening flooding’.

The storm was moving at only 2mph before dawn on Tuesday, centered about 115 miles south-south-east of Biloxi, Mississippi, and 60 miles east-south-east of the mouth of the Mississippi river

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Minorities much more likely than white people to test positive for Covid – study

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New study also finds that people of color are at higher risk than whites of hospitalizations and death from coronavirus

People of colour are significantly more likely than white people to test positive for Covid-19 – and are at higher risk of hospitalisation and death when they are diagnosed – according to a new study that lays bare the racial disparities among millions of coronavirus patients across America.

The research, published on Wednesday by Epic Health Research Network Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), analysed the health record data of about 50 million patients from 53 health systems across 21 states.

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CDC director suggests masks are ‘more guaranteed to protect against Covid’ than vaccine – live

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Senior health officials appear to be offering conflicting timelines on when a coronavirus vaccine will be widely available to the American public.

CDC director Robert Redfield just told senators that the vaccine would not be widely available until “late second quarter, third quarter 2021.”

CDC Director Robert Redfield also told senators that he did not expect a coronavirus vaccine to be widely available to the American public until “late second quarter, third quarter 2021.”

JUST IN: CDC Director Robert Redfield says at a Senate hearing he sees a #Covid19 vaccine being "generally available to the American public" in the "late second quarter, third quarter 2021" pic.twitter.com/8w2904TGhN

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Nancy Pelosi demands investigation into hysterectomy claims at Ice centre

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  • Whistleblower cited alarming rate of surgery for detainees
  • House speaker concerned at ‘staggering abuse of human rights’

The top congressional Democrat, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has joined mounting calls for an investigation into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention centre in Georgia accused of performing hysterectomies on migrant women held there without their full consent.

Pelosi branded the substance of allegations presented by a whistleblowing nurse “a staggering abuse of human rights”.

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US student accused of killing Italian policeman apologises in court

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Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, says fatal stabbing of Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome was ‘worst night of my life’

An American student accused of killing an Italian police officer has apologised in a Rome court.

Finnegan Lee Elder, 20, is on trial with his friend, Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, 19, for the fatal stabbing of Mario Cerciello Rega on a street in central Rome in July last year. Elder referred to the night of the murder as “the worst of my life”.

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Hurricane Sally: storm hits Gulf coast with ‘life-threatening floods’ still expected

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Torrential rain battering Alabama and Florida is forecast to continue for up to 12 more hours, with wind gusts over 80mph

Hurricane Sally made landfall on the US Gulf coast early on Wednesday morning, with pounding rain and winds whipping above 100mph but with the huge category 2 storm system grinding along at just 2 mph – a turtle’s walking pace – increasing the danger of flooding.

The slow-motion storm exhausted residents in Alabama who listened through the night to tornado-warning sirens, phone alerts and howling winds, many frightened, sheltering but also sweltering indoors after power failures, as the storm approached.

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Emily Ratajkowski accuses photographer of sexual assault

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Photographer Jonathan Leder denies assaulting model and actor at photoshoot in 2012

The model and actor Emily Ratajkowski has accused photographer Jonathan Leder of sexually assaulting her during a photoshoot at his home in 2012, a claim he strongly denies.

Leder published a book of the photos in 2016. Ratajkowski claims this was without her consent, but Leder disputes this.

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Boeing ‘gambled with public safety’ in run-up to two deadly crashes

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Cost cuts and lack of scrutiny contributed to 737 Max disasters, say US politicians

Boeing jeopardised the safety of passengers by cutting costs on the development of the 737 Max and escaped scrutiny from regulators before software flaws contributed to two fatal crashes of the aircraft, according to a report by US politicians.

The US manufacturer was forced to ground its bestselling plane after the crashes of a Lion Air 737 Max in 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines jet in 2019. The crashes killed 346 people.

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Biden assembles army of attorneys for post-election legal fight

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Protracted battle expected as likely surge in mail-in votes means winner of Trump-Biden contest may not be known on night

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign says it is amassing an unprecedented army of attorneys for an expected legal brawl over whether ballots will count in the weeks after the election. The effort will involve several other top Democratic voting rights and election law attorneys as well as Eric Holder, the former attorney general.

Related: The ‘invisible voting bloc’: US postal service cuts threaten ballot access for inmates

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Black voting power: the fight for change in Milwaukee, one of America’s most segregated cities

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Guardian US reporter Kenya Evelyn travels home to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one of the most segregated cities in the country to find out what Joe Biden and the Democratic party can do to truly earn the votes of Black Americans.  

Democrats dealt Milwaukee another economic blow by moving their national convention online, crushing Black residents already feeling the brunt of a national crisis. They’re fed up, calling out racial inequality and a party some say ignores their issues until it’s time to vote. From generations of moderate elders leaving their legacy, to their young, progressive peers taking to the streets, Black Milwaukeeans are using the power of their voices and votes to demand change

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Biden and Pelosi warn UK over risking Good Friday agreement

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Leading Democrats tell UK foreign secretary that Northern Ireland peace deal cannot be casualty of Brexit

Joe Biden on Wednesday joined the clamour of Democrats warning Boris Johnson not to let the Northern Ireland Good Friday agreement become a casualty of his Brexit talks.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, is in Washington trying to repair relations with pro-Irish Democrats amid concerns that the UK’s attempt to leave the EU on its own terms will undermine the Good Friday peace agreement.

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Coronavirus live news: Trump says Covid-19 will ‘go away’ because of ‘herd mentality’

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‘It would go away without the vaccine,’ Trump says on ABC town hall. India’s total cases pass 5 million; Virus death toll linked to Maine wedding grows to 7; Follow the latest updates

Me, traveling abroad 10 minutes after getting the vaccine: pic.twitter.com/xe2odYxXBT

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus could be three or four weeks away, underscoring predictions made by US public health officials and Pfizer Inc earlier this month, Reuters reports.

Trump, speaking at a town hall hosted by ABC News in Philadelphia, defended his handling of the coronavirus crisis, and said a vaccine could be ready for distribution soon.

“We’re very close to having a vaccine,” he said. “If you want to know the truth, the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals. And we’re within weeks of getting it you know could be three weeks, four weeks.”

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Coronavirus live news: Netherlands records second successive daily case high; targeted lockdowns in Madrid

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1,542 new cases in Netherlands; Madrid accounts for a third of Spain’s caseload; Trump says ‘herd mentality’ will beat Covid virus

The average age of people infected with Covid-19 is coming down, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) expert, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove. She has told a Q&A that incidences of hospitalisation among those aged 15 to 49 years are increasing.

She also said it was possible for the same person to be infected with influenza and Covid-19, adding that the WHO was looking into the prevalence of that.

Earlier, we posted that the Czech Republic had reported its highest daily count since the beginning of the pandemic. The country’s health minister, Adam Vojtěch, has told its parliament the government plans to ban stand-up indoor events as of Friday to help stabilise the situation.

Inevitably the numbers in the coming days will be very similar to the current increases.

We have to calculate with that, although we are hoping for a certain decline or at least stabilisation from the measures adopted.

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Nearly two-thirds of US adults unaware 6m Jews killed in the Holocaust – study

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According to survey of adults 18-39, 23% said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, had been exaggerated or they weren’t sure

Almost two-thirds of young American adults do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and more than one in 10 believe Jews caused the Holocaust, a new survey has found, revealing shocking levels of ignorance about the greatest crime of the 20th century.

According to the study of millennial and Gen Z adults aged between 18 and 39, almost half (48%) could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto established during the second world war.

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Donald Trump falsely claims he didn’t downplay coronavirus pandemic

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The president admitted to downplaying the virus in interviews with investigative journalist Bob Woodward

Donald Trump falsely claimed he did not downplay the coronavirus pandemic at a town hall Tuesday night, saying, “Actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action.”

His remarks came in response to an uncommitted voter at the ABC News event, who asked Trump why he would “downplay a pandemic that is known to disproportionately harm low-income families and minority communities”. The president said he did not minimize the threat of the virus: “My action was very strong. I’m not looking to be dishonest. I don’t want people to panic.”

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Trump attacks WTO after it says US tariffs on China broke global trade rules

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President says he has to ‘do something’ about the body after it rules that duties on $200bn worth of Chinese goods breached regulations

The United States has described the World Trade Organization as “completely inadequate” after it criticised the Trump administration’s tariffs on China.

The WTO said on Tuesday that the US breached global trading rules by imposing levies on more than $200bn of Chinese goods in the opening salvo of president Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing two years ago.

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Breonna Taylor family receive $12m settlement – video

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The family of Breonna Taylor has reached a $12m settlement with the city of Louisville, Kentucky, in a civil suit stemming from the fatal shooting by police of the 26-year-old inside her apartment in March.

The civil rights lawyer Ben Crumps called it a ‘landmark step on the journey to justice’ but called for charges to be brought immediately against the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor.

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‘It’s going to be peace in the Middle East’: Trump on historic accords – video

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A historic agreement signed between Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at the White House will, according to Donald Trump, ‘be peace to the Middle East.’

They signed agreements to establish formal relations, ending a decades-old taboo in Arab diplomacy as power and priorities shift in the region.

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Wooden Melania Trump statue replaced with bronze after arson attack

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Original carving near US first lady’s hometown in Slovenia was badly damaged in fire

A bronze statue of the US first lady, Melania Trump, has been unveiled near her hometown in Slovenia, to replace a wooden carving of her that was burnt in an arson attack two months ago.

The new work – like the original – is a collaboration between Brad Downey, a Berlin-based artist from Louisville, Kentucky, and a local craftsman, Ales “Maxi” Zupevc, who have invited residents of Melania’s hometown of Sevnica to see the work in nearby Rozno, south-eastern Slovenia.

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UAE, Bahrain and Israel sign historic accords at White House event

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Trio establish formal relations at ceremony viewed as image boost for Trump and Netanyahu

Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have signed agreements to establish formal relations, ending a decades-old taboo in Arab diplomacy as power and priorities shift in the Middle East.

“Today’s signing sets history on a new course,” Donald Trump told a crowd outside the White House where the deal was signed. “This an incredible day for the world,” he said.

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