Category Archives: US News

‘It’s a race to get out there’: stir-crazy Californians are overwhelming campsites

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Parks in California are seeing double or even triple the usual number of campers, who can bring trash and unsafe behavior

Chris Giesige thought planning a camping trip would be simple. He’s a regular, often heading out into the wilderness several times per year. But when he recently tried to reserve a campsite online in Yosemite, then Mammoth, then Whiskeytown Lake, he was shocked to see they were all booked for weeks. Twice he thought he’d found an open spot, only to see it get snapped up moments later.

“I know May, June and July are busy camping months, but I don’t remember it being like this,” he says. “I have never had as much trouble before in trying to find a campground.”

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Nearly all Black Lives Matter protests are peaceful despite Trump narrative, report finds

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In stark contrast to right-wing claims, 93% of demonstrations have involved no serious harm to people or property

The vast majority of the thousands of Black Lives Matter protests this summer have been peaceful, with more than 93% involving no serious harm to people or damage to property, according to a new report tracking political violence in the United States.

But the US government has taken a “heavy-handed approach” to the demonstrations, with authorities using force “more often than not” when they are present, the report found.

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Donald Trump claims US has not seen any proof of Alexei Navalny poisoning – video

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The US president declined to accept the German government's assessment that the Russian opposition leader was attacked with a nerve agent. This week the chancellor, Angela Merkel, revealed that tests at a military laboratory had identified unequivocally that the Kremlin critic had been poisoned with novichok

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Boris Johnson fascinated by Donald Trump, says ex-ambassador

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PM is intrigued by Trump’s ‘relationship with the truth’, Kim Darroch writes in new book

Kim Darroch, a former British ambassador to the US, has said Boris Johnson is fascinated and inspired by Donald Trump, and is intrigued by the US president’s patchy relationship “with the facts and the truth”.

In a new book serialised in the Times, Lord Darroch said Johnson must share the blame for his resignation as ambassador to Washington, which followed the leaking of diplomatic cables disparaging Trump.

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The bleak Covid winter? America still not on course to beat back the virus

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As summer ends, and as deaths near 200,000 amid severe economic damage, experts say the next few months are vital

Even with three decades of experience in the travel industry, Jorge Pesquera has never seen a downturn in business like this one.

Related: Could western Pennsylvania win Trump a second term?

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America Through Foreign Eyes review: a Mexican take on the US under Trump

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Jorge Castañeda, once Mexico’s foreign minister, looks at the neighbour to the north – and where it might be heading

In 1830, Lorenzo de Zavala, the principal author of the 1824 Mexican constitution, found himself in exile. So decided to visit a nation he had long admired.

Related: 'Trump has a different leadership style': David Rubenstein plays it by the book

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Donald Trump says US ‘hasn’t had any proof’ of Navalny poisoning

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President says US must look seriously at case but suggests media should be looking into China

President Donald Trump said the United States must look “very seriously” into the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but that his administration had not yet seen any proof.

“I think we have to look at it very seriously, if it’s the case,” he said, before talking at length about his diplomatic efforts in North Korea and nuclear non-proliferation in Russia. “I don’t know exactly what happened. It’s tragic. It’s terrible, it shouldn’t happen. We haven’t had any proof yet, but I will take a look.

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US security adviser claims China has taken ‘most active role’ in election meddling

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Robert O’Brien didn’t provide any details, also claiming Beijing had ‘the most massive program’ to influence US politics

China has taken the most active role among countries seeking to interfere in the US election and has the biggest program to influence domestic politics, the US national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, said on Friday, without providing any details.

“We know the Chinese have taken the most active role,” O’Brien told reporters at a briefing.

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Kosovo and Serbia give Israel diplomatic boon after US-brokered deal

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Majority-Muslim Kosovo will recognise Jewish state, while Serbia promises to relocate embassy to Jerusalem

Israel scored two diplomatic gains on Friday when majority-Muslim Kosovo agreed to recognise the Jewish state and Serbia said it would move its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

The decisions came after a White House-brokered agreement between the two Balkan arch-rivals to normalise economic relations two decades after they fought a bitter war.

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Trump denounced over reported war dead comments: ‘He doesn’t understand bravery’ – live

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Jennifer Griffin, a national security correspondent for Fox News, said she has confirmed reporting by The Atlantic with two former senior Trump administration officials.

One former official told her: “When the President spoke about the Vietnam War, he said, ‘It was a stupid war. Anyone who went was a sucker.’”

This former official heard the President say about American veterans: "What's in it for them? They don't make any money." Source: "It was a character flaw of the President. He could not understand why someone would die for their country, not worth it."

Regarding McCain, "The President just hated John McCain. He always asked, 'Why do you see him as a hero?" Two sources confirmed the President did not want flags lowered but others in the White House ordered them at half mast. There was a stand off and then the President relented.

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‘He is a coward’: Trump condemned for reportedly calling US war dead ‘suckers’

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Trump claims accusations, confirmed by two former DHS officials, are ‘totally false’ as Biden criticizes president

Current and former members of the military, elected officials and the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, have reacted with outrage and sadness as former members of the Donald Trump administration confirmed key details of a bombshell report in which Trump referred to fallen soldiers as “suckers” and “losers”.

Related: Khizr Khan: 'Trump may damage American democracy permanently'

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Libyan warlord faces legal action in US for alleged war crimes

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Khalifa Haftar challenged in Virginia by relatives of military leader’s alleged victims

A $50m damages claim lodged in a court in Virginia alleges that the Libyan warlord General Khalifa Haftar, who holds US citizenship, is guilty of war crimes including starvation sieges that forced families to eat grass and tree bark to survive.

The claim against Haftar by two relatives of his alleged victims is an attempt to make him answerable somewhere for the crimes he is accused of perpetrating as head of the Libyan National Army, the major military force in the east of the country, which since 2014 has been in conflict with the Tripoli-based government in the west.

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‘It’s not the same’: How Trump and Covid devastated an Arizona border town

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Nogales residents say the city is struggling amid the pandemic and after years of Trump painting the area as a ‘war zone’

When Francis Glad was a child growing up in Nogales, Arizona, the US-Mexico border near her home was nothing like it is now. “It was more like a neighbor fence, like you have at your house,” she remembers. “It was very symbiotic. Just people coming back and forth.”

But today, a towering 30ft border wall, made of dizzying steel bollards, slices through the Nogales sister cities.

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Voter suppression: how Trump is undermining the US election – video explainer

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Americans are increasingly encountering barriers to exercising their most fundamental of democratic rights during this 2020 presidential election – the right to vote. 

The Guardian's Sam Levine looks at how voter suppression has been unfolding across the US, four key tactics being used in attempts to block votes, and how president Donald Trump is trying delegitimize November's election

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Coronavirus live news: India cases top 80,000 for second day in a row; Israel to impose partial lockdown

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India cases top 80,000 for second day in a row; Asia Pacific shares suffer heavy losses; Israel to impose partial lockdown

US president Donald Trump slammed House speaker Nancy Pelosi after the Democrat was filmed at an indoor hair salon with her face covering around her neck. Trump, a longtime critic of Pelosi, pounced on the opportunity to attack her over the incident.

“I’ll tell you what, she must have treated that beauty salon owner pretty badly. She uses the salon and the salon turned her in?” he said. “So I just put out that if she was set up, then she shouldn’t be leading the House of Representatives. I want the salon owner to lead the House of Representatives”:

A groundbreaking new comedy sketch show based on women’s sex lives during lockdown, starring Aimee Lou Wood and Miriam Margolyes, is designed to “claim the stage” for women, its co-creator, Joanna Scanlan, says.

Sex Lives, believed to be the first interactive comedy backed by the BBC’s commercial wing, BBC Studios, documents stories submitted anonymously by women and has proved a hit online.

Related: Women's sex lives in lockdown prove online comedy hit

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Coronavirus live news: no widespread vaccination until mid-2021, says WHO; cases rise across Europe

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‘We need to see how safe it is,’ WHO stresses; Cuba welcomes first plane of tourists in months; Italy reports biggest rise since 2 May

Smoking appears to increase the genetic contribution to Covid-19 infections, a small study suggested.

The new coronavirus enters the body by hijacking proteins on the surface of healthy cells, in particular a protein called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

Liberia’s president George Weah has sacked the country’s top health official over his handling of coronavirus testing in the impoverished West African state.

Mososka Fallah, director general of the Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), was removed from his post for “breaches in the health and administrative protocols that guide the issuance of Covid-19 test results,” Weah’s office said in a statement.

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Trump attacks Nancy Pelosi over ‘Salongate’ – video

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US president Donald Trump slammed House speaker Nancy Pelosi after the Democrat was filmed at an indoor hair salon with her face covering around her neck. Trump, a longtime critic of Pelosi, pounced on the opportunity to attack her over the incident. “I’ll tell you what, she must have treated that beauty salon owner pretty badly. She uses the salon and the salon turned her in?” he said. “So I just put out that if she was set up, then she shouldn’t be leading the House of Representatives. I want the salon owner to lead the House of Representatives.”

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Pacific nation of Palau invites US to build a military base to counter China

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Move follows a visit by US defense secretary Mark Esper, who accused Beijing of ‘malign influence’ across the region

The western Pacific nation of Palau has urged the United States military to build bases on its territory – in the heart of a region where Washington is pushing back against growing Chinese influence.

US defense secretary Mark Esper visited the island nation last week as part of a Pacific tour, accusing Beijing of a “malign influence” and “ongoing destabilising activities” across the region.

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Joe Biden praises Jacob Blake’s resilience after meeting family – video

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Joe Biden spoke about his meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was gravely wounded after a white police officer shot him in the back, on his way to visiting Kenosha, Wisconsin. 'He talked about how nothing was going to defeat him,' Biden said. 'How, whether he walked again or not, he was not going to give up.'

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Biden warns Trump ‘legitimizes dark side of human nature’ in Kenosha visit

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Joe Biden said he sought common ground while Trump, he said, stoked division and was actively obstructing racial progress

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Thursday warned that Donald Trump’s behavior “legitimizes the dark side of human nature”. He made the remarks during a visit to Wisconsin, where he spoke by phone to Jacob Blake, a Black man whose shooting by a white police officer renewed nationwide protests against systemic racism.

Related: Joe Biden meets privately with Jacob Blake's family amid protests over shooting

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