Footage shows men in pickup trucks taking part in a pro-Trump procession driving into a crowd of protesters in Portland, Oregon. They fire paintballs and pepper spray as demonstrators throw objects at the convoy. The caravan of Trump supporters drove as a group into the centre of Portland, prompting protesters to block streets and bridges in an attempt to stop them. It was the third Saturday in a row that Trump supporters have rallied in the city.
Continue reading...Category Archives: US News
‘Two visions of the US’: Trump and Biden offer contrasts on race, Covid and economy
The Democratic and Republican national conventions offered two radically different diagnoses of the problems confronting America
One version told of a president who is callous and cruel. “My dad was a healthy 65-year-old,” said Kristin Urquiza, whose father voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and died from Covid-19 in June. “His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump – and for that he paid with his life.”
The other spoke of a president blessed with compassion. Kayleigh McEnany recalled taking a phone call as she recovered from a preventative mastectomy. “It was President Trump, calling to check on me,” she said. “I was blown away. Here was the leader of the free world caring about me.”
Continue reading...Fatal shooting in Portland as Trump supporters clash with BLM protesters
Police say it was not clear if shooting was linked to fights between protesters and caravan of Trump supporters
One person was shot and killed late Saturday in Portland, Oregon, as a large caravan of Donald Trump supporters came into town and were seen on video firing paintballs and pepper spray at Black Lives Matter protesters before clashes erupted in the streets.
Related: The Department of Homeland Security is a rogue agency. Democrats must take action | Trevor Timm
Continue reading...Portland clashes: Trump accused of encouraging violence after shooting
Police say it was not clear if shooting was linked to fights between protesters and caravan of Trump supporters
Portland mayor Ted Wheeler on Sunday slammed Donald Trump, accusing the president of encouraging the kind of violence that erupted in the city overnight when a reported member of a rightwing group was shot dead after a group of Trump supporters confronted Black Lives Matter protesters.
“What America needs is for you to be stopped,” Wheeler said of Trump, after the president tore into Wheeler on Twitter in the hours after the death and retweeted video footage of his supporters in trucks firing paintballs and pepper spray at protesters downtown.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: India reports record rise in infections; global cases pass 25m
India records world’s highest single day rise; Latest Johns Hopkins figures show 842,702 people have died; Jacinda Ardern thanks Aucklanders
The coronavirus pandemic has shut down art exhibitions around the globe, but organisers of the RIBOCA2 biennial in Latvia have pushed ahead, reimagining the event to reflect challenging times.
To ensure social distancing, installations by nearly 70 international artists are showcased at the sprawling 20-hectare (50-acre) Soviet-era Andrejsala industrial port in Riga, long abandoned and given up to nature.
Hello, I’m taking over from Amy for the next few hours, as ever please don’t hesitate to share relevant tips and pointers with us, you can get me on Twitter @JedySays or via email.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Queensland steps up alert; protesters try to storm Reichstag
Demonstrations in Germany and UK against coronavirus restrictions; Australian opposition calls for wider care home inquiry; Turkey sees two-month high in cases. Follow all the developments live
- UK care homes still denied Covid test despite minister’s pledge
- New York: pandemic lays bare city’s problems
- Germany: far-right extremists try to storm Reichstag
- World map: which countries have most cases?
AFP is reporting from Rome:
Three Nigerian migrants attacked staff in a military hospital in Rome after testing positive for Covid-19, the defence ministry said Saturday.
And in Victoria, Australia’s worst-affected state.
#COVID19VicData for 30 August, 2020. There were 114 new cases detected in Victoria yesterday. Sadly we report 11 lives lost - condolences to all affected. More information will be available later today via our media release. pic.twitter.com/4voh37S3oM
Continue reading...New audio recordings reveal aunt’s criticisms of Ivanka and Eric Trump
- President’s niece reveals more tapes of Maryanne Trump Barry
- Ivanka’s Instagram post mocked as ‘Madonna and child’
Mary Trump has revealed more audio recordings she says are of her aunt, Maryanne Trump Barry, that aim pointed criticism at the US president’s children, Ivanka and Eric.
Related: Mary Trump’s book: eight of its most shocking claims about the president
Continue reading...Kenosha marches on as protesters describe ‘kidnap’ by federal agents
- Residents take to streets to patch up damage
- Activists report being held for hours without charge
For many Kenosha residents, Saturday morning was starting like the five mornings before them since Jacob Blake’s shooting by the police last Sunday, after a night of large, peaceful protests demanding justice and equality.
Hundreds took to the streets, some working to patch damage and doll up the blistered city, 40 miles south of Milwaukee in Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, by painting rainbows and hearts on boarded-up businesses.
Continue reading...Michael Moore warns that Donald Trump is on course to repeat 2016 win
Film-maker says enthusiasm for president in swing states is ‘off the charts’ and urges everyone to commit to getting 100 people to vote
The documentary film-maker Michael Moore has warned that Donald Trump appears to have such momentum in some battleground states that liberals risk a repeat of 2016 when so many wrote off Trump only to see him grab the White House.
“Sorry to have to provide the reality check again,” he said.
Continue reading...‘Our superhero’: black British figures praise Chadwick Boseman
Tributes to groundbreaking star come from spheres of film, TV, sport and politics
Chadwick Boseman has been widely praised for breaking down cultural boundaries and inspiring a generation of young black people, following news of his untimely death.
The Black Panther star died at his home in the Los Angeles area aged 43, four years after being diagnosed with colon cancer. He was best known for his role as the regal T’Challa in the Marvel cinematic universe, the franchise’s first high-profile black superhero.
Continue reading...‘DemExit’: virtual convention aims to create US leftwing alternative
The Movement for a People’s Party believes Democrats and Republicans will always choose profits over people, and 12,000 have signed up to hear more
Joe Biden’s acceptance speech at the virtual Democratic national convention made one reference to “middle class” and one to “working families”. It never mentioned the word “poverty”.
Related: Biden feared 'ideological jihad' from Sanders after primary win
Continue reading...New York’s not dead, but pandemic has laid bare deep-seated problems
Jerry Seinfeld got into a spat about the Big Apple with a fellow millionaire but for others racial and class inequalities give debate about the city’s health a very different look
Shabazz Stuart was one year old when the TV sitcom Seinfeld first went on air, and seven when the much-loved show about nothing broadcast its final episode. He’s only ever known it as one of those late-night repeats that are fun to watch when you’re at a loose end.
But this week there was no avoiding Seinfeld, or at least its creator and lead actor Jerry Seinfeld who roared back into the public eye with an opinion piece headlined “So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’”. The comedian was responding to a provocative post on LinkedIn by James Altucher, a hedge-fund manager who owns an Upper West Side standup comedy club where Seinfeld occasionally appears.
Continue reading...Sexual assault, forced labor, wage theft: garment workers in Jordan suffer for US brands
Activist groups work towards improving labor conditions in textile factories but abolishing the industry’s ‘norms’ is an uphill battle
Mehedi Mehedi, a 36-year-old Bangladeshi garment worker who had spent 14 years working in Jordan, left the country forever last December. It was not an easy decision to make: Mehedi had met his wife in Jordan, he had no guarantees of finding a job back in Bangladesh, and he was desperate to work in order to support his chronically ill father.
In Jordan, Mehedi had been working for a subcontracting factory that supplies apparel to brands like Ralph Lauren, Under Armour, and American Eagle. But after spending his last six months without regular pay, he had reached a breaking point.
Continue reading...‘No social distancing’: US college towns close bars as Covid-19 cases surge
Rise in campus infections from Missouri to Utah, and Alabama to Iowa forces local authorities to close bars and mandate masks
College towns across the United States have reimposed shutdowns after a spike in campus cases of coronavirus caused by students partying in large numbers on their return for the new academic year.
Despite waves of schools and businesses around the country being cleared to reopen, Columbia, Missouri joined cities in Alabama, Utah and Iowa in reimposing restrictions to deal with a surge of infections.
Continue reading...Neuralink: Elon Musk unveils pig he claims has computer implant in brain
Billionare entrepreneur presented animal during a livestream event to recruit workers for his neuroscience startup
The tech entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday showed off a pig whose brain he says has been implanted with a small computer.
“We have a healthy and happy pig, initially shy but obviously high energy and, you know, kind of loving life, and she’s had the implant for two months,” Musk said of Gertrude, the pig.
Continue reading...Michelle Obama: ‘I’m just devastated by the shootings in Kenosha’
The former first lady condemned the shooting of Jacob Blake by police as well as killings of Wisconsin protesters
Michelle Obama said she was “devastated” by the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this week and is “exhausted and frustrated” at the trauma of Black and brown people in the US.
In a lengthy statement released on Friday, the former first lady condemned the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Wisconsin man shot seven times in the back by police in front of his children, as well as the shooting of three protesters by an alleged 17-year-old rightwing militant in the protests that followed.
Continue reading...White House chief of staff dismisses Covid concerns as four at RNC test positive – live
- Large crowd gathered on South Lawn last night to hear Trump speak
- President grants Alice Johnson a full pardon
- Jacob Blake reportedly no longer handcuffed to hospital bed
- Trump paints Biden as ‘radical’ candidate and danger to US
- 1,124 new coronavirus deaths and 45,561 new cases in US yesterday
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Donald Trump is holding a rally for supporters in New Hampshire. He will speak any minute now. If you care to tune in you can here - if not, I will be blogging it here so stand by for updates.
The crowd at Trump’s NH rally just booed an announcement telling people to put on their masks
Germany chancellor Angela Merkel laughed off a question during a Friday press conference of whether she had been “charmed” by Donald Trump.
The question was in response to a statement made this week by Richard Grenell, the former US director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany, who claimed Trump had smoothed over the historically strained relationship between German and the US by enchanting Merkel.
This is one of my new favourite Merkel moments. A journalist asks her about Richard Grenell's claim that Trump "charmed" Merkel. You don't need to speak German to enjoy her reaction:pic.twitter.com/RSjHSNXXtX
Continue reading...House Democrats launch contempt proceedings against Mike Pompeo
Committee says secretary of state has refused to comply with subpoenas for documents connected to Ukraine scandal
Congressional Democrats have launched contempt proceedings against Mike Pompeo for his refusal to comply with subpoenas for documents connected to the Ukraine scandal that led to Donald Trump’s impeachment.
The move is the culmination of a long-running struggle over Congress’s authority to conduct oversight of government agencies. The secretary of state, who was a fierce advocate of congressional rights when he was a Republican representative from Kansas, has ignored a string of demands for documentation from the Democrat-controlled House foreign affairs committee (HFAC).
Continue reading...Jacob Blake shackled to hospital bed despite being paralyzed, father says
Jacob Blake Sr said in TV interview he did not know why his son was under restraint after being shot by police in Kenosha
Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old who was shot seven times by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer on Sunday, has spent the week shackled to his hospital bed despite being unable to walk and being heavily medicated, his father revealed on Friday.
“There was the cold steel on his ankle. He is shackled to the bed, but he cannot get up, he could not get up, he is paralyzed,” Jacob Blake Sr, father of Jacob Blake Jr, told CNN, describing a hospital visit with his son two days ago.
Continue reading...Protesters try to drown out Donald Trump’s acceptance speech on last day of RNC – video highlights
Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, as protesters outside the White House did their best to drown out his speech. Here are highlights of the last night of the 2020 Republican national convention
- RNC: Trump paints Biden as a 'radical' candidate and a danger to America
- Trump unleashes diatribe of falsehoods and baseless attacks in RNC finale
- America reacts to Donald Trump's RNC acceptance speech – US politics live