Joe Biden has made his first public appearance since March, emerging from isolation to lay a wreath to mark Memorial Day at a park in Delaware. "It feels good to be out of my house,” the 77-year-old said. After abruptly cancelling a campaign rally in Cleveland on 10 March, Biden built a television studio in his home which he has used to appear on news programs and campaign fundraising events.
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Coronavirus live news: Putin says Russia past peak of outbreak despite highest daily death toll
WHO warns of second peak as global cases pass 5.5m; Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar denies picnic with friends was rule breach; world health leaders urge green recovery
- Global report: ‘disaster’ looms as WHO warns of second peak
- Leo Varadkar denies picnic with friends broke Covid-19 rules
- Dominic Cummings refuses to resign or apologise for lockdown breach
- UK coronavirus updates - live
- US coronavirus updates - live
- Coronavirus latest: at a glance
I’m handing over to my esteemed colleague Kevin Rawlinson shortly, so I’ll leave you with a summary of today’s main global developments on the coronavirus pandemic:
A diplomatic rift has broken out between Tanzania and the US. The East African nation said it had summoned the top official at the US embassy to object to an advisory that warned of “exponential growth” of Covid-19 cases in the country.
Tanzania’s divisive leader John Magufuli has repeatedly played down the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic, appearing to model his response on the early approach taken by Donald Trump in the US.
Continue reading...FBI investigating Ahmaud Arbery shooting as possible hate crime, lawyer says
Attorney for family of black jogger shot by white men says federal authorities are looking into prosecutors and police in case
The FBI is investigating the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger, by two white men as a possible hate crime, the Arbery family’s attorney said Monday, claiming that federal authorities had launched a criminal inquiry into two district attorneys and the police department involved in the case.
Lee Martin, who represents the family of Arbery, 25, whose 23 February killing in Brunswick, Georgia, was captured on a graphic video recording that sparked national outrage, said he met with officials from the Department of Justice last Thursday.
Continue reading...Kentucky lockdown protesters condemned for hanging effigy of governor from tree
Incident at conservative rally draws backlash from Democrats and Republicans
Political leaders in Kentucky have condemned rightwing protesters against the state’s measures to fight the coronavirus, after the demonstrators hanged an effigy of Democratic state governor Andy Beshear from a tree.
The incident happened on Sunday during a protest in favor of gun rights and other mostly conservative causes. Several men produced a rope and an effigy and strung it from a tree outside the state capitol building in Frankfort.
Continue reading...Dawn of Asian century puts pressure on EU to choose sides, says top diplomat
EU foreign affairs chief says end of US-led global system may have arrived and Europe needs robust strategy for China
The Asian century may have arrived marking the end of a US-led global system, the EU’s foreign affairs chief has said amid a growing discussion in Europe on how to weave a path between China and the US.
“Analysts have long talked about the end of an American-led system and the arrival of an Asian century. This is now happening in front of our eyes,” Josep Borrell told a group of German diplomats on Monday, adding that the coronavirus pandemic could be seen as a turning point and that the “pressure to choose sides is growing”.
Continue reading...Trump spends Memorial Day weekend golfing and insulting female politicians
President tweets and retweets personal attacks against Pelosi and Abrams as US approaches 100,000 coronavirus deaths
Even by Donald Trump’s standards, it was a wild ride. On a Memorial Day weekend when coronavirus deaths in the US closed in on 100,000, and a grateful nation paid respects to its war dead, its president took to the golf course and turned to social media to unleash a barrage of personal attacks on foes old, new and perceived.
On Saturday and Sunday, both days on which Trump visited his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, he followed his time on the links with late-night Twitter sessions tweeting or retweeting insults to prominent female politicians.
Continue reading...Palestine cuts off all ties with Israel and US: is it a bluff?
Mahmoud Abbas says all agreements with US and Israel are void but others call move a cry for help
It was a speech intended to define a new era. In a final, do-or-die attempt to block what appeared to be Israeli plans for a permanent land grab, the Palestinian president announced he would renege on decades of diplomacy.
From the 1990s-era Oslo accords – the first steps of a peace process – to deep security coordination between the Palestinian leadership, Israel and US intelligence agencies, all were now void, Mahmoud Abbas said in a late-night speech last week. He said the Palestinian leadership was “absolved, as of today, of all the agreements and understandings with the American and Israeli governments”.
Continue reading...Californians pack beaches on Memorial Day weekend, defying social distancing rules – video
Americans across the country appeared to abandon social distancing guidelines as they sunbathed on beaches and gathered for pool parties on Memorial Day weekend. The long weekend traditionally signals the start of the US summer, and despite the country’s Covid-19 death toll approaching 100,000, many revellers dismissed any safety concerns to celebrate.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson’s senior adviser refuses to apologise for lockdown breach – as it happened
Dominic Cummings will not resign; WHO drops hydroxychloroquine from global study into experimental coronavirus treatments. This blog is now closed
- Follow the latest global coronavirus live blog here
- Dominic Cummings refuses to resign or apologise for lockdown breach
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Related: Coronavirus live news: WHO drops hydroxychloroquine trial as Mexico death toll questioned
The White House on Monday issued a statement amending the timing of the start of new restrictions on travel from Brazil to the United States to 11.59pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, 26 May.
The White House announced on Sunday that it was restricting travel from Brazil to the United States, two days after the South American nation became the world’s No. 2 hotspot for coronavirus cases.
In its original announcement, it said the restrictions would come into force on 28 May.
Joe Biden forced to make his fundraisers fully virtual – bar the price tag
The pandemic has led the presumptive Democratic nominee, like other politicians to take his high-dollar events online
The coronavirus pandemic may have driven Joe Biden into his basement and forced his campaign online, but one crucial factor is still the same: his run for the White House still needs to raise giant amounts of money.
Related: Campaign wars: Trump rallies base while Biden tries to broaden his
Continue reading...‘We’re expendable’: black Americans pay the price as states lift lockdowns
Experts warn reopening states could have dire consequences on public health, and black Americans already face greater risk
Donald Trump recently shared a doctored video of his head superimposed on to actor Bill Pullman’s character in the 1996 film Independence Day’s crowd-rallying scene, likening frontline workers to warriors.
But it rang hollow for Denita Jones, a Dallas-area call center worker. For many black, essential workers like her, the message is about reopening the economy, but the real meaning is more subtle.
Continue reading...Why is Trump so quiet about the Biden sexual assault allegation?
The president rarely misses a chance to sling mud but he has been uncharacteristically quiet about Tara Reade’s claim
Sometimes Donald Trump portrays his election rival, Joe Biden, as a sleepy geriatric who should be in a care home because “he doesn’t know he’s alive”. At others, the president speaks of Biden as a wily manipulator who conspired with the deep state and China.
Related: Who is Tara Reade and what are her allegations against Joe Biden?
Continue reading...Americans defy Covid-19 social distancing rules to celebrate Memorial Day holiday
Hundreds gather at pool party at Lake of the Ozarks and at Daytona Beach in Florida, defying safety restrictions
Americans across the country appeared to abandon social distancing guidelines as they sunbathed on beaches and gathered for pool parties on Memorial Day weekend.
The long weekend traditionally signals the start of the US summer, and despite the country’s Covid-19 death toll approaching 100,000, many revellers dismissed any safety concerns to celebrate.
Continue reading...Trump: Sessions was not ‘mentally qualified’ to be attorney general
- Sessions protests loyalty to Trump despite fierce abuse
- President endorses opponent in Alabama Senate election
Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions’ playground fight continued into Sunday. In an interview with Sinclair TV, Trump said Sessions had not been “mentally qualified” to be his first attorney general.
Related: Jeff Sessions snaps back after Trump tells Alabama not to trust him
Continue reading...China raises US trade tensions with warning of ‘new cold war’
Foreign minister accuses Washington of damaging relationship with Beijing
The prospects of a trade war between China and the western economies ratcheted up on Sunday as Beijing accused the US of pushing relations towards a “new cold war”.
“China has no intention to change, still less replace the United States,” China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said on Sunday in the latest escalation in tensions between the world’s two largest economies. “It’s time for the United States to give up its wishful thinking of changing China and stopping 1.4 billion people in their historic march toward modernisation.”
Continue reading...Democratic VP contender Demings slams Trump ‘gall’ over Biden black voters gaffe
- Congresswoman offers glimpse of running mate role
- Opinion: Black Americans are in an abusive relationship
- US politics live – rolling report
Val Demings, a Democratic representative from Florida among contenders to be Joe Biden’s presidential running mate, has castigated Donald Trump for having the “gall and nerve” to use a gaffe by Biden as a weapon on the campaign trail.
Related: Jeff Sessions protests loyalty to Trump – again – despite Twitter abuse
Continue reading...Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch first astronauts from US soil since 2011
Falcon 9 rocket to make history as billionaire seeks to commercialise space travel
Elon Musk’s SpaceX company hopes to make history on Wednesday by launching the first astronauts into space from US soil in nine years, as the billionaire takes the next step in his dream to commercialise space travel.
Donald Trump will be among the spectators at Kennedy space centre in Florida to witness the launch, which has been given the green light despite the coronavirus lockdown.
Continue reading...Spotify podcast deal could make Joe Rogan world’s highest paid broadcaster
Streaming service must convince podcast listeners to switch from their favourite app
Joe Rogan, the comedian, MMA commentator and podcaster, may seem an unlikely prospect for becoming the world’s highest paid broadcaster. But after signing an exclusive deal with Spotify, that is what he may have become, marking a new era for podcasting in the process.
To much of the world, Rogan’s name is most associated with the periodic furores that erupt from the marathon interviews around which his podcast is structured.
Continue reading...Fumbling the nuclear football: is Trump blundering to arms control chaos?
The president believes he alone can negotiate away nuclear weapons and win a Nobel prize – but he has quit three treaties and gutted his administration of experts
The Trump administration signaled this week that it was ready to get back in the business of nuclear arms control. A newly appointed envoy, Marshall Billingslea, made his first public remarks to announce talks with Russia are about to resume.
“We have concrete ideas for our next interaction, and we’re finalizing the details as we speak,” Billingslea said.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Austria’s president apologises for curfew breach
France asks citizens to avoid foreign trips; US likely to impose travel restrictions on Brazil; Afghanistan cases top 10,000
The Daily Mail - usually one of Boris Johnson’s supporters in the press - has called on the prime minister to sack Dominic Cummings, trailing its headline with the following:
In the clearest way, Dominic Cummings has violated the spirit and letter of the lockdown. Boris Johnson says he ‘totally gets’ how the public feels about this. Clearly he totally doesn’t. Neither man has displayed a scintilla of contrition for this breach of trust. Do they think we are fools? For the good of the government and the nation, Mr Cummings must resign. Or the prime minister must sack him. No ifs. No buts.
The White House has announced it is prohibiting foreigners from traveling to the US if they had been in Brazil in the last two weeks, two days after the South American nation became the world No. 2 hot spot for coronavirus cases.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the new restrictions would help ensure foreign nationals do not bring additional infections to the US, but would not apply to the flow of commerce between the new countries.
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