Category Archives: US News

Coronavirus live news: Russia and Afghanistan announce their biggest rises in cases

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UK PM says doctors had prepared to announce his death; Iran to reopen mosques on Monday; global cases near 3.5 million

Head over to the UK live blog to follow Downing Street’s daily coronavirus briefing.

Related: UK coronavirus live: Gove to give daily briefing as rail unions warn against lifting lockdown

Hello, I’ll be taking over the live blog for the next few hours. If you have a news tip, comment or suggestion, please get in touch via Twitter DM @cleaskopeliti or by email at clea.skopeliti.casual@guardian.co.uk. Thanks in advance.

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US warns Taliban to curb attacks after exit deal calls for 80% cut to violence

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Previously secret agreement emerges as spokesmen for US military and Taliban clash on Twitter

The US military has warned the Taliban it must curb attacks inside Afghanistan and revealed that a US troop withdrawal agreement signed in February included an informal commitment for both sides to cut violence by 80%.

The previously secret arrangement was revealed in a Twitter spat between the US military spokesman Col Sonny Leggett and his Taliban counterpart Zabihullah Mujahid. It comes after a sharp escalation in militant attacks since the agreement was sealed.

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‘Murder hornets’ in Washington state threaten bees and whip up media swarm

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Asian giant hornet, which became more active in the state in April, is the world’s largest and can kill humans with multiple stings

Researchers and citizens in Washington state are on a careful hunt for invasive “murder hornets”, after the insect made its first appearance in the US.

The Asian giant hornet is the world’s largest and can kill humans. But it is most dangerous for the European honeybee, which is defenseless in the face of the hornet’s spiky mandibles, long stinger and potent venom.

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Tara Reade says she didn’t explicitly accuse Biden of assault in Senate report

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Tara Reade, the former Senate staffer who alleges Joe Biden sexually assaulted her 27 years ago, has said she filed a limited report with a congressional personnel office that did not explicitly accuse him of sexual assault or harassment.

“I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable,” Reade said. “I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault.”

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Coronavirus US live: Trump hails Senate return and says Pelosi ‘crazy’ for not reopening House – as it happened

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Here’s a look at today’s major news items ...

Donald Trump has appeared to confirm that Kim Jong Un is “alive and well” after weeks of speculation over the North Korean leader’s health.

“I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well!” Trump wrote, quote-tweeting North Korean state media photos of Kim attending a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Sunchon Phosphatic Fertilizer Factory.

I, for one, am glad to see he is back, and well! https://t.co/mIWVeRMnOJ

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Coronavirus US live: states ponder reopening as deaths pass 65,000

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Donald Trump disputed warnings from the US Capitol physician and said it is safe for the Senate to return to the Washington DC building next week in a tweet which, as usual, needs a bit of explanation.

There is tremendous CoronaVirus testing capacity in Washington for the Senators returning to Capital Hill on Monday. Likewise the House, which should return but isn’t because of Crazy Nancy P. The 5 minute Abbott Test will be used. Please inform Dr. Brian P. Monahan. @MarkMeadows

The White House said it would be “counterproductive” for Dr Anthony Fauci to testify before Congress next week and is blocking him from speaking about the government’s response to the pandemic ina House committee hearing.

Fauci, who has worked at the National Institute of Health since 1968, has been a source of measured, expert analysis on the Covid-19 outbreak in press briefings and interviews. This has put him at odds with the president, who has downplayed the pandemic and disputed facts about the crisis.

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Coronavirus live news: Malaysia rounds up migrants as UN warns of crackdown on vulnerable

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Somalia reports rapid rise in Covid-19 deaths; 98 people die in one New York nursing home; Singapore eases restrictions as second wave subsides

Japan will fast-track a review of the antiviral drug remdesivir so that it can hopefully be approved for domestic COVID-19 patients a week after Gilead Sciences filing for such approval, the health minister said on Saturday, according to a report by Reuters.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato’s comment comes after remdesivir was granted emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19 on Friday.

The Chinese virologist whose work has been at the centre of the controversial claim that coronavirus came from a laboratory has dismissed rumours that she has defected from China, South China Morning Post reports.

Shi Zhengli, a researcher of bat coronaviruses, wrote on WeChat on Saturday that she and her family had not fled the country, despite coming under heavy scrutiny amid conspiracy theories that the virus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic had originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in central China where she works.

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The US and Iran are still perilously close to conflict | Ali Vaez

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Even amid the coronavirus crisis, the countries are trading threats. A de-escalation hotline is desperately needed

A dangerous encounter between the Iranian and US navies in the Persian Gulf last month, provoked by 11 Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ speedboats, and President Trump’s threat one week later to shoot Iranian gunboats out of water if this happens again, are stark reminders of the short fuse between the two countries amid growing tensions. If they want conflict to wag the dog and deflect attention from their failures to fight the Covid-19 outbreak in their respective countries, they can easily stumble into one; but if they don’t, as they often claim, they should find a way to establish a military hotline.

Related: Iranian boats come 'dangerously' close to US navy warships

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No leadership and no plan: is Trump about to fail the US on coronavirus testing?

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Declarations of false victory and a vacuum of federal leadership have undermined testing as experts warn reopening the US could result in disaster

A broad coalition of US health systems has mobilized to ramp up coronavirus testing in a national effort on a scale not seen since the second world war. But declarations of false victory by the Trump administration and a vacuum of federal leadership have undermined the endeavor, leading experts to warn that reopening the US could result in a disaster.

Related: The missing six weeks: how Trump failed the biggest test of his life

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Hong Kong calls foreign criticism of crackdown on pro-democracy figures ‘irresponsible’

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Hong Kong’s government calls allegations from the US, UK and European parliament ‘totally unfounded’

The Hong Kong government has accused foreign politicians of being ignorant and irresponsible after they criticised its recent crackdown on pro-democracy figures and accused Beijing of “flagrant breaches” of Hong Kong’s autonomy.

While it did not name anyone, the Hong Kong government’s statement on Friday said allegations voiced by “certain officials and politicians” from the US, UK and European Parliament were “totally unfounded and amounted to a serious intervention in Hong Kong’s affairs”.

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Coronavirus US live: FDA approves experimental drug remdesivir for emergency use

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Donald Trump appears to have revised upward to 100,000 his expectations for the number of Americans who will die of Covid-19.

“Hopefully we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number nevertheless,” Trump said at a White House event to honor people who are doing work related to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Reuters.

The last patient has left the field hospital that was erected in New York City’s Javits convention center, the AP reports.

The emergency facility was erected by the members of the US military to alleviate strain on the city’s hospital system at the height of the outbreak. It ultimately treated 1,095 patients, the last 8 of whom left the hospital today.

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Trump ‘cannot tell a lie’ – but can Kayleigh McEnany, his new press secretary?

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The latest spokeswoman for the ministry of untruth made an assured debut – but on Covid-19 and more, there were still Trumpian echoes

Channeling George Washington, Donald Trump, who has reportedly made 18,000 false or misleading claims in 1,170 days, recently proclaimed: “I cannot tell a lie.”

Related: Joe Biden denies sexual assault allegation from former staffer Tara Reade

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Joe Biden denies sexual assault allegation from former staffer Tara Reade

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Joe Biden has categorically denied allegations from a former Senate aide that he sexually assaulted her in 1993.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s first public comment on the allegation came at a delicate moment for his campaign.

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Harvard to donate remainder of Jeffrey Epstein gift to victim groups

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$200,000 that remained unspent from $9.1m donation will be given to groups focusing on victims of sex trafficking and assault

Harvard University announced on Friday that it will donate the remaining $210,000 of a $9.1m gift from the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to groups that support victims of sex trafficking and assault.

Lawrence Bacow, Harvard’s president, confirmed the decision in a statement, saying a full review of Epstein’s donations determined that money he gave between 1998 and 2008 was spent “to support a variety of research and faculty activities”.

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US lawmakers demand Jeff Bezos testify over Amazon’s ‘possibly criminally false’ statements

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House lawmakers said they could subpoena CEO to testify in antitrust investigation if he doesn’t appear voluntarily

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers investigating Amazon for possible antitrust violations have demanded that Jeff Bezos testify before Congress to address statements by the company that “appear to be misleading, and possibly criminally false or perjurious”.

“Although we expect that you will testify on a voluntary basis, we reserve the right to resort to compulsory process if necessary,” seven leaders of the House judiciary committee, including the chair Jerry Nadler, wrote in a letter to the Amazon CEO on Friday.

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Global markets recoil as Trump threatens US-China trade war

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US president escalates attack on Beijing’s handling of coronavirus pandemic

Donald Trump’s threats to reignite the US-China trade war over coronavirus has triggered another sell-off in global financial markets, as the economic costs of the pandemic continue to mount.

Against a backdrop of rising tension between the world’s two economic superpowers, share prices resumed a downward slide on Friday with the FTSE 100 falling by 144 points, or 2.5%, in London.

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Foreign Office obstructed search for truth, say Harry Dunn lawyers

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Legal team for family of dead 19-year-old to seek answers in meeting with Raab aides

The Foreign Office has obstructed a search for truth into the death of 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn, lawyers for his family have claimed prior to a potentially tense meeting with aides to Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary.

Dunn died in August when his motorcycle collided with a car driven by Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence officer stationed at a US spy base at RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire. Sacoolas immediately admitted to the police she had caused the accident by driving on the wrong side of the road.

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US germ warfare research leads to new early Covid-19 test

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Exclusive: test has potential to identify carriers before they become infectious

Scientists working for the US military have designed a new Covid-19 test that could potentially identify carriers before they become infectious and spread the disease, the Guardian has learned.

In what could be a significant breakthrough, project coordinators hope the blood-based test will be able to detect the virus’s presence as early as 24 hours after infection – before people show symptoms and several days before a carrier is considered capable of spreading it to other people. That is also around four days before current tests can detect the virus.

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Armed protesters enter Michigan’s state capitol demanding end to coronavirus lockdown – video

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Hundreds of protesters, some armed, attempted to enter the legislative chamber of Michigan's state capitol, in response to moves to extend Covid-19 lockdown orders. The demonstrators gathered as Democrat governor, Gretchen Whitmer, pushed for stay-at-home orders to continue to mid-May. The state has recorded 3,789 coronavirus deaths at time of publication

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Coronavirus live news: Kim Jong-un reportedly appears in public

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North Korean leader had not been seen for three weeks; Ireland and India both extend lockdowns, while global markets fall due to threat of US-China trade war

The US president Donald Trump has offered an increasingly bleak picture for the US, telling a White House event:

Hopefully, we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number, nevertheless.

The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made his first public appearance in nearly three weeks, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

N.K. leader reemerges from 20-day absence amid rumors over his health https://t.co/z4LhtCf7ox

Related: Kim Jong-un could be sheltering from Covid-19 pandemic, say US and Seoul

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