Category Archives: US News

Coronavirus live news: confirmed Russian cases pass China’s total; Afghanistan records biggest one-day rise in cases

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Iran reports 96 more deaths; Spain’s death toll shows slight rise; Germany calls for ‘very careful’ easing of lockdown; New Zealand says ‘worst is over’

Formula One plans to start the season in Austria on 5 July and stage between 15 and 18 grands prix this year with the opening races behind closed doors.

The announcement came immediately after the French Grand Prix was cancelled and the news the British Grand Prix will be held without spectators if it goes ahead.

Preparatory work has begun on restarting repairs to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

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First Thing: get ready for a long summer on lockdown

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New Zealand easing Covid-19 restrictions, but Deborah Birx says Americans can expect social distancing measures for months to come. Plus, awkward scenes with the creator of Sex Education

Good morning.

New Zealand has “won the battle” against widespread, undetected community transmission of the coronavirus, said the country’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, who announced the lifting of some lockdown measures on Monday after just one death and one new confirmed case of Covid-19 was recorded in the preceding 24 hours.

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Birx sidesteps Trump disinfectant remarks and warns distancing will last months

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Donald Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator, Dr Deborah Birx, has cautioned that social distancing measures are likely to stay in place throughout the summer, as the administration’s health expert sought to downplay the president’s dangerous suggestion that injected disinfectant and ultraviolet light could play a role in medical treatment of Covid-19.

Related: How has the coronavirus transformed Spain?

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Harry Dunn parents write to UK army chief after ‘near misses’ near base

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Police investigate three incidents of Americans driving on wrong side of road near RAF Croughton

The parents of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn have pleaded with the head of the armed forces to set up a meeting with a US military base after claims of “three near misses” involving their staff.

Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn wrote to Gen Sir Nick Carter on Sunday to say they “bear our American friends no ill will”, but insisted RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire could not “practice splendid isolation” on safety issues.

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The state we’re in: will the pandemic revolutionise the role of government?

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The state has been in retreat since the 80s heyday of Reagan and Thatcher but that could change as coronavirus delivers a shock to the system of historic proportions

Ronald Reagan’s 1986 wisecrack – “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help” – would not get a lot of laughs today. In much of the world, people are desperate for the government to show up and rise to the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.

Reagan’s attitude to government solidified into orthodoxy for more than three decades, spreading abroad – particularly in the UK with the help of Margaret Thatcher – and captured the centre ground of politics in both countries.

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Donald Trump set to fall back on xenophobia with re-election plan in tatters

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The president had been intending to campaign on a strong economy and facing a socialist opponent but scapegoating foreigners has worked for him before

Donald Trump had been intending to run a re-election campaign based on a strong economy and a socialist opponent. Both have vanished in the past month. But the US president still has his ultimate weapon: xenophobia.

Related: Debacle of Trump's coronavirus disinfectant comments could be tipping point

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Spain’s daily death toll drops below 300 as children allowed out for first time in weeks – as it happened

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WHO clarifies ‘immunity passport’ advice; global deaths pass 200,000; Russia case tally passes 80,000; Sweden’s deputy prime-minster admits problems with strategy. This blog is now closed.

We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:

Related: Coronavirus live news: Boris Johnson back in Number 10 as Trump denies he plans to fire health secretary

Here a few key developments of the past few hours at a glance:

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Trump says briefings ‘not worth the effort’ amid fallout from disinfectant comments

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The president remained behind closed doors after advisers reportedly warned him that the briefings were hurting his campaign

After more than a month of near-daily White House coronavirus press briefings, Donald Trump stayed behind closed doors on Saturday after advisers reportedly warned the president that his appearances were hurting his campaign.

Trump himself referenced his absence when he wrote on Twitter that the briefings are “not worth the time & effort”. The president wrote the tweet on Saturday evening, when he would usually be taking the podium to address journalists.

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Michigan senator apologizes for wearing Confederate flag face mask

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Dale Zorn initially defended his actions, saying it was part of ‘our history’, but eventually apologized after widespread outrage

A Republican politician in Michigan has apologized after wearing a face mask that appeared to depict the Confederate flag, an image offensive to many Americans as a symbol of racism and slavery.

Michigan state Senator Dale Zorn wore the mask during a Senate vote at the state capitol in Lansing on Friday. He initially defended his actions, saying his wife had made the mask and that it depicted the flag of Tennessee or Kentucky.

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Will justice finally be done for Emmett Till? Family hope a 65-year wait may soon be over

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Not a day has been spent in jail nor a penny paid in compensation for the brutal murder of a 14-year-old boy in Mississippi that helped spark the civil rights movement

Thelma Wright Edwards knows this is the last chance for justice for Emmett Till. The next few weeks and months will determine whether there will ever be closure for her beloved cousin “Bobo”, as the family affectionately call the child.

The Guardian has learned that a reinvestigation of the boy’s murder that has been carried out by the FBI over the past three years could be wrapped up in weeks. For Thelma and the rest of the Till family, a decades-long struggle for justice is fast approaching its conclusion.

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Trump attack on Biden highlights president’s own past dealings with China

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Trump Organisation’s far-flung real estate business has involved dealings with Chinese state-owned firms on several occasions

Donald Trump has a share in a New York property development that borrowed tens of millions of dollars from China, it was reported on Friday.

The debt derived from a 30% share the US president owns in a billion-dollar building on the Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, which was refinanced in 2012 with $211m of the funding coming from the state-owned Bank of China, Politico reported on Friday.

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Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus ‘cure’ wrote to Trump this week

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Mark Grenon wrote to Trump saying chlorine dioxide ‘can rid the body of Covid-19’ days before the president promoted disinfectant as treatment

The leader of the most prominent group in the US peddling potentially lethal industrial bleach as a “miracle cure” for coronavirus wrote to Donald Trump at the White House this week.

In his letter, Mark Grenon told Trump that chlorine dioxide – a powerful bleach used in industrial processes such as textile manufacturing that can have fatal side-effects when drunk – is “a wonderful detox that can kill 99% of the pathogens in the body”. He added that it “can rid the body of Covid-19”.

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Trump floats dangerous coronavirus treatment ideas at daily briefing – video

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Donald Trump prompted a backlash from medical experts after floating the idea that they could look into heat, light and injections of disinfectants as a cure for Covid-19. His public health advisers immediately played down the idea, and medics warn that trying such ideas could be fatal. Coronavirus response coordinator Dr Deborah Birx appeared caught off guard when Trump asked her directly if heat and light would cure the deadly disease. ‘Not as a treatment,’ Birx replied

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Coronavirus live news: experts reject Trump’s ‘disinfectant’ theory as Russia reports 5,849 new cases

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Doctors call president’s comments ‘jaw-dropping’ and dangerous; Algeria, Egypt, UAE shorten ease restrictions for Ramadan, Indonesia increases them; Follow the latest updates

Iran has reported 1,168 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 88,194. There have been 93 new deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 5,574.

The Taliban have rejected appeals for a cease fire from Afghanistan’s president, as the country records its biggest daily rise in new coronavirus cases, reports my colleague Akhtar Mohammad Makoii.

The country recorded 95 new cases, bringing the overall total to 1,330, it recorded 2 new deaths bringing the overall number of deaths to 43.

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Taylor Swift disowns new live album, calling it ‘shameless greed’

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Singer complains of ‘tasteless’ release amid coronavirus crisis by former label Big Machine, owned by frequent adversary Scooter Braun

Taylor Swift has disowned a new live album released under her name, calling it tasteless and “shameless greed” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The album, Live from Clear Channel Stripped 2008, was recorded when Swift was 18, around the release of her Grammy-winning second album, Fearless. The live album has been released by Big Machine, Swift’s former label that was bought by music manager Scooter Braun from its founder, Scott Borchetta. Swift has frequently criticised Braun and Borchetta – leading Braun to allege death threats from fans to his family – and is planning to rerecord and rerelease her six albums put out by Big Machine to regain some control over her back catalogue.

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Coronavirus: medical experts denounce Trump’s latest ‘dangerous’ treatment suggestion

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Doctors warn president’s musings on disinfectant as a cure for coronavirus could lead to death

Donald Trump has stunned viewers by suggesting that people could receive injections of disinfectant to cure the coronavirus, a notion one medical expert described as “jaw-dropping”.

At Thursday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing, the US president discussed new government research on how the virus reacts to different temperatures, climates and surfaces.

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Beyoncé gives $6m to coronavirus relief, including mental health causes

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Pop star unites with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey to support charities working with ‘communities of colour’

Beyoncé has announced a donation of $6m for mental health and other initiatives during the coronavirus outbreak.

The singer teamed up with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s relief fund #startsmall to make the donation to the National Alliance in Mental Health, University of California Los Angeles, and local community-based organisations working to improve mental health. In a statement on her website, Beyoncé said mental burdens were accelerating for people who can’t access basic necessities during the crisis.

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Ramadan begins amid coronavirus restrictions as Trump ‘disinfectant’ theory dismissed

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Countries with Muslim populations wrestle with best way to observe holy month amid outcry over US president’s latest suggestion

The governments of nations with large Muslim populations were divided on coronavirus restrictions as Ramadan began, with with some easing lockdowns while others enacted travel bans.

As the Muslim holy month was set to begin, US health experts rushed to warn against Donald Trump’s suggestion of exploring the use of UV light on people and injecting disinfectant as a way of combatting coronavirus.

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US House passes $484bn coronavirus relief bill to fund small businesses and hospitals

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Measure heads to Donald Trump’s desk after passing House by vote of 388-5, as lawmakers meet for first time in weeks

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a $484bn coronavirus relief bill on Thursday, funding small businesses and hospitals and pushing the total spending response to the crisis to an unprecedented near $3tn.

The measure passed the Democratic-led House by a vote of 388-5, with one member voting present. House members were meeting for the first time in weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Zoom releases security updates in response to ‘Zoom-bombings’

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Company has struggled to meet security needs as user base has risen sharply amid coronavirus lockdown

The video-conferencing platform Zoom has released a new update this week in an effort to address an onslaught of security concerns surrounding the service.

Zoom says the newest version of its app, Zoom 5.0, includes encryption and new privacy controls, updates that are part of a 90-day plan to improve security and privacy on the platform.

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