Category Archives: US News

Trump claims US on way to ‘tremendous victory’ over Covid-19 as cases surge – live

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The White House is set to host its largest event since the start of the coronavirus pandemic with tonight’s Salute to America. Hundreds of chairs and tables have been set up on the South Lawn, where Trump will deliver a speech he says will celebrate American heritage. An administration spokesperson says social distancing “will be observed” and face masks will be offered but not mandatory.

Trump was first inspired to stage a mass display of pop and power on America’s birthday when attended the Bastille Day military parade as the guest of French president Emmanuel Macron back in 2017. An initial 2018 push to stage a parade that would have seen soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the streets of Washington was scuttled amid accusations that he was politicizing an important holiday, emulating displays in authoritarian countries and wasting taxpayers’ money.

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, along with the Department of Interior, will host the 2020 Salute to America on the South Lawn of the White House and Ellipse on Saturday, July 4. In addition to music, military demonstrations, and flyovers to honor our Nation’s service members and veterans, the President will deliver remarks that celebrate our independence and salute our amazing heritage. The evening will culminate with a spectacular fireworks display over the National Mall.

For 4 July, in the summer of protests over the killing of George Floyd, a picture gallery from Jameelah Nuriddin and Erin Hammond.

The eight images capture a giant 200-year-old flag, a young black woman with a giant afro, and various postures combining the pledge of allegiance and black power poses. They are accompanied by a manifesto that mirrors the preamble to the US constitution, written by Nuriddin, who is also the model in the series:

Related: Imagine a 'New America': reclaiming the American flag – in pictures

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High society to hideaway arrest: Ghislaine Maxwell’s dramatic fall

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For years she was at the centre of a web of influence but this week Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend will appear in a New York court

For a party girl with no parties left to attend, Ghislaine Maxwell’s 20-mile journey from her mountain hideaway in Bradford, New Hampshire, to Merrimack county jail was the brutal, cinematic finale to a social highlife that stretched across decades and continents.

Taken by surprise at 8.30am last Thursday, and accompanied by officers from at least six US law enforcement agencies, the 58-year-old was taken to the medium-security facility and later arraigned via audio-only video conference, accused of luring underage girls, one as young as 14, for her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse.

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Nigerian social media star appears in US court on fraud charges

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‘Ray Hushpuppi’ is alleged to have laundered hundreds of millions of dollars

A Nigerian social media star, known for flaunting a luxurious lifestyle to millions of his followers on Instagram, has appeared in court in the US charged with running a global fraud operation, including targeting a Premier League football club, a bank and a US law firm.

Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a 37-year-old known as “Ray Hushpuppi” who claims to run a real estate business, is alleged to have conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through business email compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

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Donald Trump says US ‘under siege from far-left fascism’ in Mount Rushmore speech – video

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Standing beneath Mount Rushmore on the eve of independence day in the US,  the president said the nation’s history was 'under siege from far-left fascism'.  He defended the symbolism of statues and monuments, including Mount Rushmore - which features the carved faces of four US presidents. They include George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, who were slave owners. Trump said: 'These heroes will never be defaced. Their legacy will never, ever be destroyed. Their achievements will never be forgotten'

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Ghislaine Maxwell will not say anything about Prince Andrew, says friend

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Laura Goldman says she expects Maxwell to seek plea deal over charges relating to exploitation of young girls

Ghislaine Maxwell would never say anything about the Duke of York’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, according to one of her friends.

Maxwell appeared in court in the US on Thursday accused of helping disgraced financier Epstein “identify, befriend and groom” multiple girls, including one as young as 14.

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Coronavirus live news: pubs reopen in England as Catalonia announces new lockdown

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Fourth of July weekend in US sees cases surging; WHO changes timeline of how it was alerted to virus; housing estates in Melbourne locked down. Follow developments live

What we’re learning about Covid as US states open up
How Victoria’s outbreak divided Australia
Scotland and Wales attack UK government’s shambolic travel changes

As some countries and regions are reintroducing restrictions and imposing local lockdowns, Thailand’s nightlife venues were allowed to reopen on 1 July after having been shut for three months.

My colleague Rebecca Ratcliffe reports from Bangkok.

Related: 'Let’s do karaoke!': Bangkok nightlife eases out of lockdown

Israel is one of several countries so far that are seemingly paying the price for lifting lockdown restrictions early, as the government tries to grapple with rising infections.

Over the last 24 hours 1,008 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19, raising the number of active cases in Israel to 10,060, according to data released by the Health Ministry.

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US under siege from ‘far-left fascism’, says Trump in Mount Rushmore speech

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US president enflames national tensions with attack on ‘leftwing revolution’ and plan for national memorial of statues of ‘American heroes’

Standing beneath Mount Rushmore on the eve of American independence day, Donald Trump staged a defiant celebration of what critics say is white identity politics and warned the nation’s history is under siege from “far-left fascism”.

The US president defended the symbolism of statues and monuments before a packed crowd at an event that revelled in political incorrectness calculated to enflame the country’s current divisions and enrage liberal critics. There were few face masks and even fewer people of color on stage or in the stands.

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Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr’s girlfriend, tests positive for Covid-19

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Ex-Fox News presenter is key fundraiser for Trump re-election campaign and latest of president’s circle to contract the disease

US records highest daily increase in coronavirus cases

The girlfriend of Donald Trump Jnr, the US president’s eldest son, has tested positive for the coronavirus, US media have reported.

Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is a former Fox News television personality and a senior fundraiser for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, is just the latest person in Trump’s inner circle to contract the potentially deadly virus. The news also comes as the US is experiencing a huge spike in coronavirus cases and amid withering criticism of Trump’s response to the crisis.

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What’s next for Ghislaine Maxwell – and will she cooperate with prosecutors?

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Avoiding a lengthy prison sentence is incentive to cooperate, but may be difficult given her high-up position

While Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest Thursday in relation to her confidant Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes answered some questions about her life – revealing, for example, that she hid at a sprawling, million-dollar New Hampshire estate, where she was picked up in a morning raid – still more questions arose about what’s next for the mysterious British socialite.

Related: Prince Andrew under pressure after arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell

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Prince Andrew’s silence is a ‘torture test’ for Epstein’s alleged victims, says lawyer

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Pressure grows on Duke of York to ‘speak up’ after the arrest of his friend Ghislaine Maxwell

The Duke of York was accused of subjecting alleged victims of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to a “torture test” by his silence as lawyers for the women increased the pressure following the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell.

As Maxwell, 58, remained in custody on charges of facilitating former boyfriend Epstein’s sexual exploitation of underage girls, lawyers for multiple women demanded Prince Andrew “be a man”, “speak up” and stop “deliberately avoiding” US authorities.

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A history of Fourth of July protests in America – in pictures

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‘This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn,’ Frederick Douglass lamented 13 years before Reconstruction. Since the 19th century, abolitionists, suffragists and civil rights activists have seized the Fourth of July as an occasion to protest injustices sustained by those omitted from the founding fathers’ vision. In the 20th century, the civil rights movement and Vietnam war brought to light legacies of slavery, imperialism and sexism that continue to challenge the narrative of ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness’. Today, the potency of Black Lives Matter has established civil disobedience as an unwavering American tradition

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Heatwaves have become longer in most of the world since 1950s – study

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Frequency of heatwaves and cumulative intensity has risen through the decades, research finds

Heatwaves have increased in both length and frequency in nearly every part of the world since the 1950s, according to what is described as the first study to look at the issue at a regional level.

The study found the escalation in heatwaves varied around the planet, with the Amazon, north-eastern Brazil, west Asia (including parts of the subcontinent and central Asia) and the Mediterranean all experiencing more rapid change than, for example, southern Australia and north Asia. The only inhabited region where there was not a trend was in the central United States.

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Coronavirus live news: Mexican state asks for US border closure as global cases near 11m

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Philippines reports largest single-day increase in cases; Florida confirms 10,000 new cases in one day; Brazil infections nearing 1.5m

Authorities in northern Nigeria’s biggest city Kano have lifted a three-month lockdown imposed to contain a coronavirus outbreak linked to hundreds of deaths.

State governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje announced the lifting of the curfew in a broadcast, insisting the key trading hub had seen a sharp drop in infections.

We can beat our chest and say we are winning the case and there is no longer any need for the lockdown.

There will be free movement for all.

Despite imposing an early lockdown, containment may be unravelling in Bolivia amid poverty, an underprepared health system and a bitter political standoff, report Laurence Blair and Cindy Jiménez Bercerra in La Paz.

When Pedro Flores and a group of fellow doctors arrived in the Beni, Bolivia’s tropical northern province, at the end of May, they knew the crisis caused by coronavirus would be severe. But what they found still left them shaken.

There were no medical supplies, there were no ventilators, no oxygen.

Here in Trinidad most people have a relative, a friend, a neighbour who has died. We’re in a health disaster.

Related: Bolivia in danger of squandering its head start over coronavirus

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Jay-Z’s Team Roc call for prosecution of police officer who shot and killed 3 men

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Officer Joseph Mensah was found to have acted in self-defence in two of the shootings, with another currently under review

Jay-Z’s social justice initiative Team Roc has called for a Wisconsin police officer to be fired and prosecuted, after he shot and killed three people while on duty.

Joseph Mensah, of Milwaukee suburb Wauwatosa, killed Alvin Cole, Antonio Gonzales and Jay Anderson in three separate incidents between 2015 and 2020. He is under review for the most recent killing, of Cole, but the earlier two were deemed self-defence and he did not face charges.

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Fourth of July celebrations increase risk of ‘superspreader’ events, experts warn

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  • Officials prevent municipal gatherings in effort to slow spread
  • Experts urge Americans at barbecues to follow health guidelines

The Fourth of July is traditionally for barbecues, fireworks, boisterous partying and various hijinks to celebrate Independence Day. But this year, with coronavirus cases soaring to all-time highs, medical experts warn that the normal US holiday exuberance could instead create infection “superspreader” events.

Related: 'It's very troubling': alarm grows over Covid-19 spike among young Americans

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Prince Andrew under pressure after arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell

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Royal ‘bewildered’ after US attorney asks him to come forward following arrest of his friend over alleged sex crimes

Pressure on Prince Andrew to speak to FBI investigators was mounting after his friend Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on charges of sex trafficking and perjury as part of its ongoing inquiry into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

At a press conference in New York in which prosecutors detailed the allegations facing Maxwell, they urged the Prince to come forward.

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New York man ignites his own house after shooting illegal firework through window – video

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New York City man Damien Bend was arrested for arson in connection with a house fire ignited by illegal fireworks in Brooklyn, NY. The house was his own. Video released by Fire Department New York shows a firework shot from Bend's hand enter the house through an open window, unseen by Bend and two others. Bend then re-enters the house to retrieve and let off more fireworks, before the blaze inside is out of control. The vision was released as New York City clamps down on a rise in illegal fireworks

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Trump declares US economy is ‘roaring back’, despite record Covid-19 cases – video

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Donald Trump has declared the US economy is 'roaring back' after news of a fall in unemployment nationwide. The results come as states across the country have been gradually lifting Covid-19 restrictions. While 4.8m jobs were added in June, parts of the country have also experienced record numbers of new coronavirus cases

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Ghislaine Maxwell arrest throws spotlight back on Prince Andrew

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Little respite for Duke of York over friendship with British socialite and Jeffrey Epstein

The arrest by the FBI of the British woman Ghislaine Maxwell on multiple charges related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein throws an uncomfortable spotlight once more on the Duke of York.

It comes less than one month after a bad-tempered war-of-words between Prince Andrew’s lawyers and US prosecutors over the royal’s cooperation – or alleged lack of it – over their investigation into the late billionaire.

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Ghislaine Maxwell charged over role in Epstein sexual exploitation – video

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Ghislaine Maxwell, the close friend of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has been charged over her 'critical role' in helping the now late billionaire groom underage victims and for lying under oath.

Maxwell was accused by many women of recruiting them to give Epstein massages, during which they were pressured into sex.

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