As confirmed coronavirus cases in the US surpass 2.5m, US health secretary Alex Azar warns 'the window is closing' on halting its spread. The US has suffered a recent surge in infections, with states across the west and south among the hardest hit. Speaking in Texas, the vice president Mike Pence says wearing mask is 'a good idea' when social distancing cannot be maintained, and also notes there is a spike in cases among younger Americans
Continue reading...Category Archives: US News
Coronavirus live news: global deaths pass 500,000 as ‘window closing’ in US on chance to curb Covid-19
California governor closes bars in several counties; half a million confined in Beijing; cases worldwide top 10m; Follow the latest updates
- Global deaths pass 500,000
- Global report: Covid-19 cases exceed 10m
- US health secretary says ‘window is closing’ to stop virus
- New Zealand’s isolation facilities under ‘extreme stress’
- See all our coronavirus coverage
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce massive spending plans Monday to boost Britain’s coronavirus-hit economy, as pressure grows on the government over its handling of the crisis.
Johnson’s new package of measures is intended to meet the unprecedented challenge the pandemic has posed to the economy, and restore the government’s standing.
Beijing’s city government reported seven new Covid-19 cases for 28 June, down from 14 a day earlier as the Chinese capital seeks to contain an outbreak.
The city also reported one new asymptomatic case, a patient who has the coronavirus but is not exhibiting symptoms, compared with three such cases a day earlier.
Coronavirus live news: pandemic is ‘not even close to being over’, warns WHO chief
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says pandemic is ‘speeding up’; India records 19,459 new cases; Iran records highest daily death toll; China’s military approves vaccine for use on its soldiers
- Global report: Covid-19 deaths pass half a million
- US health secretary says ‘window closing’ to stop virus
- New Zealand’s isolation facilities under ‘extreme stress’
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Social distancing simply isn’t possible for the 1 million Rohingya refugees who live in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, in southeastern Bangladesh.
Families live in close quarters inside flimsy bamboo shacks, using communal toilets and water facilities. Sometimes the most basic items, such as soap, are lacking.
Related: Cox's Bazar refugee camps: where social distancing is impossible
The US is to join with other major powers including China, India and the EU in formulating plans for a global green recovery from the coronavirus crisis, in the only major international summit on the climate emergency this year.
The idea of a green recovery to prevent a dangerous rebound in greenhouse gas emissions to above pre-Covid-19 levels has been gathering steam, but few governments have yet committed to plans.
Related: US to join summit on global green recovery from Covid-19 crisis
Continue reading...Chesapeake Energy, fracking pioneer, files for bankruptcy owing $9bn
The Oklahoma City-based company helped turn the US into a global energy powerhouse but ran up huge debts in the process
Chesapeake Energy, the shale gas drilling pioneer that helped to turn the United States into a global energy powerhouse, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The Oklahoma City-based company said on Sunday that it had been forced to enter chapter 11 protection because its debts of $9bn were unmanageable.
Continue reading...Mississippi lawmakers vote to remove Confederate emblem from state flag
Governor Tate Reeves has indicated he will sign the bill to replace the state flag and create a commission to design a new one
Mississippi legislators have voted to replace the state flag, the last in the nation to feature the Confederate battle emblem, which has been condemned as racist.
The state House and the Senate voted to remove the current flag on Sunday and create a commission that will design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol and that must have the words “In God We Trust”. Mississippi governor Tate Reeves has signalled he will sign the measure in the coming days.
Continue reading...Trump deletes tweet of supporter shouting ‘white power’ after outrage
Deputy press secretary claims Trump had not heard the racist language of video he tweeted that was posted for nearly four hours
Donald Trump has deleted a tweet he sent featuring video of a Trump supporter shouting, “White power! White power!” after an outpouring of grief and outrage at racist language flowing directly from the White House once again.
The tweet was deleted after it drew fierce criticism from across the political spectrum, including from Tim Scott of South Carolina, the sole African American Republican in the Senate.
Continue reading...Joe Biden: Donald Trump presidency has been ‘a gift to Putin’ – video
The Democrats' presidential nominee criticises Trump after reports the US president failed to act on intelligence briefings that Russia was offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing US troops. The story was first reported in the New York Times. 'If the Times report is true ... Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin,' Biden said.
- Outrage mounts over report Russia offered bounties to Afghanistan militants for killing US soldiers
- Russia offered bounty to kill UK soldiers
Coronavirus live news: US cases pass 2.5m as Australia considers new lockdown in Melbourne
Cases approach 10m; new Covid-19 clusters across world spark fear of second wave; UK NHS will take four years to recover. Follow the latest updates
- Australia considers new lockdown in Melbourne
- Victoria nurse tests positive as state reports jump of 41 cases
- US cases pass 2.5m
- US one-day case high as states delay reopening
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The UK needs to maintain “constant vigilance” as it eases out of lockdown, a former government chief scientific adviser has warned.
When outbreaks occur they typically occur in clusters and we’re seeing certain work environments, for example, food processing factories, as being fairly common places for those clusters to rise.
The common denominator is really being indoors, being crowded, being there for prolonged periods of time, noisy environments where people are coughing and shouting, and so there’s more droplet transmission.
The total number of people to die from Covid-19 in Russia has increased by 104 to 9,073, according to the country’s coronavirus response centre.
Russia on Sunday also reported 6,791 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 634,437.
Continue reading...‘A travesty’: North Carolina grapples with reopening as Covid-19 cases surge
North Carolina remains in the second phase of its reopening plan after hitting a new high in hospitalizations, but industry groups want restrictions eased
Major – the photogenic life-sized bronze bull statue that presides over a square near the center of downtown Durham, North Carolina – hasn’t had much company in recent weeks.
With the number of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the state all trending upwards, many businesses up and down Main Street remain closed, while others operate in a limited capacity. Some storefronts have been boarded up following recent Black Lives Matter protests, with the plywood covered in graffiti art. “People were crying before the teargas,” one read.
Continue reading...If Donald Trump’s down, how dirty will he fight to win?
Protest and pandemic are hurting the US president in the polls. His inability to gauge the national mood could be his undoing
Looked at objectively, it’s an odd choice. On 3 November, the American public, whose median age is around 38 and whose makeup is increasingly ethnically and racially diverse, will be asked to pick one of two elderly white men, each well into his 70s, to run the country for the next four years.
If one of the candidates was much younger – think Bill Clinton versus George HW Bush in 1992 – it might be a big deal. But since both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are relatively old, any negative impact will likely cancel itself out. If Biden wins, he will, at 78, be the oldest president ever to take office, breaking the previous record set by Trump who was a mere 70 in 2017.
‘Like leaning into a left hook’: coronavirus calamity unfolds across divided US
In a week that saw the worst day on record for new cases, Trump shrugs as experts warn Americans not to follow his lead
A disaster is unfolding in Montgomery, Alabama, where Martin Luther King preached and where Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus. Hospitals are running short of drugs to treat Covid-19, intensive care units are close to capacity, and ventilators are running short.
Related: Rashida Tlaib pushes to free US inmates from coronavirus 'death sentence’
Continue reading...Global report: worldwide Covid-19 cases near 10m as US again hits record daily rise
Global milestone expected on Sunday; lockdowns reintroduced in some countries; NZ quarantine system ‘under stress’
Global coronavirus cases are expected to tip over 10 million on Sunday, marking a major milestone in the spread of the disease that has so far killed almost 500,000 people in seven months.
The figure is roughly double the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually, according to the World Health Organisation.
Continue reading...Coronavirus US: Florida again breaks one-day record for new cases – live
- State sets new record for second straight day
- New York sees steady decline in cases while other states see rises
- US deaths from Covid-19 have surpassed 125,000
- Reopening plans reverse quickly amid alarming increase in cases
- Survivors could lose insurance if Trump wins bid to repeal Obamacare
- Texas becomes a model for inadequate pandemic response
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The Mississippi state government has started a process that will see the Confederate battle emblem removed from the state’s flag.
Breaking: House passed it with the two-thirds majority it required. It got immediate release, meaning Senate could take it up as soon as they want.
The latest: https://t.co/Jgcddn3i34 #msleg https://t.co/rKwKGkMmWt
The legislature has been deadlocked for days as it considers a new state flag. The argument over the 1894 flag has become as divisive as the flag itself and it’s time to end it.
If they send me a bill this weekend, I will sign it. pic.twitter.com/bf3vyzuObt
The Winston-Salem Journal reports on a disturbing development in the Bubba Wallace story. Wallace, Nascar’s only black driver, led a successful campaign to rid the stock-car racing series of the Confederate flag. Last week, a noose was found in his team’s garage although a subsequent investigation found the rope had been there since last fall, and Wallace was not the subject of a hate crime. Here’s what the Associated Press has to say on the latest development:
A North Carolina racetrack has lost some partnerships after its owner advertised “Bubba Rope” for sale online days after Nascar said a noose had been found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace, the top series’ only Black driver.
Continue reading...Russia offered bounty to kill UK soldiers
Moscow accused of trying to give money to the Taliban as part of its campaign to destabilise America and its allies
The Russian intelligence unit behind the attempted murder in Salisbury of the former double agent Sergei Skripal secretly offered to pay Taliban-linked fighters to kill British and American soldiers in Afghanistan, according to US reports.
The revelation piles pressure on the UK to take robust action against the Kremlin amid continuing anger over the government’s delay in publishing a key report on Russian attempts to destabilise the UK.
Continue reading...Trump visits private golf course as US battles rapid surge in coronavirus cases
US president heads to Virginia a day after saying he’d stay in Washington DC to ‘make sure law and order is enforced’ amid ongoing anti-racism protests
Donald Trump visited one his own private golf courses in Virginia on Saturday as America continued to see fallout from a rapid surge in coronavirus cases and a day after the US president said he would stay in Washington DC to “make sure law and order is enforced” amid ongoing anti-racism protests.
Related: US reopening plans reverse quickly amid alarming increase in coronavirus cases
Continue reading...Outrage mounts over report Russia offered bounties to Afghanistan militants for killing US soldiers
Fierce response from top Democrats after US intelligence finding was reportedly briefed to Trump in March, but the White House has yet to act
Outrage has greeted media reports that say American intelligence officials believe a Russian military intelligence unit offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, including targeting Americans.
The story first appeared in the New York Times, citing its sources as unnamed officials briefed on the matter, and followed up by the Washington Post. The reports said that the US had come to the conclusion about the operation several months ago and offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
Continue reading...‘We opened too quickly’: Texas becomes a model for inadequate Covid-19 response
State shuts down again after seven weeks with coronavirus cases soaring, after ignoring inconvenient data and fighting party-political turf wars
When Donald Trump welcomed Texas governor Greg Abbott to the White House in May, the US president hailed his fellow Republican as “one of the great governors” and lauded the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and predicted boom times ahead.
“When you look at the job he’s done in Texas, I rely on his judgment,” Trump said.
Continue reading...Milton Glaser, groundbreaking I ❤️ NY designer, dies aged 91
Glaser’s bold logo, created for free in 1977, helped boost New York’s image and he was also part of the team that founded New York magazine
Milton Glaser, the groundbreaking graphic designer who adorned Bob Dylan’s silhouette with psychedelic hair and summed up the feelings for his native New York with “I (HEART) NY,” died Friday, on his 91st birthday.
The cause was a stroke and Glaser had also had renal failure, his wife, Shirley Glaser, told The New York Times.
Continue reading...Covid-19 survivors could lose health insurance if Trump wins bid to repeal Obamacare
- ACA prevents denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions
- Abolition could mean Covid-19 victims could be turned down
Millions of Americans who have survived Covid-19 or face future infections could lose their insurance or be barred from getting coverage should the Trump administration successfully repeal Obamacare.
The Trump administration asked the supreme court late Thursday to overturn the Affordable Care Act – a move that, if successful, would bring a permanent end to the health insurance reform law popularly known as Obamacare.
Continue reading...Violence by far-right is among US’s most dangerous terrorist threats, study finds
Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis of domestic terrorist incidents found majority have come from far right
Violence by far-right groups and individuals has emerged as one of the most dangerous terrorist threats faced by US law enforcement and triggered a wave of warnings and arrests of people associated with those extremist movements.
The most recent in-depth analysis of far-right terrorism comes from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
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