Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Beijing describes US efforts to raise controversial security law with UN as ‘pointless’
Beijing has responded with defiance to international criticism of its Hong Kong national security law, threatening countermeasures against the UK and the US and describing Washington’s efforts to raise the issue at the UN security council as “pointless”.
Move comes amid president’s feud with Twitter after it fact-checked him for the first time
Donald Trump has fired a shot across the bows of “big tech” companies by signing an executive order that aims to narrow their protections from liability over the content posted on their services.
The move came as the US president stepped up his attacks against social media giants after Twitter fact-checked him for the first time over a false assertion that mail-in voting leads to widespread voter fraud.
Minneapolis city council vice-president Andrea Jenkins sang a portion of the song Amazing Grace and offered her sympathies to the family of George Floyd at a news conference on Thursday morning. Jenkins also called on her council colleagues to call a state of emergency in Minneapolis, declaring racism a public health issue. George Floyd died on Monday after a Minneapolis police officer arrested him and placed his knee on his neck for several minutes. Video of the encounter has been shown worldwide.
The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, said he would sign an executive order allowing businesses to deny entry to customers who are not wearing masks. The Democrat has repeatedly said mask usage can limit the spread of coronavirus, noting that rates of infection among frontline healthcare workers are lower than that of the general population in the region. 'You don’t want to wear a mask, fine,' Cuomo said. 'But you don’t have a right to then go into that store if that store owner doesn’t want you to.'
France announced further easing of lockdown restrictions on Thursday, with life slowly returning to normal for much of the country, writes Kim Willsher, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent. However, certain restrictions will remain in the Paris area and the overseas territories Mayotte and Guyane for at least the next three weeks.
In a 90 minute press conference, the prime minister, Édouard Philippe, said the Covid-19 figures in the country were better than expected, but urged the French to continue respecting the rules and remain careful and vigilant.
French PM Édouard Philippe has arrived for the press conference on Phase 2 of the easing of the lockdown. (I will be trying to translate and type as he speaks, so please forgive lapses in translation and grammar!).
The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo,has said he would sign an executive order allowing businesses to deny entry to customers who are not wearing masks, the Guardian US coronavirus blog reports.
“That store owner has a right to protect himself,” Cuomo said of the order. “That store owner has a right to protect the other patrons in that store.”
Today I am signing an Executive Order authorizing businesses to deny entry to those who do not wear masks or face-coverings. No mask - No entry.
Completely surreal. Watching the Third Precinct burn surround by thousands of people in complete anarchy. pic.twitter.com/qNVNAJIlA7
Reports that Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey will hold a press conference shortly.
Mayor Frey will hold a news briefing, set to start in a few minutes, about tonight's protests/burning of the 3rd Precinct. @ChaoStrib will have the livestream.
Move could erode legal protections for social media platforms
Twitter placed warning on Trump tweets that spread falsehoods
Donald Trump is preparing to sign an executive order that could erode legal protections for social media companies for content posted on their platforms, potentially opening them to liability claims over controversial content.
FBI prosecutors and investigators assigned to ‘robust’ inquiry
Protests followed George Floyd’s killing by police on Monday
The US Department of Justice said it had made its investigation into police involvement in the death of George Floyd a “top priority” after thousands took to the streets for a second day of protests in Minneapolis.
As the toll of Americans killed by the coronavirus passed 100,000, the president was lashing out at Twitter for factchecking his posts
Four hours after Johns Hopkins University recorded that 100,000 American lives were lost to the coronavirus, Joe Biden released a solemn speech.
“My fellow Americans, there are moments in our history so grim, so heart-rending, that they are forever fixed in each of our hearts as shared grief. Today is one of those moments,” said Biden, speaking directly to the camera from an office adorned with American flags.
President announced plan to strip social media companies of liability protections after Twitter factchecked his tweets
Two years after admitting under political pressure that Facebook must do more to prevent disinformation campaigns on its platform, founder Mark Zuckerberg told Fox News on Thursday that the company should step away from regulating online speech.
The Star Wars actor expanded on his defiance of racist social media users in an Instagram Live video
John Boyega has been praised for a series of uncompromising social media posts speaking out about racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers.
Boyega’s initial Tweet, “I really fucking hate racists”, currently has 1.3m likes, but came in for criticism for his hard-hitting tone and use of an expletive.
Protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis grew as demonstrators rallied in Los Angeles, marching through the city and blocking both sides of a freeway.
Floyd, who was black, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, which was captured on video
In one of the rare expressions of empathy that Donald Trump has displayed during the course of the coronavirus pandemic, he talked earlier this month about the disease claiming so many lives it was “filling up Yankee Stadium with death”.
Now the death toll from Covid-19 stands at almost twice the capacity of the Yankees’ home stadium, and has reached another booming landmark: 100,000 deaths.
The United States has recorded more than 100,000 deaths from Covid-19, moving past a grim milestone even as many states relax mitigation measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The US has recorded more deaths from the disease than any other country in the pandemic, and almost three times as many as the second-ranking country, Britain, which has recorded more than 37,000 Covid-19 deaths.
Decision says Meng Wanzhou’s alleged actions in the US would be considered a crime in Canada, a key condition for extradition
A Canadian judge has dealt a major blow to a senior Huawei executive’s attempts to evade extradition to the United States, ruling that the high-profile case against Meng Wanzhou can proceed.
The British Columbia supreme court justice Heather Holmes ruled on Wednesday that the alleged actions of Meng would be considered a crime in Canada – a key condition for extradition to proceed.
US will end special trade relations with Hong Kong, which could seriously impact the territory’s economy
The US has announced it will no longer treat Hong Kong as autonomous for trade and economic purposes, as China prepares to impose a new security law that would drastically limit civil liberties in the territory.
The US decision could have a serious impact on the Hong Kong economy, which has been used by Beijing as a portal for dealings with the outside world – particularly if its financial sector is hit by sanctions as a result of the move.
The first crewed flight from US soil since 2011 was called off 16 minutes before lift off; the next opportunity is on Saturday
The United States’ long-anticipated return to human spaceflight will have to wait a few more days after poor weather forced mission managers to scrub Wednesday’s planned launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida.
The first crewed flight from US soil since 2011 was called off 16min 53sec before the scheduled 4.33pm lift-off time, with SpaceX and Nasa officials blaming “strength of electric fields in the atmosphere”, translating to lightning near the launchpad.
Kramer founded pioneering Gay Men’s Health Crisis group
Playwright and author died Wednesday morning in Manhattan
The groundbreaking American writer and tireless activist for gay rights and a national effort to tackle the HIV/Aids crisis, Larry Kramer, has died in New York.
Police have clashed with protesters on the streets of Minneapolis amid outrage over the death of an unarmed black man in police custody. George Floyd died after an officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. Large crowds gathered in the city on Tuesday night and police in riot gear fired teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators