Category Archives: US News

Ruth Bader Ginsburg in hospital for treatment on gallbladder

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The key liberal US supreme court justice is resting comfortably and will be able to continue to work

US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has had a series of health scares, has undergone non-surgical treatment for a gallbladder condition and was resting comfortably, a court spokeswoman said.

Ginsburg, 87, had a gallstone that had caused an infection and was treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, a spokeswoman said. Ginsburg was expected to participate in the court’s oral arguments on Wednesday remotely from the hospital.

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Georgia to consider charges in killing of unarmed black jogger as video emerges

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Prosecutors were reluctant to charge former police officer and son in shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery

A prosecutor in Georgia said on Tuesday he would ask a grand jury to decide if charges should be filed against a white former law enforcement officer and his son in the fatal shooting of an unarmed young black man as he ran through a small town.

The shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery outside Brunswick, Georgia, in February was captured on videotape and posted on social media on Tuesday, stirring outrage over the reluctance of prosecutors to file charges against Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis.

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New York reports 15 cases of rare illness in children possibly linked to Covid-19

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More than 100 cases of unusual illness have emerged in at least six countries as 15 New York patients aged two to 15 hospitalized

New York City’s health department has reported 15 cases of a rare but potentially lethal inflammatory syndrome in children that may be linked to coronavirus infections.

More than 100 cases of the unusual illness have now emerged in at least six countries, with doctors in Britain, the US, France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland investigating the condition.

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Coronavirus US live: Pence says White House looking to wind down taskforce as death toll passes 70,000

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Republican senator Lamar Alexander said that Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House speaker Nancy Pelosi should accept Trump’s offer to make rapid coronavirus testing available to lawmakers.

“From a public health point of view, this is not mostly about protecting members of Congress. It is about protecting the people members might infect. Bringing 100 or 535 members from across the country to Washington, D.C.—a coronavirus hotspot—and then sending them home each weekend creates a highly efficient virus spreading machine,” Alexander said in a new statement.

My statement on COVID-19 testing for members of Congress.https://t.co/x3tjhVJsWo pic.twitter.com/ywRMZYye1c

Trump’s press secretary has responded to the vice president’s comments that the White House is looking to wind down the coronavirus task force in the coming weeks.

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the White House would still be “involving medical experts” in decisions related to the coronavirus response.

Reporting on the task force is being misconstrued to suggest the White House is no longer involving medical experts. This is totally false.

President @realDonaldTrump will continue his data-driven approach towards safely re-opening.

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Bioluminescent waves dazzle surfers in California: ‘Never seen anything like it’

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Crowds are coming to see the light show as beaches begin to reopen after an almost month-long closure due to coronavirus

Mother nature has provided a radical gift to nighttime beach-goers in southern California, in the form of bioluminescent waves that crash and froth with an otherworldly light.

Related: California eases Covid-19 restrictions, allowing some businesses to reopen

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Trump loyalist set to become national intelligence director on second attempt

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John Ratcliffe was forced to withdraw his nomination for the same post nine months ago for exaggerating his security experience

A Trump loyalist nominated as director of national intelligence (DNI) looked set to sail through Senate confirmation hearings on Tuesday, only nine months after being forced to withdraw for having exaggerated his security experience.

Related: John Ratcliffe: Trump's intelligence chief pick withdraws amid qualification doubts

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‘The House is a set-up’: Trump says Fauci to testify in Senate and urges US to reopen – video

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The US president said the government's top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, would not testify in the House of Representatives but only before the Senate. He argued this was because 'the House is a set-up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters.'

He later said the US 'wants' and 'needs' to reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak

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Trump gives up on virus fight to focus on economic recovery – and re-election

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With Covid-19 deaths set to almost double this month, the president is putting the stock market before lives, critics say

Donald Trump is effectively abandoning a public health strategy for the coronavirus pandemic and showing “clear willingness to trade lives for the Dow Jones”, critics say.

Related: Will Americans ever forgive Trump for his heartless lack of compassion? | Francine Prose

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Donald Trump denies link to Venezuela armed raid by US citizens

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  • Trump: ‘It has nothing to do with our government’
  • Two US ‘mercenaries’ held after Caribbean coast attack foiled

Donald Trump has denied any involvement by the US government in what Venezuelan officials have called a failed armed incursion in the South American country that led to the capture of two American “mercenaries”.

The president made the comment to reporters at the White House after Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, announced that authorities there had detained two US citizens working with a US military veteran who has claimed responsibility for the foiled operation.

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Cruise companies accused of refusing to let stranded crew disembark due to cost

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Death toll of crew stranded by coronavirus continues to rise as industry blames ‘impractical’ safety requirements for blocking disembarkation

Some cruise companies have refused to agree to rules that would allow tens of thousands of stranded crew back to land, citing concerns about cost and potential legal consequences, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The largest trade association for the cruise industry has called the CDC’s requirements for disembarkation “impractical”.

The standoff comes amid a deteriorating situation on many ships around the world and a rising death toll of crew members.

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Baby driver: Utah police stop five-year-old on way to California in parents’ car

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Boy, 5, told officers he was driving to California to buy Lamborghini sports car – with $3 in his pocket

Utah state troopers pulled over a five-year-old boy driving his parents’ car down the highway. The precocious youngster told the officers he was on his way to California to buy himself a Lamborghini – with $3 in his pocket.

Troopers in Ogden, outside Salt Lake City, initially thought the car was being driven by an impaired driver. But when they found the boy driving, he told police he left home after an argument, in which his mother refused to buy him the luxury sports car.

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Amazon is cracking down on protesters and organizing, workers say

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At least six workers who have participated in protests or advocated for safer conditions have been fired during the pandemic

Amazon’s revenues topped $33m an hour in the first three months of the year as the coronavirus pandemic locked down large parts of the world. The sales boost has handed Amazon the biggest dilemma of its 25-year life: how to deal with a growing chorus of critics within the company. So far its reaction has only made matters worse.

Last week an Amazon vice-president, Tim Bray, resigned in protest at what he called the company’s “chickenshit” decision to fire colleagues in the company’s warehouse division who had highlighted safety issues. “Remaining an Amazon VP would have meant, in effect, signing off on actions I despised,” wrote Bray.

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Coronavirus live news: top UK adviser Prof Neil Ferguson resigns over lockdown breach

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Austria says easing lockdown has not led to spike in infections; Macron says major foreign travel will be limited this summer; global deaths pass 250,000

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 19,138 new confirmed cases; taking the total to at least 1,171,510. The number of deaths has risen by 823 to 68,279, it added.

The figures do not necessarily reflect those reported by individual states.

A regional capital in Brazil has become the country’s first city to declare a total lockdown – in direct opposition to the president Jair Bolsonaro, who has railed against social isolation and dismissed a soaring death-toll.

The lockdown in São Luís, capital of the north-estern state of Maranhão, and three neighbouring towns, was ordered by a judge after intensive care beds in state government hospitals filled up. States such as Rio de Janeiro are watching closely. But the move came as looser social isolation measures introduced by state governors crumble across Brazil and cases soar.

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California to reopen some businesses this week as lockdowns ease across US – as it happened

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That’s all for today, thanks for following along. A recap of the day:

Senator Elizabeth Warren said today she believed Joe Biden’s comments on the sexual assault allegation were “credible and convincing”.

“I saw the reports of what Ms [Tara] Reade said, I saw an interview with vice-president Biden. I appreciate that the vice-president took a lot of questions, tough questions. And he answered them directly and respectfully. The vice-president’s answers were credible and convincing,” the senator and former presidential candidate said, according to a CNN reporter.

Related: Senate rejects Joe Biden's request to search for records on Tara Reade

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US daily coronavirus deaths reportedly projected to double to 3,000 by June

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New York Times says it has obtained document that suggests administration expects daily death toll to rise throughout May

As Donald Trump proclaimed success in America’s fight against the coronavirus and continued to push for the US economy to reopen, it was reported on Monday that internal projections show the administration is expecting 3,000 deaths a day by 1 June.

Related: CNN's Don Lemon tells Trump to stop peddling 'crap' and 'conspiracy theories'

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Amazon executive resigns over company’s ‘chickenshit’ firings of employee activists

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Tim Bray’s departure comes as company faces increased scrutiny and employee activism around its Covid-19 response

Tim Bray, a top engineer and vice-president at Amazon, announced on Monday he is resigning “in dismay” over the company’s firing of employee activists who criticized working conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Bray’s resignation comes as Amazon faces increased scrutiny and employee activism surrounding its internal response to coronavirus. Amazon workers on Friday participated in a nationwide sick-out to, claiming the company has failed to provide enough face masks for workers, did not implement regular temperature checks it promised at warehouses, and has refused to give workers paid sick leave protest working conditions and inadequate safety protections.

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US uses coronavirus to challenge Chinese Communist party’s grip on power

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Trump administration portrays crisis as example of danger Beijing’s leadership poses to China and the world

The escalating row between Washington and Beijing over blame for the coronavirus pandemic is fast becoming a battle over the Chinese Communist party’s legitimacy, raising the stakes in an already fraught relationship.

In castigating Beijing for its failure to contain the outbreak, senior Trump administration officials have gone out of their way to portray the crisis as a deadly illustration of the threat that Communist party rule poses the Chinese people – and the world beyond.

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Senate rejects Joe Biden’s request to search for records on Tara Reade

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Senate secretary said legal counsel advised that ‘the secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information’

The US Senate has rejected a request from Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, to search for and release any records of a 1993 complaint against him from an aide who has accused him of sexual assault.

The former vice-president gave his first TV interview on the matter on Friday, flatly denying former aide Tara Reade’s allegation that when he was a senator from Delaware he pushed her against a wall and assaulted her.

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Carnival to resume cruises in August despite infections and deaths on ships

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Eight cruise ships to resume operations from 1 August, sailing from Texas and Florida

Carnival Cruise Line has announced plans to resume operations at the beginning of August despite dozens of deaths on cruise ships during the Covid-19 pandemic and investigations into the industry’s possible role in spreading the disease around the planet.

In a statement on Monday, the operator said eight cruise ships would resume operations from 1 August, sailing from Galveston, Texas, and Miami and Port Canaveral in Florida, once a no-sail order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had expired.

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Becoming review – tantalising tour of Michelle Obama’s life

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This carefully authorised documentary offers glimpses of a dazzling presence on America’s political stage

Michelle Obama is a class act – one of the classiest – and her intelligence and poise now look like something from a lost golden age. The publication of her globally bestselling memoir Becoming in 2018 brought her dazzlingly into the public sphere on her own terms. It gave her an international A-list status to rival her husband’s and provided Democrats and non-Trumpians around the world with a manifesto of decency and dignity to cling on to.

Now we have this watchable, but carefully authorised, behind-the-scenes documentary for Netflix (from the Obamas’ company, Higher Ground Productions) about Obama’s American book tour (with a stopover at London’s O2 Arena). It shows her getting in and out of armoured sports utility vehicles, chatting easily and good-naturedly with her security detail, with colleagues and family members backstage, with beaming celebrity moderators onstage (starting with Oprah Winfrey) and with people getting their copies signed in bookstores who often dissolve in floods of tears just in coming face to face with her. (I was sorry, however, that we didn’t get to see again her amusing cameo in the TV comedy Parks and Recreation, which showed Amy Poehler’s earnest public official Leslie Knope reduced to a gibbering fangirl in her presence.)

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