As businesses in Seattle closed their doors, many storefronts nailed plywood over their windows – but it created the feeling of a ghost town. So artists came together to create something beautiful and uplifting, turning these wooden coverings into murals. Sydney Pertl, who created one of the murals in Pioneer Square, says the response has been amazing
Continue reading...Category Archives: US News
Pentagon formally releases ‘UFO videos taken by US Navy pilots’
The Pentagon on Monday formally released three unclassified videos taken by Navy pilots that have circulated for years showing interactions with 'unidentified aerial phenomena'.
One of the videos shows an incident from 2004, and the other two were recorded in January 2015. The videos became public after unauthorised leaks in 2007 and 2017, and the Navy previously verified their authenticity
Coronavirus live news: France to increase testing to 700,000 a week, says PM, as he outlines lockdown exit
Infections in Saudi Arabia pass 20,000; Germany’s infection rate back at 1.0; Turkey delivers medical kit to the US
- Coronavirus latest: at a glance
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- Germans urged to stay home amid fears infection rate is rising again
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The United States accounts for about a third of all confirmed cases.
The global total stands at 3,083,467, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The US has confirmed 1,002,498.
Related: Coronavirus map of the US: latest cases state by state
The US has reached the milestone of one million confirmed cases, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The US death toll is now over 57,000 people.
Related: Three months and 50,000 deaths: the defining Covid-19 moments in the US – timeline
Continue reading...Pentagon releases three UFO videos taken by US Navy pilots
The previously leaked videos were declassified to ‘clear up any misconceptions’ on whether they were real
The Pentagon on Monday released three declassified videos that show US Navy pilots encountering what appear to be unidentified flying objects.
The grainy videos, which the Pentagon says depict “unexplained aerial phenomena”, were previously leaked, with some believing they show alien unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
Continue reading...Trump returns to White House briefing, subdued but no less shameful
President retreated over the weekend after his bizarre musing that disinfectant could be injected into coronavirus patients
His autocratic tendencies are well-known. His sudden absence from public view prompted fierce speculation and rumour. One headline suggested that he was “brain-dead”.
The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s whereabouts remain unknown. But after a lost weekend, Donald Trump bounced back into the spotlight on Monday determined to prove that he is not only healthy but working very, very hard.
Continue reading...‘What not to do’: governor Newsom condemns California beach crowds – video
Photos of packed beaches in southern California over the weekend were condemned by the state governor Gavin Newsom, amid fears large crowds could reverse progress on containing Covid-19 in the US.
Many popular beaches have remained fully closed to the public, though a handful have taken steps to permit visitors in a limited capacity while adopting a range of restrictions, enforcement plans and recommendations
Continue reading...Netflix announces surprise Michelle Obama documentary
Becoming, which drops in May, follows the former first lady on her 34-city book tour, will offer a ‘rare and up-close’ look at her life
Netflix has announced a new original documentary focused on former first lady Michelle Obama to be released on 6 May.
Becoming will follow Obama on her 34-city tour to promote her book of the same name and will offer an “intimate”, “rare and up-close” look at her life. It’s directed by Nadia Hallgren, who recently made the documentary short After Maria, which looked at the effect of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rican families.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: confirmed Russian cases pass China’s total; Afghanistan records biggest one-day rise in cases
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’
- Halt destruction of nature or suffer worse pandemics - scientist
- New Zealand says virus ‘eliminated’
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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.
Continue reading...First Thing: get ready for a long summer on lockdown
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.
Continue reading...Birx sidesteps Trump disinfectant remarks and warns distancing will last months
- Health expert says measures will be in place through summer
- US needs ‘breakthrough in testing’ to speed up reopening
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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?
Continue reading...Harry Dunn parents write to UK army chief after ‘near misses’ near base
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.
Continue reading...The state we’re in: will the pandemic revolutionise the role of government?
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.
Continue reading...Donald Trump set to fall back on xenophobia with re-election plan in tatters
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
Continue reading...Spain’s daily death toll drops below 300 as children allowed out for first time in weeks – as it happened
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.
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- Trump says briefings ‘not worth the effort’ after disinfectant debacle
We’ve launched a new blog at the link below – head there for the latest:
Here a few key developments of the past few hours at a glance:
Continue reading...Trump says briefings ‘not worth the effort’ amid fallout from disinfectant comments
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.
Continue reading...Michigan senator apologizes for wearing Confederate flag face mask
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.
Continue reading...Will justice finally be done for Emmett Till? Family hope a 65-year wait may soon be over
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.
Continue reading...Trump attack on Biden highlights president’s own past dealings with China
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.
Continue reading...Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus ‘cure’ wrote to Trump this week
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”.
Continue reading...Trump floats dangerous coronavirus treatment ideas at daily briefing – video
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
- Medical experts denounce Trump’s latest ‘dangerous’ Covid-19 treatment suggestion
- Coronavirus US live: Trump says federal distancing guidelines could extend into summer