A British man has died while being held in US immigration detention in Florida, the Guardian has confirmed.
The death was first reported by BuzzFeed News, which said the man was 39 years old and that the cause was initially attributed to asphyxiation due to hanging. The incident was reported to have occurred on Saturday last week.
Continue reading...Blaze that began in early hours Monday destroys at least 35 boats and cuts off escape routes
A huge fire killed at least eight people and destroyed dozens of boats in an Alabama marina early on Monday, with witnesses describing a terrifying, fast-moving blaze and fire officials warning the death toll could rise.
Tommy Jones, a Jackson county park marina resident who survived but lost his brother in the cold water, said the fire was spread rapidly by the wind. He watched helplessly as a small boat containing a woman and her children was engulfed in flames.
Continue reading...Chuck Schumer has called for John Bolton to testify at Donald Trump's impeachment trial after claims in a book by the president's former national security adviser that Trump tied military aid to Ukraine with his demand to investigate political rival Joe Biden. The Senate minority leader said the revelations in Bolton's book were 'stunning' and that any Republican voting against calling him as a witness would 'be part of the cover-up'.
Monday’s top story: nine dead in helicopter crash that killed Bryant and daughter Gianna. Plus, living in the shadow of Auschwitz
Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Continue reading...Netanyahu’s trip a welcome distraction from indictment while election opponent Gantz also visits White House
Donald Trump is set to disclose details of his much-delayed Middle East “peace plan” during meetings with Israeli leaders in Washington on Monday, amid a rising global chorus of doubt about its timing and substance.
The choreography between the US and Israel has been interpreted as a convenient distraction for both Trump, who faces an impeachment trial, and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces three criminal corruption indictments and an uncertain election campaign.
Continue reading...Democratic lawmaker asks agency if it is confident the Saudi government has not sought to hack US officials
The US National Security Agency is facing questions about the security of top Trump administration officials’ communications following last week’s allegations that the Saudi crown prince may have had a hand in the alleged hack of Jeff Bezos.
Ron Wyden, a senior Democratic lawmaker, asked the director of the NSA whether he was confident that the Saudi government had not also sought to hack senior US government officials, including the White House adviser Jared Kushner, who has reportedly had a WhatsApp relationship with the Saudi heir.
Continue reading...Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, has died in a helicopter crash. He was 41.
Bryant was on board the helicopter along with four others when it crashed at 10am local time near Calabasas, 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, in foggy weather. The crash ignited brushfires, making it hard for rescue crews to get close to the site. There were no reported survivors, and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, is also believed to have died in the crash. Bryant had lived in the area for most of his life and often used helicopters to beat Los Angeles’ heavy traffic.
Continue reading...The NBA, and much of America, was in shock on Sunday after Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players in history, died in a helicopter crash. He was 41.
Bryant was on board the helicopter with eight others, including his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, when it crashed at 10am local time near Calabasas, 30 miles north-west of downtown Los Angeles, in foggy weather. The crash ignited brushfires, making it hard for rescue crews to get close to the site. There were no survivors. Bryant, who lived in the area for most of his life often used helicopters to beat Los Angeles’ heavy traffic, and on Sunday he was taking Gianna to play in a basketball game at his academy outside the city.
Continue reading...The impeachment trial of Donald Trump resumes on Monday with the president’s defence team’s main presentations in the US Senate. Here’s what’s coming up:
Monday: Donald Trump has no plans to appear at his own impeachment trial. His defence team will begin their main arguments today, after a short curtain-raiser at the weekend. Ken Starr, who prosecuted the case against Bill Clinton at his impeachment trial (in which Clinton was acquitted), is now a presidential defender and could begin his presentation as early as today.
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Bernie Sanders emerged as the frontrunner in the two earliest Democratic 2020 nomination voting states this weekend, Iowa and New Hampshire, according to the latest polls – but Elizabeth Warren received a powerful boost with an endorsement from the Des Moines Register newspaper in what is still considered an open race.
Warren had been slipping behind in Iowa, which holds the first vote in the nation with its caucuses just a week a way on 3 February, but the Register this weekend named her “the president this nation needs”.
Continue reading...Israeli prime minister to travel to US for unveiling of Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said he hopes to “make history” during his upcoming visit to the White House for the unveiling of Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan.
Addressing his cabinet before departing for the US, Netanyahu described the current environment, characterised by close ties with Trump, as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that Israel should “not miss”.
Continue reading...The US president’s legal team has set out its argument in a three-hour session on the fifth day of the impeachment proceedings against him.
The White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, argued nothing Trump did in withholding aid to Ukraine merited impeachment. The Democrat leader, Chuck Schumer, said the legal team 'did not do a good job'
‘Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow,’ president seems to say of ambassador to Ukraine
Donald Trump demanded the dismissal of Marie Yovanovitch, then US ambassador to Ukraine and now a key figure in the president’s impeachment trial, according to a video recording released to the media.
The footage was reportedly taken during an April 2018 donor dinner at a hotel and released to news media by an attorney for Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Continue reading...Footage obtained from Parnas's lawyer, dating back to April 2018, appears to show Donald Trump ordering attendees at a meal to 'get rid' of the US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. The video surfaced on Saturday 25 January.
Parnas, who was involved in the impeachment proceedings, worked with Trump's former attorney Rudy Giuliani to oust Yovanovitch and claimed the president 'knew exactly what was going on', in a televised interview.
Although they have been pictured together, Trump has said of Parnas: 'I don’t know him, I don’t believe I’ve ever spoken to him. I don’t need the help of a man I haven’t met before, other than perhaps taken a picture.' The removal of Yovanovitch has played a key role in the current impeachment proceedings against the president
Continue reading...A guide to ‘the bottom-feeders, crooked lawyers and gossip mongers who created the 45th president’ demands to be read
In February 2019, Jeff Bezos accused David Pecker and the National Enquirer of extortion and blackmail after the tabloid published intimate pictures taken by the Amazon chief. Pecker and co denied being motivated by a desire to aid Donald Trump or receiving a major assist from Saudi Arabia. It was just about gossip.
Related: 'Click I agree': the UN rapporteur says prince tried to intimidate Bezos with message
Continue reading...President’s defense repeatedly came around to a basic argument: nothing Trump did in withholding aid to Ukraine was unusual
Donald Trump’s legal defense team began their argument Saturday during a three-hour session of the impeachment proceedings against the president.
Here are the five key takeaways:
Continue reading...White House counsel says prosecution aims to pull off ‘the most massive interference in an election in American history’
Welcome to Day One of the Trump Show.
It was, admittedly, an inauspicious start to what was teased as a “trailer” for the rollicking show to come next week in the historic impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s lawyers began making their case Saturday, with a longer, more meaningful session expected for Monday
Donald Trump’s legal team on Saturday argued that Donald Trump broke no laws and Democrats’ move to impeach him was simply an attempt to delegitimize Trump’s presidency.
Related: The key takeaways from day three of the impeachment trial
Continue reading...Several US veterans’ organizations call for president to apologize for remarks about injuries suffered by service members in Iraq
Veterans of Foreign Wars, a prominent organization advocating for US military veterans, has called for Donald Trump to apologize for remarks downplaying brain injuries recently suffered by nearly three dozen American service members in Iraq.
Related: Trump downplays brain injuries suffered by US troops in Iran missile strike
Continue reading...Ahead of critical trade talks, Steven Mnuchin says ‘discriminatory’ levy no place in budget
One of the most senior figures in the US government has warned Sajid Javid to delay a “discriminatory” tax on big tech companies, in the latest sign of tensions with Donald Trump’s administration ahead of critical trade talks.
Steven Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary, used a breakfast meeting with the chancellor on Saturday to warn him directly against applying the new tax as part of his forthcoming budget. The confrontation comes as the US mounts a last-ditch attempt to stop Britain using technology from China’s Huawei in its 5G network.
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