Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
‘This isn’t good,’ state department official says as Russian mercenaries backing Khalifa Haftar turn conflict into bloodier one
The United States is “very concerned” about the intensification of the conflict in Libya, with a rising number of reported Russian mercenaries supporting warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces on the ground turning the conflict into a bloodier one, a senior state department official said on Saturday.
Donald Trump launched the US space force, the first new US military service in more than 70 years. ‘Space is the world’s new war-fighting domain,’ Trump said during a signing ceremony of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that includes the force.
The move is part of a $1.4tn (£1.1tn) government spending package reversing automatic spending cuts to defence and domestic programmes
US president approves funding for America’s first new military service in 70 years
Donald Trump has launched space force, the first new US military service in more than 70 years.
In signing the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that includes the force, Trump claimed a victory for one of his top national security priorities two days after being impeached by the House of Representatives.
The disgraced movie mogul was close to settling civil claims for sexual assault – but now three women have broken ranks
Harvey Weinstein’s civil liabilities just got more complicated.
As he and his bankrupt film studio thought they were closing in on a bargain $47m class-action settlement with more than 30 actors and former employees over claims of sexual misconduct, three women have established separate legal actions against the disgraced movie producer.
2010 to 2020 was a contradictory decade that will confound future historians with a simple question: how did America go from Obama to Trump?
Lin-Manuel Miranda was touring his award-winning musical, In the Heights, to his parents’ homeland of Puerto Rico. Donald Trump was awarding first prize on his reality TV show, The Apprentice, to a corporate lawyer turned mobile cupcake entrepreneur.
The year was 2010 and, in the decade that followed, these two hustlers from New York with fiercely devoted followings would come to represent the two faces of America.
Trump heads to Florida for the holidays as Senate adjourned until January without agreeing to impeachment trial procedures
Nancy Pelosi promised as speaker she would “show the power of the gavel”. This year, she laid it out for all to see.
The past week alone, the Democratic leader delivered a $1.4tn government funding package to stop a shutdown, pushed through the bipartisan US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, and passed her party’s plan to lower prescription drug costs. In between, she led a congressional delegation to Europe for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.
Exclusive: the Vermont senator speaks to the Guardian about his rivals’ support from billionaires, and his plan to beat Trump
Bernie Sanders on Friday doubled down on criticism of fellow Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden over the support they’ve received from billionaire donors, arguing his 2020 rivals’ fundraising was “exactly the problem with American politics”.
Social network suspends thousands in the latest crackdown on state-sponsored propaganda
Twitter said on Friday it had suspended thousands of accounts linked to a manipulation effort stemming from Saudi Arabia, in the latest crackdown on state-sponsored propaganda efforts.
The social network said some 88,000 accounts being blocked were linked to Saudi state-backed “information operations” in violation of Twitter’s platform manipulation rules.
Officials say spacecraft is in stable orbit but problem may delay mission to carry Nasa astronauts
Boeing’s new Starliner capsule ran into trouble and went off course in orbit minutes after blasting off on Friday on its first test flight, a crucial dress rehearsal for next year’s inaugural launch with astronauts.
Initially everything went flawlessly as the Atlas V rocket launched with the Starliner shortly before sunrise. But half an hour into the flight, Boeing reported that the capsule had not got into the position needed to get to the International Space Station.
‘No matter what the Senate does – he’s impeached for ever’
Trump to sign spending deal today including $738bn defense bill
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That’s all from me. Thanks for sticking around for the tail end of this momentous week.
Here’s a summary of the day’s major stories:
Bernie Sanders spoke with my colleague Sam Levin this morning, and reiterated his critique of Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden and billionaires:
They will tell you, ‘It doesn’t impact me. It really doesn’t mean anything to me.’ That is clearly nonsensical. Why would billionaires and wealthy people be making large contributions if it didn’t mean something to them?
The United Kingdom, last I heard, is not the United States. Brexit is not a major part of what this campaign is about. The issues that I am campaigning on, in fact, are precisely the issues the American people support. Talk about raising the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour. Four years ago when I introduced that concept, it was a radical idea. Not radical anymore.
Potential 14-year term for killing 19-year-old is ‘not proportionate’, says US woman’s lawyer
The wife of a US intelligence officer charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of the 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn, will not return to the UK voluntarily, her lawyer has announced.
A statement from the lawyer for Anne Sacoolas came after the Crown Prosecution Service announced it was bringing charges over Dunn’s death in August. Amy Jeffress said the potential 14-year sentence was “not proportionate” for what was “a terrible but unintentional accident”.
Matt Bevin under avalanche of criticism after pardoning 428 people in final days of term including two convicted child rapists
When the former Republican governor of Kentucky Matt Bevin was asked in a recent radio interview how he could justify having pardoned on his last day in office a child rapist, he replied: “Which one?”
The interview went downhill from there. Bevin said he had allowed Micah Schoettle, 41, who was serving a 23-year sentence for rape, incest, sodomy and other sexual offenses to walk free last week after less than 18 months in prison because his nine-year-old victim had been found to have her hymen intact.
Court says state is entitled to any profits from Permanent Record because its publication breached non-disclosure agreements
Edward Snowden is not entitled to the profits from his memoir Permanent Record, and any money made must go to the US government, a judge has ruled.
Permanent Record, in which Snowden recounts how he came to the decision to leak the top secret documents revealing government plans for mass surveillance, was published in September. Shortly afterwards, the US government filed a civil lawsuit contending that publication was “in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA)”, and that the release of the book without pre-publication review by the agencies was “in violation of his express obligations”. Snowden’s lawyers had argued that if the author had believed that the government would review his book in good faith, he would have submitted it for review.
Buttigieg was targeted by opponents and Elizabeth Warren had the best line of the night. But there were no clear winners
This was a lively one. The latest Democratic debate won’t change the course of the presidential primary – debates generally don’t. But there were a few spirited clashes between candidates that served to highlight crucial differences.
Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg repeatedly locked horns, even though the differences between them politically are not substantial. It is clear that Klobuchar has an intense dislike for Buttigieg: she professed herself insulted by his previous comments about the limited value of “Washington experience”, pointing out that Buttigieg had never managed to win a statewide election. Buttigieg, for his part, gave a righteously indignant defense of the significance of small-town America that could have been scripted by Aaron Sorkin. (You might not think we matter out in South Bend, Senator, but the firefighters and teachers I proudly serve – this is not an exact quote, but you get the picture.)
The Guardian’s Lois Beckett is in Los Angeles and has been speaking with voters ahead of tonight’s debate. Here’s what they had to say about the respective candidates ….
.@stephenroelewis, 50, and his son Daniel Roe Lewis, 20, are here from the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. Daniel supports Sanders, for his strong environmental platform; and Yang, for his universal basic income plan. pic.twitter.com/ZH0kJileif
Two LA friends outside the debate, talking about Warren’s electability.
Warren is from the Midwest, Beatina says. “She has that Midwest nice thing.”
“Does she?” Christine asks, very skeptical. To her, Warren reads as very Northeast. pic.twitter.com/Tojd6w8Tci
Alayshia Barker-Vaughn, 18, is leaning towards Elizabeth Warren. She likes her outreach to voters of color, her focus on healthcare, the fact she’s a woman, and her “charisma.”
Donald Trump has said he 'doesn't feel like' he's being impeached because the impeachment inquiry into him was 'a hoax'. Responding to the question of how it feels to be the third president impeached by the House, Trump criticised the Democratic party saying 'they happen to have a small majority and they took that and forced people', adding: 'they put the arm on everybody'.
Yesterday’s historic vote was covered on conservative sites in the same way as any other news event of the last three years
If you thought that the impeachment of the leader of the Republican party would be a tough sell for conservative media, you haven’t been paying attention. Yesterday’s historic vote has been used in much the same way as almost any other news event during the last three years: as an opportunity to attack perceived enemies, and to explain why this is actually good for Trump.
The main line of attack was accusations of insufficient seriousness on the part of Democrats and members of the hated mainstream media (“MSM”). After the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, repeatedly said that impeachment was a “solemn occasion”, outlets went looking for any sign that someone might be enjoying themselves.
President Donald Trump went after a Michigan congresswoman and her late husband, the nation's longest serving member of the US Congress, in a rant during his rally in Battle Creek on Wednesday. Shortly after the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the president took aim at some of the Democrats who voted against him, including Michigan Rep Debbie Dingell.
Not clear when articles of impeachment will reach Senate
Pelosi threatens delay until she receives assurances of fair trial
As Washington awoke on Thursday to the realisation that it had impeached the third US president in American history, the capital remained racked with uncertainty about what will come next in an impeachment process defined by almost total partisanship and rancor.
The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, condemned Mitch McConnell as a 'rogue leader in the Senate' on Thursday after he dared Democrats to send articles of impeachment to the Senate, claiming they were getting 'cold feet'. Pelosi responded by saying: '[McConnell's speech] reminded me that our founders, when they wrote the constitution, they suspected there could be a rogue president. I don't think they suspected we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time'