Trump impeachment: Giuliani plays down Parnas link and repeats ‘insurance’ claim

Two Soviet-born Americans who form a key link between Donald Trump and Ukraine “weren’t James Bond”, the president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said on Saturday, insisting the men “didn’t have personal communications with the president” during a time period under intense scrutiny in the impeachment inquiry.

Related: John Bolton announces his next move will be Pac amid calls to testify

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Elon Musk: 150,000 orders for Tesla cybertruck despite disastrous launch

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said on Saturday there had been about 150,000 orders for the electric carmaker’s cybertruck, which was unveiled in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Related: Cybertruck: Tesla unveils new pickup truck but windows break during demo

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Harvard and Yale students disrupt football game for fossil fuel protest

Students began campaigning in 2012 for both universities to stop investing in oil and gas companies that contribute to climate crisis

Students and alumni from Harvard and Yale disrupted the annual football game between the two elite universities on Saturday, occupying the field in New Haven, Connecticut, at half-time and demanding the colleges divest from investment in fossil fuels.

More than 200 protesters stalled the high-profile game for around an hour, many chanting: “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!” The protest was briefly booed by some in a crowd of 44,989 and discussed widely on social media.

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Mike Pence makes unannounced visit to Iraq

  • Visit meant to reassure US allies in fight against Isis
  • Pence is highest-level American to travel there since withdrawal

Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Saturday, the highest-level American to visit since Donald Trump ordered a pullback of US forces in neighbouring Syria two months ago.

Related: Trump says FBI tried to 'overthrow the presidency'

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Michael Bloomberg vows to refuse donations as presidential bid looms

  • Adviser: billionaire eyeing White House ‘cannot be bought’
  • Ex-New York mayor cannot debate if he does not take cash

Michael Bloomberg will not accept political donations if he runs for president and will not take a salary if he wins, according to senior aides discussing the New York billionaire’s plans as he marches toward a formal 2020 announcement.

Related: 'No one out there': could Democrats' lack of star power see Trump re-elected by default?

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Selfies, influencers and a Twitter president: the decade of the social media celebrity

From Gyneth Paltrow to Trump, today’s stars speak directly to their fans. But are they really controlling their message?

I have a friend, Adam, who is an autograph seller – a niche profession, and one that is getting more niche by the day. When we met for breakfast last month he was looking despondent.

“Everyone takes selfies these days,” he said sadly, picking at his scrambled eggs. “It’s never autographs any more. They just want photos of themselves with celebrities.”

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How immigrants’ stories took center stage in the impeachment hearings

Vindman, Yovanovitch and Hill showed an unshaken faith in America. But Republicans could not resist cynical innuendo on ‘dual loyalties’

Partisan rancour, smoke and mirrors and damning evidence about the misconduct of the US president – all these were expected from this week’s impeachment inquiry hearings and were provided in spades.

But a narrative that caught many by surprise was the role played by immigrants, the power of their origin stories and their unshaken faith in the ideal of America, even in the “build the wall” era of Donald Trump. At seven hearings over five days, spread over the course of two weeks, this was not only a congressional investigation; it was a nation holding a mirror up to itself.

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Eric B gets probation over police chase 19 years ago

‘I’m glad it’s over,’ says DJ famous for partnership with Rakim, who was arrested after returning to US from Canada

Eric B has been sentenced to a year’s probation stemming from a motor vehicle stop and police chase that occurred nearly 19 years ago but was not resolved because he failed to appear for his sentencing.

Eric B, whose real name is Eric Barrier, spent two weeks in the Bergen county jail in Hackensack, New Jersey, before his release last week, after the 17-year-old bench warrant surfaced when he was returning to the US from Canada.

Barrier, accompanied by several friends who spoke on his behalf during the sentencing on Friday, said afterwards that state superior court judge James Guida was firm but fair. The 54-year-old New York City native apologised during a brief statement to the court.

“I’m glad it’s over,” he said outside the courthouse.

Eric B and Rakim are known as one of the greatest hip-hop duos of all time. Barrier most recently has been on the CBS show Blue Bloods. Barrier said he was currently on tour and heading to a show in Delaware.

Related: 'We see trauma and act like it's normal': Krept & Konan and Ramz open up on mental health

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Trump suggests he wants to be impeached and says ‘I want a trial’ – live

President sounded off on public hearings on Fox & Friends, praised Giuliani as ‘one of the great crime fighters’ and called Pelosi ‘crazy as a bedbug’

Joe Biden had harsh words for his former Senate colleague Lindsey Graham, who has emerged as one of the president’s most prominenet defenders against the House impeachment inquiry.

“Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he’s going to regret his whole life,” Biden in a CNN interview. “I say Lindsey, I just -- I’m just embarrassed by what you’re doing, for you. I mean, my Lord.”

Biden tells @donlemon he's "embarrassed by" Graham's actions after senator asks Pompeo to turn over docs related to Hunter and Ukraine

"Lindsey is about to go down in a way that I think he’s going to regret his whole life," Biden says, adding Trump is "holding power" over him pic.twitter.com/sjNjQV7Ogp

John Hendrickson, who wrote the incredible Atlantic article on Joe Biden’s history with stuttering, said in an MSNBC interview that he has received dozens of emails thanking him for exploring the topic.

Hendrickson, who also stutters, said it was his “nightmare” to be doing a television interview and acknowledged he admired Biden for for participating in presidential debates despite his history of stuttering. “I admire his courage,” Hendrickson said.

.@JohnGHendy thought this conversation would be his nightmare.
He explained to me why his new piece in @TheAtlantic about how Joe Biden is handling the challenge of stuttering is so personal to him.
Watch this: pic.twitter.com/lNlqpovnJI

Maybe you’ve heard Biden talk about his boyhood stutter. A non-stutterer might not notice when he appears to get caught on words as an adult, because he usually maneuvers out of those moments quickly and expertly. But on other occasions, like [the July debate] in Detroit, Biden’s lingering stutter is hard to miss. He stutters—­if slightly—on several sounds as we sit across from each other in his office. Before addressing the debate specifically, I mention what I’ve just heard. ‘I want to ask you, as, you know, a … stutterer to, uh, to a … stutterer. When you were … talking a couple minutes ago, it, it seemed to … my ear, my eye … did you have … trouble on s? Or on … m?’

Biden looks down. He pivots to the distant past, telling me that the letter s was hard when he was a kid. ‘But, you know, I haven’t stuttered in so long that it’s hhhhard for me to remember the specific—’ He pauses. ‘What I do remember is the feeling.’

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Sacha Baron Cohen: Facebook would have let Hitler buy ads for ‘final solution’

In wide-ranging speech, actor accuses tech giants of running the ‘greatest propaganda machine in history’

Read Sacha Baron Cohen’s scathing attack on Facebook in full

Sacha Baron Cohen has denounced tech giants Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google as “the greatest propaganda machine in history” and culpable for a surge in “murderous attacks on religious and ethnic minorities”.

Baron Cohen was speaking on Thursday at Never Is Now, the Anti-Defamation League’s summit on antisemitism and hate in New York, where he was presented with the organisation’s international leadership award. He said that “hate crimes are surging, as are murderous attacks on religious and ethnic minorities” and that “all this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history”.

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Donald Trump on impeachment: ‘I want a trial’ – video

Donald Trump told Fox & Friends he wants to go on trial, which means he would like to be impeached. The president complained that Republicans couldn’t call witnesses during the House impeachment hearings, and suggested a trial would enable him to quiz the whistleblower and Adam Schiff, House intelligence committee chair 

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Can Elizabeth Warren fix her problem with African American voters?

Protesters interrupted a speech at a historically black college, as the 2020 hopeful struggles to attract essential support

Elizabeth Warren was only a couple of minutes into her prepared remarks celebrating the history of black female protesters when modern-day protesters, many of them also black women, decided to cut her off.

Just as the Massachusetts senator was about to launch into her reflections on the Atlanta washerwomen’s strike of 1881, stomping feet and shouting were heard from the corner of Clark Atlanta University’s gymnasium. Soon, Warren’s prepared speech was eclipsed by cheers of “Our children, our choice!” and “We will be heard!”

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Trump impeachment inquiry: powerful testimony on final day of public hearings – video

The fifth day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump saw powerful testimony from Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council official and former top Russia expert in the White House, and David Holmes, a state department aide in Kyiv.

Both spoke of Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, as Holmes described a cellphone conversation in which he overheard Trump ask Sondland about 'investigations' and heard Sondland tell Trump the Ukrainians had agreed to them.

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Victoria’s Secret cancels annual televised fashion show as viewers turn off

‘Evolution’ of marketing strategy comes as audiences for the runway show have slumped

The annual Victoria’s Secret televised fashion show, known for its jewel-encrusted bras and supermodels sporting angel wings, will not be held this holiday season, according to an announcement by parent company L Brands Inc.

The official confirmation comes months after Shanina Shaik, an Australian model and Victoria’s Secret Angel, told the Daily Telegraph the show would not be going ahead.

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Tesla to unveil long-hyped ‘cyberpunk’ electric pickup truck

Elon Musk has said he wants to build ‘supertruck with crazy torque’ as Ford and GM plan offerings of their own

Elon Musk has talked for years about building an electric pickup truck that would threaten Detroit’s automakers, and on Thursday he will finally take off the wrapping.

Tesla’s so-called “cybertruck” will debut at an evening event in Los Angeles.

In a tweet on Thursday, Musk referenced his longtime ambition to build “a Tesla supertruck with crazy torque, dynamic air suspension” that “corners like its on rails” (sic).

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Impeachment testimony takeaways: Fiona Hill says Ukraine scheme ‘very clear’

The former National Security Council official provided some of the most explosive testimony yet

The fifth, and possibly final, day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump was one of the most explosive. Here are five key takeaways:

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Fiona Hill: stop ‘fictional narrative’ of Ukraine meddling in US election

Former expert on Russia attacked debunked conspiracy theory used to defend Trump against allegations of bribery

Republicans loyal to Donald Trump must stop pushing the “fictional narrative” that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential election because it plays into Vladimir Putin’s hands, the White House’s former top expert on Russia has told the impeachment inquiry in dramatic testimony.

British-born Fiona Hill, appearing in Washington on Thursday, attacked a debunked conspiracy theory used by Republicans to defend the US president against allegations that he sought to bribe Ukraine for his own political gain.

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Laura Cooper testifies that Ukraine knew of stalled aid far earlier than White House claims – video

During the impeachment hearing into Donald Trump, Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defence for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, told lawmakers on Wednesday that her staff had received an email on 25 July from the state department saying that Ukraine’s embassy and the House foreign affairs committee were asking about military aid.

25 July was the day of a phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president in which Trump raised the issues of an investigation into Joe Biden, alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 presidential election and about aid

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The US policy shift on Israeli settlements will not stop Palestinians persevering | Raja Shehadeh

Palestinians are surrounded by settlers and abandoned by the west, but this latest setback will only boost support for their cause

The day before US secretary of state Mike Pompeo’s announcement that the United States now considers the Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be legal, I accompanied an American group of writers on a tour of the settlements around Ramallah.

It was organised by Breaking the Silence, a group formed by Israeli veterans who oppose the occupation. Yehuda Shaul, the co-founder of the organisation, led the tour. He said that, from 1967 on, the settlement project was state-driven, neither prompted nor led by the settlers. Since then, the US position had been that settlement building in the occupied territories was contrary to international law. And yet no material action has ever been taken by any US administration to force Israel to stop building – except for one moment, in 1991, when president George Bush refused to provide a guarantee for $10bn in loans to Israel over settlement expansion. So what is new about Trump’s announcement?

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