Alabama woman who joined Isis is not US citizen, judge rules

Hoda Muthana, 25, and son left in limbo in Syria after federal judge sided with Trump administration

A judge sided with the Trump administration on Thursday in ruling that an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group was not a US citizen, leaving the 25-year-old and her son in limbo in Syria.

Hoda Muthana, an American-born woman who left Alabama to join Isis in 2014, has said she “deeply regrets” joining the terrorist group and wants to return to the US with her young son.

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Rudy Giuliani says Trump will stay loyal to him but jokes that he has ‘insurance’

Exclusive: president’s personal lawyer has emerged as a key figure in the impeachment inquiry, with speculation Republicans will seek to paint him as a rogue actor

Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has said he is confident the president will remain loyal to him as an impeachment inquiry unfolds in which the former New York mayor has become a central figure.

But Giuliani joked that he had good “insurance” in case Trump did turn on him, amid speculation Republicans will seek to frame him as a rogue actor.

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Santa Clarita: Students escorted out of Saugus high school after reports of active shooter – video

At least two people have died and several more have been injured in a shooting at Saugus high school in Santa Clarita, California, on Thursday. Footage showed sheriff's deputies swarming the school and lines of students being escorted away

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Nancy Pelosi: Trump’s actions make Watergate cover-up look ‘almost small’ – video

Nancy Pelosi has said the alleged actions of Donald Trump in the Ukraine controversy are more alarming than those of president Richard Nixon, who resigned over the Watergate scandal. ‘The cover-up makes what Nixon did look almost small,’ the House speaker said of the president’s actions. Nixon attempted to cover up the fact that five men connected to his re-election campaign broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee

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Trump impeachment inquiry: parties divided as more hearings loom – live

Democrats say Bill Taylor and George Kent’s testimonies tied Trump to efforts to pressure Ukraine while Republicans say they proved nothing

Trump promised after the August mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton that his administration would propose policies to curb gun violence.

However, the president has yet to release any gun-control proposals, and he has reportedly abandoned the plan in recent weeks.

Trump has been counseled by political advisers, including campaign manager Brad Parscale and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, that gun legislation could splinter his political coalition, which he needs to stick together for his reelection bid, particularly amid an impeachment battle.

The president no longer asks about the issue, and aides from the Domestic Policy Council, once working on a plan with eight to 12 tenets, have moved on to other topics, according to aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations.

A nearby hospital said it had received two patients in critical condition from the shooting at a high school near Los Angeles, with three more victims en route.

#SaugusHighShooting: We have received 2 patients in critical condition, 3 en route. We will provide updates as they become available.

Santa Clarita is in California’s 25th congressional district, which currently does not have a member in Congress following Katie Hill’s resignation. https://t.co/LpJiHG84Z6

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Santa Clarita: multiple people hurt in high school shooting, authorities say

  • Police say ‘male suspect in black clothing’ not yet apprehended
  • Shooting happened at Saugus high school in California city

Authorities said multiple people were hurt in a shooting on Thursday morning at Saugus high school in Santa Clarita, a city 30 miles north of Los Angeles.

The Santa Clarita sheriff’s department said “a male Asian suspect [in] black clothing” had not been apprehended and told people “anywhere near” Saugus high to lock themselves inside.

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Trump’s defender v his nemesis: the battle at the heart of impeachment hearings

Beyond the tussle between Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Devin Nunes is the big question – will party interest reign supreme?

The battle for American hearts and minds in the unfolding impeachment drama is, at its core, a battle between two very different Californian congressmen.

In the red corner is Devin Nunes, a Republican former dairy farmer from the state’s agricultural Central Valley, who long ago threw his lot in with Fox News talking-point orthodoxy and has never hesitated to defend Donald Trump, no matter how much the rest of the political establishment – and the factual record – was arrayed against him.

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Family planning schemes must offer options other than abortion, says US

Campaigners urge global action on reproductive rights as US comments embolden anti-choice groups at Nairobi summit

The US will only support family planning programmes that offer alternatives to abortions, a senior policy adviser has told a conference in Nairobi.

In a statement that has emboldened anti-choice groups in the city, Valerie Huber, the US special representative for global women’s health, also told a summit on population and development that her country sought to combat gender-based violence by investing in programmes that respected the rights of women and girls, but didn’t compromise “the inherent value of every human life – born and unborn”.

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Disney+ attaches warnings of ‘outdated cultural depictions’ to classic films

The new streaming service has added the disclaimer to some of its best-known movies, including Dumbo and Lady and the Tramp

Warnings have been added to a number of classic Disney films playing on the recently launched Disney+ streaming service that they may contain “outdated cultural depictions”.

Users of the service have seen the warnings attached to some of the company’s best-known animated films, such as Dumbo, Peter Pan and Lady and the Tramp, with text that reads: “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

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Impeachment hearings go public with a flurry of pomp, drama and tension

As key diplomats testified in an open session, Democrats hoped to overcome the polarization that has defined Trump’s presidency

Shortly after 10am on Wednesday, a single sharp rap of the gavel launched the House intelligence committee’s first public hearing into the impeachment of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.

In the vaulted chambers of the ways and means committee, the House’s grandest and most ornate meeting room, the day’s witnesses – William Taylor, the top American diplomat in Ukraine, and George Kent, a senior state department official in charge of Ukraine policy – rose to their feet and solemnly raised their right hands to be sworn in.

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Trump impeachment inquiry: highlights from day one – video

Donald Trump cared more about investigating his political rival Joe Biden than the fate of Ukraine, according to dramatic testimony from a key witness in the first impeachment inquiry hearing before the American public. As Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair, gaveled the House intelligence committee into session, cameras from every major network carried the proceedings to millions of Americans, some of whom were encountering the allegations against Trump for the first time

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Donald Trump says US military presence in Syria ‘only for the oil’ – live

Bill Taylor and George Kent testify in first day of public impeachment inquiry – follow for live updates

Some non-impeachment news courtesy of The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani:

The Guardian’s Washington correspondent David Smith:

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Trump contradicts aides and says troops in Syria ‘only for oil’

  • President makes remarks as he hosts Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
  • Trump’s own officials say military is fighting Isis

Donald Trump has insisted that the US military presence in Syria is “only for the oil”, contradicting his own officials who have insisted that the remaining forces were there to fight Isis.

Related: Donald Trump says US military presence in Syria 'only for the oil' – live

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Trump cared more about investigating Biden than Ukraine, key witness reveals

House begins public hearings with testimonies from Bill Taylor and George Kent as president struggles to prevent investigation

Donald Trump cared more about investigating his political rival Joe Biden than the fate of Ukraine, according to dramatic testimony from a key witness in the first impeachment inquiry hearing before the American public.

Related: Lights, camera, impeachment: TV phase of inquiry carries pluses and pitfalls

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Ilhan Omar has been proved right: Stephen Miller is a white nationalist | Poppy Noor

Leaked emails show the Trump aide promoting white nationalist websites and touting Calvin Coolidge’s segregation-era policies

When the congresswoman Ilhan Omar called Donald Trump’s top immigration adviser, Stephen Miller, a white nationalist in April, the chorus of outrage from Republicans could not have been louder.

Donald Trump Jr tweeted: “I see that the head of the Farrakhan Fan Club, @IlhanMN, took a short break from spewing her usual anti-semitic bigotry today to accuse a Jewish man of being a ‘white nationalist’ because she apparently has no shame.”

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Hillary Clinton warns of path to ‘fascism’ after MPs stand down

Former US secretary of state concerned that female MPs cited online threats

Online threats which intimidate people into standing down as MPs are “the path to authoritarianism [and] fascism”, Hillary Clinton has said.

Speaking to an audience in London, Clinton said she took “very seriously” the fact that significant numbers of female MPs had opted not to run again for parliament in the coming election, in many cases citing online intimidation and threats against their safety.

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Cows swept off island during Hurricane Dorian found after swimming for miles

Cows missing for two months were located on North Carolina’s Outer Banks after ‘mini tsunami’ carried wildlife away

Three cows swept off an island during the raging storm of Hurricane Dorian have been located on North Carolina’s Outer Banks after apparently swimming four miles during the storm.

Related: ‘Insect apocalypse’ poses risk to all life on Earth, conservationists warn

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The five ways Republicans will crack down on voting rights in 2020 | Carol Anderson

Given what’s at stake next year, the effort to prevent people voting will be fierce. We’ve been here before – and we can stop it

America hangs in the balance. The elections in November next year will determine whether the United States continues down the road of authoritarian dynastic rule or reclaims the work of expanding and improving our democracy. Those are the choices.

That expansion was born out of the civil war, which left 1.2 million dead or wounded, but resulted in the 15th amendment, which made clear that the right to vote could not be denied or hampered because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The subsequent struggles led to women’s right to vote, opening the franchise to those 18 and over, and the “single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by Congress,” the Voting Rights Act, which protected the franchise from states with a demonstrated history of racial and linguistic discrimination.

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Jim Jordan: the Republican in ‘attack dog mode’ for impeachment hearings

Trump’s loyal ally will block, deflect, and argue that impeachment evidence is lacking and challenge the legitimacy of proceedings

Perhaps the solitary defeat still stings. Jim Jordan won 150 matches and lost just one during a school wrestling career in which he was Ohio state champion four times. Now a politician, Jordan is less a wrestler and more a bare-knuckle fighter in the corner of Donald Trump and lashing out at the president’s enemies.

The world is about to become a lot more familiar with the Republican congressman’s aggressive style when televised impeachment hearings get under way on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday.

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Schiff ahead of public hearings: Trump tried to scheme with Ukraine – as it happened

The House intelligence chair, Adam Schiff, pushed back against Republicans’ defense of the president in an interview with NPR

Tune in tomorrow morning for live coverage of the first public impeachment hearings.

Related: Trump fumes as Democrats get ready for 'sober and rigorous' public hearings

In the memo, posted on CNN, Democrats rebut each of the four arguments the Republicans put forth in their internal memo in the impeachment inquiry.

The July 25 call summary — the best evidence of the conversation — shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure;

President Zelensky and President Trump have both said there was no pressure on the call;

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