Category Archives: US News

US patience with Iran not inexhaustible, warns Saudi Arabia

Posted on by

Saudi minister says military response to attack on oil facilities still being considered

Saudi Arabia has said that US patience with Iran is not inexhaustible and warned that military options are still being considered following the attack on the Aramco oil facilities earlier this month.

The Saudi foreign affairs minister, Adel al-Jubeir, also said the UN-commissioned report into the origins of the attack will be available fairly soon, and described the EU’s Monday statement ascribing responsibility to Iran as “very significant”.

Continue reading...

Nancy Pelosi accuses Trump of ‘betrayal’ as she announces impeachment inquiry – video

Posted on by

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Donald Trump’s actions represented a 'betrayal of his oath of office, a betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections' as she said the House of Representatives will launch a formal inquiry into whether the president should be impeached, declaring that no one is above the law. The Democratic-controlled House will examine whether Trump sought Ukraine's help to smear former vice-president Joe Biden, the front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination

Continue reading...

Joe Biden says Donald Trump must stop obstructing Congress or face impeachment – video

Posted on by

Joe Biden addressed the Ukraine controversy in a statement on Tuesday, saying Congress should launch impeachment proceedings if Donald Trump continues to obstruct House Democrats’ investigations. ‘The president should stop stonewalling this investigation and all the other investigations of his wrongdoing,’ Biden said. ‘Using its full constitutional authority, Congress should demand the information it has a legal right to receive’

Continue reading...

Donald Trump tells UN ‘future belongs to patriots not globalists’ – video

Posted on by

The US president made his third address to the United Nations on Tuesday, retreading his message of promoting 'sovereignty' above international relations. Trump said: ‘The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations, who protect their citizens, respect their neighbours and honour the differences that make each country special and unique.’ He added he was 'working closely' with Boris Johnson on a 'magnificent' post-Brexit trade deal

• Trump addresses UN summit – live news

Continue reading...

Impeachment calls grow amid revelation Trump ordered block on Ukraine aid

Posted on by

President ordered his staff to withhold nearly $400m in aid days before he pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate Biden

Donald Trump ordered his staff to withhold nearly $400m in aid to Ukraine days before he repeatedly pressured the country’s president to investigate a political rival, it emerged on Monday night.

Related: Why is the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower scandal so serious?

Continue reading...

French police search Jeffrey Epstein’s Paris apartment

Posted on by

Inquiry opened last month after US police found links to sex-trafficking claims in France

Police have searched the Paris apartment of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as part of a French investigation into trafficking claims against the disgraced US financier.

Investigators arrived at Epstein’s luxury 800 sq metre apartment on the exclusive Avenue Foch near the Arc de Triomphe on Monday afternoon and worked through the night to search the premises.

Continue reading...

Robert O’Brien attended ‘routinely racist’ university in apartheid South Africa

Posted on by

Donald Trump’s new national security adviser studied at the segregated University of the Orange Free State

Donald Trump’s new national security adviser attended a segregated university in South Africa, described by one of its former vice-chancellors as “routinely racist”.

Robert O’Brien, a relatively junior official appointed to the top White House post on Wednesday, went to the University of the Orange Free State under the South African apartheid system. O’Brien’s LinkedIn page says he was there in 1987, while still an undergraduate. He received a scholarship from Rotary International and according to its records he was there from 1986. The first black undergraduate was admitted in 1988.

Continue reading...

‘They gave one to Obama’: Trump complains he deserves a Nobel prize – video

Posted on by

Donald Trump has suggested he is deserving of a Nobel prize 'for a lot of things', but has not received one yet because they are not given out fairly. 'They gave one to Obama immediately ... and he had no idea why he got it,' the US president complained.

Trump went on to offer his services as a mediator between India and Pakistan, touting his experience in arbitrating 'pretty big' disputes between his friends. 'I've never failed as an arbitrator,' he told Pakistan's prime minister, Imran Khan. 'If I can be of help, let me know.'

Continue reading...

‘It’s a beacon for the city’: inside the new New York library that cost $40m to build

Posted on by

The project earned criticism for its price tag, but it is being seen as a positive sign for the health of New York libraries

Strategically positioned on the bank of the East River, across the water from the United Nations headquarters, New York city has a shimmering new addition to its skylines.

Unusually for such prime real estate set among parkland, panoramic views of Manhattan and convenient transport links, this $40m development in Queens is neither an upscale apartment block, exclusive members club or the offices of a huge corporation.

Continue reading...

‘No, you’re corrupt!’: why there’s method in Trump’s playground taunts

Posted on by

The president’s tactic of redirecting accusations of misconduct back at his accuser is childish, petty … and surprisingly effective

“No, you are.”

Since he first emerged from the primordial muck of reality TV, Donald Trump has responded to attacks from political opponents with some version of that playground phrase. When accused of this, or revealed to have done that, Trump simply blurts “she did it” or “he’s guilty”, whatever the charge may be.

Continue reading...

Scott Morrison ducks questions on Australia’s emissions strategy for 2050

Posted on by

UN climate summit focus is on net zero by 2050 but Australian PM says challenge ‘not just about climate change’

Scott Morrison has ducked questions about when his government will develop an emissions reduction strategy for 2050, despite signing on at the Pacific Islands Forum to a communique pledging to develop one next year.

The Australian prime minister is also copping flak at home for his decision to signal in a speech in Chicago that China needed to be treated like a developed economy both in global trade and climate change negotiations – meaning Beijing would need to make a significant commitment towards emissions reduction.

Continue reading...

Trump claims that if Biden were a Republican he’d get the ‘electric chair’ – as it happened

Posted on by

The president repeated his debunked claims that the former vice-president and his son are corrupt

That is it from me for the night. Here are the top stories to note from this afternoon:

Officials in Ames, Iowa say the Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has requested the city remove inclusive multi-colored crosswalk art in a letter sent this month.

Ames, a college town with a population of around 67,000 people, installed painted sidewalks earlier this month. The new art includes gender non-binary pride colors, rainbow colors for LGBTQ rights, and colors representing support of transgender equality.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson calls for ‘Trump deal’ to fix Iran nuclear standoff

Posted on by

PM says president could come up with better pact, in apparent shift from European position

Boris Johnson has sided with Donald Trump in calling the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran a “bad deal”, while praising the US president as a “very brilliant negotiator” capable of achieving a better one.

The prime minister’s remarks, made in a NBC interview, marked a sharp change in UK rhetoric. British leaders, including Johnson, had until now upheld the 2015 accord between six major powers and Iran as a major diplomatic achievement.

Continue reading...

Trump showed interest in New Zealand gun buyback program, Ardern says

Posted on by

Prime minister says she and Trump discussed her country’s reforms on sidelines of UN general assembly

Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand prime minister, has said Donald Trump expressed “interest” in her country’s gun buyback program, as the US president faces calls for dramatic changes to the nation’s firearms laws.

After the two leaders met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Ardern told reporters that she “sensed an interest” from the US president in the sweeping gun reforms her government passed after the Christchurch mosque shootings in March.

Continue reading...

Greta Thunberg condemns world leaders in emotional speech at UN

Posted on by
  • Thunberg, 16, says governments have betrayed young people
  • ‘You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. You are failing us’

Greta Thunberg has excoriated world leaders for their “betrayal” of young people through their inertia over the climate crisis at a United Nations summit that failed to deliver ambitious new commitments to address dangerous global heating.

Related: If world leaders choose to fail us, my generation will never forgive them | Greta Thunberg

Continue reading...

US soldier discussed bombing media and targeting Beto O’Rourke, FBI alleges

Posted on by
  • Jarrett William Smith, 24, chatted plans on Facebook
  • Infantryman talked of making IEDs and killing antifa activists

A member of the US military has been arrested after he allegedly discussed plans to bomb a news network, suggested targeting the Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke and explained how to make an improvised explosive device, or IED.

The FBI charged Jarrett William Smith, a soldier stationed in Kansas, with distributing information related to explosives and weapons of mass destruction.

Continue reading...

Howdy Modi: Indian PM appears with Trump at Texas rally

Posted on by

Narendra Modi defends actions in Kashmir and accuses Pakistan of ‘hatred towards India’

Narendra Modi defended his government’s actions in Kashmir and, in thinly-veiled remarks, accused Pakistan of harbouring terrorists during a packed rally in Texas attended by the US president Donald Trump.

Trump sat in the front row as the Indian prime minister told cheering crowds his decision to remove all autonomy from Indian-administered Kashmir would bring progress and better rights for its people.

Continue reading...

Leaked letter suggests US is rallying UN member states to oppose abortion

Posted on by

Attempt to ‘roll back the clock’ condemned as governments are urged to oppose UN support for reproductive rights

The US is understood to have written to UN member states urging them to join a “growing coalition” of countries rallying against abortion, in what seems to be the latest attempt by the Trump administration to rollback women’s rights.

A letter, seen by the Guardian, is believed to have been sent to governments deemed sympathetic to the administration’s view on reproductive health.

Continue reading...

Iran warns presence of foreign powers in Gulf raises ‘insecurity’

Posted on by

President Hassan Rouhani says international forces should ‘stay away’ to de-escalate regional crisis

Iran has accused foreign powers of raising Gulf’s “insecurity”.

President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday denounced the presence of international powers in the Gulf, adding that Iran would propose a peace plan, after the US ordered reinforcements to the region.

Continue reading...