Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt had said it would stand by Outrages after row in UK over its historical accuracy, but has now recalled copies from stores
Naomi Wolf’s US publisher has postponed the release of her new book and is recalling copies from booksellers, saying that new questions have arisen over the book’s content.
Outrages, which argues that the Obscene Publications Act of 1857 led to a turn against consensual sex between men and an increase in executions for sodomy, was published in the UK on 20 May. Wolf has already acknowledged that the book contains two errors, after an on-air challenge on BBC Radio 3 during which the writer and broadcaster Matthew Sweet told her that she had misunderstood the term “death recorded” in historical records as signifying an execution. In fact it denotes the opposite, Sweet pointed out, highlighting that a teenager she said had been “actually executed for sodomy” in 1859 was paroled two years after being convicted. Wolf said last month that she had thanked Sweet for highlighting the mistakes, and was correcting future editions.
The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, whose tenure was marked by a breakdown in regular press briefings and questions about the administration's credibility, as well as her own, will leave her post at the end of the month, Donald Trump has announced. Sanders is one of the US president's closest and most trusted White House aides and one of the few remaining staff who worked on his campaign
State lawmakers vote to repeal exemption amid country’s worst measles outbreak in decades
New York eliminated the religious exemption to vaccine requirements for schoolchildren Thursday, as the country’s worst measles outbreak in decades prompts states to reconsider giving parents ways to opt out of immunization rules.
The Democratic-led state senate and assembly voted Thursday to repeal the exemption, which allows parents to cite religious beliefs to forego getting their child the vaccines required for school enrollment.
US secretary of state accuses Tehran of ‘lashing out’
Iran denies responsibility for early morning attack
The US military has released video footage it says shows an Iranian military patrol boat approach one of two tankers attacked in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday, to support the Trump administration’s claims that Iran was responsible.
The blurry black and white footage, taken from the air, shows a small military boat alongside a tanker and someone stand up on the prow of the boat to remove an object from the tanker’s hull. The small boat then pulls away from the tanker. US officials were quoted as saying the boat was an Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boat approaching the tanker after it was attacked, and the object removed was an unexploded limpet mine.
CNN unearths clip highlighting Democratic presidential candidate’s inconsistent record on the issue
A 2006 video of Joe Biden unearthed by CNN on Thursday shows the then senator saying he does not see abortion as “a choice and a right”.
“I do not view abortion as a choice and a right,” the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said in a videotaped interview with Texas Monthly. “I think it’s always a tragedy. I think it should be rare and safe,” he added. “I think we should be focusing on how to limit the number of abortions.”
Analysis: the departing White House spokeswoman, who has not held a press briefing in months, spun a web of deceit in her role
“You’re fired!”
Donald Trump was joking when he barked these words at his press secretary, Sarah Sanders, during a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in April – on a night when both were snubbing the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The reality star announced a ride-sharing program to help former prisoners get transportation to job interviews and work
The reality star and activist Kim Kardashian West took a star turn at the White House on Thursday to promote efforts to help those leaving prison get jobs and stay on track.
“Everyone wants the community to be safe, and the more opportunity we have and that they have and the support that we help give them, the safer everyone will be,” Kardashian West told an East Room crowd.
Sanders, who made false claims on Trump’s behalf, departs
Press secretary says ‘I love the president’ in emotional farewell
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, has become the latest official to leave Donald Trump’s volatile administration, but in an emotional farewell she insisted: “I love the president.”
A US federal watchdog is recommending that Donald Trump fire one of his most ardent and high-profile defenders, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, for repeatedly violating a law that limits political activity by government workers.
Conway should be removed from federal office, the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) announced on Thursday.
Knox, twice acquitted of killing Meredith Kercher, is to attend a debate on ‘trial by media’
Amanda Knox’s return to Italy has been described as “inappropriate” and “very painful” by a lawyer for the family of the murdered British student Meredith Kercher.
Knox was twice convicted and twice acquitted of killing Kercher, 21, in the home they shared in the university town of Perugia in November 2007. The body of Kercher, a student from Coulsdon, Surrey, who was in Italy on an Erasmus programme, was found under a duvet in her bedroom, partly undressed with multiple stab wounds. She had also been sexually assaulted.
The explosions, on a vital passageway for the world’s oil supply, may prove Trump’s policy of coercion has backfired
The explosions were bigger and the damage more extensive. But the message and its means of delivery have some similarities.
Thursday’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman caused jitters in global markets and unease across a region that has been bracing for conflict throughout much of the year. As with the earlier attacks on 12 May, news of the latest strikes was again broken by media outlets aligned to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran, who broadcast images of the attacks within minutes of them taking place.
Donald Trump appears to have inadvertently misspelled the Prince of Wales in a rebuttal to his statement to ABC that he would accept information on opponents from foreign governments.
•The House intelligence committee is holding a hearing on ‘National Security Challenges of Artificial Intelligence, Manipulated Media and Deepfakes’ at 9am. It comes after a tampered video of Nancy Pelosi – a deepfake – was widely shared in May. Facebook refused to delete the video, which was manipulated to question Pelosi’s competence. They may also address anticipated Russian interference in the 2020 election.
•In other political skullduggery news, Donald Trump has said he would accept incriminating information from Russia or other adversaries on his 2020 election opponent. “It’s not an interference,” Trump told ABC. “They have information — I think I’d take it.” The president said he would call the FBI if approached only “if I thought there was something wrong.”
Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and Actor Danny Glover to testify
House subcommittee will discuss issue on 19 June – ‘Juneteenth’
The topic of reparations for slavery is headed to Capitol Hill for its first hearing in more than a decade with the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and actor Danny Glover set to testify before a House of Representatives panel.
The House judiciary subcommittee on the constitution, civil rights and civil liberties is scheduled to hold the hearing on 19 June, with its stated purpose “to examine, through open and constructive discourse, the legacy of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, its continuing impact on the community and the path to restorative justice”.
Sailors evacuated from two tankers in distress near the strategic strait of Hormuz
Two oil tankers have been hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman a month after a similar incident in which four tankers in the region were struck.
The US navy’s fifth fleet said it was assisting the tankers, which issued distress calls near the strategic strait of Hormuz. The crew from both tankers were evacuated.
Victory is latest in a string of legal actions by Matt Furie, who is seeking to halt the co-option of his cartoon by the far right
Matt Furie, the cartoonist behind the character and online meme Pepe the Frog, has won a $15,000 (£12,000) settlement against website Infowars and its creator, the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, over use of the anthropomorphic frog in far-right imagery.
Pepe first appeared as a character in 2005 in Furie’s comic Boy’s Club, in which the “peaceful frog-dude” and his animal housemates got up to various college hijinks. His image quickly became a meme on MySpace, and later the anonymous message board 4chan, before it was co-opted by the US “alt-right” in the early 2010s.
British home secretary says final decision on WikiLeaks founder is ‘now with the courts’
The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has revealed he has signed a request for Julian Assange to be extradited to the US where he faces charges of computer hacking.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, Javid said: “He’s rightly behind bars. There’s an extradition request from the US that is before the courts tomorrow but yesterday I signed the extradition order and certified it and that will be going in front of the courts tomorrow.”
President claims he would have no obligation to call the FBI, contradicting bureau director he appointed
Donald Trump has said he would be open to accepting damaging information on a 2020 election opponent from another country, adding that he would feel no obligation to inform the FBI.
“I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday. “If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on your opponent’ oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”
Sticking with the 2020 race, we have a report that former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is taking time off from exploring a presidential run.
Hallie Golden has a quick story for us:
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will be taking the summer off from exploring his potential 2020 bid for the US presidency. In a statement released Wednesday, Schultz said he experienced “acute back pain” while he was traveling in Arizona as part of his campaign work, and ultimately had to undergo three back surgeries. He said he has decided to spend the summer focused on rest and rehabilitation.
“I take this detour from the road reluctantly,” Schultz said. “My concern for our country’s future remains, as does my belief that the American people deserve so much more from our elected officials.”
In January, the billionaire announced he would explore a potential run for the presidency as an independent candidate. The news sparked a backlash from leading Democrats worried such a move could help President Donald Trump win his reelection bid in 2020.
Schultz has spent months traveling to 15 states, talking with thousands of local residents as part of his campaign. In January, he visited his home town of Seattle to promote his new book and was greeted by dozens of protestors. He said he will be back in touch after Labor Day.
We’ll return to the Democratic 2020 campaign for a short while and to my colleague Adam Gabbatt who spent the morning with Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke here in New York.
O’Rourke, whose campaign has dropped off in recent weeks according to some polls was her to take part in a morning run with LGBTQ activists.
O’Rourke turned up right on time, ready for action. The 47-year-old was decked out in full running garb for the two-mile jog, mid-thigh shorts displaying willowy legs. He was wearing an Iowa Cubs baseball hat, which seemed on message given the importance of the Hawkeye State in the Democratic primaries.
“Everybody ready to run?” O’Rourke asked the roughly 30 people who had assembled on a popular running path close to the Hudson River. There was a muted response. “Two miles is all we’re doing,” he added, which served to lift spirits a little.
Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at new polling results showing the president in deep trouble as he mounts his 2020 re-election bid.
A day after a survey found at least six Democratic presidential candidates would defeat Trump in a head-to-head election matchup, the president revived his attacks on the media while dismissing the numbers as, in his view, “fake polling”.
Oil giant looked to make tax-exempt donations to universities and civic groups in the early 1990s to promote the company’s interests
Oil giant Mobil sought to make tax-exempt donations to leading universities, civic groups and arts programmes to promote the company’s interests and undermine environmental regulation, according to internal documents from the early 1990s obtained by the Guardian.