Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Secret Service detail were forced to use porta-potties or neighbors’ bathrooms until government rented them an apartment
The dying days of the Trump administration have been plagued by yet more scandal in the form of riots, Twitter bans and impeachment. Now the Washington Post has added another: water closet gate.
In a multi-bylined article one of America’s top investigative news outlets has chronicled in leg-crossing detail the apparently extreme difficulty that the Secret Service detail assigned to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have had in finding a place to go to the bathroom.
Due to different methods, US Noaa judged year as fractionally cooler than 2016 while UK Met Office put 2020 in close second place
Last year was by a narrow margin the hottest ever on record, according to Nasa, with the climate crisis stamping its mark on 2020 through soaring temperatures, enormous hurricanes and unprecedented wildfires.
The average global land and ocean temperature in 2020 was the highest ever measured, Nasa announced on Thursday, edging out the previous record set in 2016 by less than a tenth of a degree.
Donald Trump has become the first president in US history to be impeached twice after the bipartisan vote in the House of Representative accusing him of inciting violence at the Capitol on 6 January.
Trump has faced impeachment before, but for very different reasons. On 18 December 2019 the House charged him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and withholding military aid
Mark Lowcock, the director general of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, called for the decision to be reversed, saying the cost of food was likely to rise by as much as 400%, way beyond the reach of many aid agencies.
Trump’s foreign policy chief has pursued confrontation with Iran and other perceived enemies, but his efforts to disrupt diplomacy will end in failure
The finale of Mike Pompeo’s reign at the state department has been as controversial and clamorous as the rest of his 32-month tenure, but it is unclear what traces will remain after he has gone.
The last days of Pompeo have been played out in a blizzard of self-congratulatory tweets, at the rate of two dozen a day, as he seeks to write his own first draft of history.
The House of Representatives has voted 232 to 197 to impeach the US president, Donald Trump, for a second time, formally charging him with inciting an insurrection. It was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in US history.
After an emotional day-long debate in the chamber, 10 Republicans joined Democrats to hold Trump to account before he leaves office next week.
Pre-prepared disaster plans for handling pandemics, natural disasters and terrorist attacks show London had 3,500 mortuary spaces. But the capital braced for the virus with an additional 12,000 mortuary spaces.
If cemeteries could not cope, bodies would be frozen to await their final committal. There were plans to transport scores of bodies at a time between storage locations in trucks, the official said, a practice that risks misidentifying or even losing the dead:
England’s high street pharmacies will begin rolling out Covid vaccines, as the virus death toll across the UK climbed above 100,000.
Boots and Superdrug branches will be among the six stores across England which will be able to administer the jabs from Thursday while the Government aims to hit its target of vaccinating all people in the four most vulnerable groups by the middle of next month.
Andrews Pharmacy in Macclesfield, Cullimore Chemist in Edgware, north London, Woodside Pharmacy in Telford and Appleton Village pharmacy in Widnes will be in the first group to hand out the injections, alongside Boots in Halifax, and Superdrug in Guildford.
Boris Johnson also told MPs that distribution “will be going to 24/7 as soon as we can” but said supply of doses remained the main barrier.
The Scottish Government published its vaccine delivery plan on Wednesday evening, including details of how many doses it expects to receive for each week until the end of May, prompting a row with London, which has declined to publish its numbers.
The six pharmacies have been picked because they can deliver large volumes of the vaccine and allow for social distancing, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was “fantastic” that jabs would be available on the high street.
“Pharmacies sit at the heart of local communities and will make a big difference to our rollout programme by providing even more local, convenient places for those that are eligible to get their jab,” he said.
By the end of the month more than 200 community chemists will be able to give vaccines, according to NHS England.
The pharmacies join the 200 hospitals, around 800 GP clinics and seven mass vaccination centres where jabs are already being handed out.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged ministers to go further and use England’s 11,500 pharmacies to deliver round-the-clock vaccinations by the end of next month.
The expanded vaccination service in England comes as the daily reported UK death toll reached a new high on Wednesday, with 1,564 fatalities recorded within 28 days of a positive test.
The latest figures meant the grim milestone of more than 100,000 deaths involving coronavirus has now been passed in the UK, according to official data.
Law enforcement responses to more than 13,000 protests show a clear disparity in responses, new statistics show
Police in the United States are three timesmore likely to use force against leftwing protesters than rightwing protesters, according to new data from a nonprofit that monitors political violence around the world.
In the past 10 months, US law enforcement agencies have used teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and beatings at a much higher percentage at Black Lives Matter demonstrations than at pro-Trump or other rightwing protests.
Hammer was due to appear opposite Lopez in the action comedy Shotgun Wedding but has requested to step away
Armie Hammer has dropped out of an upcoming film with Jennifer Lopez after messages allegedly sent by the actor were leaked online. Hammer has described the messages and social media response to them as an online attack, calling them vicious and spurious.
Hammer, star of movies including The Social Network and Call Me By Your Name, had been set to appear opposite Lopez in action comedy Shotgun Wedding. However, he will no longer take the role.
Jack Dorsey: ‘I do not celebrate having to ban Donald Trump’
‘A ban is a failure of ours to promote healthy conversation’
Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter, has said that banning Donald Trump from the platform was the “right decision” but that it sets a dangerous precedent.
The state’s vaccination plan has been decidedly sluggish – but now every Californian aged 65 and older is eligible for the vaccine
California leaders are facing mounting pressure to speed up distribution of the new coronavirus vaccine, announcing major steps this week to makes doses available to more people.
On Wednesday the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, said that all residents 65 and older will be able to get a vaccine. The move follows the announcement of new mass-vaccination sites at locations such as Disneyland and Dodger Stadium.
The US House of Representatives voted by a margin of 232 to 197 to impeach Donald Trump on the charge of incitement of insurrection, making him the first president in history to have been impeached twice. Ten House Republicans voted in favour of the motion
Footage shows hundreds of troops resting inside the US Capitol building, one week after it was stormed by a mob of Trump supporters. Over 10,000 members of the national guard have been deployed to Washington DC as the FBI warned far-right groups were continuing to threaten plots before Joe Biden’s inauguration as president on 21 January.
Analysis: The attack on the Capitol – and perhaps the Senate losses in Georgia – have prompted some GOP leaders to signal a split even as others back his election lie
Has the spell really been broken? After years of joining Donald Trump in demonizing political opponents, and holding their silence as Trump furiously shredded public trust in elections, public service, the rule of law and the truth itself, have mainstream Republicans really decided to give him up?
The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives has opened the debate on the article of impeachment against Donald Trump, arguing the president must be removed from office. Describing the storming of the Capitol as a 'day of fire', Nancy Pelosi said Trump had incited insurrection
Jordan launched a Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, beginning with jabs for healthcare workers, people with chronic illnesses and those over the age of 60.
The kingdom said on Saturday that it had granted an “emergency licence” for the use of China’s Sinopharm vaccine, the second vaccine it approved after the US-German Pfizer-BioNTech.
The coronavirus mutation first found in Britain has now spread to 50 territories, according to the World Health Organization, while a similar South African-identified strain has now been found in 20.
The UN body also noted a third new coronavirus “variant of concern” found in Japan may impact upon immune response and needs further investigation.
Sahil Kapur at NBC News says that the decisions Republican lawmakers make in the coming days over the impeachment of Donald Trump “could define the party and shape American democracy for generations to come”. He writes:
The Senate requires a two-thirds majority to convict a president, which will mean at least 17 Republicans would need to join Democrats if the vote is taken after 20 January. That’s a tall order.
The judgment of history looms. And for some who want to make a break from Trump and chart a new path for the Republican Party, time is running short.
The outcome may center on Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a Trump ally who broke with him on 6 January when making an impassioned plea to affirm Joe Biden’s victory. But McConnell’s intentions aren’t clear. His office had no comment Tuesday on impeachment.
Others say his position could determine the outcome. “I think if McConnell supports conviction in the Senate then the votes will be there to convict the president,” said a senior Republican aide, who requested anonymity to speak candidly.
President-elect Joe Biden has announced ambassador Samantha Power as his nominee for Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and has also said he will elevate the position to become a member of the National Security Council. Power served in the Obama administration as the US permanent representative to the United Nations.
Samantha Power is a world-renowned voice of conscience and moral clarity — challenging and rallying the international community to stand up for the dignity and humanity of all people. I know firsthand the unparalleled knowledge and tireless commitment to principled American engagement she brings to the table, and her expertise and perspective will be essential as our country reasserts its role as a leader on the world stage. As USAID Administrator, Power will be a powerful force for lifting up the vulnerable, ushering in a new era of human progress and development, and advancing American interests globally.
Nancy Pelosi has accused Donald Trump of associating himself with sedition and treason in a strong statement calling for the removal of the president through impeachment after a failed call for enactment of the 25th amendment.
The final vote on Tuesday night was 223 to 205, with only one Republican backing the non-binding resolution that asked Mike Pence, the vice-president, to declare Trump 'incapable' under the 25th amendment
Lisa Montgomery pronounced dead on Wednesday morning after supreme court cleared path for her death
A Kansas woman was executed early on Wednesday, the first time in nearly seven decades that the US government has put to death a female inmate.
Lisa Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1.31am after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. She was the 11th prisoner to receive a lethal injection there since July when Donald Trump, an ardent supporter of capital punishment, resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus.
One of Africa’s most prominent literary figures says the election will be crucial for the continent
Global outrage at the storming of the US Capitol risks diverting attention from repression by Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, the Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka has said on the eve of Uganda’s election.
Soyinka, a Nobel laureate and one of Africa’s most prominent literary figures, described Thursday’s election as “crucial for the African continent”, and called for the 76-year-old Museveni and other older African leaders to step aside for a younger generation.