Joe Biden has vowed to unite the US, as the Democratic hopeful outlined how he would be different to Donald Trump if he were to win the presidential election. Biden was speaking at a campaign event in Philadelphia hours before voting closes
Category Archives: US News
Unusual voting locations: US election day in pictures
After a record-breaking early voting turnout, Americans head to the polls in the strangest locations to cast their vote in the 2020 presidential election
Continue reading...‘Losing is never easy,’ Trump says hours before voting ends – video
Donald Trump told reporters losing was ‘never easy’ for him and he had not yet written an acceptance or concession speech hours before the end of voting in the US election.
Trump added there was ‘tremendous unity’ during a stop at the Republican national committee in Arlington, Virginia, where he was thanking staff
Continue reading...Could Donald Trump refuse to accept defeat in US presidential election?
Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power – uncertainty over result will put that to the test
As the US prepared for a Joe Biden or a Donald Trump victory, Americans were forced to consider an extraordinary scenario in which Trump loses, but refuses to concede.
Continue reading...Birx warns US entering ‘deadly phase’ of Covid, contradicting Trump’s message
Deborah Birx says ‘we are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase’ as Trump claims US is ‘rounding the corner’
White House scientific adviser Dr Deborah Birx warned the United States is entering a new “deadly phase” of the coronavirus pandemic, and urged an “aggressive” approach to containing its spread.
Birx gave the warning in a written memo delivered to top administration officials Monday. It is a direct contradiction of one of Donald Trump’s central, and false, closing campaign messages – that the US is “rounding the corner” on the pandemic.
Continue reading...US election day 2020: voters stream to the polls to elect the next president – live updates
- According to the US elections project, 98m Americans have already voted
- Sign up for First Thing - our US morning newsletter
America is waking up to go to the polls today in an election campaign that has in some senses been very volatile, but also, as far as polling numbers are concerned, very stable.
Joe Biden has held a solid lead in the national polls for month. But as we saw in 2016, it isn’t getting the most votes that decides who ends up in the White House – Hillary Clinton polled 2.86m more than Donald Trump. We all know what happened next.
Related: US braces for historic election amid fears democracy is in danger
We don’t want to neglect mention of the celebrities who joined the campaign trail yesterday – that might be illegal?
At Donald Trump’s final rally of the evening, in Michigan, the president called the rapper Lil’ Pump onstage, incorrectly referring to him as “Lil’ Pimp”. We included footage of that moment earlier in the blog, check it out.
Just performed GLORY with my brother @JohnLegend at the Final @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris Rally on Election Eve in Philadelphia. Vote tomorrow. Let’s make history. pic.twitter.com/u3AzzxqZMc
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: France sees record new cases; WHO warns it’s ‘not too late’ to take critical action
Portugal considering state of emergency; Italy’s coronavirus strategy is ‘wasting time’, says scientific advisor; Germany begins ‘light lockdown’. Follow the latest updates.
- Police may be asked to stop England residents escaping to Wales to avoid lockdown
- Latest coronavirus lockdowns spark protests across Europe
- Slovakia carries out Covid mass testing of two-thirds of population
- UK coronavirus latest - live
- See all our coronavirus coverage
In the UK Liverpool (otherwise known as the World’s Best City) is set to become the first to have mass test-and-trace operation. My colleagues Sarah Boseley and Jess Elgot write:
Up to half a million people in Liverpool will be tested for Covid-19 under the UK government’s first attempt to embark on city-wide mass testing.
Related: Liverpool to pioneer UK's first attempt at mass Covid testing
Indonesia has reported 2,973 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 418,375, according to data from the country’s health ministry.
The country has also reported an additional 102 deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 14,146.
Continue reading...Supreme court to hear Obamacare case that may lead to 20m losing insurance
Court will hear a case a week after election day that could result in the law being overturned – or only one provision eliminated
For more than a decade, Republicans have sought to destroy the signature achievement of the Obama administration – the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
Exactly one week after election day, they might succeed.
Continue reading...The fall of Johnny Depp: how the world’s most beautiful movie star turned very ugly
In the 1990s, he was a different kind of film star – eloquent, artistic and cool. But this week, with the loss of his court case against the Sun, the dream has decisively soured
Johnny Depp is “a wife-beater”. This is the verdict of the UK courts. Just writing that sentence feels genuinely shocking, and yet, by now perhaps, it should not. For a start, the allegation that he was physically abusive to his ex-wife Amber Heard emerged more than four years ago, after she applied for a temporary restraining order against him following their divorce, citing domestic abuse. It should also not be a shock, given how many other hugely famous men have been accused of abusing women. Sean Connery was alleged to have beaten his first wife and frequently defended hitting women. His death this weekend sparked online arguments about how much the coverage should focus on the professional achievements of a man who repeatedly insisted it was fine to hit women, “if the woman is a bitch, or hysterical, or bloody-minded continually”, as he said in 1965.
But Depp is a very different figure from Connery. The latter represented alpha masculinity and aggressive sexuality. No one ever said it explicitly, but Connery’s defences for beating women fit in, on some level, with his image, and so that side of him was never going to be a problem with his audience. Depp, however, represented something else. He sued the Sun for defamation when it described him as “a wife-beater”, something Connery would never have done, and it’s also why for a certain kind of fan (me), this feels like the death of yet another childhood hero.
Continue reading...US election 2020: Trump again defends supporters who harassed Biden campaign bus – live
- FBI confirmed yesterday it was investigating the highway incident
- Biden holds lead over Trump in Pennsylvania
- Trump threatens to fire Fauci after US election
- Kamala Harris campaigns in Texas in bid to flip state
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
Donald Trump’s speech in North Carolina has focused on gripes about his polling numbers, the press and social media.
The president complained that Twitter’s trending topics are always “boring” and focused on him, instead of exciting things like “scandals” and “affairs.”
Joe Biden is closing his presidential campaign in much the same manner that he started it: by arguing this election represents a “battle for the soul of the nation.”
“The character of America is literally on the ballot,” the Democratic nominee said at his drive-in rally in Cleveland. “It’s time to take back our democracy.”
Continue reading...Global coronavirus report: WHO chief self-isolates as Germany starts ‘wave breaker’ lockdown
New restrictions have begun across Europe, many greeted by protests
The head of the World Health Organization has gone into self-quarantine after someone he had been in contact with tested positive for Covid-19.
With the virus again spreading rapidly across Europe and elsewhere, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is based in Geneva, made the announcement by Twitter late on Sunday night, but stressed he had no symptoms.
Continue reading...Which swing states could decide the US election? – video explainer
Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump in the national polls for the presidential election, but that doesn’t guarantee the Democratic candidate victory. Hillary Clinton also had a clear lead over Trump in the polls for almost the entire 2016 campaign and ended up losing in the electoral college.
Because the presidential voting system assigns each state a number of electoral college votes, which go to the state’s victor regardless of the margin of victory (with the exception of Nebraska and Maine), a handful of swing states will probably decide the election and be targeted heavily by campaigners.
The Guardian’s Lauren Gambino examines how the race is developing in the areas that could decide the election
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: WHO chief Tedros in quarantine as global deaths near 1.2m
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus a contact of confirmed Covid case; Brexit party to rebrand as ‘anti-lockdown’ party; Prince William tested positive in April – reports. Follow the latest updates
- Global deaths near 1.2m
- ‘Whole lot of hurt’: Fauci angers White House with grim outlook
- Spain’s PM calls for calm after violent anti-lockdown protests
- Frustration and infections in Naples as second lockdown looms
- Half of Slovakia’s population tested for Covid in one day
US president Donald Trump is currently speaking past a coronavirus curfew intended to mitigate infections in Florida, as he hosts a rally in Miami-Dade county.
The county has a nightly curfew that comes into effect at midnight. But Trump’s rally is still going on past the witching hour, with thousands of supporters in attendance.
With 25 mins left til Miami-Dade’s midnight curfew goes into effect, Pres. Trump has landed in Opa-Locka. pic.twitter.com/mZtoX6LcwO
“Is there any place you would rather be than a Trump rally? We got a lot of rich people here, lotta money,” says Trump at his rally that is now breaking Miami-Dade curfew.
In Serbia, huge crowds have attended the funeral for the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro in violation of coronavirus-fighting restrictions.
Associated Press report that thousands gathered outside the main temple in the capital, Podgorica, for the liturgy and the burial of Bishop Amfilohije. Authorities said the bishop died Friday after contracting the virus weeks ago.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Germany goes into ‘lockdown light’ mode; global deaths pass 1.2m
Germans told to prepare for ‘months of restrictions and abstinence’; South Korea to fine people without masks; global coronavirus deaths pass 1.2m
- Latest coronavirus lockdowns spark protests across Europe
- Slovakia carries out mass testing of two-thirds of population
- WHO chief Tedros in isolation after contact with positive case
- Donald Trump threatens to fire Anthony Fauci after US election
- UK coronavirus updates – live
Governments in Europe face a “very, very difficult situation” in controlling rising numbers of Covid-19 cases as their citizens grow weary with renewed restrictions on daily life, the World Health Organization’s top emergencies expert said.
“Clearly people are frustrated, and have every right to be frustrated, and they are fatigued,” Mike Ryan told a regular WHO news briefing in Geneva.
Footage of a pianist in Barcelona playing a rendition of the Bangles’ hit Eternal Flame amid the sound of explosions, wailing sirens and protesters has gone viral on social media.
Peter William Geddes, who was playing in Plaça Nova on 31 October, said as the violence escalated in the background he felt peaceful: “When I play I am very calm. No nerves.”
Continue reading...Positively shocking: Trump’s boasts of help from Sean Connery fall apart
President claimed Bond actor helped him get planning permission for Scottish resort
It was less licence to kill and more dramatic licence. Donald Trump’s claim that the late Sean Connery assisted him in getting planning applications passed in Scotland fell apart quickly on Sunday when the chair of the planning committee said the James Bond star was not involved.
In a series of tweets, two days prior to the US election, Trump paid tribute to Connery, saying he was “highly regarded and respected in Scotland and beyond”. It was announced on Saturday the James Bond actor had died aged 90.
Continue reading...North Carolina police pepper spray protesters at get-out-the-vote march
- ‘We are fed up with this kind of treatment in Alamance county’
- Police claim protesters blocked roadway without authorization
North Carolina police pepper sprayed and arrested attendees at a get-out-the vote rally because participants blocked the roadway without authorization, authorities said on Saturday.
The “I Am Change” march to the polls was organized by the Reverend Greg Drumwright and began as a march from a local church to the courthouse. Drumwright said the group was permitted to stand in the square outside the Alamance county courthouse and was escorted through the streets by the police. He also said that the group had “no intention” of having the rally in the street.
Continue reading...US election 2020: Trump campaigning in five states as Biden heads to Philadelphia – live updates
- President visits Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida
- Biden targets Pennsylvania, Harris will be in Georgia and North Carolina
- Obama lends hand as Biden and Trump launch final campaign blitz
- Joe Biden: campaign that came close to folding now on verge of victory
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
Jim VandeHei brings us his zen-like plans for having a calm and relaxing election night on Axios. His key points include:
One notable feature of the campaign has been several publications breaking with tradition to either back a Democratic nominee when you usually expect them to lean to the Republican ticket – or to indeed make presidential endorsements when they usually don’t. But the Trump campaign are making a lot of noise this morning about the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette opting for a Republican for the first time since 1972.
This newspaper has not supported a Republican for president since 1972. But we believe President Trump, for all his faults, is the better choice this year.
Via @pgopinions https://t.co/dZYEQp3pGY
We share the embarrassment of millions of Americans who are disturbed by the president’s unpresidential manners and character — his rudeness and put-downs and bragging and bending of the truth.
None of this can be justified. The president’s behavior often has diminished his presidency, and the presidency. Most Americans want a president who makes them proud.
The Biden-Harris ticket offers us higher taxes and a nanny state that will bow to the bullies and the woke who would tear down history rather than learning from history and building up the country.
It offers an end to fracking and other Cuckoo California dreams that will cost the economy and the people who most need work right now. “Good-paying green jobs” are probably not jobs for Pittsburgh, or Cleveland, or Toledo, or Youngstown.
Continue reading...FBI confirms it is investigating Biden bus incident – live updates
- President visits Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida
- Biden targets Pennsylvania, Harris will be in Georgia and North Carolina
- FBI confirms it is investigating Biden bus incident
- Trump says he is preparing for legal challenges to vote counts as final sprint begins
- Obama lends hand as Biden and Trump launch final campaign blitz
- Joe Biden: campaign that came close to folding now on verge of victory
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
Trump again defending his supporters who surrounded the moving Biden campaign bus: "They escorted the bus. And the radical left said 'oh what a horrible thing that is, to escort the bus.'" He says they're just people with an American flag and a Trump flag.
As trump criticised the US top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci, the crowd began to chant, “Fire Fauci! Fire Fauci!”.
Trump responded: “Don’t tell anybody, but let me wait ‘til a little bit after the election, please. I appreciate the advice.”
Continue reading...‘A whole lot of hurt’: Fauci angers Trump White House with dark Covid outlook
- Top expert says Biden taking pandemic ‘seriously’
- Spokesman for president accuses doctor of political bias
- Swing-state health workers organize in bid to beat Trump
The US is “in for a whole lot of hurt” under the coronavirus pandemic, senior public health expert Anthony Fauci said, predicting a winter of 100,000 or more cases a day and a rising death toll.
Related: Wisconsin battles rapid rise in Covid cases amid partisan disputes over safety
Continue reading...Trump finds unlikely backers in prominent pro-democracy Asian figures
Hong Kong tycoon and dissidents praise US president’s hardline approach towards China but others dispute its authenticity
Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong media tycoon and one of the most prominent pro-democracy figures in the city, waded into the US election in its final days, with an enthusiastic endorsement of the incumbent in his Apple Daily newspaper.
“I find a stronger sense of security in [Donald] Trump,” he wrote in an editorial that praised the US president for his “hardline” approach to Beijing.
Continue reading...