Thousands of members of Georgia's black community have come out to vote early in the US election, enduring long lines and hours of waiting. Many acknowledged they could have voted by mail or returned to a polling place at a different time, but with no expectation of voting becoming easier in the weeks to come, they saw waiting as a necessary step. 'I wanted to make sure that my vote was counted,' Wilbart McCoy said as he queued to cast his ballot. 'The suspicions, or the alleged suspicions around mail-in voting, we never had those before but it pushed me to come out early'
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Amy Coney Barrett refuses to tell Kamala Harris if she thinks climate change is happening – video
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris has continued to grill supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on a range of issues, including climate change and racial discrimination in the US. Harris pressed Barrett on whether she believed coronavirus was infectious, smoking caused cancer and climate change was happening. Barrett avoided answering directly to a number of issues during the questioning, including one from Democratic senator Cory Booker on whether it was wrong to separate children from their parents to deter immigrants coming to the US
Continue reading...Democrats are resigned to losing the supreme court battle – but set on winning the war
Amy Coney Barrett’s supreme court confirmation hearings bring few surprises – with occasional glimpses of truth
It was the five-hour mark when the tech gods finally pulled the plug.
As Senator Richard Blumenthal started questioning supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, the Senate’s audio system crashed and her words floated away on the air.
Continue reading...Amy Coney Barrett hearing: top Republican praises judge for being ‘unashamedly pro-life’ – live
- Lindsey Graham lavishes praise on supreme court nominee
- Barron Trump had coronavirus, first lady reveals
- Barrett dodges abortion and healthcare questions
- Trump and Biden offer different visions of US role in world
- Trump in trouble as Florida’s seniors shift towards Biden
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
Harris took up questioning Barrett on climate change.
Harris: Do you think COVID-19 is infectious?
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Continue reading...Record turnout as Americans endure long waits to vote early in 2020 election
A ‘pretty staggering’ 14 million Americans have already voted in the general election, according to an analysis
As voters turn out in record numbers to choose between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Americans continued to endure hours-long waits to vote early.
A record of 14 million Americans have already voted in the general election, according to an analysis of voting information from the US Elections Project. In key swing states such as Florida more than 2 million voters have already cast their ballots.
Continue reading...Amy Coney Barrett faith group would expel members over gay sex, leader said
People of Praise head Craig Lent made comment in 2018 as Barrett says she would never discriminate over sexual orientation
The Christian community where Amy Coney Barrett has previously served as a female leader – or handmaid – expels members who engage in gay sex, according to a 2018 interview with Craig Lent, the group’s current head.
Related: Amy Coney Barrett hearing: top Republican praises judge for being 'unashamedly pro-life' – live
Continue reading...Amy Cooper made second call claiming black birdwatcher tried to assault her
- Cooper in court after altercation in New York’s Central Park
- Prosecutors aim to deter others from ‘this racist practice’
Amy Cooper, the white woman charged with filing a false police report for calling 911 during a videotaped dispute with a black birdwatcher in New York’s Central Park, made a second, previously undisclosed, emergency call in which she added that the man had tried to assault her, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance called Cooper’s complaints a hoax and noted it was lucky that no one had been injured or killed that day as a result.
Continue reading...Trump and Biden offer starkly different visions of US role in world
The world is anxiously watching the election, with the candidates far apart on issues such as the climate crisis and nuclear weapons
Foreign policy barely gets a mention in this US election, but for the rest of the world the outcome on 3 November will arguably be the most consequential in history.
All US elections have a global impact, but this time there are two issues of existential importance to the planet – the climate crisis and nuclear proliferation – on which the two presidential candidates could hardly be further apart.
Continue reading...Canada’s last intact ice shelf broke off. It took our research station with it
Researchers studying the area in the Arctic for years describe the day of the calving event – and where they go from here
In August, Adrienne White – an ice analyst at the Canadian Ice Service who monitors the Canadian Arctic for changes in sea ice – was reviewing satellite imagery when she spotted something remarkable. The enormous Milne ice shelf, which was the last intact ice shelf in Canada and which White had studied closely before as a PhD student, was dissolving.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: France brings in 9pm curfew for Paris region and eight other cities
Public heath emergency declared in France; Italy sees 7,332 new cases; record new daily infections in Portugal, Switzerland, Iran and Russia
- French cities given curfew; Italy breaks March record
- Iran at breaking point as it fights third wave
- Students to replace older teachers in Moscow amid record infections
- Berlin gives middle finger to anti-maskers in tourism agency ad
- UK coronavirus – live updates
The German chancellor Angela Merkel urged young people to do their part to halt the spread of the coronavirus after private parties were repeatedly blamed for localised outbreaks in German cities.
“We must call especially on young people to do without a few parties now in order to have a good life tomorrow or the day after,” Merkel said at a news conference after agreeing additional measures against coronavirus with the heads of Germany’s 16 states.
Ireland’s government moved three counties on its open border with Northern Ireland - Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan - to Level 4 of its five-step framework of Covid-19 constraints and banned almost all visits to homes across the country.
Northern Ireland announced the strictest curbs seen in the UK since early summer on Wednesday in response to a rapid rise in cases that the Irish prime minister Micheal Martin described as “hugely worrying.”
Continue reading...Nuclear arms talks spiral into confusion as Russia rejects US ‘delusion’
Top US negotiator claimed there was ‘an agreement in principle’ between Trump and Putin
US-Russian arms control talks have sunk into confusion after the top American negotiator claimed there was “an agreement in principle” between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, a claim Moscow quickly rejected as a “delusion”.
Marshall Billingslea, the US special envoy for arms control, said he had flown to Helsinki on Monday to meet the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, on the understanding that there could be an imminent breakthrough in discussions on whether to extend the 2010 New Start treaty, which limits the number of deployed strategic warheads on either side, and which expires in February.
Continue reading...Amy Coney Barrett dodges abortion, healthcare and election law questions
- Democrats press supreme court nominee with little success
- Barrett argues she is not a pundit, on second day of hearings
- US politics – live coverage
On the second day of hearings before the Senate judiciary committee, Democrats pressed supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on healthcare, election law and abortion rights – and met with little success.
Related: 'Slayer Pete': Buttigieg emerges as Biden's unlikely Fox News fighter
Continue reading...Ghislaine Maxwell lawyers attempt to keep deposition details secret
Lawyers say unsealing details related to Maxwell’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein will undermine her right to a fair trial
A lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell appeared remotely before three New York federal appeals court judges on Tuesday afternoon, in an attempt to keep under wraps a deposition from past civil litigation regarding her relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The British socialite is urging the US second circuit court of appeals to overturn Manhattan federal court judge Loretta Preska’s July decision to unseal the 418-page deposition.
Continue reading...Biden leads Trump by 17 points as election race enters final stage
- Opinium/Guardian poll finds Biden ahead by 57-40 margin
- Biden leads on healthcare, the economy and race relations
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s lead over Donald Trump has surged to a record 17 points as the US election enters its final sprint, an Opinium Research and Guardian opinion poll shows.
Related: Amy Coney Barrett faces questions on legal record as nomination hearings continue – live
Continue reading...Senators stir ghosts of Scalia and Ginsburg for Amy Coney Barrett hearing
Amid talk of originalism, harking to a time when only white men with property could vote, Republican ears pricked up
Depending on your point of view, the woman seated before the Senate judiciary committee for her first day of questioning was either the female Scalia or the anti-RBG. Or maybe, of course, both.
Related: Amy Coney Barrett dodges abortion, healthcare and election law questions
Continue reading...Apple unveils new 5G iPhone 12 line in multiple sizes
New designs and cameras revealed alongside smaller HomePod smart speaker
Apple has unveiled its delayed iPhone 12 line of smartphones in a range of sizes with new designs and 5G connectivity.
Unveiled as part of a online-only event, which was pushed back by more than a month due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the new iPhones mark some of the biggest changes to Apple’s smartphones since the iPhone X in 2017.
Continue reading...Far-right plotters ‘discussed kidnapping Virginia governor Ralph Northam’
- FBI agent makes claim in Michigan court hearing testimony
- Six men were charged with plot to kidnap Michigan governor
Members of anti-government paramilitary groups discussed kidnapping Virginia governor Ralph Northam during a June meeting in Ohio, an FBI agent testified on Tuesday during a court hearing for a group of men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor.
Related: How the domestic terror plot to kidnap Michigan's governor unravelled
Continue reading...Amy Coney Barrett hearings continue as Trump heads to Pennsylvania rally – US politics live
- Barrett supreme court hearing sets stage for partisan clash
- Hearing kicks off with hypocrisy and healthcare
- Trump holds packed Florida rally as he struggles in polls
- Biden sets out economic message in Ohio campaign trip
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
Speaking of the coronavirus relief bill, it cropped up as a topic in the TV debate between Mitch McConnell and Amy McGrath who are contesting a Kentucky Senate seat in November, and the Republican senate majority leader attempted to laugh off the criticism. Martin Pengelly in New York writes:
“The House passed a bill in May and this Senate went on vacation,” McGrath said.
As McConnell chuckled, she continued: “I mean, you just don’t do that. You negotiate. Senator, it is a national crisis, you knew that the coronavirus wasn’t gonna end at the end of July. We knew that.”
Related: Mitch McConnell laughs at criticism over Congress Covid relief failure
Republicans should be strongly focused on completing a wonderful stimulus package for the American People!
...request, and looking to the future of our Country. I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business. I have asked...
OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE. Thank you!
It’s been a Republican campaign mantra to keep pushing for Joe Biden to answer the question of whether he would ‘pack the court’ if he were to be elected in November.
Biden has refused to rule it out, although last night in Cincinnati he said “I’m not a fan of court packing.”
Related: Biden campaigns in red state Ohio, hoping to expand battleground map
Continue reading...Amy Coney Barrett faces questions on legal record as nomination hearings continue – live
- First of two days of questioning for Barrett begins
- What Barrett’s likely confirmation means
- Pete Buttigieg emerges as Biden’s unlikely Fox News fighter
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
One other extraordinary dodge today: Barrett said that while she has “read things about climate change”, she does not have “firm views on it”.
Amy Coney Barrett tells Sen. Kennedy: “I have read things about climate change. I would not say I have firm views on it.” pic.twitter.com/kG3cv8XN5Q
The day was characterized by Barrett dodging questions on abortion, voting rights, the Affordable Care Act, and the presidential transfer of power.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Russia reports record daily cases and deaths; Netherlands set for new restrictions
Russia sees 13,868 cases and 244 deaths in 24 hours; Netherlands to announce new measures Johnson & Johnson confirms pause in vaccine trial
- White House doctor says US President has tested negative for Covid
- Covid in Europe: second wave gathers pace across continent
- Trump holds packed rally after Covid diagnosis as he struggles in polls
- Anthony Fauci criticises Trump for using his words out of context
- Boris Johnson unveils three-tier Covid restrictions for England
More than 2 million people who shielded during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in the UK have been given new advice on what to do depending on the Covid alert level in their area.
The government has said:
Related: UK government issues new guidance for coronavirus shielders
Germany must agree on nationwide rules to contain the spread of the coronavirus and prevent infections from getting out of control, the premier of Bavaria said on Tuesday.
Reuters reports:
Speaking ahead of a meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states on Wednesday, Markus Soeder said the next four weeks would be crucial for whether Germans could celebrate a relaxed Christmas.
“We must now set the course jointly, otherwise there is a danger that it could get out of control,” he told a news conference following a meeting of Bavaria’s cabinet.
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