Category Archives: US News

Trump First now drives US foreign policy. Even if it leads to war…

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The president’s baiting of China and Iran and shabby deals in the Gulf show he will risk almost anything to win re-election

It’s clear Donald Trump will do almost anything to cling to office. Lie about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish? Go for it. Label Joe Biden a radical socialist? Silly, but worth a punt. Start a war with China or Iran? Pause right there. This is not beyond the realms of possibility, given his pathological need to win.

As November’s poll nears, Trump is weaponising foreign policy – not to defend US security and national interests, but to help him grab a second term. It’s not about putting “America First”. It’s all about putting “Trump First” – by any dangerous means, and at any cost.

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The Florida patrol attempting to enforce a loosened mask mandate

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A Key West team is expected to enforce a new mandate allowing people to go maskless outdoors if they are 6ft apart – an impossible task among partygoers

Key West code enforcement officer Paul Navarro was halfway through his shift and beginning to see signs of trouble. The crowds on lower Duval Street swelled just after 9pm, and social distancing quickly became impossible on the sidewalks.

Navarro is the last line of defense against the high-risk behaviors which spread Covid-19 and is one of the principal enforcers of the Florida city’s mask mandate – an effort to protect public health and the local economy. Until 16 September part of that balancing act had included a strict mask mandate, now that rule has been loosened.

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Trump names Amy Coney Barrett for supreme court, stoking liberal backlash

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Donald Trump’s pick for America’s highest court, Amy Coney Barrett, is an “ideological fanatic” who threatens abortion rights, healthcare and the environment, activists warned on Saturday, before Trump unveiled his third supreme court nominee in the White House Rose Garden.

Related: 'Not special any more': how the Senate has failed the American people

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Trump nominates Amy Coney Barrett to supreme court – live

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A quick glance at the guest list for Amy Comey Barrett’s nomination ceremony today makes troubling reading. Among the guests were representatives from Judicial Watch, which has described climate science as a “fraud”; the Heritage Foundation (which has also pushed back against climate science); and the Family Research Council (which has opposed abortion, divorce and LGBT rights).

Attendees at Trump's SCOTUS nomination of Amy Coney Barrett:
•Judicial Crisis Network's Carrie Severino
Heritage Foundation's Kay Cole James
•Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton
•Family Research Council's Tony Perkins
•Cleta Mitchell—a lawyer tied to many GOP 'dark money' nonprofits https://t.co/q5BzTkPBs9

Now that Amy Coney Barrett has been nominated for the supreme court, the senate hearings are likely to last from 12-15 October. And, as is more than likely, she will be confirmed by the Republican-held Senate by 29 October, well before the 3 November elections.

Donald Trump’s rival for the presidency, Joe Biden, has issued a statement saying the process should be delayed until after the election.

Election Day is just weeks away, and millions of Americans are already voting because the stakes in this election could not be higher. They feel the urgency of this choice – an urgency made all the more acute by what’s at stake at the U.S. Supreme Court.

They are voting because their health care hangs in the balance. They are voting because they worry about losing their right to vote or being expelled from the only country they have ever known. They are voting right now because they fear losing their collective bargaining rights. They are voting to demand that equal justice be guaranteed for all. They are voting because they don’t want Roe v. Wade, which has been the law of the land for nearly half a century, to be overturned.

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Trump’s public lands chief axed after court rules he was serving unlawfully

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William Perry Pendley not confirmed by Senate to role as acting Bureau of Land Management director, as required by constitution

A federal judge has ruled that a controversial Trump official who has overseen a vast weakening of public lands protections cannot continue in his position since he has not been approved by the Senate.

Related: Donald Trump set to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to supreme court – live

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Texas residents warned of tap water tainted with brain-eating microbe

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  • Communities around Houston are potentially contaminated
  • Naegleria fowleri enters body through nose, travels to brain

Texas officials have warned residents of some communities near Houston to stop using tap water because it might be tainted with a deadly brain-eating microbe.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality warned the Brazosport Water Authority late on Friday of the potential contamination of its water supply by naegleria fowleri.

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A photo essay: the capital mourns a week after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death

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Admirers gather in Washington DC as the justice becomes the first woman to lie in state at the US capitol. Photos by Lexey Swall

On Friday, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the first woman in American history to lie in state in the US Capitol, 168 years after the first man to do so.

The mood in the capital was somber and reverential. In the late supreme court justice, the city had not only lost an icon but “a 40-year resident, a meticulous, familiar, and revered part of the daily landscape”, according to DCist.

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Reporter lost International Women of Courage award for criticising Trump

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  • Jessikka Aro was to receive recognition in March 2019
  • Senator says administration ‘sought to stifle dissent’

The US state department “owes an apology” to a Finnish journalist who saw the International Women of Courage Award, bestowed in part for her work on Russia, taken away because she criticised Donald Trump on social media, a prominent senator said.

Related: Trump's public lands chief axed after court rules he was serving unlawfully

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Coronavirus live news: France sees 14,000 new cases; police clash with anti-lockdown protesters in London

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France’s total cases now 527,446; London mayor condemns ‘unacceptable’ demonstration. Follow all the developments live

Coronavirus cases in Colombia, which is nearly a month into a national reopening after a long quarantine, surpassed 800,000 on Saturday, a day after deaths from Covid-19 climbed above 25,000.

The country has 806,038 confirmed cases of the virus according to the health ministry, with 25,296 reported deaths. Active cases number 78,956.

Queen Elizabeth II will recognise the work of hundreds of doctors, nurses, fundraisers and volunteers during the pandemic when the her annual birthday honours list is published next month.

The list, which was due to be published in June, was postponed in order to add nominations for people playing key roles in the early months of the outbreak. It will be released on 10 October.

We all have to play our part, but the dedication, courage and compassion seen from these recipients, be it responding on the frontline or out in their communities providing support to the most vulnerable, is an inspiration to us all.

We owe them a debt of gratitude and the 2020 Queen’s Birthday honours will be the first of many occasions where we can thank them as a nation.

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‘We are never safe’: Breonna Taylor’s family condemns Louisville police as protests enter third night

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Family expresses anger and disappointment after jury decided not to charge officers directly for killing of 26-year-old medical worker

Breonna Taylor’s family spoke out for the first time since a grand jury in Kentucky announced that it had decided not to charge three police officers directly in the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker in March.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, on Friday attended a press conference at a downtown Louisville park that has become a focus for protests and a makeshift memorial to Taylor, who was shot dead in her apartment after police barged in and fired a hail of bullets during a botched investigation.

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California braces for dangerous heat as wildfire battle continues

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Triple-digit temperatures could spark new fires just a few weeks after a record heatwave

California is bracing for another dangerously warm weekend, with dry winds, parched vegetation, and triple-digit temperatures threatening to ignite new fires and complicating containment efforts in an embattled state.

With only a few weeks’ reprieve after a record heatwave in early September, firefighters have made progress in containing the dozens of blazes tearing across the region. But fatigued crews – many of whom have spent weeks fighting on the frontline – are preparing for a potentially rough week ahead.

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Donald Trump jokes about staying in power for ’12 more years’ at Atlanta rally – video

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Donald Trump made light of fears he will not accept the result of the election if he loses to Joe Biden in November. 'Will we be president in 10 years?' he asked, before claiming he was joking.

'You know, you can't joke,' he told supporters in Atlanta. '[The media] always cut it before the laugh so they think he's serious.'

The crowd then chanted '12 more years!' to laughter from the president.

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Donald Trump to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to supreme court, reports say

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President expected to announce pick to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Saturday, setting stage for rightward shift

Donald Trump is planning to name Amy Coney Barrett as his pick to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the supreme court on Saturday, according to multiple reports.

Related: Ruth Bader Ginsburg becomes first woman to lie in state in US Capitol

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‘I hope you never know the pain’: Breonna Taylor’s family condemn Louisville police – video

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The family of Breonna Taylor heavily criticised Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s attorney general, after a grand jury decided not to charge three police officers directly in the killing of the 26-year-old medical worker.

'I am an angry black woman,' Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, said in a statement read by her sister, Bianca Austin. 'Angry because our black women keep dying at the hands of police officers'.

The family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, called on Cameron to release the transcripts of the grand jury.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s personal trainer performs push-ups in front of casket – video

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Bryant Johnson, the trainer who led Ruth Bader Ginsburg through her well-documented workout regime, paid his respects by performing three press-ups as she lay in state at the US Capitol. Ginsburg, who died on 18 September, is the first woman and the first Jewish person to receive the honour

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US military increasingly using drone missile with flying blades in Syria

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‘Ninja bomb’, which uses 100lb of dense material and six attached blades, has been deployed in targeted assassinations

The US military is making increasing use in Syria of a gruesome and secretive non-explosive drone missile that deploys flying blades to kill its targets.

Described as less likely to kill non-combatants, the so-called ninja bomb – whose development was first disclosed last year – has been used a number of times in the last year to kill militants in Syria, including those linked to aal-Qaida, most recently earlier this month.

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Coronavirus live news: full lockdown recommended for Madrid; new record cases in Netherlands

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Spanish government calls for Madrid lockdown; Netherlands records worst day for new cases; cases in Reykjavík linked to two French visitors

The UK government has been continuing to source medical gloves used as PPE by frontline healthcare workers from a manufacturer in Malaysia repeatedly accused of forcing its workers to endure “slave-like conditions” in its factories, the Guardian can reveal.

Top Glove, the world’s biggest producer of rubber medical gloves, has faced multiple allegations of exploitation from migrant workers mostly from Bangladesh and Nepal.

Related: NHS sourcing PPE from company repeatedly accused of forced labour

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

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Breonna Taylor’s family to speak after second night of protests for justice – live

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This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows attacked FBI Director Christopher Wray for not backing up Trump’s baseless claims about voter fraid.

With all due respect to Director Wray, he has a hard time finding emails in his own FBI, let alone figuring out whether there's any kind of voter fraud.” — White House Chief of Staff @MarkMeadows on FBI Dir. Christopher Wray saying he's seen no evidence of widespread voter fraud pic.twitter.com/W5PUfpnWCn

Tom McCarthy reports for us on how attorney general William Barr appears to see himself locked in a historic struggle against literal evil, and he appears to regard the upcoming election as the climactic battle.

To some observers, the attorney general appears to have also laid the groundwork for a further alarming step, one that would answer the question of what action the Trump administration is prepared to take if a contested election in November gives rise to large new protests.

In order for Trump to steal the election and then quell mass demonstrations – for that is the nature of the nightmare scenario now up for open discussion among current and former officials, academics, thinktankers and a lot of other people – Trump must be able to manipulate both the levers of the law and its physical enforcement.

Related: 'His abuses have escalated': Barr's kinship with Trump fuels election fears

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Netflix faces call to rethink Liu Cixin adaptation after his Uighur comments

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Five US senators have written to question plans to adapt The Three-Body Problem after its author voiced support for China’s mass internments in Xinjiang

Five Republican US senators have asked Netflix to reconsider its plans to adapt the bestselling Chinese author Liu Cixin’s book The Three-Body Problem, citing Liu’s comments in support of the Chinese government’s treatment of Uighur Muslims.

In a letter to Netflix, the senators said they had “significant concerns with Netflix’s decision to do business with an individual who is parroting dangerous CCP propaganda”. The letter cites Liu’s interview with the New Yorker last year, in which the Chinese novelist was asked about the mass internment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.

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