Why the UN’s 75th general assembly could be worse than the world’s worst Zoom meeting

The worst parts of UN events will be on display, the endless speechifying first among them, but none of what normally makes the general assembly indispensable

It has been billed as the world’s worst Zoom meeting, but the United Nations’ 75th general assembly could be even worse than that.

It is called the “general debate” but, unlike a Zoom meeting, there will be no discussion – just a week-long procession of pre-recorded video messages from the world’s leaders, stating their positions, very much with their domestic audience in mind. They were supposed to have sent their videos at the end of last week. As of Monday, only half had been turned in.

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Joe Biden blames Trump’s ‘lies and incompetence’ for coronavirus death toll – video

Joe Biden said Donald Trump's 'lies and incompetence' since the start of the coronavirus pandemic had led to the 'one of the greatest losses in American history' as he spoke at an aluminum plant in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

The Democratic presidential nominee noted the country was about to hit the 'tragic milestone' of recording 200,000 deaths from Covid-19, adding that number represented many 'empty chairs' for families who had lost loved ones to the virus

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Trump says he wants supreme court seat filled ‘before the election’ – live

Hello! Kari Paul here in California taking over for the next few hours. Stay tuned for updates.

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague. Kari Paul, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

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NYPD officer charged with spying on Tibetan immigrants for China

Baimadajie Angwang’s job was to ‘locate potential intelligence sources’ and ‘identify potential threats’, court papers say

A New York City police officer has been charged with spying on Tibetan immigrants in the United States as an “intelligence asset” for the Chinese government.

A criminal complaint filed on Monday in Brooklyn federal court accuses Baimadajie Angwang of working as an agent for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It says he was secretly supervised by handlers from the Chinese consulate in New York.

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Woman suspected of sending ricin to White House is arrested at Canada border

Woman is also suspected of sending five similar poisoned envelopes to law enforcement agencies in Texas

A woman suspected of sending an envelope containing the poison ricin to the White House, has been arrested at the New York-Canada border and is also suspected of sending five similar poisoned envelopes to law enforcement agencies in Texas.

The letter was intercepted earlier this week before it reached the White House.

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Revealed: evidence shows huge mail slowdowns after Trump ally took over

Louis DeJoy’s policies, which he said were intended to boost efficiency, led to widespread outcry this summer

The United States Postal Service (USPS) saw a severe decline in the rate of on-time delivery of first-class mail after Louis DeJoy took over as postmaster general, according to new data obtained by the Guardian that provides some of the most detailed insight yet into widespread mail delays this summer.

Related: Trump doesn’t seem to understand how voting works. Here’s what you need to know

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Meet the doomers: why some young US voters have given up hope on climate

Politically active young people are often championed as the Earth’s great hope to reverse the climate crisis – but many believe we’ve already passed the tipping point

When Siddharth Namachivayam casts a ballot in Colorado this fall, he’ll forego Democratic nominee Joe Biden, whom he sees as just a “Band-Aid,” and instead support the longshot Green party candidate focused on climate action.

“I guess, yeah, it’d be marginally better if Biden was president, but I don’t think Biden being president is more important than the Green party growing in the next couple of years,” Namachivayam says.

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Coronavirus live news: UK at ‘critical point’ in pandemic as US nears 200,000 deaths

England’s chief medical officer to warn of a ‘very challenging winter’; more than one in five Covid-19 deaths globally is in US; Lebanon sees record case rise. Follow the latest updates

The UK government has warned of six more months of “very difficult” lockdown restrictions, amid a continuing rise in infections, the Times reports this morning.

According to the paper, the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, is expected to announce new movement curbs in the coming days, although there is said be a split among members of his cabinet over how extensive these should be, with the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is resisting a full shutdown of the hospitality sector.

The Times: Covid curbs will last for six months, No 10 warns pic.twitter.com/tLa5x8Deya

The UK is at a “critical moment” and if people fail to follow coronavirus rules “we’re going to end up back in situations we don’t want to be in,” a senior government minister warned in a broadcast interview this morning.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, told Sky News:

We’re certainly at a critical moment this morning.

It is clear we’re just a few weeks behind what we’re seeing elsewhere in Europe.

.@grantshapps says it's important the public adhere to the new social distancing rules as #COVID19 'hospital admissions are creeping up'.

The transport sec says "deaths haven't gone up as yet" but the govt is expecting it to do so like Spain.#KayBurley: https://t.co/smsK11yuT6 pic.twitter.com/tOodnaTlsB

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Coronavirus live news: Iran sees highest daily cases since June; US approaches 200,000 Covid deaths

177 people died with Covid in Iran yesterday; Czech health minister quits as cases rise; more than one in five Covid deaths globally is in US

A federal judge in South Carolina has struck down a rule requiring mail-in absentee ballots to be signed by witnesses for the upcoming November election, citing the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a ruling on Friday, US district court judge J. Michelle Childs ordered the state Election Commission to immediately inform voters about the removal of the requirement.

The latest Guardian editorial, on the UK facing its second wave of coronavirus:

The United Kingdom is facing a Covid calamity, and it is a situation that was made in Downing Street. Infections and hospital admissions are rising rapidly.

An exponentially growing epidemic is outpacing the rate at which the testing regime is expanding, meaning that it is not possible to properly track the spread of the disease.

Related: The Guardian view on the Covid crisis: Boris Johnson let it happen

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Global report: US Covid deaths near 200,000 as UK ‘heads in wrong direction’

Israeli protesters return despite lockdown; Australian state of Victoria reports fewest infections in three months; New Zealand eases restrictions

The US is nearing the stark milestone of 200,000 deaths, nine months after the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, as cases in the UK rose to a four-month high and Europe continued to see rising infections.

The number of deaths in the US, the highest in the world, stood at 199,509 on the Johns Hopkins University tracker on Monday morning, roughly a fifth of the global total. Nearly 6.8m of the world’s 30.1m infections are in the US.

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‘I picked up a drink and casually set fire to my life’: how addiction nearly destroyed me

Find a job, lose the job, go to jail: Guardian reporter Mario Koran found himself in a dangerous cycle. But behind bars, he discovered a new purpose

In July 2016, I stood behind a podium in a San Diego banquet hall and wept in front of a room full of reporters. I’d just been named the city’s journalist of the year for my work on a series that helped unseat a school board president and led to a criminal conviction.

I had reached a peak: I had a meaningful job in a postcard-perfect beach city. A wife I loved, a gorgeous baby girl and another on the way. Most everywhere I went, people told me I had a beautiful family, and I knew it was true.

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ByteDance to float TikTok Global to allay transparency fears

Parent company ByteDance, under pressure in China not to give in to US demands, said the plan ‘does not involve the transfer of any algorithms’

A new company set up to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States plans to float on the stock market in an effort to increase transparency and show the Trump administration that it will adhere to regulatory oversight.

TikTok Global plans to hold a public listing, its Chinese parent company ByteDance said Monday, after announcing a deal over the weekend that would avert a shutdown of the popular app in the US.

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Watchmen, Succession and Schitt’s Creek dominate virtual Emmys

The most diverse field in Emmys history garnered several awards for black actors and a full sweep for a Canadian sitcom

It was uncharted waters for the 72nd Emmy awards – the first major acting awards show held since the pandemic began, a strange and subdued ceremony in which stars accepted awards on Zoom. But unwelcome new methods (the telecast required more than 100 live feeds), and the end of former Emmys juggernauts Game of Thrones and Veep, ushered in a celebration of new series and talent: Canadian comedy Schitt’s Creek swept the comedy awards, HBO’s Succession dominated in drama and the evening’s most-nominated show, HBO’s prescient, eerie Watchmen, cleaned up in the limited series category.

Related: Emmy winners 2020: the full list

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Some wipeout: Hawaii big wave surfer’s board floats 8,000km to Philippines

More than two years after disappearing in a huge swell at Waimea Bay, Doug Falter’s board was found near the remote island of Sarangani

When big wave surfer Doug Falter lost his board in a wipeout in Hawaii, his best hope was for a local fisherman to pick it up. He never imagined it would be found more than 8,000km (5,000 miles) away in the southern Philippines.

But more than two years after watching his pale blue custom-shaped board disappear in the huge swell of Waimea Bay, Falter was alerted via social media that it had been found near the remote island of Sarangani.

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Supreme court: Biden accuses Trump and Republicans of abuse of power

Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, made an urgent plea on Sunday to the conscience of Senate Republicans, asking them to defy Donald Trump and refuse to ram through his nominee to the supreme court before the November election.

Related: Rushing to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, McConnell shows power trumps principle | Robert Reich

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Leak reveals $2tn of possibly corrupt US financial activity

Among those named in reports is Paul Manafort, former political strategist for Donald Trump

Thousands of documents detailing $2 trillion (£1.55tn) of potentially corrupt transactions that were washed through the US financial system have been leaked to an international group of investigative journalists.

The leak focuses on more than 2,000 suspicious activity reports (SARs) filed with the US government’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Republicans and Democrats draw battle lines over replacement – video

A further feud has emerged just weeks before the US election after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Donald Trump is advocating that the seat be filled with a ‘very brilliant’ woman as soon as possible. However, Democrats are rallying in an attempt to prevent Trump filling the seat until after the election. Joe Biden and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have said Republicans should follow the precedent that GOP legislators set in 2016 by refusing to consider a supreme court choice in the run-up to an election. If the Republicans were to get their way it could result in a conservative majority on the supreme court for decades to come

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Donald Trump pledges to nominate a ‘very brilliant’ woman to supreme court – video

Speaking at a campaign rally in North Carolina, the US president told supporters he had a duty to nominate a candidate to fill the supreme court vacancy created by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 'It will be a woman,' Trump said. 'A very talented, very brilliant woman.'

Democrats including Joe Biden and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have said Republicans should follow the precedent that GOP legislators set in 2016 by refusing to consider a supreme court choice in the run-up to an election

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Coronavirus live news: India sees 92,000 new infections; China faces fifth wave, expert says

India now has 5.4m cases; China fears winter infections; NZ records new cases

Covid-19 has spread around the planet, sending billions of people into lockdown as health services struggle to cope, Pablo Gutiérrez and Seán Clarke write. Find out where the virus has spread, and where it has been most deadly:

A clown juggled and acrobats launched themselves through the air above a stage in an open field in Seoul at the weekend as the audience watched from the safety of their cars, cocooned from the risk of coronavirus.

The annual circus – usually held in May – was pushed back twice this year because of the virus until organisers turned it into a drive-in event, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Cho Beong-hee, the manager of the Seoul Street Art Creation Centre, said:

The performing arts are very important even during a pandemic. So we came up with different ideas in trying to make this event happen and the drive-in option was chosen as it was deemed the safest idea.

I think watching performances in cars is great. I think it can be done in the future, with other performances like musicals.

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Can California’s tourism industry survive a year unlike any other?

Attractions from Big Sur to Disneyland reel in the face of the pandemic and historic wildfires

Summers are always busy in Big Sur, the picturesque region in northern California known for towering forests that give way to sweeping cliffs and sandy beaches. But this summer has been unlike any other, as the state reckons with a global pandemic and historic wildfires.

Like many scenic small towns in California, Big Sur’s local economy relies heavily on the tourist traffic that sweeps through every summer. It seemed like the kind of place that could have been hit hard by a nosedive in tourism.

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