Category Archives: US News

Coronavirus live news: Queensland steps up alert; protesters try to storm Reichstag

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Demonstrations in Germany and UK against coronavirus restrictions; Australian opposition calls for wider care home inquiry; Turkey sees two-month high in cases. Follow all the developments live

AFP is reporting from Rome:

Three Nigerian migrants attacked staff in a military hospital in Rome after testing positive for Covid-19, the defence ministry said Saturday.

And in Victoria, Australia’s worst-affected state.

#COVID19VicData for 30 August, 2020. There were 114 new cases detected in Victoria yesterday. Sadly we report 11 lives lost - condolences to all affected. More information will be available later today via our media release. pic.twitter.com/4voh37S3oM

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New audio recordings reveal aunt’s criticisms of Ivanka and Eric Trump

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  • President’s niece reveals more tapes of Maryanne Trump Barry
  • Ivanka’s Instagram post mocked as ‘Madonna and child’

Mary Trump has revealed more audio recordings she says are of her aunt, Maryanne Trump Barry, that aim pointed criticism at the US president’s children, Ivanka and Eric.

Related: Mary Trump’s book: eight of its most shocking claims about the president

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Kenosha marches on as protesters describe ‘kidnap’ by federal agents

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  • Residents take to streets to patch up damage
  • Activists report being held for hours without charge

For many Kenosha residents, Saturday morning was starting like the five mornings before them since Jacob Blake’s shooting by the police last Sunday, after a night of large, peaceful protests demanding justice and equality.

Hundreds took to the streets, some working to patch damage and doll up the blistered city, 40 miles south of Milwaukee in Wisconsin, on the shore of Lake Michigan, by painting rainbows and hearts on boarded-up businesses.

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Michael Moore warns that Donald Trump is on course to repeat 2016 win

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Film-maker says enthusiasm for president in swing states is ‘off the charts’ and urges everyone to commit to getting 100 people to vote

The documentary film-maker Michael Moore has warned that Donald Trump appears to have such momentum in some battleground states that liberals risk a repeat of 2016 when so many wrote off Trump only to see him grab the White House.

“Sorry to have to provide the reality check again,” he said.

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‘Our superhero’: black British figures praise Chadwick Boseman

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Tributes to groundbreaking star come from spheres of film, TV, sport and politics

Chadwick Boseman has been widely praised for breaking down cultural boundaries and inspiring a generation of young black people, following news of his untimely death.

The Black Panther star died at his home in the Los Angeles area aged 43, four years after being diagnosed with colon cancer. He was best known for his role as the regal T’Challa in the Marvel cinematic universe, the franchise’s first high-profile black superhero.

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‘DemExit’: virtual convention aims to create US leftwing alternative

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The Movement for a People’s Party believes Democrats and Republicans will always choose profits over people, and 12,000 have signed up to hear more

Joe Biden’s acceptance speech at the virtual Democratic national convention made one reference to “middle class” and one to “working families”. It never mentioned the word “poverty”.

Related: Biden feared 'ideological jihad' from Sanders after primary win

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New York’s not dead, but pandemic has laid bare deep-seated problems

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Jerry Seinfeld got into a spat about the Big Apple with a fellow millionaire but for others racial and class inequalities give debate about the city’s health a very different look

Shabazz Stuart was one year old when the TV sitcom Seinfeld first went on air, and seven when the much-loved show about nothing broadcast its final episode. He’s only ever known it as one of those late-night repeats that are fun to watch when you’re at a loose end.

But this week there was no avoiding Seinfeld, or at least its creator and lead actor Jerry Seinfeld who roared back into the public eye with an opinion piece headlined “So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’”. The comedian was responding to a provocative post on LinkedIn by James Altucher, a hedge-fund manager who owns an Upper West Side standup comedy club where Seinfeld occasionally appears.

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Sexual assault, forced labor, wage theft: garment workers in Jordan suffer for US brands

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Activist groups work towards improving labor conditions in textile factories but abolishing the industry’s ‘norms’ is an uphill battle

Mehedi Mehedi, a 36-year-old Bangladeshi garment worker who had spent 14 years working in Jordan, left the country forever last December. It was not an easy decision to make: Mehedi had met his wife in Jordan, he had no guarantees of finding a job back in Bangladesh, and he was desperate to work in order to support his chronically ill father.

In Jordan, Mehedi had been working for a subcontracting factory that supplies apparel to brands like Ralph Lauren, Under Armour, and American Eagle. But after spending his last six months without regular pay, he had reached a breaking point.

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‘No social distancing’: US college towns close bars as Covid-19 cases surge

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Rise in campus infections from Missouri to Utah, and Alabama to Iowa forces local authorities to close bars and mandate masks

College towns across the United States have reimposed shutdowns after a spike in campus cases of coronavirus caused by students partying in large numbers on their return for the new academic year.

Despite waves of schools and businesses around the country being cleared to reopen, Columbia, Missouri joined cities in Alabama, Utah and Iowa in reimposing restrictions to deal with a surge of infections.

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Neuralink: Elon Musk unveils pig he claims has computer implant in brain

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Billionare entrepreneur presented animal during a livestream event to recruit workers for his neuroscience startup

The tech entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday showed off a pig whose brain he says has been implanted with a small computer.

“We have a healthy and happy pig, initially shy but obviously high energy and, you know, kind of loving life, and she’s had the implant for two months,” Musk said of Gertrude, the pig.

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Michelle Obama: ‘I’m just devastated by the shootings in Kenosha’

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The former first lady condemned the shooting of Jacob Blake by police as well as killings of Wisconsin protesters

Michelle Obama said she was “devastated” by the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this week and is “exhausted and frustrated” at the trauma of Black and brown people in the US.

In a lengthy statement released on Friday, the former first lady condemned the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Wisconsin man shot seven times in the back by police in front of his children, as well as the shooting of three protesters by an alleged 17-year-old rightwing militant in the protests that followed.

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White House chief of staff dismisses Covid concerns as four at RNC test positive – live

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Donald Trump is holding a rally for supporters in New Hampshire. He will speak any minute now. If you care to tune in you can here - if not, I will be blogging it here so stand by for updates.

The crowd at Trump’s NH rally just booed an announcement telling people to put on their masks

Germany chancellor Angela Merkel laughed off a question during a Friday press conference of whether she had been “charmed” by Donald Trump.

The question was in response to a statement made this week by Richard Grenell, the former US director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany, who claimed Trump had smoothed over the historically strained relationship between German and the US by enchanting Merkel.

This is one of my new favourite Merkel moments. A journalist asks her about Richard Grenell's claim that Trump "charmed" Merkel. You don't need to speak German to enjoy her reaction:pic.twitter.com/RSjHSNXXtX

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House Democrats launch contempt proceedings against Mike Pompeo

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Committee says secretary of state has refused to comply with subpoenas for documents connected to Ukraine scandal

Congressional Democrats have launched contempt proceedings against Mike Pompeo for his refusal to comply with subpoenas for documents connected to the Ukraine scandal that led to Donald Trump’s impeachment.

The move is the culmination of a long-running struggle over Congress’s authority to conduct oversight of government agencies. The secretary of state, who was a fierce advocate of congressional rights when he was a Republican representative from Kansas, has ignored a string of demands for documentation from the Democrat-controlled House foreign affairs committee (HFAC).

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Jacob Blake shackled to hospital bed despite being paralyzed, father says

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Jacob Blake Sr said in TV interview he did not know why his son was under restraint after being shot by police in Kenosha

Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old who was shot seven times by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer on Sunday, has spent the week shackled to his hospital bed despite being unable to walk and being heavily medicated, his father revealed on Friday.

“There was the cold steel on his ankle. He is shackled to the bed, but he cannot get up, he could not get up, he is paralyzed,” Jacob Blake Sr, father of Jacob Blake Jr, told CNN, describing a hospital visit with his son two days ago.

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Protesters try to drown out Donald Trump’s acceptance speech on last day of RNC – video highlights

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Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, as protesters outside the White House did their best to drown out his speech. Here are highlights of the last night of the 2020 Republican national convention

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JK Rowling returns human rights award to group that denounces her trans views

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Author ‘follows my conscience’ after head of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights group says her views are transphobic

JK Rowling is returning the Ripple of Hope award given to her last year by the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR) organisation after its president, Kennedy’s daughter, criticised her views on transgender issues.

The award, which is for people who have shown a “commitment to social change”, was presented to Rowling in December for her work with her children’s charity, Lumos. On receiving the award, Rowling called it “one of the highest honours I’ve ever been given” and said “Robert Kennedy embodied everything I most admire in a human being”. Previous winners include Barack Obama, archbishop Desmond Tutu and Joe Biden.

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Trump unleashes diatribe of falsehoods and baseless attacks in RNC finale

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Trump portrayed Biden as a creature of the Washington swamp, beat the drum of law and order and said little about racial injustice

You write him off at your peril. Donald Trump stood at one of America’s most hallowed spaces on Thursday – the White House – and bent it to his will, just as he has bent the Republican party and swaths of America.

Related: RNC: Trump paints Biden as a 'radical' candidate and a danger to America

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Donald Trump slams Joe Biden in Republican nomination acceptance speech – video

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Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican party's nomination for re-election in front of the White House on Thursday night.

'This is the most important election in the history of our country,' Trump said after he 'profoundly' accepted his party's nomination.

Trump went on to excoriate the Democratic party and argue that the choice for voters is between a president who has a record of unmatched accomplishments and an opposition party and candidate eager to tear down the country.

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Coronavirus live news: India records its highest daily toll, WHO to review emergency alert rules

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Spanish children over six to wear masks at school; Tour de France in doubt; US Midwest states report record tallies. Follow latest updates

The UK on Thursday recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases since 12 June, with government figures reporting 1,522 positive cases.

The number of new cases, which cover the 24 hours to 9am on 27 August, were up 474 on the previous day.

Related: UK sees highest number of new Covid-19 cases since mid-June

The risk of severe illness and death to children from Covid-19 is “vanishingly rare”, according to the biggest study yet of those admitted to hospital, which the researchers say should reassure parents as they return to school.

The study included two-thirds of all patients admitted to hospitals across England, Scotland and Wales with Covid-19. Of these, 651 – less than 1% – were children and young people under 19. Six of these patients – less than 1% – died. All had severe underlying health conditions.

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Coronavirus live news: France reports 7,379 daily cases in new post-lockdown record

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France records second highest daily tally since March; Italy considers evacuating tourists from Sardinia; Spain’s daily count falls; face masks mandatory in Paris

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a White House proposal to spend $1.3tn (£1tn) in coronavirus economic relief would not be enough to meet the needs of American workers and families.

Pelosi said in a statement she hoped the Republicans would come to the negotiating table and accept the Democratic offer of $2.2tn in spending.

Nationwide restrictions cannot be ruled out should England see a spike in coronavirus cases this winter, the health secretary has warned.

Matt Hancock said countries in others parts of the world were already experiencing a second wave, adding it was “a very serious threat”.

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