Category Archives: US News

Coronavirus live news: Germany goes into ‘lockdown light’ mode; global deaths pass 1.2m

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Germans told to prepare for ‘months of restrictions and abstinence’; South Korea to fine people without masks; global coronavirus deaths pass 1.2m

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.”

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Positively shocking: Trump’s boasts of help from Sean Connery fall apart

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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.

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North Carolina police pepper spray protesters at get-out-the-vote march

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  • ‘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.

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US election 2020: Trump campaigning in five states as Biden heads to Philadelphia – live updates

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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.

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FBI confirms it is investigating Biden bus incident – live updates

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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.”

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‘A whole lot of hurt’: Fauci angers Trump White House with dark Covid outlook

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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

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Trump finds unlikely backers in prominent pro-democracy Asian figures

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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.

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Jasper Johns Flags I print worth at least $1m donated to British Museum

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Acquisition is one of the most valuable modern prints ever donated to the museum

An American flag artwork worth at least $1m (£770,000) and made by one of the world’s most celebrated living artists has been donated to the British Museum.

With just days to go before the US presidential election, the museum announced that an edition of Jasper Johns’s Flags I (1973) had been gifted to them by New York-based collectors Johanna and Leslie Garfield.

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UK will not import chlorinated chicken from US, ministers say

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Britain will also ‘not negotiate to remove ban’ on hormone-fed beef in post-Brexit trade deal

The government has finally vowed not to allow chlorinated chicken or hormone-fed beef on British supermarket shelves, defying demands from the US that animal welfare standards be lowered as part of a future trade deal.

The international trade secretary, Liz Truss, and the environment minister, George Eustice, have also revealed the government will be putting the recently established trade and agriculture commission on a statutory footing with a new amendment to the agriculture bill.

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‘The numbers floored me’: hunger in Pennsylvania hits highest level since pandemic’s start

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Demand for food aid surges in state and across country, with 54m potentially facing hunger by year’s end

Charles Bennicoff hasn’t worked since last winter. He’s an experienced landscape gardener but the mom-and-pop business he worked for in Allentown, Pennsylvania, cut its staff after losing most of their contracts during the pandemic.

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A history of voter suppression in Georgia – in pictures

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Ever since the 15th amendment granted Black men the right to vote, southern states have found myriad ways to walk back this basic tenet of democracy. From white primaries to poll taxes, to literacy tests and recent voter roll purges, voter suppression has always been a defining characteristic of American elections. As part of her photo project Let The Record Show, Roopa Gogineni spent time at the Atlanta History Center and the Georgia Archives photographing documents and objects to chronicle the centuries-long struggle for the right to vote in the state of Georgia

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Joe Biden: from a campaign that almost collapsed to fighting Trump for the presidency

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The former vice-president lost the first three primaries but victory in South Carolina set him up as the alternative – and antithesis – to Trump

Just days before one of the most extraordinary presidential elections in US history, the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden, finds himself flush with cash, polling ahead of Donald Trump in state and national polls, and on a bold last-minute campaign offensive in parts of the country his Republican opponent won in 2016, and would usually be able to depend on for support.

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Biden campaign says Trump supporters tried to force bus off highway

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  • President appears to praise threats from his own supporters
  • Biden campaign says bus was nearly forced off road

Trucks with Trump signs and flags surrounded a Biden campaign bus on a Texas highway on Friday and attempted to slow the vehicle down and run it off the road, the Biden campaign said on Saturday.

Several video clips posted on social media by both Biden and Trump supporters showed the trucks surrounding the bus. The trucks then tried to slow the bus down and run it off the road before staff called 911, according to the Biden campaign.

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Obama lends a hand as Biden and Trump launch final campaign blitz

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  • Obama says Biden presidency ‘won’t be so exhausting’
  • Trump on frenzied schedule of 14 rallies in three days

America was on edge on Saturday as Donald Trump and Joe Biden launched a final campaign blitz amid a surging pandemic, record early voting and gnawing uncertainty over when the outcome of the presidential election will be known.

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US special forces rescue abducted American in Nigeria, officials say

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Operation believed to have killed several captors of Philip Walton, 27, taken captive on Tuesday in Niger

US special forces rescued an American citizen in an operation on Saturday in northern Nigeria that is believed to have killed several of his captors, US officials said.

Forces including US navy Seals rescued Philip Walton, 27, who was abducted on Tuesday from his home in neighboring southern Niger, two US officials said on condition of anonymity, adding that no US troops were hurt. A diplomatic source in Niger said Walton was now at the US ambassador’s residence in Niamey.

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Sacha Baron Cohen donates $100k to church of woman featured in Borat film

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Jeanise Jones, 62, was unaware she was participating in comedy film while mentoring Borat’s fictional daughter

Sacha Baron Cohen, who stars in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, has donated $100,000 (£77,000) to the church of a woman who was featured in his comedy film believing it was a real documentary.

Jeanise Jones, 62, thought she had been recruited by her place of worship, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, to mentor Tutar, Borat’s fictional daughter who came to the US with him from Kazakhstan. But Jones didn’t find out until the film was released on Amazon Prime last week that Tutar was an actor and the man believed to be her father, Borat, was actually Baron Cohen.

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Coronavirus live news: Germany sets another daily case record as Europe passes 10m infections

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England lockdown expected early next week; US passes 9m infections; Melbourne records no new cases or deaths. Follow the latest:

Ukraine announced a new high of 8,752 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the national security council said on Saturday, up from 8,312 cases on Friday.

Total infections stood at 387,481, it said.

Coronavirus is “running riot” across all age groups in the United Kingdom, says Prof Calum Semple, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.

Speaking in a personal capacity, Semple told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

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Coronavirus live news: US sets world record for daily cases – as it happened

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England lockdown expected early next week; US passes 9m infections; Melbourne records no new cases or deaths. Follow the latest:

This blog will wrap up shortly. Here the latest key developments at a glance:

Just a reminder that if you want to get in touch and share comments or tips, you can contact me either on Twitter or via email.

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‘I hope it makes a difference’: voters on remote Maine island cast their ballot

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There are 70 active voters on Matinicus Island, 20 miles off the Maine coast. How are they feeling about the big day?

Located over 20 miles off the coast of Maine, Matinicus Island is often among the first communities in the state to report their official vote counts. It doesn’t take long, explains clerk and registrar of voters Eva Murray, because they have so few registered voters. “Out of the 70 active voters, I’ve already handed out 26 ballots,” she says.

In addition to running the election, Murray also runs the solid waste program, operates a bakery out of her house, works as a freelance writer and is a certified pilot and EMT. She knows most everyone on Matinicus, and most everyone knows her. There seems to be little confusion about how, logistically, to submit a ballot on the island. She predicts a “good turnout” this year.

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