Sanders: Trump’s effort to hinder mail-in voting ‘a crisis for US democracy’ – live

At least 23 members of an Oklahoma State University sorority have tested positive for Covid-19, the school said in a statement on Saturday.

The outbreak happened at the off-campus house of the Pi Beta Phi sorority and was detected by rapid-antigen testing done at an off-campus clinic, according to the university.

The coronavirus doesn’t appear to have devastated America’s homeless population to the extent public health officials and advocates for the homeless initially feared.

Johns Hopkins reported 1,029 new deaths on Saturday from the virus in the US. According to the university’s tally, 169,489 people in the US have died from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic with identified cases exceeding 5 million.

“I am shocked, I guess I can say, because it’s a very vulnerable population. I don’t know what we’re going to see in an aftermath,” said Dr. Deborah Borne, who oversees health policy for Covid-19 homeless response at San Francisco’s public health department. “That’s why it’s called a novel virus, because we don’t know.”

More than 200 of an estimated 8,000 homeless people in San Francisco have tested positive for the virus, and half came from an outbreak at a homeless shelter in April. One homeless person is among the city’s 69 deaths.

Continue reading...

End of an era: has coronavirus killed the political convention for good?

With Democrats and Republicans holding no in-person conventions this year, some have called to ditch them completely – but others say they’re a vital political tool

There won’t be any huge balloon drops at the Democratic or Republican party conventions this year. Presidential candidates will not get the chance to accept their nominations in front of massive, cheering crowds. Political reporters and strategists will not descend on a carefully selected American city to kick off the final stretch of the 2020 presidential election.

And some in Washington say those changes may be for the best.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: new French cases surpass 3,000 for second day; Italy hits record cases since May

Italy closes all discos; Spain takes new measures as infections soar; New Zealand adds 13 infections to total

The UK government has said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Sunday, there were a further 1,040 lab-confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Overall, a total of 318,484 cases have been confirmed in the UK.

As of Sunday, 41,366 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. This was up by five from the day before.

Ireland’s health chiefs will meet on Monday to decide if further restrictions are needed to slow a sharp increase in the spread of coronavirus that the government and officials have described as deeply concerning.

Ireland has reopened its economy at a slower pace than most EU countries but that has not prevented a jump in cases over the last two weeks that led to the first localised reimposition of some restrictions last week.

Continue reading...

‘I knew the victims’ pain’: the pioneering detective who took on the Golden State Killer

Forty years ago, Carol Daly was the only female detective investigating the attacks. This week, she will attend his sentencing

She had waited decades for the call.

There had been a time when chasing the trail of the Golden State Killer had dominated Carol Daly’s life. But by April 2018, Daly, a 79-year-old former detective with the Sacramento county sheriff’s department, had long ago forced herself to step away, determined to spend time with her husband and grandchildren instead.

Continue reading...

Robert Trump: brother of president Donald Trump dies aged 71

President confirms his younger brother has died after being taken to hospital in New York

Donald Trump’s younger brother, Robert Trump, died on Saturday night aged 71 after being hospitalised in New York, the president said in a statement.

The president on Friday visited his brother in hospital after White House officials said Robert had become seriously ill. Officials did not immediately release a cause of death.

Continue reading...

Donald Trump vows ‘snapback’ over humiliating UN defeat on Iran arms embargo

President says US will unilaterally reinstate sanctions a day after only two countries voted for prolonging embargo

Donald Trump has vowed to use a contentious provision to unilaterally reinstate UN sanctions on Tehran, following what Iran’s president said was a humiliating defeat for the US in its bid to extend an arms embargo on Tehran.

A day after the UN security council overwhelmingly rejected a US resolution to extend the embargo, Trump said at a news conference at his New Jersey golf club: “We’ll be doing a snapback. You’ll be watching it next week.”

Continue reading...

Newsweek apologizes for op-ed that questioned Kamala Harris’ citizenship

Magazine’s opinion editor and editor-in-chief ended note by saying op-ed would remain on the site

Newsweek has apologized for an op-ed that questioned the California senator Kamala Harris’ American citizenship and her eligibility to be Joe Biden’s running mate, a false and racist conspiracy theory which Donald Trump has not dismissed.

“This op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologize,” read Newsweek’s editor’s note on Friday, which replaced the magazine’s earlier detailed defense of the op-ed.

Continue reading...

Calls for nationwide sickout as Arizona school district cancels reopening

Arizona public school district forced to abandon plans after more than 100 teachers and staff members called in sick

An Arizona public school district was forced to cancel its plans to reopen on Monday after more than 100 teachers and other staff members called in sick.

“We have received an overwhelming response from staff indicating that they do not feel safe returning to classrooms with students,” Gregory Wyman, district superintendent, said in a statement on Friday.

Continue reading...

Why Germany would be especially happy to see the back of Trump | John Kampfner

The competence embodied in Merkel provokes loathing from the US president

Donald Trump has declared war on Germany. In a manner of speaking. Europe’s most important country, potentially America’s most valuable partner, has in the mind of the president become an adversary. Of all Trump’s many foreign policy disasters, this is perhaps his most significant.

In late July, it was announced that retired army colonel Douglas Macgregor, a decorated combat veteran, would become the next ambassador to Berlin. Macgregor is a regular contributor to Trump’s favourite channel of information, Fox News. He has variously suggested that the US border guard should shoot people if they tried to enter illegally from Mexico; described eastern Ukrainians as “Russians”; defended Serbia’s actions against a “Muslim drug mafia” in Kosovo; and criticised Germany for giving “millions of unwanted Muslim invaders” welfare benefits rather than providing more funding for its armed services.

Continue reading...

Watchdog to investigate US Postal Service changes ahead of election – live

Donald Trump has spent the early part of today retweeting stories that promote the (unproven) theory that mail-in voting is subject to widescale fraud.

The president retweeted allegations of voting fraud in Paterson, New Jersey, along with the comment: “The Democrats know the 2020 Election will be a fraudulent mess. Will maybe never know who won!”

The Democrats know the 2020 Election will be a fraudulent mess. Will maybe never know who won! https://t.co/tEWKJ5NcUj

Good morning. We start this morning with news that the United States Postal Service’s inspector general will investigate claims that recent changes could affect this November’s presidential election.

Donald Trump has long issued baseless claims that mail-in voting is ripe for fraud and there are real concerns that cuts to the service could weaken the agency and mail-in ballots may not arrive on time to be counted.

Continue reading...

Beirut explosion: FBI to take part in Lebanon investigation

US diplomat David Hale calls for a thorough and transparent investigation into the blast

A team of FBI investigators is due to arrive in Lebanon this weekend to take part in the investigation into Beirut’s explosion, a senior US official has said, after visiting the location of the blast.

David Hale, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs, called on Saturday for a thorough and transparent investigation. He said the FBI team was taking part at the invitation of Lebanese authorities in order to figure out what caused the 4 August explosion that killed nearly 180 people and wounded thousands.

Continue reading...

US defense department creates taskforce to investigate UFOs

Taskforce to detect and anlyze unidentified aerial phenomena that could ‘potentially pose a threat’ to national security, Pentagon said

The US department of Defense has formed a new body to investigate what it calls “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAPs) following reported sightings of what most people call UFOs.

The move is likely to spark wide interest in alien hunters worldwide looking for signs that humanity is not alone in the universe. Although the dry language of the Pentagon’s announcement of the new group belied its intent as watchers of the sky for potential first contact.

Continue reading...

Flu and Covid: winter could bring ‘double-barrel’ outbreak to US, experts say

But the same measures that fight coronavirus are effective against the flu – and vaccines offer another weapon against it

Public health experts, researchers and manufacturers warn the coming flu season could bring a “double-barrel” respiratory disease outbreak in the United States, just as fall and winter are expected to exacerbate spread of Covid-19.

At the same time, researchers said the strategies currently used to prevent Covid-19 transmission – namely, hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing – could also help lessen flu outbreaks, if Americans are willing to practice them.

Continue reading...

Fury in Spain at US plans to produce ‘Iberian’ ham in Texas and Georgia

Purists are angry with the Spanish government for failing to protect jamón’s integrity

For the purist – and there are many purists – top-class jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn-fed Iberian ham) must come from Iberian blackfoot pigs that spend the last months of their lives eating acorns on the dehesa, a traditional Spanish or Portuguese pasture shaded by mature oak trees.

After being hung and dry cured for at least 36 months, the meat produced is silky with fat, and, say experts, has a flavour that can only come from the acorns. Spaniards consider jamón ibérico their greatest gift to international gastronomy – the caviar of the Iberian peninsula.

Continue reading...

US postal service warning renews fears millions of votes could be uncounted

Postal service warns Pennsylvania seven-day turnaround for mail-in ballots may not be possible, amid mounting election concern

There are growing fears over the handling of November’s US presidential election after the postal service warned that the rules in a key battleground state could result in millions of votes left uncounted.

Related: Trump faces surprise call from Republican congressman to pardon Edward Snowden – live

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Spain to close nightclubs and ban public smoking; Italy orders testing for some travellers

Spain announces 11 new measures; Italy move affects travellers from Spain, Croatia, Malta and Greece; India reports over 60,000 new cases

Canada is preparing for a “reasonable worst case scenario” in which further surges of coronavirus cases would at times overwhelm the public health system, officials have said.

In this scenario, there would be a large peak later this year followed by a number of smaller peaks and valleys stretching to January 2022. Each of the peaks would exceed the health system’s capacity.

Hello, my name is Clea Skopeliti and I’ll be running the blog for the next few hours. You can get in touch with me on Twitter @cleaskopeliti or by email: clea.skopeliti.casual@theguardian.com. I won’t always have time to reply to everything but will read it all! Thanks in advance.

Continue reading...

Speculation grows over pardon for Edward Snowden after Trump remarks

  • Trump: ‘A lot of people think he is not being treated fairly’
  • Congressman calls for Trump to pardon NSA whistleblower

Speculation is growing over whether Donald Trump might pardon Edward Snowden after the US president told an interviewer that the exiled former intelligence operative was “not being treated fairly”.

Related: Edward Snowden on 9/11 and why he joined the army: ‘Now, finally, there was a fight’

Continue reading...

US coronavirus death toll set to reach 200,000 by Labor Day, CDC forecast says

Rate of new deaths could rise in California and Colorado over the coming four weeks and decline in Arizona, CDC says

The US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is set to reach 200,000 by Labor Day as children across the country prepare to return to school, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) forecast.

The rate of new deaths could rise in California and Colorado over the coming four weeks and decline in Arizona, the CDC said. More than 160,000 people have died from Covid-19 in America, although scientists have pointed out the number of excess deaths so far this year exceeds even this toll.

Continue reading...

‘It’s a game and we lost’: Palestinians decry Gulf moves towards Israel

Israel’s relationship with neighbours is no longer defined by occupation, Palestinians say

Shortly after Donald Trump announced he had brokered a “huge breakthrough” deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the White House published a list of bullet points detailing what it had achieved.

Only at the bottom, just after “expanded business and financial ties between these two thriving economies”, did the very last sentence blandly mention what had previously been the key regional issue: the fate of the Palestinians.

Continue reading...

As he struggles in the polls, Trump reaches for the racist playbook again

The US president began his political career with the ‘birtherism’ lie about Obama. He’s doing the same once more

“Mr President,” a reporter asked on Thursday. “After three and a half years, do you regret, at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?”

A disbelieving Trump asked: “All the what?”

Continue reading...