Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden on Thursday called on all governors to mandate mask wearing to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 165,000 people in the United States. In his second day on the campaign trail with former rival and now running mate Kamala Harris by his side, Biden made the call for a nationwide mandate on masks after a virtual meeting with public health advisers in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
Continue reading...Category Archives: US News
Israel signs historic deal with UAE that will ‘suspend’ West Bank annexation
Trump hails US-brokered pact as ‘peace agreement’ but cracks quickly appear as Netanyahu denies change of plan
Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties in a historic Washington-brokered deal under which Israel will “suspend” its plans to annex parts of the Palestinian territories.
However, cracks in the deal became quickly apparent after its announcement on Thursday, with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying there was “no change” to his annexation plans, while the UAE insisted that it “immediately stops annexation”.
Continue reading...Foe of a foe – the shared interests that make UAE a ‘friend’ of Israel
Common ground rests on a ‘peace plan’ aided by splintered Arab solidarity over Palestine
The peace deal that few saw coming had been gathering steam in plain sight. Even before the election of Donald Trump, Israel and the UAE had been inching closer, drawn together by three factors – enmity with Iran, a loathing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a mutual belief that the agreed formula for peace with Palestinians was no longer working.
More than anything else, combating Iran became the conduit for the two sides. The adage of a foe of a foe becoming a friend has rarely been more apt. Tehran’s determination to acquire a nuclear weapon, its extensive reach into the Arab world, potential to shut off the Strait of Hormuz, and Shia Islamic revolutionary zeal, provided enough common ground for both sides to sharply deepen intelligence links to strategic levels over the past four years.
Continue reading...Trump pushes for schools to reopen as US sees deadliest Covid day since May
- Trump: ‘We’ve got to open up our schools and our businesses’
- US leads world in coronavirus infections and deaths
Donald Trump has vowed to push ahead with the reopening of America’s schools, despite the US suffering nearly 1,500 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, the highest number in a single day for three months.
Continue reading...Lake fire: huge blaze north of Los Angeles forces evacuations
- Firefighters battle to contain blaze before temperatures rise
- Fire in Angeles national forest produces vast plume of smoke
A huge wildfire has prompted evacuations north of Los Angeles, with firefighters hoping to rein in the blaze before temperatures spike later on Thursday.
The Lake fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon in dense forest land in the Lake Hughes area of the Angeles national forest, some 60 miles (97km) north of downtown Los Angeles.
Continue reading...Trump admits he is undermining USPS to make it harder to vote by mail
The president says he opposes providing additional money to the postal service to help it deliver mail-in ballots
Donald Trump admitted on Thursday he opposed additional funding for the United States Postal Service (USPS) in order to make it more difficult to deliver mail-in ballots.
Trump’s comments lend evidence for critics who say the president is deliberately trying to hamstring the USPS in advance of the November elections to help his re-election bid.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: India sees record daily case rise as global deaths near 750,000
India’s infections grow by nearly 67,000 in one day; Russia vaccine not yet completed its final trials; global deaths climb towards 750,000. Follow the latest updates
- ‘They’ve jumped the gun’: scientists worry about Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine
- Covid-19 may have been circulating in New Zealand for weeks, as fresh case emerges
- French and Dutch on alert over rise in cases
- UK economy plunges into deepest recession since records began
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Hello everyone. I am taking on the global live feed from London and will be bringing you all the latest updates on what is happening around the globe. Please do keep in touch with me as I work and contact me if you have any questions, news tips or thoughts. Thanks in advance.
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along.
My colleague Sarah Marsh will take you through the next few hours.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: UK adds France to quarantine list from 4am BST on Saturday
UK move takes effect as of 4am BST on Saturday; Pandemic has killed three quarters of a million people; Germany case jump shows ‘unsettling trend’; Iraq reports record daily Covid-19 cases
- Netherlands and Malta set to be added to England quarantine list
- Greece: UK passengers barred from flights over confusing form
- Covid-19 may have been circulating in New Zealand for weeks
- Mobile crematorium in Bolivia as deaths surge
- UK coronavirus live: latest news
Britain’s decision to impose a 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from France will lead to a reciprocal measure, French junior minister for European affairs Clément Beaune said late on Thursday.
“A British decision that we regret and which will lead to a measure of reciprocity, hoping that things will return to normal as soon as possible,” Beaune said on Twitter at midnight.
Une décision britannique que nous regrettons et qui entraînera une mesure de réciprocité, en espérant un retour à la normale le plus rapidement possible @Djebbari_JB https://t.co/6pA0qDQun6
La France regrette la décision du Royaume Uni et appliquera des mesures de réciprocité dans le champ des transports. J’ai dit à mon homologue @grantshapps notre volonté d’harmoniser les protocoles sanitaires pour assurer un haut niveau de protection des deux côtés de la Manche. https://t.co/bH7LkqD3LB
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now.
I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next few hours. Get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com with questions, comments and news from your part of the world.
Continue reading...Forget doom-laden headlines, the dollar has not gone into terminal decline | Barry Eichengreen
Too much is being read into the greenback’s recent weakening against the euro
The dollar is in freefall! The global greenback is doomed! screamed recent headlines. Actually, such sensational headlines are “too sensational”, to echo that noted authority on currencies, Miss Prism, in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.
The dollar’s fall in July to a two-year low against the euro was the immediate impetus for these stories. In fact, the dollar’s recent slide is one in a series of readily explicable fluctuations. When the Covid-19 pandemic went global in March, the dollar strengthened on the back of safe-haven flows into US Treasuries, as it does at the start of every crisis. By May, the Federal Reserve, acting as global lender of last resort, had accommodated this mad scramble for dollars by pouring buckets of liquidity into financial markets and the greenback gave back its early gains.
Continue reading...‘Bombs can’t kill viruses’: Hawaii faces backlash as international war games approach
As coronavirus case numbers soar, the state prepares to host Rimpac, the world’s largest international maritime military exercise
In a year when the coronavirus has caused multinational war games to be conducted virtually or canceled, the world’s largest international maritime military exercise begins in Hawaii next week.
The Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) war games, which run through the end of August, come as Hawaii struggles to contain community spread of the coronavirus amid what has become the highest reproduction rate in the country.
Continue reading...Bob Woodward obtains letters between Trump and Kim Jong-un for new book Rage
- Publisher announces details of successor to bestseller Fear
- North Korean leader describes bond out of a ‘fantasy film’
- Interview: ‘Too many people are emotionally unhinged’
Bob Woodward’s second book on the Trump White House has a title, Rage, and promises to reveal the secrets of “25 personal letters exchanged between [Donald] Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that have not been public before”.
Related: It Was All a Lie review: Trump as symptom not cause of Republican decline
Continue reading...Harris and Biden make first appearance as running mates and excoriate ‘failure’ Trump
- Democratic pair say president has left America ‘in tatters’
- Biden introduces Harris as ‘the next vice-president of the US’
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris accused Donald Trump of leaving the US “in tatters” by failing to lead the country through the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, as they debuted the Democratic presidential ticket the party hopes will defeat him in November’s election.
Related: 'Ready on day one': Joe Biden welcomes Kamala Harris at their first event as running mates – live
Continue reading...US proposes change to shower rules after Trump’s hair-washing moan
- President believes shower water does not flow fast enough
- ‘My hair … I don’t know about you, but it has to be perfect’
The US president’s hair-washing complaints on Wednesday prompted the government to propose an easing of shower pressure standards.
Continue reading...Why Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris as his running mate – video explainer
Joe Biden has picked his former one-time presidential rival Kamala Harris to be his running mate, making her the first woman of color on a major party presidential ticket. The Guardian's Lauren Gambino explains Harris's trailblazing background, the 'hunger for black, female leadership' and the excitement around the Californian senator's nomination
- What to make of the Kamala Harris VP pick? Our panel's verdict
- Good day for our country': Democrats hail Kamala Harris as VP pick
Coronavirus live news: Auckland back in lockdown; Paris marathon cancelled as cases rise
France cancels marathon as cases pick up; WHO warns displacement of people in Beirut risks accelerating spread; four new cases in Auckland
- New Zealand begins mass testing as Australia records deadliest day
- French and Dutch on alert over rise in cases
- Lost on the frontline: the 900 US health workers who have died
- UK economy plunges into deepest recession since records began
- UK coronavirus updates – live
Jordan will close its only land trade border crossing with Syria for a week after a spike in Covid-19 cases coming from its northern neighbour, officials said.
They said the interior minister’s decision to close the main Jaber border crossing would come into effect on Thursday morning.
Britain’s NatWest is cutting at least 500 jobs across its retail business and closing one of its remaining offices in London as banks press on with cost-cutting in the face of a wave of expected loan losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The state-backed bank is finalising a voluntary redundancy round targeting cutting 550 full-time equivalent roles across its branches and ‘premier banking’ premium service, union Unite told Reuters.
Tens of thousands of people working for banks have risen to the challenge that the pandemic created. The banks’ response should not be a repeat of the austerity measures that we saw after the financial crisis.
Continue reading...Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris as running mate – US politics live
- Democrats hail Kamala Harris as VP pick
- Trump tweets she is ‘weak’ and ‘the kind opponent everyone dreams of’
- QAnon supporter denounced for racism wins Georgia primary
- ‘Squad’ member Ilhan Omar wins her primary race
- 53,344 new US coronavirus cases reported – up on day before
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Well at least we now know where Donald Trump stands on QAnon supporting Marjorie Taylor Greene. Some members of the Republican party disowned her campaign after a series of racist videos emerged in which she complains of an “Islamic invasion” into government offices, claims Black and Hispanic men are held back by “gangs and dealing drugs”, and pushes an antisemitic conspiracy theory that the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who is Jewish, collaborated with the Nazis.
And that seems all fine with the commander-in-chief
Congratulations to future Republican Star Marjorie Taylor Greene on a big Congressional primary win in Georgia against a very tough and smart opponent. Marjorie is strong on everything and never gives up - a real WINNER!
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said his department did everything by the book in regards to arms sales to Saudi Arabia in 2019, after a government watchdog found the risk of civilian casualties in Yemen was not fully evaluated.
His comments came after a state department inspector general report earlier this week concluded the state department did not fully evaluate the risk of civilian casualties in Yemen when it pushed through a huge 2019 precision-guided munitions sale to Saudi Arabia, report the Associated Press.
Idaho goat ‘Mr Mayhem’ becomes unlikely paddleboarder – video
Meet Mr Mayhem, a five-year-old Nigerian dwarf-pygmy goat cross with a taste for life on the water. When owner Alyssa Kelley tore her lateral collateral ligament in 2019, her quest for a new hobby led her to try paddleboarding with her unlikely companion. She says the pair have taken to the water over 20 times together, with Mr Mayhem falling in twice during their early adventures.
Continue reading...‘Good day for our country’: Democrats hail Kamala Harris as VP pick
Party leaders and progressive groups appear largely united behind Joe Biden’s choice of running mate
Democrats from all corners of the party appeared largely united behind Joe Biden’s selection of the California senator Kamala Harris as his running mate on Tuesday.
The responses came almost immediately after Biden unveiled Harris as his choice for the vice presidential nominee, less than a week before the Democratic national convention, where Biden will be formally nominated as the presidential candidate for his party.
Continue reading...QAnon supporter denounced for racism wins Georgia Republican primary
Videos have shown congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene voicing racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic views
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a businesswoman who has expressed racist views and support for the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, has won the Republican nomination for Georgia’s 14th congressional district.
Greene beat the neurosurgeon John Cowan in a primary runoff for the open seat on Tuesday in the deep-red district in north-west Georgia, despite several Republican officials denouncing her campaign after videos surfaced in which she expressed racist, antisemitic and anti-Muslim views.
Continue reading...In choosing Kamala Harris, Biden may have found the anti-Trump
Biden’s VP pick ‘makes America look more like America’ – and now Harris is better placed than anyone to be the first female president
Joe Biden may have just chosen the anti-Trump as his running mate – and, if he wins, as his successor.
The selection of California senator Kamala Harris for the Democrats’ vice-presidential nomination puts a woman of colour on a major party ticket for the first time in America’s 244-year-old history.
Continue reading...