Category Archives: US News

Portland: 1,000 peacefully protest amid withdrawal of federal agents

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Overnight protest matches Thursday’s, with no major confrontations, as US government draws down forces

More than a thousand people showed up in downtown Portland early on Saturday to peacefully protest, about three days after the announcement that the presence of US agents there would be reduced – a deal that Oregon officials hope will continue to ease tensions as the city tries to move on from months of chaotic nightly protests.

Friday’s overnight protest mimicked Thursday’s, which was the first time in weeks that demonstrations ended without any major confrontations, violence or arrests.

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Florida closes beaches as Hurricane Isaias barrels through Bahamas

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State readies evacuation centers with social-distancing measures as Bahamas and North Carolina order evacuations

Hurricane Isaias ripped shingles off roofs and blew over trees as it carved its way through the Bahamas early on Saturday and headed toward the Florida coast, where officials in Miami said they were closing beaches, marinas and parks.

Miami’s mayor, Carlos Giménez, said on Friday that 20 evacuation centers were on standby that could be set up with Covid-19 safety measures.

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Steve Bannon hails Dominic Cummings and predicts lurch to right for No 10

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Architect of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign reveals admiration for Boris Johnson’s aide in interview on dark politics

Steve Bannon, who has previously backed a range of notorious far-right political figures, has publicly endorsed Dominic Cummings for the first time, calling him a “brilliant guy”.

Donald Trump’s former chief strategist also said that Boris Johnson will become an increasingly populist prime minister after jettisoning his political positioning as a “globalist” to “opportunistically jump on Brexit”.

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Sowing doubt: people around world receive mystery seed parcels

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Packages marked as ‘earrings’ spark biosecurity concerns and global investigations into origins

There is not much that Jan Goward does not grow in her small Eastbourne garden. “I grow everything,” she says. “I’ve got the exotics: the aubergines, the chillies …”

But some mystery seeds she received in the post this week – ostensibly from Singapore, and marked as stud earrings – will not be joining them.

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Global report: Philippines ‘losing battle’ as WHO records biggest jump in Covid-19 cases

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Filipino medics plead for lockdown as health system teeters; US suffers deadliest month; South Korea arrest sect leader

U-turns and chaos: a terrible week for Boris Johnson
Coronavirus latest updates

Senior doctors in the Philippines have pleaded with the government to impose a strict lockdown in the capital Manila or risk losing the battle to contain the spread of coronavirus.

As the World Health Organization recorded the highest daily number of new cases so far during the pandemic, the medics said the Philippines’ fragile health system needed a “time out” to avert collapse.

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China uses Hong Kong security law against US and UK-based activists

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  • Arrest warrant issued for campaigner and US citizen Samuel Chu
  • Britons also among those wanted for ‘incitement to secession’

Hong Kong police have issued arrest warrants for six pro-democracy activists living in exile, the first time the city’s authorities have used a sweeping new law to target campaigners living outside Hong Kong.

They include Samuel Chu, an American citizen who lives in the US, Nathan Law, a prominent campaigner who recently relocated to the UK after fleeing Hong Kong, and Simon Cheng, a former British consular staffer who was granted asylum in the UK after alleging he was tortured in China.

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Boston Marathon bomber’s death sentence overturned by appeals court

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  • Dzhokhar Tsarnaev convicted in bombing that killed three
  • Decision issued more than six months after arguments heard

A federal appeals court on Friday overturned the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man convicted in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

The three-judge panel of the first US circuit court of appeals in Boston issued the decision more than six months after arguments were heard.

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Twitter hack: US and UK teens arrested over breach of celebrity accounts

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Three men charged in hack that saw accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Elon Musk compromised in bitcoin scam

Authorities have charged three men in a major Twitter breach this month that hacked the accounts of prominent politicians, celebrities and technology moguls to scam people around the globe out of more than $100,000 in bitcoin.

The suspects include a 19-year-old British man from Bognor Regis, a 22-year-old man from Orlando, Florida, and a teenager from Tampa, Florida.

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Hurricane Isaias drenches Bahamas as Florida braces for storm

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Storm expected to produce 4-8in of rain in Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands and remain hurricane for few days

Forecasters declared a hurricane watch for parts of the Florida coastline on Friday, as Hurricane Isaias drenched areas of the Bahamas devastated by Dorian last year, on track for the US east coast.

Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 75mph and was expected to remain a hurricane for a few days, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.

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TikTok: Trump suggests US may ban Chinese-owned app

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The US is reportedly preparing to take action against the popular short video app over concerns for the security of personal data

Donald Trump on Friday again suggested the US may take action against the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, floating a potential ban.

“We’re looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok. We may be doing some other things,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House on a trip to Florida.

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Fauci ‘cautiously optimistic’ US could have vaccine by end of the year

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  • Expert doubtful of fast-track efforts in Russia and China
  • Hearing sees testy exchanges between Fauci and Republicans

Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, has told the US Congress he is “cautiously optimistic” that a “safe and effective” coronavirus vaccine will be available to the public by the end of 2020 during a hearing in Washington marked by testy exchanges between Fauci and senior Republicans loyal to Donald Trump.

Related: House hearing finds US no closer to plan as coronavirus is 'raging out of control' – live

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Will Trump actually pull federal agents from Portland? – video explainer

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Federal agents accused of behaving like an 'occupying army' are said to be pulling out of Portland, Oregon, in an embarrassing climbdown by the White House, but many protesters are sceptical over whether the agents will actually withdraw from the city.

The force, which have been dubbed by some as 'Donald Trump’s troops', were sent in by the president a month ago to end what he called 'anarchy' during Black Lives Matter protests sparked after the police killing of George Floyd.

The Guardian's Chris McGreal looks at what Trump was hoping to gain by sending paramilitaries into the city, if and how they will leave, and how their presence has fuelled anger among most residents

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Pandemic and protests spur Americans to buy guns at record pace

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  • Sales picked up in June following initial spike in March
  • ‘All Americans should be concerned’ – gun control group

Fears over the Covid-19 pandemic, a perception of rising crime and worries over civil unrest and political instability in the wake of anti-racism protests have sparked Americans to buy firearms at a record pace – with about 40% being first-time buyers, according to one leading gun rights group.

Related: Coronavirus US: Fauci appears at house hearing on virus 'raging out of control' – live

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Underage girl forced to have sex with Prince Andrew, US court document claims

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Papers part of 2015 civil court case by Virginia Roberts Giuffre against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

The sex offender Jeffrey Epstein allegedly tried to gather incriminating material against Prince Andrew by forcing an underage girl to have sex with him, according to newly released court documents.

The papers released by a court in New York say the alleged encounter took place on the late US financier’s private island in the US Virgin Islands. A document claims Epstein instructed the girl, referred to as Jane Doe #3, but known to be Virginia Roberts Giuffre, to “give the prince whatever he demanded and report back to him on the details of the sexual abuse”.

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Madonna leads celebrity vogue for Covid-19 conspiracy theories

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Singer’s claim vaccine is being concealed is latest example of stars spreading falsehoods during pandemic

Dancer, singer, songwriter, actor, director – Madonna has had quite the career.

But the queen of pop’s latest reinvention came this week in the form of a video posted on Instagram that shared a coronavirus conspiracy theory with her 15 million followers.

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‘A beehive of terrorists’: Donald Trump threatens to deploy national guard in Portland – video

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Donald Trump has called protesters in Portland, Oregon, ‘terrorists’ and threatened to send in the national guard if local authorities cannot disperse them. Speaking at a White House press conference, Trump called the city a ‘beehive of terrorists’ and accused its mayor of incompetence.

Despite Oregon's governor, Kate Brown, saying this week that she had secured an agreement with the White House to withdraw federal forces from the city, protesters have continued to gather in demonstrations that have lasted for more than 60 consecutive days

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Trump says school closures ‘causing death’ and US ‘understands what we’re dealing with now’ – video

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Donald Trump says closing schools across the country is causing death. "Keeping them out of school and keeping work closed is causing death also," he said. "Economic harm, but it’s causing death for different reasons, but death. Probably more death." After 150,000 coronavirus deaths in the country, Trump added the country "understands what it is dealing with now", before pointing out leaders in countries like Australia and Japan were praised before a resurgence in Covid-19 cases




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Coronavirus live news: WHO reports record daily rise in global cases

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New cases jump to 292,500, Irish Cup final played in front of fans; global death toll passes 674,000; France confirms ‘marked increase’ in cases

Sanofi SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc said they are in advanced discussions with the European Commission to supply up to 300 million doses of the drugmakers’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine.

The doses would be manufactured in European countries including France, Belgium, Germany and Italy.

Florida reported another record increase in Covid-19 deaths on Friday.

The state health department said Florida registered 257 fatalities, a record for the fourth straight day despite predictions that the U.S. coronavirus epicenter could be shifting to the Midwest.

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Obama, Bush and Clinton speak at funeral for congressman John Lewis – video

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Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, Bill Clinton and House speaker Nancy Pelosi have delivered eulogies for congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis. Hailing him as founding father for 'a fuller, fairer, better' America, Obama praised Lewis's influence on his own path to the presidency. Clinton said Lewis believed 'none of us will be free until all of us are equal', while Bush said he lived in a better and nobler country because of the congressman


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Ghislaine Maxwell: court unseals documents related to dealings with Epstein

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  • Cache of papers unsealed on Thursday night
  • Maxwell has been charged with involvement in Epstein crimes

A cache of documents in civil litigation against the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was unsealed on Thursday night, including early 2015 correspondence with her longtime confidant Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.

“You have done nothing wrong and i woudl [sic] urge you to start acting like it,” Epstein wrote in a 25 January 2015 email to Maxwell. “go outside, head high, not as an esacping[sic] convict. go to parties. deal with it.”

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