Category Archives: US News

Barack Obama: John Lewis fought for our highest ideals | Barack Obama

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In a transcript of his remarks at the congressman’s funeral, the former president calls on Americans to follow Lewis’s lead at a time of crisis

Representative John Lewis, a legendary civil rights leader and member of Congress, died of cancer on 17 July. In a eulogy at his memorial on Thursday, Barack Obama spoke about Lewis’s legacy, especially the importance of continuing his fight to protect voting rights. This is an abridged version of his remarks.

James wrote to the believers: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

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Oprah Winfrey honors Breonna Taylor with September magazine cover

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  • First time magazine will not feature Winfrey on cover
  • Taylor, 26, was shot dead by police in own home in March

A portrait of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician shot dead by police in her own home earlier this year, will appear on the cover of the latest issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

It is the first time in the magazine’s 20-year history that the cover will not feature the magazine’s namesake: Oprah Winfrey.

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Obama attacks police brutality and voter suppression in powerful eulogy for John Lewis – video

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During the funeral of congressman John Lewis, former US president Barack Obama delivered a powerful eulogy in which he praised the late civil rights icon, saying Lewis 'will be a founding father of a fuller, fairer, better America'. 

In his speech, Obama also received standing ovations for his indirect criticism of the Trump administration's decision to send federal agents to peaceful demonstrations in Portland, and his condemnation of voter suppression tactics in the US

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Obama hails John Lewis as founding father of ‘fuller, better’ US in eulogy

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Former president called for Americans to fight Trump’s effort to undermine the right to vote in eulogy at congressman’s funeral

Barack Obama hailed John Lewis as a founding father of “a fuller, better” United States in a soaring eulogy on Thursday, while forcefully calling on Americans to stand up to the forces threatening a cause the late congressman was willing to die for: the right to vote.

From the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr once preached, Obama traced the arch of Lewis’s life – a child born into the Jim Crow south, the youngest speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, a leader of the civil rights marches in Selma, and a US congressman from Georgia – tying his legacy to the present-day civil rights protests ignited by the death of George Floyd, a black man under the knee of a white police officer. He then drew a line from the racist leaders who opposed civil rights in the 1960s to the policies and ideologies embraced by Donald Trump.

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Democrats and Republicans take aim at Pompeo over US troop withdrawal from Germany

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Secretary of state receives bipartisan grilling, and makes false claim to have fought along East German border as soldier in 1980s

The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from Germany has come under bipartisan attack in the Senate, amid warnings it would disrupt US alliances.

Related: Barack Obama praises John Lewis as 'a man of pure joy and unbreakable perseverance' – live

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‘John Lewis worked on the side of the angels’, says Nancy Pelosi – video

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held back tears as she delivered an emotional remembrance of civil rights icon John Lewis at his funeral in Atlanta. Pelosi, who worked with Lewis for more than 30 years, said: ‘We always knew he worked on the side of the angels, and now he is with them’

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US economy suffers worst quarter since the second world war as GDP shrinks by 32.9%

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Drop in quarterly gross domestic product comes as 1.43m people file for unemployment benefits, a second week of increases, amid Covid-19 pandemic

The US economy shrank by an annual rate of 32.9% between April and June, its sharpest contraction since the second world war, government figures revealed on Thursday, as more signs emerged of the coronavirus pandemic’s heavy toll on the country’s economy.

The record-setting quarterly fall in economic growth compared to the same time last year came as another 1.43 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, a second week of rises after a four-month decline.

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Parts of northern England face new restrictions – as it happened

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Spain reports 1,229 new infections; France rules out full lockdown despite rise in cases; Japan sees record high for new cases for second day in a row. This blog is now closed. Stay up to date on our new blog below

We closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on all of the latest global coronavirus news on our new blog below.

Related: Coronavirus live news: England tightens restrictions, WHO says 'young people' behind some spikes

And finally... just minutes before the new restrictions come into force, the Department of Health has finally posted some more details of the rules on its website.

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Coronavirus live news: France rules out ‘catastrophic’ second national lockdown despite rise in infections

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French prime minister says full lockdown must be avoided; number of global cases passes 17m; Japan to lift ban on re-entry of some foreign residents starting next week

Governments have the right to restrict protests on public health grounds, within reason, the UN Human Rights Committee said, as demonstrations clash with coronavirus outbreaks around the world.

The committee stepped in to formulate its legal interpretation having seen a gap in the international norms being tested before the pandemic started, since when the matter has become more pressing.

The protection of ‘public health’ ground may exceptionally permit restrictions to be imposed, for example where there is an outbreak of an infectious disease and gatherings are dangerous.

It’s understandable and acceptable that for health reasons there may be limits on your rights.

The Philippine government’s Covid-19 task force confirmed 3,954 new infections on Thursday, the country’s largest single-day increase in new cases.

The information on the surge in infections, which was a sharp increase from the record 2,539 cases confirmed on 8 July, was mentioned in a regular circular issued by the inter-agency task force.

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How Trump is emboldening other countries’ ‘bad behavior’ on the climate crisis

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Global voices in the crisis say a US exit from the Paris agreement is damaging, but the fact no other country is leaving shows it can survive this ‘ultimate stress test’

The origins of the world’s historic agreement to tackle climate change, in Paris in 2015, have some familiar themes. Back in 2007, there was a Republican president in the White House who had long been hostile to any action on climate change.

George W Bush had refused to give US backing to a new global roadmap on the climate.

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Pundits heralded Donald Trump for his new ‘tone’. That didn’t end well … | David Smith

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Trump is praised whenever he affects a modicum of sobriety but talk of demon semen and alien DNA was a reversion to type

That didn’t last long. It never does.

A week after Donald Trump was hailed by some media figures for a “change of tone” in his coronavirus briefings, the US president on Tuesday praised a doctor who believes in alien DNA and demon semen, grumbled about his low approval ratings and abruptly walked out when challenged by a female reporter.

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Chateau Marmont in Hollywood to become members-only hotel

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Celebrity hangout will allow select group to own shares in ‘world’s best real estate’

The Chateau Marmont, a Hollywood hotspot and hangout for nearly a century, will be converted into a members-only hotel over the next year.

The owner, André Balazs, confirmed his plans to turn the 91-year-old building into a hotel at which a select group of members could buy into “a piece of a portfolio of the best real estate in the world”, the Los Angeles Times reported.

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Joe Biden’s running mate – none will satisfy all sections of the party

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Kamala Harris? Val Demings? Democrats speculate but no single candidate will be able to satisfy all the interest groups and sectors of the party

It doesn’t matter who Joe Biden picks as his running mate – somebody will be disappointed.

The former vice-president and de facto Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday said he would make a selection in the first week of August.

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Congresswoman plays emotional account of small business owner to Jeff Bezos – video

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In a historic congressional antitrust hearing, Democrat Lucy McBath played a recording to Amazon chief Jeff Bezos of the testimony of a bookseller who sold books via Amazon. The businesswoman had felt her sales were throttled by the tech giant. 

In the recording, the seller pleads with Bezos to help her company, which supports 14 people. Bezos responded by saying he was surprised by the anecdote and expressed wanting to meet the woman

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‘Too much power’: Congress grills top tech CEOs in combative antitrust hearing

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The US’s top tech bosses were told they have “too much power”, are censoring political speech, spreading fake news and “killing” the engines of the American economy, at a combative congressional hearing on Wednesday.

The historic hearing in Washington saw Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sundar Pichai of Google’s parent Alphabet appear before members of the House judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee and face intense questioning from lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.

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US passes 150,000 coronavirus deaths amid fresh surge in cases

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Six months after first cases emerged in US, hospitals are under strain in multiple states

The US has crossed the threshold of 150,000 confirmed deaths from Covid-19, just six months after the first cases were diagnosed in China and with the outbreak far from under control.

The American death toll is the highest in the world by a significant margin and reached 150,034 on Wednesday, according to the Johns Hopkins University world coronavirus tracker.

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‘Germany is delinquent’: Trump defends US withdrawal of 12,000 troops – video

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Donald Trump has defended the decision to pull US troops out of Germany, telling reporters the move was a reaction to the country's defence spending. The US will bring about 6,400 forces home and shift about 5,600 to other countries in Europe, US defence leaders said on Wednesday, detailing a Pentagon plan that will cost billions of dollars and take years to implement

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It’s time for America to reassert climate leadership. It starts with voting | Michael Mann

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Individual efforts are important, but we need collective action and systemic change. And we can only get that at the ballot

In a world with so many problems, it’s easy to feel helpless. And particularly right now in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, quite alone. But even as we practice social distancing, we have an opportunity to work together to solve the greatest problem that humanity faces. No, I’m not talking about coronavirus. I’m talking about climate change.

Related: I’m bewildered that Trump would imperil America by abandoning the Paris agreement | Ban Ki-moon

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Iran arms sales: US struggles to win support for extension of UN ban

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European nations fear extension of arms sale ban would result in Iran leaving 2015 nuclear deal

The US may be forced to accept a UN code of conduct restricting conventional arms sales to Iran, since it is struggling to win unanimous support at the UN security council for a formal extension of the existing UN ban, which expires in October.

European nations fear a formal extension of the ban would result in Iran leaving the nuclear deal.

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Democrats introduce bill to repeal anti-abortion rule for US overseas aid

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Critics of the Helms amendment, which currently prevents the use of aid to fund abortion services abroad, say it is ‘deeply rooted in racism’

The first bill to repeal a US law preventing aid from funding abortion services overseas was introduced to congress on Wednesday.

Democratic congressswoman Jan Schakowsky said the Helms amendment, a policy introduced in 1973, was “deeply rooted in racism” and must be replaced to allow US money to be used to support safe abortion services worldwide.

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