A large mosquito will not feature on the new state flag of Mississippi after it was wrongly included in a list of final designs, officials have said. Mississippi recently retired the last state banner with the Confederate battle emblem which has been widely condemned as racist. Officials at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
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Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has selected Kamala Harris as his running mate in the upcoming US election. She becomes the first black woman on a major presidential ticket in US history. Ms Harris tweeted on Tuesday: “@JoeBiden can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll
Donald Trump has said the Spanish flu “probably ended the Second World War” – despite the conflict having started almost two decades later. The US president incorrectly stated the pandemic began in 1917, one year before the first cases were reported in 1918. Speaking at a White House news conference, Mr Trump suggested the illness
Police camera footage showing George Floyd pleading with the officers who were arresting him moments before he died has been released. The video, which was previously only available to journalists and members of the public to view by appointment, can now be published following a ruling by a Hennepin County judge. In the recordings from
Donald Trump has denied reports the White House inquired about getting his face carved onto Mount Rushmore alongside past US presidential greats – but then immediately suggested it “sounds like a good idea”. According to the New York Times, an official approached the office of South Dakota governor Kristi Noem last year to find out
One of the attending police officers admitted there was nothing they could really do. As hundreds of people crowded on to a small beachfront park, he said the prospect of trying to issue fines to them all was unrealistic. For weeks now, a group called Saturate OC has been holding religious revivals and baptisms on
Simon Cowell has broken his back while testing his new electric bicycle at his home in California. The music mogul, 60, was trying out the bike in the courtyard of his Malibu home when he fell off. A spokesperson for Cowell said he was due to have surgery on Saturday evening. He is currently under
Donald Trump has bypassed Congress to give thousands of Americans a tax holiday and extra unemployment benefit after talks with the Democrats collapsed. The president signed executive orders to extend economic relief for those hit hardest by the coronavirus at a news conference at his private New Jersey country club on Saturday. He accused Democrats
Russia is attempting to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ahead of the US election, America’s counterintelligence chief has said. William Evanina, director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said officials were also concerned about “ongoing and potential activity by China and Iran” in relation to the election. He accused the Kremlin of
An approved coronavirus vaccine may only end up being effective 50% of the time, the top US infectious diseases expert has warned. The chances of a COVID-19 vaccine being almost 100% effective are “not great”, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on Friday. “We don’t know yet
Donald Trump has accused practising Roman Catholic Joe Biden of being “against God” as he scrambles to win voters in the swing state of Ohio. The US president told a small crowd at a Cleveland airport on Thursday his Democratic opponent, who is leading in four Ohio presidential election polls, wants to “hurt God”. “He’s
Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning any US transactions with the Chinese company that owns the video-sharing app TikTok. The order, which will come into effect in 45 days, comes after his administration warned it was stepping up efforts to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps. Tencent, which owns the WeChat app, is also being
Homes that throw parties in Los Angeles risk having utilities switched off following a fresh crackdown on large gatherings. The county’s department of public health said in a statement that it “has issued a legally binding health officer order” that bans gatherings, including parties, during the coronavirus pandemic. Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti authorised the
Facebook has deleted a post by Donald Trump – which said children are “almost immune” from the coronavirus – for breaking its misinformation rules on the subject. Twitter also temporarily froze his official campaign account @TeamTrump until the same clip was removed. The offending posts contained a Fox News video in which Mr Trump made
Neil Young is suing Donald Trump’s re-election campaign for copyright infringement, alleging that his music has been used at the president’s rallies without his permission. The 74-year-old star said that he could not allow his work to be used as a “theme song for a divisive, un-American campaign of ignorance and hate”. In a complaint
Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds has apologised for holding his wedding with Blake Lively at a former slave plantation. The Deadpool and Gossip Girl stars got married in 2012 at Boone Hall, South Carolina, which Reynolds now admits was a “giant f****** mistake”. The 43-year-old told Fast Company website it was something “we’ll always be deeply