Donald Trump has said he will not consider a national mandate requiring people to wear masks to combat the spread of coronavirus. Asked in an interview on Fox News to be broadcast on Sunday if he would consider the move, the US president said: “No, I want people to have a certain freedom, and I
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US civil rights hero John Lewis, whose beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanise opposition to racial segregation, has died aged 80. The veteran Democratic politician announced in December that he had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi confirmed Mr Lewis’s death on Friday evening,
US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but says she has no intention of retiring. Ms Ginsburg, who at 87 is the court’s oldest member, said a scan in February, followed by a biopsy, revealed lesions on her liver. The information she revealed about her condition indicated
Dr Anthony Fauci is the talk of the town in Washington DC – there’s almost a folk-like nostalgia that surrounds him. I was in the park the other day when a couple introduced their dog to me and my son. “What’s his name?” I asked. Image: Dr Fauci says tension with the president is stressful
The White House press secretary has revived Donald Trump’s calls for schools to reopen, saying “the science should not stand in the way of this”. Echoing the president’s push for pupils to return to classrooms, Kayleigh McEnany said “we don’t think children should be locked up at home, with devastating consequences”. “You know, the president
Donald Trump has replaced his campaign manager Brad Parscale with veteran republican Bill Stepien four months before the US election. Mr Parscale was Mr Trump’s digital media manager during his 2016 election campaign and was promoted to campaign manager in 2018. Despite being widely credited with helping bring about his surprise victory four years ago,
Several high-profile Twitter accounts have been hacked in what appears to be a Bitcoin scam. Twitter said it was investigating a “security incident” after fake tweets were posted on the accounts offering to send $2,000 for every $1,000 sent to a Bitcoin address. Among those affected were former US president Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate
A man has been shot and killed by police after a dispute over a face mask at a shop in the US state of Michigan. Sean Ruis, 43, was suspected of stabbing a 77-year-old man who had challenged him because he was not wearing a mask while in the Quality Dairy store in Lansing on
Ghislaine Maxwell has been denied bail after one of her accusers said Jeffrey Epstein would not have been able to abuse teenage girls without her. Maxwell, the ex-partner of the convicted paedophile, faces up to 35 years in prison over allegations she recruited teenage girls – including one as young as 14 years old –
China has accused the US of “stirring up tension” after America’s secretary of state said it would take a tougher stance on Beijing’s “bullying” in the South China Sea. Territorial disputes over small island chains in the region have been going on for years between China and neighbouring countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and
A body found in a California lake is that of Glee star Naya Rivera, police say. The 33-year-old went missing after renting a boat on Lake Piru, northwest of Los Angeles, with her four-year-old son last Wednesday. The Ventura County Sheriff’s office said they are “confident” the body they found on Monday morning is that
Elvis Presley’s grandson, Benjamin Keough, has died aged 27. His mother Lisa Marie Presley is “completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated”, according to her spokesman. TMZ is reporting that Keough took his own life on Sunday in Calabasas, California, quoting police sources who said he appeared to die from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. That information
Eighteen sailors have been injured after an explosion caused a fire on a military ship in San Diego, the fire department said. The sailors were taken from the USS Bonhomme Richard to hospital with “non-life threatening injuries” on Sunday morning, Mike Raney, a spokesman for Naval Surface Force, US Pacific Fleet, said. San Diego Fire
Donald Trump has been seen wearing a mask in public, despite previously appearing reluctant to endorse their use. The US president was visiting a military hospital in Washington where he met injured service personnel and health workers caring for COVID-19 patients. The pandemic reached the US in March, and has infected more than 3.2 million
It had become a case of when, not if, Donald Trump would save his old pal Roger Stone from prison. When Stone failed in a court bid to delay the start of his sentence next week because of a coronavirus outbreak at the jail, the president stepped in. Stone was there for Trump at the
Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of his former adviser Roger Stone – just days before he was due to report to prison to serve 40 months for crimes related to an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election. The White House confirmed the commuting of the sentence in a statement, saying Stone