Trump impeachment trial: Five possible twists ahead
Trump impeachment trial: Five possible twists ahead
Many believe President Trump will be acquitted in the end. But could it yet diverge from the script?
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Sri Lanka civil war: Rajapaksa says thousands missing are dead
Sri Lanka civil war: Rajapaksa says thousands missing are dead
The president acknowledges the fate of more than 20,000 who disappeared during the civil war.
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Hundreds of US-bound migrants cross river to reach Mexico
Hundreds of US-bound migrants cross river to reach Mexico
The Mexican National Guard tries to block entry to the "caravan" hoping to reach the US.
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McConnell Pushes to Speed Impeachment Trial as Trump Requests Swift Acquittal
McConnell Pushes to Speed Impeachment Trial as Trump Requests Swift Acquittal
On Monday, the president’s lawyers asserted he did nothing wrong and urged the Senate to “swiftly reject” the charges against him.
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‘Constitutional Nonsense’: Trump’s Impeachment Defense Defies Legal Consensus
‘Constitutional Nonsense’: Trump’s Impeachment Defense Defies Legal Consensus
The president’s legal case would negate any need for witnesses. But constitutional scholars say that it’s wrong.
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McConnell Impeachment Rules Modify Clinton Precedent
McConnell Impeachment Rules Modify Clinton Precedent
The Senate Republican leader proposed impeachment trial rules that push the 1999 precedent toward President Trump’s preferences.
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Amid Tight Security, Virginia Gun Rally Draws Thousands of Supporters
Amid Tight Security, Virginia Gun Rally Draws Thousands of Supporters
Some 22,000 people, many of them armed, flooded the streets around the State Capitol to protest gun control proposals from the new Democratic majority.
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Conservative States Seek Billions to Brace for Disaster. (Just Don’t Call It Climate Change.)
Conservative States Seek Billions to Brace for Disaster. (Just Don’t Call It Climate Change.)
A Trump administration program to help states prepare for natural disasters has become a window into the tortured political language of talking about climate change.
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BBC faces ‘dangerous moment’ after Tony Hall’s departure
BBC faces 'dangerous moment' after Tony Hall's departure
Tory MPs seize on move with call for overhaul of funding model and end to licence feeThe BBC was warned on Monday that it is facing a “dangerous moment” as Conservative MPs seized on the departure of director general Tony Hall to call for an overhaul of its funding model and an end to the licence fee.John Whittingdale, the former culture secretary, led calls for a debate on the BBC’s funding model to start as soon as its mid-term review in 2022, arguing that Hall’s replacement would have to consider how the broadcaster can compete in the Netflix era. Continue reading...
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Jailed British-Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert rejected Iran’s offer to work as a spy
Jailed British-Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert rejected Iran's offer to work as a spy
Melbourne University academic rebuffed bid to recruit her in exchange for her release, letters revealIran tried to recruit the British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert as a spy for Tehran in exchange for her release, but the overture was furiously rebuffed, letters smuggled out of Evin prison reveal.Moore-Gilbert, a Cambridge-educated academic specialising in Middle East politics, is currently being held in ‘Ward 2A’, an isolated Revolutionary Guard-run wing of Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, serving a 10-year sentence for espionage, a charge she, and the Australian government, rejects as entirely false. Continue reading...
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Trump impeachment: President’s lawyers demand immediate acquittal
Trump impeachment: President's lawyers demand immediate acquittal
The president's legal team calls his impeachment "a dangerous perversion" of the US constitution.
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Angola vows to force return of Isabel dos Santos by ‘all possible means’
Angola vows to force return of Isabel dos Santos by 'all possible means'
Pledge comes as former ruler’s daughter denounces Luanda Leaks investigationCommunity bulldozed at site of Isabel dos Santos ‘masterplan’The Angolan government has vowed to use “all possible means” to force the return of Isabel dos Santos following the Luanda Leaks investigation into how the ex-president’s daughter accrued her $2bn fortune.Angola’s prosecutor general, Hélder Pitra Grós, said on Angolan public radio on Monday that the country would use “all possible means and activate international mechanisms to bring Dos Santos back to the country”. Continue reading...
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PM suffers first defeat on Brexit bill as peers vote to give EU nationals physical proof of right to stay – live news
PM suffers first defeat on Brexit bill as peers vote to give EU nationals physical proof of right to stay – live news
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenBoris Johnson suffers defeat in Lords on Brexit billNI assembly votes to refuse legislative consent to PM’s Brexit billEU says talks on trade deal with UK won’t start before end of FebruaryGordon Brown’s speech on case for radical devolution - Summary 5.46pm GMTUsdaw, the shopworkers’ union, has nominated Sir Keir Starmer for Labour leader. With Unison and Sera, the Labour environment campaign, also backing him, this means that he has got enough affiliate nominations to be guaranteed a place on the final ballot. He is the first of the five candidates left in the contest to ...
Trump Legal Team Asks Senate for Speedy Acquittal in Impeachment Trial
Trump Legal Team Asks Senate for Speedy Acquittal in Impeachment Trial
The day before the trial starts, the president’s lawyers asserted he did nothing wrong and urged the Senate to “swiftly reject” the charges against him.
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Tony Hall to step down as BBC director general
Tony Hall to step down as BBC director general
Hall, who will leave this summer after seven years, hailed as ‘inspirational creative leader’Tony Hall is stepping down as the director general of the BBC, it has been announced.The news of Lord Hall’s departure after seven years leading the corporation was relayed to staff by email on Monday. He said he would leave in the summer after concluding that the next director general needed to be in place before the mid-term review of the BBC’s charter in 2022. Continue reading...
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Boris Johnson says UK will stop using overseas aid to support coal mining or coal power plants – live news
Boris Johnson says UK will stop using overseas aid to support coal mining or coal power plants – live news
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenBoris Johnson urged to publish report on Russian meddlingLabour leadership: Jess Phillips vows to stop acting ‘statesmanlike’ 11.48am GMT 11.44am GMTGreenpeace has given a qualified welcome to Boris Johnson’s announcement about the UK government ending aid spending on coal mining or coal power plant projects. (See 10.23am.) But it says the move does not go far enough. This is from John Sauven, Greenpeace UK’s executive director.It’s great that in the middle of a climate emergency the UK government is finally putting a stop to taxpayers’ money being used to support coal pla...
Isabel dos Santos: president’s daughter who became Africa’s richest woman
Isabel dos Santos: president's daughter who became Africa's richest woman
From her first investment in a beach bar, Dos Santos has built a $2bn empire. But her wealth is the subject of mounting scrutiny From the terrace of the Miami Beach club, the sand stretches down to the Atlantic ocean. Waves lap the long shoreline of the Ilha de Luanda. On weekends, the bar-restaurant is full of wealthy drinkers and dancers who have driven over from Luanda, the Angolan capital, a few kilometres away.The Miami Beach club has been a fixture on the Luanda party scene for 20 years. Over that time the civil war that devastated Angola ended, an oil boom that generated billions ended in bust, and one of the longest-ruling leaders in Africa, José Eduardo dos Santos, was forced to step down as pres...
China coronavirus: Number of cases jumps as virus spreads to new cities
China coronavirus: Number of cases jumps as virus spreads to new cities
New cases of the respiratory illness are confirmed in the cities of Wuhan, Beijing and Shenzhen.
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Struggle Between N.S.A. and Congress Over Ukraine Records Breaks Into Open
Struggle Between N.S.A. and Congress Over Ukraine Records Breaks Into Open
Representative Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, said the agency was withholding documents from his panel, including some that might be useful in the impeachment trial.
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Democrats Seek More Testimony and Evidence for Impeachment Trial
Democrats Seek More Testimony and Evidence for Impeachment Trial
Even as the Senate prepares for the substantive start of the proceedings against President Trump, there are big unanswered questions. Here are some of them.
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The Trial That Would Be a Template
The Trial That Would Be a Template
Twenty-one years ago, President Bill Clinton was brought up on charges of high crimes and misdemeanors. But there were some big differences from what President Trump now faces.
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Where Is Cory Gardner?
Where Is Cory Gardner?
As the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump nears, the Republican senator from Colorado has gone to ground as he tries to keep moderates and independents in his corner while facing a tough re-election race.
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The Big Ask of Black Voters: Trust the Government
The Big Ask of Black Voters: Trust the Government
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg are trying to woo older black voters with policy. Those policies may be why they’re struggling to win their support.
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Revealed: how Angolan ruler’s daughter used her status to build $2bn empire
Revealed: how Angolan ruler's daughter used her status to build $2bn empire
Leaks show how Isabel dos Santos became Africa’s richest woman at expense of Angolan stateProfile: Isabel dos SantosThe diamond deal that rocked AngolaThe complex financial schemes that helped Africa’s richest woman amass a fortune at vast cost to the Angolan state can be revealed for the first time after a huge leak of confidential documents from her business empire.Isabel dos Santos, who is known as “the princess” in Angola, the oil-rich nation her father ruled as president for almost four decades, has long denied that her estimated $2.2bn (£1.7bn) fortune is the result of nepotism or corruption. Continue reading...
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How Angola’s state oil firm was left with just $309 in its account
How Angola's state oil firm was left with just $309 in its account
Inquiry into Isabel dos Santos’s management of Sonangol turns on a series of events before her sackingThe diamond deal that rocked AngolaRevealed: how Angolan ruler’s daughter built $2bn empireThe transfers began on 16 November 2017, with $38m wired (then £32.3m) to a bank account in Dubai. A little later another sum, this time $15m, exited, followed by a third for $4m. At the start of the day, the bank account of Sonangol, Angola’s state oil company, had contained $57m. By sunset, it had just $309.The story of these payments, as told by a Sonangol bank statement and internal report, lies at the centre of an Angolan government investigation into Africa’s richest woman. Continue reading...
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Prince Harry gives emotional speech on decision to step down
Prince Harry gives emotional speech on decision to step down
Duke of Sussex says he and Meghan had ‘no other option’ than to take ‘leap of faith’The Duke of Sussex has expressed his sadness over his decision to step down from royal duties in his first public remarks on the move, saying he had taken a “leap of faith”.Giving a speech at a private dinner in London for his charity Sentebale, Prince Harry said: “Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth, and my military associations without public funding. Unfortunately that wasn’t possible.” Continue reading...
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Labour leadership: Jess Phillips vows to stop acting ‘statesmanlike’
Labour leadership: Jess Phillips vows to stop acting 'statesmanlike'
Outspoken candidate concedes she ‘stopped being real’ in Saturday hustingsHustings are a bad way to decide who would make a good Labour leaderThe Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips has pledged to stop trying to appear prime ministerial as she battles to secure a place on the ballot paper after what she described as an “awful” first hustings in Liverpool on Saturday.Writing for the Guardian, Phillips acknowledges that it looks highly unlikely anyone but the two frontrunners, Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey, would win the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn. Continue reading...
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Huge dust storms in Australia hit central New South Wales
Huge dust storms in Australia hit central New South Wales
Videos posted to social media show the clouds turning day into night in some areas Damaging winds produced by thunderstorms across central New South Wales have whipped up dust storms that turned daytime into night in some towns.The Bureau of Meteorology issued a series of severe thunderstorm warnings on Sunday evening for inland NSW with the associated winds generating massive dust clouds. Continue reading...
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Isabel dos Santos: Africa’s richest woman ‘ripped off Angola’
Isabel dos Santos: Africa's richest woman 'ripped off Angola'
Leaked documents reveal how Isabel dos Santos made her fortune through exploitation and corruption.
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Extinction Rebellion listed as ‘key threat’ by counter-terror police
Extinction Rebellion listed as 'key threat' by counter-terror police
Awareness training across London led to ‘intelligence’ tip-offs, according to reportA police force in London labelled Extinction Rebellion one of its “key threats” in a counter-terrorism assessment and provided awareness training on the climate crisis group across the capital, resulting in “intelligence” tip-offs, the Guardian can reveal.City of London police grouped the environmental protest group alongside “far-right organisations” in an assessment of its counter-terrorism operations seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...
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