Obama implores America to vote and rebukes Trump

Former President Barack Obama on Friday implored Americans to vote in the November midterm elections, saying the future of democracy in the U.S. is in the balance.

Latest stories

  • Bombshell report links Trump insiders to Washington rally that led to Capitol riots

    Trump campaign team had said that they did not ‘organise, operate or finance’ the 6 January rally

  • The Voice UK: Tom Jones leaves viewers ‘absolutely bawling’ after emotional performance

    Welsh singer’s hits include ‘Sex Bomb’ and ‘It’s Not Unusual’

  • First Minister defends slower vaccine rollout in Wales

    The Welsh Government has faced criticism in the past week for vaccinating fewer people in proportion to its population than the other home nations.

  • British lawyer set to prosecute Hong Kong democracy campaigners called 'mercenary' by Dominic Raab

    A British lawyer set to prosecute Hong Kong democracy campaigners has been slated by Dominic Raab for being "mercenary". It comes after it was recently revealed that David Perry QC is being brought in to handle the trial of Jimmy Lai, a publisher and high-profile critic of the Chinese state, and eight other campaigners accused of organising an illegal anti-government march. The Foreign Secretary said he did not understand how any British lawyer could in "good conscience" prosecute a case applying the controversial national security law in Hong Kong. Mr Raab said: "There's no doubt in my mind that under the bar code of ethics a case like this could be resisted and, frankly, I think people watching this would regard it as pretty mercenary to be taking up that kind of case." He said he did not understand how anyone in “good conscience, from the world-leading legal profession that we have, would take a case where they will have to apply the national security legislation at the behest of the authorities in Beijing, which is directly violating, undermining the freedom of the people of Hong Kong, and I understand, in the case of Mr Perry, in relation to the pro-democracy activists”. He added: "From Beijing's point of view, this would be a serious PR coup."

  • Dancing on Ice: Denise Van Outen may not perform after being sent to hospital with shoulder injury

    Star suffered a ‘partial dislocation and tendon damage’ to her left shoulder

  • COVID-19: Vaccine to be offered to over-70s this week as more mass vaccination centres open

    People aged over 70 and those listed as clinically extremely vulnerable will be invited to receive coronavirus vaccinations starting this week. It comes as the national vaccine programme continues to expand, with 10 more mass vaccination centres due to open this week and the government revealing that the vaccine is being given at a rate of 140 jabs per minute. More than 3.8 million people in the UK, including those over 80, care home residents, and NHS staff, have already had the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

  • Trump news – Armed groups dwarfed by security at state capitals as president’s approval at new low

    The latest updates from the White House and beyond on 17 January 2021

  • UK weather: Heavy rain warnings with 'danger to life' after snowy weekend

    Large parts of the UK are likely to be hit by heavy downpours this week, with some covered by flood warnings. The worst-affected regions could see up to 70mm of rain over 48 hours. There is an amber warning for rain covering a circular area including Sheffield, Manchester, Blackburn and Leeds from 6am on Tuesday until the end of Wednesday.

  • Coronavirus: No one should be going on holiday while NHS is ‘on the cusp’, says Dominic Raab

    Quarantine checks to be stepped up, but doubt over workability of plans to use hotels, says foreign secretary

  • Branson's Virgin Orbit reaches space with key mid-air rocket launch

    Billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit reached space for the first time on Sunday with a successful test of its air-launched rocket, delivering ten NASA satellites to orbit and achieving a key milestone after aborting the rocket’s first test launch last year. "According to telemetry, LauncherOne has reached orbit!" the company announced on Twitter during the test mission, dubbed Launch Demo 2. Roughly two hours after its Cosmic Girl carrier craft took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in southern California, the rocket, a 70-foot launcher tailored for carrying small satellites to space, successfully placed 10 tiny satellites in orbit for NASA, the company said on Twitter.

  • Boris Johnson under pressure as Labour force vote on £20-a-week Covid-19 boost to Universal Credit

    Labour will force a vote in the Commons to stop millions plunging into poverty

  • Escaping coronavirus lockdowns, tourists flock to Dubai

    As much of the world tightens lockdowns to stem coronavirus, Dubai has flung its doors open, branding itself as a sunny, quarantine-free escape -- despite a sharp rise in cases. While mask-wearing and social distancing are strictly enforced, life in the tourism-reliant emirate looks much like normal, with its restaurants, hotels and mega-malls open for business.Daily detected cases hover in the mid-3,000s across the United Arab Emirates, which has a population of under 10 million, with 745 deaths from Covid-19 since the pandemic began.

  • Coronavirus UK: Covid cases and deaths today

    Coronavirus UK: Covid cases and deaths todayAre UK coronavirus cases rising in your local area and nationally? Check week-on-week changes across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the latest figures from public health authorities

  • Armed protesters gather at heavily fortified state capitols of Ohio, Michigan, Texas and elsewhere

    Smatterings of ‘boogaloo boys’ have begun appearing at state capitols

  • Coronavirus news – live: Travel warning as new rules come in and Covid patient admitted ‘every 30 seconds’

    No one should go on holiday abroad or in the UK while the NHS is on the “cusp” due to the coronavirus pandemic, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab has said. More than 3.5 million people in the UK having now received their first dose of the vaccine, Boris Johnson said, as he celebrated those helping the “fantastic national effort”.

  • Police break up fight in London between 40 men involving knives and a sword

    Police break up fight in London between 40 men involving knives and a swordTwo men in their 20s were arrested and remain in police custody after the incident in Southall

  • Neighbours' Sheila Canning suffers worrying collapse in new row over Clive

    Des Clarke's return doesn't go to plan.

  • Neighbours spoiler pictures see Sheila Canning suffer worrying collapse

    Will she be okay?From Digital Spy

  • Government ‘plans to end lockdown in March’ while ‘every adult could get Covid vaccine by end of June’

    The government is planning to end lockdown in March after cabinet members agreed that waiting until the summer when most people will have been vaccinated would lead to yet more economic misery, according to reports. Ministers are drawing up a timetable to scale back restrictions despite the Sage Advisory committee calling for delays, it has been reported. A blueprint for the end of the lockdown is expected to be looked at later this week which will take into account the latest infection rates, deaths and hospitalisations.

  • Duke of York's adviser contacted campaigner who claims Virginia Roberts photograph was doctored

    The Duke of York’s adviser reached out to an online campaigner who claimed to have evidence the photograph with Virginia Roberts was doctored, it has been reported. Mark Gallagher, the Duke’s crisis management specialist, is said to have made contact with Molly Skye Brown who publicly alleges that Ms Roberts is not a victim but a “prostitute” who “trafficked” others. Ms Brown, who has attacked Ms Roberts on social networking site Twitter for a number of months, was said to have first been approached by a close aide of the Duchess of York, Antonia Marshall, who thanked her for her “online support”. In screenshots of the conversation, which Ms Brown passed to the Mail on Sunday, Ms Marshall is alleged to have offered a meeting with the Duchess in order to gain her support and said she would pass on her greetings to the Queen. The possibility of setting up a fake Twitter account to ensnare the woman they suspect of altering the now infamous picture of the Duke with his arm around Epstein’s sex slave was discussed, it is claimed. Ms Roberts, who now goes by her married name Giuffre, claims she was trafficked to the UK in 2001 by Epstein and alleged that she was forced to have sex with the Duke on three occasions in 2001 and 2002, when she was 17. She maintains that the photograph was taken in 2001. The Duke denies that he had any sexual relations with her. Ms Brown, 42, a former teen beauty queen from Florida who says when she was 14 Ghislaine Maxwell tried to recruit her as a masseuse, alleged she passed on “some evidence” that the image was doctored and then passed the exchanges on to the FBI. Ms Roberts publicly denied Ms Brown’s allegations and said that she “blocked her because of her widespread lies”.