President Donald Trump could issue executive orders to address student loans, jobless benefits and the eviction moratorium after talks with Congressional Democrats regarding a coronavirus relief bill broke down on Friday.
A top US counterintelligence official has issued a public statement saying that China and Iran prefer that president Donald Trump does not win re-election; while Russia is seeking to hurt former vice president Joe Biden’s electoral chances.
Canada will impose retaliatory tariffs on US aluminium goods after Mr Trump announced a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian aluminium.
A New York judge has dismissed president Trump’s attempt to delay a defamation lawsuit brought against him by a woman who accused him of rape.
Trump on Biden: 'He's against the bible'
Donald Trump said on Thursday that his Democratic opponent - and a Catholic - Joe Biden was "against the Bible".
The president, who was condemned by Church leaders in June when he posed with a bible after clearing-away Black Lives Matter protesters outside the White House, went on the attack against Mr Biden in an apparent attempt to appeal to voters.
"He's against the Bible," Mr Trump said during an exchange with Geraldo Rivera, who asked about polls in Texas putting him almost neck-and-neck with Mr Biden.
"I mean when you think of it, how about Texas? One of the polls said Trump is leading by one [point] in Texas. OK, I'm in favour of oil and gas. I'm in favour of the Bible. I'm in favor of Second Amendment. Biden is against all of those things. He's against oil, he's against the Bible -- essentially against religion -- but against the Bible, and he's against the Second Amendment," said Mr Trump.
In a statement, Mr Biden later called those claims "shameful".
Justin Vallejo reports:
Biden on Trump: 'A man willing to stoop to any low'
In a statement late on Thursday, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee hit-back at Mr Trump's claims he was "against the bible".
"My faith has been the bedrock foundation of my life," said Mr Biden, a practising Catholic. "My faith has been a guiding light".
Mr Trump, meanwhile, was “beneath the office he holds and it’s beneath the dignity the American people so rightly expect and deserve from their leaders,” added Mr Biden.
"President Trump’s comments reveal more about him than they do about anyone else,” said Mr Biden. “They show us a man willing to stoop to any low for political gain".
You can read that statement below:
Trump: 'The NRA should move to Texas'
The president on Thursday told America's National Rifle Association (NRA) to relocate to Texas, after New York's attorney general announced a lawsuit aimed at dissolving the organisation over alleged widespread fraud.
“That’s a very terrible thing that just happened," said Mr Trump on the lawsuit. "I think the NRA should move to Texas and lead a very good and beautiful life."
Governor Andrew Cuomo, meanwhile, told reporters that the NRA had a long history of thwarting the rules of New York state, and that a publicly subsidised not-for-profit cannot also be a political organisation or refuse to disclose financial information.
The president later commented that Joe Biden would "[take] your guns" and dismantle America's Second Amendment, which gives people the right to "bear arms."
Mr Biden, in contrast, says on his campaign website that "It's within our grasp to end our gun violence epidemic and respect the Second Amendment, which is limited."
The NRA's president, Carolyn Meadows, called New York state attorney Letitia James a political opportunist making a power grab as part of a political vendetta - as the association announced plans to counter-sue.
Justin Vallejo has the latest:
China opposes Trump orders on TikTok and WeChat
China's foreign ministry firmly opposes US president Donald Trump's executive orders banning American transactions with Chinese apps WeChat and TikTok, a spokesman said on Friday.
China will defend the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses, said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin during a media briefing.
Reuters
US attacks on Chinese apps 'An outright hegemonic act"
Beijing said Washington was misusing national security as an excuse to "unreasonably suppress" foreign companies on Friday, as the country's foreign ministry commented on president Trump's orders banning US transactions with two major Chinese apps, TikTok and WeChat.
"The United States is using taking national security as an excuse, frequently abuses national power and unreasonably suppress companies of other countries," said a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, at a briefing on Friday.
"This is an outright hegemonic act. China is firmly opposed to it," said Mr Wang, who did not name TikTok or a WeChat, and called on the Trump administration to "correct its wrongdoing" but gave no indication how Beijing might respond.
Citing threats to American national security, Mr Trump earlier this week threatened TikTok with a 15 September deadline to "close down" unless Microsoft or another company acquires it.
Reuters
Who is New York's attorney general?
As a public advocate, Letitia James made her name going after New York's landlords. As a candidate for attorney general, she made her campaign going after one of the city's most famous.
On Wednesday, she submitted a lawsuit that would disband the National Rifle Association after an 18-month investigation she says found widespread fraud and wrongdoing.
"[She] does little else but rant, rave & politic against me. Will never be treated fairly by these people," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter when she took office.
That criticism, said Ms James, was a badge of honour.
Justin Vallejo reports:
Trump cannot debate Biden earlier than planned
The nonpartisan presidential debates commission has denied Trump campaign requests to hold an additional general election debate or bring-forward the first debate.
In a letter to Mr Trump's private attorney Rudy Giuliani, the commission said it was committed to the current three-debate timetable agreed between Mr Trump and Democrat Joe Biden,.
"If the candidates were to agree that they wished to add to that schedule, the Commission would consider that request but remains committed to the schedule of debates it has planned as reflected in the attached release," added the commission.
The Trump campaign suggested on Wednesday that the debate schedule be moved-up, with expanded mail-voting amid the coronavirus pandemic seeing mail ballots sent out in 16 states by the time the first scheduled debate takes place on September 29.
"There is a difference between ballots having been issued by a state and those ballots having been cast by voters, who are under no compulsion to return their ballots before the debates," the commission responded.
Reuters
This is what The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican political action committee, had to say on the matter:
Kanye West 'walking for president'
American rapper Kanye West has appeared to suggest that his 2020 presidential bid was a spoiler campaign against Democrat Joe Biden.
In a text interview with Forbes magazine on Thursday, Mr West said he was “walking for president” when asked if he had chosen to run to hurt Mr Biden’s chances.
Mr West, who has previously voiced support for Mr Trump and visited the White House wearing a "Make America Great Again" cap, was scrutinised following his 4 July decision to run for the presidency.
Matt Mathers reports:
Biden clarifies comments on Latino and Black Americans
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden clarified comments he made about America's Latino and Black communities on Thursday, saying he did not mean to suggest Black Americans were not as “diverse”.
“In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith—not by identity, not on issues, not at all,” wrote Mr Biden on Twitter.
“Throughout my career I’ve witnessed the diversity of thought, background, and sentiment within the African American community,” he added. “It’s this diversity that makes our workplaces, communities, and country a better place.”
That explanation on Twitter came after he was criticised for an interview with a Latina reporter, in which he was discussing US-Cuba relations.
"Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things," said Mr Biden on Thursday.
The former vice president had been alluding to the dozens of national origins that make up America's Hispanic population, especially in Florida, a presidential battleground in November.
Michelle Obama 'doing just fine'
Michelle Obama has reassured fans she is “doing just fine”, after revealing she had “low-grade depression” on her podcast this week.
On Thursday, the former First Lady shared a black-and-white photo on Instagram that showed her journaling and a lengthy caption in which she thanked fans and offered words of support for anyone dealing with mental health problems.
“I just wanted to check in with you all because a lot of you have been checking in on me after hearing this week’s podcast,” she wrote in the caption.
“First things first — I’m doing just fine. There’s no reason to worry about me. Like I said in that conversation with @Michele__Norris, I’m thinking about the folks out there risking themselves for the rest of us — the doctors and nurses and essential workers of all kinds".
Sarah Young reports:
Trump candidate and progressive Democrat win Tennessee primaries
Thursday's election night in Tennessee saw Trump-backed Bill Hagerty and Black activist Marquita Bradshaw claim victory over establishment Republicans and Democrats in the state.
The pair, whose victories were announced overnight, will now battle each other in November to succeed retiring Republican US Senator Lamar Alexander, who is among the last remaining moderate Republicans in Congress.
Mr Hagerty, who served as US ambassador to Japan between 2017 and 2019, was able to claim victory over Nashville trauma surgeon Manny Sethi with president Trump's backing.
The Republican candidate had leveraged Mr Trump's endorsement to brush back attacks on his previous business and political ties to Mitt Romney, who was once the GOP presidential nominee and now, according to Mr Hagerty, a "weak-kneed" Republican senator who voted to convict Mr Trump during the president's impeachment trial.
Meanwhile, Marquita Bradshaw surprised pundits with a win over James Mackler, who had raised more than $2.1 million and drew endorsements from the likes of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
"We didn't raise a million dollars, but the dollars that we raised came from hard-working people in Tennessee and around this nation," Bradshaw told The Associated Press in an interview. "Some of them are housekeepers, some of them pushcarts from WalMart, some of them are scientists. But they are people who want us to head on and deal with the issues."
Ms Bradshaw, who supports the Green New Deal, expanding Medicare, increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour, faces an up-hill battle to defeat Mr Hagerty in Novemeber in Tennessee, where Republicans have held both Senate seats since 1994.
Associated Press
'Thighland and Vietnam'
Another Donald Trump speech; another embarrassing verbal blunder for the US president.
This time, the president managed to get the name of an entire country wrong – while complaining about corporations sending jobs overseas.
Delivering a speech at a Whirlpool factory in Clyde, Ohio, the president referred to Thailand as “Thighland”, when he complained about “shifting production to Thighland, and to Vietnam ...”
Mr Trump immediately realised his error and repeated the statement, saying: "I like their leaders very much – do they take advantage of the United States? Not so much anymore.”
Matt Mathers has the latest:
Thais mocks Trump over 'Thighland'
Thailand was accidentally propelled into the spotlight on Thursday following US president Donald Trump's mispronunciation of the country's name as "Thighland".
Many in the country were surprised bemused to see social media memes featuring "Thighland", with Twitter users seizing on the slip-up to mock the US president.
#Thighland was among Twitter's top-trending topics in both Thailand and the United States overnight, as the English-language online newspaper Thai Enquirer changed its Twitter name to "Thigh Enquirer" on Friday morning and ran an article on the mistake.
The meme escalated when conservative American pundit Dinesh D'Souza, who president Trump pardoned after a conviction for violating campaign finance law, argued in a series of tweets that "Thighland" is in fact the correct pronunciation.
Rikker Dockum, a professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, told Reuters that Mr Trump's second pronunciation - with an aspirated hard "t" instead of a soft "th" sound - is the widely used one in both Thai and English.
"Among English speakers around the world, this is not a disputed pronunciation," he added.
Zuckerberg says TIkTok ban 'sets bad precedent'
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said he is “really worried” about the prospect of rival social media app TikTok being banned in the US.
The technology billionaire told employees at a staff meeting that president Donald Trump’s plan to ban the Chinese-owned app would set “a really bad long-term precedent”.
Mr Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that would prevent TikTok from operating in the US unless it is sold to a non-Chinese company, claiming that apps like TikTok “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States”
Anthony Cuthbertson reports:
Mexico still on US travel ban
The US State Department continued to warn citizens against travelling to Mexico on Thursday, despite easing an advisory against international travel for Americans.
The US and Mexico have close commercial ties and share the world's busiest land border, crossed by many of their citizens for work, travel or family visits.
Mexico's health ministry have recorded 462,690 confirmed cases and 50,517 fatalities from Covid-19, which was blamed for the ban remaining in place.
On Twitter, the US ambassador to Mexico, Christopher Landau, said "[Mexico's] own government recognises that contagion rates are still high".
"Travelers to Mexico may experience border closures, airport closures, travel prohibitions, stay at home orders, business closures, and other emergency conditions within Mexico due to COVID-19." said the state department.
Reiterating additional concerns about crime, the department's website said a "Level 4" warning covered Mexico and many other countries.
The US had issued a Level 4 travel alert on 19 March, warning its citizens that no international travel was appropriate at the start of the pandemic.
Reuters
Trump attacks AOC
Donald Trump criticised the green new deal while hitting out at Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), comparing her to a child on Thursday.
During his remarks at Whirlpool Corporation Manufacturing Plant Mr Trump called the deal a “socialist take over of the US economy”, calling it “horrendous”.
He quickly moved on to lambaste AOC, who “conceived” the deal. “AOC plus three I say. AOC, that’s a real beauty isn’t it,” Mr Trump says, referring to ”the squad” – a group of progressive freshmen lawmakers elected during the 2018 midterms.
She knows as much about the environment … as that young child over there I think he knows more. She certainly knows nothing about the economy,” Mr Trump concludes.
The comments come as senator Kamala Harris and representative Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday introduced a climate equity bill that AOC has stressed has Green New Deal roots.
Louise Hall reports:
Taiwan in talks with US on drones
In a move that will likely anger China, the United States is negotiating the sale of at least four sophisticated aerial drones to Taiwan for the first time, according to six US sources familiar with the negotiations.
The aircraft can keep watch over huge swathes of sea and land, with a range of 6,000 nautical miles (11,100 km) - far greater than the 160-mile (257.5-kilometre) range of Taiwan's current fleet of drones, potentially giving the island greater capacity to peer into China, observing its air force, missiles and other facilities.
While the State Department tacitly authorised the sale of the unmanned aerial vehicles, two of the people said, it is not known whether the US officials have approved exporting the drones with weapons attached, one of them said.
Mike Stone reports:
Judge blocks Trump bid to delay suit from woman alleging rape
A New York judge knocked down President Donald Trump's bid to delay a lawsuit from a woman who accused him of rape, ruling in a decision released Thursday that the presidency doesn't shield him from the case.
Pointing to a recent US Supreme Court ruling that the president isn't immune from a New York prosecutor's criminal investigation, Manhattan judge Verna Saunders said the same principle applies to E. Jean Carroll's defamation suit, in which Mr Trump's lawyers have argued that the Constitution bars presidents from being dragged into lawsuits in state courts.
"No, it does not," Saunders wrote.
The decision allows Ms Carroll — who's seeking Trump's DNA as potential evidence — to keep pursuing her suit. She says he slurred her in denying her claim that he raped her in the 1990s.
"We are now eager to move forward with discovery so that we can prove that Donald Trump defamed E. Jean Carroll when he lied about her in connection with her brave decision to tell the truth about the fact that Donald Trump had sexually assaulted her," said her lawyer, Roberta Kaplan.
Email and phone messages were sent to Trump's lawyers about the ruling.
Ms Carroll, who was a longtime Elle magazine advice columnist until December, went public last year with an allegation that Mr Trump raped her in a Manhattan luxury department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. She said it happened after they ran into each other and bantered about trying on a bodysuit.
Mr Trump said Carroll was "totally lying" to sell a memoir and that he'd never met her, though a 1987 photo showed them and their then-spouses at a social event. He said it just captured a moment when he was standing in a line.
The president's lawyers have argued the suit shouldn't proceed at least until New York's highest court decides - in a separate case - whether an incumbent president is shielded from all state-court suits unrelated to his official duties.
Associated Press
Facebook takes action against right-wing groups
Facebook has staged a major cull of fake accounts, taking down hundreds masquerading as black supporters of Donald Trump and those who support the conspiracy theory movement QAnon.
The social media site also removed one of the largest Facebook groups dedicated to the far-right QAnon movement, as well as hundreds more accounts associated with the far-right, pro-Trump Epoch Media Group, which has spread misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.
The action on Thursday follows Facebook deletion of a post by Mr Trump, which it labelled as "covid misinformation".
Andrew Naughtie has the latest:
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