UN chief slams Trump administration policies on environment and immigration – live updates

Michelle Bachelet criticises weakened environmental protection standards Vice-president to take charge of US response to coronavirusDemocrat challengers campaigning in run-up to South Carolina and Super TuesdaySupport the Guardian’s independent journalism. Make a contribution 1.32pm GMT As much as Donald Trump likes to paint it as a fake news hoax, concerns about foreign interference in US elections are not going to go away, as has been revealed by a new joint poll from the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.They have found that Americans have widespread concerns about the security and integrity of elections, with few saying they have high confidence that votes in the 2020 presidential election will be counted accurately. 1.20pm GMT It is fair to say that opinion is divided as to whether Vice-president Mike Pence is the right man to take charge of a potential disease pandemic situation. Shannon Palus at Slate has listed Pence’s horrible history on public health initiatives.While Donald Trump seems keen to talk down the impact of coronavirus in an attempt to quell any panic about it on Wall Street, high on Pence’s agenda today will be that the US appears to have seen its first human-to-human transmission of Covid-19 to someone who has no track record of contact with anybody who had travelled.There have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in San Francisco, but even so, Chinatown regulars say the streets are less crowded, and people have begun to worry – not about the virus itself, they said, but on whether their businesses can survive this downturn. Related: ‘Please visit Chinatown’: coronavirus fears empty San Francisco district Continue reading…
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