US President Donald Trump has visited Kenosha, Wisconsin, to back law enforcement after the police shooting of a black man sparked civil strife. The Republican president blamed “domestic terror” for the “destruction” in the Midwestern city. Kenosha saw days of violence after police shot Jacob Blake in the back and left him paralysed on 23 August.

Mr Trump has been lagging behind Joe Biden in opinion polls, although some polls have tightened in recent weeks.

The president is pushing a campaign message of “law and order” – however, Mr Biden has accused Mr Trump of stoking racial division. “Fires are burning and we have a president who fans the flames rather than fighting the flames,” the former US vice-president said ahead of Mr Trump’s trip on Tuesday. A police officer shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back during an arrest as the 29-year-old tried to get into a car where his three children were seated.(BBC)…[+]

A tell-all memoir by an ex-associate of First Lady Melania Trump has disclosed unflattering details about the White House as her husband seeks re-election. In Melania and Me, published Tuesday, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff claims she witnessed “deceit” and “deception” throughout her former friendship.

The White House has denounced the book as a “bizarre twisting of the truth”. On Monday, the author said she was working with authorities on a financial probe of Mr Trump’s inauguration. Mrs Winston Wolkoff, a longtime event planner for Vogue magazine, also describes the widely reported tensions between Mrs Trump and her step-daughter Ivanka Trump, who Mrs Trump allegedly refers to as “princess”.

Mrs Trump, she writes, is a fan of emojis and once sent her a text message describing Ms Trump and her husband Jared Kushner – both senior White House advisors – as “snakes”. On Monday Mrs Winston Wolkoff, who was a senior organiser for Trump’s inauguration, told ABC News that she was cooperating with investigators who are scrutinising allegations of financial crimes involved with spending for the event.(BBC)…[+]

Security was stepped up the last time Frans Hals’s painting Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer was stolen from a small museum in the Dutch town of Leerdam. But it was not enough to stop art thieves forcing open the back door and making off with it for a third time. One of the Old Masters of the Dutch Golden Age, Frans Hals painted the work in 1626.

Art detective Arthur Brand said he believed it was “stolen to order”. “It’s very difficult to secure small museums as it costs too much money. If they want to have your stuff, they’ll get in,” he told the BBC. Two Laughing Boys was first stolen in 1988 along with a Jacob van Ruisdael work. Both paintings were recovered three years later.

The same paintings were taken again from the Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden museum in 2011 and found six months on. Frans Hals specialist Anna Tummers said at the time the painting was a “wonderful example of his loose painting style… it was very playful, daring and loose”.(BBC)…[+]

US intelligence officials say there is no evidence of foreign efforts to meddle with mail-in voting, refuting President Donald Trump’s claims. The report comes amid an ongoing row over the US Postal Service, which is tasked with handling mail-in ballots for the November presidential election.

A vast number of Americans are expected to vote by post due to the pandemic. Mr Trump has for months alleged, without evidence, that large-scale mail voting will lead to voter fraud. On Wednesday, a senior national intelligence official told reporters: “We have no information or intelligence that any nation-state threat actor is engaging in any kind of activity to undermine any part of the mail-in vote or ballots.” It contradicts Mr Trump’s remarks that voting by mail – which he himself has done – is susceptible to foreign interference. 

In the wake of confirmed Russian interference during the 2016 election, US authorities have been seeking to safeguard systems ahead of the 3 November poll. Election security officials earlier this month confirmed that the Kremlin was working against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, while China would prefer a Mr Biden win. Iran may also attempt to interfere with US institutions. Mr Trump has dismissed the notion that the Russians are seeking to boost his campaign. A cybersecurity official on Wednesday’s call noted that targeting voting machines is “in the playbook” for governments like Russia but that no such effort has successfully affected American’s ability to vote.(BBC)…[+]

Wisconsin’s attorney general has named the officer who shot a black man on Sunday, sparking days of demonstrations. Josh Kaul told reporters on Wednesday that Rusten Sheskey shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back as he opened the door of his car. Officers found a knife in Mr Blake’s car, he added, but no other weapons. The shooting has sparked a wave of protests in recent days, some of which have turned violent. 

A 17-year-old was arrested on Wednesday after two people were killed and another injured amid unrest on Tuesday night. Mr Blake is recovering in hospital and is conscious, but his lawyers fear it will take a “miracle” for him to walk again. US President Donald Trump has since sent federal law enforcement to Kenosha, tweeting they were to combat “looting, arson, violence, and lawlessness on American streets”.

The Department of Justice has opened a federal investigation into the shooting. It has sent more than 200 FBI agents and US Marshals to the city, according to a spokeswoman. Shortly after Mr Trump’s tweet, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he had authorised 500 National Guard troops to support law enforcement efforts amid concerns about further violence.(BBC)…[+]

American Airlines has said it will cut 19,000 jobs in October when a government wage support scheme extended to airlines during the pandemic comes to an end. The world’s biggest airline said the cuts, on top of voluntary departures and leave, would leave its workforce 30% smaller than it was in March.

Other carriers have warned of similarly large cuts amid a slump in air travel. United last month said as many as 36,000 jobs were at risk. Germany’s Lufthansa has warned it may cut 22,000 positions, while British Airways is slashing 12,000 jobs. The reductions come a mid warnings that the impact of the pandemic will cause airline losses of more than $84bn (£64bn) globally this year. In the US, the terms of a $25bn (£19bn) government bailout barred airlines from making significant job cuts before 30 September. While airlines have called for further support, talks in Washington about an aid package collapsed this month without a deal.(BBC)…[+]

Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate their homes in the coastal US states of Texas and Louisiana as Hurricane Laura barrels towards them. The storm is expected to move from Cuba through the Gulf of Mexico, hitting both states by Wednesday.

The hurricane lands as another storm, Marco, struck Louisiana on Monday, bringing strong winds and heavy rain.

Both have already wreaked havoc in the Caribbean, destroying homes and killing at least 20 people. US President Donald Trump has issued a disaster declaration for Louisiana, ordering federal assistance to co-ordinate relief efforts. More than 385,000 residents were ordered to leave the Texas cities of Beaumont, Galveston and Port Arthur, while an additional 200,000 were told to evacuate Calcasieu Parish in south-western Louisiana.(BBC)…[+]

US President Donald Trump has warned his fellow Republicans their opponents may “steal” November’s election, as his party anointed him as their candidate. “They’re using Covid to defraud the American people,” Mr Trump told delegates on the first day of the party convention in North Carolina. He repeated an untrue claim that mail-in ballots could lead to voter fraud. An unprecedented number of Americans are expected to vote by mail as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Experts and voting officials have dismissed the claim that mail-in voting leads to fraud as a false conspiracy theory. Mr Trump himself uses the system regularly.

Opinion polls suggest he is lagging behind Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Mr Biden, the former vice-president to Barack Obama, has boasted a 10-point lead on occasions. Addressing delegates in person at a party conference that has been dramatically scaled back by the coronavirus pandemic, Mr Trump accused Democrats of “using Covid to steal an election“.(BBC)…[+]