The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to invalidate Obamacare, which has provided health insurance to millions of Americans. Government lawyers said the act became invalid when the previous Republican-led Congress axed parts of it.

Democratic challenger Joe Biden attacked the move, saying Mr Trump had put millions of lives at risk during the coronavirus pandemic. Health care will be a key battleground in the November presidential election.

Some 20 million Americans could lose their health coverage if the court overturns the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was introduced by Donald Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. The act’s popular provisions include banning insurers from denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26. Millions of low-income Americans were able to obtain insurance due to the act.

Mr Trump says the scheme costs too much and has promised a different plan to replace it, preserving some popular elements of the existing law but covering fewer people.(BBC)…[+]

The United Nations says it is “shocked and deeply disturbed” by footage of an apparent sex act in one of its official cars in Israel. The clip shows a woman in a red dress straddling a man in the back seat of a white 4×4 with UN markings. The video, shared widely on social media, was apparently filmed on a main street by Tel Aviv’s seafront.

The UN said it was investigating the incident and was close to identifying the individuals seen in the video. Those involved are believed to be staff members of a peacekeeping organisation in Israel, the UN said. Another passenger can be seen slumped in the front, but the driver can’t be seen as the car moves away. Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN’s Secretary General, António Guterres, described the behaviour seen in the 18-second video as “abhorrent”. That kind of behaviour “goes against everything we stand for and having been working to achieve in terms of fighting misconduct by UN staff”, Mr Dujarric told the BBC on Friday.(NU)…[+]

Facebook has said it will start to label potentially harmful posts that it leaves up because of their news value.

The more hands-on approach comes as the social media firm faces growing pressure to take stronger action to moderate the content on its platform. More than 90 advertisers have joined a boycott of the site, including consumer goods giant Unilever on Friday. The firm said it would halt Twitter, Facebook and Instagram advertising in the US “at least” through 2020. “Continuing to advertise on these platforms at this time would not add value to people and society,” the maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, said.”We will revisit our current position if necessary.”

In a speech on Friday, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg defended the firm’s record of taking down hate speech. He pointed to a European Commission report this month that found Facebook removed 86% of hate speech last year, up from 82.6%.(BBC)…[+]