The EU risks irrelevance if it doesn’t seek new purpose – and it won’t find it in the fantasy of power projected by the G7Beneath the strained bonhomie of the G7 summit lurks a visceral fear: that Joe Biden’s bid to build a democratic alliance to stem the authoritarian tide led by China and Russia will split the world in two, leaving Europe, betrayed by Boris Johnson’s turncoat Britain, to play piggy-in-the-middle.Despite public applause for Biden’s key message – that the US is “back” after the xenophobic hyper-nationalism of Donald Trump – European leaders seem far from convinced. They worry the EU may be sucked into a second, limitless cold war, and that Biden, who will be 82 in 2024, could be unseated by a hawkish Trump or Trump clone. Continue reading...

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Joe Biden has convinced allies that the US is back, as the two leaders met at the G7 summit on Saturday. Biden, asked by a reporter if America was back, turned to Macron and gestured with his sunglasses towards the French president that he should answer that question. 'Yes, definitely,' Macron said. 'It's great to have a US president who's part of the club and very willing to cooperate'

Other performers can learn from the irreversible break-up that made Oasis one of the greatsIn an age of celebrity blandness, where famous people usually decline to say much of interest in public, Noel Gallagher is reliably forthright in doling out his opinions. Last week, doing the rounds, he let rip at hard-to-hit targets such as Prince Harry (“woke snowflake”) and Little Mix (“not in the same league as Oasis”). So familiar are his “better in my day” grumbles that they’re essentially white noise now; they should make a relaxation app out of them, to soothe sleep-troubled woke snowflakes who are unbearably anxious about the prospect of Little Mix not winning a Brit next year.But in among all the “Dad, put your phone down” stuff, there was wisdom. On the Sky Arts documentary Noel Gallagher: Out of the Now, he dug into the Oasis split, explaining that their break-up was “the best thing for me and for the band”. Prior to that, he said, they were “not lauded as one of the greats of all time”. I saw them trudge through a handful of joyless festival sets in the 00s, which were, like Little Mix, “not in the same league as Oasis”. Calling it a day made them into greats, because it meant they never quite had the chance to become fully spoiled. Continue reading...

Democratic leadership chimed in to rebuke the progressive congresswoman for what was clearly a mischaracterization of her comments Continue reading...

The bee teaches many invaluable life lessons and this year’s is a celebration of perseverance. After a long, difficult season of tumult, anxiety and loss, maybe it’s exactly what we all need2020 was a year like no other. Although it understandably wasn’t top of mind, the competitive spelling world also suffered the disruptive consequences of the pandemic. The Scripps National Spelling Bee – which only the second world war had previously cancelled – became a casualty of Covid-19, despite pleas for organizers to find a virtual work-around or at least extend eligibility for unfortunate eighth graders who lost their final chance to compete.Related: National Spelling Bee adds vocabulary and lightning-round tiebreaker for 2021 Continue reading...

The socialist candidate Pedro Castillo is on the verge of victory, but a hostile elite could stymie his agendaPeru’s presidential election has been settled by the slimmest of margins, but it signals a momentous change. When all the votes from the second-round run-off on Sunday 6 June were finally counted, the socialist Pedro Castillo, former head of the main teacher’s union, held a razor-thin lead of about 60,000 votes – 0.34% – over Keiko Fujimori, candidate of the right and daughter of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori. She has now launched accusations of fraud, demanding that as many as 200,000 votes be nullified. It may take several days for her legal challenges to be heard, and she is clearly still hoping to overturn the result – though the prospect is unlikely. The fact remains that millions of Peruvians joined together to deliver a telling blow to the political and economic model that has dominated the country for the past three decades.The electoral drama in Peru was in that sense a generational reckoning, comparable to the recent upheavals in Chile and Colombia. But it was also the product of the specific political crises Peru has endured in recent years. Since 2018, the country has had two presidents impeached and removed on charges of corruption and one hounded from office by a surge of protests. The sleaze and dysfunction of the established parties was one of the factors that enabled Castillo’s shock breakthrough in the first round of voting in April. Continue reading...

As the city launches a film-linked tourism campaign, Washington Heights residents question where the money will goThe aspiring actor Louis Valentino glanced around J Hood Wright Park, a place popular with local families in the New York City neighborhood of Washington Heights that’s become something of a hotspot since appearing in the musical and now movie In the Heights. He looked a little worried.New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, has launched a new tourism campaign to bring people to the neighborhood on the back of the film, which premiered in the city this week. Continue reading...

Santa Clara county issues restrictions in an already historic crisis, amid fears trouble could deepen over summerSanta Clara county, the home of Silicon Valley, issued mandatory water restrictions this week during a severe drought that has already reached historic levels.The move was championed by analysts and researchers who have pushed for more conservation efforts across California amid concerns that the state will fall deeper into a drought disaster through the hot, dry summer and autumn. Continue reading...

The Cape Cod fisherman estimates he was in the beast’s mouth for 30 seconds; experts say the encounter was a flukeA commercial lobster diver who got caught in the mouth of a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod on Friday morning said he thought he was going to die.Michael Packard, 56, of Wellfleet, told WBZ-TV after he was released from Cape Cod hospital that he was about 45ft (14 meters) deep in the waters off Provincetown when “all of a sudden I felt this huge bump, and everything went dark”. Continue reading...

It felt, absurdly, like a chance to pretend that the past two decades hadn’t happened. But trying to stop the progress of time never worksI know I need to move on, but I just cannot stop thinking about the Friends reunion. Extreme 1990s enunciation: what was that anyway? I was never a diehard Friends fan – I liked it, sure, but let’s be honest, it was no Frasier. But I cannot imagine any fan of any stripe has spent the past 17 years thinking, “Man, I’d love to see a Friends reunion! And by ‘reunion’ I mean have James Corden ask the actors who had the loudest laugh.”I hadn’t even planned on watching it, but when the evening came around I was amazed by my sudden keenness. Ooh, Friends! Back on screen! This felt like a genuine TV event, and one that would be less miserable than the last TV event I watched, which was Prince Harry telling Oprah how completely awful his family is. But Harry’s show seemed like a sitcom (Arrested Development) compared with how deflated I felt by the end of the two-hour (!) nostalgia fest. Continue reading...

Transformational change, such as a huge infrastructure bill and voting rights protections, are hamstrung by antiquated procedures that give an effective veto to the minorityJoe Biden’s first hundred days surpassed progressive expectations with the scope of their ambition. His second hundred days are being mugged by reality: the one that says Washington DC is a place where dreams go to die.A once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure and the climate crisis has hit a wall. Reforms on gun safety, immigration and police brutality are in limbo. Legislation to expand voting rights and reduce the influence of money in politics appears doomed. Continue reading...

US bishops to debate whether the president should be denied communion over his pro-choice stanceAt some point this weekend, Joe Biden will take his place in a line of people approaching the altar of a Catholic church to receive communion.The US president, a devout Catholic whose speeches regularly include biblical references and who carries a rosary that belonged to his late son, attends Mass every weekend – in Washington, his home town of Wilmington in Delaware, or wherever he happens to be traveling. If the traditional Sunday morning Eucharist service is not possible because of his schedule, he will receive the sacrament on Saturday evening as permitted by the Roman Catholic church. Continue reading...

US chain built on large global presence signals retreat from high streets and signs rapper to reinvigorate its brandGap was a high street megastar in the 90s, with British shoppers lining up to buy into its American casual wear dream of logoed hoodies and jeans.These days the mighty US retailer is in retreat, with the group confirming this week that a quarter of its remaining UK stores will close next month, leaving about 50, amid a review of its European operation. Continue reading...

Russian ruler says relations with US at their lowest point in years as the two presidents prepare to meet in GenevaThe Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said US-Russia relations are at their lowest point in years, in an interview before his meeting with the US president, Joe Biden, next week.Putin and Biden will meet in Geneva on Wednesday. The White House has said Biden will bring up ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine, the jailing of dissidents and other issues that have irritated the relationship. Continue reading...

It is unclear if the state has the authority to construct a wall after Joe Biden stopped building projects on the borderThe Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has announced that the state will build a wall along its southern border with Mexico, sparking criticism from human rights and immigration advocacy groups.Citing the Biden administration’s rollback of Trump-era immigration policies, Abbott announced the border wall plans amid other security measures including plans for Texas to construct its own detention centers and $1bn of the state’s budget being allocated to border security. Abbott also declared that more undocumented immigrants will be arrested and sent to local jails versus being turned over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as Ice. Continue reading...

At least two House members including Adam Schiff targeted in 2018, say officials familiar with the investigationThe US justice department’s internal watchdog launched an investigation on Friday after revelations that former president Donald Trump’s administration secretly seized phone data from at least two House Democrats as part of an aggressive leaks inquiry related to the Russia investigation into Trump’s conduct.Democrats in Congress called the seizures a “shocking” abuse of power, while the White House labeled the revelations “appalling”. Continue reading...

Her video documenting the murder of a Black man at the hands of a white police officer helped galvanize a global movementThe teenager whose video documenting the murder of George Floyd helped galvanize a global movement over racial injustice was awarded a special citation by the Pulitzer prizes board.Darnella Frazier was 17 at the time when she encountered Floyd, who was Black, being crushed to death on the ground by white police officer Derek Chauvin, who was kneeling on the man’s neck during an arrest in May last year. Continue reading...

Biden previously met the Queen in 1982 while she has met every US president since Eisenhower except Lyndon JohnsonWhen the Queen encounters Joe Biden at a reception on Friday she will have met the 13th US president of her long reign, having come face to face with every US commander-in-chief since Dwight Eisenhower – except Lyndon Johnson.Biden previously met the Queen in 1982 when he was the Democratic senator for Delaware but this will be their first rendezvous since Biden beat Donald Trump to win the White House. Continue reading...

226 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis reported as authorities continue to recommend vaccines for all eligible AmericansAn advisory committee with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is meeting next week to discuss several reports of heart inflammation, particularly in young men, following them receiving doses of the Moderna and Pfzier/BioNtech Covid-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines, the agency said.Instances are extremely rare, accounting for 226 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis among 141 million fully vaccinated people in the US. Myocarditis is a type of inflammation of the heart muscle, pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. Fewer than 100 cases of heart inflammation would be typical for this age group. Continue reading...

CCTV footage shows Mike Nearman opening a door for agitators on 21 December, when state legislature was in special sessionA Republican politician who on Thursday became the first representative ever expelled from the Oregon state house said the people he covertly let into the state capitol in December were “mostly blue-haired old ladies”.In fact they were far-right agitators, among them members of Patriot Prayer, a far-right group often involved in street violence, and people toting guns and Confederate flags and wearing militia regalia. Some attacked law enforcement officers with bear spray. Outside, reporters were assaulted and doors broken. Police struggled to force the rioters back. Continue reading...

New data shows officials approved fewer applications during the pandemic than the year before, despite risks from virusThe last time Sean McQuiddy called home from federal prison, it was just before Christmas in 2020, and he had just tested positive for Covid-19.“If I don’t make it out of here,” his brother recalled him saying, “just know that I love you.” Continue reading...

If Boris Johnson were to raise the issue with Joe Biden, the US president might reply that at least he is trying. Britain is notJoe Biden is a fine one to lecture Boris Johnson on trade with his neighbours. Johnson could well retort: what about the US and Mexico? What about the $88bn Biden spends trying and failing to police his shambolic drugs trade with Latin America, and its related market in anarchy, refugees, gangsterism and death, not to mention the resulting US crime wave?Last week the FBI boasted that it had infiltrated the dark web and busted 300 trafficking and laundering rings, sparking 800 arrests. This was a total waste of money, a classic case of attacking symptoms not causes. All it will do is cram hundreds more desperate people into prison and briefly increase the retail price of heroin, cocaine, fentanyl and the rest. The impact on consumption will be zero. Continue reading...

Bank says it will allow it ‘to plan a safer return to the office’, scheduled for next week

Boris Johnson hailed the UK-US relationship as Joe Biden and G7 leaders met in Cornwall. Plus, the rightwing firm posing as a leftist group on FacebookGood morning.Boris Johnson hailed the UK’s “indestructible relationship” with the US as the G7 summit officially kicked off on Friday. Continue reading...

Ahmed Muhammad, in his valedictory speech, reflected on the unprecedented circumstances that shaped the class of 2021Ahmed Muhammad recently became the first Black male valedictorian in the 106-year history of Oakland Technical high school in Oakland, California, graduating at the top of his class with a 4.73 grade point average (GPA) and offers from 11 top universities. A video of his moving graduation speech subsequently went viral, drawing widespread attention on social media and even earning praise from the state’s governor.“I recently became the first Black male valedictorian in our school’s history. And I want to say something about that...“

The targeted attack on voting rights sparked national outrage, but as another showdown looms, businesses are holding their fireAfter Democrats derailed one of Texas’s most restrictive voting bills at the 11th hour – all but guaranteeing yet another partisan showdown in the near future – business leaders in the state have gone eerily silent as they plot their next steps.“Now would be a good time for them to say something like, ‘We’re glad it was defeated, we’re hoping that this does not move forward into a special session’,” said Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of the Black Voters Matter Fund. Continue reading...

The 68% increase for UK drinks retailer comes on back of strong performance in US

Other, more traditional societies seem better at dealing with the ‘moral injury’ warriors suffer through having killed

As player empowerment grows in the NFL, many of the league’s stars are unwilling to stay with a team they believe is being badly runAaron Rodgers is the latest (and greatest) quarterback to hit the I’m-out-of-here button.Earlier this week, the future Hall of Famer escalated his stand-off with the Packers by failing to show up for the team’s mandatory minicamp, costing himself $93,000 in the process. Whether or not Rodgers continues to take the financial hit by ditching the team’s upcoming training camp remains an open question. But Rodgers has finally put his actions to the (leaked) words that circulated during the draft. He wants out of Green Bay, and he wants out now. Continue reading...

Florida senator introduced a bill to ‘provide a one-year pause for victims’ to ‘get back on their feet’Americans who survive a terrorist attack should get an automatic one-year deferment on their federal student loan payments, according to a bill introduced by Marco Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida.“We should do everything in our power to help those who survive a terrorist attack to get their life back on track,” Rubio said in a statement. “Giving survivors some time to regroup by delaying their student loan payments is just commonsense.” Continue reading...

Christopher Wray faces grilling from Democratic lawmakers over lead-up to 6 January insurrectionThe FBI director, Christopher Wray, has said that the bureau considers the 6 January Capitol attack an act of “domestic terrorism” and suggested that “serious charges” were still to come in its continuing criminal investigation.Testifying before Congress on Thursday, the director rubbished Donald Trump’s claims about a stolen presidential election. “We did not find evidence of fraud that could have changed the outcome of the election,” he told lawmakers on the House judiciary committee. Continue reading...

Omar’s tweet stoked controversy for appearing to equate the actions of democracies and ‘groups that engage in terrorism’The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, issued a rebuke of Ilhan Omar on Thursday, after the outspoken Minnesota congresswoman said she was a victim of “harassment and silencing” by fellow Democrats over a remark about the US, Israel, Afghanistan and Hamas.“Drawing false equivalencies between democracies like the US and Israel and groups that engage in terrorism like Hamas and the Taliban foments prejudice and undermines progress toward a future of peace and security for all,” Pelosi said, in a statement issued with the House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, and other members of the party hierarchy. Continue reading...

Event hosts are using stickers, lanyards or bracelets to differentiate who is comfortable with what kind of touchTo encourage better respect towards people’s boundaries, event hosts are using colored accessories to help people communicate their comfort around physical touch, reports the Wall Street Journal.As coronavirus restricts continue to be lifted, many physical acts of socializing – hugs, handshakes and everything in between, have become less comfortable for people. While some are excited to begin up-close-and-personal socializing, others are fiercely protective of their physical space. Hence, the creation of the colored-coded accessories, sometimes stickers, lanyards or bracelets, to differentiate who is comfortable with what kind of touch. Continue reading...

Advisory groups questioned whether the upfront payouts were in the best interests of shareholdersThe US drugmaker Regeneron, whose Covid treatment was hailed as a “cure” by Donald Trump last year, has come under fire from two influential shareholder advisory groups over “excessive” payouts made to its top executives ahead of its annual meeting on Friday.The investor advisory group Glass Lewis said it was “highly concerned” at the New York-based firm’s decision last year to ditch annual stock options. Instead it will replace them with an upfront five-year grant of performance-restricted stock units worth $130m (£92m) for each of its top two executives – Leonard Schleifer, the Regeneron chief executive, and George Yancopoulos, the chief scientific officer. Continue reading...

Stocks rally to fresh highs as data shows consumer price index rose at annual rate of 5% in MayInflation in the US has jumped to the highest rate since 2008 as the world’s largest economy rebounds strongly from the coronavirus crisis.The consumer prices index rose at an annual rate of 5% in May, up from 4.2% in April and the highest since August 2008, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Inflation has steadily climbed since January, when it was 1.4%. Continue reading...

Analysis: Northern Ireland is a rare issue of bipartisan consensus and a pillar of US foreign policyJoe Biden’s commitment to defending the Good Friday agreement is baked into his political history and identity. But it is also a pillar of US foreign policy, a rare issue of bipartisan consensus in an otherwise hyper-polarised political scene, one of the few stances Biden can take on the world stage without drawing fire from Republicans.Biden’s emotional attachment to Ireland has been a constant throughout his adult life and has become part of his political identity too. He routinely refers to his mother’s family history and his ties to County Mayo. He quotes Irish poets, and uses the example of British rule in Ireland as a bridge to empathise with persecuted minorities. Continue reading...

Pharmaceutical researcher with a flair for business who brought a string of vital drugs to marketIn 1960 the chemist Ronald Cresswell, who has died aged 86, had a lucky break. As a result of travelling from Glasgow to take up a post in New York he attended a conference of the American Chemical Society, met the biochemist George Hitchings, and they bonded over their mutual interest in folic acid.Hitchings worked at the Burroughs Wellcome laboratory in Tuckahoe, north of New York city, where he and Gertrude Elion developed a wide range of medicines, eventually, in 1988, becoming Nobel laureates. When they offered Cresswell a job in 1962, it proved to be the opportunity of a lifetime for the young scientist. Continue reading...