Some believe face coverings will stretch beyond the immediate pandemic in the US as confusion surrounding mask mandates persistsFor many Americans, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask in most indoor or outdoor settings, the news was met with enthusiasm, a sign that the Covid-19 pandemic was coming to an end.But, despite an official green light for many to go maskless, amid confusion surrounding mask mandates, some Americans are choosing to mask up for the foreseeable future. Continue reading...

The bloody bombing of Gaza has put Joe Biden at odds with progressive leaders in a generational and political divideWith a giant Stars and Stripes and two gleaming cars at his back, Joe Biden turned to focus his remarks on one member of the audience. “From my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well,” he told Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress. “I promise you, I’m going to do everything to see that they are, on the West Bank. You’re a fighter.”It was a characteristic peace offering by the US president, even as protesters rallied outside the Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan, and Tlaib herself challenged Biden over his unyielding support for Israel. But Tuesday’s gesture, and even a Middle East ceasefire declared on Thursday, may not be enough to heal a growing rift in the Democratic party. Continue reading...

US and South Korean leaders ‘deeply concerned’ about relations with Pyongyang, as they also agree action on computer chips shortageUS president Joe Biden said he and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in remain “deeply concerned” about the situation with North Korea, and announced he will deploy a new special envoy to the region.After talks in Washington on Friday, Biden told a joint news conference with Moon that he was dispatching former US ambassador to Seoul, Sung Kim, to help refocus efforts on pressing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Continue reading...

A consent decree order stopped the production and distribution of the product whose packaging touted its healthy detoxifying propertiesFederal authorities have ordered a complete recall of the Las Vegas-based bottled water brand Real Water and ordered the company to surrender records in investigations of at least one death and multiple cases of liver illness among people who reported drinking it.The product is sold as premium alkalized drinking water in distinctive boxy blue bottles touting “E2 Electron Energized Technology.” Labels say it is “infused with negative ions” and offers healthy detoxifying properties. Continue reading...

Judge’s decision followed days of emotional testimony from three women who say the actor raped them in 2001 and 2003Danny Masterson, the actor best known for his role in That ’70s Show, must stand trial on three counts of rape, a judge said on Friday.The determination by Charlaine F Olmedo, of the Los Angeles superior county court, came on the fourth day of a preliminary hearing where the prosecution laid out its evidence. Continue reading...

Rising US star brings baggage and a back story as she takes on Dina Asher-Smith over 100m this SundaySha’Carri Richardson is the most exciting, compelling, and intriguing sprinter since Usain Bolt. The world just doesn’t know it yet. It’s not only that the 21-year-old has sonic boom speed – last month in Florida she ran 100m in 10.72 sec, the sixth quickest time in history – and mesmerising acceleration. It’s everything else, too. The look. The backstory. The attitude. And, yes, the baggage – although more of that later.It is 25 years since an American woman won Olympic 100m gold. But while Richardson has not raced at world level, she is a below-the-radar favourite. It has been some journey. She was abandoned by her mother and tried to take her own life at high school. She has talked openly about her mental health struggles. It has made her many successes – including a string of college titles and junior world records – even more impressive. Continue reading...

Body-camera video shows Ronald Greene was stunned, punched and dragged by police, proving their narrative was largely falsePolice told the family of Ronald Greene that the 49-year-old Black man died after his car crashed into a tree during a police pursuit in May 2019, and in the two years that followed refused to publicly release body-camera footage of the incident.Until this week, when the Associated Press published video that showed Louisiana state troopers had instead stunned, punched and dragged Greene as he apologized for leading them on a high-speed chase. Continue reading...

Records obtained by Washington Post show agency paid $396.15 every night since 20 January until at least 30 April

Between 2017 and 2019, Koch’s foundation contributed almost $7.7m to three conservative US groups leading court battleBillionaire Charles Koch’s foundation has bankrolled three conservative legal groups leading the court battle to eliminate prohibitions against tenant evictions during the Covid-19 pandemic in America.At the same time, Koch’s corporate empire has suddenly stepped up its real estate purchases during the pandemic – including making large investments in real estate companies with a potential financial interest in eliminating eviction restrictions. Continue reading...

Kay Ivey, the Republican governor, signed bill overriding state’s 1993 ban but some conservative Christian groups fought to retain itAlabama has lifted a three-decade-long ban on allowing yoga to be taught in its public schools – though the word “namaste” and chanting “om” will still be barred in classrooms.Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed a bill which overrides the state’s 1993 ban on yoga instruction and allows local school boards to decide whether students can be taught the ancient practice. Continue reading...

Thanks in part to a global focus more intense than on any other conflict, western attitudes to the Middle East may be shiftingIt’s not over, because it’s never over. But there is at least the hope of a pause. After less than a fortnight in which nearly 250 people have been killed, both Hamas and Israel agreed late on Thursday to hold their fire, each crafting a victory story to tell the world and themselves.Related: The pro-Palestine movement is broad but it can’t be a home to antisemitism | Keith Kahn-Harris Continue reading...

An early experience with Psycho II taught me that ‘inappropriate’ viewing is not always what it seemsMy parents were having a dinner party and I was allowed to stay up, left unattended in front of the TV. This was long before TV-on-demand, when children’s programming aired only on Saturday mornings and for a few hours after school and, as a result, my memory of what I watched is retrievably sharp. This was the era of Why Don’t You? and Danger Mouse and, going back further, prehistoric-looking Bagpuss and King Rollo, all seared into my brain with the force of the novelty that kids’ TV shows still were. My clearest screen memory, however, aside from an image of Mr Benn that I assume will outlast all others, is those two hours I spent, at the age of nine, alone in front of Psycho II.Consensus around graphic sex and violence aside, definitions of “unsuitable for children” change with the times, and of course vary hugely according to household. My parents were liberal. I had no bedtime at weekends and, if I stayed very quiet, could often stretch out school nights to past 8pm, in the process grabbing 20 minutes of Dallas or Dynasty. These shows were adult only in the technical sense, their cartoonishness ruining the feeling you were getting something illicit. The news was a bore. Most comedy was incomprehensible. Over the course of my childhood, I remember only two occasions when my mother bolted from her chair to change channel: when a drama about the second world war took a sudden torturey turn; and at the sight – this must’ve been very early Channel 4, surely – of two men kissing. Continue reading...

Our hospitals were already under intolerable pressure because of Covid-19. Then came the latest bombardmentsToday the streets of Gaza City are full of cheering in response to the news of a ceasefire. But during the 11 days of the aerial bombardment by Israel, the streets told a different story: they were empty, except for ambulances rushing to hospitals and people displaced from their homes by bombings looking for a place to sleep. It was a ghost town with the soundtrack of a nightmare: explosions, sirens and the cries of our children as we sheltered in our kitchens at night would punctuate the eerie silence.Now we are left to pick up the pieces. And though we hope the ceasefire will hold and the bombing has ended, the health sector in Gaza is still on the brink of collapse. This is something you may have heard many times over the past 16 months, as the world has dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic with differing degrees of success. But in Gaza it is to another magnitude: trauma is always most harrowing to deal with. Children came into hospitals torn apart. At least 12 families were completely wiped out, all of their family members killed. Hospitals battled against massive power cuts as they tried to save critically wounded patients. Continue reading...

Unless their junior-welterweight bout ends in a draw one of these fighters will be the first from either a British or a Mexican-American background to hold all four major titles at once“It’s a great, great fight for boxing, a real pure fight,” Josh Taylor said as anticipation intensified before he faces José Ramírez in a compelling world title unification bout in Las Vegas on Saturday night. Unless the bout ends in a draw, one of the world champions will make history by becoming the first fighter from either a British or a Mexican-American background to hold all four major titles at the same time. Even more powerfully, the winner of their junior-welterweight contest will join a select group of undisputed world champions.The fragmentation of boxing escalated in 1988 when a fourth governing body, the WBO, came into existence alongside the more established WBA, WBC and IBF organisations. Since then it has usually been impossible to establish the identity of the real world champion in each weight category. But either Ramírez or Taylor will join Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Terence Crawford and Oleksandr Usyk as men who can make the distinctive claim of being undisputed world champions in the four-belt era. Continue reading...

The Jaguars signed the faded college star to their 90-man roster, reuniting first-year Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer with his former quarterback. It’s official: Tebow Time is a flat circleYou can be forgiven for forgetting all about Tim Tebow, unless you really care about God, Florida, minor league baseball or mundane college football analysis.But Tebow Time is back, people! And it’s not going away any time soon. Continue reading...

The BBC makes a convenient scapegoat when in reality all of us were part of the ecosystem that destroyed Diana“It brings indescribable sadness,” ran Prince William’s statement on the damning report into Panorama’s interview with his mother, “to know that the BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her.”“Paranoia” – what a word to take you back. When Martin Bashir’s Diana interview aired in 1995, the MP (and friend of Prince Charles) Nicholas Soames was roundly attacked for describing Diana as in “the advanced stages of paranoia” and in the grip of “mental illness”. It’s fair to say his verdict didn’t come from a place of total support. Soames has since expressed regret for it, adding that he wasn’t a doctor. Now Diana’s elder son uses the same word – with few these days disagreeing how cruelly she was driven to it – while her younger son absolutely refuses to draw some comforting veil over her state of mental health. Continue reading...

Move to flexible working during Covid pandemic drives 30% fall in customers at office-sharing company

While we don’t know the details about Campbell’s situation, we do know that for most older women, options are limitedEarlier this week, supermodel Naomi Campbell created a social media storm by posting a picture of her hand cradling a small baby’s feet with the caption: “A beautiful little blessing has chosen me to be her mother.”While thousands congratulated Campbell, 50, on her newfound motherhood, many others raised critical voices, commenting on her age. Since the post doesn’t provide any details regarding whether Campbell gave birth, adopted the baby, or commissioned a surrogate’s services, there was also widespread speculation about how the baby was conceived, carried and delivered. Continue reading...

Progressive coalition could be become counterweight to pro-Israeli traditions of Democratic partyIt just so happened that Joe Biden was due to visit Detroit, home to the biggest Arab American community in the country, at the height of the latest upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence.The sight of the presidential motorcade on Tuesday passing through a protest bedecked with Palestinian flags – and of Biden himself in heated discussion with Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian woman to be elected to Congress, on the Detroit airport tarmac – vividly illustrated the rapid shifts under way in US politics. Continue reading...

Although they are two peoples with distinct national identities, Jews and Palestinians are inextricably geographically intertwined“Peace for peace.” That’s how Benjamin Netanyahu described the Abraham Accords, the peace deals that Israel signed with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in September. No more “land for peace”, the paradigm that once governed diplomacy with the Palestinians.From Netanyahu’s perspective, these deals were proof that he was right the whole time in claiming that the way to regional peace isn’t through the Palestinians. The US and Europe lost interest in the “Palestinian question” some time ago, and so did the Arab world, much of which decided it would rather align with Israel than support the Palestinians, who seemed more isolated and fragmented than ever. It’s no wonder so many people believed that Israel had won, and the Palestinian national struggle was over. Continue reading...

Palestinians celebrated in the streets after a ceasefire was declared after 11 days of deadly attacks. Plus, the US no longer wants to buy GreenlandGood morning.Joe Biden hailed a “genuine opportunity to make progress” and Palestinians celebrated in the streets as an Israel-Gaza ceasefire was declared following 11 days of attacks. Continue reading...

In the 1960s, I-81 plowed through a historically Black neighborhood in Syracuse, displacing hundreds. Organizers’ dream of seeing it torn down may get new life under Biden

At least 22 Republican-led states have announced plans to cut extended benefits, affecting more than 3.6m peopleMillions of unemployed workers face hardship after a wave of Republican governors announced they will seek to cancel federal extended unemployment benefits of $300 a week in response to claims from the restaurant, food service and hospitality industries that they are experiencing difficulties in hiring workers.At least 22 Republican-led states have announced plans to cancel the extended benefits, including Montana, South Carolina, Alabama, Iowa, Idaho, Missouri, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Indiana, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Ohio, Utah, Alaska, Georgia, West Virginia, Texas and Arizona. Continue reading...

The standout progressive is the underdog for district attorney, but she’s confident she can win – and change the systemTahanie Aboushi was 13 when police barged into her home and arrested her parents. At 14, her father, a shop owner in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for charges relating to untaxed cigarettes and stolen goods. Her mother was acquitted of all charges.Related: New York attorney general opens criminal investigation into Trump Organization Continue reading...

These cities touted their sweeping police reforms – but unions made sure police officers were paid more in the process

Golden State’s former head coach helped ease the likes of Klay Thompson and Steph Curry into the league. He hasn’t had a top job in the NBA sinceThe Golden State Warriors pretty much owned the Western Conference for half a decade, appearing in five successive NBA finals from 2014 to 2019. Three of those five ended up with Golden State hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy; if it not for a superhuman comeback by the Cavaliers in 2016 or a rash of catastrophic injuries in 2019, they might well have won all five. The fact that they’ve made the postseason this year – they face the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night in the play-in tournament – despite the season-long absence of their second-best player, Klay Thompson, bodes well for the future, too.All of this appears at the top of what’s already considered a Hall of Fame resume for current Warriors head coach Steve Kerr. But is Kerr merely reaping the rewards of a foundation built by his predecessor, Mark Jackson? And does Jackson’s absence from the head coaching ranks since his Golden State exit raise wider questions about how black coaches are treated in the NBA? Continue reading...

Pro-Palestinian students are increasingly visible at US colleges but face well-funded opposition from supporters of IsraelOn 10 May, on a day in which Hamas launched rockets into Israel and Israel responded with strikes on Gaza as the Middle East descended into devastating violence, student leaders at the University of Michigan put out a statement on the crisis addressed to the campus community.The central student government (CSG) didn’t mince words. The Israeli occupation amounted to war crimes, they said, subjecting Palestinians to “Israeli settler-colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid”. Continue reading...

An 11-year-old girl in Florida fought off an attempted kidnapper and smeared the blue slime she had been playing with on his arms so police could identify him. Security camera video shows Alyssa Bonal, of Pensacola, waiting for the school bus when a white van passes her. The van returned a minute later and stopped before the driver jumped out and ran at the girl, dragging her back toward the van. When police later arrested a suspect, his arms were still streaked with blue dye

US Secretary of State rules out any plans to buy the Danish autonomous territoryUS secretary of state Antony Blinken has confirmed that America no longer wants to buy Greenland.Blinken visited the Danish autonomous territory as he ended a four-day trip that included a meeting of the foreign ministers of countries bordering the Arctic. Continue reading...

US president, Joe Biden, hailed a ceasefire reached between Israel and Palestinian militants, pledging humanitarian aid to Gaza. Speaking from the White House, Biden said the US would also replenish Israel's Iron Dome missile-defence system. Biden said he was in contact with the Israeli prime ministe,r Benjamin Netanyahu, during the 11 days of violence as well as Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. 'I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely, and enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy. My administration will continue our quiet, relentless diplomacy towards that end,' he said

Lifeguards rescued 10 people from the water, just weeks after another incident off the coast left three people deadOne person has died and eight have been injured in an apparent migrant smuggling attempt off San Diego’s La Jolla coast, authorities said on Thursday.Lifeguards rescued 10 people in what the San Diego fire-rescue department called “rough water conditions”, including eight who were hospitalized. Some of the migrants wore life vests. Continue reading...

Alyssa Bonal, who was attacked on Tuesday, said she learned about evidence from the TV show Law & Order: Special Victims UnitAn 11-year-old girl in Florida had the presence of mind to smear the blue slime she had been playing with on the arms of an attempted kidnapper, who threatened her with a knife and dragged her toward his van, so police could identify him.Alyssa Bonal, of Pensacola, said she learned the importance of evidence from her favorite TV show, the long-running detective series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Alyssa, who managed to fight the man off, was attacked on Tuesday as she awaited her school bus, her near-abduction captured by a neighbor’s home security camera. Continue reading...

Progressive senator says US needs to examine if sale of weapons is ‘simply fueling conflict’Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution blocking a $735m US weapons sale to Israel on Thursday, mirroring a symbolic action by the House of Representatives in response to conflict between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas leaders.“I believe that the United States must help lead the way to a peaceful and prosperous future for both Israelis and Palestinians,” the progressive senator said on Twitter. Continue reading...

Swedish firm valued at $13bn as investors bet on soaring demand for plant-based food alternativesShares in Oatly have surged by 30% on the company’s US stock market debut, valuing the alt-milk maker at $13bn (£9.2bn), as investors bet runaway demand from consumers for plant-based food alternatives will continue.Oatly is using the money from the initial public offering to expand its global network of factories, enabling it to quadruple production from 350m litres of oat milk a year to 1.4bn in two years. Its plans include a large site in Peterborough, East Anglia. Continue reading...

In an extract from a new book, reflections on a manic World Cup schedule that included the famous Iran v USA encounterUSA v Iran, World Cup, Lyon, 21 June 1998Every so often, when searching for something in the attic, I come across a grey box file with a red-and-white sticker advertising the Argentinian newspaper El Grafico stuck on the lid. Occasionally I open it and glance inside. Last weekend for the first time in many years I brought it down the ladder. It’s sitting on my desk as I type this: dusty, giving off a musty smell of aged paper tinged – though perhaps I’m imagining this – with the scent of garlic and black tobacco. Continue reading...

Antisemitic incidents in London on the same weekend as protests underline the need for an honest reckoningLast Sunday saw one of the most dramatic antisemitic incidents in the UK in recent years. A convoy of cars, flying Palestinian flags, drove through Jewish neighbourhoods in north London and their occupants were filmed shouting antisemitic and misogynistic threats (aimed at Jews, not just Israelis).An upsurge in violence in Israel-Palestine is always accompanied by an upsurge in antisemitic incidents in the Jewish diaspora, including in the UK. As well as the convoy incident, we have also seen a number of others, including graffiti on a messianic Jewish synagogue in Norwich. Continue reading...

Prison agency officials didn’t notify reporters, marking first time in at least 40 years that press wasn’t present at an executionTexas inmate Quintin Jones was executed by lethal injection on Wednesday without media witnesses present.The press could not witness the death of the 41-year-old because prison agency officials neglected to notify reporters it was time to carry out the punishment, according to the Associated Press. It was the first time in at least 40 years that media was not present at an execution. Continue reading...

Board of trustees denied tenure to Pulitzer prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose work focuses on institutional racismProtests erupted at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill after the school’s board of trustees decided to not give tenure to Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose pioneering work on institutional racism includes the 1619 Project.Demonstrators, many of them UNC faculty members, gathered at a board of trustees meeting on Thursday morning with signs in protest of the decision. Some chanted: “We will not be moved.” Continue reading...