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The coach is stepping away from a role in which he won five championships with the Spurs. He will be hard to replace, on and off the courtRaise a glass to Gregg Popovich, the gruff teddy bear who lifted the San Antonio Spurs into the NBA's elite. After three decades on the Spurs' sideline, he is stepping back from coaching to become the team's president of basketball operations. It's a back-to-the-future move for the 76-year-old: he was the Spurs' general manager for eight years before he became the team's coach. (I'm no longer the coach, I'm El Jefe," Popovich jokingly declared this week before unveiling a T-shirt with that Spanish title.) Altogether, Pop won five NBA championships from 1999 through 2014, a run that puts him among the greatest coaches in league history. But when it came to being the NBA's unflinching statesman, he was in a league all by himself.Popovich wasn't just the NBA's backbone. He was, perhaps, the most fearless truth teller in all of sport. Certainly no one was bolder when it came to taking on Donald Trump - whom Popovich has described as a soulless coward," a pathological liar" and a deranged idiot". Popovich told beat reporters he was sick to my stomach" after Trump's 2016 presidential election win, a tipping point he likened to the fall of Rome. He slammed Steve Bannon's appointment as chief White House strategist as a fear-mongering exercise. During the Spurs' 2017 media day, Popovich launched into a 21-minute condemnation of Trump and the Maga movement after the president attacked NFL players and Nascar's Bubba Wallace for their national anthem protests. Our country is an embarrassment to the world," Popovich said. This is an individual that when people held arms during games, [he thought] that they were doing it to [dis]honor the flag. That's delusional. But it's what we have to live with." Continue reading...

Previous negative remarks by Pope Leo XIV about homosexual lifestyle' at odds with papacy of Pope FrancisAfter years of sympathetic and inclusive comments from Pope Francis, LGBTQ+ Catholics expressed concern on Thursday about hostile remarks made more than a decade ago by Father Robert Prevost, the new Pope Leo XIV, in which he condemned what he called the homosexual lifestyle" and the redefinition of marriage" as at odds with the Gospel".In a 2012 address to the world synod of bishops, the man who now leads the church said that Western mass media is extraordinarily effective in fostering within the general public enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel - for example abortion, homosexual lifestyle, euthanasia". Continue reading...

American faithful celebrated the announcement of Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, the first pontiff from the United States. The Chicago native is also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop

This blog is now closed. You can read our latest story hereThe winners and losers of Trump's first tariff war strongly suggest that bankruptcies and farm consolidation could surge during his second term, with major corporations best placed to benefit from his polices at the expense of independent farmers.New analysis by the non-profit research advocacy group Food and Water Watch (FWW), shared exclusively with the Guardian, shows that Trump's first-term tariffs were particularly devastating for farmers in the Maga rural heartlands. Continue reading...

Buoyed by supreme court ruling, Pentagon will remove as many as 1,000 service members. Key US politics stories from Thursday 8 May at a glanceNo More Trans @ DoD," Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, posted after the supreme court allowed the Trump administration's ousting of transgender troops to go forward. As of Thursday, the orders have been issued to identify and involuntarily force trans people out of service.Department officials have said it is difficult to determine exactly how many transgender service members there are, but medical records will show those who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, show symptoms or are being treated. Those troops would then be forced out. Continue reading...

Pentagon will give other trans service members 30 days to self-identify while it enforces recently approved banThe Pentagon is removing the 1,000 members of the military who openly identify as trans, and giving those who have yet to openly-identify as transgender 30 days to remove themselves, according to a new directive issued Thursday.The memo is fueled by Tuesday's supreme court decision allowing the Trump administration to enforce a ban on trans military members. The defense department has said it will follow up by going through medical records to identify others who haven't come forward. Continue reading...

Residents - Catholic and non-Catholic - celebrate a moment of joy' as native son Robert Prevost becomes new pontiffAs white smoke billowed from the Vatican in Rome, yellow papal flags whipped in the crisp Lake Michigan breeze in front of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Academy on Chicago's North Side.Screams of Habemus Papam!" echoed throughout the cafeteria at the Catholic school on Thursday afternoon, when news broke that Chicago's Robert Prevost had become Pope Leo XIV. Continue reading...

Vice-president says US will seek to de-escalate but cannot force either nuclear power to lay down their arms'JD Vance has said that the US will not intervene in the conflict between Pakistan and India, calling fighting between the two nuclear powers fundamentally none of our business".The remarks came during an interview with Fox News, where the US vice-president said that the US would seek to de-escalate the conflict but could force neither side to lay down their arms". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Prosecutors impanel federal grand jury in Virginia to hear evidence after Trump official's referral against Letitia James

President's announcement receives favorable political reaction but experts warn much remains unresolvedThere was plenty of congratulatory backslapping in the Oval Office as Donald Trump unveiled his major" trade deal with the United Kingdom on Thursday, but many of the details of that agreement have been left to later discussions.Trump's rush to claim a win for his controversial tariffs policy left many grasping just what to call this: a deal, an agreement, a framework? Observers predict that the coming negotiations could take months. Continue reading...

New pope will be known as Leo XIV and is the first leader of the Catholic church from the US. After two days of discussions, white smoke billowed out of the chimney in the Vatican to signal a new pope had been chosen

Graham Parsons criticizes military institution in NYT essay for failing to provide an adequate education'A West Point philosophy professor has announced his resignation after 13 years on the faculty, citing the academy's rapid shift away from its core educational principles under the Trump administration in an essay for the New York Times.Graham Parsons, a professor of philosophy at the US Military Academy at West Point, criticized the institution for failing to provide an adequate education for the cadets" under the new administration. Continue reading...

Measure passes nearly along party lines, with all Democrats opposed and almost every Republican voting in favorRepublicans in the House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation to codify Donald Trump's policy of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America".The measure was sponsored by rightwing Georgia lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene and passed nearly along party lines, with all Democrats opposed and almost every Republican, with the exception of vulnerable Nebraska representative Don Bacon, voting in favor. Continue reading...

Vermont senator's joint initiative aims to recruit and train those seeking public office, especially young peopleBernie Sanders is partnering with the group Run for Something to help support a new generation of progressive candidates interested in seeking public office.Questions about the future of Sanders' leftwing movement have followed his cross-country Fighting Oligarchy tour, where at each stop the Vermont senator encourages supporters to get involved and run for office. The initiative builds on those calls, Politico first reported, by teaming up with organizations that recruit and train candidates running for office, with an emphasis on young people. Continue reading...

Lawyers say they're still in dark' about government's efforts to free the man who was wrongly deported to El SalvadorThe Trump administration is invoking the state secrets privilege " in an apparent attempt to avoid answering a judge's questions about its erroneous deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.US district judge Paula Xinis disclosed the government's position in a two-page order on Wednesday. She set a Monday deadline for attorneys to file briefs on the issue and how it could affect Abrego Garcia's case. Xinis also scheduled a 16 May hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, to address the matter. Continue reading...

New-York based asset management company about to issue new guidance, according to FT

At least 10 of musical's cast members will not participate in June show the president is expected to attendAt least 10 cast members from the current North American touring production of Les Miserables are choosing not to participate in an upcoming performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, in order to boycott the anticipated attendance of Donald Trump, according to CNN.Cast members were reportedly given the option to opt out of the 11 June show. The production has not publicly identified which individuals will not be performing. Continue reading...

Number of child deaths is highest in 15 years and cumulative hospitalization rate is highest since 2010-2011At least 216 children have died of influenza in the US during the last flu season in what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said was classified as the first high severity season overall and for all age groups since 2017-2018.That number marks the highest pediatric death toll in 15 years; the previous high reported for a regular (non-pandemic) season was 236 pediatric deaths in the 2009-2010 season, according to the CDC. More recently, 207 pediatric deaths were reported during the 2023-2024 season. Continue reading...

Move would hit Boeing, as Brussels also starts consultation on possible litigation over Trump's blanket 20% tariffsThe EU is considering imposing tariffs on US aircraft and car exports in a fresh attempt to persuade Donald Trump to drop his current and proposed tariffs against the EU.If acted up on they will hit Boeing hard but also include further categories of US exports including chemicals, electrical equipment including cameras, health-related products and some foods such as sweet potato and nuts. Continue reading...

Microsoft co-founder accuses Trump ally of killing the world's poorest children' by slashing US aid fundingBill Gates announced plans on Thursday to shutter the Gates Foundation in 2045 and also strongly criticized Elon Musk for slashing funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), accusing the Tesla CEO of killing the world's poorest children" in new interviews.In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, Gates condemned the sudden funding cuts to USAID by Musk's so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge), saying the cuts had led to life-saving food and medicines expiring in warehouses, and could result in the resurgence of diseases such as measles, HIV and polio. Continue reading...

Records obtained by the Guardian indicate shooters missed the target on Mikal Mahdi, which lawyers say caused prolonged sufferingA South Carolina firing squad botched the execution of Mikal Mahdi last month, with shooters missing the target area on the man's heart, causing him to suffer a prolonged death, according to autopsy records and his attorneys.Mahdi, 42, was shot dead by corrections employees last month in the second firing squad execution this year in South Carolina. The state has aggressively revived capital punishment over the last seven months and brought back the controversial firearm method that has rarely been used in the modern death penalty era. Continue reading...

PSG and Inter will play for the crown at the end of the month but there were plenty of twists and turns before the finalists were decidedInter Continue reading...

Mohsen Mahdawi was detained after leading protests at Columbia against Israel's war in Gaza and later freedA Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his US citizenship is helping launch an initiative to assist other immigrants facing deportation in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody.Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel's war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on 30 April. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a substantial claim" that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees. Continue reading...

NTSB report is US government's first public explanation about what might have happenedUS transportation safety officials have released images of the New York City sightseeing helicopter that crashed earlier this year, killing a family of five and the pilot, showing that the aircraft began to break apart in midair, according to a preliminary report released on Wednesday.The report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is the government's first public explanation about what might have happened on 10 April, when the Bell 206L-4 helicopter plunged into the river. Continue reading...

The NBA was under attack from critics during the regular season. But the playoffs so far have contained shocks, upsets and moments of pure joyWelcome to Act III of the 2024-25 NBA season. It was a rough start for the league this year. People came out of the woodwork to criticize it, offering wild solutions, and pointing out the low early season TV ratings. But then the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Doni to the Los Angeles Lakers and things got real interesting in Act II.Now, though, we're in the third portion of the season and it couldn't be more exciting. Indeed, we seem far away from those calls for sweeping change. Let's look at five players who have wowed us and taken us to the edge of our seats in this third act. Continue reading...

Cliona Ward, who has lived legally in US for decades, was returning from trip to Ireland when held over criminal record from 20 years agoAn Irish woman who was detained by US immigration authorities because of a criminal record dating back almost 20 years has been released after 17 days in custody.Cliona Ward, 54, who has lived legally in the US for decades, emerged on Wednesday from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility at Tacomain Washington. Continue reading...

City comptroller Brad Lander, also a mayoral candidate, calls for state and local action to take up oversight work of Consumer Financial Protection BureauNew York City's financial watchdog is raising the alarm about the Trump administration's cull of a key federal agency that oversees consumer financial protection laws, warning it will usher in an open season" for fraudsters.Brad Lander, New York City's comptroller and a candidate for the city's mayoral race, said the uprooting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will leave many Americans vulnerable to scams and predatory lending as the federal agency's oversight and regulatory powers have been significantly diminished. Lander is calling on state and local governments to make up for the gap in oversight. Continue reading...

University's acting president says move was necessary for safety and calls protesters' actions outrageous'. Plus, Pakistan's PM vows to avenge India's airstrikes

The 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair returns this weekend to London, New York City and Marrakech. It remains the first and only fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora and this year sees a total of 30 galleries and more than 70 artists. The show runs 8 to 11 May Continue reading...

Major corporations are best placed to benefit from Trump polices at the expense of independent farmersThe winners and losers of Trump's first tariff war strongly suggest that bankruptcies and farm consolidation could surge during his second term, with major corporations best placed to benefit from his polices at the expense of independent farmers.New analysis by the non-profit research advocacy group Food and Water Watch (FWW), shared exclusively with the Guardian, shows that Trump's first-term tariffs were particularly devastating for farmers in the Maga rural heartlands. Continue reading...

Some figures have been immortalized for far less than what others have achieved. It's time the International Boxing Hall of Fame reevaluates who truly deserves a place in CanastotaOn 8 June, 14 men and women will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York. Some, like Manny Pacquiao, clearly deserve the honor. Others - in my opinion - don't. More egregiously, some fighters and other members of the boxing community who should be in the Hall of Fame have never even been on the ballot.I'd like to highlight some of them. Let's start with fighters and, for purposes of comparison, put their ring accomplishments side by side with those of one of the 2025 inductees: Vinny Pazienza.Thomas Hauser's email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His next book - The Most Honest Sport: Two More Years Inside Boxing - will be published this month and is available for preorder. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing's highest honor - induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Continue reading...

President teases deal with representatives of a big, and highly respected, country' but specifics remain unclearDonald Trump is expected to announce the framework of a trade agreement with the UK, according to two people familiar with the matter, after teasing a major announcement with a big and highly respected, country."The specifics of any agreement were not immediately clear and there was no comment from the White House or the British embassy in Washington on whether an actual deal had been reached or if the framework would need further negotiation. Any agreement would mark the first such deal for the administration since it imposed sweeping tariffs against trade partners last month. Continue reading...

JD Vance says US could walk away' from ceasefire talks; wellness influencer is pick for surgeon general. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 7 May at a glanceSpeaking at a security conference on Wednesday, the US vice-president, JD Vance, said of fruitless efforts to end the war in Ukraine: Right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they're asking for too much."Asked about the comments later on Wednesday, Donald Trump said: It's possible that's right." Continue reading...

NYPD officers entered campus's main library building in riot gear after activists occupied area in hours-long standoffThe New York police department arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian activists who occupied part of the main library building on Columbia University's campus on Wednesday evening, ending an hours-long standoff, roughly one year after student anti-war protest swept the Ivy League school.Claire Shipman, the university's acting president, said in a statement that she requested officers with the NYPD to help clear the building, after protesters had refused to leave despite being warned that a failure to comply would result in disciplinary action and possibly arrest for trespassing. A spokesperson for the NYPD said officers arrested multiple individuals" who refused to disperse. Continue reading...

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New emblems approved by city councils in defiance of bans on unofficial flags' on government propertyEarlier this year, Utah and Idaho's Republican-controlled legislatures passed bans on flying the rainbow pride flags and other unofficial flags" on government property.Leaders in both states' capital cities, Salt Lake City and Boise, recently devised an inventive workaround - changing their official flags. Continue reading...

President taps wellness influencer after withdrawing initial pick, former Fox News contributor Janette NesheiwatDonald Trump has tapped Dr Casey Means, a wellness influencer with close ties to Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, as nominee for surgeon general after withdrawing his initial pick for the influential health post.The US president said in a social media post on Wednesday that Means has impeccable MAHA' credentials" - referring to the make America healthy again" slogan - and that she will work to eradicate chronic disease and improve the health and wellbeing of Americans. Continue reading...

Oscar-winning actor gives first interview to Variety since working with Trump on plan to shake up HollywoodJon Voight, the actor who inspired Donald Trump's surprise statement about placing a 100% tariff on foreign-made films, has given his first interview on the supposed plan to give people back their dignity and their jobs".Something has to be done, and it's way past time," the 86-year-old actor told Variety while he was, according to the magazine, driving through what sounded like a car wash". Continue reading...

Trump says it's possible that's right' about the vice-president's remarks amid frustrations with RussiaJD Vance has said that Russia is asking for too much" in its negotiations with Ukraine in the latest sign of growing frustration from Washington with ceasefire talks to end the war between the two countries.Speaking at a security conference of senior military and diplomatic leaders in Washington, the US vice-president said that the White House is focused on getting the two sides to hold direct talks and is ready to walk away if certain benchmarks are not reached. Continue reading...

Georgetown professor called to testify says Republican-led proceedings an attempt to chill protected speech'A congressional panel investigating antisemitism on US college campuses on Wednesday was accused of trying to chill constitutionally protected free speech and likened to a cold-war era committee notorious for wrecking the lives of people suspected of communist sympathies.The comparison was made by David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University law centre, who told the House education and workforce committee that its proceedings resembled those staged by the House un-American Activities Committee (Huac) during and after the second world war. Continue reading...

Men, who have been convicted of federal charges, found not guilty in death of Black man, 29, after he fled traffic stopThree former Memphis officers were acquitted on Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he ran away from a traffic stop in 2023.A jury took about eight and a half hours over two days to find Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith not guilty on all charges after a nine-day trial in state court in Memphis. After the jury's verdict was read, the defendants hugged their lawyers as relatives of the former officers cried. One relative yelled: Thank you, Jesus!" Continue reading...

Eight US senators ask Shari Redstone not to settle to end president's bogus' $20bn lawsuit over 2024 Harris interviewThe senator Bernie Sanders and his Democratic colleagues are urging Paramount Global not to settle Donald Trump's $20bn lawsuit against 60 Minutes, saying such a decision would capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism".In a letter co-signed by eight senators, Sanders urged controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and Paramount Global's board to reconsider settling with Trump for as much as $75m to end his lawsuit against CBS News over its editing of last year's 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Continue reading...

Senior negotiators hope to get agreement with US signed ahead of UK-EU summit on 19 MayA team of senior British trade negotiators has landed in Washington as talks over a deal between the two countries gather pace.Officials from the business and trade department are in the US for much of this week, attempting to get an agreement signed before the planned UK-EU summit on 19 May. Continue reading...

Telecom failure resulted in most dangerous situation you could have' and hundreds of delaysThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Wednesday that it was taking immediate steps to address ongoing problems that have disrupted hundreds of flights at the Newark Liberty international airport, one of the US's busiest hubs, which serves New York City and the surrounding region.The FAA said it was increasing air traffic controller staffing, adding three new high-bandwidth telecommunications connections and deploying a temporary backup system to the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control, which is handling Newark traffic during the switch to a more reliable fiber-optic network. Continue reading...

At its most basic level, Head Start provides free childcare - but it also creates jobs and can even have generational benefitsTanya Stanton felt a sense of relief when she heard last week that the Trump administration seems to have reversed course on eliminating the Head Start early education program. She directs early learning programs at You Thrive, a Florida nonprofit that provides Head Start services to approximately 1,100 children in the central part of the state.On Friday, the Trump administration released an updated skinny budget," which lays out the executive office's discretionary spending priorities. It doesn't contain a proposal to shut down Head Start, as mentioned in an administration memo obtained by the Associated Press in April. And that means thousands of families can breathe easier; the program served 833,000 low-income students nationwide in fiscal year 2022. Continue reading...

Move sparks outrage in Iran as diplomats try to broker deal between Tehran and Washington over nuclear programme

One America News will now provide news and video to government-funded organizationA hard-right, Trump-supporting US news network that perpetuated conspiracy theories about the 2020 election will provide news coverage for Voice of America (VoA), the Trump administration said.Kari Lake, a special adviser to the body that oversees the government-funded VoA, announced on X that One America News (OAN), which was sued by voting machine companies for promoting claims of election fraud, will provide newsfeed and video service". Continue reading...

Libya's provisional government has denied claims flight could happen as soon as this weekThe Trump administration is planning to deport a group of migrants to Libya, according to reports, despite the state department's previous condemnation of the life-threatening" prison conditions in the country.Libya's provisional government has denied the reports. Continue reading...

Trump administration launches review after what it calls recent incidents of antisemitic violence' at schoolThe Trump administration has launched a review into what it describes as recent incidents of antisemitic violence" at the University of Washington and its affiliates following a pro-Palestinian protest there on Monday that led to about 30 arrests.On Monday, protesters associated with the student group Super UW- short for Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return - temporarily occupied the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building on the university's Seattle campus. Continue reading...