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After a tough couple of years, the firm has a new charity setup and a new look for the summerEthical shoe brand Toms hit the big time by making shoppers feel good about buying shoes as it donated a pair of its canvas espadrilles every time it banked a sale. But then consumers stopped buying.Now the US brand is on the comeback trail with a different profit-sharing setup and a new image. A chunky soled version of its slip-ons, aimed at Gen Z-ers cool enough to wear them with their socks pulled up, will hit the shops this summer. Continue reading...

Congresswoman who quit amid scandal over ‘revenge porn’ says ‘if reports are true, he engaged in the practice he defended me from’The Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz insisted on Monday he would not resign, amid a scandal over alleged sex trafficking.Related: Ex-congresswoman Katie Hill is ‘still here’ – and she wants the world to know it Continue reading...

Board voted to strip schools of names it said were linked to racism and sexism but critics said effort was hasty and flawedThe San Francisco school board is poised to reverse a much-criticized decision to purge 44 schools of names it said were linked to racism, sexism or other injustices, among them Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Louis Stevenson and Dianne Feinstein, a longtime Democratic senator from California.Related: California scrambles as maskless crowds flood vacation hotspots Continue reading...

Growth forecast upgraded amid US and UK vaccine programmes and stimulus packagesStronger recoveries from the Covid-19 pandemic in the US, the UK and other rich western countries will result in faster than expected growth for the global economy this year, the International Monetary Fund has predicted.The Washington-based IMF’s half-yearly World Economic Outlook (WEO) said successful vaccine programmes, businesses adapting to the challenges of lockdown and Joe Biden’s $1.9tn (£1.4tn) stimulus package had been key factors in the upgrade. Continue reading...

Our ‘infrastructure’ isn’t just steel and concrete. It is the millions of people who provide care services and the millions who rely on them

Republicans in the two states are advancing restrictions while nationally lawmakers have introduced 361 bills to limit access to the ballot in some wayAs Georgia Republicans face backlash over new sweeping voting restrictions, activists in other states are escalating efforts to oppose similar restrictions advancing in other states. Continue reading...

Medaria Arradondo said Chauvin’s force was unnecessary, in a rare testimonial from a police chief against a former officer. Plus, Mitch McConnell tells businesses to ‘stay out of politics’

Supporters and family of the rapper DMX have held a prayer vigil outside the New York hospital where he remains on life support after being admitted on Friday after a heart attack Continue reading...

Washington Spirit forward may have got her sporting genes from her father but it is her mother who she credits as her role modelTrinity Rodman is a rarity in soccer.Almost all American women her age take a well-traveled path: They play soccer in college and then, after graduation, they join the National Women’s Soccer League via the draft or sign in Europe. Continue reading...

During a period of extreme stress, I went bald, and I am regularly contacted by women going through this wrenching loss. But there may be light on the horizonA new Harvard study has confirmed the link between stress and hair loss, giving hope it could be halted or reversed. The researchers identified that the release of stress hormones suppresses a molecule, Gas6, involved in hair production, while adding Gas6 promoted regrowth. Does this mean a cure for baldness is finally a possibility? As the perpetually weary Twitter account @justsaysinmice cautions when scientific findings are dramatically reported, the research only relates to rodents, but it’s an important breakthrough.As someone who went bald 26 years ago after an exceptionally savage period of stress, it’s interesting to have the anecdotal confirmed by science. But does a cure matter for me or other baldies? Continue reading...

Revealed: online chats indicate some members are threatening to unleash harassment tactics on officials and government workersA national online network of thousands of rightwing self-described “Oath Enforcers” is threatening to unleash harassment tactics on elected officials and government workers around the country, the Guardian can reveal.While the network’s founder insists that the group is neither violent nor a militia, internal chats indicate that some members are planning for confrontations with law enforcement and their perceived political enemies. Continue reading...

Group travels to chalet after spending weekend trapped on a glacier on Denali, North America’s highest peakFive people had to ski through a heavy Alaska snowstorm to a mountain chalet after abandoning their airplanes on a glacier on North America’s tallest peak, where they were stranded for the weekend, officials said on Monday.The five landed Friday in three separate small airplanes – a Cessna 180 and two Piper PA18s – on Ruth Glacier on Denali, said Maureen Gualtieri, a spokesperson for Denali national park and preserve. Continue reading...

Republicans’ standing in corporate America appears under threat as Senate minority leader warns: ‘Don’t pick sides in the big fights’Republicans’ standing as the party of corporate America appears to be under threat after Mitch McConnell, the minority leader in the Senate, told chief executives critical of voting restrictions to “stay out of politics”.Last week Coca-Cola, Delta and dozens of other companies condemned a new election law in Georgia while Major League Baseball announced it would move the All-Star Game from the state in protest. Continue reading...

Medaria Arradondo says on sixth day of trial that ex-officer’s treatment of George Floyd breached regulations

Asa Hutchinson veto followed pleas from pediatricians, social workers and parents who said measure would harm trans youthsThe Republican governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, has vetoed a controversial bill which would have stopped anyone under the age of 18 getting treatment involving gender reassignment surgery or medication in the southern state.Arkansas would have been the first state to take such a move. Its Republican-controlled legislature could still enact the measure, however, since it takes only a simple majority to override an Arkansas governor’s veto. Continue reading...

US treasury secretary’s comments come as Republicans and some Democrats push back on Joe Biden’s $2.3tn infrastructure billThe treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, made the case for a global minimum corporate tax rate on Monday as the Biden administration faces opposition to its plans to raise rates on US businesses.Yellen’s comments come as Republicans and some Democrats have pushed back on Joe Biden’s proposed $2.3tn infrastructure investment bill. The bill would be funded in part by raising rates on US business and closing loopholes that allow domestic and foreign corporations to take advantage of lower taxes overseas. Continue reading...

Bradford Wankhede Langenfeld tells Chauvin murder trial no evidence Floyd was killed by heart attack or drug overdose

The far-right president has given Covid-19 and the razing of the Amazon free rein. Now it looks like he plans to cling on whatever voters sayThe prospect of the rightwing extremist Jair Bolsonaro becoming Brazil’s president was always frightening. This was a man with a history of denigrating women, gay people and minorities, who praised authoritarianism and torture. The nightmare has proved even worse in reality. Not only has he used a dictatorship-era national security law to pursue critics, and overseen a surge in deforestation of the Amazon to a 12-year high, he has allowed coronavirus to rampage unchecked, attacking movement restrictions, masks and vaccines. More than 60,000 Brazilians died in March alone. “Bolsonaro has managed to turn Brazil into a gigantic hellhole,” Colombia’s former president, Ernesto Samper, tweeted recently. The spread of the more contagious P1 variant is imperilling other countries.With a poll last week showing 59% of voters rejecting him, Mr Bolsonaro appears to be preparing for an unfavourable outcome in next year’s elections. Last week he sacked the defence minister, a retired general and longstanding friend who nevertheless appears to have taken exception to Bolsonaro’s attempts to use the armed forces as a personal political tool. The commanders of the army, navy and air force were also fired – reportedly as they were poised to resign. Continue reading...

Charles Coody held off Jack Nicklaus to claim a stunning Masters win in 1971 … but never won on the PGA Tour againCharles Coody speaks with such charm that it feels impossible to depict him as a cold-blooded assassin. Yet 50 years ago this very week, that is precisely what he was. The 35th edition of the Masters saw Coody, then 33, prevail by two.There are two remarkable elements to Coody’s success. The first is that he held Jack Nicklaus at bay on day four at Augusta National. Nicklaus, who already had eight major titles to his name, was a supposedly irrepressible major force. Even more interesting is that Coody, known as an outstanding iron player, was never to win on the PGA Tour again. Continue reading...

Scientist forced to defend himself from attacks by Trump allies and says ‘I can’t be bothered with getting distracted’Anthony Fauci has described attacks on him from Republicans as “bizarre”, after a barrage of criticism from senior GOP figures.Related: ‘There is a solution’: a Covid survivor’s life-or-death battle for Medicare for All Continue reading...

Greg Murphy deleted tweet invoking 9/11 after Omar expressed grief about attack outside US Capitol on Friday

Many of us will leave lockdown a few pounds heavier than we started it, but there is no shame in finding pleasure in foodYou know how people fill online baskets with clothes they never buy? I do that now with food. I see something advertised, compile an extravagant order, then don’t follow through. In the past few weeks, I have almost ordered hand-pulled noodles, oysters and something described as a “pistachio black forest gateau” (I am still thinking about that one).It’s a new iteration of emotional eating, still apparently my main hobby and way of marking the passage of time. Friday is pizza, Saturday is jumbo Hula Hoops, Easter Sunday was fistfuls of Mini Eggs, anticipated then enjoyed with the abandon of one of the worst Roman emperors. Most evenings, my husband and I stand in the kitchen rationalising that it’s perfectly reasonable to have what he calls “a proper apéritif” (he means crisps with our drinks, but wants to sound sophisticated). Continue reading...

Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar says city ‘eagerly awaiting’ result of the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin. Plus: Florida in state of emergency as reservoir threatens to burstGood morning.The trial of a former police officer over the killing of George Floyd is entering its second week, in what is widely viewed as a watershed moment for police accountability in the US. Continue reading...

Americans bought a record number of firearms last year. Gun ownership among Black Americans is up 58.2%Janice Matthews* always knew she would be a gun owner someday. She was raised in Alabama where her family members rarely left their home unarmed. Still, after more than three decades in California she wasn’t in a rush to start shopping around at gun stores. Then the pandemic hit.Matthews started hearing rumors of food shortages and noticed store shelves emptied by shoppers panic-buying everything from bullets to toilet paper. After her daughter moved out of their home, she was left with an empty nest and a lot of anxiety. Continue reading...

Bolstered by a gutsy female lead, this sexy historical drama was the perfect antidote to a life reduced to groceries shopping

There has been little public discussion of the term as the framework for understanding what happened on 6 January, experts sayDuring Donald Trump’s presidency, UC Davis law professor Carlton Larson spent a lot of time on the phone telling journalists: “It’s not treason.”Trump’s behavior towards Russia: not treason. All the FBI investigations Trump labeled as treason: also not treason. Then came the 6 January attack on the Capitol by hundreds of Trump supporters. That was treason according to the founding fathers, Larson wrote in an op-ed the next day. Continue reading...

The fortunes handed out for a spot in the league have always been based on the future worth of soccer in North America. But Covid-19 may cause some to reassess2023 was slated to be Sacramento Republic’s expansion year in Major League Soccer. After long and protracted negotiations to secure a franchise, it was provisionally announced in October 2019 that California’s capital city had been awarded a spot in the league. That may be the closest Sacramento ever gets to MLS, though, with billionaire Ron Burkle pulling out as lead investor amid the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. The club’s entry to MLS is now on hiatus.According to commissioner Don Garber, MLS lost close to $1bn in revenue over 2020. “The losses have been dramatic,” he told reporters in December. “Clubs are going to have to manage their economics as diligently as possible.” Even more striking was that Garber, just a few months later, claimed MLS could lose close to the same figure in 2021. Continue reading...

Mariana Pineda was hospitalized with Covid-19 and pneumonia last April and can only afford treatment via GoFundMe. Now she’s using her energy to fight for healthcare programsFew things in Mariana Pineda’s body have worked properly since she was hospitalized with Covid-19 and pneumonia last April. One day she is seeing a specialist to get nodules on her thyroid biopsied, another day it is a trip to the emergency room after her hands swell and turn red, symptoms of yet another high blood pressure crisis.Related: 'I don't make enough': the financial cost of having Covid in the US Continue reading...

Progressives have hailed the president’s ambitious plans to rebuild America – and some want bolder action still

His last major was in August 2014, he is in questionable form and has a new swing coach – but McIlroy knows AugustaIf he hadn’t seen such riches he could live with being poor. Any assessment of a run for Rory McIlroy without claiming a major championship – which has now stretched to six years and eight months – comes with yearning. McIlroy at his best provides sporting masterpiece.McIlroy won two of his four majors thus far by eight shots. Albeit the margin of victory at the 2014 Open Championship was far smaller, McIlroy controlled that event from start to finish. Just weeks later at the US PGA Championship, the ease with which he recovered from a mid-round Sunday position of three shots behind highlighted fortitude to match skill. At that point, 10 August 2014, there was a legitimate sense of McIlroy dominating golf for a prolonged period. Continue reading...

Firearms remain operational for a century or more, complicating any path to reform in a country with the highest gun ownership rate per capita in the worldSix days before a man shot and killed 10 people, he legally purchased the military-style firearm he used for the crime. The incident – one of three recent mass shootings – yet again renewed a public debate about banning assault weapons in the US and seems like a potential example of a shooting in which an assault weapon ban might have been effective in reducing the death toll of the attack. But would it?When firearms are recovered by law enforcement because of their use or suspected use in a crime, the weapons are recorded in a database along with the date of their first retail sale. The amount of time between those two events is known as the “time to crime” and is published by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). While the suspect involved in the Boulder shooting waited just six days, the national average time to crime is 8.3 years according to 2019 statistics from the ATF. Continue reading...

A leak at a waste water reservoir at the site of a defunct phosphate plant south of Tampa has forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes and threatened to flood the area and Tampa Bay with polluted water. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, declared a state of emergency over the possible collapse of stacks of phosphogypsum waste, primarily from fertiliaer manufacturing

Omar backs MLB’s move to relocate game while Abrams says she fears families will be ‘hurt by lost events and jobs’