Civil rights advocates celebrate bill’s passage, which comes just over a year after the fatal shootingGeorgia lawmakers have approved a bill that would overhaul the state’s citizen’s arrest law, rolling back a Civil War-era statute one year after the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.The state’s governor, Brian Kemp, is expected to sign the bill into law, which would make Georgia the first state to move toward repealing a citizen’s arrest statute. Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law, which was enacted in 1863 to allow white citizens to capture slaves fleeing north, and was later used to justify hundreds of lynchings, was cited by a prosecutor last year who initially declined to arrest Arbery’s assailants. Continue reading...

Joe Biden unveiled what he called a 'once-in-a-generation' investment in American infrastructure, promising the nation his $2tn plan would create the 'strongest, most resilient, innovative economy in the world'.Biden’s proposal to the nation still struggling to overcome the coronavirus pandemic would rebuild 20,000 miles of roads and highways and repair the 10 most economically significant bridges in the country. Biden added other projects would confront the climate crisis, curb wealth inequality and strengthen US competitiveness

Former Alaska governor confirms diagnosis in interview and says her case shows ‘anyone can catch this’Sarah Palin says she tested positive for Covid-19 and is urging people to take steps to guard against the coronavirus, such as wearing masks in public.“Through it all, I view wearing that cumbersome mask indoors in a crowd as not only allowing the newfound luxury of being incognito, but trust it’s better than doing nothing to slow the spread,” Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee, told People magazine. Continue reading...

The president has proven he has his eye on posterity. But his $2tn package will face a hard-fought political battleJoe Biden, the oldest US president ever elected, seems keenly aware of the sentiment expressed in the Broadway musical Hamilton: “History has its eyes on you.”Before taking office he reportedly read biographies of Franklin Roosevelt, who steered the nation through the Great Depression. Recently, at an eerily quiet White House, he hosted presidential historians to explore the virtues of thinking big – or more precisely, the perils of thinking small. Continue reading...

Officers arrested Darrell Hunter, 45, after he repeated threatened an Asian American woman in a bakery, police sayPolice said Wednesday that they arrested a man who repeatedly threatened an Asian American woman inside a San Francisco bakery and in one instance mimicked a gun with his hand and simulated shooting the people inside.Darrell Hunter, 45, was arrested Tuesday near the business in the Tenderloin neighborhood after the woman called police, officer Adam Lobsinger said in a statement. Continue reading...

President says new plan will allow ‘transformational progress’ by bolstering investments in clean energy and electric vehiclesJoe Biden has said his new infrastructure plan will allow “transformational progress in our ability to tackle climate change” by bolstering investments in clean energy, electric vehicles and building homes resilient to threats posed by the climate crisis.The $2tn plan will make “crumbling” American infrastructure more robust to extreme weather events, the US president said in a speech on Wednesday, while providing funds to “build a modern, resilient and fully clean grid”. Continue reading...

Christopher Martin tells court ‘this could have been avoided’, on third day of testimony in former officer Derek Chauvin’s trialThe cashier who served George Floyd in a Minneapolis store immediately before his arrest and death last May told a court on Wednesday of the “disbelief and guilt” he felt for allowing Floyd to pay with a suspected fake $20 bill when he later saw the police kneeling on him.Testimony on the third day of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial continued in an atmosphere of tense emotions and harrowing evidence about Floyd’s death. Continue reading...

Under pressure to speak out, the CEOs of Delta and Coca-Cola issued forceful statements against the voter suppression billAfter weeks of pressure from activists some major companies and prominent Black executives are taking a somewhat harder line in speaking out against a new law in Georgia to restrict voting access. Continue reading...

Authorities reportedly investigating if Republican congressman, 38, violated sex trafficking laws and had inappropriate relationshipThe prominent Republican congressman Matt Gaetz’s reported relationship with a 17-year-old girl remained under scrutiny on Wednesday, despite his insistence in an appearance on Fox News that the allegation was “verifiably false”.Related: Hunter Biden calls Trump 'vile' in new book and denies Ukraine allegations Continue reading...

German shepherd ‘nipped someone while on a walk’, then today one of the dogs left faeces on the White House floorJoe Biden’s dog, Major, has been involved in its second biting incident in a month, the White House has said.The dog “nipped someone while on a walk” on Monday, according to Jill Biden’s press secretary, Michael LaRosa. The animal “is still adjusting to his new surroundings”, he said. The individual was seen by the White House medical unit “out of an abundance of caution” and returned to work without injury. Continue reading...

George Floyd’s death has accelerated golf’s diversity drive but Augusta has a troubled past and white faces still dominateLee Elder’s appearance next Thursday morning as an honorary starter for the 85th edition of the Masters will – metaphorically of course – see rose petals thrown at the feet of those in high office at Augusta National. Perhaps it is churlish not to commend organisations for doing the right thing but the extent to which Augusta endorsed discrimination for so long means modern-day praise is always over the top. Augusta sat in a time warp for a significant enough period for it not to be forgotten.In 1975 Elder became the first African American to compete in the Masters. It took until 1990 for Augusta to admit a member from the same ethnic group. When the world’s leading players line up behind Elder to joust for a Green Jacket, white faces will again dominate. Continue reading...

Crystal Mason was sentenced to five years in prison for voting while inadvertently ineligible in 2016Texas’ highest criminal appeals court said Wednesday it would hear an appeal from a Texas woman who was sentenced to five years in prison for voting while inadvertently ineligible in 2016. Continue reading...

The time I’ve spent testing Novavax is the closest I’ve come to the eye of the storm – and it has put my other worries into perspectiveI’ve thoroughly enjoyed being a vaccine triallist. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m on the Novavax trial. When I look back on this past year, I’ll remember my visits to the hospital with fondness. I’ve found them to be pleasant little diversions from the rhythm of my locked-down life. I just bowl in and everyone seems vaguely glad I’ve made the effort.I’m pleased to see them, too, although I know them only by their eyes, hair arrangements and voices. It’s an odd thing that I’ll probably never get to see their faces; once it’s over, I’ll be able to walk past them in the street, or at a pub, a gig or a football match, or wherever unmasked top trial types hang out, and not know them from Adam or Eve. And vice versa, I suppose. Continue reading...

With the league all but certain to adopt the universal designated hitter rule in December, the forthcoming season will almost certainly be the last time we see pitchers take their turn at batWhen Major League Baseball made the decision to expand the designated hitter rule to National League ballparks last year to lighten players’ workloads, the end of America’s national pastime in its original form appeared to be a fait accompli.The facts: Few pitchers want to bat and even fewer managers want to watch them bat. It’s one of the rare issues that both the players and the owners, warring factions who otherwise couldn’t agree on today’s weather, appear to be in total accord. And after a pandemic-shortened season gave baseball commissioner Rob Manfred the perfect cover to enact a handful of experimental rules, it seemed inevitable that last year’s universal DH trial run would be carried over into perpetuity. Continue reading...

The president has stacked his government with military men. Now that blurring of institutional lines may backfireIt is not surprising that the government of Jair Bolsonaro is in crisis. Setting aside his ruinous response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the radically reactionary leader of the largest country in Latin America has never displayed the ability or desire to use political means to benefit anyone but those closest to him. Still, the scale and rapidity of the upheaval this week has raised concerns that Brazilians may soon confront a full-blown political meltdown on top of the public health disaster that has been unfolding for several months.On Monday, Ernesto Araújo, the foreign minister, resigned. His tenure had been marked by brash self-righteous rhetoric delivered without a glimmer of grace or confidence. Indeed, Araújo became known for masking his palpable insecurity with long, confusing references to Latin and Greek antiquity. Aráujo embraced conspiracy theories and far-right ideas that endeared him to the constellation of far-right governments that emerged around the world in recent years, particularly the Trump administration in Washington, but failed to deliver many tangible results for the Brazilian people (this is why two years ago I called Araújo “the worst diplomat in the world”). Continue reading...

Lawsuit seeks damages for ‘physical and emotional injuries caused by Trump’s wrongful conduct inciting a riot’ on 6 JanuaryTwo US Capitol Police officers have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump, accusing him of inciting the deadly 6 January insurrection and saying he was responsible for physical and emotional injuries they suffered as a result.James Blassingame, a 17-year veteran of the force, and Sidney Hemby, an 11-year veteran, filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in US district court for the District of Columbia seeking damages of at least $75,000 each. Continue reading...

Police say Brandon Elliot, who was previously convicted of killing his mother, faces assault charges for attacking 65-year-old womanThe suspect wanted in an attack of an Asian American woman near New York City’s Times Square has been arrested and charged with felony assault as a hate crime, police said early Wednesday.The arrest comes after the man was seen on video kicking and stomping the woman on Monday. Continue reading...

Derek Chauvin also resisted calls to remove his knee from Floyd’s neck, witnesses said on the second day of the murder trial. Plus, the US orders non-essential diplomats to leave Myanmar

A rotating menu of Filipino, Moroccan, and Mexican cuisine underpins an ambition to uplift the food industry labor structureAt Understory, a new restaurant in Oakland, diners can sample Kare Kare empanadas stuffed with peanut braised beef stew and Kefta sliders made with spiced lamb, all while sipping on a passion fruit margarita.But alongside its rotating menu of Filipino, Moroccan, and Mexican cuisine, Understory is also hoping to serve up a side of change. Continue reading...

The NFL team put in a placeholder while they searched for a new nickname. But it turns out WFT has its upsidesSo much rides on the Washington Football Team’s rebranding “journey” that Jason Wright, the president of the NFL franchise, announced last week that 15,000 suggestions that the club has received from 60 countries and all 50 US states were not quite enough. The only decision the WFT has settled on, apparently, is that the team colors will remain the same.“Seeing the results from our analytics,” Wright wrote in a letter on the team’s website, “we know that the burgundy and gold are deeply important to folks, so I can confidently say the color scheme will remain the same. Continue reading...

This week: Can Biden defeat the gun lobby at the second go? Plus flagged-off Britain, and German jab woes.

A survey found nearly twice as many Black Americans as white Americans would not be able to pay the costs of a sudden medical bill

Pretty much every year there is a viral story based on statistics generated for PR purposes. They show just how quick and easy it is to disseminate junk science

Political operative went to prison before becoming a popular radio talkshow hostG Gordon Liddy, a mastermind of the Watergate burglary and a radio talkshow host after emerging from prison, died on Tuesday at age 90.His son, Thomas Liddy, confirmed the death but did reveal the cause, other than to say it was not related to Covid-19. Continue reading...

Darnella Frazier said Derek Chauvin did not ease up as he pinned Floyd down and that she still loses sleep over the killingThe woman who recorded the shocking video of George Floyd’s death that prompted mass protests for racial justice around the world has told the Derek Chauvin murder trial of her feelings of guilt at being unable to intervene to save his life.Darnella Frazier, who at times sobbed as she gave evidence on the second day of Chauvin’s trial in Minneapolis, said that she still loses sleep over the killing of the 46-year-old Black man. Continue reading...

Florida Republican congressman says he has never had sexual relationship with underage girlMatt Gaetz, a prominent Republican in Congress and a close ally of Donald Trump, said on Tuesday he was being investigated by the justice department over a former relationship but denied any criminal wrongdoing.Gaetz, who represents parts of western Florida, told Axios that his lawyers were informed that he was the subject of an investigation “regarding sexual conduct with women” but that he was not a target of the inquiry. He denied that he ever had a relationship with any underage girls and said the allegations against him were “as searing as they are false”. Continue reading...

Secretary of state takes veiled swipe at Trump administration and says change of approach is ‘in America’s interests’The United States will speak out about human rights everywhere including in allies and at home, secretary of state Antony Blinken has vowed, turning a page from Donald Trump as he bemoaned deteriorations around the world.Presenting the state department’s first human rights report under President Joe Biden, the new top US diplomat took some of his most pointed, yet still veiled, swipes at the approach of the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Visit reveals overcrowded tent structure with over 4,000 migrants packed into pods and the youngest kept in a large playpenThe Biden administration for the first time on Tuesday allowed a limited pool of journalists inside its main detention facility for migrant children at the US-Mexico border.The visit revealed a severely overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 migrants, including children and families, packed into pods and the youngest kept in a large playpen with mats on the floor for sleeping. Continue reading...

Officer Luther Hall, who was recording criminal activity during protests, required multiple surgeries after the attackNo convictions were returned for three white St Louis police officers accused of beating a Black undercover colleague so severely during a protest over another officer’s acquittal that he had to undergo multiple surgeries.A jury on Monday acquitted officer Steven Korte of charges of deprivation of rights under color of law and of lying to the FBI in connection to the attack on officer Luther Hall. Continue reading...

Ketanji Brown Jackson nominated to replace Merrick Garland on US appeals court, as part of president’s 11 diverse selectionsJoe Biden has announced a “trailblazing” set of federal judicial nominees, 11 picks including three Black women.Related: Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue review: how Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed America Continue reading...

Garret Miller’s attire on day of his arrest appears to be only part of the self-incriminating evidence

45office.com allows visitors to book the former president and his wife for personal appearances and greetingsVisitors to Donald Trump’s new website can book the former president and his wife, Melania Trump, for personal appearances and greetings.Related: Donald Trump uses new website to rewrite history of his presidency Continue reading...

A majority of anti-vaccine propaganda can apparently be traced back to a handful of people. While de-platforming them is sometimes appropriate, there is a bigger, better solutionHow many conspiracy theorists does it take to change a lightbulb? QAnon won’t let me tell you. I can, however, reveal that it takes only a dozen anti-vaxxers to spread dangerous misinformation to millions of people. According to a report from the NGO Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), up to 65% of anti-vaccine content on Facebook and Twitter can be traced back to just 12 people. Although Facebook has disputed the report’s methodology, the 12 have been nicknamed the “disinformation dozen”, and include Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nephew of John F Kennedy. A few of the 12 have been removed from at least one social media platform, but are still free to post on others.Citing the CCDH report, a number of US lawmakers have urged social media companies to de-platform the 12 immediately. Which seems like a sensible thing to do considering we’re in the middle of a pandemic that will drag on for ever unless a critical mass of people are immunised. Nevertheless, I think it’s important that we don’t react to misinformation with a kneejerk response. Free-speech issues aside, banning people from tech platforms is a game of whack-a-mole. As long as the incentive structures for spreading false information remain in place, more conspiracy theorists will pop up. I’m not saying de-platforming is never appropriate, just that it can be a simplistic solution to a complex problem. Continue reading...

The USMNT’s best players don’t turn out for the Under-23 team, but there were glaring errors in the campaign to reach the Tokyo Games anywayHere we go again.The US men have failed to even qualify for another global tournament, this time the Tokyo Olympics, after a sloppy 2-1 loss Sunday to Honduras. Even worse, this is now the third straight Olympics the US will miss, in addition to failing to qualify for the last World Cup. Continue reading...

China and the Emirates have teamed up to launch a rebranded vaccine – and that’s good news for the developing worldhina’s leading vaccine just got rebranded. On Sunday 28 March, its major pharmaceutical company, Sinopharm, announced a new joint venture with G42, a UAE-based tech company: the vaccine is called Hayat-Vax, hayat meaning “life” in Arabic. The partnership shows immense promise as a new source of vaccines across the developing world.But there’s a catch: a lack of scientific transparency in its phase III clinical trial data. A successful phase III trial is the golden seal confirming a jab’s efficacy once and for all. It allows scientists to observe possible side effects and make comparisons with placebo cases, while mirroring real-life conditions. From a scientific perspective, it provides critical evidence for developing future vaccines. But Hayat-Vax’s phase III data hasn’t been released. Continue reading...

The newspaper wouldn’t let Felicia Sonmez cover stories about sexual misconduct. That policy was to the Post’s detrimentFelicia Sonmez had to flee her home. In early 2020, after the death of the basketball player Kobe Bryant, Sonmez, a longtime breaking news reporter at the Washington Post, tweeted a link to a Daily Beast story about the 2003 rape allegation against Bryant. The tweet had no commentary and no editorializing by Sonmez, and yet on the day it appeared online, it was a lonely acknowledgment of Bryant’s compromised legacy amid a sea of uncritical praise for the dead athlete. In response, the reporter received a deluge of abuse from Bryant’s fans. They were angry at what they saw as Sonmez besmirching Bryant’s memory by acknowledging the accusation that he had been sexually violent towards a Colorado woman; they were willing to avenge this disrespect, or so they claimed, with more violence against women. The name-calling escalated into threats, and some of those threats seemed credible. Her home address was published online. For her own safety, Sonmez went briefly into hiding.Related: The Washington Post silenced one of its reporters. It now owes her an apology | Arwa Mahdawi Continue reading...

Narrative omits two impeachments, economic crash, Covid death toll and riot that marked end of his termDonald Trump has launched a new website celebrating his time as US president that includes a very selective retelling of the history of his time in office.45office.com is billed as a platform for his supporters to stay in touch and a place where Trump will continue his “America first” campaign. Continue reading...