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Zaila Avant-garde, a 14-year-old from Harvey, Louisiana, has taken out the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee, becoming the first African American winner in the tournament's 96-year history. Avant-garde correctly spelled “murraya”, a genus of tropical Asiatic and Australian trees, to take out the title ahead of Chaitra Thummala, a 12-year-old from Frisco, Texas.

Avant-garde, a basketball prodigy, also holds three Guinness world records for ball dribblingWhether dribbling a basketball or identifying obscure Latin or Greek roots, Zaila Avant-garde doesn’t show much stress.

Officials reported 116 deaths in Oregon and 78 in Washington after extreme temperatures in normally moderate regionThe death toll from the record-breaking heatwave that struck the US Pacific north-west last week has risen to nearly 200, with health authorities reporting 116 deaths in Oregon and 78 in Washington state.The data in Washington state are particularly striking given historical context. There were seven heat-related deaths in Washington between mid-June and the end of August in 2020. Between 2015 and 2020, the state saw just 39 deaths in the late spring and summer months. Continue reading...

• ‘I will not send another generation to war in Afghanistan’• Withdrawal ahead of schedule as Biden says ‘speed is safety’Joe Biden pledged on Thursday that he would not send “another generation of Americans” to war in Afghanistan and said the US would withdraw its forces from the nation by 31 August.“Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31,” Biden said. Continue reading...

More victims were recovered Thursday, with 76 still unaccounted for as officials say no chance of life in rubbleRescue efforts at the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida, officially ended late on Wednesday night as officials have said there is no chance of life in the rubble.More victims were recovered on Thursday, bringing the death toll by the early evening to 64 and the number of those still unaccounted for down to 76. Of those who were recovered, 35 have been identified. Continue reading...

• Avenatti weeps and tells his children to be ashamed of him• Bombastic lawyer represented Stormy Daniels against TrumpMichael Avenatti, the bombastic lawyer known for representing the adult film actor and producer Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against Donald Trump, was sentenced on Thursday to two and a half years in prison for attempting to extort up to $25m from the sportswear company Nike.Related: Michael Avenatti: prosecutors seek long prison sentence for corrupt lawyer Continue reading...

Agreement was disclosed late Wednesday night in a US bankruptcy court filing in New YorkOxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s plan to reorganize into a new entity that helps combat the US opioid epidemic got a big boost as 15 states that had previously opposed the new business model now support it.The agreement from multiple state attorneys general, including those who had most aggressively opposed Purdue’s original settlement proposal, was disclosed late Wednesday night in a filing in US bankruptcy court in White Plains, New York. It followed weeks of intense mediations that resulted in changes to Purdue’s original exit plan. Continue reading...

Ubiquitous political border tours fixate on immigration, missing the complex character and needs of the regionEdward Marquez, the father of my classmate when I was growing up, became a border community hero in 1994 when, as a state district judge from El Paso, he initiated a rare legal maneuver that resonated along the Texas-Mexico border. Fed up with a long history of disparate funding and state services to border communities from the state capital in Austin, he convened a court of criminal inquiry – a weapon in the legal arsenal that is available when a judge has evidence that a prosecutor fell short of pursuing a criminal case and justice was not being served.Related: Welcome to the US southern border: same country, different planet Continue reading...

The Habs’ ultimately doomed title challenge served as a reminder of just how deep the storied team’s social imprint goes across the north. Just don’t call them Canada’s teamFor such a storied team, it’s inevitable that you step back into the past to figure out the present.It was October 1975 when the Montreal novelist and incisive social purveyor, Mordecai Richler, filed a piece for Esquire magazine entitled, ‘The Home Team, My Heroes’. Continue reading...

Investors worry resurgence of Covid-19 cases will slow economic growth and stall global recovery

The age-old concept of rainwater collection is growing in popularity in a region hit by droughts and heatwavesThe American west has a sprawling network of dams, reservoirs and pipelines that brings a supply of water to its cities and farms. But overexploitation and a two-decade dry spell have put a severe strain on the resources, with reserves dwindling to historic lows in some areas. The situation will only get worse in the coming decades, warn scientists, as surging populations will boost freshwater demand and a hotter, drier climate will bring deeper droughts and more erratic precipitation patterns.Related: A town's water is contaminated with 'forever chemicals' – how did it get this bad? Continue reading...

The court’s majority opinion unequivocally narrows the law and gives politicians ammunition to pass more restrictive voting lawsHappy Thursday,In a hugely consequential ruling last week, the US supreme court upheld two Arizona voting restrictions and, in the process, significantly curtailed one of the most powerful provisions that remain of the Voting Rights Act. Continue reading...

What has not been melted, incinerated or damaged beyond repair has been compromised to the point of being unsafe

It’s time for ministers to stop consigning the residential schools scandal to a ‘dark history’, and deal with ongoing injusticesGround-penetrating sonar found the children’s bodies that the survivors of Canada’s “residential schools” always knew were there. For more than a century, these schools functioned as re-education camps run by the Canadian government and Catholic church to assimilate Indigenous children. Children were raped, locked in chicken coops, shocked in an electric chair, subject to medical experiments, confined by electric fences and all too often dug the graves of other children who were buried in unmarked graves. This happened under the cover of the Bible, while the Canadian government promoted itself as a bastion of human rights.More than 1,000 unmarked children’s graves have been discovered at former residential schools. Why was the truth buried for so long? The answer lies in the weaponisation of history. In his presidential address to the Royal Society of Canada in 1922, Duncan Campbell Scott, the Canadian civil servant who ran the residential schools at their peak between 1913 and 1932, noted that historians had a “duty and obligation to accept no statement without documentary evidence”. For years, the Canadian government mounted a potent colonial propaganda campaign that was abetted by the churches to cover up wrongdoing. Leading perpetrators in the residential school scandal were exalted in history books while statues of them were erected in prominent places. Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples were dehumanised, ensuring that any leaked reports or evidence of wrongdoing would receive little attention. Continue reading...

Cruise ships kill whales, leak gray water, and are largely exempt from US taxation. When they violate the law, they pay the equivalent of a parking ticketDecades ago, when I worked as a ranger in Alaska’s Glacier Bay national park, each cruise ship that entered the bay carried hundreds of passengers. Today, they carry thousands. They don’t look like ships any more. They look like the boxes the ships came in, huge floating milk cartons – ponderous and white.But once they get moving, they’re a force. One that occasionally strikes whales. Continue reading...

Living in internet dead zones and sometimes without electricity at home, Indigenous youths in New Mexico and Arizona went to extraordinary lengths to attend virtual classesIn a landscape of tumbleweeds and utility poles, with a view of Ute Mountain through the windshield, high school sophomore Evan Allen placed his school-issued laptop on the center armrest of his grandmother’s truck and switched on his mobile wifi hotspot. Another school day was about to begin. Continue reading...

The supreme court’s conservative wing considerably weakened section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and Kagan didn’t hold backThere may have been no supreme court decision this year more important this year than the one in Brnovich v Democratic National Committee.In a 6-3 ruling that broke down along ideological lines, the court’s conservative justices upheld two Arizona voting restrictions and considerably weakened section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 civil rights law. Continue reading...

Cases rise in nearly half of states as low vaccination rates met with more transmissible and severe Delta variantMore than nine out of 10 Americans who died from Covid-19 in the US in June were unvaccinated, according to Anthony Fauci – a statistic that health officials say is especially concerning given the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy in some regions and the rise of the Delta variant.Maryland reported this week that 100% of those who died from coronavirus there in June had not been vaccinated, while more than 93% of those with new cases or who were hospitalized were similarly unprotected. Continue reading...

More than nine out of 10 Americans who died from coronavirus in June were unvaccinated and Delta accounts for more than 50% of new cases. Plus, the world’s largest cherryGood morningThe US is in a race against the Delta variant amid rising Covid cases in nearly half of states and fears of another surge. Continue reading...

Conservative media spread a debunked lie that USWNT players disrespected a war veteran. It’s not the first time they’ve found themselves in the bizarro right-wing disinformation vortexThe last send-off match before the US women’s national team begin their Olympic campaign was pretty standard fare for the best team in the world. The USWNT beat Mexico by 4-0 and, as is usually the case, they looked good doing it, setting themselves up as the favorites to win gold in Tokyo.It was the day after Independence Day, and a World War II veteran named Pete DuPré played the Star-Spangled Banner on a harmonica before the game. This was also usual – the USWNT have often taken opportunities to honor those who fought for their country, like when the team took time away from 2019 World Cup preparations in France to visit the site of the Normandy invasion and speak with US veterans who fought there. Continue reading...

In the midst of a climate crisis with 8 billion humans on the globe, it’s absurd to say that what’s lacking is babiesFertility rates are falling across the globe – even in places, such as sub-Saharan Africa, where they remain high. This is good for women, families, societies and the environment. So why do we keep hearing that the world needs babies, with angst in the media about maternity wards closing in Italy and ghost cities in China?The short-range answer is that, even though this slowdown was predicted as part of the now 250-year-old demographic transition – whose signature is the tumbling of both fertility and mortality rates – occasional happenings, such as the publication of US census data or China’s decision to relax its two-child policy, force it back into our consciousness, arousing fears about family lines rubbed out and diminishing superpowers being uninvited from the top table. Continue reading...

Court ruling follows an earlier suspension in New York over ‘demonstrably false’ statements about 2020 electionA US appeals court has suspended Rudy Giuliani from practicing law in Washington DC, a move that follows an earlier suspension in New York amid fallout over his baseless claims about the 2020 election.Giuliani, who lead Trump’s legal challenge after his election defeat, was suspended from practicing law in New York last month after a court ruled that he had made “demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public” in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 elections in favor of Trump. Continue reading...

US retailers apologize for shirt reading ‘Ashli Babbitt American Patriot’ for the Capitol rioter shot dead by law enforcementThe US retailers Sears and Kmart have apologized and pulled from sale a T-shirt featuring the words “Ashli Babbitt American Patriot” after an outcry on social media.Babbitt was shot dead by law enforcement while taking part in the attack on the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on 6 January. She had been inside the building and was attempting to climb through a broken window when she was shot. Continue reading...

Temperatures could reach 115F in the Central Valley and 120F in desert areas like Palm SpringsA new heatwave is predicted to bring dangerously hot weather to California’s inland regions this week, as relentlessly high temperatures continue to torment the west coast.Meteorologists are warning residents to prepare for “potentially record-breaking” temperatures as high as 115F (46C) in the Central Valley and 120F (49C) in desert areas like Palm Springs, with temperatures in Death Valley set to approach an all-time high. The heat is predicted to start to build on Wednesday and increase through the weekend. Continue reading...

Members discussed surveilling US Capitol and investigators closely followed one person’s plans to test molotov cocktailsThe FBI has infiltrated a militia-style group that one man involved in the pro-Trump insurrection at the US Capitol on 6 January formed under the guise of a Bible study group in Virginia.Members who got involved discussed surveilling the Capitol building in Washington, DC, and their wish for secession from the US, and investigators closely followed one member’s plans to build and test molotov cocktails, according to recently unsealed court records. Continue reading...

The former president announced a class action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google claiming anti-conservative biasDonald Trump, the former US president, held a rambling press conference on Wednesday to announce legal action against Facebook, Twitter and Google, accusing the tech giants of censoring conservative voices.Related: Trump filing class-action lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter and Google – live Continue reading...

Coalition of immigration, gun reform, LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights groups band together to create ‘guiding principles’A coalition of progressive advocacy organizations are urging journalists to challenge charged rhetoric in a document they’re describing as “guiding principles” to cover so-called culture war issues without amplifying misinformation.Groups who specialize in immigration, gun reform, LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights banded together in the effort, saying it was frequently difficult to counter the volume of misleading statements on a one-on-one basis. Continue reading...

Teen who recorded George Floyd’s murder said on Facebook that Leneal Lamont Frazier’s vehicle was struck by squad carThe teenager who recorded the last moments of George Floyd’s life in a video that helped launch a global protest movement against racial injustice said her uncle has died in a crash involving a Minneapolis police car.Darnella Frazier said in a Facebook post that Leneal Lamont Frazier died early on Tuesday after his vehicle was struck by a squad car police said was pursuing another driver linked to several robberies. Continue reading...

Greg Abbott made new election laws one of a nearly dozen items he is instructing lawmakers to revisit over next 30 daysTexas governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday revived Republicans’ thwarted efforts to pass new voting laws in America’s biggest red state after Democrats temporarily derailed a restrictive bill with a late-night walkout in the state capitol in May.As expected, Abbott made new election laws one of nearly a dozen items – including border security and other Republican lightning-rod issues – that he is instructing lawmakers to revisit over the next 30 days in a special session that begins Thursday. Continue reading...

Backed by $20m in donations, Hannah-Jones will establish Center for Journalism and Democracy at HowardJournalist Nikole Hannah-Jones used major philanthropic donors to build her future as a tenured professor at Howard University, just as other major donors sought to stymie the Pulitzer prize-winning Black investigative reporter at the University of North Carolina (UNC).Related: Nikole Hannah-Jones joins Howard University after rejecting UNC role Continue reading...

With Covid restrictions in England due to be lifted soon, we might be rethinking how we feel about human touchWith the prospect of the further easing of pandemic restrictions, following Monday’s announcement of the government’s intention to relax social distancing rules in England on 19 July, I’ve been thinking about the return of the hug. After so long, greeting people has become a slightly awkward endeavour, with some going in for an embrace and others sticking to the raising of a hand or an ironic elbow bump, eyes rolling.Of course, for some, the hug has never really gone away. “Did you hug your mum?” a friend and I asked each other, when we finally got to see them after the first lockdown. We both admitted a little bashfully that we had – our mothers had been alone throughout the pandemic. “But we were wearing masks,” my friend said: one of those sentences that didn’t exist before, that makes you feel a little nauseous if you study it too closely, much like the headlines about the return of physical contact. Continue reading...

As the climate crisis rages, Rupert Murdoch is taking on meteorology. Who will be the Tucker Carlson of the cold front?Politics can be a thorny subject – sometimes, it’s best just to talk about the weather.That seems to be the strategy behind Rupert Murdoch’s latest venture. Fox Weather – forecast to arrive sometime this year under the oversight of the Fox News stalwarts Suzanne Scott and Sharri Berg – appears to address the media empire’s shifting business needs. Ratings for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC have fallen since Donald Trump left office, while the Weather Channel has seen its audience grow, according to the New York Times. Murdoch looks to be betting that breathless 24-hour updates on rainfall and heat indexes will have viewers on the edge of their seats. Continue reading...

Phoenix were impressive during their victory over Milwaukee in the series opener and Giannis Antetokounmpo is probably the only man who can stop themThere is an axiom that a playoff series does not truly begin until one team wins on the road. And that, for the most part, is true. Yet you could be forgiven for watching Phoenix’s 118-105 home victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday night and wondering if the Suns’ coronation is already a done deal.As always with these things, it was the manner of the result rather than the result itself. Continue reading...

Immediately after the riot Republicans continued to object to election results – and efforts to restrict voting and push the big lie have only grown in the six months sinceHours after the US Capitol was secured against a violent insurrection on 6 January, the Senate reconvened in a late-night session to move ahead with certifying Joe Biden’s electoral college victory. It was a dramatic moment designed to send a clear message: democracy would prevail. Continue reading...

The shift to remote work can be life changing for employees. That’s why I am letting my employees do what they wantThe average worker logs almost an hour of unpaid work each day, for no good reason.I’m talking about the commute, which for decades has been taken for granted as a necessary part of the workday but which recently has been proven to be completely unnecessary for a large swath of workers. Continue reading...

The predicament of Juliet Bernstein is just one more example of how America’s byzantine healthcare system fails so manyA 108-year-old woman named Juliet Bernstein recently launched a GoFundMe to pay for around-the-clock home care that she could otherwise not afford. A retired schoolteacher who is physically frail but mentally sharp, Bernstein, who was born before the first world war, hopes to remain in the modest Massachusetts home where she retired, receiving help to cook, clean and bathe.“I saw it was being done for someone whose child was very sick,” Bernstein, a longtime civic activist, told the Boston Globe. “So I said, ‘I’m not going to go to a nursing home. I’m remaining here.’” Continue reading...

The former police captain thanked New Yorkers as he declared victory in the Democratic race. Plus, Trump allegedly said Hitler ‘did a lot of good things’ and the history of Olympic torch protests

Unlike in previous decades, there are many successful US gun violence prevention groups with a record of saving livesThe last time homicide rates in Tinisch Hollins’ home town of San Francisco surged, she had few places to turn for support beside the police.Homicide rates in the city hit triple digits in the mid-2000s. And at the time, Hollins said, resources for community organizers like herself who were advocating for crime survivors were far and few. Continue reading...