Unnamed source tells news site Axios Trump’s speech to the rightwing event will have the message ‘I’m still in charge’

Rolling live coverage of business, economics and financial markets as share prices fall across Europe

Complaint alleges that Mike Lindell used falsehood that machines had been used to rig election in favour of Biden as marketing ploy

Collins says Tanden unfit to run Office of Management and Budget while spokesperson for Romney says senator will not back her

Rodney Reese was arrested in Plano, Texas, and charged with being a pedestrian in the roadwayA misdemeanor charge has been dropped against a black man who was arrested last week for walking home on a street during a snowstorm in Texas.Rodney Reese, 18, was arrested on 16 February in Plano and charged with being a pedestrian in the roadway, news outlets reported. Continue reading...

Party’s most conservative senator, from one of the poorest states, has advocated for a rise only to $11 an hour – but workers say it’s not enoughHopes that the US will finally increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in nearly 12 years face a seemingly unlikely opponent: a Democrat senator from one of the poorest states in the union.Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the state’s former governor and the Democrats’ most conservative senator, has long opposed his party’s progressive wing and is on record saying he does not support increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour, the first increase since 2009. “I’m supportive of basically having something that’s responsible and reasonable,” he told the Hill. He has advocated for a rise to $11. Continue reading...

Two-storey, 139-year-old building is pulled by truck at top speed of 1mph to a location six blocks awayAfter 139 years at 807 Franklin Street in San Francisco, a two-storey Victorian house has a new address.The green home with large windows and a brown front door was loaded on to giant dollies and moved to a location six blocks away on Sunday. Onlookers lined the sidewalks to snap photos as the structure rolled – at a top speed of 1mph – to 635 Fulton Street. Continue reading...

Companies such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple face increased scrutiny from CMAThe UK’s competition watchdog plans to launch a series of antitrust investigations into big tech companies including Google and Amazon this year, in the latest sign of increased scrutiny of the practices of the Silicon Valley companies.The Competition and Markets Authority will later this year become home to a new digital markets unit (DMU), which will police the internet companies and have powers to impose fines worth billions of pounds. Continue reading...

As the US approaches 500,000 coronavirus deaths, Fauci said people would be talking about the grim milestone decades from now. Plus, will Covid vaccines become diplomatic bargaining chips?

January’s Capitol attack echoed an 1876 massacre that led to a racist takeover of South Carolina. Its effects lasted a centuryHours after Georgia elected its first-ever Black and Jewish senators, a mob of white Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol. They set up a gallows on the west side of the building and hunted for lawmakers through the halls of Congress.People around the world watched in shock: was this the United States? Continue reading...

Montreal Impact are now Club de Foot Montréal. They are far from the first North American team to change their identityIn the lineup of 27 Major League Soccer club crests for 2021, there will be three that are new to those who haven’t paid much attention since the end of last season. One belongs to Austin FC who kick off their inaugural campaign as the division’s latest franchise. The other two, however, belong to clubs that have undergone a rebrand.Indeed, the Houston Dynamo have a new badge while Club de Foot Montreal (CF Montreal) have a whole new identity, bringing to a close their history as the Montreal Impact. This comes after the Chicago Fire unveiled a new look for 2020 and DC United changed badges in 2015. Of MLS’s 10 founding franchises, the New England Revolution are the only ones to have kept their original crest this long. Four (Dallas Burn, Kansas City Wiz, New York/New Jersey MetroStars and the San Jose Clash) have changed identities entirely and go by different names. Continue reading...

Analysis: Members of Senate and House are targets but some doubt wisdom of enforcing fealty to the one-term presidentRepublican state parties have been lashing out at elected officials of their own party in a sign of ongoing fealty to Donald Trump.The moves by state party officials are highly unusual and an indication of the heated internal battles the Republican party is facing in the months and years to come as it struggles with the legacy of its capture by Trump, his allies and his loyal supporters. Continue reading...

My 85-year-old uncle and I are on the same page. When you are used to looking at yourself in the mirror once a day, it is agony to do it for 40 minutes straight

After Hurricane Sandy, the senator opposed relief for New York and New Jersey. It’s one rule for Texas, another for the rest of us

President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, calls the matter a ‘complete and utter outrage’Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday the US had begun to communicate with Iran over the detention of American citizens, calling the matter a “complete and utter outrage”.Related: Hawks in Iran and Israel agree: Biden’s bid to salvage nuclear deal must not succeed Continue reading...

Workers fighting to form the first union at an Amazon workplace in the US are pioneers in the battle to civilise big-tech capitalism“We are not robots” was chosen as the slogan of a GMB-led campaign against dehumanising work practices at Amazon warehouses. But these days many of Amazon’s employees are, in effect, managed by them. Self-driving autonomous robots bring containers to workstations, dictating the rhythm at which items are stacked and sorted. Eliminating walking time for employees has helped Amazon to triple individual output. But the even more relentless pace has led to a reported rise in worker injuries, as corners are cut in the struggle to keep up.In most mid-20th-century factory environments, such a clear and present danger to health and safety would have been taken up by the relevant trade union. But 21st-century titans of the digital age, such as Amazon’s founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, have completed the destruction of that old settlement between capital and labour. By aggressively undermining attempts at organising, Amazon has ensured that in the United States, where it employs close to a million people, not a single workplace is unionised. If an equitable balance of power is to be restored, it will require the kind of courage and persistence shown in Britain by the fledgling App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU). Last week’s landmark verdict by the supreme court, which upheld the ADCU’s demand that Uber class its drivers as workers entitled to benefits, rather than self-employed, should inspire other insecure and exploited workforces to band together. Continue reading...

Ex-undercover officer claims in posthumous letter he was pressured to lure activist’s security men into committing crimesAlmost 56 years since the day Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City, lawyers and family members of the late civil rights and Black nationalist leader released new evidence they claim shows the NYPD and FBI conspired in his murder.Related: 'The humanity of black characters is often forgotten': behind Oscar-tipped One Night in Miami Continue reading...

A United Airlines plan rained debris on Denver suburbs, narrowly missing a home, after suffering catastrophic engine failure shortly after takeoff on Saturday. The Boeing 777-200 returned to the airport in an emergency landing.United said there were no reported injuries on Flight 328 from Denver International airport to Honolulu, which had 231 passengers and 10 crew on board

Trump’s critics – and the donors backing them – are scrambling fast to try to prise control away from the pro-Trump majority

Whether it means firing workers who refuse, offering incentives or taking a laissez-faire approach, it’s worth having a policyThis week a New York City restaurant made news because it allegedly fired an employee because she refused to get vaccinated.According to the New York Times, the waitress, who worked in Brooklyn’s Red Hook Tavern, did not want to get a Covid vaccine shot because she was concerned that the vaccine might affect her chances of becoming pregnant in the future. “I totally support the vaccine,” she said. “If it wasn’t for this one thing, I would probably get it.” Continue reading...

The details of the two tales vary, but the narrative arcs are eerily similarIn the chaos of 2020, the national press corps used all of its magical myth-making and storytelling powers to conjure two towering political heroes for a country in crisis. From the maw of the media machine, the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, and the Lincoln Project emerged as our alleged sentinels bravely battling a deadly pandemic and an authoritarian president – and supposedly leading us with principles and morality into a new era of accountability and integrity.Related: AOC calls for 'full investigation' into Cuomo's handling of nursing homes Continue reading...

A spate of pandemic-era violence has shined a light on anti-Asian bias, stoking concerns of division between two minority communitiesAn 91-year-old man shoved to the ground in Oakland, California’s Chinatown. A 50-something woman thrown into a set of newsstands in Flushing, Queens. An 84-year-old man fatally assaulted in San Francisco. A recent spate of violence against Asian elders has left many Asian Americans across the country feeling targeted, wondering whether these are random acts of crime – or fueled by anti-Asian bias.The attacks have shaken Asian immigrant communities already struggling after a year of pandemic-related challenges, including racist taunts of “kung flu” or “China virus” and economic devastation for Chinatowns and other immigrant communities – and four years under an administration whose trade war with China fueled xenophobia. Continue reading...

Britney Spears may have been hounded for years by the media, but it’s only now that we can evaluate what that really says about usLooking back today at the pop culture of my youth is like the moment your vision finally adjusts to a Magic Eye picture. One that you’ve walked past unseeingly for years, vaguely aware perhaps, if pushed, that there could be more to the abstract ocean scene hanging in the downstairs loo – once, during a sticky breakup, you thought you noticed an animal, watching you cry. But as time rolled on, the light changed. #MeToo and its subsequent conversations enabled a retelling of stories we thought we knew by heart, now illuminated with a growing understanding of sex, power, mental health and the horrors of the celebrity industrial complex.There is very little new information in the New York Times documentary about Britney Spears; instead we’re invited to sit quietly with what we have always known. From the international debates around her sluttiness (there is footage of an interviewee asking her if she was a virgin, and Spears, so used to this now, thanking him for his question) to the frenzy of the paparazzi, these crowds of men who waited for her outside toilets, shouting “I’M WORRIED ABOUT YOU” while sticking their flashes into her car. She had two babies, quickly, and public scrutiny swelled to include not just her sexuality but her mothering abilities. The story shifted overnight – she had been too mature to be a girl, but she was too young to be a woman. Continue reading...

With elections looming in both states, and hardliners out to ensure the collapse of the 2015 deal, time is running short for the US president to save itFor sworn enemies, Iran and Israel have much in common. Both are regional powers, projecting their interests beyond their borders. Both are beholden, in different ways, to shifting US policy. Both have secretive nuclear programmes. And both are heading towards national elections – in Israel next month, in Iran in June – that could decide whether cold-hearted enmity turns into hot-blooded war.The stand-off over Iran’s alleged attempts, which are always denied, to acquire atomic bomb-making capacity has gone on for so long that its dangers are often underestimated. Yet the coming days are crucial. Iran has set 21 February as a deadline for an easing of unilateral US sanctions. If it is ignored, Tehran is threatening to ban snap UN inspections of its nuclear facilities and further ramp up proscribed atomic activities. Continue reading...

Jonathan Cohn’s study of the fight for healthcare coverage delivers depth, dish and much for Democrats to ponderOnce upon a time, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was unpopular, viewed by many as welfare redux. Barack Obama’s promise that “If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan”, didn’t exactly work out. By the middle of the 2010s, so-called Obamacare had cost the Democrats both houses of Congress.Related: The Good American review: Bob Gersony and a better foreign policy Continue reading...

With huge gaps in the state and local response to the winter crisis, volunteers are stepping up to provide vital services

Denied a Senate hearing as Obama’s supreme court nominee, as attorney general Garland would face an decisions on racial justice, politically sensitive prosecutions and voting rightsPerhaps the most patient man in Washington, Merrick Garland is not likely to be late for his appointment with senators on Monday. He has, after all, been waiting five years for this moment.Related: Growing number of Republican donors aim to prise party from Trump influence Continue reading...

Customers and staff opened fire on a person who walked into the Metairie store and fatally shot two peopleThree people are dead and two more in hospital after a person in a New Orleans gun store opened fire, killing two before dying when customers and staff shot back, police say.The shooting happened at the Jefferson Gun Outlet in the suburb of Metairie around 2.50pm on Saturday, according to a release from the Jefferson Parish sheriff’s office. Continue reading...

Harry and Meghan should take note of the good deeds being done out of the spotlightThe latest skirmish between the royal family and Harry/Meghan may be a good moment to remember that there’s “public” in “public service”. First off, if I were the Windsor family therapist, I’d have something wise and stern to say about engaging in public slanging matches.However disappointing the loss of royal duties, Harry should not have been snitty with his 94-year-old grandmother (viz. that sign-off, “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal”). At the same time, the passive aggression of the royals and their supporters towards the Sussexes is fast becoming so swollen and gaseous that it won’t be long before it’s visible as a royal-crest-shaped mist. Continue reading...

The director has mounted a spirited attack on those who insist on branding cinema – and all art – as a commodityI have long harboured an irrational loathing for the word “content”, especially when used as a casual stand-in to mean something like a film, a television show, or a piece of art or music.I suspect that often when people use the word it is to make them feel as if they’re in Succession, when it’s more like we’re all languishing in an endless episode of The Apprentice. It is representative of the kind of insidious business speak that has become normal for non-business people to say, like “personal brand”, or “blue-sky thinking”. Don’t get me started on touching base. Continue reading...

Twigs told an interviewer this week ‘We have to stop asking that question’ – pointing to a much-needed reframing of how we think about abuse Continue reading...

For nearly a year, anything I didn’t want to do could be blamed on Covid. I’d better mend my ways soon, thoughLike a lot of parents, I made a vague rule for myself when my children were born, which was never to lie about their health to get out of something. One of the best things about having kids is that they give you a solid decade of excuses not to go, do or see anything you don’t want to, and there’s a lot of room for tweaking the truth within that.In my mind, however, I drew a firm line between “we have a play date, can’t come” and the “my kid has a fever” get-out-of-jail-free card, which, on the off-chance that the universe functions exactly in line with my superstitions, seemed too tempting an invitation to fate. I will lie, but not, you know, like that. Continue reading...

An art program is helping Milwaukee teens see themselves in their own light, rather than the narratives that surround themAmir Williams pictured himself as an African king, supported by his family’s ancestors. Miguel Rivera imagined holding a Rubik’s cube, layered with infinite possibilities. DeMarcus Staples saw himself as a hero, confident and steady while saving lives.The students, all 16, recently completed a year-long art program that helps students in Milwaukee explore their identity through video, photography and oral histories. The project, which is run by New York based non-profit Art Start, culminates with the youths staging a portrait that represents how they see themselves. Continue reading...

Although it is difficult to prove recent incidents were fueled by bigotry, activists and community leaders say race has played a major roleAs an increase in anti-Asian bigotry continues to sweep across America, politicians and community advocates have called for action to combat a disturbing surge in physical attacks and harassment.During a press conference last week, top congressional Democrats condemned the increase and said much of the blame lies in former president Donald Trump’s racist rhetoric about Chinese people and the coronavirus. Continue reading...