US news | The Guardian

Senate confirms Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health as activists hail appointment as a historic breakthrough

The prime minister was given free rein to waffle and talk over questioners in a debate over the Tory manifesto promiseHow much longer can this go on? Previous prime ministers have at least been on nodding terms with the truth, but Boris Johnson is completely without shame. Without conscience. A sociopath for whom no lie is off limits, either in his public or his private life. What counts is reality as he would like it to be.All of which makes prime minister’s questions increasingly pointless – other than as an exercise in Oxford Union am-dram – because there is no chance of Johnson ever admitting he has made a mistake or changed his mind. Today was a case in point. Keir Starmer thought he had Boris bang to rights. After all, even the defence secretary had said the government was planning to break the Tory manifesto promise not to cut the number of troops in his commons statement earlier in the week. Continue reading...

Drugmaker dismisses former research boss from role at Galvani BioelectronicsGSK has dismissed its former research boss Moncef Slaoui, who became US national vaccine chief under Donald Trump, after an independent investigation found that he sexually harassed one of its female employees.GSK said it had terminated Slaoui’s role at Galvani Bioelectronics, a joint venture majority owned by GSK, with immediate effect. Slaoui had until January led the US vaccine programme Operation Warp Speed. Continue reading...

Vice-president will collaborate with Mexico and Central America officials as White House faces criticism over border operations

Fundraiser was created to cover Xiao Zhen Xie’s medical expenses after she was punched in San FranciscoAn elderly Asian woman who received nearly $1m on GoFundMe after she fought back against someone randomly attacking her is planning to donate all of the money to her community to fight racism, her family has announced.The violent incident against Xiao Zhen Xie was one of many recent attacks against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in America. Stop AAPI Hate tracked nearly 3,800 discriminatory incidents that occured against this community from 19 March 2020 to 28 February 2021. Continue reading...

Ex-White House coronavirus adviser under Trump is now chief medical adviser of ActivePure, one of many companies in a race to capture Covid federal fundingThe former top White House coronavirus adviser under President Donald Trump, Dr Deborah Birx, has joined an air-cleaning company that built its business, in part, on technology that is now banned in California due to health hazards. Continue reading...

Megan Rapinoe has taken her fight for equal pay to Congress as she testified on Wednesday in front of a committee examining 'the economic harm caused by longstanding gender inequalities, particularly for women of colour'. Rapinoe said she did not understand why pay inequality was still a problem in US Soccer, despite the USWNT’s success. 'I feel like honestly we’ve done everything,' she said.During her testimony, Rapinoe added that she supported the rights of trans athletes. The midfielder also addressed the outcry at the NCAA tournament last week after photos showed the far inferior gym equipment provided to female players compared to their male counterparts

The 10 people killed at a Colorado grocery store ranged in age from 20 to 65, and are remembered for their kindness and being a ‘shining light’A gunman killed 10 people on Monday afternoon at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado. The 10 people killed ranged in age from 20 to 65 and included shoppers, workers and a police officer.Here is what we know about those who died. Continue reading...

Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone was tearful and openly emotional before Tuesday night’s game against the Orlando Magic while talking about the 10 people killed in a grocery store by a gunman on Monday in Boulder, Colorado. Malone named each of the victims of the massacre: “Rikki Olds, Denny Stong, Neven Stanisic, Tralona Bartkowiak, Suzanne Fountain, Teri Leiker, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray, Jody Waters, and police officer Eric Talley, father of seven kids". The attack took place approximately 28 miles from downtown Denver. Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr also addressed the recent violence in Boulder and Atlanta before Tuesday’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Kerr sat sternly in front of a black background featuring 18 names representing each of the people lost in mass shootings over the past week.

When Republicans want to make it tougher to vote than to purchase a gun, something is definitely off-kilterOn Monday, a lone gunman killed 10 at a Boulder, Colorado, supermarket. Last week, a 21-year-old man killed eight in an Atlanta massage parlor. Faced with calls for heightened background checks on gun sales, Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming’s junior senator, draped herself in the flag, and lashed out at proponents of gun control as essentially un-American.In her words, “every time that there’s an incident like this, the people who don’t want to protect the second amendment use it as an excuse to further erode second amendment rights.” To be sure, Lummis’s fealty to freedom and the constitution is selective at best, and she’s far from alone. Continue reading...

Lull in high-profile mass shootings during pandemic but data shows everyday violence has contributed to a likely record riseFor exactly a year during the pandemic, the United States did not see a single high-profile public mass shooting. But a surge in daily gun violence contributed to an estimated 4,000 additional murders throughout 2020, in what experts warn will probably be the worst single-year increase in murders on record.There were only two public shootings in 2020 that primarily targeted strangers, were not related to other crimes and killed at least four victims – one standard definition researchers use to classify “mass shootings” – according to two databases that track this kind of gun violence. That’s the lowest annual count of high-profile mass shootings in America in nearly a quarter-century, according to Jillian Peterson, the founder of the Violence Project, which tracks these mass shootings going back to 1966. Continue reading...

The thrill-seeking, globetrotting All-Pro cornerback on the rise of athlete activism, running with the bulls in Spain and how he ended up in the Anfield stands for that Liverpool-Barcelona matchYou might think the high-stakes, white-knuckle lifestyle of an NFL defensive back would generate enough adrenaline to satisfy even the most voracious thrill-seeker. Not for Josh Norman, the nine-year veteran who has been known to spend his offseasons in pursuit of the next ultimate high: whether it’s jumping out of planes, flying with the US Navy’s Blue Angels, driving stock cars at Charlotte Motor Speedway or running with the bulls in Pamplona.The 33-year-old cornerback took the long road to NFL stardom, going from a walk-on at Coastal Carolina University after receiving no scholarship offers out of high school to the All-Pro first team with the Carolina Panthers during their charmed Super Bowl season in 2015. His yen for new experiences is matched only by a dogged commitment to giving back through Starz24, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation he launched as a rookie, which to date has donated more than $3.4m to youth organizations and nonprofits. Continue reading...

The president called for a tightening of background checks and ban on assault weapons after two mass shootings in recent weeks. Plus, big banks have provided $3.8tn of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate deal

The US has slipped 11 points in a decade – below Argentina and Mongolia – according the latest report by a democracy watchdogThe US has fallen to a new low in a global ranking of political rights and civil liberties, a drop fueled by unequal treatment of minority groups, damaging influence of money in politics, and increased polarization, according to a new report by Freedom House, a democracy watchdog group.The US earned 83 out of 100 possible points this year in Freedom House’s annual rankings of freedoms around the world, an 11-point drop from its 94 ranking a decade ago. The US’s new ranking places it on par with countries like Panama, Romania and Croatia and behind countries such as Argentina and Mongolia. It lagged far behind countries like the United Kingdom (93), Chile (93), Costa Rica (91) and Slovakia (90). Continue reading...

In his first remarks on the supermarket shooting in Boulder, Colorado, that killed 10 people on Monday, Joe Biden called on Congress to move quickly to toughen the country's gun laws, asking lawmakers to close the loopholes in the background checks system and ban assault weapon and high-capacity magazines. Biden homed in on closing what is known as the Charleston loophole – a provision in federal law that gives a gun seller discretion on whether to proceed with a sale if the FBI fails to determine within three business days if a buyer is eligible to purchase a gun

The ‘coordinated onslaught’ of bills touts the big lie of voter fraud that fueled the 6 January insurrection, says the former Georgia candidate for governorThere may be no politician better suited for a moment when democracy is under attack than Stacey Abrams. A decade ago, when few saw any chance of Georgia becoming a Democratic state, Abrams pushed to invest in turning out Black, Latino and Asian American voters, who had long been overlooked by politicians campaigning in the state. Continue reading...

Doctors and families say wave of bills to ban gender-affirming care dangerously misrepresents the treatment processLawmakers in Arkansas are voting this week to restrict medical care for transgender children and punish doctors who treat them, in one of more than a dozen US states where Republicans are pushing sweeping bans on trans youth healthcare.Proponents of the healthcare bans argue that kids are too young to consent to treatments like hormone therapy and puberty blockers and that the bills aim to prevent “medical experimentation” on children. Some bills claim that trans kids “will outgrow” their identities. Continue reading...

Images of migrants packed into ‘pods’ emerge as Biden administration tries to process thousands of children and familiesJam-packed plastic “pods” doubling as makeshift border enforcement facilities within large tents. Young migrants laying side by side on cheap floor mats. The dystopian glint of silver mylar blankets.Related: Migrants held in overcrowded Texas facility, photos released by congressman show Continue reading...

Photographs of firefighters, grocery workers and hospital staff were captured as they worked through the pandemicLast March, California became the first US state to impose a stay-at-home order in a desperate attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Millions of workers across the state saw their jobs abruptly turn high-risk, or essential to allow millions of others to shelter in place.Photographer Sam Comen visited dozens of essential workers in Los Angeles, capturing their portraits and perspectives in one of America’s major Covid-19 hotspots. Some of them were first responders, others, many of them Black and Latino, performed the labor that allowed so many more to work from home. Their roles during the crisis exposed stark issues of social injustice, with many performing high-risk work with little public support. Continue reading...

Fueled by Trump’s election lies, Republicans have doubled down on a brazen effort to restrict rights – and more danger lies aheadTwenty twenty-one should have been a year to celebrate for LaTosha Brown. Continue reading...

State recorded nearly 17,000 new cases last week as numbers underscore the need for a speedier vaccine rollout, experts sayA recent jump in Michigan Covid cases and hospitalizations is alarming public health officials and raising fear that it could be an early sign of things to come across the rest of the country.Michigan recorded nearly 17,000 new cases last week, which represents a more than 300% increase from the same week last month. Its per-capita rate over the last week is the nation’s fourth highest, while its positivity rate recently hit 9% – the highest mark since mid-January. Continue reading...

If economies recover and stimulus turbocharges pent-up demand, a lot of bank credit could result from central bank moneyThe increasing risk of a return of inflation in the US and Europe is beginning to galvanise debates among economists. One key source of inflation fears is the expectation that, once the Covid-19 pandemic has been overcome by vaccines, pent-up demand will explode in an orgy of consumption.Moreover, today’s unprecedentedly large government bailout programmes will have powerful inflationary multiplier effects. Continue reading...

Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa purchased a weapon shortly after a judge lifted a previous ban on their sale in the Colorado city, according to court documentsThe suspect accused of opening fire inside a crowded Colorado supermarket was a 21-year-old man who allegedly purchased an assault weapon less than a week earlier, it has emerged.Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa bought the weapon on 16 March, six days before the attack at a King Soopers store in Boulder that killed 10 people, including a police officer, according to an arrest affidavit. It was not immediately known where the gun was purchased. Continue reading...

A tragic tail: Jensen Karp says he adored Cinnamon Toast Crunch, until he found what appeared to be dried seafood in his breakfastKids’ cereals have a long history of coming with prizes in the box – perhaps a SpongeBob Squarepants figurine or a cardboard cutout of Spider-Man. It is less appealing when the surprise inside appears to be multiple dried shrimp tails.That is what allegedly happened on Monday morning to Jensen Karp, a Los Angeles comedian, who reported his findings on Twitter with some truly alarming photographs and the words “this is not a bit”. Continue reading...

Administration also extended the enrollment period for registering for subsidized health insurance coverage until 15 AugustJoe Biden marked the 11th anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act with a trip to Ohio on Tuesday, touting his efforts to reverse many Trump-era measures aimed at weakening the landmark health reform law, and pledging that his $1.9tn Covid rescue package would build on the ACA’s promise. Continue reading...

The new program, which has raised $6.75m from private donors, will give low-income families of color $500 a monthOakland is set to become the latest city in California to launch a guaranteed income program, with the mayor announcing Tuesday a privately funded program for low-income families of color.The Oakland Resilient Families program will give families that meet a certain threshold $500 a month, with no rules on how they spend it. The program has so far raised $6.75m from private donors including Blue Meridian Partners, a national philanthropy group. Continue reading...

President also urges Senate to pass bills to close background checks loopholes

Biden officials say the two short-range test-fires launched over the weekend were not covered by UN Security Council resolutionsSenior Biden administration officials are playing down North Korean short-range missile launches last weekend, and saying the US president is still open to a dialogue with North Korea.Officials, who briefed reporters on the missile launches, said on Tuesday that they were on the low end of the spectrum and not covered by various UN security council resolutions. They said the Biden administration was close to a conclusion of its policy review of North Korea and that the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will discuss it next week with his counterparts in Japan and South Korea. Continue reading...

Shares, which had fallen 6.5% during the day, briefly gained 8% in after-hours trading before dropping more than 15%GameStop released its first earnings report on Tuesday since it became the subject of international attention during a Reddit-fuelled buying rally and named the former Amazon and Google executive Jenna Owens as its new chief operating officer.The company’s sales and profit figures were slightly lower than analysts had expected and its shares, which had fallen 6.5% during the day, briefly gained 8% in after-hours trading before dropping more than 15%. Continue reading...

PM remembers those who have lost lives during the pandemic, many of whom might still be alive

The Colorado city is considered by many to be a safe oasis – but some residents say there’s a darker side that often isn’t spoken ofFollowing the shooting in a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store on Monday, leaving 10 dead including a police officer, the community of this liberal mountain town are in a state of shock and disbelief, experiencing the all-too-common identity crisis experienced by so many American cities in the wake of a mass shooting.“I’ve called this community home for most of my life, and I’ve shopped at that King Soopers many times,” Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, said on Tuesday morning during a press conference. Continue reading...

Nick Slatten found his missing ticket on the ground outside an auto store he had visited with his brotherA man in Tennessee was stunned to find he had won $1m with a lottery ticket, only to discover he had somehow lost it while running errands in the wake of sharing the news with his fiancee and family.But, thankfully, the story has a happy ending as Nick Slatten of Sparta, a small town in the eastern part of the state, retraced the steps he had taken throughout the day and eventually found the missing ticket in a parking lot where he had taken his brother to visit an auto store. Continue reading...

Utility recently emerged from bankruptcy after its equipment started fires that killed more than 100 people in 2017 and 2018A northern California wildfire that killed four people and destroyed more than 200 buildings last year was sparked when tree branches came into contact with Pacific Gas & Electric power lines, officials have said. Continue reading...

Advocates seek enforcement of 2007 measure that would link casings to the guns that fired themGun control advocates are making a new attempt to force the gun industry to comply with a unique California law that requires bullet casings to be “microstamped”, a measure that has been toothless since it was approved more than a decade ago.California’s 2007 law requires gun manufacturers to adopt microstamping technology on new types of handguns introduced in the state. The intent was to imprint a unique set of microscopic characters on all cartridge casings when weapons are fired, linking bullet casings to the guns that discharged them. Continue reading...

A native of Seoul, South Korea, she moved to America in the 1980s and raised two sons but was killed in the Atlanta spa shootingsFriends and family of Yong Ae Yue remembered the Seoul, South Korea, native’s love of cooking and karaoke while paying tribute to her.Related: Hyun Jung Grant: ex-teacher who loved to dance killed in Atlanta spa shootings Continue reading...

Eric Talley, a father of seven, was first officer to respond to reports of shots fired. Other victims ranged in age from 20 to 65 years oldA police officer whose father said he was looking for a less dangerous line of work was among 10 victims of a shooting at a crowded Colorado supermarket on Monday night.Related: Boulder shooting: suspect and 10 victims named by police Continue reading...

Lawyers for Sidney Powell argued conspiracies she laid out constituted legally protected first amendment speech

A $400,000 housing grant with guaranteed funding in Evanston is first such initiative to tackle legacy of slaveryAn Illinois city has become the first in America to embark upon a reparations program for its Black residents after its local council approved the implementation of its first such initiative to tackle the legacy of slavery.Late on Monday night aldermen in Evanston – a suburban community in Chicago – voted to approve the Local Reparations Restorative Housing Program, a $400,000 housing grant program. Continue reading...

World’s second-largest cinema operator plans to open UK chain from 17 May in line with Covid-19 restrictions

The film doesn’t glamorize life at an Amazon warehouse. But it’s undeniably useful to the corporation to have a prestigious film to give political cover

Miami Beach officials have extended a curfew and state of emergency into April, in response to large spring-break crowds of partygoers defying coronavirus restrictions.Police used pellets and teargas to disperse the revellers