CDC data found that the state has given a smaller proportion of vaccines to counties with the most vulnerable residentsCalifornia has failed to equitably distribute vaccines to residents in its poorest and most vulnerable regions, according to a new report from federal researchers that found the nation’s most populous state has one of most unequal vaccine programs.The report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that California ranked among the worst five states for unequal vaccine distribution. Researchers from the CDC analyzed vaccines administered from 14 December to 1 March, and compared where doses were distributed against county-level demographic data. Continue reading...

In his first speech as a US senator, the Rev Raphael Warnock warned Americans of a rightwing attack on voting rights. Here are his remarks

Atlanta shooting victim, 33, would go out of her way to help others and often take in friends who were in need of a place to stay

The 54-year-old who worked at the Youngs Asian Massage had served in the US army and at one point owned a home security and theater businessPaul Andre Michels was a handyman at Youngs Asian Massage who was among the eight killed in the spa shootings in the Atlanta area on Tuesday.Related: Atlanta shootings: House holds hearing as representative warns of 'crisis point' for Asian Americans – latest updates Continue reading...

Concerns appear to fade that settlement will derail trial of ex-officer as two jurors seatedConcern appears to be fading that a massive settlement for George Floyd’s family will derail the trial of a former police officer accused in his death, with most potential jurors saying they avoided news of the settlement or could set it aside.Related: Minneapolis to pay George Floyd's family $27m in police custody death lawsuit Continue reading...

The Democrat is ready to take on the Trump devotee in 2022 – but it’s no easy task in a deep-red Georgia district“I’m taking on the queen of Qanon: Marjorie Taylor Greene,” reads one tweet from Holly McCormack. “Retweet if you think Marjorie Taylor Greene is an embarrassment to our country,” says another.America’s midterm elections may be 20 months in the future, but a campaign is already under way to unseat the extremist Republican congresswoman and Donald Trump devotee. In a rural district of Georgia that Taylor Greene won with three-quarters of the vote last November, no one thinks it is going to be easy. Continue reading...

Lawsuit claims prison officials and administrators failed to take precautions when transferring men between facilitiesThe family of a man who died of Covid-19 in a California prison has filed a federal lawsuit against the state’s prison system and high-ranking prison administrators over their handling of the pandemic.On Wednesday, attorneys representing the family of Daniel Ruiz filed a wrongful death lawsuit against California department of corrections and rehabilitation (CDCR) officials and several medical administrators at the California Institute for Men (CIM), an all men’s prison in southern California. Continue reading...

Initial signatories of campaign include billionaires fashion mogul Francois-Henri Pinault and Arianna HuffingtonGlobal business leaders launched a campaign on Thursday declaring their opposition to the death penalty, urging governments everywhere to end the practice and asking their peers to join them.Speaking to the virtual South by Southwest festival, Sir Richard Branson, one of the campaign’s leaders, said: “The death penalty is broken beyond repair and plainly fails to deliver justice by every reasonable measure. It is marred by cruelty, waste, ineffectiveness, discrimination and an unacceptable risk of error. Continue reading...

To be able to experience sexual attraction without it becoming a source of rage requires a degree of respect that the Atlanta suspect, and men like him, do not possessIt’s unclear if Robert Aaron Long, the 21-year-old white man who killed eight people on Tuesday – seven of them women, and six of them Asian women – in a mass shooting across three different massage parlors in the Atlanta area, even knew his victims’ names. After he was arrested and taken into police custody unharmed, Long promptly took responsibility for the shootings. He told officers that he had frequented the massage parlors, which appear to sell sexual services, and that he considers himself to be suffering from a “sex addiction”. He claims that he shot up the massage parlors in order to rid himself of “temptation”. By “temptation” he means, presumably, the temptation that was presented by the women’s existence, and which he thought could be eliminated once they were no longer alive.Related: 'A specific kind of racism': Atlanta shootings fuel fears over anti-sex-work ideology Continue reading...

‘The hypocrisy is astounding’: the Georgia company says it’s determined to combat racism – so why isn’t it speaking out?Happy Thursday, Continue reading...

House voted 413-12 to award congressional gold medals to all members of Capitol force for their efforts on 6 JanuaryA dozen Republicans voted against a resolution honoring US Capitol police for their efforts to protect members of Congress during the insurrection on 6 January.The House voted 413-12 on Wednesday to award congressional gold medals, Congress’s “highest expression of national appreciation”, to all members of the Capitol police force. Continue reading...

A Georgia sheriff’s captain was criticised for appearing to characterise the actions of the suspect in a mass shooting in Atlanta as him having had 'a really bad day'.Robert Aaron Long, 21, was charged with killing eight people in Atlanta, six of them women of Asian descent, on Wednesday.Atlanta police said Long had declared Tuesday’s attack was not racially motivated. He claimed to have a 'sex addiction' and authorities have said he apparently lashed out at what he saw as sources of 'temptation'

Advocates for sex workers say the spa attacks combined sexism and toxic Asian stereotypesOn Tuesday night, a 21-year-old man named Robert Aaron Long allegedly went on a deadly rampage at three Atlanta spas, killing eight people, including six Asian women. Long’s shooting spree, police say, began at Youngs Asian Massage Parlor on the city’s outskirts, where he killed four people, two of whom were Asian, and injured one; he then allegedly fled the scene and proceeded to Gold Spa, killing three more people, all Asian women; and then he entered a spa right across the street, Aromatherapy Spa, where he killed his final victim.Following an interview with authorities, the Cherokee county sheriff, Frank Reynolds, maintained that Long “gave no indicators” that his crimes were racially motivated. “We asked him that specifically and the answer was no,” Reynolds said on Wednesday. Continue reading...

The shooting of six Asian Americans has amplified calls from anti-hate groups for greater awareness and recording of anti-Asian crimes. Plus, the oil industry knew of pollution risks for 50 years but lobbied against clean air measures anywayGood morning.Law enforcement agencies are under pressure to ramp up efforts to combat a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes, with particular criticism centring on poor reporting of the incidents. The issue came under new scrutiny following a spate of shootings in massage parlours Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday which left six women of Asian descent dead. Continue reading...

I’m struck by the beauty of a tribute to the dead of all pandemics – the ones forgotten and the ones still to comeJust over two years ago, my friend Janet came over to commiserate with my husband, whose leg was in plaster after a road accident. We immediately noticed a change in her. This sharp, funny woman in her mid-60s, who had nothing good to say about men (with the exception of her three beloved sons, whom she had raised almost single-handedly) had softened.Not only was she happy, we realised, but it may have been the first time we had ever really seen her that way. She soon admitted she was in love. She couldn’t get over the fact that she had met the man in question, even if it had happened relatively late in life. Her happiness was infectious. It was a jewel of an evening that only shines more brightly in my memory because of what happened next. Continue reading...

Getting paid by big companies is the worst part about running a small business – and it’s become even more frustrating during the pandemicAs Washington debates whether to tax big corporations that don’t pay a higher minimum wage, maybe now’s the right time to also fix another corporate sin: paying their smallest customers on time.For me – and countless others like me – getting paid by big companies and big government is the worst part about running a small business. Sure, most of my clients pay their bills when asked. But there’s always a few that pay well past 30 days. And those few are almost always my largest customers. Continue reading...

In a city flooded with reports of violence, leaders say the Asian American community has been left to fend for itselfThe morning after the Atlanta spa shootings, a man struck an elderly Asian woman on San Francisco’s Market Street in a seemingly unprovoked attack.Over the past few months, the Asian American community in the San Francisco Bay Area has been inundated with reports of attacks like these – from robberies to burglaries to deadly assaults. Continue reading...

Restrictions would include prohibiting drive-thru voting and cut early voting hours in already one of the hardest states to vote in USTexas Republicans are pushing new legislation that would make it even more difficult to cast a ballot in a state that is already one of the hardest places to vote in America. Continue reading...

Which team should you hate in place of Duke? Who is this year’s Cinderella team? Our writers break down the bracket for the NCAA tournamentIona. Rick Pitino has resurfaced in New Rochelle despite facing no meaningful consequences from the NCAA following the FBI corruption probe that prompted his messy ouster from Louisville. Must be nice. These Gaels are a Cinderella by weight class only. BAG Continue reading...

US health experts say Europe’s spike in new infections and hospitalizations should be a warning against dropping safeguards earlyOptimism is spreading in the US as Covid-19 deaths plummet and states ease restrictions and open vaccinations to younger adults. But across Europe, dread is setting in with another wave of infections, which are closing schools and cafes and bringing new lockdowns.The pandemic’s diverging paths on the two continents can be linked in part to a much faster vaccine rollout in the US and greater spread of contagious variants in Europe. Continue reading...

This week’s roundup also features France v Wales classics, rabona goals and March Madness1) Sabine Schmitz, the “Queen of the Nürburgring”, has died at the age of 51. Schmitz is the only woman to win the German track’s 24 Hours race, in 1996 and again in 1997 – you can see some highlights here and a tribute from the track (in German) here. Schmitz went on to join the Top Gear team, memorably racing round her favourite circuit in a Transit van and a Volkswagen Golf GTI, and also putting some vintage vehicles to the test on Fifth Gear. Here she is doing what she did best: tearing through the field with jaw-dropping precision in this exceptional on-board video. Continue reading...

Hooligans are up to all sorts of impish mayhem in this rote action flick apparently modelled on The RaidRussia’s hooligan set will have a new Friday-night post-pub favourite with this martial arts film, modelled on Gareth Evans’s The Raid. In a literal hostile takeover, former Spetsnaz sniper Nikita (Ivan Kotik) leads a squad of tracksuited casuals into a vodka factory/mafia front on behalf of a shady businessmen (Ilya Antonenko) looking to seize it – but he also has a personal beef with the owner.For reasons half-explained, the squad are forbidden from carrying guns, and the chief heavy (played by real-life MMA fighter Vladimir Mineev) chafes against Nikita’s command from the off. They work their way up through the factory’s security to the C-suite, with much fisticuffs, mostly in the fashionable MMA style – with heavy emphasis on grappling and backhanded slaps that look prissy but probably aren’t. The standout is a corridor-hemmed brawl against three juggernauts wielding a host of medieval weaponry, with director Denis Kryuchkov often keeping us locked in with the combatants with swaying, reeling Steadicam. Continue reading...

Asian American leaders dismayed that discrimination and harassment continues to be downplayed by federal and local policeFederal and local law enforcement agencies are under pressure to increase efforts to combat the rising tide of hate crimes against Asian Americans in the wake of the Atlanta, Georgia spa shootings that left eight people dead, six of them women of Asian descent.Related: Atlanta spa shootings: what we know so far Continue reading...

Lauren Gambino, political correspondent for Guardian US, discusses the $1.9tn Covid relief package, which was passed by Congress last week. It was seen as a major legislative victory for Joe BidenLauren Gambino, political correspondent for Guardian US, talks to Anushka Asthana about the landmark $1.9tn coronavirus relief bill that was passed last week delivering the first major legislative victory of Joe Biden’s presidency and a sweeping promise to raise millions of Americans out of poverty.The sweeping legislation was the culmination of an aggressive push by Biden and Democrats to fulfil their campaign promise to control the virus and deliver swift economic relief as a first act after securing narrow control of both chambers of Congress and the White House. But the partisan result foreshadows the unforgiving political landscape Biden will face as he attempts to move the rest of his agenda through Congress in the coming months. Despite promising unity and bipartisanship, he was unable to persuade a single Republican to vote for the measure, which they said was filled with liberal policies and ignored signs of economic recovery. Continue reading...

Capt Jay Baker also reportedly posted images on Facebook of T-shirts with racist slogan on China and coronavirusA Georgia sheriff’s captain has faced widespread criticism for appearing to characterise the actions of Robert Aaron Long, the 21-year-old charged with killing eight people in Atlanta, six of them women of Asian descent, as “having a really bad day”.Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Capt Jay Baker of the Cherokee county sheriff’s office said investigators had interviewed Long that morning. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has condemned Vladimir Putin, saying he thinks the Russian leader is a killer and that he told him he did not have a soul. Biden’s remarks were made on ABC News in an interview with George Stephanopoulos. The interview coincided with the release of a declassified US intelligence report that bolstered allegations Putin was behind Moscow’s interference in the 2020 election. When pressed on the allegations against Russia, Biden said Putin ‘will pay a price’ for the attempts to swing the vote in Donald Trump’s favor

Eight people, the majority women of Asian descent, were killed in three attacks. A 21-year-old man is in custody

Veteran government trade lawyer is also the first woman of color to serve in role responsible for enforcing US trade dealsThe US Senate on Wednesday voted unanimously to confirm the veteran government trade lawyer Katherine Tai as the first woman of color and first Asian American to serve as the US trade representative, putting her to work enforcing trade deals, confronting China’s trade practices and patching up ties with US allies. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Locals mourn eight victims killed on Tuesday at spas in area that has long functioned as red-light district of sorts

If at least 1.5m of those signatures are validated, the state will hold an election to recall Gavin Newsom this yearGavin Newsom is gearing up for a recall challenge, with the California governor’s fiercest critics saying they have filed the signatures needed to call an election to remove him from office.The Wednesday deadline to submit at least 1.5m valid voter signatures to trigger a gubernatorial recall has come two days before the anniversary of California’s first statewide shelter-in-place order. Counties now have until the end of April to verify petition signatures. Continue reading...

Jurors dismissed after judge concerned they been tainted by city’s settlement with Floyd’s familyA judge on Wednesday dismissed two jurors who had been seated for the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer accused in George Floyd’s death over concerns they had been tainted by the city’s announcement of a $27m settlement with Floyd’s family.Hennepin county judge Peter Cahill recalled seven jurors who were seated before the settlement announcement last week, and questioned each about what they knew of the settlement and whether it would affect their ability to serve. Former officer Derek Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, had requested the recall. Continue reading...

Polls taking place months apart simply highlight the two-tier system that denies Palestinians any real voice or freedomFor the first time in decades, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel will hold legislative elections a few months apart. Many in the international community and media will see this as a joint exercise in democracy but it is, in fact, a window into the reality of a two-tiered system that denies Palestinians the basic freedom and rights that many across the world take for granted.Drive across the winding roads of the West Bank this spring and you will see election posters interrupting the beautiful landscape of olive and almond trees. Upon further inspection, you may soon realise that the candidate advertised is not an eager Palestinian campaigning for a parliamentary seat. It is likely to be an Israeli candidate running for the Israeli parliament. Continue reading...

5,125 incidents of racist, antisemitic and other hateful messages reported by Anti-Defamation League versus 2,724 in 2019Distribution of white supremacist propaganda nearly doubled across America in 2020, with 5,125 incidents of racist, antisemitic and other hateful messages being reported by an advocacy group.The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said Wednesday that 2020 had the “highest level” of cases of such propaganda since it started monitoring the phenomenon – an average of about 14 cases daily. There were 2,724 instances reported in 2019, ADL said. Continue reading...

The superstar has long been known as a destroyer of Boston’s NBA team. But he could help the city’s baseball franchise rediscover its fortunesA few years ago, it would have sounded like a joke without a punchline but it’s true: Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is now a partial owner of the Boston Red Sox. On Tuesday, news spread that James and business partner Maverick Carter would be, pending MLB approval, partners in Fenway Sports Group, the company which owns Liverpool FC, the sports network NESN and the Red Sox. While the idea of James helping to guide the future of the historic franchise will require a period of adjustment for fans and media alike, it’s difficult to imagine how this won’t be a positive development for both the team and baseball itself.Now, it’s not surprising at all that James would invest money in a sports franchise. James – whose estimated net worth lies somewhere in the $500m range – has been very clear that his ultimate goal is to one day own an NBA franchise. He already owned a 2% share in Liverpool, so this is just another step towards his retirement goal. Continue reading...

Bored in lockdown, I seek out answers to questions I’ve long pondered, such as the difference between onions and shallotsOne day when I was little, some time in the late 1970s, I suppose, I was sitting with my nan and grandad in their front room. My auntie was there, too. My brother and I were watching the television; Grandad was reading the paper. At one point he abruptly dropped his newspaper and asked: “Is Hamlet about a small English village?” My auntie told him no, it was about a Danish prince. “Oh,” he said, before raising his newspaper again. Bar the chuntering of the television, silence fell. And that was that.For some reason this exchange has stayed with me for more than 40 years. I think it was his tone of voice, which suggested the question had been vaguely niggling away at him for most of the 20th century. I feel a bit sorry for him; if only he’d had the internet at his disposal and the confidence to use it, he would have had his answer. There is no need to idly wonder about things like that any more, and there’s certainly no need to ask it out loud and risk looking a bit of a chump. Not that he ever looked a chump in my eyes; he was my hero. Continue reading...

In an interview scheduled to air Wednesday, president says allegations against New York governor should be ‘taken seriously’Joe Biden has said that Andrew Cuomo should resign if the state attorney general’s investigation confirms the sexual harassment allegations against him.The president made the remarks in an interview with ABC News that is scheduled to air on Wednesday morning. When asked by the anchor George Stephanopoulos if the investigation confirms the claims of the women, should Cuomo resign, Biden said “yes”, adding, “I think he’d probably end up being prosecuted, too. Continue reading...

Man taken into custody after shootings at three locations, amid rising number of attacks on Asian Americans in the US