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It’s eerily similar to the 17th-century Dutch bubble, but with the self-organising potential of the internet added to the mixTowards the end of 1636, there was an outbreak of bubonic plague in the Netherlands. The concept of a lockdown was not really established at the time, but merchant trade slowed to a trickle. Idle young men in the town of Haarlem gathered in taverns, and looked for amusement in one of the few commodities still trading – contracts for the delivery of flower bulbs the following spring. What ensued is often regarded as the first financial bubble in recorded history – the “tulip mania”.Nearly 400 years later, something similar has happened in the US stock market. This week, the share price of a company called GameStop – an unexceptional retailer that appears to have been surprised and confused by the whole episode – became the battleground between some of the biggest names in finance and a few hundred bored (mostly) bros exchanging messages on the WallStreetBets forum, part of the sprawling discussion site Reddit. Continue reading...

IMG Models chief says design student ‘exudes joy’ and will join poet Amanda Gorman at agencyThe vice-president Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, has signed with IMG Models – home of Gigi and Bella Hadid – after her appearance at the presidential inauguration.Emhoff’s two looks – a jewel-encrusted Miu Miu coat and a merlot-coloured Batsheva dress – went viral during the televised ceremony. Continue reading...

Who pulled up? Who keeps going? Who hasn’t kept up?Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off in the second half of the Milan derby this week. Who followed him off the pitch 20 minutes later?Romelu LukakuAshley YoungAlexis SánchezPaolo ValeriTom Brady has reached yet another Super Bowl. By the time the game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs is played next weekend, what percentage of Super Bowls will have featured Brady?6%12%18%25%What will make this year's Super Bowl different from the previous 54?The sitting US president will not be in attendance for the first timeThe two teams are from the same US stateOne of the teams is playing in their home stadiumThere will be no fansIt was an interesting week at Chelsea, where Frank Lampard was replaced by Thomas Tuchel as manager of the men’s team. How did the Chelsea women’s team make the news?They became the first club to put out a full starting XI of foreign players in the Women’s Super LeagueTheir game against Aston Villa was delayed for three hours because of snow, so it started on Tuesday and ended on WednesdayThey selected three sisters for their game against Aston Villa – a first in the Women's Super LeagueThey set a new record for the longest unbeaten run in the Women’s Super LeagueYannick Bestaven won the Vendée Globe round-the-world sailing race this week. He was declared the winner of the solo race with a time of 80 days, three hours, 44 minutes and 46 seconds. However, Bestaven was not the first sailor to reach the finish line. What happened?The sailor who finished first had taken a shortcut, bypassing AustraliaThe sailor who finished first had snuck his partner on to the boat, so was disqualified from the solo raceBestaven had set off 10 days later than all of the other competitors due to a Covid scareAfter Bestaven reached the finish line, he was reimbursed 10 hours of time that he had used rescuing a fellow competitor whose boat had sunkThe January transfer window has been quiet this year, with just a handful of permanent deals going through so far. Which Premier League club holds the record for paying the most for a player in January?Manchester United in 2020Chelsea in 2019Liverpool in 2018Manchester City in 2017Teams from which two cities will contest the Copa Libertadores final at the Maracanã on Saturday night?Buenos Aires and BogotáMedellín and MontevideoSão Paulo and SantosLima and La PlataWho said: "I need activity, guys, come on. You don’t get away with being inactive in this business and that’s the way it is. I’ll take me licks. It’s a tough one to swallow"?Gareth BaleDonny van de BeekFrank LampardConor McGregorMartin Ødegaard has joined Arsenal on loan from Real Madrid. Which of these records has Ødegaard not broken in his career?The youngest player to represent Real MadridThe youngest player to play in the Norwegian professional leaguesThe youngest player to represent NorwayThe youngest player to score in a clásicoAll 20 Premier League teams have scored at least one goal in the league in 2021. Which team was slowest to find the net?Newcastle UnitedLiverpoolWest BromFulham3 and above.Not bad. Have a good weekend4 and above.Well played. Have a great weekend5 and above.Well played. Have a great weekend6 and above.Well played. Have a great weekend7 and above.A fantastic score. Have a great weekend8 and above.A fantastic score. Have a great weekend9 and above.A fantastic score. Have a great weekend10 and above.Perfection. Fantastic. Have a great weekend2 and above.Ah well. Have a good weekend0 and above.Ah well. Have a good weekend1 and above.Ah well. Have a good weekend Continue reading...

It may not last, this urge to flee even virtual contact with other humans in favour of box sets and bed. But what if it does?“How has it been, all this time?” A casual acquaintance – the mother of a vague friend of my children – asked this question on the street, from behind a mask and at a safe social distance. We hadn’t seen each other for months, and my children had drifted from hers, as they had from all but a handful of friends. We regarded each other curiously, reminded in the moment of how strange this all was. “Fine,” I said reflexively. “It’s been fine.”I have no idea if this is true. For those lucky enough to have avoided catastrophic health or economic losses, measuring the cost of the last year can be hard. How, in fact, are we doing? I have watched my kids adapt, with an almost seamless ability, to online learning and no indoor playdates. We have grown accustomed to barely leaving the neighbourhood and not seeing family for over a year; and, on the rare occasions when we have a babysitter, to wearing masks inside the house. Meanwhile, we are unmoored from all but a handful of close friends. If it is fine – and it is largely fine, or at least it is this week – I also wonder if some social muscle has atrophied and we have become weird. A year ago, it was weird having to stay in all the time. Now the idea of going out, going anywhere, seeing anyone or doing anything, fills us in the first instance with dread. Continue reading...

White people are being vaccinated at significantly higher rates than Black people, according to an analysis. Plus, Biden makes health insurance more accessible

A new exhibition combines interviews with ex-detainees on their trauma during Covid-19, and imagery of the growth of private-run detention in the US“Imagine how it feels there, locked up, the whole day without catching the air, without … seeing the light, because that is a cave there, in there you go crazy; without being able to see my family, just being able to listen to them on a phone and be able to say, ‘OK, bye,’ because the calls are expensive.”That’s how Alejandro, an asylum seeker from Cuba, described his time in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center. Continue reading...

New Mexico city faces a crisis as Covid ravages the tourism-based economy and newcomers crowd the housing marketShawna Martinez moved to Santa Fe to attend school in 1989 and never left. Working at Hotel Santa Fe for nearly 30 years, she has had a front seat to the explosive growth of this tourist town in past years.But late last year, on Martinez’s 50th birthday, her landlady delivered news that she was selling the property where Martinez rents a small, two-bedroom casita for $900. Martinez’s lease wouldn’t be renewed and she would need to move. Continue reading...

‘Women’s bodies are not political bargaining chips’ says UNFPA director, as US funding restored after Trump era

In every state Blacks were significantly underrepresented among people vaccinated so far, analysis by Kaiser Health News showsBlack Americans are receiving Covid vaccinations at dramatically lower rates than white Americans in the first weeks of the chaotic rollout, according to a new analysis.About 3% of Americans have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine so far. But in 16 states that have released data by race, white residents are being vaccinated at significantly higher rates than Black residents, according to the analysis – in many cases two to three times higher. Continue reading...

The Miami Heat will employ canines to sniff out the virus among fans attending games. But can dogs be trained in time to work at the Super Bowl?Nearly 100 million people are expected to watch Super Bowl LV in Tampa, the first time the big game has been held during a pandemic (the World Series has survived two). But only 22,000 of those viewers, 7,500 of them vaccinated healthcare workers, will be in actual attendance, representing just one-third the capacity of Raymond James Stadium. Social distancing and face-coverings will be enforced. The first few rows will be kept clear as a buffer between the field and the fans. By this stage of the pandemic, everyone should be aware that, at any one time, a portion of the population is composed of asymptomatic carriers who can infect others they come into contact with. As a result, any large gathering has the potential to become a super-spreader event with wide-reaching consequences. Large-scale testing at gatherings such as sporting events is limited by the availability of trained personnel, equipment, money, and the time it takes for the results of the actual test to work.But an unconventional solution may be in the works. Continue reading...

The KGB ‘played the game as if they were immensely impressed by his personality’, Yuri Shvets, a key source for a new book, tells the GuardianDonald Trump was cultivated as a Russian asset over 40 years and proved so willing to parrot anti-western propaganda that there were celebrations in Moscow, a former KGB spy has told the Guardian.Yuri Shvets, posted to Washington by the Soviet Union in the 1980s, compares the former US president to “the Cambridge five”, the British spy ring that passed secrets to Moscow during the second world war and early cold war. Continue reading...

Respondents call for bold action from the new administration, foreseeing difficult battles aheadOne week after the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, we asked Americans how they feel about the election result and what their hopes are for the next four years. Continue reading...

The Democrats’ victory involved working with minorities and helping the working class. Keir Starmer, take heed“Culture war” used to be a term inextricably linked with the maelstrom of US politics. Popularised by American sociologist James Davison Hunter in his 1991 book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, it described how socially progressive and conservative coalitions were locked in a seemingly eternal conflict. It could make for surprising alliances, he noted, citing Protestant, Catholic and Jewish clergy joining forces in anti-abortion movements during the late 1980s.The battlegrounds of the US culture war are familiar ones, long regarded with bafflement by patronising and complacent European eyes: God, guns, abortion, gay rights and, of course, race. In a moment that threatened to temporarily derail his 2008 presidential bid, Barack Obama said of working-class rust-belt Americans: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.” As the Tea Party movement’s backlash against his Medicare proposals underlined, culture wars became a highly effective means to mobilise low-income white Americans to vote against their economic interests. Continue reading...

Britain’s schools shutdown risks creating a generation of angry, withdrawn young people. Who will pick up the pieces?It’s never been exactly easy to get a teenager up in the morning. But behind many of our children’s closed bedroom doors, something is now unravelling. During last spring and summer, parents of older children worried about them galivanting off for rebellious lockdown-busting parties. In the dark depths of January, the fear is more for kids with all the stuffing knocked out of them; teenagers spending the whole day huddled miserably under duvets, refusing to complete online lessons, or mentally checking out.Illicit teenage parties were, of course, a health risk. But sad, withdrawn, angry kids who would rather roll over than face another day in lockdown represent a whole new medical crisis in the making. Continue reading...

World must keep food exports flowing freely to ease shortages and mitigate price spikes

Oaklin Springs cemetery’s board has since voted to remove the whites-only provision from its sales contractsThe family of a Black sheriff’s deputy in Louisiana said a local cemetery declined to bury his body after he died last week due to a “whites only” policy. Continue reading...

Former Trump press secretary’s early haul signals how expensive the 2022 race could becomeThe former White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, has raised more than $1m in the first four days of her bid for Arkansas governor, her campaign has said.Sanders announced on Monday she was running for Arkansas governor with a nearly eight-minute video that embraced former president Donald Trump, even as the Senate prepared for an impeachment trial on charges he incited the deadly riot at the US Capitol on 6 January. Continue reading...

Congresswoman tells senator who rejected Biden’s victory: ‘If you want to help, you can resign’The Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has rejected a message of support from Ted Cruz, adding the Texas senator “almost had me murdered three weeks ago”.Cruz on Thursday had endorsed Ocasio-Cortez’s call on Twitter for a congressional hearing about the decision by the online trading platform Robinhood to restrict trading in GameStop shares. But while welcoming the chance to work across party lines on the issue, Ocasio-Cortez had harsh words for Cruz. Continue reading...

FBI says Ian Rogers also sent texts that could be seen as threats against the governor’s office and social media companiesUS prosecutors have charged a northern California man with stockpiling weapons, including pipe bombs, after dozens of arms were found during a raid on his home and office. Continue reading...

President’s move to end ‘abortion ban’ on overseas funding hailed – now aid groups want apology for harmful Trump policiesHealth groups around the world are celebrating the end of a harmful policy banning US funding for overseas aid organisations that facilitate or promote abortion, which was scrapped by the US president, Joe Biden, in a presidential memorandum on Thursday.Reproductive rights advocates are urging the new administration to now go further and permanently repeal the Mexico City policy – known as the “global gag rule” – to prevent it being reinstated by a future Republican president. The policy has been blamed for contributing to thousands of maternal deaths in the developing world over the past four years. Continue reading...

President expected to sign executive order for special sign-up opportunity amid the coronavirus pandemicJoe Biden has signed an executive order to reopen federal health insurance marketplaces in an executive action meant to signal the importance of expanding healthcare, a key commitment during his campaign.The order is designed to aid people who lost their jobs, and consequently their health insurance, amid the pandemic. Continue reading...

The GameStop-style frenzy looks like a familiar case of speculative excess that will end badly for manyThe squeezing of the hedge funds, or at least a few of them, is splendid entertainment. The pure bizarreness of the rise in GameStop’s share price since the start of this month – a 25-fold rise at the peak – beats anything seen in the dotcom mania at the turn of the century. But the lesson of 20 years ago should be remembered: when it looks easy for anybody to make quick money speculating in stock markets, the party is probably about to end.This Reddit crew prefer a different narrative, naturally. For them, cranking up share prices and trying to create hell for short-selling hedge funds is about beating Wall Street at its own game. And give the traders credit, their loosely coordinated tactics worked like a dream at GameStop. The likes of Melvin Capital, the short-selling hedge fund forced into a bailout, never saw the rebel alliance coming. Continue reading...

A visibly angry Nancy Pelosi accused Republican leaders of showing disregard to the victims of school shootings after the QAnon-supporting congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was assigned a seat on the House education committee. Greene has previously suggested the 2018 mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida was a 'false flag' and was filmed harassing a teenage survivor on Capitol Hill in 2019. 'She has mocked the killing of little children,' Pelosi said. 'What could they be thinking? Or is thinking too strong a word for what they might be doing?'

Chicago city council granted home occupied by 14-year-old who was lynched in 1955 and his mother landmark statusThe South Side home of Emmett Till has formally gained Chicago landmark status and will be turned into a museum by a local non-profit that bought the structure in 2019.Related: 'Racism is in the bones of our nation': Will Joe Biden answer 'cry' for racial justice? Continue reading...

Letter sent to Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy asks if Congress members can use personal allowances for additional securityPervasive fear among some members of Congress that they will be the targets of further politically motivated violence following the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol has led more than 30 of them write a letter to House leaders.The group sent the letter to the House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and the Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, asking for more support over security concerns. Continue reading...

Others taken to hospital after liquid nitrogen leak in Gainesville, at center of poultry industryA liquid nitrogen leak at a north-east Georgia poultry plant killed six people on Thursday, with others taken to the hospital.A spokesperson for Northeast Georgia health system said five people had died at Prime Pak Foods near Gainesville and another died after being taken to hospital. Continue reading...

Congresswoman known for supporting QAnon was filmed following David Hogg, 18, and claiming mass shooting was a ‘false flag’Survivors of the 2018 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, are asking congressional Republicans to publicly censure Marjorie Taylor Greene for suggesting the school shooting was a “false flag” and for harassing a teenage survivor on Capitol Hill in 2019, as well as calling for Greene’s resignation.Greene, the newly elected Georgia congresswoman who is known for her support of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, was filmed in March 2019 as she followed 18-year-old David Hogg, one of the students who survived the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school, outside Capitol Hill. Continue reading...

Journalist, broadcaster and influential historian of American society and politicsThe journalist and historian Godfrey Hodgson, who has died aged 86, was among the most perceptive and industrious observers of his generation, particularly in the field of American society and politics.His reputation was founded on his landmark study, America in Our Time: From World War II to Nixon (1976), acknowledged by the Cambridge historian Gary Gerstle as “one of the great works of political and social history written in the past half century”. At 600 pages long and in continuous print since its first publication, it was but one item in a prolific output that ran to more than 15 books, extensive university teaching and a lifetime of newspaper and television reporting (as well as numerous Guardian obituaries). As a journalist, Hodgson reckoned he had worked in 48 of the 50 US states. Continue reading...

Analysis: Pompeo’s replacement, Antony Blinken, has pledged to put experts at the center of diplomacy and listen dissenting viewsNo statues were toppled at the state department after Mike Pompeo’s departure. It was a changing of the guard, rather than regime change. But in one case at least, his legacy was brought down quickly and visibly.On the day of the inauguration, workmen brought down a giant placard about “professional ethos” that the former secretary of state had erected at the main entrance to mark his first year in office. Continue reading...

Analysis: financial risk is often an in-joke for the anarchic group of traders – but no one is laughing now

Dr Janet Woodcock is accused of presiding over ‘one of the worst regulatory agency failures’, say groups fighting opioid epidemicGroups fighting the US opioid epidemic have called on Joe Biden to appoint a new head of the Food and Drug Administration after describing the acting commissioner as unfit for the post because of her part in the mass prescribing of painkillers that have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. Continue reading...

Top US public official says vaccine must go to those most at risk, not just ‘middle-class white people’The top US public health official and chief medical adviser to Joe Biden Dr Anthony Fauci has emphasised the need for people of colour to be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccines. Continue reading...

Meteoric rise fizzles out after small investors are barred from trading in groups that had soared in value

Stocks across US and Europe that have been heavily shorted by hedge funds are being targeted

Restrictions come on the heels of an election in which federal and state officials called it ‘the most secure in US history’Happy Thursday,After an election filled with misinformation and lies about fraud, Republicans have doubled down with a surge of bills to further restrict voting access in recent months, according to a new analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice. Continue reading...

The Republican leadership has jettisoned its commitment to democracy and the rule of law and authoritarianism has found a political homeOn Tuesday, the US senate rejected an attempt to kill the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, 55-45, but only five Republicans voted with the majority. Acquittal of the ex-president is now a foregone conclusion. The only question is when.Trump 2024 can still happen. In the short run, his dream won’t die. With another campaign looming over the horizon, the former reality show host can still rake in the bucks to the delight of his family and his creditors. The beast will continue to be fed. Continue reading...

It may be timid and half-baked, but the magazine’s mea culpa is evidence of shifting dynamics in a post-#MeToo film industryUntil relatively recently, an apology in the arts review columns of any publication was vanishingly rare, if not non-existent. If crow had to be eaten, it would be the end result of some unprecedented legal action in which defendant and plaintiff had grimly established – through a poker-game exchange of solicitor’s letters – what the likely outcome would be in court.In the immortal words of Christopher Hitchens: 'Apologies are a bore. What we want is an explanation' Continue reading...

New US secretary of state says Tehran would first need to fully comply with 2015 nuclear dealIran has responded with anger and disappointment to the new US secretary of state saying American sanctions against Tehran will not be lifted until it comes back into verifiable “full compliance” with its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.Antony Blinken said Iranian compliance would take some time, indicating there is unlikely to be any major movement in negotiations until after the Iranian presidential elections in June. Continue reading...

The Department of Homeland Security warned the Capitol siege may inspire similar attacks. Plus, what is the battle between Wall Street and a bunch of people on Reddit, and why is the White House monitoring it?Good morning.The Department of Homeland Security warned of a heightened domestic terror threat on Wednesday, issuing a national terrorism bulletin that described an ongoing threat of anti-government violence following the inauguration of Joe Biden. The bulletin suggested that insurrection at the Capitol earlier this month, which left five dead and senators cowering in the building, may inspire and encourage extremists to carry out further attacks. It warned the threat would persist for weeks. Continue reading...

County officials have no official policy, but they also don’t want injections to go to waste – to some people’s benefitDouglas wasn’t sure where to go as he crossed the parking lot at the Inglewood Forum last week. The 40-something-year old Los Angeles resident had gotten a hot tip from a friend that there were often dozens of doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine leftover at night. Concerned he wouldn’t get a chance to make an appointment to be vaccinated for months, he approached the injection tents as the sky turned dusky, to ask if they had any spares.Los Angeles is vaccinating health care workers, first responders and residents older than 65. But as the region battles one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the US, people are chasing vaccine doses ahead of their allotted tier, queuing in lines for hours, visiting sites after the official time ends. Information about where to show up for extra doses and when is typically passed word of mouth. Continue reading...

The UCLA senior’s viral floor exercise prompted shout-outs from Michelle Obama and Janet Jackson by leaning into the freedom of expression unique to college gymnasticsThe latest entry in the surprisingly robust YouTube subgenre of viral college gymnastics routines dropped over the weekend, flooding timelines everywhere and generating national media attention rare for the parochial sport. The footage of UCLA senior Nia Dennis tumbling and swaying in a shimmering blue leotard to a high-energy mashup of Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Missy Elliott, Megan Thee Stallion, Soulja Boy and Tupac Shakur from Saturday’s dual meet against Arizona State was instantly hailed as a tribute to Black Excellence, racking up more than 10 million views on in a matter of days while earning shout-outs from Michelle Obama, Janet Jackson, Kerry Washington and Ms Supa Dupa Fly herself.The two-minute clip is not the first collegiate floor routine to bubble up into the mainstream. It’s not even Dennis’s first: the Ohio native’s Homecoming-themed floor exercise from a meet last season has been watched more than 30 million times and landed her on Ellen in March. And it’s not a coincidence that so many of them have come under the cultivation of UCLA’s longtime coach Valorie Kondos Field, the former classical dancer who in the three decades until her recent retirement transformed the Bruins into one of America’s most decorated programs. Continue reading...

Majority ruling upholds earlier decision to commute sentence of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh

Less than 12 months ago the quarterback pitched up on a new team at the age of 42. Now he is within reach of a seventh Super Bowl ringMoments after triumphing in his 14th conference championship game last Sunday, Tom Brady jogged over to the Lambeau Field stands and waved down a security guard. “Can I say hi to my son?” he asked.And though the kid’s body was covered from head to toe against the cold and his face shrouded against Covid, there was no doubt that this was Brady’s oldest, Jack. The scene, captured by NFL Films, stood out as much for the boy’s size as its sentimentality. It is hard to believe that kid, not even a glint in his old man’s eye when Brady made his first Super Bowl start in 2002, is 13-years-old now. Continue reading...

This week’s roundup also features Hank Aaron, York’s fond Bootham Crescent farewell and football in snow and mud1) Baseball is in mourning for Hank Aaron, who died last week aged 86. The Atlanta Braves legend held the MLB home-run record for three decades, with 755. Here’s a documentary charting his rise featuring some old footage to cherish. And here’s his historic 715th home run, called by Vin Scully, when he overtook the great Babe Ruth. Listen to some tributes to Aaron from fellow players. and watch him chatting to David Letterman about how the game has changed. Continue reading...

Melvin Capital Management had bet on failure of store before small investors sent shares soaring