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The Australian playmaker's luck appears to have finally turned as he solidifies his status among the world's best basketballersIt's taken him a decade, but Dante Exum has finally made it in the NBA, and it comes at the perfect time for Australia's Boomers.The imposing perimeter defence has helped. So too the smooth playmaking as the anchor for the bench of the fast rising Dallas Mavericks. Hitting 50% from the three-point line certainly doesn't hurt. Continue reading...

This paranoid, belligerent rabble will never offer the effective opposition Britain needs. They could even come staggering back into powerFor many people reading this, the analogy will seem ludicrous, but hear me out: if the Conservative party was one of your friends, you'd be very worried about them.You can maybe imagine it: a privately educated pal from university, perhaps, who seems to have fallen on hard times and bad company. Ten or 15 years ago, they seemed urbane, clever and super-confident. Even if some of it went only skin deep, they professed to be green, socially liberal and culturally switched on. Now, though, they tend to look dishevelled and saggy-eyed. After a few drinks - and sometimes before - they speak an increasingly hysterical language of conspiracy theory and political paranoia. They also seem to be furtively spending some of their time with thugs and bigots: the kind of people whom that great English social commentator Paul Weller once associated with the smell of pubs, and Wormwood Scrubs, and too many rightwing meetings". Continue reading...

Passengers aboard a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800 film the engine cover falling off during take-off at Denver international airport on Sunday. US airline regulators have launched an investigation after the part came off and struck the wing flap. Flight 3695 - with 135 passengers and six crew members aboard - rose to about 10,300ft (3,140 metres) before returning safely 25 minutes later to Denver. No one was injured. Continue reading...

In response, White House pushes back and rules out putting US monitors on ground after seven aid workers killed in GazaThe White House has pushed back on comments by World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres that Israel is engaged in war against humanity itself" following the Israeli drone strike attack that killed seven of his aid workers on 1 April, but ruled out putting US monitors on the ground in Gaza.There's going to have to be some changes to the way Israeli defense forces are prosecuting these operations in Gaza to make sure this doesn't happen again," White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told ABC's This Week said on Sunday. Continue reading...

From Kevin De Bruyne's match-winning performance to VAR controversies, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the top-flight weekendBruno Fernandes's 40-yard screamer summed up Manchester United's 2-2 draw with Liverpool. United were terrible for large chunks of the game, with two world-class moments enough to secure a point. Liverpool were sloppy in phases, missing a mountain of opportunities in front of goal and failing to take advantage of a rudderless United team. Continue reading...

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The art of developing a healthy relationship with our own mortality lies in neither avoiding the reality of suffering nor obsessing over itOver the last year, I have spent a lot of time eating pre-packaged sandwiches in hospital cafeterias. I often joke that those of us who are lucky enough to hit 35 will have at least one, if not multiple, serious health scares every year. At some point, however, we will face much more than a simple scare - serious illness can impact anyone, any time, with little notice.As well as being a source of stress, pain and discomfort, unwanted health diagnoses have the radical potential to upend our lives and ignite burning questions relating to impermanence and human suffering which we may not have considered in the past. We may come face-to-face with our shared vulnerability for the first time - which was present all along - as well as the indisputable fact that we are all but one breath away from a health crisis or poor prognosis. Continue reading...

Sandra Fish, who has covered politics since 1982, was asked to leave by security about an hour into the state party assemblyA politics reporter from the Colorado Sun was removed from the state Republican party assembly this weekend because the state party chair Dave Williams claimed her reporting on the party was very unfair".The reporter, Sandra Fish, who has covered politics since 1982, received a text early morning on Saturday from a Republican party organizer saying she was no longer invited to attend the assembly. Fish went anyway, receiving a credentialed pass at the door until she was asked to leave by security about an hour into the event. Continue reading...

Letter by secretary of state warns party that Democratic National Convention is scheduled past the deadline to certify candidatesThe Ohio secretary of state has sent a letter to the Ohio Democratic party warning that Joe Biden could be left off the November election ballot in 2024 unless the Democratic National Convention meets earlier or statutory requirements in the state are changed or exempted.According to a letter sent from the Ohio secretary of state, Frank LaRose, a Republican, to Ohio Democratic party chair Liz Walters, the Democratic National Convention scheduled for 19 August where the party officially nominates its candidate for president is past the 7 August deadline to certify presidential candidates on the Ohio ballot. Continue reading...

Israel's appalling conduct was predicted by many, yet ignored by its allies. Now even they are distancing themselvesIn Gaza, the six-month milestone has arrived, and with it a perceptible shift. Whatever amnesty the Israeli government was given by its allies in the wake of the Hamas attacks is now threatening to expire. To much of the public, who backed a ceasefire since the early days of the Gaza assault, it was always clear that a calamity was going to unfold. But in the official sphere - among politicians and parts of the media - the horror of 7 October extended what seemed to be a blank cheque for Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.Perhaps it took the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers for that shift to occur, perhaps it was cumulative, but what is hard to deny now is that Israel has gone rogue. Over the last six months, both in tone and in action, what has emerged is a state that is breaking all protocols in a way that situates it not within the democratic fold, but in some outlaw category. Israel's government has insulted its allies and sponsors. It has ignored and defied the rulings and warnings issued by the organisations of that democratic, law-abiding world, the one that it claims to represent in a backward, hostile region. And it has made its allies look weak and helpless, destabilising their domestic politics. Continue reading...

William Woods was sent to a mental institution because Matthew Keirans - who faces 32 years in prison - stole his name for decadesWilliam Woods was homeless and living in Los Angeles when he learned that someone was racking up debt using his name.But when he reported his concerns to the branch manager of a bank, he wound up spending nearly two years locked up, accused of identity theft himself. As he continued to insist he was Woods in a desperate effort to clear his name, he was even sent to a state mental hospital and drugged, court records show. Continue reading...

When I set up my honeybee hive, I had no idea I might be harming wild bee species. Now I've found better ways to encourage biodiversityI took up urban beekeeping more than a decade ago with the best intentions. I wanted to help to save bees from the many threats they faced in the countryside - the modern farming practices that douse crops in toxic pesticides and rob bees of wildflower meadows. My small back garden filled with bee-friendly flowers seemed like a paradise in comparison.But what I didn't know was that by keeping bees I would only be helping one species of bee - the domesticated honeybee, which doesn't really need saving - and possibly harming others. Continue reading...

Mike Lindell and fellow influencers have hit the road since Donald Trump's 2020 loss, threatening chaos for the 2024 electionThis article was published in partnership with Votebeat, a non-profit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the US.At the local discount cinema in Tempe, Arizona, this winter, a crowd of about 100 people took their seats for something different from the typical Sunday matinee. Continue reading...

Christians opposed to infidelity and immorality have embraced a thrice-married man who can't name a single Bible verseA thrice-married man who refers to the Eucharist as a little cracker", was apparently unable to name a single Bible verse and says he has never asked God for forgiveness was always an unlikely hero for the most conservative Christians in the US.But in both 2016 and 2020, Donald Trump resoundingly won the vote of white evangelicals. Now, with Trump having almost certainly secured the Republican nomination for 2024 and eyeing a return to the White House, his campaign is doubling down on religious imagery, securing the evangelical base and signaling sympathies with Christian nationalism. Continue reading...

Sam Woodward, former member of Atomwaffen Division, was arrested in 2018 for murder of gay, Jewish pre-med studentSix years after his arrest, a former member of the Atomwaffen Division will face trial in a southern California courtroom over the killing of his former high school classmate - a murder that rocketed the neo-Nazi group to international notoriety and highlighted the wave of violence by far-right American extremists during the presidency of Donald Trump.Sam Woodward was arrested on 15 January 2018 and charged with the murder of Blaze Bernstein, a former fellow student at the Orange County School of the Arts. Bernstein, a gay and Jewish pre-med student, had been missing for a week before his body was discovered in a shallow grave. Continue reading...

The ex-president is now majority owner of an unpopular website worth billions - and the truth behind how that happened really isn't all that impressiveA lot of people think investing in the stock market is rigged in favor of the big investors, the large financial firms and the people in the know. Small-fry individual investors have as much chance of success on Wall Street as they do at the Bellagio. Donald Trump's recent windfall isn't going to win any converts.Trump merged his unprofitable and tiny Truth Social platform, which has reportedly lost tens of millions of dollars, into a shell company that was previously created and already had a value of billions. The shell company is called a Spac, which is an entity created to take a private business public without conducting an initial public offering (and therefore avoiding much of the regulatory scrutiny). Continue reading...

Biden's charismatic former boss and rival appeared in a show of unity alongside Bill Clinton, who despite a problematic legacy still has a campaign role to play tooFor once showbusiness royalty - Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Lea Michele and Mindy Kaling - was not the main attraction. Instead it was a trio of US presidents that enticed people to pay up to half a million dollars for New York's hottest ticket.Last month Joe Biden was joined onstage by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama at a sold-out Radio City Music Hall. At more than $26m, it was the most successful political fundraising event in history. It was also an Avengers assemble" moment for Democrats seeking to bury their differences ahead of November's presidential election. Continue reading...

As the young Swede prepares for his first major, fellow pros and his college coach explain what makes him so specialBilly Foster recounts a story about one of Europe's most high-profile golfers playing alongside a young Tiger Woods in 1996. He's a little raw," was the sniffy verdict. Within a year, Woods won his first Masters and disappeared over the horizon.Foster's own perceptions appear sound. The veteran caddie, now on the bag of Matt Fitzpatrick, was in the company of Ludvig Aberg as the Swede made his professional debut at last June's Canadian Open. On the Friday evening, Foster sent a text to Luke Donald. If you are good enough, you are old enough," Foster told Europe's Ryder Cup captain. This lad is going to be a stud. Keep tabs on his every move." Donald did more than that. Aberg made his Ryder Cup debut as Europe reclaimed the trophy in Rome. Donald had labelled his rookie a generational talent". Eslov, a town with a population of around 20,000 near Malmo, had produced a global star. Continue reading...

The nation must oust its disastrous prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and embrace unpalatable truthsIsrael is embroiled in the gravest crisis since its founding as an independent state in 1948. The country has faced dire peril many times since then, but rarely, if ever, have the external and internal threats to its continued existence appeared so dangerous and pernicious. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have often been accused of lack of concern about civilian casualties, notably in the West Bank. But never has the toll of innocent lives been so intolerably high as in the war in Gaza, where more than 33,000 Palestinians have died insix apocalyptic months.Israeli governments are frequently criticised by UN bodies and aid groups for disregarding human rights, UN security council resolutions and the laws of war. But never before has the country been accused before the world's highest court of perpetrating genocide.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

It must learn to use its global reach and power wisely as other, sometimes predatory, nations grow in influenceThe headlines this past week have been about further terrible events in Gaza and the desperate need for a sustained ceasefire, alongside a paradigm shift in the way the war is conducted, but foreign policy is rarely at the centre of general election campaigns and 2024 is unlikely to be an exception. However, the UK does not have the luxury of thinking that the rest of the world doesn't matter.This was one of the delusions of Brexit: that there is a future where our destiny depends only on our own decisions rather than on our ability to engage, incentivise, bargain with and deter others. Continue reading...

Tina Wilson, 55, and a student were airlifted in critical condition after bus carrying fraternity members hit concrete barrierA charter bus taking university students to a fraternity event crashed in southern Mississippi on Friday afternoon, injuring 11 people, including 10 students and the driver.Mississippi highway patrol said 56 college students were on board when the bus crashed into a concrete barrier on Interstate 10 in Hancock county. Nine students were taken to local hospitals by ambulance, while the driver and another student were airlifted from the scene in critical condition. Continue reading...

Security guard killed at bar in CityPlace Doral following altercation, with gunman then shot dead by policeTwo people have died and seven have been wounded following a shooting at a popular shopping mall in Florida.A fight broke out at the Martini Bar located in the CityPlace Doral early on Saturday morning, according to Miami-Dade police. The altercation resulted in a security guard, who intervened in the dispute, being shot and killed by the gunman, who was then also killed in a subsequent gun battle with police, according to Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade detective. Continue reading...

It was the sneaker of our age, but that's all over nowLook down and check what you're wearing on your feet. If it's a pair of Adidas Sambas, I'm afraid you need to take them off immediately and never wear them again. Sorry. I don't make the rules. Blame our beleaguered leader. In an Instagram video last Thursday, Rishi Sunak wore Sambas during a Downing Street interview to promote his tax policies. The doomed prime minister went for a white pair with navy stripes, teamed with skinny slacks and a tailored white shirt. Listen carefully and you could hear the death knell tolling for the trainerdu jour.The ubiquitous gum-soled, trio-striped trainers are beloved by everyone from rappers to supermodels. They've been hailed as this year's It-footwear", the official shoe of the season", the defining sneaker of our age". They're what Converse All Stars were in the 00s or Stan Smiths in the 2010s. A retro casual classic. An archival pub shoe that works almost anywhere. Continue reading...

The UK branch of the Alliance Defending Freedom has increased its spending and is forging ties with key MPsA rightwing Christian lobby group that wants abortion to be banned has forged ties with an adviser to the prime minister and is drawing up policy briefings for politicians.The UK branch of the US-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has more than doubled its spending since 2020 and been appointed a stakeholder in a parliamentary group on religious freedoms in a role that grants it direct access to MPs. Continue reading...

Musical biopics should convincingly depict theirstars' lives - if you just want to hear the hits, put on an albumThe reviews are in for the trailer for the imminent Amy Winehouse biopic, Back to Black. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, it stars Marisa Abela as Winehouse, who died in 2011. Vitriol has been heaped on Abela's vocals in a clip depicting Winehouse singing Stronger Than Me from her debut album, Frank. People (who've yet to see the film) are mad that Abela (who broke through in the television city finance drama, Industry) can't sing as well, croon as sinuously, asWinehouse.So, Abela isn't Amy's exact vocal-doppelganger - the only reasonable reaction can be, so what? If the Winehouse magic were that easy to reproduce, you'd wonder what made her so special. That aside, it's weird to see people bashing a film based on singing in a trailer. What does that say about the music biopic genre? What does it say about us? Continue reading...

Last week, a group of Iranian military leaders in Damascus became the trend's latest victimsIn today's lawless world, political assassination is the new growth industry - and anyone, famous or not, is a potential victim. Government-sanctioned killings are proliferating, with Russia, Israel, Iran and India leading the pack. While lone gunmen and crazed zealots still pose random threats, state-organised, premeditated assassination plots are being normalised and popularised. MurderInc is going global with a licence to kill.The assassination business was mostly a superpower monopoly during the cold war. US- and Soviet-directed operations targeted high-profile figures such as Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chile's Salvador Allende and Yugoslavia's Josip Broz Tito. Some hits" were more notorious than others. In 1940, a member of Stalin's secret police, the NKVD, assassinated the dissident Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky in Mexico City with an ice-pick. Who shot Sweden's prime minister Olaf Palme in 1986 is still disputed. Continue reading...

Communities in Washington, California and Maine will receive $755,000 under the Infrastructure Act to build climate resilienceThis month, three Indigenous American tribes on the west and east coasts will collectively receive nearly $755,000 in federal funding to manage ocean and coastal problems, as well as engage in partnerships to offset the effects of the climate crisis in their regions. The tribes' projects will blend together Indigenous knowledge and scientific data to build innovative strategies around coastal resilience.On Monday, the federal agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), and the US Department of Commerce announced that the Makah Tribe in Washington, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in California and the Penobscot Nation in Maine will be individually awarded between $200,000 and $290,000 for their two-year projects. The funding comes from the Biden administration's bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which provided Noaa with nearly $3bn to facilitate environmental stewardship, build climate-resilient coasts and support infrastructure around weather forecasting from 2022 to 2026. Continue reading...

Singapore reportedly paid the singer 2.4m a show to host her Eras tour, causing dismay in Thailand and the PhilippinesCongratulations are in order for Taylor Swift, who makes her Forbes Rich List debut this year as one of the world's newly minted billionaires. Not content with inspiring her own branch of economics - Swiftonomics, FYI - the singer is also responsible for causing geopolitical tension in south-east Asia, with her record-busting Eras tour.The financial value of a Swift gig is of such national importance that Singapore reportedly paid her up to $3m (2.4m) a show to ensure it was the only place to host Swift on her jaunt to the region this spring, prompting complaints from Thailand and the Philippines. In the words of one Filipino politician: [It] isn't what good neighbours do." If $3m sounds like an awful lot to secure a concert exclusive, that's small change when you consider the benefits - it's estimated that her six shows have boosted the Singapore economy by $370m. Continue reading...

The X owner is paying legal bills of people unfairly treated' over their posts while weaponizing the law to shut down his criticsLet's check in on the platform formerly known as Twitter shall we? Let's have a gander at how it's doing since Elon Musk, the world's cleverest man, decided to set its extremely valuable brand equity on fire and rename it X". Continue reading...

Cole Brings Plenty, 27, had gone missing amid domestic violence investigationAn actor who appeared in a spinoff of the popular television western Yellowstone was found dead after he went missing amid a domestic violence investigation in Kansas, authorities said on Friday.The Johnson county sheriff's office said in a statement that deputies found the body of 27-year-old Cole Brings Plenty in a wooded area. Crime scene investigators and the medical examiner were at the location, but no details were released about a cause of death. Continue reading...

University of Michigan president Santa J Ono proposes disruptive activity policy' after pro-Palestinian group cuts his speech shortThe University of Michigan is facing backlash from students, faculty and civil rights attorneys following a proposal to significantly restrict the right to protest on campus.The disruptive activity policy", announced last week in a campus-wide email from the university president, Santa J Ono, would create strict punishments for anyone who interrupts official university events, including speeches, classes, athletic events, field trips, performances, graduation and award ceremonies. Continue reading...

Business groups claim hard-fought $20 hourly wage victory will cause reduced hours, layoffs and price hikes - critics say otherwiseAs fast-food workers celebrated a pivotal wage increase to $20 an hour in California last week, an old economic debate was awakened by business groups and others claiming the increase will wind up hurting workers through reduced hours and layoffs, hurt customers with price hikes, and harm the franchise owners of fast food restaurants.Their critics are not so sure. Continue reading...

Advocacy groups raise alarm over threat of third-party candidate: anyone who divides the anti-Trump coalition is dangerous'Celebrating the demise of No Labels as a third-party presidential election threat, two advocacy groups who mobilised against it have said they would now turn their sights on Robert F Kennedy Jr's independent run for the White House.Though it is hard to make solid predictions, a high-profile third-party run in 2024 unnerves both Republicans and Democrats who fear it might siphon off their votes. But the nervousness is especially pronounced among supporters of Joe Biden, who worry such a campaign could split the center and left and allow Donald Trump and his highly motivated rightwing base to win a return to the Oval Office. Continue reading...

An average of 17% of voters in Republican contests registered protest votes - and in an election that will be fought on the margins, every moderate and independent vote mattersBirdbrain. I call her birdbrain." Donald Trump's words form the cold open of a new campaign ad from Joe Biden's US presidential re-election team. If you voted for Nikki Haley," the video continues, Donald Trump doesn't want your vote."The 30-second ad, entitled Save America. Join Us, targets Haley voters in predominantly suburban battleground state postal districts where she performed well against Trump in Republican primary contests. It raises the prospect that the former president's past disdain for Haley and her supporters could come back to haunt him if he fails to unite the party in November. Continue reading...

Excerpts from his speeches do not do justice to Trump's smorgasbord of vendettas, non sequiturs and comparisons to famous peopleDonald Trump's speeches on the 2024 campaign trail so far have been focused on a laundry list of complaints, largely personal, and an increasingly menacing tone.He's on the campaign trail less these days than he was in previous cycles - and less than you'd expect from a guy with dedicated superfans who brags about the size of his crowds every chance he gets. But when he has held rallies, he speaks in dark, dehumanizing terms about migrants, promising to vanquish people crossing the border. He rails about the legal battles he faces and how they're a sign he's winning, actually. He tells lies and invents fictions. He calls his opponent a threat to democracy and claims this election could be the last one.Instituting the death penalty for drug dealers.Creating the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act": If China or any other country makes us pay 100% or 200% tariff, which they do, we will make them pay a reciprocal tariff of 100% or 200%. In other words, you screw us and we'll screw you."Indemnifying all police officers and law enforcement officials.Rebuilding cities and taking over Washington DC, where, he said in a recent speech, there are beautiful columns" put together through force of will" because there were no Caterpillar tractors" and now those columns have graffiti on them.Issuing an executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content.Moving to one-day voting with paper ballots and voter ID. Continue reading...

The Israeli PM has turned to censorship for his survival, as the public increasingly feels despair over his military campaignOn 1 April, the Israeli Knesset approved the so-called Al Jazeera law, granting the communications minister the power to close foreign media outlets deemed security risks, with Al Jazeera in particular in its crosshairs.We have brought an efficient and rapid tool to act against those who use freedom of the press to harm Israel's security, IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldiers, and to incite terrorism during wartime," said the communications minister, Shlomo Karhi. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that he intended to act immediately in accordance with the new law". Continue reading...

The world's richest people are mostly American, big in fintech, and started near the top. Where does that leave the rest of us?There is a tiny new elite at the frontier of money-making and they are known as the centibillionaires. These titans of the universe have personal assets of at least $100bn, and there are now 14 of them in the world - up from six last year. You will find them listed, compared and celebrated by the Bloomberg billionaires index and the Forbes world's billionaires list, which has just been published.Thanks to these annual tallies of the superwealthy, we know that 2,781 people worldwide - 141 more than last year - have personal wealth of $1bn or more. And that Taylor Swift is now one of them. And that their collective wealth - about $14.2tn - is more than the GDP of any country except the US and China. But centibillionaires are this group's porous top tier, described by Forbes as those who have done much better than the average billionaire", and their wealth is unimaginable to most of us.Caroline Knowles is global professorial fellow at Queen Mary University of London, and the author of Serious Money: Walking Plutocratic LondonDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Big opposition wins in last week's elections, notable for a huge rise in female representatives, reasserted the country's liberal, secular valuesTurkey is a beautiful and complicated country that never ceases to bewilder not only international observers but also, at times, its own citizens. The results of local elections held last Sunday came as a surprise to many pollsters. The opposition won a spectacular victory, changing the political landscape and shifting the dominant narrative. It would be naive to assume that it signals the end of an era, but it sure feels like a new beginning.For so long now, the opposition in Turkey has been demoralised, fractured and weak against an unbridled concentration of power and authority. The lack of checks and balances, the lack of freedom of speech, the lack of free media and the lack of the separation of powers - these all stacked the cards against anyone who dared to question the Justice and Development party (AKP) government and its religious-nationalist-populist ideology. Continue reading...

Bernie Sanders ramps up pressure on White House: My view is no more military aid to Israel when children [there] are starving'More than three dozen congressional Democrats - including representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker and a key Joe Biden ally - signed a letter to the president and the secretary of state Antony Blinken, urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.In light of the recent strike against aid workers and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve these weapons transfers," the letter said. It was signed by Pelosi and 36 other Democrats including Representatives Barbara Lee, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Continue reading...