US news | The Guardian

Ideally, I want Lydia Tar's wardrobe or to look like a liberated 1930s heiress. But I need to be realisticAs winter (black elastic-waisted trousers, four motheaten jumpers) gives way to spring (khaki trousers, two jumpers), the harsh April light forces me to confront the truth: I'm in aesthetic freefall. In search of a solution that isn't capitulating to the miracle" trousers that stalk me around the internet, I came across this bold statement on the website Refinery 29: Just three words stand between you and figuring out personal style," . What are they? Move to Iona"? Vast lottery win"? Lydia Tar's wardrobe"? (You'd need the former for the latter; I couldn't even afford her pencils.)Actually, the three-word method", devised by stylist Allison Bornstein, involves thinking up, yes, three words to describe your style. Then you can ask yourself if you feel like you embody (ideally) all three of your words" when you get dressed and interrogate whether it aligns with one of your words" when you are considering buying something. Continue reading...

In a tradition dating back to the 1870s, New Yorkers dressed up in creative and whimsical Easter finery on Sunday to take part in the annual Easter parade and bonnet festival in Manhattan, with St Patrick's Cathedral among the best vantage points Continue reading...

The Dutch legalisation spared her further misery. We don't take euthanasia lightly; we're just grateful to have the optionMy mother, Jannet, was 90 years old when she ended her life by means of euthanasia. For years she had been suffering from numerous serious and painful conditions that made her life miserable. She always worried about her health and was terrified of what the future undeniably held in store for her: more pain, more dependence on others, more suffering, more desperation.On 20 June 2022 at 2pm she was visited by a doctor and a nurse. They had a last conversation with her, during which the doctor asked her if euthanasia was still what she wanted. My mother said yes. She had already decided that she would take the drink herself instead of being injected. She didn't want to mentally burden the doctor more than necessary.Renate van der Zee is a Dutch writer and journalistDo 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...

After rainy California season, NWS warned of risk of storms from Missouri to Illinois, with some potentially producing large hailThunderstorms and tornadoes are expected to sweep eastward across the US in the coming days after a rainy season in California.According to the storm prediction center at the National Weather Service (NWS), severe weather is expected to spread from the southern plains and into the mid-Atlantic and Gulf coast states over the next three days. The warnings applied to about 50 million Americans to kick off what are traditionally the three months that are typically the most active in terms of tornadoes in the US each year. Continue reading...

From Mohamed Salah's crucial intervention to officiating howlers, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the top-flight weekendWhat do you get when you pair two of the best teams in the Premier League, both of whom usually play melodic, pass-and-move football? A 0-0 dud. Manchester City v Arsenal was not the Easter barnburner that was promised. Instead, we were treated to a scrappy game lacking real quality. When the independent regulator finally descends on English football, the first point of order should be barring managers at big clubs from starting four center-backs. Continue reading...

Crew starts intricate removal work on Francis Scott Key Bridge as officials stress that health of US national economy depends on itCrews of engineers have begun the dangerous and intricate job of removing the mangled wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Patapsco River outside Baltimore, as top federal government and Maryland state officials stressed Sunday that the health of the US national economy depended on it.Officials took to the political talkshows Sunday to praise the emergency teams that have now amassed in the Patapsco and have started the delicate process of cutting and lifting steel debris from the north side of the destroyed bridge. Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, said the operation was extremely complex. Continue reading...

Victims transported to area hospitals after police heard shots fired near Circle Centre Mall on Saturday nightSeven children between the ages of 12 and 17 were wounded in one of the US's latest mass shooting, which erupted outside a shopping mall in downtown Indianapolis late Saturday night, authorities said.Police officers patrolling the area heard shots fired near the Circle Centre Mall shortly after 11.30pm, said the deputy chief of the Indianapolis metropolitan police department, Tanya Terry. Continue reading...

NTSB and FAA to look into crash that killed investors Naomi Petrushka and Liron Petrushka, an ex-professional soccer playerA couple from Israel who made a name for themselves as well as a fortune in the tech industry were killed after their plane crashed in a California town near the Nevada border on Saturday night, according to officials and reports.Identified by Israeli media as former professional soccer player Liron Petrushka and Naomi Petrushka, the married couple had been living in California over the last few years. They were attempting to land at Truckee Tahoe airport shortly after 6.30pm on Saturday when their plane crashed and they died.The Associated Press contributed to this report. Continue reading...

The justice department has a dedicated taskforce to tackle a phenomenon that barely existed before Trump unleashed his 2020 stolen election lieShortly before midnight on 14 February 2021, James Clark tapped out a message on his home computer in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, that would change his own life and shatter the peace of mind of several others.Clark, then 38, was surfing the internet having been drinking and taking drugs. Social media platforms were overflowing with heated debate around Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him. Continue reading...

A vehicle registered to the Chiefs' receiver was involved in a crash in the Dallas areaPolice are seeking Kansas City Chiefs receiver Rashee Rice in connection with a car crash in Dallas, according to the Dallas Morning News.A vehicle believed to be registered or leased to Rice was involved in a crash on the North Central Expressway at 6.20pm local time Saturday. Citing law enforcement officials, the Dallas Morning News confirmed police are searching for Rice, 23, but did not disclose details of the collision. Dallas police spokeswoman Kristin Lowman said two cars, a Chevrolet Corvette and a Lamborghini, were speeding, when the drivers lost control and caused a collision that involved four other vehicles. The drivers of the Corvette and Lamborghini fled the scene. Four people were treated for minor injuries. The Dallas Morning News reported that police believe Rice was driving the Corvette. Continue reading...

Representative postponed his own retirement from Washington to help pass Barack Obama presidency's legislative agendaLongtime Democratic congressman William D Delahunt, who postponed his own retirement from Washington to help pass the Barack Obama presidency's legislative agenda, has died after a long-term illness, his family announced.Delahunt died Saturday at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts, at the age of 82, news reports said. Continue reading...

White House says Republicans seeking to divide country' after they object to 31 March date that overlapped with Easter this yearA Joe Biden White House spokesperson said Republicans who have spent the Easter weekend criticizing the president for declaring Sunday's annual Transgender Day of Visibility are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful and dishonest rhetoric".As a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, president Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American," the White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said. President Biden will never abuse his faith for political purposes or for profit." Continue reading...

Civil rights group denounces congressmember Tim Walberg's calls to get it over quick' as a clear call to genocide'Rather than provide humanitarian aid in Gaza, the US should ensure it is subjected to nuclear bombing the way that Nagasaki and Hiroshima" were at the end of the second world war, a Republican congressman said in shocking remarks that by all indications were recorded recently at a gathering with a relatively small group of his constituents.The comments by US House representative Tim Walberg of Michigan drew condemnation from progressive political quarters, including from some who expressed disbelief that a former Christian pastor would advocate for what they called the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Continue reading...

Chance Perdomo, the British American actor who starred in the TV shows Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Gen V, has died in a motorcycle accident aged 27. Nobody else was involved in the accident, his representatives said in a statement. No details on the location or date of the accident were shared.Perdomo's most recent role was in Gen V, a spinoff of the superhero parody drama The Boys, as Andre Anderson, a student who can use magnetic forces to manipulate the world around him.

Do you shout your achievements from the rooftops, or move in silence' while waiting for the perfect moment to flex online? If only we could all sit this one outI have belatedly discovered the phrase move in silence". Apparently, Lil Wayne instructed people to do it in 2011 with the line: Real Gs move in silence like lasagne," a lyric that prompted various polemics (is the G in lasagne actually silent?). Even then, a music commentator told Billboard it was such an old concept". It hadn't broken through in the south side of Brussels, where I was living then (despite lasagne, happily, being plentiful).I was finally alerted to moving in silence" by an Instagram post. The phrase grabbed me, since I am a cheerleader for silence. My take is: the more people move in silence, the better, especially if they are in coach H of the 8.02 York to London King's Cross. It's the Quieter" coach! Don't make me stare pointedly at the sign and sigh! Continue reading...

Legislation targeting baseless concept to keep state's skies clear essentially futile given politicians cannot control sky and windThe chemtrails" conspiracy theory is enjoying its moment in the clearly visible, not blocked by government-released toxic chemicals, sun, after the Tennessee state senate passed a bill this month targeting the baseless concept.Legislation banning the intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances" swept through the Republican-dominated senate, and will now be considered by the Republican-dominated house, before then being weighed by Tennessee's Republican governor. There is also a movement to pass a similar law in Pennsylvania. Continue reading...

I used to think grown men don't cry, but the older I get, I find I am crying all the time. I'm grateful that Christ forgives allWhen I realize that my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend is on Easter Sunday, I text Merray. That's ... a lot," she jokes. Both of us had grown up Christian: me Chinese Baptist, her Coptic Orthodox. She texts me about her girlhood Easter dress: an empire waist baby-doll top with cap sleeves. It made her disdain her breasts because she saw herself as one of the Boys". We're both queer. We have since left the church, but still talk about God. Now in our 30s, we have slid back into some version of our childhood spirituality, but would sooner meet the Holy Spirit on a dance floor than at a church. Consider us lapsed atheists.When I was teenager, gay and closeted, I remember church leaders marched against gay marriage up and down the California suburbs. I found the Book of Romans cheerless: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and For the wages of sin is death". Even Jesus said, in the Sermon on the Mount, that the desire to commit adultery was as sinful as actually committing adultery. So there was no getting around sin. Yet I believed I was young and innocent, and I did not deserve death. There had to be another way. One day, I would move to New York and become an atheist. I thought it was that simple. Continue reading...

The former MMA fighter, once described as the world's most dominant athlete', reveals her fears for the future after a career riddled with glory and painI worry about it because we already have Alzheimer's and dementia in our family, and those family members did not get whacked on the head a whole bunch," Ronda Rousey says as she considers a future shrouded by the consequences of concussion and a past where she broke so many barriers for women before a shattering fall.At her peak, in 2015, Rousey was described by Sports Illustrated as the world's most dominant athlete". She had changed a brutal sport to become the face of the UFC, the billion-dollar juggernaut which drives the popularity of MixedMartial Arts. Continue reading...

Company says information found on the dark web includes social security numbers for current and former account holdersUS telecommunications giant AT&T says it has started notifying millions of customers about the theft of personal data recently discovered online.The company said Saturday that a dataset found on the dark web" contains information such as social security numbers for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. Continue reading...

Despite disparagement from John Bolton, critics maintain Trump is clear threat to democracy, given admiration for dictatorsA former national security adviser in the Donald Trump White House has said that the ex-president hasn't got the brains" to helm a dictatorship, despite his admiration for such rulers.In an interview with the conservative French outlet Le Figaro, John Bolton, 75, was asked whether Trump had tendencies that mirror dictators like the ones he has previously praised. Bolton not only disparaged Trump's intellectual capacity, he also disparaged the former president's professional background, exclaiming: He's a property developer, for God's sake!" Continue reading...

US public health agency alert warns of 422 cases reported in the country last year, the highest number since 2014An invasive meningococcal disease - which can be deadly to infected people - is on the rise, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned.In an alert issued on Thursday, the CDC warned that there were 422 cases of the disease reported in the US last year, the highest annual number of cases reported since 2014. Continue reading...

In discovering the joy of a ready-made community, I have made unexpected connections with neighbours who understand griefNot long after my mum died, I talked to a friend's mother about grief, and I compared what I was feeling to the loss she was experiencing after her husband's death. She smiled warmly and reached out to hold my hand, explaining in the gentlest voice so as not to upset me that it was very different because losing your partner, your person, is unlike anything else. I didn't understand it at the time, but I do now. My person died in 2020, and while the act of grieving shares many things, the loneliness and emptiness of losing the person you share your daily space with is very particular.When we moved into an apartment building in 2021, it was the tail end of two years of Melbourne's hard lockdowns and a year after my partner had died. Like most households, we'd been inside for much of this time, away from the random interactions with strangers that usually filled our days. It had been many years since I'd lived in an apartment and I'd forgotten the unavoidable intimacy of sharing walls and common spaces with so many people. Continue reading...

Pushback against Oklahoma's Judd Blevins transcending partisanship, says organizer: It's a Nazi and not-Nazi thing'Voters in the north-west Oklahoma city of Enid are being asked to decide whether a councilmember who attended the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 should be removed from his post.Iraq war veteran Judd Blevins, 42, was elected to Enid's city council to be the commissioner of its first ward last year. He soon faced an effort by the Enid social justice committee, which claimed Blevins embraces the same Nazi ideology [the US] defeated almost 80 years ago" during the second world war. Continue reading...

Yanira Alvarez won lottery's third-largest prize ever after buying ticket in downtown Los AngelesAnother California lottery player - another big jackpot winner.Officials on Friday identified the Californian who won the $1.08bn Powerball jackpot last year, satisfying a requirement under state law. Continue reading...

Move follows similar lawsuit by Texas attorney general, raising fear that news outlets could be next targetsThe attorney general of Missouri is suing Media Matters, a progressive watchdog group, alleging that it failed to turn over internal documents following its 2023 coverage of hate speech on the social media platform X. The head of the group says news outlets could be the next targets.Media Matters has pursued an activist agenda in its attempt to destroy X, because they cannot control it," the lawsuit said, describing X - formerly known as Twitter - as a free speech platform" that allows Missourians to express their own viewpoints in the public square". Continue reading...

Biden campaign communications director says image could be construed as suggesting physical harm towards presidentDonald Trump drew an angry response from the Joe Biden White House as well as other opponents after he posted a video containing the image of the president hog-tied on the tailgate of a passing pickup truck.The Biden campaign communications director, Michael Tyler, said the provocative image of the truck festooned with Trump 2024 insignia on Friday night could be construed as suggesting physical harm toward the former president's political rival. Continue reading...

Despite mockery, Trump has sold trading cards, sneakers, cologne and perfume - and manages to get the last laughIn the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and, of course, Donald John Trump. The former US president, as we all know, and as he has repeatedly told us, is God's gift to humanity. He's basically Jesus ... if Jesus were a blond sexual predator from Queens. Continue reading...

The Republican contender lowered the tone of electoral politics in 2016 - now the Democratic president has left the high road to take him on at his own gameWith November set to be one of the most consequential elections in US history, it would be understandable if Donald Trump and Joe Biden reached for soaring, lofty rhetoric: if they attempted to match the high-minded ideals of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the nation's founding fathers.American voters, and the country's political class, are long used to Trump's insult-laden and often crude rhetoric. Everything Joe Biden touches turns to shit," Trump said in Georgia earlier this month, during a rally at which he also also mocked Biden's stutter. Continue reading...

Residents of the blue-collar melting pot' are donating meals and stand ready' to help with recovery - but what will it entail?Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge took five years to build and then became an artery on which the blue-collar American city relied for nearly 50 years.But it was gone within a few seconds when a huge cargo ship exiting the city's port struck it on Tuesday, toppling the landmark and sending at least eight workers plummeting into the frigid waters below. Across Baltimore, as well as the US and the rest of the world, people reacted with shock and horror to videos of the gigantic structure crumpling into the river. Continue reading...

At every stage of our lives we are forced into destructive competition. It's not natural, and it holds the best people backA large and impressive study of children's progress into adulthood found that those who display bullying and aggressive behaviour at school are more likely to prosper at work. They land better jobs and earn more. The researchers claim to be surprised by their findings, but is it really so remarkable? The association of senior positions with bullying and dominance behaviour will doubtless come as a shock to many.This is not to suggest that all people with good jobs or who run organisations are bullies. Far from it. It's not hard to think of good people in powerful positions. What this tells us is that we don't need aggressive people to organise our lives for us. Neither good leadership, nor organisational success, nor innovation, insight or foresight, require a dominance mindset. In fact, all can be inhibited by someone throwing their weight around.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Sources say weapons package authorized even as Washington expresses public concern over anticipated offensive in RafahThe US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post. Continue reading...

Ex-president deserves sanction for Truth Social post that criticized daughter of Juan Merchan, hush-money trial prosecutors sayManhattan prosecutors asked the judge presiding in Donald Trump's upcoming criminal trial on charges of covering up hush money to a porn star before the 2016 election to confirm that a recent gag order preventing the former president from making inflammatory comments extends to the judge's family members.The prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office suggested in a two-page letter on Friday that, as far as they were concerned, Trump had violated the gag order by attacking the judge's daughter in a recent social media post and should be sanctioned for future violations. Continue reading...

Influencer sobriety is a world where alcohol addiction is history, but it's all too neatAt a glance, sobriety looks pretty on social media - and relatively simple to achieve. A quick search for sober motivation will send you off on a stream of brightly coloured listicles that advise making plans that don't involve alcohol, spending time with friends who support your choices, trying new things (like mocktails!) and going for a walk to combat alcohol cravings. The posts are often accompanied by a white-toothed influencer who is standing on a mountain in a bikini.The internet paints a picture of sobriety that has been smoothed around the edges, with an occasional snag of vulnerability; a woman pushing her toddler on a swing with the caption I was buzzed on vodka here"; a word tile that reads: I realised that inebriated women are easier to control." The darkness creeps in, but then it's back to normal programming; memes and hashtags and journalling at sunrise. Continue reading...

Los Angeles case revolves around question of whether people in makeshift camps along US-Mexico border are in legal custodyA federal judge has sharply questioned the Biden administration's position that it is not responsible for housing and feeding migrant children while they wait in makeshift camps along the US-Mexico border.Recent media reports have shed light on the harsh conditions at sites along the border, where people waiting for processing by US immigration authorities live under open skies or in tents or structures made of tree branches. The camps are often short on food, water and sanitation, relying on groups of volunteers to distribute aid and basic supplies. Continue reading...

Attorneys for ex-president and eight co-defendants ask Georgia's appellate court to remove Fulton county district attorney

Centrist senator from Connecticut who sought to become vice-president alongside Al Gore and went on to support No LabelsIn 2000, midway through his 24 years as a US senator from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman, who has died aged 82 following complications from a fall, was chosen as Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election, becoming America's first, and still only, major-party Jewish vice-presidential candidate. That moment was a peak in a career that arced from the liberal left of the Democratic party to the embrace of Republicans.He identified as a bipartisan centrist, liberal domestically and conservative on foreign policy. The Republican Jewish Coalition chairman Norm Coleman said Lieberman put principle over politics", but many of his early Democratic supporters found his later move rightward anathema. Continue reading...

Colorado Republicans chose former mayor Greg Lopez, who plans to step down, leaving no incumbent or favored primary candidateA Colorado Republican panel made the surprising decision on Thursday night to choose a former mayor, Greg Lopez, to be congressman Ken Buck's likely replacement until the November general election, a saving grace for Lauren Boebert's bid for another term in Congress.Lopez will now run as the Republican candidate in the 25 June special election after Buck's resignation at the same time GOP primary candidates are vying to be the congressman's successor. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. You can read all our politics news hereWhy did Russia arrest Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and what might they want in return for his release? The Guardian's Julian Borger looks into the question, one year into the American journalist's detention:Friday marks the grim first anniversary of the day when masked Russian officers grabbed Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist, at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg where he was waiting to eat on a reporting trip. Continue reading...

The Gulf state is the new chair of a UN women's commission. That reflects a bigger issue as governments attack or fail to prioritise gender equalityNext year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing declaration, a landmark blueprint for advancing women's rights. It marked the mainstreaming of feminist concerns, with 189 states signing up to the text at a conference in China, where Hillary Clinton, then first lady of the US, declared that women's rights are human rights".Yet when the United Nations celebrates that achievement, its commission for promoting and evaluating progress on gender equality will be steered by Saudi Arabia. A country known for its abysmal record on women's rights was chosen unopposed this week to chair the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Even the personal status law it brandishes as a sign of progress in fact enshrines discrimination including male guardianship over women, and gives immunity to perpetrators of honour crimes". Women's rights advocates have been jailed and there are multiple allegations of their torture.Do 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...

Wall Street Journal marks first anniversary of reporter's detention with largely blank front page headlined His story should be here'Joe Biden on Friday said the US was working every day to secure the release of Evan Gershkovich on the first anniversary of the 32-year-old Wall Street journalist's detention in Russia on charges of spying that he and the US government vehemently reject.Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter - risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine," Biden said in a statement on Friday. Continue reading...

Darlene Weber says I don't think I'd be standing here' after son and pit bull defended family from man charged with killing fourA woman's son and dog fought off a man who authorities have charged with stabbing and killing four other people in her Illinois town on Wednesday, saving her along with her relatives from being murdered, she has said in an interview.Darlene Weber described the remarkable, life-or-death encounter in an interview published on Thursday evening by NBC News, explaining how I don't think I'd be standing here talking to you right now" had it not been for her 21-year-old son Jacob Vollman and the family pit bull Brandy. Continue reading...

Legislators change state laws including increasing documentation officials need to certify electionsGeorgia legislators changed state election laws in the midnight hours of Friday, widening the criteria to challenge a voter's registration, removing bar codes from printed ballots and increasing the documentation local elections officials must produce to certify elections.The proposals will take effect 1 July, assuming the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, signs the legislation into law. Continue reading...