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Investigators say man concealed iPhone to record bathroom video of 14-year-old girl, who used her phone to document evidenceAn American Airlines flight attendant was indicted on Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September. Authorities also alleged that Estes Carter Thompson III had four separate videos which showed girls using lavatories on an aircraft where he worked.The 36-year-old Thompson of Charlotte, North Carolina, was indicted on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of images of child sexual abuse depicting a prepubescent minor.In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International Continue reading...

Dramatic footage shows law enforcement deploying Tasers and teargas against protesters at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Police detained 28 people on campus, the university said, after protesters began erecting a tent encampment in an attempt to emulate a symbol of vigilance employed by protesters at Columbia University and elsewhere. When officers in tactical gear began detaining people, some submitted while others pushed back. Video shows officers at least once used an electrical stun gun on a protester who was handcuffed on the ground

President drops by Sirius XM studios to speak with the shock jock as Donald Trump sat in a courtroom downtownJoe Biden sprang a surprise on the Washington press corps on Friday when he gave an interview to the radio host and shock jock Howard Stern.The president also made news. Asked if he would debate Donald Trump before the election in November, as the presumptive Republican nominee (who skipped all debates in the primary) has demanded, Biden said: I am, somewhere, I don't know when, but I am happy to debate him." Continue reading...

The US president continues to support Israel in its onslaught on Gaza. Morehouse College's most famous alumnus was anti-warMorehouse College is a special place. The only all-male historically Black college in the world, it has alumni ranging from Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the most celebrated anti-war civil rights leader in history, to Theodore Ted" Colbert III, the CEO of Boeing's defense, space and security division, a key player in supplying the weapons technologies for Israel's months-long campaign of military vengeance on Palestinians.While there is much diversity among the ranks of this brotherhood, Morehouse - also my alma mater - places a primacy on moral leadership and service, and Dr King has been a critical avatar in these efforts. There is a prominent statue of him on campus, his likeness is depicted as a silhouette on official college brochures, the chapel on campus is named in his honor. His papers are held nearby at the Robert W Woodruff Library. Considering King's anti-militarism, and the college's embrace of him as a beacon on campus, the decision to invite Joe Biden to give Morehouse's commencement speech to this year's graduating class is a moral disaster.

Bulk carrier uses deep-water channel en route to Canada marking important step in recovery efforts after last month's disasterThe first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, killing a work crew and halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.The Balsa 94, a bulk carrier sailing under a Panama flag, passed through the new 35ft channel headed for Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, on Thursday. Two more commercial ships followed later, including a vehicle carrier headed to Panama. Continue reading...

Both sides are beset by those who think their words and deeds bring peace closer. Instead they instil fear and make a better future harder to attainBeware the friend who is only trying to help. Not, perhaps, as a rule for life but certainly when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict and the clashes that battle provokes around the world. So often those who think they're doing their bit serve only to make an already impossible situation even worse.The week began with an instructive example, when Gideon Falter, head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, released a video clip of himself being steered away from one of London's weekly Gaza demonstrations by a police officer on the grounds that: You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march." Falter argued that he had flushed out proof that the Metropolitan police regard the marches as an unsafe environment for visibly Jewish people, even though the Met allows them to go ahead week after week. Continue reading...

Secretary of state met Xi Jinping in Beijing and warned of sanctions over China's support for Russian arms industryWashington has seen evidence of attempts by Beijing to influence and arguably interfere" in this year's US elections, the secretary of state has said during a trip to China, also warning that Chinese companies face new sanctions if they do not stop supplying material and equipment to the Russian arms industry.Antony Blinken told CNN that he had reiterated Joe Biden's message to Xi Jinping not to interfere in November's vote - a warning that reportedly received assurances from the Chinese president that he would not do so. Asked whether China was keeping to its promise, Blinken said: We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence, and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that's cut off as quickly as possible. Continue reading...

Police clashed with protesters at Ohio State University, hours after they gathered on Thursday evening. Those who refused to leave after warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, said a university spokesperson, Benjamin Johnson, citing rules barring overnight events.As the death toll mounts in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the US are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the demonstrations have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus, partly prompting the calls for police intervention

South Dakota governor includes bloody tale in campaign volume - and admits a better politician ... wouldn't tell the story here'

As he entered the courthouse for the fourth day of testimony in his New York hush money trial, the former US president Donald Trump stopped to speak to reporters about his wife Melania's birthday and the temperature of the courtroom.

Luzerne county, in the battleground state Pennsylvania, has faced high-profile mistakes like discarded ballots, and turnover. Did it pass its primary season test?

As pro-Palestinian demonstrations roil campus, the station's undergraduate reporters - working 18 hour days - have become an essential news sourceThe turning point was certainly immediate, very sudden ... We received a tip at 4am that there would be a demonstration on Columbia's campus, and pretty soon after that, we went live on air."The presenter, Georgia Dillane, is describing the moment on 17 April that student radio station WKCR was thrust into the spotlight with its quick news updates from inside the university grounds. Continue reading...

The California university cancelled Asna Tabassum's speech because of security concerns'. The real reason is cowardiceWhen Asna Tabassum, a hijab-wearing Muslim, was announced as the valedictorian for the University of Southern California class of 2024, my initial reaction was the thought of my south Asian mother saying, What are you doing? Why aren't you valedictorian?" But what followed was pride.

This is not a repeat of the Covid pandemic. Yet global governments should follow the US and prepare a responseAvian flu, or H5N1, is making headlines in the United States. The past few years have seen concerning signs of it spreading across the world - whether in chickens in Britain, sea lions in Peru, or Caspian seals in Russia. This time, it is has been confirmed in American cows, and the World Health Organization has warned that the risk of it spreading to humans is of enormous concern".While it is early days, the hypothesis is that in late 2023, a single cow was infected by coming into contact with infected birds' faeces, or having infected dead birds in its feed. This began cow-to-cow transmission, and potentially even cow-to-bird transmission. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also confirmed one human case of H5N1 in a farm worker, which could either represent cow-to-human (not seen before) or bird-to-human transmission.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...

Offer for cutting edge' UK firm from Thoma Bravo signals another blow for the London Stock Exchange

Students demonstrating and hunger-striking face arrests and hospitalization - but they think they can make a difference

The professor on his famous 13 keys' to the White House, a method for predicting election results that's been right nine times out of 10He has been called the Nostradamus of US presidential elections. Allan Lichtman has correctly predicted the result of nine of the past 10 (and even the one that got away, in 2000, he insists was stolen from Al Gore). But now he is gearing up for perhaps his greatest challenge: Joe Biden v Donald Trump II.Lichtman is a man of parts. The history professor has been teaching at American University in Washington for half a century. He is a former North American 3,000m steeplechase champion and, at 77 - the same age as Trump - aiming to compete in the next Senior Olympics. In 1981 he appeared on the TV quizshow Tic-Tac-Dough and won $110,000 in cash and prizes. Continue reading...

Both were pilloried, but that was then. Today, one has beaten a rape conviction, the other may return as presidentAccording to his representatives, former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is still digesting the overturning of his rape conviction by a New York court, but they did come out to say he was cautiously excited". Cautiously excited? I'm not sure these are the words I'd alight on to paint a word-picture of a rapist. You might as well say tentatively aroused". Then again, as we're about to discuss, quite a lot of guys don't particularly have to worry about what they say or do, or how they say or do it. It's only natural that Harvey should very much want to be one of them again.Speaking of word-pictures, though, how's this for a vignette of our times? When they heard the news that Weinstein's conviction had been overturned on Thursday, a whole host of reporters happened to be looking at the exact spot in the exact New York courtroom that he'd sat in when that original judgment had been handed down. This was because they were waiting for Donald Trump to sit in it for Thursday's proceedings in his hush money trial. Mr Trump, you might recall, is in such a lot of trouble that he is the presumptive Republican nominee and current bookies' favourite to win the US presidency again, though admittedly he lags behind Weinstein on the sexual assault and misconduct front, given that only 26 women have accused him of it. Ultimately, though, I guess the question is: if #MeToo went too far", what would going just far enough" have looked like? Continue reading...

Germany's complicity with Turkey's repressive regime worries me more than its doner diplomacyNazis eat doner kebabs in secret," must be one of the dumbest slogans I have seen at German protests against the far right. Yes, the popularity of the kebab in Germany has become something of a symbol of labour migration from Turkey after the second world war. And yes, Nazis get hungry, too. So what? If the consumption of ethnic-minority food was really an obstacle to the ideology of white supremacy, Germans would either be starved out by now or they wouldn't vote for Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD). Neither of these is the case: the kebab is the second most popular fast food among Germans, and according to polls, the AfD their second most popular political party.Still, for the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, it seems to be a sign of cosmopolitanism to promote kebab eating, so his team thought it a good idea to send him to Turkey with a whole skewer full of meat as part of an official visit this week, the first by a German president in 10 years. Continue reading...

New York appeals court has thrown out 2020 conviction, but disgraced movie mogul is staying jailed from separate rape conviction. Plus, scheme launched for reparations to Ukrainian sexual violence survivors

Coastal elites' feel the pinch of fast-food price hikes too. Plus: Liz Truss bars Guardian journalists from book launch. LolDonald Trump's appearance in criminal court on Monday has raised many questions, constitutional and otherwise, but on the evidence of the first day I find myself most curious about the former president's McDonald's order. During jury selection last week, the Daily Mail reported on a $700 (560) McDonald's order put in by Trump staffers that included 27 orders of fries, 27 quarter pounders, a bunch of nuggets and no drinks. A McDonald's employee complained anonymously that they didn't leave a tip - in line with everyone who eats at McDonald's - but still. Continue reading...

His viral TikToks of his generic 9-5 life in a Texas suburb have become a Rorschach test of sortsConnor Hubbard might be the most boring man on the internet. The 29-year-old dresses like a generic white guy, lives in a nice but unremarkable house in the Dallas, Texas, suburbs and works a 9-5 in insurance. He lives for" his morning coffee and loves going to the gym after work and watching TV in the evening. He is perfectly happy with his mundane existence - which includes a wife, a dog and a baby on the way - and does not aspire to anything more. The internet is obsessed with him.Every few months one of Hubbard's slice-of-an-ordinary-life videos goes viral eliciting extreme reactions. A Rorschach test of sorts, half of the viewers seem to think his world is morbidly depressing (what is the point of even living?" one person asked), while the other half thinks it is hugely aspirational. Under the comment section of the latest video to go viral, people are having heated debates about whether the man is a role model or a cautionary tale. Continue reading...

The indictment details the steps to push the concept of alternate electors in an alleged effort to overturn Biden's victoryThe indictment against the slate of fake electors in Arizona and the Trump allies who advanced the scheme there includes a host of public statements and private exchanges that show how the group intended to overturn the state's electoral votes for Joe Biden in 2020.Arizona's Democratic attorney general Kris Mayes announced Wednesday that a state grand jury charged the 11 false electors and seven others with nine felony counts of fraud, forgery and conspiracy. The indictment from Mayes' office is sure to be a talking point in this year's elections , nearly four years after the acts themselves occurred. Continue reading...

As support for abortion even in states as red as Kentucky and Kansas grows, the GOP appears to be breaking ranks with the hardlinersIn the two years since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, the 50-year-long partnership between Republicans and anti-abortion activists has steadily fractured as political backlash to abortion bans has mounted. But perhaps the biggest crack emerged on Wednesday, when Arizona's Republican-controlled state legislature moved to repeal the state's 1864 near-total abortion ban.After days of national outcry over an Arizona supreme court ruling that upheld the 1864 ban, passed before Arizona became a state, three Republicans in the state house broke ranks to vote with Democrats to support a repeal. Last week, two Republicans in the state senate also voted with Democrats to advance a similar repeal. As long as those Republican votes hold firm, Democrats will likely send the repeal to Arizona's Democratic governor in May. Continue reading...

Multiple arrests at crackdown on Emory University campus encampment focused on Palestine and Cop CityPolice have carried out multiple violent arrests at Emory University in Decatur, Georgia, in what appears to be the first campus crackdown in recent days to involve rubber bullets and teargas after students set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestine and against Cop City.On Thursday, Emory students set up multiple tents on the campus's lawns in protest against the university's ties to Israel, as well Atlanta's Cop City, a police and fire department training center that is being constructed on a 171-acre plot in a forest south-east of Atlanta. Continue reading...

Victims and their families are at their wits' end. We owe it to them to throw everything at this national crisisIt's happening again.Another run of alleged domestic violence homicides has horrified the nation, and the media is again searching for answers. Continue reading...

Jose Andres, founder of organisation, told mourners gathered at Washington National Cathedral how the loss of his staff should inspire us to do better'The seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes represented the best of humanity" and risked everything to feed people they did not know and will never meet," Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded the organisation, told mourners on Thursday.Speaking at Washington National Cathedral to those gathered to honour the aid workers, Andres said there was no excuse for the killings and renewed calls for an investigation into the deaths. Continue reading...

Move made after more than 90 demonstrators arrested on campus and university cancels pro-Palestinian valedictorian's speechThe University of Southern California (USC) has canceled its main stage graduation ceremony, citing new safety measures as student protests over the Israel-Gaza war have surged on the campus.USC is one of many campuses across the country that have become hubs for student demonstrations against the war, with hundreds of arrests nationwide as tensions escalate. Police arrested dozens of students and activists at USC this week on trespassing charges. Continue reading...

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David Pecker testified about his role in buying a story from the model Karen McDougal about an alleged affair with Trump

Oral arguments over former president's claim of immunity seem to have left Trump happier than the justice departmentWell," said one reporter to another as they left the supreme court chamber, sometime after noon on Thursday. Looks like we're getting a king."Notwithstanding a certain mordant hyperbole on a momentous day in American history, the sentiment seemed within bounds. Continue reading...

Dazhon Darien impersonated high school principal in Maryland in clip that quickly spread on social media, police sayA high school athletic director in Maryland has been charged with using artificial intelligence to impersonate a principal on an audio recording that included racist and antisemitic comments, authorities said on Thursday.Dazhon Darien faked the voice of Pikesville high school's principal in January following conversations that Darien's contract would not be renewed, according to charging documents filed by Baltimore county police. Continue reading...

Court ruled last month that Crystal Mason, initially sentenced to five years in prison, did not know she was ineligible to vote in 2016A Texas prosecutor will appeal against a court ruling tossing out a five-year prison sentence for a woman who unintentionally tried to vote while ineligible in the 2016 election, an unexpected move that continues one of the most closely watched voting prosecutions in the US.Last month, the second court of appeals, which is based in Fort Worth, threw out the 2018 conviction of Crystal Mason, a Black woman who submitted a provisional ballot in 2016 that ultimately went uncounted. Mason was on supervised release for a federal felony at the time she voted and has said she had no idea she was ineligible. The panel said prosecutors had failed to prove Mason actually knew she was ineligible. Continue reading...

Republican Mike Johnson accused of wilfully spreading misinformation' and inciting violence' after CNN interviewProgressive activists have condemned Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, for willfully spreading misinformation" and inciting violence" in a TV interview about student protests against Israel's war in Gaza.Johnson, who was booed and heckled during a press conference at Columbia University on Wednesday, when he said Hamas backed" the protests in a CNN interview. There is no evidence Hamas has had any role in the student protests, though the organization has praised the demonstration. The Republican went on to make sweeping, incendiary claims: Some of these students apparently are unaware of the atrocities of October 7 or they're denying it. Continue reading...

A judge approved the warrant in investigation to determine if church hierarchy illegally covered up systemic child molestationLouisiana state police went into the office of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans on Thursday to begin the process of collecting records from the organization spanning the history of its decades-old clerical abuse scandal, as troopers investigate whether the local church hierarchy illegally covered up systemic child molestation.Troopers arrived at the archdiocese's headquarters at about 9.45am local time three days after a state court judge signed a search warrant authorizing them to take the entirety of the documents in question.In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit its website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800; adult survivors can seek help at Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International Continue reading...

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators are calling on universities to sell investments in companies they say are complicit in war in GazaAs protests against Israel's offensive in Gaza are spreading throughout American campuses, one demand made by students across schools keeps coming up: divestment from Israel.Universities rely on endowments to fund things like research and scholarships, and those endowments are typically invested in companies and alternative asset classes, such as private equity and hedge funds. Continue reading...

Former National Enquirer publisher says he helped Trump to suppress negative stories that threatened 2016 presidential bid

Just before oral arguments at the supreme court finished, liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked lawyer for special counsel about implications of court dramatically expanding presidential immunityIn an exchange with attorney John Sauer, conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett signaled she thought Donald Trump could still face trial on some election interference charges brought by special counsel Jack Smith, even if the supreme court agrees with his claims of immunity.So, you concede that private acts don't get immunity?" Barrett asked.He urges us even if we ... assume that there was some sort of immunity for official acts, that there were sufficient private acts in the indictment ... for the case to go back and the trial to begin immediately. And I want to know if you agree or disagree about the characterization of these acts. Continue reading...

The overcrowded city is leading the way with a tax on day trippers. Surely other great European destinations should follow suitVenice has had enough. It is sinking beneath the twin assaults of tourism and the sea and believes the answer lies in fending off visitors by charging them to enter. It is not alone. Tourism is under attack. Seville is charging for entry to the central Plaza de Espana. In Paris, the Mona Lisa is so besieged by flashing phones she is about to be banished to a basement. Barcelona graffiti shout, Tourists go home, refugees welcome." Amsterdam wants no more coach parties, nor does Rome.The Venice payment will be complicated. It will apply at specific entry points only to day trippers to the city centre, not hotel guests. It will be a mere five euros and confined to peak times of day over the summer. This will hardly cover the cost of running it. It is a political gesture that is unlikely to stem the tourist flow round the Rialto and St Mark's Square, let alone leave more room for Venetians to enjoy their city undisturbed by mobs.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

Students react to school's invitation to president to speak while authorities crack down on campus protests across USMorehouse College, a nearly 160-year-old historically Black college in Atlanta, announced on Tuesday that Joe Biden will be the keynote speaker for its commencement ceremony in May. Though Morehouse initially extended the invitation in September, Biden's acceptance comes after a tumultuous week for the president, in which college students across the nation have engaged in sustained anti-war protests in solidarity with Palestine.The Guardian spoke to Morehouse students who criticized the school's decision to host Biden, and others who had mixed feelings about the upcoming address. Continue reading...

The longtime chief executive of AMI, which owns the National Enquirer, has a long history with the ex-president

While other comedians spend more time complaining than cracking jokes, the former Late Show host remains gloriously unhinged and hilariousWith every advance in human technology comes an advance in weird new emotional situations. For example, the Germans should invent a word for the specific drop in the stomach that occurs when you open X to see a celebrity you like trending globally. No one 20 years ago could ever have imagined this specific feeling. Depending on the person, my brain leaps to conclusions. If it's an older person, I worry they've carked it. If it's Sydney Sweeney, I assume her breasts are up to something again (existing). And if it's a comedian I've loved since childhood, I assume they've been cancelled for doing something shitty (due to patterns).A few weeks ago, I got a Tower of Terror-size gut drop when I saw Conan O'Brien, one of my biggest comedy heroes, trending. Luckily I didn't need to worry. He had gone viral for his appearance on the YouTube show Hot Ones, where a celebrity is interviewed while eating progressively hotter wings. Conan had given a completely unhinged and hilarious performance, including rubbing hot sauce on his nipples. In a sentence I'd never thought I'd say, thank God it was just more breasts discourse. Continue reading...

At least 93 students detained at USC and 34 arrested in Austin while House speaker faced jeers at Columbia UniversityMore than 100 people were arrested at Emerson College in Boston early on Thursday in the latest crackdown against the rising wave of campus pro-Palestinian protests across the US that has seen the House speaker, Mike Johnson, suggest calling in the national guard.Johnson waded into an already tense situation on Wednesday with a visit to Columbia University, where the decision last week of the university president, Minouche Shafik, to invite the NYPD to dismantle a student encampment catalysed what is rapidly becoming a national movement. Johnson nevertheless called for the resignation of Shafik, facing jeers on campus from the pro-Palestinian protesters. Continue reading...

FTSE 100 hits another record, after buyout offer for Anglo American, while US economy slowed by more than expected in the last quarter

Before dying earlier this month, Larry Webb confessed to killing Susan Carter and her child and burying their bodies in his yardA man confessed to killing a 10-year-old girl and her mother on his deathbed, closing a 24-year-old cold case in Beckley, West Virginia.After the confession, officials found remains believed to be those of Susan and Natasha Alex" Carter, her daughter, in Beckley on Monday. Continue reading...