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Retired Lawrence Hecker, 92, charged in New Orleans, has memory loss and should be re-evaluated at later date, report findsA 92-year-old retired Catholic priest charged with strangling a teenager and raping him in a New Orleans church in 1975 has short-term memory loss that prevents him from assisting in his defense, according to a team of forensic psychiatrists whose findings could influence whether one of Louisiana's most prominent cases of clergy abuse is ever tried.In a report which has not been publicly released but was reviewed Tuesday by WWL Louisiana and the Guardian, the psychiatrists said the priest - Lawrence Hecker - should not be tried for now on rape, kidnapping, crimes against nature and theft charges until he is re-evaluated later. Continue reading...

David Pecker testifies about meeting with Trump and Michael Cohen in 2015 to discuss how he could help presidential campaign

Letter from 25 senators including Mitch McConnell says president must act immediately to restore order' on university campusesSenior Republican US senators on Tuesday waded into growing tensions at leading universities over the Israel-Gaza war, demanding the Biden administration send in federal law enforcement officers to curb pro-Palestinian protests that have led to hundreds of arrests.Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, and John Thune, his deputy, wrote to Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, and Miguel Cardona, the education secretary, calling demonstrators antisemitic, pro-terrorist mobs". Continue reading...

Archaeologist says cherries can provide us with valuable insight and perspective into 18th-century lives'Archaeologists discovered centuries-old cherries surprisingly well-preserved inside two glass bottles stashed in George Washington's historic Virginia home.They found the bottles during excavations as part of a major revitalization of the first US president's mansion, known as Mount Vernon, the Washington Post reported. Continue reading...

FTC votes to ban measures which bar workers from jumping to or starting competing companies for a prescribed period of timeUS companies would no longer be able to bar employees from taking jobs with competitors under a rule approved by a federal agency on Tuesday, though the rule is sure to be challenged in court.The Federal Trade Commission voted to ban measures known as noncompete agreements, which bar workers from jumping to or starting competing companies for a prescribed period of time. According to the FTC, 30 million people - roughly one in five workers - are now subject to such restrictions. Continue reading...

Judge admonishes ex-president's lawyer, and first witness confirms Trump enlisted National Enquirer for 2016 campaignDonald Trump watched the judge presiding in his New York criminal trial dramatically admonish his lead lawyer and hear the prosecution's first witness confirm that Trump specifically enlisted the help of the National Enquirer tabloid to kill negative stories that could derail his 2016 campaign.Here are the key takeaways from Tuesday's proceedings in People of the State of New York vs Donald J Trump. Continue reading...

From Kanye West to Chris Pratt, the celebrity approach to housing is more out of touch than everLooking for a bargain beach house? Then you're in luck. Kanye West has just lowered the price on his minimalist mansion in Malibu, California, to a mere $39m (31.5m) - a $14m discount on its original listing price. There is a catch though: the house has no windows, doors, electricity, plumbing or interior finishes. It's completely uninhabitable, unless you happen to be a gull.The sparseness isn't a deliberate design choice - though you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. West, who also goes by the name Ye, is after all a man who opened up a lawsuit-magnet of a private school in Los Angeles called Donda Academy which, according to court filings, had empty windows because the musician doesn't like glass". Ye is, to put it in the politest terms possible, an individual with eccentric tastes. Continue reading...

The embattled ex-president offered surprising words of praise to Mike Johnson, who shepherded aid package opposed by TrumpMike Johnson is a good person" and is trying very hard", Donald Trump said, after the US House speaker oversaw passage of military aid to Ukraine, long opposed by Trump, in the face of fierce opposition from the right of the Republican party.Well, look, we have a majority of one, OK?" Trump said in a radio interview on Monday night, after a day in court in his New York hush-money trial. Continue reading...

Police broke up encampments at a further two US universities on Monday. Plus, a charity says pedophiles are creating nude AI images of children to blackmail them

A scheme to allow British under-30s to live and work in the EU has been flatly rejected. Why punish them for older voters' mistakes?Only those born before 1998 could vote on Brexit, so there is no conceivable way of knowing which way today's 18- to 30-year-olds would have felt about it. Oh, except there is: 70% of 18- to 24-year-olds think leaving the EU was a bad idea. Of the 25- to 49-year-olds, 66% also think we were wrong to leave. If you can bear to drag your mind back to the immediate aftermath of Brexit, you'll recall that words like overwhelming" and vast" were completely debased by their use in conjunction with majorities that were actually wafer-thin. So let's just say most young people are remainers.For a long time, politics has dealt with the young remainer as it does with the rest of us; ignore us for long enough, and we'll go away. If the Brexit argument had had any foundation - if it had brought trading or other benefits, if it had caused only negligible difficulties and those of the teething variety - then that would probably have worked. Most referendum outcomes get more popular over time.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Police officers arrested dozens of people at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan. The police crackdown came after Columbia cancelled in-person classes on Monday in response to protesters setting up tents at its New York City campus. The protests spread to other universities, including Boston and MIT. In New York, officers clashed with students in Gould Plaza. Riot police could be seen taking down tents and grappling with protesters. A New York police spokesperson said arrests were made after the university asked police to enforce trespassing violations but the total number of arrests and citations would remain unknown until much later. On the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut, authorities arrested at least 47 protesters on Monday evening, the university said in a statement. Students who were arrested will be referred for disciplinary action

He wants his devotees to see the court case as trial by combat, with him as warrior. But the truth is more patheticDonald Trump is already in jail. He is pressed into confinement every weekday, except Wednesdays, beginning bright and early, no excuses, at 9.30 in the morning, in the dreary courtroom in Manhattan, where his impulse to mouth off wearies and worries his lawyers, and he must listen, for the first time since his father slapped him down, to an authority telling him to gag himself. He had more leeway when Fred Trump shipped the problem child to the New York military academy where Donald bullied his classmates.Trump's required attendance in the courtroom as a criminal defendant is his first loss of liberty.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Don't hold your breath on Trump testifying in his own defense. It would likely be embarrassing, if not perjuriousDonald Trump dodged financial calamity on Monday. The office of Letitia James, the New York attorney general, and lawyers for Trump reached agreement in open court on the terms governing the appellate bond posted by the former president. After nearly an hour of argument and an extended recess, the parties achieved a workable solution. It is a ray of sunshine in Trump's otherwise bleak legal landscape.Trump would be required to leave $175m in cash only as collateral for the bond. Mutual funds or other securities will not suffice. In addition, the brokerage account holding the funds would fall under the exclusive control of the bonding company.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

As states ban abortions, a 1968 federal law requires hospitals that receive Medicaid dollars to stabilize patients in a medical emergency, creating a catch-22 for care providersDr Lauren Miller used to cry every day on her way to work.A fetal maternal medicine specialist in Idaho, Miller despaired over the possibility she might be forced to tell patients she could not help them. Idaho has one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, which means Miller could only perform abortions to save a woman's life - and many patients, even those facing medical emergencies with potentially deadly consequences, were not yet sick enough to qualify. Continue reading...

Falls, slips and trips accounted for 865 worker fatalities in 2022 - more than 400 of whom worked in constructionWooden planks with nails covered the site where Antonio, a construction day laborer in Houston, Texas, was helping clear large fencing last December. The contractor that hired him provided no protection, he said - so when he slipped, and a nail struck him just above the ankle, it became really swollen".Antonio was given hydrogen peroxide, and the contractor promised to get him medical attention the next day. But after developing a fever overnight, and with his ankle still swollen, he took himself to the emergency room. Continue reading...

Four quarterbacks are likely to go in the top 10 of the 2024 draft later this week. But a similar rush occurred in 2021, and the results were not prettyOn 25 April in Detroit, Michigan, the 89th annual NFL draft will begin. As team owners, general managers, coaches and scouts pore over the best prospects preparing to jump from college to the pros, there is a strong possibility that four quarterbacks will be selected in the top 10 for just the third time in history. In fact, for what would be the first time ever, the top four picks could all be quarterbacks.That's partly a function of the talent available at the game's most important position this year. Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner coming out of the University of Southern California, is considered a generational prospect with a skillset that has been compared to Patrick Mahomes. He is almost certain to be taken No 1 overall by the Chicago Bears. Continue reading...

The X owner was always going to turn the video removal request into a glib culture war fought with 4chan-style memes and late-night missives

After last night's Commons vote, they want a proof of concept' journey to get the tawdry policy back on track. But it's too flawed for thatThere will be a sigh of relief in No 10 with the passing of the Rwanda bill, as well as a degree of frustration. Having to steward another migration bill through parliament was not part of the government's plan.With the Rwanda bill passing on to the statute book, overriding the supreme court judgment that Rwanda is not a safe country to which to send people seeking sanctuary, the government now hopes it can finally get on with locking up and then removing those seeking safety on our shores. The prime minister told a hastily arranged press conference on Monday morning that the first flight would not take off for 10 or 12 weeks" (having previously said it would be in spring). Officials are privately describing it as a proof of concept" flight - this means focusing on having an initial flight to test how legally watertight the new laws are.Enver Solomon is chief executive of the Refugee Council Continue reading...

Authorities move to break up encampments at two more US universities on Monday, as Columbia University cancels in-person classesPolice arrested dozens of people at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan, as student protests over Israel's war in Gaza continue to roil US campuses.On the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut, authorities arrested at least 47 protesters on Monday evening, the university said in a statement. Students who were arrested will be referred for disciplinary action. Continue reading...

Hundreds of members of teaching staff demonstrate in solidarity with arrested students as protest tents put back up on campusHundreds of faculty members at Columbia University in New York held a mass walkout on Monday to protest against the president's decision to have police arrest students at a pro-Palestinian encampment protest last week.The solidarity protest came as students put protest tents back up on campus. They had been torn down last week when the New York police department arrested more than 100 students, who were also suspended by the university. Continue reading...

George Kelly, 75, charged with second-degree murder over death of Mexican Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, on his property last yearAn Arizona judge declared a mistrial on Monday in the case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on his property near the US-Mexico border.George Kelly, 75, was charged with second-degree murder in the 30 January 2023 shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived just south of the border in Nogales. Continue reading...

FTC lawsuit to block Coach parent from buying Michael Kors owner says deal would deprive consumers of competitionThe US Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it was suing to block Coach parent Tapestry's $8.5bn deal to buy Michael Kors owner Capri, saying it would eliminate competition.This comes at a time when several US lawmakers have sought increased scrutiny from the FTC of several multi-billion dollar deals that might risk higher prices and affect consumers. Continue reading...

Bathroom in Noe Valley neighborhood, which became focus of ire for reported $1.7m cost, actually came in at about $200,000San Francisco made international headlines in 2022 when news broke that a project to build a public restroom in a town square would cost $1.7m. This weekend the toilet affair finally came to an end as the city celebrated its newest lavatory.Residents gathered for a toilet-themed party in the Noe Valley town square on Sunday that was designed to poke fun at the whole saga and celebrate the long-awaited bathroom, which ended up costing far less than the initial price tag. Continue reading...

The former British PM went all Trumpy at the Heritage, with an audience hanging on her every word as she promoted her bookWas that Donald Truss? Or Liz Trump? A former British prime minister turned up in Washington on Monday channeling the Maga menace who once lorded it in the Oval Office and now spends his days in a dingy courtroom.Liz Truss was at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank in Washington, within sight of the US Capitol dome, to promote her grandly titled book Ten Years to Save the West. Why does she keep coming back to America? It was not hard to figure out. Continue reading...

The university is to hold virtual classes after protests on campus culminated in the arrest of more than 100 studentsOver 100 students at Columbia were arrested last week after refusing to leave a pro-Palestine protest encampment set up on the university's main campus. The arrests have since set off a chain of events, including the re-establishing of the encampment and solidarity protests on other US college campuses.On Monday, Columbia announced it will hold classes virtually to try to reset" the situation on campus. Here's what we know so far about what's happening at Columbia. Continue reading...

Former president Donald Trump's first criminal trial got going in earnest today with opening statements from prosecutors and defense

The ex-president appeared uncomfortable at times as his criminal trial finally got under way in New York on Monday

Deal keeps bond in a cash account that will gain interest but faces no downside riskNew York state lawyers and an attorney for Donald Trump settled their differences on Monday over a $175m bond that Trump posted to block a large civil fraud judgment while he pursues appeals.

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While Donald Trump is in court, House Republicans rejected their presidential nominee's bad land-for-peace deal in UkraineIn chaos theory, the flapping of butterfly wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. This weekend, Ukraine experienced a butterfly moment. Donald Trump's efforts to conceal the fact that he bought the silence of a porn star before the 2016 election landed him in court, facing charges that preoccupy him enough for congressional Republicans to reject his policy of prematurely ceding territory to Russia in return for peace in Ukraine. Kyiv will now get billions of dollars to buy the weapons crucial for it to defend against, and push back, the Russian advance. It is fitting that Mr Trump's divisive appeasement has been defeated - for now - by a bipartisan defence of democracy.The presumptive Republican nominee had, in an election year, counted on using his mendacious, inflammatory rhetoric to further convert his party into a truth-denying sect prepared to abandon the rule of law for the rule of revenge. Instead, he is required to attend every day that the Manhattan court is in session, for a trial expected to last at least six weeks. The proceedings will be closely followed around the world. But they will not be televised. It will be a circus, but without its ringmaster. Deprived of the camera's attention, the former president won't be able to bully Republican lawmakers or rally his followers so effectively. Continue reading...

Bass and her family were at home but not harmed when a man entered Getty House, the mayor's official residencePolice in Los Angeles arrested a suspect following a break-in at the home of the city's mayor, the former Democratic representative Karen Bass, on Sunday morning, officials said.Bass and her family were not harmed when a man entered Getty House, the LA mayor's official residence on Irving Boulevard, while they were home.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Ex-president orchestrated a criminal scheme' to corrupt 2016 election, prosecution says in opening statement

Nyet, Moscow Marjorie,' says New York Post front page in latest sign some on the right are turning on pro-Trump congresswomanA New York Post front page on Monday blaring Nyet, Moscow Marjorie", its mocked-up picture showing Marjorie Taylor Greene wearing a Soviet cap, was the latest sign of sections of the US right turning on the extremist, pro-Trump Georgia congresswoman over her opposition to military aid for Ukraine.The score in Congress is now Jewish space lasers lady 0, common sense 1'," the Murdoch-owned tabloid said, celebrating the fact that Greene and other Republican renegades'" failed to stop passage of the Ukraine aid on Saturday, though they long delayed it. Continue reading...

I would take any member of this girl group over our last five prime ministers - especially Mel C. They are a reminder of a better timeThe Spice Girls are like German biscuits in reverse. They don't remind you of the seasons - the seasons remind you of them. On the eve of St George's Day, our minds turn inexorably to Geri Halliwell's union jack dress. The approach of the Summer Olympics in Paris makes you wonder who the French could possibly find in their musical pantheon to match London's closing ceremony, and its full-ensemble performance of Spice Up Your Life. And the weekend marked the start of birthday season, with Victoria Beckham holding a party for her 50th at the private members' club Oswald's in London. She is not the oldest Spice Girl, even though she always acted like the one who wished everyone else would grow up: that's Geri, who turned 50 two years ago.Memories of Ginger and her performative patriotism are bittersweet: she loved red, white and blue and she really loved Margaret Thatcher, and it felt a little bit underexamined at the time - like, what was it exactly that she loved about Thatcher? Rapid deindustrialisation and utility privatisation? Yet given the choice between Geri's capers and what came later - public figures cosplaying the Iron Lady to baby talk a stupefied electorate while causing havoc to the nation's wellbeing - I would take Geri any day, not just as a Spice Girl, but also as prime minister. In fact, I would take any Spice Girl over any of the last five prime ministers, and Mel C in particular. She seems like a person who gets stuff done.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Shawn Fain tells the Guardian he expects more of the same to come' after celebrating union's historic victory at Tennessee plantAfter celebrating his union's historic victory at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, told the Guardian that he was confident of more unionization wins at auto plants across the US, saying: The workers at VW are the first domino to fall.They have shown it is possible," Fain added in an interview on Sunday evening. I expect more of the same to come. Workers are fed up." Continue reading...

I run from room to room, touching things as if they'll somehow transport me to the past. Not much has changed in the old weatherboard

As the Premier League continues to hike ticket prices and shut out local fans, Bayer's Bundesliga title shows the value of a club rooted in its home town

A recent study shows the reasons the 2022 talks failed are more nuanced than critics suggest. Compromise may still be possibleThe war in Ukraine will be a source of fascination and study for historians for decades to come. Even today, two years in, we're starting to see research into some of the big moments that characterised the early days of the conflict, and which sheds light on the confusing welter of news stories that emerged at the time. Military analysts, for example, have already been able to reconstruct some of the most critical battles of the war's early days, showing how contingent and critical Russia's failure to establish a beachhead at Hostomel airport near Kyiv was to the course of the war, when history could easily have gone down a different path.Another study, published last week by the historian Sergey Radchenko and the political scientist Samuel Charap, focuses on the poorly understood but consequential peace negotiations that played out between Russia and Ukraine in the spring of 2022 over ending the conflict. These negotiations - held predominantly in Istanbul - have become a focus for critics of the war in the US, who often argue that the west, and particularly then British prime minister, Boris Johnson, sabotaged these negotiations and prevented a successful ceasefire. Vladimir Putin would go on to make a similar argument in his now infamous interview with Tucker Carlson. Continue reading...

The country is on the defensive. While Israel has ironclad support from its allies, Tehran is vulnerable and isolatedTit-for-tat confrontation between Israel and Iran has sparked concerns about escalation dragging the Middle East into all-out war. Such a scenario remains unlikely because neither Israel nor Iran would benefit from full-on conflict. But while Israel is feeling emboldened, Iran is on the defensive.Iran's main interest is self-preservation. It wants to protect its nuclear facilities inside Iran, and its assets in the Middle East, mainly the armed groups it supports, the most valuable of which is Hezbollah. Iran's leadership continues to claim that it neither directed nor was informed about Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October, because they do not want Israel and its allies to target it, or to retaliate in a way that would erode Iran's influence in the region. Continue reading...

Jury to consider testimony related to $130,000 payment from Trump fixer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Plus, Louisiana's flagship university lets oil firms pay to influence its research

Aipac and other groups targeting candidates critical of Israel's war in Gaza - but progressives are not going down without a fightPro-Israel groups are pumping millions into this year's heated congressional races, singling out progressives who have voiced criticism of the Israeli government and its relentless campaign in Gaza.The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) is betting that $100m will be enough to fight back a wave of progressive dissent over Israel's war in Gaza this election cycle. After investing heavily in the 2022 midterms, Aipac is now doubling down on its electoral efforts. Continue reading...

The Toronto Raptors' Jontay Porter was just banned for life for violating betting rules. There will be much more of this to comeOn Wednesday, the NBA announced that Jontay Porter, a center for the Toronto Raptors, was banned from the league for life. An investigation found that the bench player disclosed confidential information to gamblers, exited a match early to influence an over/under" wager on his stat line, and bet on games using a friend's account.Porter's actions shouldn't be trivialized. Sport is an important part of our culture - and fair competition and the integrity of results are essential to it. But the real threat to sports and the livelihoods of billions of fans lies with the leagues, special interests and media outlets integrating addictive gambling with the games we love. The profit-seeking corporate encouragement of this behavior needs to be countered with strict federal regulation before an emerging public health crisis gets even worse.Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of the Nation, founding editor of Jacobin, and author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequalities Continue reading...

The lobby group has been a powerful force in American politics - but has Israel's war in Gaza changed the equation?A handful of pro-Israel groups fund political campaigns in support of individual candidates in US elections, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), a powerful force in American politics. Before the 2024 election, Aipac plans to spend tens of millions of dollars against congressional candidates, primarily Democrats, whom it deems insufficiently supportive of Israel.Aipac and other pro-Israel lobby groups have recruited and supported challengers to a number of lawmakers and candidates - most notably members of the Squad, the group of progressive representatives who are particularly vocal in their criticism of Israel's offensive in Gaza. Continue reading...

It's easy to mock - and I fully intend to - but it takes real imagination to come up with something like Elephant's Breath or Overcome Nymph's ThighRecently, I went on an adventure to an alien and intimidating place, a real no-go area: Belgravia's interiors shops. My best friend is trying to buy a flat and to energise her for this grim journey of owner ghostings, asbestos, incompetent agents and outrageous prices, she needed a bit of escapist fun looking at chi-chi paints.Unfortunately, she brought me: a person with all the visual sensibility of a house brick (Terre D'Egypte? Porphyry Red?). I sat vacant and unhelpful as she discussed nuances of verdigris and celadon, interjecting when something obvious struck me. That one is yellow!" I would say, with toddler-like delight; or, I like that." Mostly I looked at colour charts. Continue reading...