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Funding to the country for its fight against Russia has split Republicans as Trump and Haley take different stancesWhen Donald Trump declared he would allow Russia to do whatever the hell they want" to Nato members who fail to meet funding commitments, world leaders and Democratic lawmakers reacted with shock and alarm. But Douglas Benton, a 70-year-old Republican voter from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was quite pleased.Yes. I'm glad that Trump said we wouldn't back you up if [Russian president Vladimir] Putin decides to take your ass over. We don't care because you didn't pay up," Benton said. If everyone participated, why don't they put some money into the game and give Ukraine some money? Why does it always have to be us?" Continue reading...

My mother plaits camouflage nets for soldiers, and when we try to talk about what's happening in Ukraine we end up shouting

At the high court, lawyers posed the pivotal question: how can exposing crime and torture be worse than committing them?Which is the more serious criminal activity: extrajudicial killings, routine torture of prisoners and illegal renditions carried out by a state, or exposing those actions by publishing illegally leaked details of how, where, when and by whom they were committed?That is essentially the question that was asked this week at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. It has sometimes seemed during the proceedings that the ornate building at the end of Fleet Street, opened by Queen Victoria in 1882, had become more of a theatre than a court. Outside, vast crowds gathered, chanted, listened to speeches, halted traffic and asked passing drivers to hoot their support. Inside, some of the UK's leading barristers, watched by journalists from all over the world, spelled out the plot to packed public galleries in overflow courts. This drama started more than a decade ago, yet only now are we approaching the final act. Continue reading...

As Russia seeks to destroy our way of life, Ukrainian efforts to keep society going should never be taken for grantedA family member who works for the Kyiv ity State Administration, recently told me about a colleague. She is a single mother with a 10-year-old son. After hearing a recent explosion during one of the air raids, she fainted; her son, convinced she had died, knocked on the neighbour's door asking for help at 3am.Two months later, she quit her job at the administration's housing department, which, on top of its regular work, is now reviewing requests for financial compensation from Kyiv residents whose flats were damaged by recent missile attacks. They have two months to provide residents with decisions. They often work from 7am till 11pm, rushing home just before the curfew. Her resignation has taken a toll on the others. Continue reading...

Jason Reitman, Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg among those leading charge to buy the iconic Village theaterThis week, a group of A-list Hollywood directors, including JJ Abrams, Guillermo del Toro, and Gina Prince-Bythewood, took a group photo outside of one of Los Angeles' historic movie theaters.This wasn't an Oscars event. Instead, the directors were announcing they were the new caretakers of the Village Theater in Westwood". Continue reading...

Rebecca Grossman was found guilty of two felony counts and gross vehicular manslaughter for hitting Mark and Jacob IskanderRebecca Grossman, a Los Angeles socialite accused of fatally striking two young brothers crossing the street, was found guilty of murder and other charges on Friday.Prosecutors had said the 60-year-old was impaired and speeding in her Mercedes when she hit brothers Mark Iskander, 11, and Jacob Iskander, 8, at over 70mph. Grossman's defense had argued that what happened was an accident and that the boys were first struck by another car. Continue reading...

Republicans struggle to find a unified response to the state's ruling that threw into question the legal status of human embryosDonald Trump has voiced strong support" for IVF treatments, days after a ruling by the Alabama supreme court threw into question the legal status of human embryos and several providers in the state cut off access to the procedure.The former US president said that under his leadership, the Republican party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families". Continue reading...

Arguments that led to Alabama supreme court ruling that embryos are extrauterine children' similar to Missouri senator's in 2013 caseAnti-abortion arguments made in the recent controversial Alabama supreme court decision, which led to the shut down of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in nearly half of the state's clinics, echo those made by the Republican US senator Josh Hawley.The Missouri lawmaker made similar arguments in 2013 and when he worked on the legal team arguing the Hobby Lobby" case on contraception before the US supreme court. Continue reading...

Payments come after Guardian and other media partners expose labor abuses against migrants including paying recruitment feesAmazon has paid $1.9m to hundreds of current and former workers in the wake of revelations by the Guardian and other media partners about abuses against migrants who labored at the online retail giant's warehouses in Saudi Arabia.Amazon said in a statement that it paid reimbursements to more than 700 migrant workers who had been required to pay recruitment fees and other costs to secure work at the company's distribution centers in Saudi Arabia. In announcing this action, the company said it's committed to fundamental human rights and the dignity of people connected to our business around the world". Amazon said last fall that it employed nearly 1,500 permanent and seasonal workers in Saudi Arabia. Continue reading...

Nationwide services say they will cease transporting embryos in and out of state following court decision deeming them children'Some nationwide embryo shipping services have indicated that they will stop transporting embryos to and from Alabama following the state's recent supreme court decision ruling frozen embryos are children", according to a major infertility association.In the week since the ruling, IVF clinics, auxiliary services and patients have grappled with whether they are able to legally operate. While the court's decision recognized embryos as children", it did not specify how existing embryos should be handled. Continue reading...

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Born in 1908, Ceccarelli loved to dance and died a little over two weeks after her hometown threw her a huge birthday partyEdie Ceccarelli, who was the oldest person in the US and the second oldest person on Earth, died on Thursday.Ceccarelli died a little over two weeks after her home town - the small, redwood-crested northern California town of Willits - threw her a huge birthday bash, as is their yearly tradition. Continue reading...

Alabama's supreme court ruling that frozen embryos are children' is a chilling example of the Republican party's extremismIn a case centering on wrongful-death claims for frozen embryos that were accidentally destroyed at a fertility clinic, the Alabama supreme court ruled last Friday that frozen embryos are children" under state law.As a result, several Alabama in-vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics are ceasing services, afraid to store or destroy any embryos. Continue reading...

Commission says Save America Joint Fundraising Committee evaded campaign finance laws in effort to oust Trump foeDonald Trump's legal woes continue in Wisconsin, where the state's ethics commission has recommended felony charges against Trump's Save America Joint Fundraising Committee for its alleged role in a plot to bypass campaign finance limits.Trump is already facing 91 felony charges in criminal cases across multiple states related to his political and business dealings. The newest allegations in Wisconsin were first reported on Friday by the news site WisPolitics. Continue reading...

The brutal toll of Russia's invasion is more evident than ever. Kyiv needs supportAs Ukraine wakes up to the second anniversary of Russia's invasion, exhaustion is setting in. A year ago, there was still cautious optimism about the counteroffensive. But hopes of a breakthrough were dashed and Russia's capture of the eastern city of Avdiivka last week was its biggest gain since the capture of Bakhmut last May.Ukrainians are not giving up. But this grinding war is wearing down troops at the front, civilians at home and their leaders. The mood of national unity has given way to a more complicated resolve. Those who have served on the frontlines, or who have lost loved ones there, may have mixed feelings about life going on elsewhere in the country. Volodymyr Zelenskiy's sacking of his top commander, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, highlighted tensions at the top. Continue reading...

British foreign secretary argues blockage of $61bn aid package in Congress strengthens China and undermines confidence in USDavid Cameron has said that the continued US failure to supply arms to Ukraine would undermine its own security, strengthen China and cast doubt on America's reliability as an ally around the world.The UK foreign secretary, who attended the G20 meeting in Brazil earlier in the week, admitted that the effort to rally global support for the Ukrainian cause had been damaged" by the fact that neither the US nor the UK had voted for a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. But he argued the damage had been mitigated by the UK's clarification of its position. Continue reading...

The desire to avert catastrophe in Rafah has given fresh impetus to talks in Paris - and a plan that could lead to peaceBoth sides in the war between Israel and Hamas now face a fresh set of fateful choices. The decisions they take in the next two weeks are not only a matter of life and death for many thousands of Palestinians, and for the remaining 134 hostages held by Hamas. They also have the power to shape events for years, if not decades to come. The start of Ramadan, on 10 March, is the crucial deadline, and the clock is ticking.I say both sides", though that can easily get forgotten. The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has been so relentless, the destruction so intense and the death toll so high, that many stopped seeing it as a war long ago. It was striking how often in Wednesday's Commons debate on Gaza, before it descended into chaos, the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, had to remind colleagues that they could not simply issue a demand that Israel stop, because a ceasefire, by necessity, means both sides."Jonathan Freedland 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...

Paul David Carpenter says he was paid by consultant for Democrat Dean Phillips to mimic Biden's voice in New Hampshire primaryA magician in New Orleans says he was the person who used artificial intelligence to create an audio recording of Joe Biden used in an infamous robocall and that he was paid by a consultant for the president's primary challenger, Dean Phillips.NBC News reported Paul David Carpenter, who holds several world records and also works as a hypnotist, provided it with text messages, call logs and payment documentation to back up his claims. Continue reading...

The ex-president told the National Religious Broadcasters that the greatest threat' to the US is people from within our country'Donald Trump told a warmly receptive gathering of religious broadcasters on Thursday that it's the people from within our country that are more dangerous than the people outside", in his latest effort to mobilize Christian fundamentalists who have swung dramatically behind him in recent years.Trump's speech in Nashville, Tennessee, to the National Religious Broadcasters presidential forum gala offered him a chance to pitch himself to hundreds of Christian media figures whose approval - and willingness to carry his message on air - could drive huge turnout in November. Continue reading...

Sandra Young was in high school when she disappeared in 1968 or 1969, state police said after using advanced DNA technology testsThe remains of a teenager found more than 50 years ago have been identified through advanced DNA technology as a young woman who went missing from Portland, Oregon state police said.The remains are that of Sandra Young, a high school student who disappeared in 1968 or 1969, police said on Thursday in a news release. Continue reading...

A high court judge has ruled to allow the 1.7bn Stonehenge tunnel - and robbed motorists of a precious glimpse of something ancientThe most exhilarating view in Britain is to be abolished. A high court judge this week brought a 30-year battle over Stonehenge to a conclusion by allowing the building of a tunnel to bypass it. Despite opposition from campaigners, archaeologists, planning inspectors and Unesco, the spectacle of one of the most famous prehistoric structures in the world will in future be confined to fee-paying visitors and a few enterprising ramblers.So far the battle has been between English Heritage (EH), which manages Stonehenge for the crown, and archaeologists eager to preserve Neolithic remains on the surrounding downs. It is EH's most popular destination, with almost a million visitors a year paying 23 to see the stones and 61 for a stone circle experience", which allows them to wander among them. EH's plan is to enhance this experience by removing the sight of traffic on the road below the monument. The new tunnel, a major intrusion into the Wiltshire countryside, will cost a staggering 1.7bn. Continue reading...

The former ambassador to the UN is defying calls for her to drop out as she campaigns in South Carolina, where she was once governor ahead of Saturday's voteStanding before a large crowd outside a waterfront hotel in Georgetown, Nikki Haley confronted the question that many Republicans in her sweet" home state of South Carolina - and across the country - have asked: why is she still running for president?I don't care about a political future. If I did, I would have been out by now," she said. I'm doing this for my kids. I'm doing this for your kids and your grandkids." Continue reading...

Only a Europe truly able to defend itself can break its dependence on a US whose policies damage its securityTwo years into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, warnings of war between Russia and the west have reached fever pitch in Europe and Britain. The explicit intention of these warnings is to create public support for massive spending on rearmament, on the old principle of scare the hell out of them".The goal of European rearmament is laudable; the arguments being used to bring it about are not. As long as the war in Ukraine continues, there is a real risk that Nato and Russia will stumble into war as the result of some unintended clash. But the chances that this will come about as the result of a premeditated Russian invasion of a Nato country are minimal.Anatol Lieven is the director of the Eurasia programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible StatecraftDo 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...

Intuitive Machines' spacecraft Odysseus lands after a 73-minute descent, touching down near moon's south pole. Plus, how Finland halved its suicide rate

Former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley makes a stand on home turf against former boss Donald TrumpSouth Carolina Republicans will pick their candidate for president Saturday in the first in the South" primary. Former president Donald Trump faces his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, on her home turf in a state that makes or breaks Republican candidacies. Haley has outlasted Trump's other primary competitors and will make a stand in the state she served as governor for six years, but polling suggests she's likely to be blown out.South Carolina's Democrats voted two weeks ago, giving president Joe Biden 96% of their votes in what increasingly appears to be a coronation parade to the nomination. Continue reading...

How can these talks drag on for so long? Is it because no one in the room has a child being held captive?

Regulator charges Tyler Loudon with insider trading in case that could fuel arguments about working from home Business live - latest updatesUS regulators have accused a man of making $1.8m (1.4m) by trading on confidential information he overheard while his wife was on a remote call, in a case that could fuel arguments against working from home.The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it charged Tyler Loudon with insider trading after he took advantage of his remote working conditions" and profited from private information related to the oil firm BP's plans to buy an Ohio-based travel centre and truck-stop business last year. Continue reading...

Democratic congressman Dan Goldman names GOP leaders in calling for investigation into handling of Smirnov allegations in Biden inquiryRepublican ineptitude" in attempts to impeach Joe Biden left the party embarrassed when a key source was revealed this week not only to have lied to the FBI but to have links to Russian intelligence, a leading House Democrat has said.It demonstrates chairman Comer and chairman Jordan's ineptitude in dealing with an investigation that is really designed as a political ploy to help Donald Trump," said Dan Goldman of New York. Continue reading...

Ex-Democratic congresswoman praised Trump and turned on former friend Biden, saying he would crumble' under pressureOnce a prominent supporter of leftwing senator Bernie Sanders, on Thursday she was greeted by far right activists with a standing ovation and a group of supporters brandishing gold letters that spelled T-R-U-M-P.Such is the journey of Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate who has an entire Wikipedia page devoted to her political positions" and is now seen as a possible running mate for Donald Trump. Continue reading...

About 228m bets placed on Super Bowl LVIII were on illegal platforms despite legalization, according to a new analysisThis month's Super Bowl, in the neon glare of the Las Vegas Strip, capped online betting's extraordinary rise from pariah to the luxury box of top-flight sports. Tens of millions of Americans had money riding on the Kansas City Chiefs' clash with the San Francisco 49ers.In its fight to overturn a federal ban on sports betting, legalization's supporters argued it would critically weaken" illegal gambling platforms across the United States. And yet almost two in three wagers placed on Super Bowl LVIII were illegal, according to one estimate shared with the Guardian. Continue reading...

As a warming world creates an existential threat for the ski industry, resorts are reducing how much energy they need to make it snowTrudging across the top of Bromley Mountain Ski Resort on a sunny afternoon in January, Matt Folts checks his smartwatch and smiles: 14 degrees fahrenheit. That is very nearly his favorite temperature for making snow. It's cold enough for water to quickly crystallize, but not so cold that his hourslong shifts on the mountain are miserable.Folts is the head snowmaker at Bromley, a small ski area on the southern end of Vermont's Green Mountains. The burly 35-year-old sports a handlebar moustache, an orange safety jacket, and thick winter boots that crunch in the snow as he walks. A blue hammer swings from his belt. Continue reading...

Twenty-five years ago, the Channel 4 drama revolutionised what it meant to be gay in the UK - mostly for the betterWhen Queer As Folk was first broadcast on Channel 4, 25 years ago this week, I knew immediately that I was witnessing something momentous. The first episode famously featured graphic images of rimming. Sexy and shameless, the series went on to show drug use, pornography and endless copping off". This was accompanied by a jolly theme tune, an uplifting soundtrack and a lot of humour - much of it directed at straight people. It was clearly unlike anything I'd seen on TV before. What I couldn't have realised is that it would change everything for gay men in the UK.Queer As Folk, written by Russell T Davies, told the story of two gay best friends and their wider circle - including families and found families, boyfriends and casual sexual partners - as they romped through a series of adventures on and around Manchester's Canal Street. As this had been the setting for my own sexual awakening just a few years earlier - like the character Nathan, as a schoolboy travelling in from the suburbs - for me it carried an extra charge.Matt Cain's latest novel, One Love, is out now Continue reading...

Every concert now features an auction to support the army. Two years into the invasion, they have become ever more inventive, surreal - and personalDay 636 of the full-scale invasion. Kyiv, the House of Cinema, the venue for many premieres of films that have become classics. I am on the stage in front of a packed house. Today's bill features the rock artist Anton Slepakov, who together with musician Andrii Sokolov has been keeping a poetic diary of the invasion. Now, they're presenting a full-length recording of the album and have invited friends to share the stage with them.Oleksandr Serdyuk, also known as Koulman, is one of them. Comedian, director, artistic director of the Horobchyk (Sparrow") Theatre of the Absurd - and now a professional auctioneer. In 2023, Koulman conducted more than 150 auctions. Since the invasion, there has been an charity auction at every concert, show or cultural event to raise money for our armed forces. Continue reading...

Prosecutors had accused Trump of keeping documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that included information about the US nuclear programLawyers for Donald Trump have asked a federal judge to throw out the indictment charging him with retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club on grounds of presidential immunity, claiming they were his to keep because he designated them personal records while he was president.The decision to designate the documents as personal records under the Presidential Records Act meant it was an official act of his presidency for which he could not face prosecution, his lawyers wrote in the 22-page filing. Continue reading...

US to impose over 500 new sanctions on Russia after Navalny, main opposition leader to Putin, died after being imprisoned by KremlinJoe Biden met with Alexei Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, and the activist's daughter, Dasha Navalnaya, in California on Thursday.Navalny, the main opposition leader to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic penal colony last Friday after being imprisoned by the Kremlin. Continue reading...

Hawking a book to many empty seats, former UK prime minister spoke at Maryland's Conservative Political Action ConferenceLiz Truss, the former British prime minister, has made a fresh bid for political relevance by addressing a far-right conference in the US, railing against Joe Biden, transgender rights and a so-called leftwing-run deep state.Truss was greeted by gentle applause and dozens of empty seats when she walked on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference at the National Harbor in Maryland. CPAC styles itself as the biggest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world but is now widely seen as a glorified Donald Trump campaign rally, drawing speakers only from the populist right of the Republican party. Continue reading...

Alexander Smirnov, who claims to have Russian intelligence links, taken into custody after meeting at lawyers' offices in Las VegasThe former FBI informant who is charged with lying about a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving Joe Biden's family was again taken into custody in Las Vegas, two days after a judge released him, his attorneys said.Alexander Smirnov was arrested during a meeting on Thursday morning at his lawyers' offices in downtown Las Vegas. The arrest came after prosecutors appealed the judge's ruling allowing 43-year-old Smirnov, who holds dual US-Israeli citizenship, to be released with a GPS monitor ahead of trial. He is charged with making a false statement and creating a false and fictitious record. Continue reading...

Pramila Jayapal and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accuse president of behaving like Trump, saying we must not buckle on our principles'Progressive lawmakers and advocates on Thursday pushed back strongly against Joe Biden amid reports that the White House is weighing unilateral action to sharply restrict access to claim asylum at the US-Mexico border - comparing the move to the hardline strategies of Donald Trump when he was president.The leading progressive congressional representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jayapal criticized the US president for considering such executive action, while legislative efforts are stalled on Capitol Hill amid Republican resistance, after CNN first reported that Biden was considering the unilateral move. Continue reading...

The independent candidate for president fronted a night of laughter' with Rob Schneider and others - were voters amused?Inside the Million Dollar Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday night, comedians cracked jokes about wokeness, the scamdemic", Joe Biden's age and stumbles - and Robert F Kennedy Jr made his pitch, of sorts, to voters.The 70-year-old, a member of the Kennedy political dynasty, with a long history of promoting conspiracy theories and vaccine skepticism, is running for president as an independent. Recent polling from Quinnipiac projected that in a race involving Biden and Trump, Kennedy, who has pledged to end the forever wars, clean up government [and] increase wealth for all", could receive as much as 15% of the vote. Continue reading...

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Some analysts predict market could reach $100bn a year by end of decade with Eli Lilly and Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk leadingThe widespread use of powerful, relatively new weight-loss drugs in the United States could boost gross domestic product by 1% in the coming years as lower obesity-related health complications are likely to boost workplace efficiency, according to financial giant Goldman Sachs.Some analysts have predicted the market for weight-loss drugs could reach $100bn a year by the end of the decade, with Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk and Mounjaro producer Eli Lilly leading the race. Continue reading...

Millions are displaced and starving as two generals fight for power and other countries pursue their own interestsEven before a communications blackout hit Sudan two weeks ago, few were watching a war that has killed thousands of people and displaced more - almost 8million - than any other current conflict. It's not a forgotten crisis. It's a wholly ignored crisis," Kitty van der Heijden of Unicef told a meeting at the Munich Security Conference last week.Eighteen million people in Sudan are acutely food insecure, and around 3.8 million children are malnourished. At the Zamzam camp in Darfur, a child dies every two hours. There have been widespread atrocities including massacres and sexual violence. JanEgeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, warns that textbook ethnic cleansing" in Darfur - by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allied Arab militias - has forced almost 700,000 to flee. Yet while the region's genocidal violence became a global cause two decades ago, it barely registers now.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...