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Putin claims to embody faith and family values only to manipulate ordinary Russians. But Alexei truly lived by them

Trump and Biden pick up most delegates of any state in key win; Haley notches up surprise victory by beating Trump in Vermont

Neither Biden nor Trump have secured the nomination of their respective parties, but both are likely to do so within the next two weeks

As Africa's first elected female head, I know the barriers we face. But this could be a pivotal year if we can rise to the challengeThis year, the citizens of more than 60 countries, representing nearly half of the global population, will go to the polls, making 2024 the biggest election year the world has ever seen. A democratic mechanism of that magnitude will have a far-reaching impact on billions of citizens.Municipal, national and presidential elections take on an even more crucial significance given the scale of global challenges - from conflicts and famine to the climate crisis, gender-based violence and terrorism. Continue reading...

As the world burns, the ultra-wealthy are spending like there's no tomorrow - and they've stopped trying to hide itThey say money can't buy you love, but it can certainly buy you one hell of a pre-wedding. The world's one percenters are currently nursing their hangovers after three ostentatious days in India spent celebrating the upcoming nuptials of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia's richest man.The event, which reportedly cost $120m, was an ode to excess: there was a nine-page dress code, a private concert by Rihanna, and a feast which even Nero might have thought a little over the top. Continue reading...

Here's what we learned as more than a dozen states cast ballotsThe sleepy US presidential primary continued on, with more than a dozen states turning out to cast ballots on Super Tuesday.President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump dominated yet again, all but ending the primary season, though some states still have to go to the polls. Voters have stayed home or tuned out, waiting until later in the year to show their enthusiasm. Continue reading...

Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after romping to victory in Super Tuesday states across the US, former US president Donald Trump marked down 5 November as 'the single most important day in the history of our country'. Doubling down on his nativist messaging and criticising Joe Biden over his border policies, Trump said America's cities are 'choking to death'. With both Trump and Joe Biden scoring wins and dominating Super Tuesday, a November rematch between the pair is looking increasingly likely

Palmer, who hails from Baltimore, took on the president in what some might say was an uneven match, but won four delegates to Joe Biden's two

Trump, Nikki Haley and Ryan Binkley are the remaining Republican hopefuls seeking to best Joe Biden or one of his long-shot challengers in the 2024 election

Mark Robinson, who has history of making inflammatory comments, will face Democrat Josh Stein, in what's expected to be a close race in November

Congressman fails against Biden in Democratic primary, capping string of poor showings, as questions swirl over fate of candidacy

The former president's bigotry isn't a deterrent for a small sector of Black conservativesLast month, in a room full of Washington's most prominent Black conservatives, Donald Trump declared that Black voters are drawn to him because of his criminal indictments and mugshot.Democrats quickly denounced his comments as racist". But some Black Republicans have defended Trump, claiming that life was better four years ago under his administration" because of certain initiatives during his presidency that were geared towards Black communities. Continue reading...

Scheme was critical part of anti-democratic effort to overturn 2020 election and is now at center of two criminal cases against TrumpKenneth Chesebro was eager to help.It was five days after the 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden was projected to defeat Donald Trump and win Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes. Trump's campaign was requesting a recount. Chesebro, a little-known Harvard-educated lawyer, believed there were abnormalities in the election and emailed Jim Troupis, a friend and former Wisconsin judge, to offer to help with any of the campaign's legal efforts. Continue reading...

Eighteen-count indictment adds to corruption charges New Jersey Democrat already facedSenator Bob Menendez and his wife were charged with obstruction of justice in a new, 18-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday, adding to corruption charges the New Jersey Democrat already faces.Menendez has pleaded not guilty to earlier charges of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen to impede law enforcement investigations they faced, and illegally acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. Continue reading...

Sinema won in 2018 as a Democrat and was first non-Republican to win a Senate seat for Arizona since 1994Kyrsten Sinema, the former Democrat from Arizona who is an independent in the US Senate, said on Tuesday she would not run for re-election this year.I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we've delivered," Sinema said in a video posted to social media. Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year." Continue reading...

Up to 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed and two people killed in state's northern Panhandle areaRain and snow are expected in parts of the Texas Panhandle area starting Thursday, bringing possible respite to the Lone Star state as firefighters continue to battle the largest wildfire in its history.Up to 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed by the flames as of Monday, and two people have died: Cindy Owen, 44, and Joyce Blankenship, 83. Thousands of cattle have also either been killed or euthanized after being injured in the wildfires. Continue reading...

Co-owner Chris Carley asked for opening bids above $3,000 on eBay, reportedly aiming for $10,000 towards a renovationMore than 15 years after the cliffhanger final scene of The Sopranos screened in 2007, the classic American diner booth where it was filmed was sold at auction for a price that eventually cranked up to $82,600.The TV mob drama, which the Guardian once described as the most masterful show ever", memorably saw the patriarch character Tony Soprano and his family sit in that booth in a New Jersey diner in the final scene of the series. Continue reading...

Three-judge panel blocks Ron DeSantis's 2022 act banning employers from mandatory diversity training in scathing rulingIn countless campaign appearances during his futile pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination, Florida's rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, celebrated his state as the place woke goes to die".Now, by virtue of a federal appeals court ruling that skewers a centerpiece of his anti-diversity and inclusion agenda, Florida resembles a place where anti-woke legislation goes to die. Continue reading...

Crackdown led by Governor Ron DeSantis comes after 2023 saw two deadly shootings, 488 arrests and 230 people charged with feloniesFlorida's rightwing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, will deploy state troops to help with crowd control during the spring break season, warning that the Sunshine state will not tolerate lawlessness".About 140 state troopers will be sent across Florida to assist 17 law enforcement agencies, as thousands of college students make their way en masse to popular spring break destinations, the Miami Herald reported. Continue reading...

If the will is there, so too is the potential for unions to transform working conditions in the multibillion world of college sportsThe only way things will change is if the players leverage their value to implement their interests. The only way this changes is the creation of a college football player's association." That's what one former player told us about how to solve the problem of exploitation in college football in our forthcoming book The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game.Since we had that conversation, members of the men's basketball team at Dartmouth College have followed the exhortation of National Labor Relations Board general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in her September 2021 memo to petition to form a union, and on Tuesday they voted to by a count of 13-2 in an election held on the school's campus in Hanover, New Hampshire. While there likely remains a long and murky road ahead before the question of Dartmouth basketball's unionization bid is resolved - including a potential appeal to federal court - what remains apparent is that college athletes require unionization to defend their working conditions and that they clearly want it.Nathan Kalman-Lamb is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick. Derek Silva is Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at King's University College at Western University. They are co-authors of The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game and co-hosts (with Johanna Mellis) of The End of Sport podcast. Continue reading...

The Biden administration is gradually turning up the volume, but Israel's prime minister is ignoring it. Airdrops are just a gestureThe cogs of US diplomacy are grinding. But they are turning neither far nor fast, and the people of Gaza are dying now. The World Health Organization says starvation is killing children in the north. The UN has warned that over a quarter of the territory's populationare one step away from famine.In this context, the US airdrops that began last weekend offer such trivial relief that they verge upon the insulting. They are usually a last resort for delivery into hostile environments; this time the impediment to aid is a US ally that is itself dependent on US aid. Continue reading...

Voters have cast ballots in Iowa and New Hampshire. Here are the upcoming primaries, caucuses and debates to watchThe 2024 election season has officially begun in a year that will see US voters choose the next president and determine which party holds the House and Senate.Voting kicked off in Iowa on 15 January, where Republican voters handed Trump a landslide victory over Niki Haley and Ron DeSantis. In New Hampshire, Trump again beat Haley; meanwhile in the Democratic race, Joe Biden won the primary - despite his name not being on the ballot. Haley lost to none of the candidates' in Nevada's 7 Feb primary. Next up is a caucus in Nevada on 6 February. Continue reading...

Trump described himself as very honored' by the court's recent ruling. His sudden adoration might not be misplacedOn Monday, the US supreme court unanimously overturned the Colorado supreme court's decision to remove Trump from the Republican primary ballot. The highest court in the land predictably concluded that the insurrection clause" of the 14 amendment did not authorize state enforcement with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency".A contrary ruling would have been a recipe for chaos, and, worse still, would have done nothing to safeguard the nation from a potential Trump victory in November. I say this because presumably the only states that might have barred Trump from their ballot would have been those of the solidly blue variety - states Trump was going to lose anyway. And given that Republicans, particularly of the Maga-stripe, are masters of the politics of retaliation and escalation, we would have witnessed red states clamoring to remove Biden from their ballots. The result would have been an election precisely to Trump's liking - one without democratic legitimacy.Lawrence Douglas is the author, most recently, of Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. He is a contributing opinion writer for the Guardian US and teaches at Amherst College Continue reading...

James Crumbley accused of failing to take steps to prevent son Ethan Crumbley from killing four studentsA man who purchased a gun with his son four days before a Michigan school shooting is headed to trial, accused of failing to take steps that could have prevented the teen from killing four students and wounding others.No one says James Crumbley knew what Ethan Crumbley planned to do at Oxford high school on 30 November 2021. But prosecutors allege that his gross negligence" was a cause of the violence. Continue reading...

Victims yet to be named after single-engine aircraft from Kentucky crashes near highway on Monday eveningFive people died when a small single-engine airplane crashed on the side of Interstate 40 in West Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday evening.The single-engine crash was reported at 7.44pm local time on Monday between the Nashville West Shopping Center and the interstate highway. The Metropolitan Nashville police department confirmed in updates posted on X (formerly Twitter) that five people died in the crash. Continue reading...

I was terrified I'd do the wrong thing when a woman began gasping for air on the London underground. But doing nothing was not an optionWhen I was nine, my oldest friend nearly choked to death on a gobstopper. We had snuck out of my back garden to get sweets, a girl gang of four, hopping over a low wall and armed with enough pennies for at least one treat each. In the end, probably copying each other, we had bought gobstoppers - white terrazzo boiled sweets with a chewing-gum centre that took plenty of licking to get to. We were having an excellent time until, halfway home, my friend started to cough - and then choke.Her face went red, her eyes looked panicked and she started to wheeze. We called for help, but no one was around, apart from some boys we had made fun of on the way to the corner shop. They ignored our cries. Eventually, after we rammed her on the back a few times, she coughed up the monstrous thing into a pot plant. I haven't had a gobstopper since and I have carried with me a fear of watching someone choke again. Sadly, as I discovered this week, lightning can strike twice.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...

State law that would arrest people who cross the border unlawfully placed on hold as court considers caseTexas's plans to arrest people who enter the US illegally and order them to leave the country is headed to the supreme court in a legal showdown over the federal government's authority over immigration.An order issued Monday by Justice Samuel Alito puts the new Texas law on hold for at least next week while the high court considers what opponents have called the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since an Arizona law more than a decade ago. Continue reading...

The enforcer' role had looked like it was slowly being eliminated from professional hockey. Then a hulking New York Rangers rookie emergedNear the start of the third period on Saturday night in Toronto, it finally - and inevitably - happened. Leafs' tough guy Ryan Reaves squared-off at centre ice with Matt Rempe, the hulking New York Rangers rookie. Rempe, a 6ft 7in, 240lbs centre, has one goal and one assist in his first seven games in the NHL. He also has 37 penalty minutes, five more than he's spent actually playing on the ice. He's what most people would call an enforcer" - a role that in recent years has been more or less phased-out of the NHL. That's not to say there aren't guys around still who are willing to drop the gloves or play a more physical than finesse game - every team has at least one. But what Rempe is doing is different.Rempe has, so far, spent most of his time fighting. This kind of thing hasn't been seen in the NHL for years for a few reasons. For one, guys were dying. The off-ice deaths of enforcers Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak, and Rick Rypien within just months of each other in 2011 were a catalyst for change. In the years since, the case against the so-called goon" has strengthened. Multiple studies have, for instance, linked fighting to CTE - even though the NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, still disputes the link. But there was another change in hockey around the same time: analytics. In recent years, every player and prospect has become subject to intense data-based analysis, and teams search endlessly for quantifiable metrics - alongside human scouting reports - to chart a path to victory. An enforcer doesn't easily fit within this new matrix. They rarely generate points and they typically don't skate well or quickly enough, let alone create things like consistent successful zone entries. Continue reading...

The driver of a tractor-trailer dangling precariously over the side of a bridge in Kentucky was rescued by a firefighter who abseiled down to reach her. Three other cars were involved in the crash at the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge between Louisville in Kentucky and southern Indiana, and two people were taken to hospital, Louisville metro police said

Educators shared their concerns with the Guardian about a deepening culture-war agenda fought over race and genderAn alliance of Indiana teacher unions has called for the removal of a website encouraging parents to report teaching material they perceive as indoctrination, saying it is dividing parents and teachers.The state attorney general Todd Rokita launched the Eyes on Education portal earlier this month, prompting criticism from educators for hosting outdated and inaccurate information. Continue reading...

Amid a nationwide housing crisis, residents say 262 Fifth Avenue - a batch of condos for the wealthiest - is ruining the view downtownTom Clark's Lower East Side apartment comes with a prime view of the Empire State Building. I can see it from my couch," he said. Well, he used to be able to catch a glance - before an ultra-thin luxury tower dubbed 262 Fifth Avenue came along.Now the 860ft residential tower, which is still under construction, blocks the Empire State Building from most vantage points south of 28th street. Many New Yorkers (and tourists) can no longer catch a glimpse of the celebrated landmark, all because of some poorly placed - and incredibly expensive - condos. Continue reading...

Interviews with released hostages suggest abuses are continuing in Gaza, a UN report says. Plus, Trump all but certain of Republican nomination on Super TuesdayGood morning.The UN's special envoy on sexual violence in conflict has said there is clear and convincing information" that some of the women and children held hostage by Hamas had been subjected to rape and sexualised torture.Why didn't they speak to sexual violence survivors of the 7 October attacks? Patten said some were undergoing trauma therapy, others had relocated and some first-responder witnesses had been deployed in the army.What about allegations of sexual assault of Palestinians in Israeli detention camps? There were allegations of assault, including invasive body searches, according to the report, though none of rape.Why is Biden facing protest votes? The Democratic Socialists of America have backed a campaign for Super Tuesday voters to pick uncommitted" in order to express their anger over the White House's support for Israel. In Michigan last week, more than 100,000 voted uncommitted. Continue reading...

A window for loan forgiveness just opened. But if the Biden administration moves too slowly, Republicans will slam it shutLast week, the Washington Post reported that President Biden recently pressed Jeff Zients, his chief of staff, on the issue of student debt cancellation, telling him to make sure his team was making the relief as expansive as possible".That's good news for tens of millions of borrowers. But expansive relief will not be delivered if the administration fails to learn the lessons from round one of the cancellation battle: speed and conviction matter.Astra Taylor is a writer, organizer and documentary maker and a co-founder of the Debt CollectiveEleni Schirmer, a writer and postdoctoral fellow at the Concordia University Social Justice Centre in Montreal, is part of the Debt Collective Continue reading...

Conservatives who used to rail against rulings that freed criminal suspects on technicalities now say the question of Trump's guilt doesn't affect whether he can be presidentDonald Trump may be the only person about whom prominent conservatives think innocence is irrelevant. Voters in many states filed lawsuits arguing that Trump was constitutionally disqualified from the presidency, under section 3 of the 14th amendment, having committed treason against the United States when resisting by force the peaceful transfer of presidential power. The Colorado supreme court agreed. Trump and his lawyers responded by waving numerous constitutional technicalities that they claimed exempted traitors from constitutional disqualification, while barely making any effort to refute charges that the former president committed treason on 6 January 2021.On Monday, all nine justices on the US supreme court agreed that Donald Trump should remain on the presidential ballot even if he is, in the words of Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, an oathbreaking insurrectionist". No one challenged that finding. Continue reading...

Here's what to expect as 16 US states and one US territory will head to the polls to cast ballots in presidential primariesVoters in 16 US states and one US territory will head to the polls on Tuesday to cast ballots in presidential primaries, as the country once again observes the quadrennial tradition of Super Tuesday".In past election cycles, Super Tuesday has provided a clear indication of which candidates will win their parties' presidential nominations. In 2020, for example, Joe Biden brought Bernie Sanders' march to the Democratic nomination to a crashing halt after he won 10 of the Super Tuesday states. Biden went on to become the Democratic nominee and later won the general election against Donald Trump. Continue reading...

St Louis group wished to donate money from bracelet sale to children's relief fund but Girl Scouts said it could make political statementAt the height of cookie season, a time when Girl Scouts across America fundraise by selling their famous Thin Mints, Caramel deLites and shortbread, one troop in Missouri wasn't in the mood.Instead, the eight girls of Troop 149 decided to make and sell bracelets, and donate the proceeds to a cause they felt was more urgent than their own: the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. As the violent siege in Gaza rages on with more than 30,000 killed, many of whom are children, troop leader Nawal Abuhamdeh agreed to the girls' wishes. Continue reading...

An intercepted meeting on sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine suggests the west is on the brink of a risky and futile escalationThe German armed forces are mad. The leaking by Moscow of a 38-minute discussion between the head of the Luftwaffe and senior officers on sending Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine suggests that Nato's will not to escalate the current war is weakening. The meeting, reportedly held on an unencrypted line, had all the secrecy of a teenage groupchat. It boosted Vladimir Putin's claim that this is a war of the west against Russia, with Ukraine as mere proxy.The west's justified objective in Ukraine was to help foil Putin's attempt to topple Kyiv's elected government. This was achieved in a matter of months, thanks to the Ukrainian army, with western logistical support. At no point did Nato risk that timeworn precursor of so many past European wars, the reckless escalation of a local conflict into a continent-wide one.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Chain of private members' clubs under pressure as it reports full-year results this week, with some claiming rapid expansion has robbed it of its exclusivityThere is a Soho House meme account on Instagram with 128,000 followers. Among its recent posts are ones lampooning the exclusive private members' club for supposed frat boy behaviour and a video with the caption: Love it when 200 leaves my bank account then I'm told to wait four hours for a table at 3pm."It has hit a nerve with some members and investors worldwide. It's like this every time, every time I come," says Zach, an every house" member, which means he can access all of the 42 houses across the world for 2,920 a year. You can never get a table, it takes ages to get served, and you're paying a lot for the privilege of being a member. I don't really know what the point is any more. It doesn't feel special, I don't feel special." Continue reading...

Shooting on Sunday evening at outdoor gathering in King City left four dead and seven others injured, police sayPolice are offering a $20,000 reward for information on a shooting that took place on Sunday evening when a group of masked men pulled up to an outdoor birthday party in central California and opened fire, killing at least four.Officers responded to a reported shooting at about 6pm in King City, California, about 106 miles south of San Jose, and found three men with gunshot wounds who were pronounced dead in a front yard, the King City police department said. A total of 11 people were hit by gunfire. Continue reading...

The club owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney is leading the push to bring free-to-air EFL matches to the USEvery sport today, from cricket to padel, wants to crack America. Soccer is already a major cultural force across the US, but its incursion into the American sporting psyche has been led by MLS and the top leagues of Europe, the English Premier League in particular. If you're a club battling away in the English Football League Two, how exactly do you stand out to the median US soccer fan? What place does a midweek cup fixture between Accrington Stanley and the Fulham Under-21s have in a footballing world of volcanically hyped top-flight matchups and potential super leagues?One solution for a lower league club fighting for international attention might be to get bought by Hollywood celebrities and launch a slickly produced, multi-season documentary about the club's quest for promotion through the lower tiers of British football on a popular US cable network. That, of course, is the solution that Wrexham famously devised to build its following among the American public, with the third season of Welcome to Wrexham set to premiere in the US on 18 April. Now the Welsh club, owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and currently sitting third in League Two, wants to build on its recent successes to help all 72 clubs across the three tiers of the English Football League gain a foothold in the American market. Continue reading...

Proposals would stiffen state's lax funeral home laws after series of gruesome cases, from sold body parts to fake ashesAfter nearly 200 bodies were found stacked and rotting in a Colorado funeral home, lawmakers have proposed bills to overhaul the state's threadbare funeral home regulations, which failed to prevent a string of gruesome cases - from sold body parts to fake ashes.The cases have shattered hundreds of families. Many learned that their loved ones' remains were not in the ashes they ceremonially spread or held tight for years but were instead decaying in a building or, in one case, the back of hearse. Continue reading...

With the presidential nominees all but assured, the celebrated ritual lacks suspense - but election could be the worst in modern history'Microphone in hand, Nikki Haley was delivering a well-rehearsed stump speech when a primal cry came from the audience. He cannot win a general election!" yelled a man, referring to Donald Trump and the ex-president's chance against Joe Biden. It is madness!"Haley supporters at a campaign rally in a tiny Washington hotel on Friday signaled their agreement. But they are in a distinct minority within the Republican party as the biggest day of this year's primary election campaign approaches. Continue reading...

Officials at Cairo talks say list is first step in truce deal as militant group demands aid into GazaEgyptian and Qatari officials are putting pressure on Hamas negotiators in Cairo to produce a list of hostages to be released as the first step in a phased ceasefire agreement with Israel, according to officials familiar with the talks.Israel has not sent a delegation to the second day of talks in Cairo, demanding that Hamas present a list of 40 elderly, sick and female hostages who would be the first to be released as part of a truce that would initially last six weeks, beginning with the month of Ramadan, the officials say. Continue reading...

Court's decision clears way for ex-president to appear on primary ballot in all states

This live blog is now closed. Read our latest full reports on the Israel-Gaza war and Donald Trump below:

Winter storm warning remains in effect through Wednesday morning with up to 12in more snow expected in the regionForecasters are warning that more snow is on the way for northern California mountains after a powerful blizzard that closed highways and ski resorts over the weekend had mostly moved through the Sierra Nevada by early Monday.The storm began barreling into the region on Thursday. A widespread blizzard warning through Sunday morning covered a 300-mile stretch of the mountains. Fierce winds - with gusts that reached up to 145mph in some areas - ripped down trees and power lines leaving residents in the dark. Continue reading...

Planes drop fire retardant on blazes that have destroyed up to 500 homes and businesses but weather change may offer some respiteFirefighters in Texas are battling strong winds and warm temperatures as they work to stop the largest wildfire in state history.The large Smokehouse Creek fire was 15% contained and two other fires were 60% contained. Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes.The Associated Press contributed to this story Continue reading...