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Updated 2025-09-14 08:45
North Carolina GOP lawmakers override veto to strip power from Democratic officials
Republicans tuck new law into relief bill for Hurricane Helene as they attempt to shift state government controlOn the brink of losing their supermajority in the state legislature, North Carolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto on Wednesday to enact a new law that gives them control over elections in the state and strips the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general of some of their powers.Currently, North Carolina's governor appoints the five members of the state board of elections, allowing him to select a three-person majority from his party. The new law transfers that appointment power to the state auditor. A Republican won control of the state auditor race this fall for the first time in more than a decade. Continue reading...
Meta donates $1m to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund
Donation comes after CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and appears to be an effort to improve relationsMeta has donated $1m to Donald Trump's inaugural fund, the company confirmed on Thursday.The donation, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, appears to be the latest effort by the social media company and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to improve relations with the incoming president, and comes just weeks after Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Continue reading...
Time magazine names Donald Trump ‘Person of the Year’ for second time
Every president since Franklin D Roosevelt - save Gerald Ford - has won title at least once, making it a rite of passage
Has college football flag-planting really become a nationwide scourge in the US?
Michigan and Ohio State players brawled after the Wolverines beat their archrivals in their own backyard. But is legislative action really needed?For Ohio State, a home loss to Michigan on 30 November was a football catastrophe, the Buckeyes' fourth loss in a row against their hated rivals. For a few seconds, the focus was on the Buckeyes' lost opportunity to secure a spot in the Big Ten championship game. Then, the spotlight shifted to midfield, where a Michigan player planted the school's maize and blue flag into the turf. It's safe to say the Ohio State players were unhappy at being mocked in their own backyard.A fracas ensued, with Ohio State players initiating a physical altercation and Michigan players responding in kind. The Buckeyes pushed through a thin barrier of police officers to shove a mass of Wolverines off the home team's logo, and several players wrestled each other to the ground. Police officers threatened the use of tasers. At least one held the device directly into a Michigan player's belly but did not activate it, as an officer's body camera footage now reveals. Continue reading...
We have no business even knowing each other. But the value of my work wife cannot be overstated | Emily Mulligan
What good is piping hot gossip when you have to explain every character's years-long back story and their annoying snacking habits?Forget the shrieks and hugs at the arrivals hall or the way the traffic parts for an ambulance with the lights and sirens on. For me, there is nothing more wholesome than lunchtime in the CBD seeing two people who demographically have no business knowing each other glued to one another. They don't see the traffic, the eye contact is unbroken. The bond is strong.They're work wives.Emily Mulligan is a writer based in Sydney Continue reading...
Gukesh Dommaraju becomes youngest world chess champion after horrific Ding Liren blunder
The obsession with the 'hot assassin' reveals a disturbing truth about celebrity culture | Vanessa Friedman
The folk hero status sometimes accorded to those charged with serious crimes means the victims and the violence can be forgottenFrom the moment the world saw the smiling, unmasked face of the young man in the New York City hostel, memes began spreading about his looks. In the days since Luigi Mangione was identified and charged in the murder of the UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson, it has been impossible to escape his photo. Or photos. They are proliferating.They are on television, in the newspaper and all over social media. Not just pictures of Mr Mangione from his booking at a police station in Altoona, Pennsylvania, or his mug shots in prison orange, but photos of him in earlier times, in a navy blazer, crisp white shirt and tie. Images of him hiking shirtless in the hills. In all of them, he is clean-shaven, curly-haired, often flashing a bright, white grin. Even his Tinder profile has made it into the public, with more pics featuring his six-pack. One commentator compared the stream of pictures to an endless photo shoot". Continue reading...
NBA Cup: Steve Kerr fumes at ‘ridiculous’ call as Warriors fall to Rockets
Bill Belichick has nothing left to prove. So why is he starting again in college?
The architect of six Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots is taking his first steps in college football. But there are sound reasons for his decisionBill Belichick, the most successful coach in NFL history, is off to college.The architect of six Super Bowl titles with the New England Patriots has agreed a deal with North Carolina to become the school's new head coach. A year after his exit from the Patriots, he is leaving the pro game behind to dive into the wild west of college sports in the pay-for-play era. Continue reading...
‘Cynical cash grab’: FBI chief nominee Kash Patel’s profitable links in the non-profit world
Patel's non-profit Kash Foundation is linked to Maga-merchandise firms and spends much more on fundraising than it does on charitable givingThe personal foundation of Kash Patel, Donald Trump's controversial pick for FBI director, has directed donor money to a business controlled by its own vice-president, Andrew Ollis, a direct marketing entrepreneur whose business affairs are now deeply entangled with Patel's.Two websites associated with that non-profit direct visitors to an online clothing store, Based Apparel, an online Maga merchandising operation owned by Ollis and Patel. Continue reading...
‘International Law’ is an illusion for Palestinians | Ahmad Ibsais
As a law student, I know the struggle for Palestinian liberation will not be won in the halls of the United Nations or courts of The HagueIt has been more than a year of the ongoing onslaught in Gaza, where experts and common people across the world recognize that a genocide is taking place. We have seen the decimation of Gaza's hospitals, the use of starvation and disease as weapons of war, attacks on aid workers and the prevention of humanitarian aid, the invasion of Lebanon, Syria and West Bank cities, the arbitrary detention of 9,000 Palestinians, the use of white phosphorus, and the series of countless bombs, bombs and more bombs - all individually war crimes, and collectively, affronts to the very idea of international law and jurisprudence.Like millions around the world, I watched Sha'ban al-Dalou, a 19-year-old student, burn alive as he slept in a tent outside the al-Aqsa Martyrs' hospital in central Gaza. I've seen my people unable to do anything as flames swallowed yet another martyr, another hospital, another set of refugees in tents. I've watched Israeli occupation forces in north Gaza prepare what appeared to be a mass grave, outside Indonesian hospital, lining up Palestinian men and boys with their hands tied and eyes blindfolded.Ahmad Ibsais is a first generation Palestinian American, law student and poet who writes the newsletter State of Siege Continue reading...
Did gerrymandering keep Republicans from a bigger majority? Absolutely not | David Daley
Mike Johnson has an explanation for why the Republican majority is so thin - and it's misleading and cynicalMike Johnson, the House Speaker, will soon have the challenge of leading a three-seat Republican majority. He has an interesting theory about why the Republican edge will be so slender. Last week, on Fox News, he blamed Democratic gerrymandering.While it's always a delightful surprise to hear a Republican leader express concern about the evils of gerrymandering, Johnson has the facts and the math completely backwards.David Daley is the author of the new book Antidemocratic: Inside the Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections as well as Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count Continue reading...
FBI director Christopher Wray will resign before Trump takes office | First Thing
Wray's resignation came after Trump said he would fire the official. Plus, scientists fear climate crisis is acceleratingGood morning.The FBI director, Christopher Wray, has announced he is leaving the top job after Donald Trump's announcement that he would fire him and replace him with loyalist Kash Patel.What has Patel said about the FBI? He's labeled the FBI as part of a deep state" and said he would shut its Washington headquarters.What is the news from Gaza? Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 people, including seven children and a woman, in overnight and early morning attacks, Palestinian medical officials said. Continue reading...
New Jersey drone cluster sightings prompt call for ‘state of emergency’
Lawmaker called for a limited state of emergency', while 21 mayors asked governor to enact statewide actionThe mysterious reported sightings of drone clusters in the night skies over New Jersey and other parts of the US north-east has prompted frustrated outbursts from Congress members, triggering calls for a limited state of emergency to be declared over the region.Jon Bramnick, a Republican state senator in New Jersey, has demanded a ban on all drones until the mystery is solved. ABC's Action News reported that he called for a limited state of emergency ... until the public receives an explanation regarding these multiple sightings". Continue reading...
Paige Bueckers: UConn’s point guard sensation doesn’t need to be the next Caitlin Clark
Is University of Connecticut point guard Paige Bueckers the next Caitlin Clark? There a chance this year's presumptive No 1 draft pick might be even betterIn 2013 AAU coach Gary Knox posted a photo of a smiling girl, hands clutching her backpack straps, orange headband perfectly coordinated with her orange T-shirt. Remember the name," he wrote on X. Paige Bueckers. 6th grade, think Diana Taurasi. Best 6th grade G I've ever seen."Knox wasn't wrong. Bueckers arrived on the women's college basketball scene in 2020 as the year's top recruit, when she - like Taurasi years before her - joined the University of Connecticut and immediately made an impact. Everyone wanted a piece of Bueckers, although she was just happy to finally have arrived at the school, even with the Covid-19 pandemic raging. Continue reading...
Mysterious clusters of drones over New Jersey baffle FBI – video
The FBI has not been able to give Congress answers about a recent spate of drone sightings above New Jersey. Dozens of drones have been spotted across New Jersey night skies in recent weeks, including near sensitive sites such as a military research facility. Robert Wheeler, the FBI assistant director of the critical incident response group, could only tell lawmakers the agency is 'actively investigating'. Texas Republican Tony Gonzales called it 'madness' that law enforcement agencies did not have more answers. 'Sometimes I feel like I'm in the The Twilight Zone', Gonzales said, referring to the 1950s sci-fi series
Trump picks Kari Lake as Voice of America director
The immigration hardliner has echoed Trump's criticism of fake news' and has never acknowledged her defeat in race to be governor of ArizonaPresident-elect Donald Trump has picked Kari Lake as director of Voice of America, installing a staunch loyalist and immigration hardliner to head the congressionally funded broadcaster that provides independent news reporting around the world.Lake, who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor and a Senate seat, was a television news anchor in Phoenix for nearly three decades until she left in 2021 after making a series of controversial statements on social media, including sharing Covid-19 misinformation during the pandemic. Continue reading...
Super Bowl-winning Bill Belichick named next head football coach at UNC
Six-time championship-winning coach will ensure team can evolve, compete and win', says UNC athletic directorSix-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick has agreed to a five-year deal to become the next coach at North Carolina.The school announced the hiring on Wednesday night, roughly a week after the 72-year-old Belichick's name surfaced as an unlikely candidate to replace the program's winningest all-time coach in Mack Brown. Continue reading...
Malibu fire rages as improving weather brings hope for thousands who fled
More than 1,500 firefighters battle blaze as weather conditions are forecast to improve, aiding crews in effortsCrews struggled to contain a wind-driven blaze that forced more than 10,000 to evacuate the canyons of Malibu, California, on Wednesday, even as forecasters said improving weather significantly diminished high fire danger.Residents waited anxiously to see whether their properties had been spared by the Franklin fire, which erupted late on Monday and grew to more than 6 sq miles by Wednesday morning. The blaze was just 7% contained on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading...
FBI chief Wray urges employees to keep ‘following the facts wherever they lead’ in resignation speech – live
This live coverage is ending now, thanks for following along. Here is the full story on FBI chief Christopher Wray announcing that he will resign:
Wisconsin man who faked his death charged with obstructing search of his body
Criminal complaint charging Ryan Borgwardt details how 45-year-old pulled off disappearance to country of GeorgiaA Wisconsin man who faked his own drowning and left his wife and three children for eastern Europe willingly returned to the US after four months and was charged on Wednesday with obstructing an intense lake search for his body.The criminal complaint charging Ryan Borgwardt with misdemeanor obstruction offers a detailed account of how the 45-year-old pulled off his disappearance, including how he struggled to emerge from the water, almost didn't make it through customs on his way overseas and was living in the country of Georgia when he realized he had left too many clues behind. Continue reading...
FBI director Christopher Wray will resign before Trump takes office
Trump had signaled his intent to fire the veteran official and replace him with firebrand Kash PatelThe director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, announced on Wednesday that he was stepping down, after Donald Trump said he would fire him and install the firebrand loyalist Kash Patel in his place.Wray, who the president-elect himself appointed as director during his first presidency after firing Wray's predecessor James Comey in 2017, announced his decision to staff at the bureau's Washington headquarters. Continue reading...
A vote without a vote: the Saudi World Cup is an act of violence and disdain | Barney Ronay
The shamelessness of Fifa's process was fully on show in Zurich during a display of contempt for governance, democracy, love, hope and good senseWell, that's that then. In the event there were only two notes of jeopardy around Fifa's extraordinary virtual congress to announce the winning mono-bids, the vote without a vote, for the right to host the 2030 and 2034 World Cups.First, exactly how disgusting would this spectacle turn out to be in the flesh? The answer to which, perhaps unsurprisingly, was: extremely disgusting. And second, how would the process actually work? Continue reading...
Hannah Kobayashi found safe after disappearance prompted massive search
It was not immediately clear where Kobayashi, who had vanished last month in Los Angeles, was foundHannah Kobayashi has been found safe, the Los Angeles police department (LAPD) said on Wednesday.Kobayashi vanished last month in Los Angeles, and her disappearance prompted a huge search and a missing persons investigation. It was not immediately clear where she was found, but police previously said she had voluntarily crossed the border into Mexico. Continue reading...
Americans spend more time living with diseases than rest of world, study shows
American Medical Association finds people in US are sick for an average of 12.4 years, an increase from figure in 2000Americans spend more time living with diseases than people from other countries, according to a new study.On Wednesday, the American Medical Association published its latest findings, revealing that Americans live with diseases for an average of 12.4 years. Mental and substance-use disorders, as well as musculoskeletal diseases, are main contributors to the years lived with disability in the US, per the study. Continue reading...
Rapper NBA Youngboy sentenced to 23 months in prison in federal gun case
Louisiana artist gets five years probation and $200,000 fine after stating he possessed weapons despite being a felonA federal judge in Utah sentenced Louisiana rap artist NBA Youngboy to just under two years in prison on gun-related charges after he acknowledged having possessed weapons despite being a felon.The rapper, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, reached an agreement that resolved Utah state charges against him and settled two sets of federal charges against him - one carries a 23-month sentence and the other orders five years of probation and a $200,000 fine. Continue reading...
General Motors pulls plug on Cruise, its self-driving robotaxi company
The company said it would no longer fund the venture and will prioritize Super Cruise, its driver assistance programGeneral Motors announced on Tuesday it will end robotaxi development at its money-losing Cruise business, a blow to the ambitions of the largest US automaker to advance the technology.GM said it would no longer fund work on self-driving robotaxis given the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business, along with an increasingly competitive robotaxi market". Continue reading...
Montana supreme court blocks ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors
State's top court temporarily stops SB 99 on grounds that it will likely violate privacy rights enshrined in constitutionMontana's ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors has been temporarily blocked by the state supreme court on grounds that it is likely to violate the right to privacy enshrined in the state's constitution.The top court in Montana sided on Wednesday with an earlier district court decision blocking SB 99, the ban introduced last year by the Republican-controlled state legislature. The decision will allow under-18 transgender girls and boys to continue gender-affirming medical treatment pending a full trial. Continue reading...
Biden says he was ‘stupid’ not to sign Covid stimulus checks as Trump did
President says failure may have contributed to voters blaming him for high prices even as economy improvedJoe Biden has voiced regret for not following Donald Trump's example by putting his signature on Covid-19-era economic stimulus cheques sent to Americans during a speech about his record on the economy as he prepares to leave office.Five weeks after his vice-president, Kamala Harris, lost the presidential election to Trump, the US president suggested on Tuesday that his failure to put his name on the cheques may have contributed to voters blaming his administration for high prices even when the economy was improving. Continue reading...
The Guardian view on South Korea’s martial law debacle: a democratic beacon needs new leadership | Editorial
President Yoon Suk Yeol's alarming attempt to impose his will could hardly be worse-timed for a key Asian powerThe South Korean president's bizarre, appalling and short-lived attempt to impose martial law last week is still wreaking havoc. Police attempted to raid YoonSukYeol's office on Wednesday as they investigate him for a potential offence of insurrection. His party says he will hand power to the prime minister and party chief; others call that an unconstitutional second coup". It is a measure of the country's progress since democratisation in the 1980s that the main opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, initially thought the president's announcement had been deep-faked, and now describes it as preposterous".Mr Yoon claimed without evidence that martial law was necessary to eradicate the threat from despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces" - meaning the opposition. Though other conservatives share his bitter conviction that the left are Pyongyang-sympathisers, most people believe the decision primarily reflected his erratic and personalised rule. A political outsider, he made his name as a top anti-corruption prosecutor, but grew angry at scrutiny of his wife's conduct as well as parliamentary obstruction of his policies. Despite his dismal approval ratings he seems to have thought that the people would back him. Within six hours, he was forced to U-turn. Continue reading...
Olivia Reeves becomes first US lifter to pair world title with Olympic gold in 66 years
San Diego sheriff says she won’t honor county’s ‘sanctuary’ immigration policy
Impasse sets up showdown over California efforts to shield residents from Trump's mass deportation plansThe sheriff of San Diego county defied a new policy limiting county cooperation with federal immigration authorities, setting up a showdown over California's efforts to shield residents from Donald Trump's mass deportation plans.On Tuesday, San Diego county supervisors voted to prohibit its sheriff's department from working with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) on the federal agency's enforcement of civil immigration laws, including those that allow for deportations. Continue reading...
Wisconsin files more charges against Trump allies who led ‘fake electors’ plot
Kenneth Chesebro, Michael Roman and James Troupis hit with 10 more charges over scheme to overturn 2020 electionWisconsin's justice department filed 10 additional charges on Tuesday against three Donald Trump allies who spearheaded the fake electors" scheme to help the president-elect in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.The three men, Kenneth Chesebro, Michael Roman and James Troupis, already faced felony forgery charges in June for their role in the plot. The additional charges include conspiracy to commit a crime and numerous counts of fraud. Continue reading...
Red Bull Arena becomes Sports Illustrated Stadium in 13-year naming rights deal
US Coast Guard rescues hiker missing for two days in Oregon state park
Woman, 64, was separated from hiking group in Shore Acres state park and found after shouting for helpA hiker who was missing for two days has been rescued by the US Coast Guard from Shore Acres state park in Oregon after rescue crews heard her shouting for help.The 64-year-old, who was found on Sunday, had been missing since Friday evening after being separated from her hiking group, the coastguard said. Continue reading...
Does the bizarre reaction to the killing of a health insurance boss make sense? Only in America | Emma Brockes
Joyful memes, novelty merch, gushing support: it's undeniably callous, but points to a deeply dysfunctional systemFor the almost two decades I lived in the US, my approach to medical bills was always the same. First invoice, ignore. Second invoice, ignore. Third invoice, written entirely in capital letters and in red, kick back to my insurer to buy another month of non-payment before receiving a fourth invoice, which I would also ignore. After that, the bill would go to a debt collection agency in the midwest, which would send me an extremely unfriendly letter threatening court action if I didn't pay up. I paid up. Ha! That'll show 'em.This is the rigmarole that millions of Americans go through every single time they visit a doctor for anything beyond routine maintenance. It is simultaneously a standard experience and a trigger for the most overpowering, cortisol-releasing emotions. Dragging my heels until the final notice was a pathetic gesture that achieved nothing, but it was the only mechanism I had for expressing the unadulterated rage caused by a basic fact of life in the US: that - and there's no other way to word this - you pay these fuckers enormous amounts of money each year and still they fight you on everything.Emma Brockes 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...
As funding dries up, private abortion clinics across the US are closing
Since the fall of Roe in 2022, 76 clinics have shuttered and the initial surge of donations is now falling shortProviding abortions rarely paid the bills for Kwajelyn Jackson in 2024.As the executive director of Feminist Women's Health Center, an abortion clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, Jackson spent the year navigating Georgia's six-week abortion ban, dwindling financial support for abortion patients and soaring inflation. The clinic spent more money than it brought in from providing abortions, especially as Jackson strove to pay her staffers a decent wage and the clinic often subsidized the abortions of patients who could not afford to pay. Continue reading...
Scotland lobbies Trump to exclude it from threatened tariffs on whisky
First minister seeks to persuade Trump of whisky's significant economic and cultural status during phone callScotland's first minister is leading efforts to persuade President-elect Donald Trump to exclude Scottish whisky from his plans to ratchet up tariffs on imports to the US.John Swinney, who leads Scotland's devolved government, lobbied Trump about whisky's significant economic and cultural status during a warm and friendly" 20-minute long telephone call the pair had on Monday. Continue reading...
I have finally mastered meditation – with the help of my tiny new puppy | Joel Snape
I've learned to ignore distractions and focus on one thing, even if it is ensuring the little fella doesn't wee, or worse, on the carpetLast week, our family got a puppy. Not for Christmas - I'm too respectful of the Dogs Trust for that - but, in some ways, because of it. I work from home, and the December slowdown is the perfect time to do what puppies demand of you, which is to spend half your waking moments paying attention to their every twitch and snuffle, in case you miss some developmental milestone that condemns you to six more weeks of accidents on the floor.In case you have never potty-trained a small dog, here is how it (roughly) works. After they snooze, eat or play, you watch them, hawklike, for any indication that they might be about to unburden themselves. Indicator eventually noted, you hustle them outside to a specially prepared area, where you eye them, not too obviously, in the hope that they will let nature take its course. While they are in the act, you repeat whatever mini-mantra you are hoping to associate with the deed - in our case, a cheery let's go!" - then once they are done, you give them a cuddle and shower them with praise. Then you repeat that, five or 12 times a day, until they get the hang of it. Continue reading...
A Route 66 town was dead. This man resurrected it into ‘a classic desert destination’
Purchased in 2005 by Albert Okura, Amboy now honors the Japanese American man who spent his life preserving symbols of AmericanaThis small town, like so many along Route 66, should be dead. Doomed by the rise of modern highways and the harsh Mojave Desert environment, Amboy should look like its abandoned neighboring towns. Yet, on a crisp November day, Amboy thrummed with friends and travelers swapping stories about the area's history, the family that saved it, and the road that led them there.It's the mother road," said Digger Simpson, 61, gesturing towards the legendary Route 66 that once was the nation's main artery for travel from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. It's Americana - it's mom-and-pop restaurants and gas stations," he added, reflecting on the nostalgia that drew him from Twentynine Palms to Amboy to celebrate Albert Okura, the man credited with injecting life back into the town. Continue reading...
Daniel Penny’s lawyers used a racist defense strategy and it worked | Moustafa Bayoumi
To argue that it was sickle cell trait - a condition that disproportionately affects Black people - killed Jordan Neely is dangerous and wrongMake no mistake, Daniel Penny was acquitted this week of choking Jordan Neely to death on the New York City subway after his lawyers invoked some of the most institutionally insidious appeals to anti-Black racism around.Penny's defense lawyers and his legions of fans will say otherwise, of course. They'll point out that Penny, a 26-year-old former marine, was merely protecting himself and his fellow passengers from Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused Black man suffering from schizophrenia. And they'll argue that if race did matter in this trial, it was only Penny's race that mattered. Penny's attorneys (and the New York Post) vehemently objected when the prosecution described Penny, who is white, as the white man", as if pointing out the obvious was some underhanded masterpiece of racial guilt-tripping. Continue reading...
New York police warn US healthcare executives about online ‘hitlist’
Corporations scramble to provide protection against threat of copycat killings following Brian Thompson's murderThe New York police department (NYPD) has warned US healthcare executives of a heightened risk to their lives after identifying an online hitlist" posted in the wake of last week's assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson.Corporations have scrambled to give their senior figures added protection against the threat of copycat killings following Thompson's murder, which has been celebrated in some quarters of social media. Continue reading...
Assad is gone, but a revolution that doesn’t free women is no revolution at all | Mona Eltahawy
The women celebrating the destruction of jails and dungeons will now be wondering why their own oppression cannot also be dismantledThirteen years after they joined the revolutionary wave sweeping across the Middle East and north Africa, Syrians can say they have consigned the name of Bashar al-Assad to the history books alongside Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen. But as the past 13 years have shown in all those countries, liberation requires more than removing one man from the presidential palace. We women, especially, know that.Today I am thinking of Razan Zaitouneh, a Syrian revolutionary who along with three of her comrades, collectively known as the Douma Four, disappeared in rebel-held territory on 9 December 2013 - 11 years less a day before Assad was toppled. Zaitouneh's revolution targeted everyone: the Assad regime, rebel groups and Islamist militants alike.Mona Eltahawy is the author of the Feminist Giant newsletter. She wrote several articles from Syria for the Guardian in 1999-2000, including a report on the funeral of Hafez al-Assad Continue reading...
Share your experience of US healthcare
We'd like to hear from people about their own US healthcare experiences. Were you happy with your coverage? Or did you feel you were treated badly?Last week's shocking shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a street in New York, though widely condemned, also sparked an outpouring of online vitriol towards the US's profit-driven healthcare industry.Luigi Mangione, 26, has now been charged with Thompson's murder. Bullet cases left at the scene of the killing displayed the words delay" and deny", suggesting the killing may be linked to the largely privatized US healthcare industry's routine denial of payments to many Americans. Continue reading...
Music tells the story of our lives – and trusty old Last.fm does it better than gaudy Spotify Wrapped
The music tracking site runs a reduced service these days, but still offers an alternative to AI-generated slideshows and made-up genres that's useful - and genuinely revealingLike many music fans with a conscience, I use Spotify begrudgingly. I need to listen to a vast amount of music for work; I want to listen to a vast amount of music for fun, and I would have to forgo groceries if I attempted to buy it all. Still, I resent its financial distribution model to artists: my 11.99 a month isn't divided between the musicians I actually listen to, but proportionally related to their popularity across the platform, meaning Ed Sheeran is getting significantly more of my money than Mabe Fratti. Spotify hosts music almost certainly made by fake artists or AI; playlists are prioritised over albums; there was the whole Joe Rogan thing that made Joni Mitchell and Neil Young quit the platform for a year.Perhaps counterintuitively, I have less ire for Spotify Wrapped, the packaging of a user's year in listening that Spotify revamps annually with silly little made-up genre names (pink Pilates princess strut pop?) and flattering stats about being in the top 0.5% of any given act's listeners. It unarguably puts a tidy bow on Spotify's poor artist remuneration - as well as big-tech creep - and is nothing more than a giant marketing push that its users carry out for free. But the main gripe against it this year is the company's frank use of AI - as if previous years' instalments were as lovingly curated as a handmade mix CD. In a comment piece for the New Yorker titled The hollow allure of Spotify Wrapped", critic Brady Brickner-Wood writes: If we can't trust the apps to tell us a meaningful story about our art consumption, how will anyone, including ourselves, ever discover the idiosyncratic composition of our inner lives?" Continue reading...
No charges for Jason Kelce over phone incident after slur directed at brother
Iran’s supreme leader says US, Israel and Turkey behind fall of Assad | First Thing
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks came after leading rebel group named an interim prime minister, who urged calm. Plus, Luigi Mangione to plead not guilty and fight extradition
Two inveterate US clergy abusers preyed on same victim in New Orleans
Legal records show Lawrence Hecker and Gilbert Gauthe targeted the same altar boy in 1970s before being convicted of other crimesTwo of the most inveterate abusers in the history of the US Roman Catholic church's clergy molestation scandal once converged on the same victim - before each was brought to justice years later for other crimes.An altar server and former Boy Scouts member who grew up in New Orleans endured a wide range of abusive acts by Lawrence Hecker and his fellow priest Gilbert Gauthe in the early 1970s, according to legal documents summarizing the victim's experience which were obtained by the Guardian. Continue reading...
Elizabeth Warren introduces Senate bill to hold capitalism ‘accountable’
Democrat aims to shift corporations away from maximizing shareholder value to support for workers and stakeholdersThe senator Elizabeth Warren will introduce a bill in Congress on Wednesday aimed at shifting corporations away from maximizing shareholder value" and towards giving more support to workers and other stakeholders.The Accountable Capitalism Act proposes a series of reforms to increase corporate responsibility, strengthen the voices of workers and others in corporate decisions and shift companies away from their focus on shareholders. Continue reading...
US health reform is tough to pass. Can the brazen killing of a CEO change that?
With partisan gridlock and special interests more powerful than ever, it's difficult to know how to move forwardRage, frustration and bitterness - all were on display in social media comments following the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson.Despite being brazenly murdered in midtown Manhattan just before the company's annual investor conference, leaving behind a widow and two sons, many Americans struggled to find sympathy for a man they viewed as complicit in denying or deferring what they saw as needed care - rage that one prominent policy expert can understand. Continue reading...
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