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Blast occurred in Wilmington neighborhood as spokesperson says the ball of flame was as high as the telephone poles'A truck's fuel tank exploded on Thursday in a Los Angeles neighborhood, sending a fireball into the air and injuring nine of the 10 firefighters responding to the blaze, including two critically, fire officials said.All nine firefighters were rushed to Harbor-UCLA medical center and were stabilized, and one of the critical patients had to be intubated and airlifted to a burn unit at Los Angeles General medical center, said Dr Molly Deane, a trauma surgeon. Continue reading...

Willis and her special prosecutor Nathan Wade took the stand during a stormy hearing about the pair's romantic relationshipOn the first day of a heated hearing, the Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis and her deputy, special prosecutor Nathan Wade, took the stand, hoping to put an end to the allegations that their past relationship threatens the criminal case against Donald Trump and his allies in their attempts to overturn the 2020 election.A defendant in the Trump case, Mike Roman, is seeking to have Willis and Wade disqualified, alleging their relationship constituted a conflict of interest. His lawyer attempted to prove Willis financially benefitted from her relationship with Wade. Continue reading...

Fulton county DA rejects accusations that relationship with Nathan Wade should lead to disqualification from election case

Hur investigated president's mishandling of classified papers after his vice-presidency and raised questions about his poor memory'House Republicans will hold a public hearing next month with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents after his vice-presidency, as the White House counsel reportedly wrote to the attorney general attacking Hur's commentary on the US president's memory as a violation of federal policy.The House judiciary committee, chaired by rightwing Republican Jim Jordan, will hear testimony from Hur on 12 March, two unnamed people familiar with the plans told the Associated Press on Thursday. The White House declined to comment on the plans. Continue reading...

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Lawsuit accuses tech companies of creating addictive and dangerous' products that are fueling mental health crisisNew York City, its schools and public hospital system announced a lawsuit on Wednesday against the tech giants that run Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, blaming their addictive and dangerous" social media platforms for fueling a childhood mental health crisis that is disrupting learning and draining resources.Children and adolescents are especially susceptible to harm because their brains are not fully developed, the lawsuit said. Continue reading...

The US national security spokesperson, John Kirby, has called on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to stay out of the upcoming US election after Putin expressed his preference for incumbent Joe Biden over leading Republican nominee Donald Trump. Kirby told reporters at a press conference on Thursday: 'I think Mr Putin knows very well what this administration has been doing to counter Russia's malign influence around the world and certainly what they've been doing inside Ukraine'

From 2014 to 2021, 187 people died by suicide, there were 89 homicides and 56 deaths deemed accidental' inside prisonsInstitutional failures and policy violations by the US Bureau of Prisons (BoP) have contributed to hundreds of preventable deaths of incarcerated people in recent years, according to a federal watchdog report released on Thursday.The US justice department office of the inspector general (OIG) found that from 2014 to 2021, 187 people died by suicide inside BoP institutions, with the prisons' psychology services staff reporting that these types of deaths could be prevented if the facilities followed protocols and delivered proper resources and treatment to people in custody. The report also documented 89 homicides and 56 deaths deemed accidental" during that time period, and said the BoP consistently failed to effectively discipline staff for misconduct that contributed to the deaths. Continue reading...

Trump Media & Technology Group to merge with Digital World after SEC approval, with ex-president to hold 58% company stakeThe US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday cleared the way for blank-check acquisition company Digital World Acquisition Corp's merger with Donald Trump's media and technology company.Digital World said a registration statement for its proposed merger with Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the operator of social media platform Truth Social, was declared effective by the SEC. Continue reading...

Republican former governor doubles down on claim he lacks burning desire' and Maryland job is not where my skill set lies'Larry Hogan, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Maryland who says he doesn't really want to be a US senator but is running anyway, is tied with or leads his possible Democratic opponents, according to a poll released on Thursday.The former governor of Maryland leads Angela Alsobrooks, a state politician, by seven points in a hypothetical matchup and ties at 42% support with the US congressman David Trone, in a poll by Emerson College, the Hill and DC News Now. Continue reading...

Granted, a $50 investment wasn't going draw in millions of clicks, but I expected more than just a few bots to show interestI run a small business. My company sells customer relationship management (CRM) software to other businesses. I'm always in search of leads and will try just about anything to find new clients that we can help. To that end, I recently wrote a book about CRM and created a landing page on my website where people - clients and prospects - can download it. How to promote my new book? Why not X?I know the X community - and its famous CEO - may not be everyone's cup of tea. But I've been a longtime active user and I'm sure there are many other Xers who would enjoy reading my book. So I decided to conduct an experiment and create a post with a link to my book's landing page and promote it on the social platform. Not a big promotion. Just 50 bucks over five days. A pittance. But, for me, what happened is a cautionary tale. Continue reading...

Baby Jameela, a western lowland gorilla, was delivered by a team of medical experts on 5 January at Fort Worth ZooA Texas zoo delivered a critically endangered baby gorilla via an emergency cesarian section, the first time in the zoo's history.Baby Jameela, a western lowland gorilla, was delivered by a team of medical experts on 5 January at the Fort Worth Zoo, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. Continue reading...

At least one person died in a shooting on Wednesday afternoon at a Super Bowl victory parade for the Kansas City Chiefs. At least 21 people were injured, including 11 children between the ages of six and 15. Police detained three people after the incident. The Kansas City police chief, Stacey Graves, said she was angry and that 'the people who come to this celebration should expect a safe environment'

Ex-president says he interposed' names as a rhetorical device to deride Haley and purposely linked Biden with Barack ObamaDonald Trump claimed high-profile campaign trail gaffes, in which he seemed to think Barack Obama was still president and mistook Nikki Haley for Nancy Pelosi, were deliberate, the result of his being sarcastic" in the first instance and choosing to interpose" names in the second.When I say Barack Hussein Obama is the president of the United States', [I am] meaning there's a lot of control there because the one guy can't put two sentences together," the former president told supporters in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday. Continue reading...

If you find yourself in this uncomfortable situation, just leave the store. Don't do what I did - slowly pace around pretending to understand

I work in mental health, but nothing could have prepared me for this feeling of mass hopelessness - frozen in place, seeing no way outI'm a doctor and psychiatrist, and before the war in Gaza, my days followed a reliable routine. I would go to work in the clinic, visit my friends and spend time with my family. I lived a normal life. Now, my family and I are refugees in Rafah, after the Israeli army ordered us to leave our home in Khan Younis. We are living in the worst conditions imaginable. We spend our days waiting. We wait in queues for two or three gallons of drinkable water, or for food or plain flour to make bread over a fire, after months without electricity.In the last few days, as we heard that Israel was preparing for a ground invasion in Rafah, we knew that there was nowhere else for us to go. Israel claims it will evacuate civilians, but how can we believe that when there seems to be no plan and we have repeatedly seen what they have done before? All we can do - all 1.4 million of us - is wait for the worst. Life feels like one eternal, never-ending day. It is filled with suffering and scenes of horror that you see so often, they begin to blend together. It is our collective new routine to hear, witness, sit with, and walk beside death. Death felt closer than ever when the Israeli military launched extensive airstrikes overnight on 12 February. Continue reading...

The competition returned with some standout performances as Man City strolled and Lazio upset Bayern MunichThe Champions League returned from its winter slumber, though not in the most spectacular style. Tuesday's matches went much as expected with Real Madrid's 1-0 win at Leipzig, albeit a narrow one, accompanied by Copenhagen being beaten 3-1 by a slick Manchester City. On Wednesday, with Paris Saint-Germain beating Real Sociedad 2-0, Lazio's 1-0 home win over Bayern Munich represented the week's shock.A selection follows of outstanding performers from the last-16 ties this week. Continue reading...

My lunch with a disability access campaigner was an eye-opener. Even booking was a problemThere are many things you can learn from a restaurant's website: what stream the trout they serve swam in, which mountain range supplies the salt, whether there's gluten-free bread. What you may not be able to establish, if you're a wheelchair user, is whether you'll be able to eat there. Courtesy of reader Jamie Hale I now know something about this. Jamie, who is a wheelchair user, advises institutions and theatres on disability access and runs the disabled-led arts organisation Criptic Arts, among other things. He emailed to request I include information in my reviews about disability access.I often get requests to include details on vegan options, meat sourcing, piped music and so on. If I covered them all there would be little space for the actual review. Instead, I mention issues where appropriate. I'm not writing a guide book. If you're concerned, check the restaurant's website for yourself. But disability access is different, Jamie said, because websites rarely display that information. I got the point and suggested we meet for lunch. I would be responsible for booking somewhere that met Jamie's needs. Continue reading...

Chaos erupted at the Super Bowl victory parade. Plus, Israel carries out strikes in southern Lebanon

Site launched by Republican to report indoctrination' a nest of outdated and inaccurate information, educators sayA website launched by Indiana Republicans as a reporting tool for perceived indoctrination of public school students has instead become a nest of outdated and inaccurate information, educators say, driving a wedge between parents and teachers.State attorney general Todd Rokita's Eyes on Education" portal, which he launched earlier this month independent of Indiana's education department, also exceeds his remit, and exists purely for his own political gain, they say. Continue reading...

How would I like to be remembered? With a playground, a bandstand and a little lakeOn Sunday evening in Abidjan, the president of Cote d'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, was at the, er, Alassane Ouattara stadium, to watch his country win the Africa Cup of Nations. Well done, them. As for him, well, might I suggest it's not a good look to have something named after your good self while you're still alive? If you've insisted upon it, then that's undeniably bad, but even if you've merely allowed it to happen, I'm afraid that's no good either.It wouldn't be quite so bad if it was named after a living legend of Ivorian football, say Didier Drogba or Yaya Toure. Perhaps the two of them could have shared it. But if a politician's got anything about them, this must be the hill they die on: thou shalt not name anything after me until after I'm dead and gone and only then if you think I really deserve it.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

A well-placed profanity is the perfect riposte to dated ideas of female delicacy. So hats off to sweary Olivia ColmanThe first time I attempted to use a naughty word at school, aged seven, has become family folklore. I was aching to try out a grownup term that I'd heard an older girl utter in the playground, so when my friend was standing at the classroom sink, washing her poster paint-covered brushes, I took my chance.Hey, move your bom," I loudly declared, my cheeks turning bright red as I realised the whole thing had come out wrong. I scuttled away as fast as I could, shocked by the power a single word could hold - and how shaming it could feel if not deployed just right.Claire Cohen is a journalist and the author of BFF? The Truth About Female FriendshipDo 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...

Jessica Gaertner, who filed a rape charge against a referee through Hockey Canada, is one of many calling for reform in how abuse is managed by sports organizationsOn 30 December 2022, a match official took to the ice for a hockey match in the British Columbia Hockey League. The match was overseen by BC Hockey, the provincial governing body for the sport. It wasn't the only hockey game this particular official was on the ice for that week. There was another on 3 January 2023, and again on 6 January. On 7 January he took charge of a high school game in the local area.Business as usual. What was unusual was that the official was under investigation by Hockey Canada's investigatory independent third party" (ITP) following a rape allegation and was under an interim suspension that should have prevented him from being anywhere near the ice. Continue reading...

Angry farmers, worried tourism workers and unprepared politicians - Catalonia is on the frontline of a drought-stricken futureWalking through Barcelona these days, you can't miss the signs and billboards picturing a red plastic bucket and the message Water doesn't fall from the sky" (l'aigua no cau del cel in Catalan). The ads are part of a campaign to get people to save water. Since the beginning of February, Barcelona and 200 other towns in Catalonia have been in an official drought emergency. That means more than 6 million people in the region live with restrictions. Daily water usage per inhabitant is limited. Parks are unwatered, fountains are dry and showers at swimming pools and beaches are closed. Farmers can't irrigate most of their crops and must halve their water usage for livestock or face fines.It's not just Catalonia. The European Drought Observatory's map of current droughts in Europe shows the entire Spanish Mediterranean coast in bad shape, with red areas indicating an alert similar to those in north Africa and Sicily. Catalonia may be going through the worst drought on record for the area, but the southern region of Andalucia has faced continuous drought since 2016. Last year, Spain's droughts ranked among the 10 most costly climate disasters in the world, according to a report by Christian Aid.Maria Ramirez is a journalist and deputy managing editor of elDiario.es, a news outlet in Spain Continue reading...

At least one person was killed and 21 injured, including multiple children, in a shooting at the Chiefs' Super Bowl victory parade

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Three suspects have been arrested in connection to the shooting as the Super Bowl victory celebrations were wrapping up

Fans said they were almost trampled as they tried to escape the carnage at the Super Bowl parade, while others reportedly helped tackle a suspected shooter

Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended the parade, said it seems like almost nothing is safe' as NFL said it was deeply saddened'

Dolezal, a white woman who identified as Black for years and later changed her name to Nkechi Diallo, fired in ArizonaThe Arizona-based educator formerly known as Rachel Dolezal has been ousted from her position in a local school district due to content posted on her OnlyFans account.Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, had been teaching at an elementary school in Arizona since August 2023, according to a report from News4 Tucson. Continue reading...

At least one person died in a shooting on Wednesday afternoon at a Super Bowl victory parade for the Kansas City Chiefs. Three people have been detained by police following the incident. Speaking after the shooting, Kansas City police chief Stacey Graves said she was 'angry ... the people who come to this celebration should expect a safe environment'

Jack Smith says the nation has a compelling interest in seeing the charges brought to trial' as ex-president presses immunity claimThe special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump on federal charges involving the former president's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss has urged the US supreme court to reject Trump's bid to further delay trial proceedings as he presses his claim of immunity.Jack Smith's filing to the justices responded to a request by Trump's lawyers on Monday to put on hold a decision by a three-judge panel of the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia circuit rejecting the claim of presidential immunity from prosecution. Continue reading...

President grants deferral to about 6,000 Palestinians for next 18 months, citing worsening humanitarian conditions in GazaJoe Biden has signed an order shielding several thousand Palestinians in the United States who need protection from deportation for the next 18 months, the White House said on Wednesday, citing deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza.The move grants deferred enforced departure" to an estimated 6,000 Palestinians, a Biden administration official said.Reuters contributed reporting Continue reading...

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Parents of Brian Laundrie detail day everything hit the fan' in 2021 as son frantically called to say his fiancee was gone'Newly released documents from a pain and emotional distress lawsuit brought by the parents of Gabby Petito, the Long Island woman killed by her fiance Brian Laundrie in a Wyoming forest in 2021, are shedding light on what happened in the hours after she was killed.In depositions released on Monday, Laundrie's parents detailed the day everything hit the fan" when their son frantically called them to say his fiancee was gone" and he needed their help to find him an attorney as he drove back home across the country without her. Continue reading...

Concerns have been raised over three homes in Orange county at edge of a collapsed bluff, but owner assures no immediate threatLandslides in southern California have raised concerns about three multimillion-dollar luxury homes on the edge of the cliff side.Dramatic photos and videos of three properties in Dana Point in Orange county show that dirt and rocks on the bluff slid down to the shore below during the recent torrential rainstorms, giving the appearance that the homes were now precariously dangling at the very edge of the cliff. Continue reading...

Republican House intelligence chair, Mike Turner, says Biden officials should declassify information about threat, while House speaker Mike Johnson says there was no need for panicThe head of the House intelligence committee, Mike Turner, has called for the Biden administration to declassify information on what he called a serious national security threat", which was later reported to involve Russian plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space.In his statement, Turner, an Ohio Republican, gave no details about the supposed security threat. Continue reading...

Permission slips indicate how some schools are trying to comply with Ron DeSantis's laws targeting teaching of race and race issuesA Florida school has received backlash after it required parents to provide written consent allowing their children to engage with a Black author's book. The permission form detailed an activity in which students will participate and listen to a book written by an African American".Chuck Walter, a parent at Coral Way K-8 in Miami, posted a photo of the slip on X, writing: I had to give permission for this or else my child would not participate???" He tagged the Miami-Dade county public schools superintendent, Jose L Dotres. (Dotres's office did not immediately respond to the Guardian's request for comment.) Continue reading...

Community groups say ShotSpotter system sends police to Black and Latino neighborhoods for unnecessary and hostile encountersChicago will not renew its ShotSpotter contract and plans to stop using the controversial gunshot detection system later this year, Mayor Brandon Johnson's office announced on Tuesday.The system, which relies on an artificial intelligence algorithm and network of microphones to identify gunshots, has been criticized for inaccuracy, racial bias and law enforcement misuse. An Associated Press investigation of the technology detailed how police and prosecutors used ShotSpotter data as evidence in charging a Chicago grandfather with murder before a judge dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence. Continue reading...

We would like to speak to teachers as unions call for the site to be shut downTeachers' unions in Indiana are calling for the state attorney general to take down a site that asks parents to report potentially inappropriate materials" in classrooms.The launch of the Eyes on Education site last week follows a similar tip line opened in Virginia in 2022 and comes against a backdrop of conservative efforts to censor discussion of race and sexual identities in schools. Continue reading...

Karen Bass fears someone's going to fall or be pushed' from Oceanwide Plaza, used by graffiti artists and parachutistsAn abandoned high-rise tower in downtown Los Angeles has become a magnet for graffiti artists and parachuting stunts, leaving city officials furious.This isn't art. It's a crime," the Los Angeles police chief, Michael Moore, warned on Monday, saying the police were remaining at the site of the half-built development as the city mobilizes resources to remove the graffiti and fortify the location". Continue reading...

Susie Balfour, 62, says officials failed to provide tests and treatment for breast cancer for years, allowing it to spreadA Mississippi prison denied medical treatment to an incarcerated woman with breast cancer, allowing her condition to go undiagnosed for years until it spread to other parts of her body and became terminal, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.Susie Balfour, 62, alleges that Mississippi department of corrections (MDOC) medical officials were aware she might have cancer as early as May 2018, but did not conduct a biopsy until November 2021, one month before she was released from prison. It was not until January 2022, after she left an MDOC facility, that a University of Mississippi Medical Center doctor diagnosed her with stage four breast cancer, according to her federal complaint. Continue reading...

The ex-president pledged his devotion to his wife by referencing his many indictments in a pitch for supporters' donationsIn a Valentine's Day fundraising message, Donald Trump sought to demonstrate the depth of his love for Melania Trump, his third wife, by referring to his lengthy list of criminal charges.Even after every single indictment, arrest and witch hunt, you never left my side," the message said. Continue reading...