Greg Abbott says he will defy Biden and US supreme court and install more concertina wire to try to prevent migrant crossingsThe fight between Texas and the federal government over the control of the US-Mexico border has further intensified after state governor Greg Abbott announced he will defy the Biden administration and US supreme court by ordering the installation of even more razor wire to deter migration.On Monday, the supreme court voted 5-4 in favor of the federal government's power to remove the controversial concertina wire installed along stretches of the border in Texas, at Abbott's direction. Despite this, Abbott, a hard-right Republican, is intensifying his plans to try and fence off parts of the US border with Mexico. Continue reading...
States that respect international law must ensure that the measures demanded by the world court are implementedIt is a bitter twist of history that 75 years after the horrors of the Holocaust saw the UN adopt the genocide convention, Israel is likely to find itself in the dock of the international court of justice accused of being intent on destroying the Palestinians in whole or in part". Hundreds of people - mainly women and children - are dying every day under Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, a death rate reckoned to be the worst of any major conflict this century.South Africa filed an application instituting genocide proceedings against Israel at The Hague a month ago. On Friday, the world court said it had established that at least some of the acts alleged by South Africa fell within the provisions of the convention. While a final judgment is years away, this was a historic decision by the court. It was not made lightly by jurists in the middle of a war that was sparked by a horrific Hamas attack last October that left 1,200 Israelis dead.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...
Barbenheimer hogs the headlines, but the two big hitters do not have a monopoly on the conversationThe sums of money involved in making and selling films are so colossal that it's often hard to see beyond them to the value of the movies themselves. It was no surprise to find the odd couple of last summer making the headlines for both the Bafta and Oscar shortlists - Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer for meeting expectations with multiple nominations and Greta Gerwig's Barbie for disappointing them, even though it is ahead at the box office.Few who witnessed the excitable swirls of pink outside cinemas, or have dwelt on the fortuitous weirdness of a movie about a Mattel doll being fused into a double header with a biopic of a nuclear physicist, could grudge their success at a time when cinemas all over the country were on their knees in the aftermath of the pandemic. Opinions may differ about their merits, but they have brought people out and been widely discussed. Continue reading...
Will Israel's allies urge Israel to comply with the court's ruling? It would do enormous damage to the rules-based order' if they make an exception for IsraelThe international court of justice's (ICJ) ruling in South Africa's genocide case was a powerful repudiation of Israel's denialism. By an overwhelming majority, the court found a plausible" case that provisional measures were needed to avoid irreparable prejudice" from further Israeli acts in Gaza that could jeopardize Palestinian rights under the genocide convention.The public posture of various Israeli officials was in essence, how dare anyone accuse us of genocide. After all, they pointed out, Israel was founded after the Holocaust to protect the Jewish people from genocide, Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, and many of Hamas's statements seem genocidal in intent.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch (1993-2022), is a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs Continue reading...
I found his devotees fervent, but many Americans can't stand the man - and that gives Joe Biden a way to winYou'd think a week spent in the snow and ice of New Hampshire, watching Donald Trump stroll to a double-digit victory over his last remaining Republican rival, would have left me filled with angst about the presidential election in November. Sure enough, given that a second Trump presidency would have a truly disastrous impact on the US and the world, the fact that the now near-certain rematch of Trump and Joe Biden remains a coin flip", in the private assessment of one of America's foremost electoral analysts, still makes my palms go clammy.But to my surprise, I left the frozen American north-east not hopeful, exactly, but lifted by the thought that Trump is weaker, and Biden stronger, than this week's headlines - or the latest polls showing the current president six points behind the previous one - might suggest. Now when I hear the words coin flip", I react like Jim Carrey's character in Dumb and Dumber, when told that the odds of him winning over the woman of his dreams are one in a million: So you're telling me there's a chance."Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Ex-president's departure came as Carroll's lead attorney noted he had continued to defame former Elle writer during trialAs E Jean Carroll's second defamation trial against Donald Trump neared its final stage Friday morning in New York, proceedings quickly took a turn for the absurd with the judge threatening his lawyer with lockup" and the ex-president leaving about 10 minutes into the former Elle writer's closing argument. Trump returned to court for his defense's closing.Trump's abrupt departure came as Carroll's lead attorney, Roberta Kaplan, was delivering her closing argument - shortly after she noted that he had continued to defame the former Elle writer during this very trial. Trump left. Continue reading...
Board of education replaces course at 12 public universities with own US history curriculum, in latest anti-woke' attackEducators are warning that college enrollment in Florida will plummet after the state removed sociology as a core class from campuses in the latest round of Ron DeSantis's war on woke ideology".The Republican governor's hand-picked board of education voted on Wednesday to replace the established course on the principles of sociology at its 12 public universities with its own US history curriculum, incorporating an historically accurate account of America's founding [and] the horrors of slavery". Continue reading...
Critics condemn decision by governing board to delay proposed student work plan over what it says is not viable' legal pathwayThe University of California's governing board on Thursday punted a decision of whether to allow immigrant students without legal status to apply for jobs on its 10 campuses, with the system's president warning doing so would carry significant risk" for the institution and students, including possible criminal prosecution.The Board of Regents voted 9-6 to delay considering the plan until 2025 amid shouts of Cowards!" from some in the audience. Continue reading...
If this judgment is not heeded, how can Putin ever be held to account? Justice with double standards is no justice at allIsrael will no doubt continue to pour scorn on the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague in the days and weeks to come. Hague Shmague" was the first response from the justice minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir. But the provisional measures ordered by the world court today are historic, by any measure.The requirement that Israel must take steps to prevent genocidal acts, prevent and punish incitement to genocide, and report back on its actions within a month will all have rippling implications - not just in the weeks but in the years to come. Continue reading...
State senator Nick Schroer wants to reintroduce dueling to solve political differences in his statehouseA Missouri Republican's proposal to reintroduce dueling to solve statehouse differences was branded utter stupidity" by a leading historian of political violence.Back in the day," Joanne B Freeman of Yale tweeted, they were smart enough to take dueling OUTSIDE. The draft that I saw suggests doing it in the chamber. This doesn't show guts or bravery or manhood - if it's supposed to. It shows utter stupidity." Continue reading...
Kenneth Smith, who was executed by Alabama, appeared to convulse during procedure, as critics have likened it to human experimentationAlabama has used a new method of execution: nitrogen gas.Kenneth Smith, who survived the state's previous attempt to put him to death by lethal injection in 2022, was put to death Thursday by nitrogen hypoxia. It is the first new method of execution since lethal injection was introduced in 1982. Continue reading...
Alabama has carried out the first execution of a death row inmate in the US using nitrogen gas, an untested procedure that has been criticised by lawyers and activists.Kenneth Smith, 58, was pronounced dead at 8.25pm on Thursday at the Holman correctional facility in Atmore, Alabama, after breathing pure nitrogen gas through a face mask to cause oxygen deprivation.Officials had claimed that the new method was 'perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised', but statements given by reporters present in the death chamber suggested otherwise
Israel braces for interim ICJ ruling on South Africa's Gaza genocide allegation. Plus, Biden pauses carbon mega bomb' natural gas exports.Good morning.Alabama has carried out the first execution of a death row inmate in the US using the untried method of nitrogen gas.Why did his first execution fail? In November 2022, Smith spent four hours strapped to a gurney while being punctured with needles that couldn't find a vein to administer the lethal injection. He was later diagnosed with PTSD.Why was he on death row? Smith was convicted of the 1988 murder-for-hire of a pastor's wife, Elizabeth Sennett.What are South Africa's allegations? Israel's campaign has led to the destruction of Palestinian life" and pushed people toward famine.What is Israel arguing? That it has a right to defend itself after the 7 October attack that killed 1,400 people, and that it is targeting Hamas, not Palestinian people as a whole.The ruling is expected at 1pm (7am EST) - follow on our live blog. Continue reading...
Support for democratic norms has gone from bad to worse' as Trump's attempt to twist messaging is workingThe criminal charges against Donald Trump have fueled increased radical support for the former president while his efforts to paint the government and Democrats as a threat to democracy have convinced more people to distrust democratic institutions.New survey results from the University of Chicago's Chicago Project on Security & Threats (CPOST) shows increased violent support for Trump aligns with the indictments, as did the erosion of support for democratic norms. Court cases using the 14th amendment to try to keep Trump off the ballot could further erode confidence in the political system, regardless of how the supreme court rules on the issue, the survey found. Continue reading...
A slew of employment tribunals shows many women have been wrongly disciplined for expressing beliefs on gender and sexI can clearly remember the moment I found out that Maya Forstater, the NGO researcher who lost her job in 2018 because of her gender-critical beliefs, had lost her employment tribunal. This was in December 2019, and it chilled me because I share Forstater's view about the importance of biological sex. In a verdict that was later overturned, Judge James Tayler ruled that her opinions were not worthy of respect in a democratic society", and thus not protected under the Equality Act or the articles of the European convention on human rights concerned with freedom of thought and expression.It is still not widely recognised how momentous this was. For 18 months, until this decision was reversed on appeal, it was widely assumed to be legal to sack a person if they expressed the belief that biological sex was immutable and distinct from gender identity (the feeling of being male or female - which for transgender people means an experience of mismatch between mind and body). Women like me, who don't believe everyone has a gender identity distinct from their sex, risked being labelled bigots if we said what we thought. Continue reading...
Blanchard discusses embracing her spot in the public eye in upcoming interview with ABC News's 20/20Gypsy Rose Blanchard - who helped murder her abusive mother and spent eight years in prison for it - says she is not doing anything that anybody else wouldn't do" by embracing the viral internet fame which greeted her when she was released from her sentence.Honestly, I'm a very shy person," Blanchard said in an interview airing on a Friday evening episode of the ABC News show 20/20, a preview clip of which was provided to Rolling Stone. [But] honestly, I don't think that I'm doing anything that anybody else wouldn't do." Continue reading...
At times like these, it's clear that the Sussexes represent a missed opportunity for a UK that needs friends in the worldA popular Nigerian adage says the cow never knows the value of its tail until it is chopped off". In many tragic ways, this speaks to today's Britain. From EU membership, to competent leadership, to low inflation, it seems necessary for Britain to lose things to appreciate their importance.This week, look at Prince Harry and Meghan being feted in Jamaica. See the soft-power skills they carry with them, and think about that Nigerian adage. Continue reading...
Four teams remain in the hunt, and each of them can make a strong case that they have the chops to march on into February. Who will triumph?Story of the season: A new hierarchy has been established in the AFC. The Ravens dethroned the Chiefs in the regular season by cooking up a 13-4 record that is even better than it looks when an excusable loss from Tyler Huntley and the backups to Pittsburgh in Week 18 is taken into account. The Chiefs will care little for all that though. Their scratchy run to January still delivered victory in the AFC West as they scraped by thanks in large part to their defense picking up the considerable slack from Patrick Mahomes' down year. The master quarterback can turn it on like a tap though, and he was close to his best when the Chiefs knocked off the Bills last weekend. He will have to do it all over again if he wants to show the Ravens who the kings of the AFC really are. Continue reading...
Utah senator accuses ex-president of exploiting issue for political gain by directing Republicans to block dealDonald Trump's directive to congressional Republicans to not agree to a deal with Democrats on immigration and border control is appalling", Mitt Romney said.I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump," Romney, the Republican senator from Utah, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Continue reading...
Motion comes after Fulton county district attorney made remarks decrying allegations of affair with one of her deputiesDonald Trump accused on Thursday the Fulton county district attorney of inflaming racial animus to distract from allegations relating to an an affair with one of her deputies, as he joined a motion seeking to disqualify her from prosecuting him for 2020 election interference in Georgia.The filing, submitted to Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee, adopted and added to an earlier motion to have the district attorney Fani Willis and her entire office thrown off bringing the case. Continue reading...
Outlook had appeared grim following reports McConnell was walking away, but now lawmakers say text could be released in coming daysCongressional negotiators said a border deal was within reach on Thursday, despite efforts by Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill to derail the talks.With the fate of US aid for Ukraine hanging in the balance, the outlook for border compromise had appeared grim following reports on Wednesday night that the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, was walking away from a compromise that he suggested could undermine" Trump's chances in a November general election against Joe Biden. But by Thursday afternoon, senators involved in the discussions were insisting that the opposite was true: an agreement was in sight and legislative text could be released in the coming days. Continue reading...
Former president says he never instructed anyone to hurt magazine columnist after judge warns him to keep his voice downDonald Trump took the witness stand in E Jean Carroll's second defamation trial against him, marking the first time he has provided court testimony relating to her sexual assault claim against him.Trump's testimony lasted less than five minutes as the judge in this case, Lewis Kaplan, significantly limited what the ex-president could say in court. In May last year, a jury awarded Carroll $5m after finding that Trump sexually abused and defamed her; Kaplan said jurors' factual determination in the first proceeding would be accepted at this trial, meaning they are only weighing damages. Continue reading...
by Hugo Lowell and Martin Pengelly in Washington on (#6J4DH)
Navarro, trade adviser during Trump presidency, convicted over refusal to comply with subpoena from January 6 committeePeter Navarro, a top former Trump administration official, was sentenced to four months in federal prison and fined $9,500 after he was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by the House select committee that investigated the January 6 Capitol attack.The sentence imposed by Amit Mehta in federal district court in Washington was lighter than what prosecutors recommended but tracked the four-month jail term handed to former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, who was similarly convicted for ignoring the panel's subpoena. Continue reading...
Swing state's Republican party has seen two feuding groups claiming to be its legitimate leaders in recent weeksThe Republican National Committee's (RNC) top attorneys have declared they believe the Michigan GOP (MIGOP) chair, Kristina Karamo, was legitimately ousted from her position earlier this month, ending weeks of silence from the national party on a leadership crisis that has engulfed state Republicans.The factional split within the Michigan Republican party, over ideological differences as well as personal ones, has sown chaos in the swing state party with just months to go before the 2024 presidential election. In recent weeks, tensions escalated, with two feuding groups within the state party claiming to be its legitimate leaders. Continue reading...
UK-based company Haleon recalls eight batches of cough syrup over risk to immunocompromised individualsThe UK-based healthcare company Haleon has issued a voluntary nationwide recall in the US of Robitussin cough syrups due to microbial contamination.In a statement on Wednesday Haleon recalled eight batches of Robitussin Honey CF Max Day Adult and Robitussin Honey CF Max Nighttime Adult, with expiration dates from October 2025 to June 2026. Continue reading...
Shamar Leggette was suspected in robbery of $1m in jewelry from bishop who was livestreaming sermon in 2022Law enforcement officials shot and killed a man who was suspected in a 2022 robbery of nearly $1m in jewelry from a Brooklyn bishop that was captured on a livestream.US Marshals attempted to detain 41-year-old Shamar Leggette in a New Jersey hotel on Wednesday afternoon, according to NBC New York. Leggette was killed after shooting at the marshals, two senior law enforcement officials told the outlet. He was listed as one of New York State's most wanted fugitives. Continue reading...
Protesters filed lawsuit over use of flash-bang grenades, projectiles and other weapons during 2020 George Floyd demonstrationsSeattle has agreed to pay $10m to 50 demonstrators who sued over the police department's heavy-handed response to racial justice protests in 2020, in a settlement announced by attorneys from both sides on Wednesday.The protesters were among tens of thousands who rallied downtown and in the Capitol Hill neighborhood for weeks following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police - a period that saw Seattle's police department abandon its East Precinct building as well as the establishment of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest", a six-block zone taken over by protesters. Continue reading...
Saudi buying up the Italian and Spanish Super Cups has legitimized the nation's regime, at home and around the worldIn early 2019, a rising star of the Italian far-right took to Twitter to lambaste Serie A's decision to hold the Supercoppa in Saudi Arabia for the second consecutive year. Giorgia Meloni was at that point the leader of a small but growing movement in Italian politics; her Brothers of Italy party had won a little over 4% of the vote in the 2018 general election. The Supercoppa has long been staged outside Italy: previous editions have been held in New Jersey, Beijing, Tripoli, and Doha. But for Meloni, the decision to stage the 2019 final in Riyadh was beyond the pale: she labeled it an absolute disgrace," describing Saudi Arabia as a country that discriminates against women and our values."Meloni's protest did nothing to throw the Italian football authorities off course. Following a two-year Covid-enforced hiatus, the Supercoppa last year returned to Saudi Arabia, where it will be played until 2029 under the terms of a new deal reportedly worth 138m. This year saw the inauguration of a four-team format for the competition, contested by the winners and runners-up of the previous season's Serie A and Coppa Italia; in Monday's final, staged in the 25,000-seat KSU Stadium in Riyadh (home of Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr), Inter triumphed thanks to a late goal from Lautaro Martinez. After sweeping home Benjamin Pavard's clever cut-back, Martinez ran the length of the field to celebrate with the thousand or so Inter fans gathered behind a big CURVA NORD" banner placed over the sideline hoardings. Continue reading...
Woman charged with larceny and larceny of livestock after truck driver witnesses the alleged theftAn Amish family from Michigan had their horse and buggy stolen during an outing to their local Walmart.Police were called to a Walmart in Sturgis, Michigan, about 93 miles outside the city of Lansing, last Saturday at 5.30pm ET over the stolen buggy, the Sturgis department of public safety said in news release. Continue reading...
Bill would prohibit teenagers from creating an account, and is now headed to the state's Republican-controlled senateFlorida lawmakers advanced a bill on Wednesday that would prohibit social media platforms from allowing young teens to have an account while requiring everyone else to verify their age.The measure prohibits anyone under 16 from creating a new social media account and requires platforms to delete existing accounts of the same age. It also would require social media companies to delete any personal information from the accounts and for the platforms to use a nongovernmental, independent, third-party not affiliated with the social media platform" to verify users' age. Continue reading...
Ten years after Li Na won in Melbourne, China's Qinwen Zheng will face defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the finalRegular readers of this blog will be waiting for Coach Calv's Betton's breakdown of our first semi and rightly so. Well, here it is: Will come down to how well Gauff's forehand holds up and how well she serves. The FH is still ugly as and has no power in it, but she's been better at making it not crap since the summer. She's a much better player than Sabalenka all round. If she has a high first serve % it will limit how much Sabalenka can attack her. Sabalenka could just hit though her, but Coco has a great serve and moves great so that seems unlikely."Also going on: Continue reading...
The 76ers star toppled Wilt Chamberlain's 57-year-old team scoring record with a 70-point eruption. He would be the unanimous MVP if the season ended todayWilt Chamberlain's feats have never seemed real, like tall tales that only grow more incredible with time. Take his eye-popping 1961-62 campaign, when he reached basketball's kill screen by scoring 100 points in a single game for the Philadelphia Warriors, averaging 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds a game for an entire season. When he was later accused of being a selfish player who only cared about scoring, the 7ft 1in strongman became the only center before or since to lead the NBA in assists. Incredibly, he never fouled out of a game. As the durability of sporting records and achievements go, the Wilt conversation drifts past Michael Jordan territory into the realm of Don Bradman and Leonidas of Rhodes. For a larger-than-life figure beyond the court whose claims included manhandling a mountain lion in self-defense, coming this close to fighting Muhammad Ali at the Astrodome and racking up Genghis Khan numbers in the bedroom, it's fitting that his nickname, the Big Dipper, borrowed not from a star but an entire constellation.All of this provides an instructive framing for the rarefied air Joel Embiid has inhabited over the past few months. Last season the Philadelphia 76ers' star center was an uncontroversial winner of the NBA's Most Valuable Player award, even if Nikola Joki's sensational postseason wrought a sense of buyer's remorse. This year, Embiid has been even better. Owing largely to an improved mid-range jump shot, he is averaging 36.1 points in 34.2 minutes per game, which is more points per minute than Wilt during his 50-point-per-game season. If he keeps it up, Embiid will become only the second player in NBA history to average more points than minutes played throughout a full season after Wilt in 61-62. Continue reading...
With New Hampshire behind, the question isn't who's running but whether US democracy will endureWith Trump's victory in New Hampshire, the battle lines are drawn for November. Unless something very weird happens, we're looking at a Joe Biden and Donald Trump rematch.It's time - past time, really - to sweep away any remaining delusions about the viability of a more moderate Republican challenger or what a second Trump term would bring.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
As the governor trudges back to finish his term, questions arise on his extremist agendas that failed to capture national interestRon DeSantis has fallen off the national stage and America will not, after all, become Florida like he once envisaged. But back in his home state, opponents are bracing for the return of the Republican to serve the remainder of his final term as governor following the implosion of his presidential campaign.Florida is where DeSantis honed his extremist attacks on a wide range of targets from the transgender community to immigrants and Black voters. Although he will no longer be carrying them to the White House, critics here say there's probably plenty more to come. Continue reading...
Brennan Center survey finds tens of thousands steering clear of hot-button issues - and some considering quitting public lifeTens of thousands of state legislators and elected local officials are avoiding hot-button policy issues such as abortion and gun control because they are fearful of the backlash of intimidating abuse, a new report has found.A major survey by the Brennan Center for Justice released on Thursday warned that the spate of extremist intimidation that has been seen nationally in the US, epitomized by the attack on the Capitol building on 6 January 2021, is also sweeping local and state politics. In the fallout, elected individuals are limiting their interactions with constituents and narrowing the contentious topics they are prepared to take on. Continue reading...
The Houthis are eager to show that they can stand up to the world's most powerful country, all for the Palestinian causeAs a presidential candidate, Joe Biden made a forceful case for restraining US military intervention and ending the wars that America had unleashed after the September 11 attacks. The use of force should be our last resort, not our first," he said in a July 2019 speech, adding that military power should be used only to defend our vital interests, when the objective is clear and achievable ... It's past time to end the forever wars, which have cost us untold blood and treasure."Yet Biden is now dragging the US into another potential war, one which doesn't meet many of the standards he set out as a candidate. The Biden administration is risking a wider conflict with the Houthis in Yemen, amid reports that the Pentagon is preparing a sustained military campaign", after nearly two weeks of air and missile strikes failed to stop the Houthis from attacking shipping vessels in the Red Sea. Continue reading...
On a walk through a nature reserve I felt dread at the pink flowers on a bone-grey tree, grief-stricken right down to my rootsThere is a particular queasy disquiet that comes from looking at blossom in January. Or daffodils just weeks after Christmas. At seeing catkins dangling from trees that are still bathed in dark from about 4.30pm. It is an uncanny sense that something here isn't right. I get it, too, in August, when the blackberries have already ripened into dust, before the new school term starts. Or when I hear birdsong under a yellow streetlamp.Perhaps this is just the outdoors equivalent of moaning about Easter eggs being in the shops in January. As in, it happens every year but we are somehow shocked anew each time. Maybe daffodils have always pushed up their spears as students fill in their Ucas applications. Maybe there have always been blackberries in July. Maybe it's just my memory playing tricks on me.Nell Frizzell is the author of Holding the Baby: Milk, Sweat and Tears from the Frontline of Motherhood Continue reading...
by Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer in New Orlea on (#6J48M)
Gerard Jerry' Howell was supported by New Orleans's archbishop after credible sexual abuse allegations were made against him by dozens of childrenFor decades, Gerard Jerry" Howell had avoided punishment for what his own church considers credible sexual abuse allegations leveled against him by dozens of children at the school for deaf students that he founded.Now, he's found another way around what little administrative accountability he eventually faced, this time with the help of New Orleans's archdiocese and its archbishop. Continue reading...
Netanyahu and his far-right allies have rejected a two-state solution over and over - yet the US is unwilling to call them on itJoe Biden has expended a lot of effort to avoid taking Benjamin Netanyahu at his word.The Israeli prime minister has spent his political life opposing a Palestinian state and acting accordingly. And although Biden has trotted out a rote commitment to the two-state solution when confronted with a crisis in the Middle East, there was barely a murmur from the White House as Netanyahu's far-right government ramped up creeping colonisation of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and hardened its domination of the Palestinians who live there.Chris McGreal writes for the Guardian US and is a former Guardian correspondent in Washington, Johannesburg and Jerusalem. He is the author of American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts Continue reading...
Both Biden and Trump had courted influential union. Plus, a poll finds 35% of Americans say Israel is committing genocide against PalestiniansGood morning.The United Auto Workers (UAW) formally endorsed Joe Biden's re-election campaign on Wednesday at the union's national community action program conference in Washington DC.How influential is the UAW? It has 40,000 members. It is based in Detroit, Michigan, a key swing state where, according to one poll conducted at the end of 2023, Trump is edging out Biden 39% to 37%.How did Trump try to court the union? In September, Trump said Fain was a good man ... he's got to endorse Trump". He also attacked electric vehicles and claimed, in office, we will drill baby drill" and support gas engines.What did Biden tell the UAW conference? On Wednesday, Biden talked up his pro-labor credentials: The union movement in America is important because it produces the best skilled workers in the world", adding: During my presidency, we opened 20 auto factories and more than 250,000 auto jobs all across the country."What is the latest in Gaza? The Israeli army says that it had encircled" the southern city of Khan Younis after two days of heavy fighting. The city is crowded with 88,000 residents and about 425,000 displaced people with many trapped sheltering in hospitals. Everyone in Gaza is hungry," the UN secretary general said Wednesday.How many Palestinians have been killed? More than 25,700, health officials in Hamas-run Gaza say, since the 7 October attack that saw 1,200 in Israel killed. About 85% of the 2.3 million people in Gaza have been displaced and face hunger and potential disease.What's happening off the coast of Yemen? Two ships owned by Maersk's US subsidiary sought US navy support after hearing explosions. Houthi militants are continuing their attacks on commercial shipping - which they claim is in solidarity with Palestinians. Continue reading...
A teacher told off a seven-year-old boy in the US for saying Jesus Christ'. Should we care?A big topic of conversation in our house is how much stricter English schools are than their American equivalents. What if, one of my children will say as we leave the house in the morning, I wore what I'm wearing to school in England? (You'd be sent home.) What if I wore my beanie in class? (You'd be told to take if off.) What if - the big one - I went to school in makeup and false nails, as some nine-year-olds in their school do? (I would probably get a call from the office and quite right, too.) What about self-expression?" they complain, like diligent Americans, and I explain that this is not a priority in the English school system, besides which, wearing Air Jordans because Ava does" isn't what self-expression means.These differences are, obviously, all uniform-based and elsewhere the two systems are clearly more aligned. In Mississippi this week, a news story to warm the heart as a seven-year-old was admonished by the teacher for unacceptable language", when, to quote the letter from the school his mother uploaded to Facebook, he said Jesus Christ when he dropped the Legos he was clearing up". The document the boy was sent home with fell under the rubric of parent notice of disciplinary incident", an over-reaction his family are objecting to in a post that has promptly gone viral. Continue reading...
The Kansas City Chiefs was given a mediocre receiving corps this season. He still made it to his sixth successive AFC Championship GameIt has become a routine in late January. A Super Bowl berth on the line. Tony Romo, sounding like a toddler three Mountain Dews deep, on the call. Patrick Mahomes leading the Kansas City Chiefs out into the AFC championship game.You cannot doubt No 15," Romo said after the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round last weekend. Who is? At this point, having the AFC title game without Mahomes would be like showing the Oscars without Martin Scorsese. Continue reading...
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