by Alexandra Topping and Nadia Khomami on (#6Z0WJ)
Jet2 also condemns White House post about Ice enforcement using viral holiday ad featuring Hold My HandIt is the internet meme of the summer, sparking laughter and thousands of wry smiles at the pitfalls of a British summer holiday.But the journey of the viral Jet2 holiday advert - with its promotional voiceover played out over cheerless summer holiday footage, including water-slide disasters and images of pouring rain - took a darker turn this week when it was used by the White House in a post on X to promote Ice (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) deportations. Continue reading...
Hogan was a master of wrestling's unreality, personifying the most American virtue of them all: you do not have to be youWhen Hulk Hogan died and a rush of people searched his name on Google to read various obituaries, I'm sure at least some of them were shocked to find that one of the most popular search terms related to the WWE Hall of Famer is Hulk Hogan lies." There are countless videos, Reddit threads, social media posts and articles detailing all the things the Hulkster apparently said that were either exaggerations, distortions or outright fabrications. One time, Hogan said he was asked to play in Metallica. The band denied the story straight away. Hulk said in his autobiography that he partied with John Belushi after WrestleMania 2 in 1986, even though Belushi had died in 1982. There's also the time where Hulk thought the Jackass star Bam Margera was dead when he very much was not.If you aren't a wrestling fan (you're reading the Guardian. You're probably not a wrestling fan) you might wonder why someone who was famous for four decades would feel the need to lie about whether he could have been in Metallica. These are the sorts of lies the quarterback of your high school tells at the reunion. Andre the Giant was 700lbs when I bodyslammed him in from of 200,000 people at the Roman Colosseum" is definitely an anecdote that could get you a free shot at the no-host bar at the Elks Lodge, but if you're Hulk Hogan, you could just be honest and say Andre was more like 400lbs and the crowd was between 80,000 and 93,000, depending on whom you ask. Also, it was in Pontiac, Michigan, not Rome. Hulk Hogan did not need to lie, but he did. Often. Continue reading...
Defense secretary's staff ordered lie detector tests, at least one time without his knowledge, to undercut rivals, sources sayDefense secretary Pete Hegseth's senior aides conducted polygraphs on their own colleagues this spring, in some cases as part of an effort to flush out anyone who leaked to the media and apparently to undercut rivals in others, according to four people familiar with the matter.The polygraphs came at a time of profound upheaval in his office, as Hegseth opened a leak investigation and sought to identify the culprits by any means necessary after a series of sensitive disclosures and unflattering stories. Continue reading...
Wasp nest was destroyed and disposed of after discovery near tanks used to store liquid nuclear wasteThe US Department of Energy has reported the discovery of a radioactive wasp nest at one of its facilities in South Carolina that was once involved in the production of parts for nuclear weapons.According to a 22 July department report, the contaminated nest was discovered at the facility - the Savannah River site - on 3 July near tanks used to store liquid nuclear waste. Continue reading...
In recent years, the newspapers that have fared the best have been those with committed local ownershipWhen the legendary journalist David Halberstam wrote his landmark 1979 book about American journalism, The Powers That Be, he focused on four media organizations: the Washington Post, Time magazine, CBS and the Los Angeles Times.His choice of the LA newspaper made perfect sense. Influential and successful, it was owned by a prominent California family, the Chandlers. The paper had high standards, a raft of Pulitzer Prizes, and a hard-charging Washington DC bureau that competed successfully with its east coast rivals. For reporters and editors, the LA Times was a prestigious career destination; if you got there, you probably stayed. Continue reading...
Descendants of Japanese internees warn that Trump's revival of the Alien Enemies Act could open the door to new abusesNaoko Fujii's great-grandfather Jotaro Mori was out fishing when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.When Mori returned home hours later, the FBI was waiting at his door, ready to arrest him under a wartime law that declared citizens of foreign adversaries alien enemies". He was detained without due process and spent the next four years in concentration camps across the western US, including the infamous camp Lordsburg in New Mexico where two elderly Japanese internees were killed. The government seized his home and laundry business so that when he was released, he was left with nothing. Continue reading...
The former vice-president is set to release 107 Days with Simon & Schuster, using candor' to relive historic runKamala Harris will have a memoir out in September on her historic presidential run.The book is called 107 Days, the length of her abbreviated campaign, and will be published by Simon & Schuster on 23 September. Continue reading...
Dondi Persyn has gathered, restored and returned thousands of items to those affected by the floods, each object a poignant reminder of lossA child's lifejacket, a small pink and blue swimming suit top, a delicate pearl and gold chain necklace - these are just some of the items that Dondi Persyn recovered from the Guadalupe River after the devastating floods that recently swept through central Texas.The flash floods that started over the Fourth of July weekend in Texas have killed at least 135 people - including many children - with authorities still searching for those who are missing. Most of the deaths were reported to have happened along the Guadalupe River in Kerr county. Continue reading...
A report this month details US corporate involvement in IDF actions. Grassroots organizing offers opportunity for changeThousands of famished people waiting for hours in 90-degree heat to secure bags of flour that run out after 10 minutes - this is a typical scene at the four aid distribution centers remaining in Gaza. The cause of this desperation isn't shortages per se, because the World Food Programme has tons of food waiting to be delivered to malnourished Palestinians.Instead, the problem is Israel's months-long blockade of aid, which more than 100 humanitarian organizations have stated is causing chaos, starvation, and death". And though Israeli authorities began allowing a trickle of convoys to resume deliveries over the weekend, the face-saving gesture is too little for the one in three Gazans who haven't eaten in days, and too late for the dozens who have already starved to death.Katrina vanden Heuvel is editorial director and publisher of the Nation, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a contributor to the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times Continue reading...
Denials are latest by agency as Trump administration seeks to shift burden of disaster recovery to statesThe Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) denied requests for three Kentucky counties affected by severe storms last spring, and deemed the state ineligible for hazard mitigation grants that would help prepare for future disasters .Fema officials claimed the areas did not suffer enough damage to merit federal support, in a letter issued to the governor on Tuesday. But the move is just the latest in a series of denials from the agency, as the Trump administration seeks to shift the burden of responding to and recovering from disasters on to states. Continue reading...
James Andrew McGann was charged with the murders of Clinton and Cristen Brink at the Devil's Den state parkA 28-year-old Arkansas man was arrested on Wednesday in the killings of a married couple in front of their children at Devil's Den state park over the weekend, officials said.Arkansas state police arrested James Andrew McGann from Springdale and charged him with two counts of capital murder. Police did not mention a possible motive. Continue reading...
Confirmation fits pattern as Republicans line up behind faithful Trump footsoldier with minimal questioningWhen more than 80 judges signed a letter opposing Emil Bove's judicial nomination, they implored the US Senate to do its job in interrogating and investigating a host of serious claims that undermine the independence and credibility of his potential judgeship.Now, Bove is among them - a member of the judiciary. Continue reading...
Cincinnati left several glaring issues unaddressed this offseason, leaving holes even elite quarterbacking can't paper overHere the Bengals go again. They have now had five cracks at building a championship roster around Joe Burrow since drafting him No 1 overall in 2020, and have fallen short all five times. Entering year six, it's already starting to feel like Burrow is this generation's Dan Marino or Philip Rivers, an all-time great quarterback let down by the franchise around him.After going 4-12 in Burrow's rookie season, Cincinnati made the Super Bowl, lost, returned to the AFC title game the next season, and then lost there. Burrow missed almost all of his fourth season with an injury, but put forth the best season of his career statistically last year ... before the Bengals surrendered it, finding novel way to give up close leads early in the season and failing to reach the playoffs despite winning five straight games to close it. In a league where 44% of teams make the postseason, it was almost impressively bad. Continue reading...
by Liesl Gerntholtz and Julie Trebault on (#6Z0R3)
The US exit from the cultural heritage organization is no surprise. But it's not too late to fight backDonald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States a second time from what is essentially the beacon of global culture and heritage - Unesco - is depressing but unsurprising given the administration's lack of respect for art and culture that celebrates the diversity of humanity in all of its fullness. But it is still a grave error of moral leadership that harms the United States' global standing on free expression, human rights and democracy.Earlier this year, he initiated a takeover of the Kennedy Center's programming and content, and linked National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants to highly partisan ideological conditions. Meanwhile, the government's attempts at censorship in schools are all but rewriting American history. Continue reading...
Assigned an unwinnable task, battling illness and fatigue, the American rider's sacrifice helped bring down a giant. His Tour was not about glory, but purposeTadej Pogaar's victory looked certain as he flew up Butte Montmartre for the second of three times on the Tour de France's final stage. His lead in the race's general classification (GC) stood at four minutes and 27 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard, more than 10 minutes clear of everybody else, and GC times had been frozen for the final stage. He had won four stages already; that he hadn't won at least six seemed more his choice than anybody else's. There was no need to be at the front here, to add a fifth cherry atop the ice cream, but Pogaar's unquenchable competitive spirit demanded an attempt. He stamped on his pedals on the cobblestoned hill, scything riders off the back of the bunch. By the time he crested Montmartre, he had just four others for company.Among them were the American Matteo Jorgenson and Wout van Aert, both of Vingegaard's Visma Lease-a-Bike team. Thanks to superb climbing performances and helming the deepest team in the race, Vingegaard managed to defeat Pogaar at the 2022 and 2023 Tours de France - given Pogaar's dominance since, these Tours now feel like distant memories from an obsolete world. Back then, Visma used Pogaar's raw aggression against him. With the knowledge that he would respond to every acceleration, Vingegaard and his teammates threw jab after jab and Pogaar exhausted himself trying to counter with haymakers. Continue reading...
Critics have described the one-sided deal as an admission of weakness, and a dark day for Europe. They are absolutely rightThe Suez crisis in 1956 was a humiliating moment of truth for the UK. Faced with implacable opposition from the US, Anthony Eden's government was forced to abandon military action in Egypt. Capitulation to American pressure was a recognition of Britain's diminished status on the world stage.The trade deal agreed between Washington and Brussels this week lacks the drama of troops being sent in to recapture one of the world's key waterways, but it is the EU's Suez moment all the same. What's more, European politicians know as much.Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The US president has been at pains to promote agreements clinched with trading partners, but many still face the prospect of no deal and high tariffsThe clock is ticking closer to Donald Trump's latest tariff deadline of 1 August, and while the president has been at pains to promote the agreements clinched with some major trading partners, many others are facing the prospect of no deal and increased levies on their exports to the Unites States.Dozens more are caught somewhere in the middle - with no trade deal signed, but as yet no threat of higher tariffs. Among them are some of America's closet allies and biggest trading partners, including Australia, Taiwan and New Zealand. Continue reading...
The OSCE hasn't stopped Putin's aggression, but it has the potential to help broker a peace in Ukraine when the time is rightVladimir Putin will probably never give up on his attempts to bring Ukraine into Russia - which is where it belongs, according to his warped view of history. Those who oppose him tend to fall out of windows or suffer other accidents" or go to prison.If he agrees to a ceasefire, it will be only to gain time to replenish his forces before trying again. All that would stop him then would be armed peacekeepers of some kind, as is already being discussed. If someone replaces him from his inner circle, there is unlikely to be change.Kai Hebel is author of Britain, Detente, and the Helsinki CSCE (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe); he is assistant professor of international relations at Leiden University. Richard Davy is the author of Defrosting the Cold War and Beyond Continue reading...
Kash Patel says the office will strengthen protection of the Five Eyes nations and that the US and New Zealand would work on important global issues'The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, has opened the bureau's first ever office in New Zealand, in what he said was an attempt to help counter China's activities in the Indo-Pacific, crack down on issues including cybercrime, and strengthen protection of the Five Eyes nations.Patel, who opened the office at the US embassy in Wellington on Thursday, called the event an historic moment". Continue reading...
Trump accused of attack on Brazilian democracy' for sanctioning Bolsonaro judge while slapping a 50% levy on the country - key US politics stories from Wednesday 30 JulyDonald Trump's administration has imposed sanctions against the judge overseeing the prosecution of his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro and hit Brazil with huge tariffs amid accusations from the country's president that Trump has launched a direct attack on Brazilian democracy".The US president has partly attributed his 50% tariff to his outrage at the supposed political witch-hunt" against Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president, who is on trial over an alleged coup attempt after the 2022 election. Continue reading...
President Lee Jae Myung says deal puts South Korea on an equal or better footing than other countriesPresident Donald Trump has said the US will charge a 15% tariff on imports from South Korea as part of an agreement with the key Asian trading partner and ally that avoids even higher levies.The arrangement, announced shortly after Trump met with Korean officials at the White House, came during a blizzard of trade policy announcements ahead of a self-imposed 1 August deadline. Continue reading...
Brave and heroic Americans' campaign seeks investigators, officers and lawyers after agency gets funds from CongressThe agency responsible for carrying out Donald Trump's mass deportations is launching a recruiting campaign to entice brave and heroic Americans" to serve as new deportation officers, lawyers and investigators as the government gears up for a major expansion of immigration enforcement thanks to a recent infusion of money from Congress. The icing on the cake: a promise of up to $50,000 in signing bonuses.The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement campaign, which rolled out late Tuesday, recalls recruiting posters from the second world war with images of Uncle Sam and the words AMERICA NEEDS YOU." There also are photos of the US president and top homeland security officials with the words DEFEND THE HOMELAND" across the images. Continue reading...
Ivy League school will commit to nondiscrimination in admissions and campus programs, and grant officials access to dataBrown University has reached an agreement with the Trump administration that will reinstate nearly $50m in research funding and close several federal investigations into the institution, university president Christina Paxson announced in a campus-wide email on Wednesday.The settlement follows the Trump administration's threat in April to freeze $510m in federal support to Brown. This makes Brown the third Ivy League school to reach a resolution with the federal government this month. Continue reading...
James Craig also found guilty of trying to cover up killing by asking others to fake evidenceA jury convicted a Colorado dentist of first-degree murder on Wednesday after he repeatedly poisoned his wife, including by lacing her protein shakes.Prosecutors had accused James Craig of repeatedly poisoning his wife, Angela Craig, over 10 days in March 2023. When those attempts failed, prosecutors said the dentist gave his wife a final dose of cyanide as she was hospitalized in suburban Denver with symptoms that puzzled doctors. She was declared brain dead soon after. Continue reading...
Aggressive maneuver comes as the Republicans try to stave off losses in next year's midterm electionsRepublicans have unveiled a new congressional map in Texas that would allow the party to pick up as many as five additional congressional seats, an aggressive maneuver that has already met decisive outcry from Democrats and comes as the GOP tries to stave off losses in next year's midterm elections.Republicans already hold 25 of Texas's 38 congressional seats. But at the urging of Donald Trump, Texas's governor, Greg Abbott, called a special session this month to redraw the state's congressional districts. After contentious hearings across the state, Republicans unveiled their proposed map on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Decision leaves race wide open, with candidates including Xavier Becerra, Antonio Villaraigosa and Katie PorterKamala Harris, the former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, announced on Wednesday that she will not run for governor of California - a highly anticipated decision that leaves the contest to lead the country's largest blue state wide open.For now, my leadership - and public service - will not be in elected office," Harris said in a statement, ending months of speculation about her political future after losing the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump. Continue reading...
Move roils US prices as new policy falls short of US president's initial threats to introduce sweeping new levyThe Trump administration announced plans to impose a 50% tariff on copper pipes and wiring, roiling US prices after details of the levy fell short of the sweeping restrictions expected.By leaving out copper input materials such as ores, concentrates and cathodes, the new policy will fall significantly short of Donald Trump's initial threats to introduce a sweeping new levy on overseas shipments of the metal. Continue reading...
Training asks students to attribute the statement every time I read Hitler, I fall in love' to an anti-Israel activist'Near the end of an antisemitism training video that Northwestern University students are required to watch, the narrator urges viewers to play a guessing game. Six statements pop on to the screen - the viewer must choose whether they were made by anti-Israel activists" or the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.Among the statements: Every time I read Hitler, I fall in love again." The video reveals that the statement was made by an anti-Israel activist". The narrator then states: The fact that you can't tell the difference is terrifying." He adds that for most Jews, being anti-Israel and antisemitic are the same". Continue reading...
Authorities are piecing together days preceding Monday's attack in which four people died in Manhattan office towerThe man who stormed a New York City skyscraper and shot dead four people before he took his own life early on Monday had constructed the rifle he used himself, from parts, the police have said.The authorities are questioning an associate of the suspect about supplying components of the AR-15-style assault rifle used in the attack. Continue reading...
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he won't be cowed by Trump ahead of 50% tariffs set to hit Brazil on FridayBrazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has said he does not fear getting on the wrong side of Donald Trump, as South America's largest economy braces for the introduction of 50% tariffs on Friday.Trump announced plans to slap Brazil with tariffs on 1 August earlier this month, partly in retaliation for a supposed political witch-hunt" against his far-right ally Jair Bolsonaro. The former Brazilian president faces decades in jail for allegedly plotting a military coup to stop Lula from taking office after the former lost the 2022 presidential election. Continue reading...
St Paul shut down systems after the cyberattack governor Tim Walz said exceeded the city's response capacity'Minnesota has called in the national guard after the city of St Paul was slammed by what its mayor described as a deliberate, coordinated, digital attack" carried out by sophisticated hackers.Governor Tim Walz said in a statement that he was deploying the guard, which has a cyber protection component, because the attack had exceeded the city's response capacity". Continue reading...
My generation was raised wondering how ordinary people could countenance an atrocity. In a grotesque twist, the question has circled back to usThe question keeps gnawing at me: Could this really be it? Could we be living through a genocide?Outside Israel, millions already know the answer. But many of us here can't - or won't - say it aloud. Perhaps because the truth threatens to unmake everything we believed about who we are, and who we wanted to be. To name it is to admit that the future will require reckoning - not just with our leaders, but with ourselves. But the cost of refusing to see is even higher.Yuli Novak is the executive director of B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Continue reading...
Demonstrators say diner great for anti-Tesla protesters' - but Musk fans and curious tourists have also stopped byElon Musk's retro-futuristic" Tesla Diner in Hollywood has become a new flashpoint for the Tesla Takedown" movement, with dozens of protesters picketing the diner last weekend alongside inflatable tube figures of Musk performing a Nazi salute.The viral popularity of the new diner, which is surrounded by 80 Tesla charging stations and two giant movie screens, has sparked out-the-door lines, massive traffic jams, and two angry protests, all within its first week of operation. Continue reading...
From the Washington Post to CBS, companies are caving to Trump. This is how democracy diesThe latest casualty of Donald Trump's efforts to silence media criticism is Eduardo Porter, one of the most thoughtful and intelligent critics of his heinous regime.On Tuesday, Porter wrote his last column for the Washington Post. In a widely circulated email, he explained why he was leaving the Post:Jeff Bezos and his new head of Opinion are taking the paper down a path I cannot follow, directed toward the relentless promotion of free markets and personal liberties ... I have no idea to what extent this is driven by Mr Bezos' fear of what Donald Trump could do to his various business interests, most of which are more valuable to him than The Post."As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended. And I don't know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company ... I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles. It's a big fat bribe. Because this all comes as Paramount's owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance."Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His next book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, will be out on 5 August Continue reading...
Republicans enacted the largest cuts to healthcare in US history, and fulfilled decades of conservative rhetoricThe US's largest public health insurance programs, Medicare and Medicaid, turn 60 years old on Wednesday - a birthday that will be celebrated only weeks after Republicans enacted the largest cuts to healthcare in the nation's history.Passed in the civil rights era, the sister health insurance programs served as tools for the Democratic president Lyndon Johnson to desegregate American healthcare and fight poverty. Continue reading...
by Eduardo García in Mexico City, Alfredo Corchado i on (#6YZXV)
Growing wave of uncertainty is freezing investment plans in Mexico, rattling business leaders in the US and abroadA growing wave of uncertainty is freezing investment plans in Mexico, the US's largest trading partner, rattling domestic and foreign business leaders alike.Investors are weighing Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on 1 August. The plan so far - levies on Mexican-made cars, steel, aluminum, metal parts and tomatoes. And they are pondering the push by the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, to overhaul the country's judiciary in ways critics say undermine legal certainty and could roll back democratic gains. Continue reading...
An app designed to protect its users from dodgy men has been hacked by dodgy men. I wish I could say I'm surprisedHelp me out with a question I've been pondering, will you? I'm trying to figure out if there is a single adult on Earth whose personal information isn't for sale somewhere on the darker corners of the internet. Data breaches are a regular occurrence now. We give companies our information; they promise to keep it safe and then they sell it to dodgy third parties or lose it in hacking attacks. There is a website called haveibeenpwned.com where you can check if your email addresses have been part of adata breach. My personal email isin 15ofthem.The latest data breach to hit the headlines is particularly nasty. A popular women-only dating-safety app called Tea lets users compare notes about men to see if they are dating the same person or if anyone has red flags to share. It's a bit like an app version of the popular Are we dating the same guy?" Facebook groups. Last Friday, the company behind Tea confirmed it had been breached. Women have to submit a selfie (to prove" their gender) in order to use the app; an estimated 72,000 images, including 13,000 verification photos and photos of government IDs, have been leaked online. More than 1m private messages have also been leaked.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...
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