by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#6G81V)
Power utility says fundamental reform' of UK's electricity network needed to tackle backlog of projects awaiting connectionNational Grid has increased its investment plans to 42bn by 2026 as the backlog of clean energy projects waiting to connect to the UK's power networks continues to grow.The FTSE 100 monopoly, charged with running most of the UK's power grids and some networks in the US, spent a record 3.5bn in the first half of the financial year as a result of the momentum of green policies on both sides of the Atlantic. Continue reading...
One of the many benefits of group holidays is that if you forget something, or break it, or soak it in red wine, you won't be on your own - but not every kind of sharing brings delightI was packing for a weekend away with several other families when I made the mistake of thinking a bottle of red wine would be safest rolled up in a sleeping bag.I didn't know most of the families going but I knew the instigators, and that they'd have gathered a great crowd. Those other families probably thought so too - until ours showed up, reeking of wine, in the middle of the day. Continue reading...
Former senator and secretary of state says Nazi leader was initially elected and that Trump is telling us what he intends to do'Hillary Clinton has compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler as she offered a blunt warning about the dangers of a second Trump presidency.Trump back in the White House, Clinton said during an appearance on ABC's daytime talkshow The View on Wednesday, would be the end of our country as we know it, and I don't say that lightly". Continue reading...
The latest round of Champions League games are in the books. We run through the standouts, surprises and disappointments, grading all 32 teamsEditor's note: these grades are for teams' performances in this week's round of matches rather than their chances of winning the competition as a whole. Continue reading...
With democracy in the balance, the press must relay the crucial importance of this election and the dangers of a Trump winWhatever doubts you may have about public-opinion polls, one recent example should not be dismissed.Yes, that poll - the one from Siena College and the New York Times that sent chills down many a spine. It showed Donald Trump winning the presidential election by significant margins over Joe Biden in several swing states, the places most likely to decide the presidential election next year. Continue reading...
The party-induced demise of Roe v Wade may keep the Republicans from returning to power for another four yearsRepublicans beware - abortion retains its saliency. As a corollary, Joe Biden is down but not out.On election day this week, voters in Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky embraced individual autonomy and reproductive rights. Looking forward, the US supreme court's decision in the Dobbs case and the Trumpian majority's rejection of privacy as a fundamental constitutional right stand to haunt Trump and his party as they enter the 2024 election season. Continue reading...
Concern that community relations are suffering as return to 1990s-style broken windows' policing focused on anti-social behaviorMisconduct complaints against New York City police officers have risen to their highest levels since 2012, prompting some to put the blame on Mayor Eric Adams's extremely pro-police mayorship and claim it is deteriorating the NYPD's relationship with the community".The latest monthly report from the civilian complaint review board (CCRB), the city's independent police watchdog, tallied 4,262 misconduct complaints filed against NYPD personnel as of the end of September 2023. This is the highest year-to-date tally since 2012, when the CCRB fielded 4,546 allegations of abuse when Michael Bloomberg was mayor and the NYPD conducted hundreds of thousands of unconstitutional stop-and-frisk encounters in communities of color under the then police commissioner, Ray Kelly. Continue reading...
Reported terms would allow more aid to enter territory in exchange for release of dozen hostages held by Hamas. Plus, why being delusional is the new manifestingGood morning.Officials and diplomats are negotiating a days-long ceasefire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, including children, women, elderly and sick people, the Guardian understands.What's happening in Gaza? Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza yesterday, the Israel Defence Forces said, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of worrying trends" in the risk of disease in the territory after weeks of Israeli airstrikes. The accelerating exodus came as Israeli forces closed in on the centre of Gaza City, launching intense bombardments, and claimed that Hamas had lost control of the north of the territory.Who is performing best in the debates? Haley performed well in the first two debates, and has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity. She had painted DeSantis as an isolationist at a time when, she said, the US needed to work with global partners, and their feud continued on Wednesday with bickering over China, each accusing the other of operating policies favorable to one of the US's foes.What did the candidates say about Trump? Haley and DeSantis were united in tearing strategically into the absent former president, who they trail by a significant margin in the race for the nomination. Trump, DeSantis said, owes it to you to be on this stage". Continue reading...
Annette Bening plays the swimmer in a new Netflix biopic; but as her coach, Jodie Foster also achieves something remarkableThere is something mythic about the story of Diana Nyad, the first (and, to date, only) person to swim the 110 miles from Cuba to the US without the use of a shark cage. Nyad was 64 and on her fifth attempt when she succeeded in 2013, a feat that should not have been humanly possible. As well as the sharks, there were deadly box jellyfish, and the Gulf stream itself, threatening to sweep her away from the support boat and out into the ocean. Her success was inspiring and continues to inspire, although, as we see in Nyad, the new Netflix biopic, not always in the obvious ways.You would have to be a maniac to attempt - and keep attempting - what Nyad did, and this is the energy brought by the actor Annette Bening to the title role. Bening's heroine is capricious, raging, solipsistic to the point of narcissism, and wholly indefatigable. At an age at which people in general and women in particular are not considered apex performers, Nyad breaks her 30-year hiatus on swimming and, for all the reasons people make radical changes at that stage of life - fear of death, fear of obsolescence, fury at the realisation that this is all going to be much shorter than anticipated - gets back in the pool. She is, per the movie, a total nightmare of a person - and also blows your mind. Continue reading...
Candidates barrel through substantive but hostile debate in Miami amid warning that Republicans have become a party of losers'A day after Republicans suffered a string of off-year election defeats, five of the party's presidential hopefuls barreled through a substantive yet hostile primary debate on Wednesday, clashing over policy and with each other in a competition for second place behind the absentee frontrunner, Donald Trump.On stage in Miami, the debate was dominated by foreign questions about the Israel-Hamas war, immigration and China. But the contenders also decried the losses in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia, warning that 2024 could end with the re-election of Joe Biden if they were unsuccessful in breaking Trump's dominance of the Republican primary. Continue reading...
Giovanni Reyna finds himself at a club that has fought to redefine itself after the exuberance and hype of the Jurgen Klopp yearsWhen Borussia Dortmund's coach Edin Terzi mused a few weeks back that his plan for the season had been to make his team less sexy, more successful," you could have imagined his counterpart at Newcastle United, Eddie Howe, nodding with approval. The latter's express speed improvement of one of English football's perennial underachievers in the past two years has been dizzying, remarkable and laudable but, unlike the high points of the first Kevin Keegan era, built more on sweat than swagger.After Dortmund's 2-0 Champions League win over Newcastle on Tuesday, Howe may well have furthered a grudging admiration for Terzi, and may see even more parallels for where he wants to take his players in the future. The German side, who have helped develop the careers of US stars such as Gio Reyna and Christian Pulisic, have beaten Newcastle twice in less than two weeks, home and away, with pragmatic, measured football that on both occasions made the Geordies look as green as the glowing away jerseys that they sported for their match in North Rhine-Westphalia. As well as being an indicator of where Newcastle, a very differently run and funded club than Dortmund, may need to improve in order to be able to replicate their hosts' consistent presence in the Champions League, Tuesday's game reminded us that the Bundesliga giants have drifted from the recipe that made them such a popular second favourite team' for many - just as Newcastle had been during the mid-90s heyday of Keegan. Continue reading...
The Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and other foreign policy issues dominated Wednesday's third debate of Republican presidential hopefuls in Miami. The debate - which was missing Donald Trump, the favorite for the party's 2024 run who was hosting a private rally elsewhere in the area - was a more bitter affair than its predecessors in Wisconsin and California. Lively verbal sparring sometimes regressed into insults, with Nikki Haley calling Vivek Ramaswamy 'scum'. The pair were, however, united in tearing into Trump, who they trail by a significant margin in the race
Injuries, trades and firings can turn a contender into an also-ran. We take a look at what the season holds as we enter its second halfBack in September, I made my preseason predictions for 2023. With the season at its midpoint, I've looked back to see what I got right and what I got wrong (conclusion: nobody's perfect). Continue reading...
A government-backed report is damning about the porn industry, painting it as inherently criminal. Sex workers, on the other hand, strongly disagreeOnline pornography has become inescapable. Hundreds of millions of people watch it every month. The global industry makes vast amounts of money every year. Countries and governments constantly debate its practices, excesses and dangers, yet nothing meaningful ever happens. Can it be stopped or curtailed? Should it?It is France's turn to agonise over adult content, how it's produced, what it leads to and whether it should be banned. The catalyst was a report launched by the High Council for Equality Between Women and Men (HCE), a government-nominated watchdog on gender equality.Marie Le Conte is a French journalist living in London Continue reading...
Candidates clash over Ukraine and immigration and grapple with abortion questions as Donald Trump holds rally nearbyThe Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and other foreign policy issues dominated Wednesday's fiery third debate of Republican presidential hopefuls in Miami. Candidates pledged wholehearted support for Israel's military response following last month's Hamas attacks, and clashed over Ukraine, China and immigration.The debate, minus Donald Trump, the runaway favorite for the party's 2024 nomination who was hosting his own private rally elsewhere in the area, was a more bitter affair than its predecessors in Wisconsin and California. Lively verbal sparring sometimes regressed into insults, with Nikki Haley at one point calling one of her rivals scum". Continue reading...
Candidates showed unequivocal support for Israel on a night when Nikki Haley shot back at Vivek Ramaswamy's criticismThe third Republican debate was held in Miami on Wednesday, with frontrunner Donald Trump once again foregoing the debate for his own rally nearby.The pool has dwindled since the last debate, and Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Chris Christie seemed to be more serious and focused this time around as they answered questions on the Israel-Hamas war, immigration, abortion and the federal budget. Even so, the debate had moments where it devolved into a shouting match, with petty barbs and personal attacks. Continue reading...
Officials say driver fled police and smashed into Chevrolet which then caught fire, with everyone in both vehicles killedEight people died on Wednesday when the driver of a car suspected of carrying smuggled migrants fled police and smashed into an oncoming vehicle on a south Texas highway.The crash happened about 6.30am when the driver of a 2009 Honda Civic tried to outrun deputies from the Zavala county sheriff's office and attempted to pass a semi-truck, the state department of public safety (DPS) said. The Civic collided with a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox, which caught fire. Continue reading...
Ex-executive Drew Dixon alleges Reid, known for growing stars such as Usher and Pink, assaulted her twice and derailed her careerLA Reid, the music executive known for helping develop superstars Mariah Carey, Pink, TLC and Usher, was sued on Wednesday by a former music executive who accused him of sexually assaulting her more than two decades ago.Drew Dixon said Reid, 67, derailed her once promising music industry career after he became Arista Records' chief executive because she rejected his advances, including two assaults that she said occurred in 2001. Continue reading...
Despite the control shown during her testimony, Trump was following the same script as her family: deny remembering anythingWhen Ivanka Trump took the stand at her father's New York fraud trial on Wednesday, it appeared she was following the advice she gave to readers in her 2009 book The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life. Perception is more important than reality," Trump wrote. It is more important than if it is in fact true."In stark contrast to her father's often angry performance on the stand just two days earlier, Ivanka Trump was calm and amiable. Her brothers, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, also visibly lost patience on the stand, speaking quickly and sternly when answering some questions and making sarcastic comments at others. The eldest Trump daughter maintained her poise throughout. She delivered her testimony like a swan gliding across a lake. But beneath the surface, she was furiously paddling. Continue reading...
Lawsuit claimed former president participated in January 6 insurrection and should be blocked from holding office againMinnesota's high court dismissed a lawsuit that attempted to keep Donald Trump from being on the 2024 primary ballot, saying he had participated in an insurrection that bars him from holding the office.The Minnesota supreme court said the issue itself is ripe for review, but not in the primary election, where political parties select their nominees for the general election. Continue reading...
Detroit police say investigation in the stabbing of Samantha Woll, 40, will remain confidential and have not released suspect's detailsDetroit police said on Wednesday they had arrested a suspect in the fatal stabbing of synagogue leader and Democratic party adviser Samantha Woll, whose death on 21 October rocked religious and political circles.Woll, 40, was president of Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue. She was found dead outside her Detroit home on 21 October, hours after returning from a wedding, investigators said. Continue reading...
by Lauren Aratani and Dominic Rushe in New York on (#6G71V)
Trump's elder daughter gave an orderly, calm performance after the often chaotic testimony of her father and brothersI don't recall," Ivanka Trump repeatedly told a New York court on Wednesday as she took the witness stand at her father's $250m fraud trial and was quizzed about deals prosecutors claim prove the Trump Organization knowingly misled lenders.Trump's eldest daughter gave an orderly, calm performance after the often chaotic testimony of her father and brothers. She pointed out that she had not worked for the family firm since 2017 and said she did not recall many specific conversations but added: I have no reason to doubt it." Continue reading...
A major explosion at a Texas chemical plant has caused a massive fire, triggering evacuations and stay-at-home orders. The explosion and subsequent fire happened on Wednesday morning at a chemical plant in Shepherd, Texas, about an hour outside Houston, the San Jacinto county office of emergency management said in a Facebook post.Officials in San Jacinto County said the explosion took place at Sound Resource Solutions, a company that recycles and repackages various chemicals. Information on a possible cause of the explosion or how they planned to put it out was not immediately given
The decaying corpses were discovered after reports of abhorrent smells' inside company's rundown building last monthThe owner of a Colorado funeral home and his wife were arrested on Wednesday after the decaying remains of at least 189 people were recently found at his facility.Jon and Carie Hallford were arrested in Wagoner, Oklahoma, on suspicion of four felonies - abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery - the district attorney, Michael Allen, said in a news release after at least some of the aggrieved families were told. Continue reading...
House committee has been searching for evidence of influence peddling when Biden was vice-president to Barack ObamaHouse Republicans issued subpoenas on Wednesday to members of Joe Biden's family, taking their most aggressive step yet in an impeachment inquiry bitterly opposed by Democrats that is testing the reach of congressional oversight powers.The long-awaited move by Representative James Comer, the chairman of the House oversight committee, to subpoena the president's son Hunter and his brother James comes as Republicans hope to gain ground in their nearly year-long investigation. So far, they have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating the president in any wrongdoing. Continue reading...
The off-year statewide elections, in which Democrats gained control of legislature, could spell trouble for GOP in 2024Loudoun county, Virginia, attracted national headlines in 2021, when parents outraged over the alleged instruction of critical race theory and policies regarding transgender students shouted down officials at school board meetings.Republican Glenn Youngkin made the issue a central focus of his gubernatorial campaign in the months after, accusing Democrats of politicizing education to the detriment of students' learning and blaming them for pandemic-related school closures. And he had hoped it would continue to work in Tuesday's general election. Continue reading...
A recent poll prophesied doom and gloom for Democrats. Then Americans voted for Democrats and progressive policiesThe New York Times released a poll on Monday showing Donald Trump beating Joe Biden in several key states, and progressives across the country started to panic. The next day, actual voters in actual states cast actual ballots, and suddenly Democratic prospects don't look nearly as bleak. In state after state, Democrats and progressives swept to victory, affirming the findings from decades of demographic and electoral data showing that the majority of Americans prefer the more multiracial and inclusive vision of Democrats to the angry and punitive policies of the Republicans.At the heart of the Times poll was the suggestion that African Americans and Latinos were gravitating in large and significant numbers to support Trump. According to the poll, 71% of Black voters and just 50% of Latinos backed Biden. If accurate, those numbers would represent a historic collapse of Democratic support among people of color. Since exit polling by racial groups began in 1976, African Americans have supported the Democratic nominee for president with 88% of their votes, on average. In 2020, Biden got 87% of the Black vote, and in the 2022 midterms, Democratic candidates received 86% of the Black vote. As for Latinos, Biden secured 65% support in 2020. Continue reading...
Explosion and subsequent fire happened at petroleum processing plant in Shepherd, Texas, about an hour outside of HoustonA major explosion at a Texas chemical plant has caused a massive fire, triggering evacuations and stay-at-home-orders.The explosion and subsequent fire happened Wednesday morning at a chemical plant in Shepherd, Texas, about an hour outside of Houston, the San Jacinto county office of emergency management said in a Facebook post. Continue reading...
If the police are satisfied that a protest is safe, ministers should not be stirring suspicion and fearPolitical demonstrations are frequently controversial. Any issue that can mobilise tens of thousands of people is likely to involve fierce passions, and provoke strong reactions. In a democracy, those are insufficient grounds for a ban. That is why the Metropolitan police have resisted ministerial pressure to withdraw permission for a Palestinian solidarity march in central London this weekend. Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, has taken the view that Saturday's march does not pose a threat to public safety. Downing Street has very reluctantly, and perhaps only temporarily, deferred to that judgment.Rishi Sunak has expressed his objection in terms of the date. A rally on Armistice Day would be disrespectful", according to the prime minister. Whether or not that is true - and the march organisers have tried to accommodate such sensitivities in their choice of route - respectfulness is not a measure of public order. There would be few public demonstrations on any issue if the threshold for a ban were set at breaches of a prime minister's sense of decorum. Continue reading...
Court papers reveal Japanese conglomerate transferred money less than a week before office rental group filed for bankruptcySoftBank transferred almost $1.5bn to WeWork's lenders less than a week before the shared office rental group filed for bankruptcy, court documents have revealed.The Japanese conglomerate has endured steep losses on its investment in WeWork, which was one of the world's most feted startups when it first invested six years ago. Continue reading...
Dr Paul Appelbaum, a psychiatrist, challenges assumptions about the connections between mental health and violence riskIn the wake of the Maine mass shootings that left 18 people dead, Republican politicians are returning to a familiar talking point: the way to prevent these frequent massacres is not changing how easy it is for Americans to access guns - it's locking up more people with mental health issues.The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, said after the shooting that he did not support expanding the red flag" laws that make it easier to temporarily take guns away from people who have threatened to hurt themselves or others. Instead, he argued on CNN, an involuntary commitment" of the shooter would have done the trick". In 2018, then-president Donald Trump responded to a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 people dead, in part by tweeting about why a sicko" like the shooter should have been brought to a mental institution". Continue reading...
The documentary series about the troubled singer shows that, while the heyday of the paparazzi is over, pop stars are still prey to intrusionNetflix's new documentary delivers on its promise of presenting Robbie Williams as you've never seen him before, and not just in showing the era-defining cheeky chappy, now rounding on 50, mostly in bed, lounging around in his pants. Its director, Joe Pearlman, brings together hours of behind-the-scenes archival footage, much of it never seen by Williams, and screens it to him on his laptop for his response.One of the more harrowing clips is a video diary recorded by Williams in 2007. It shows him apparently alone, drug-addled and reading online commentary aloud. Robbie Williams is music for people who don't feel'," he says, his face grey, eyes sunken. Rob is a showbiz chancer' - yeah, I am ... Robbie Williams is a shit joke'." Continue reading...
Earthquake occurred near the Texas-New Mexico border and effects were also reported in New MexicoA 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit western Texas on Wednesday morning, the US Geological Survey (USGS) announced.The earthquake occurred near the Texas-New Mexico border, about 22 miles (36km) south-west of Mentone, Texas, the USGS said. The effects of the quake could be felt in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, which is 215 miles west of Mentone, according to the National Weather Service. Continue reading...
The Timbers announced Neville as their new head coach this week, five months after he was sacked by Inter MiamiPhil Neville, somehow, is back in Major League Soccer. A lot of Portland Timbers fans wish he wasn't - and they have been vocal in saying so. When the club published an announcement video of Neville stepping over the stands at Providence Park, it inadvertently symbolised how the concerns of supporters have been ignored to appoint the former England international. The video was deleted, but fans aren't ready to accept NevilleNeville, as his detractors see it, was a failure in the only other MLS position he has held. Continue reading...
Ohio has voted to add abortion rights to the state's constitution in a major victory for women's reproductive rights. The vote to approve 'Issue 1' passed with nearly 60% of the vote. Abortion access has been a contested issue in Ohio since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, sending the question back to the states and leading 16 states to ban nearly all abortions. Lauren Blauvert, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, welcomed the pro-choice victory in a speech: 'There was no choice, we had to win. We had to end the ban'
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian have been on loan to US from China for more than two decades and are being transported with their cubThe two giant pandas at the Smithsonian's National zoo officially began their return to China on Wednesday.The two panda bears, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, had been in the United States on loan from China for more than two decades as part of a research agreement set to expire early next month. Their cub, three-year-old Xiao Qi Ji, is also going. Continue reading...
Yusef Salaam's victory comes two decades after DNA used to overturn mistaken conviction in 1989 rape caseThe exonerated Central Park Five" member Yusef Salaam has won a seat on the New York City council, marking a stunning reversal of fortune for a political newcomer who was wrongly imprisoned as a teenager in the infamous rape case.Salaam, a Democrat, will represent a central Harlem district on the city council, having run unopposed for the seat in one of many local elections playing out across New York state on Tuesday. He won his primary election in a landslide. Continue reading...
Civilians given four-hour window to leave encircled capital but fears many are still trapped. Plus, Salman Rushdie on peace, Barbie and what freedom cost him
Gender conservatism does not tend to attract as much notice as the other pillars of the far-right ideology, but it is central to the Republican ideologyLate last month, when House Republicans ended their chaotic, weeks-long search for a new speaker by elevating Louisiana's Mike Johnson, a curious trend of stories began appearing in national media. Democratic operatives (and perhaps a few of Johnson's Republican adversaries, too) had begun leaking what's known in Washington as oppo", or opposition research - unflattering truths about political rivals - about the new speaker.For many politicians, the embarrassing secrets revealed in an oppo dump are somewhat oblique; usually, they're about money. Maybe the candidate, as a young lawyer, represented a bank in a case where he aimed to repossess the home of a poor widow; maybe the candidate's husband or daughter was appointed to a job they did not seem quite qualified for, raising questions about nepotism or access trading. The aim of such stories is to make a politician appear corrupt, or unscrupulous - like someone beholden to greed and not to principle. Continue reading...
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