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Biden administration employees said their voices were not being heard' internally regarding US's support of IsraelWhen Maryam Hassanein joined the US Department of Interior as a Biden administration appointee in January, she hoped that Israel's war on Gaza would soon come to an end. But when the US authorized a $1bn arms shipment to Israel in the spring, Hassanein decided to use her voice to affect change. She was inspired by the resilience of students involved in the anti-war movement at nearby George Washington University, where she had attended pro-Palestinian rallies.Seeing the strength of the students who led that movement across the country really made me think about what I should be doing," Hassanein said, and how I can advocate far more for an end to the carnage in Palestine." Continue reading...

Filing does not substantially change case after immunity ruling. Plus, France to trial ban on mobile phones at schools

Exclusive: groundbreaking Mapping Police Violence data estimates scale of physical force and civilian injuriesPolice in the US use force on at least 300,000 people each year, injuring an estimated 100,000 of them, according to a groundbreaking data analysis on law enforcement encounters.Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group that tracks killings by US police, launched a new database on Wednesday cataloging non-fatal incidents of police use of force, including stun guns, chemical sprays, K9 dog attacks, neck restraints, beanbags and baton strikes. Continue reading...

Heels make your legs look great and you feel instantly powerful. But that's not enough for gen ZThese days my wardrobe is best described as freelance-writer chic". Which is to say, I feel dressed up when my socks match. Once upon a time, however, I was a trainee corporate lawyer and dressed like one - tottering around in a state of constant panic and very high heels. I was, as you may have guessed, not really cut out for corporate law. After I eventually gave up both the law and my heels, my feet took several years to recover from the abuse. It had been a sole-destroying job. For a while I had to tiptoe everywhere when I didn't have shoes on because the heels had mucked up my achilles tendons and calf muscles.Despite the fact that they disfigured my feet, I still have a soft spot for heels. They make your legs look great and you feel instantly powerful. Apart from the pain and the impracticality, what's not to like? So it is with mixed feelings - but comfortable feet - that I watch them die a slow death. Heels have been on the way out for years now, their demise supercharged by the pandemic. Kids these days don't wear heels out clubbing, according to a recent viral TikTok from an influencer who wondered whether we [millennials] need to come out of retirement and teach the girls how to wear heels". And per the Economist, even the French have kicked off their heels. Continue reading...

Two states have already adopted ranked-choice voting, a nonpartisan fix to our outdated electoral systemRobert F Kennedy Jr has suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, in part because he did not want to be a spoiler across competitive swing states. The third-party spoiler problem", unfortunately, will not vanish with him.Three committed independents and third-party nominees remain: progressive activist Cornel West, Libertarian Chase Oliver, and Jill Stein of the Green party. They could still tip the balance: the White House looks likely to be won by the tiniest margins across just seven swing states, just as it was in 2016 and 2020.David Daley is the author of Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count and Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy. He is a senior fellow at FairVote Continue reading...

Joe Biden declared himself the most pro-union president ever'. Kamala Harris should go even furtherOne of the most compelling speeches at last week's Democratic national convention wasn't followed by balloons. Delivered just a few hours before Kamala Harris's primetime address, it came from a man with - until now, anyway - zero name recognition. John Russell is a mulleted tree-stump grinder turned activist journalist from rural Ohio. He seemed a bit of a misfit next to glamorous speakers like Oprah and the guy who played the president on Scandal. But on the final night in Chicago, Russell took the stage to give what my colleague Bhaskar Sunkara called the most radical speech" in the convention's history.His blistering remarks cut through the convention's fever dream to deliver a necessary wake-up call. He warned about the working class's political disillusionment. He demanded that Democrats reclaim their heritage as fearless defenders of labor. And he issued ambitious prescriptions for action on everything from a living wage to climate crisis. On that last issue, he reminded the gathered delegates that environmental degradation isn't just a matter of coastal (elite) flooding, but of strip mining and poisoned water in flyover country. Perhaps most impressively, he spoke all this truth to power in only two minutes. As he said himself: It is our moment to live up to. Let's get after it." Continue reading...

Not for the first time, Trump will cut up one of his suits to sell to supporters who buy enough digital trading cardsDonald Trump announced on Tuesday that he is selling a new collection of digital trading cards, and that supporters who buy 15 or more cards will receive a physical card adorned with a piece of the suit he wore for the presidential debate against Joe Biden in June.The announcement was made on Tuesday in a video posted on Truth Social. Continue reading...

As the Paris Paralympics kick off, here's a look at 10 athletes from Team USA worth keeping an eye onThree years ago, the United States sent 235 athletes to the Tokyo Paralympics and won 104 medals.Some of these athletes were born with physical challenges, while others suffered devastating injuries from accidents or assaults. Some have been Paralympians since just after the turn of the century. Continue reading...

The pop star ran into unfair flak when she rehomed her dog because of its behavioural issues. I face the same dilemmaLast week, the pop star Lily Allen was viciously criticised on social media after it was revealed that she had rehomed her dog Mary - after Mary ate her and her children's passports. The animal rights charity Peta published an open letter accusing Allen of treating her dog like an accessory to be discarded when they become inconvenient". Allen tried to put the event in context, saying that the passport eating was the final straw in a series of incidents stemming from the dog's severe behavioural issues.While I understand the natural impulse to say that Allen is a monster" for rehoming Mary, I have sympathy for her. Having a pet is a big responsibility, and one we should always take seriously, but when a pet has such extreme behavioural issues that it can't seem to live and thrive in your home, it's OK to ask whether it might be better off elsewhere. Continue reading...

Thursday spot with anchor Dana Bash follows weeks of demands from GOP and media for nominees to open upKamala Harris and Tim Walz will sit for their first interview as the Democratic ticket on Thursday, after weeks of demands from Republicans and members of the media for the nominees to open themselves up to questions.The interview, which will be conducted by CNN anchor Dana Bash from the battleground state of Georgia, is set for a primetime spot on CNN at 9pm ET. Continue reading...

New indictment alleges Trump sought to pressure department of justice in his effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat; Trump calls new filing a travesty'. This blog is now closed.Tulsi Gabbard is a former Hawaii congresswoman who endorsed Bernie Sanders and once called Joe Biden a friend. But her days in Democratic politics are far behind her, the Guardian's David Smith reported earlier this year, when he covered Gabbard's speech to a major convention of conservatives:Once a prominent backer of the leftwing senator Bernie Sanders, on Thursday she was greeted by far-right activists with a standing ovation and a group of supporters brandishing gold letters that spelled T-R-U-M-P. Continue reading...

Former Democrats would help ex-president choose policies and personnel if he were to win White House in NovemberDonald Trump has appointed Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, two former Democrats who have endorsed his bid for a second presidency, to the transition team that could shape his future administration.The pair will serve as honorary co-chairs of a body that will help him choose policies and personnel if he wins November's presidential election, the New York Times reported. Continue reading...

Jannik Sinner came from a set down to win, while Dan Evans came from 0-4 0-40 down in the fifth to beat Karen Khachanov in the longest match in US Open historyKokkinakis has only won two matches in New York but he consolidates his break and now leads 2-1, but Sasnovich has retrieved the one of which Boult relieved her and it's now 2-2 in the first. Elsewhere, Tabilo (22) leads Goffin 3-1, Muchova - a favourite of this blog - is up 4-1 on Voylnets, and Mensik leads Auger-Aliassime 3-1.A fine, muscular start from Boulter, who leads Sasnovich 2-0, while Collins is 2-0 up on Dolehide. Is it just me who sings her name to this banger? Surely not? Oh come on. Continue reading...

Move does not substantially change criminal case but protects it in wake of July supreme court immunity rulingThe justice department filed a new indictment against Donald Trump on Tuesday over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The maneuver does not substantially change the criminal case against him but protects it in the wake of a July US supreme court decision ruling saying that Trump and other presidents have immunity for official acts, but not unofficial ones.Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment, charging the defendant with the same criminal offenses that were charged in the original indictment," lawyers for Jack Smith, the special counsel handling the case, said in a filing that accompanied what is known as a superseding indictment. Continue reading...

At Michigan rally, the Republican VP nominee referred to his former hostility while taking aim at Kamala HarrisJD Vance has admitted he once doubted Donald Trump's abilities to be US president but insists he was won over by the policies and track record of a man he previously decried as America's Hitler" and cultural heroin".The Republican vice-presidential nominee obliquely referred to his former hostility at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as he attempted to blame Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, for the policies of the Biden administration at the same time as accusing her of preparing to steal Trump's ideological clothes. Continue reading...

Trump and Harris, the Republican and Democratic nominees, are frontrunners as few other candidates remainThe 2024 election season is well under way.The campaign was marked by a consequential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, followed by weeks of pressure on Biden following his debate performance, culminating in his announcement that he would drop out of the race. Continue reading...

Democratic elites continue to ignore the multiple allegations against Clinton - and the reality of the Lewinsky affairOne of the grim lessons of the #MeToo movement and its long backlash is this: whether someone finds a sexual abuse allegation credible largely depends on their pre-existing opinion of the man accused. When a woman comes forward with an account of a man's mistreatment of her - be it humiliating boorishness, violent rape or any of the range of degradations and hurts that fall along the wide spectrum between - the listener's response is fairly predictable. If they hate the accused man, they'll believe his accuser. If they like him, they'll say it's bullshit.This rule holds, I am sorry to say, even for women who identify themselves as feminists. It held for Gloria Steinem, the famed feminist now in her 90s, who in 1998 defended Clinton amid his slew of sex scandals and abuse allegations in the pages of the New York Times, dismissing the allegations against him as trivial and making an unconvincing case that the offense she took at similar allegations against Clarence Thomas was different. It held true, most famously, for Bill Clinton's wife, the liberal feminist icon Hillary Clinton, who has remained silently beside her husband throughout each of the allegations against him - and retained her feminist credibility despite her loyalty to an allegedly abusive man that I can only describe as canine.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Hypertension is the silent killer - and Australians have been ignoring the catastrophic consequences

Vice-president once called the border wall un-American' but now is trying to revive an immigration deal that funds itRepublicans have accused Kamala Harris of a policy flip-flop after she embraced an immigration crackdown that would involve expanding the controversial US southern border wall, which she once called un-American" and a medieval vanity project".Harris committed to reviving a bipartisan immigration deal that collapsed in the Senate earlier year at last week's Democratic national convention. Continue reading...

Kwadjo Owusu-Ansah hasn't even promoted his latest line of brightly colored helmets, but the most amazing people are finding them'It was a zipper that propelled Kwadjo Owusu-Ansah's project into motion. There was a flannel shirt I made with bleach," the self-taught fashion designer recalls, and I hand-sewed the zipper on to the back of the shirt. I think I fell in love, because almost everything I make has a zipper now." That device, and Owusu-Ansah's fixation on it, were the seeds of Animated People, his brand of innovative streetwear.Owusu-Ansah - who goes by the name DamnKojo professionally and works full time in marketing at a wine and spirits company - sees his fashion line as less of an up-and-coming label than an ongoing art project. I want you to tell your own story," Owusu-Ansah, 31, says. Make your own meaning with my art. Dissect it. Think about it. Why is a dude wearing a miniskirt today? [I want people] to question the pieces when they see them. That's what starts a conversation." Continue reading...

Biden's program allowed undocumented spouses to remain in the country while seeking permanent residencyA federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked a Joe Biden immigration policy that allows undocumented spouses of US citizens to remain in the country while their applications for permanent residence are considered.The so-called parole in place" program was halted in a Monday night ruling by federal district court judge J Campbell Barker in the eastern district of Texas, a favorite venue of conservatives seeking to derail the president's policy agenda. Barker was appointed to his position by the Donald Trump White House. Continue reading...

Travis King, who was repatriated after crossing border in 2023, will admit four other charges, with nine more droppedA US army private who fled to North Korea just over a year ago will plead guilty to desertion and four other charges and take responsibility for his conduct, his lawyer said on Monday.Travis King's attorney, Franklin D Rosenblatt, told the Associated Press that King intends to admit guilt to a total of five military offenses, including desertion and assaulting an officer. Nine other offenses, including possession of sexual images of a child, will be withdrawn and dismissed under the terms of the deal. Continue reading...

For decades, pollsters have deemed Asian Americans others'. The vice-president's rise is changing thatAmerica, the path that led me here in recent weeks, was no doubt ... unexpected. But I'm no stranger to unlikely journeys. My mother, Shyamala Harris, had one of her own ... traveling from India to California, with an unshakeable dream."With these words, Vice-President Kamala Harris began her acceptance speech on the final night of an epic convention, embracing the unprecedented means by which she had arrived at the Democratic presidential nomination, and elevating her identity as the daughter of an immigrant mother from India. Continue reading...

League of United Latin American Citizens calls on US justice department to look into raids on at least three membersOne of the United States' oldest Latino civil rights organizations is raising alarm after several of its members had their homes raided as part of a voter fraud investigation by the Texas attorney general's office.The League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac) wants the Department of Justice to investigate raids on at least three of its members in Texas. Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, said in a statement last week his office had executed multiple search warrants in Bexar county, which includes San Antonio, as well as neighboring Frio and Atascosa counties as part of an ongoing, two-year investigation. The office did not provide details of the investigation or respond to a request for comment. Continue reading...

Republicans attempt to undermine Harris-Walz campaign by questioning military record and coaching position

Ex-Warner Music chief had formed consortium to gazump planned deal but some would-be investors withdrew

Appeal marks the beginning of a lengthy legal battle that could take years. Plus, Mariah Carey's shares that her mother and sister died on the same day last weekend

US policies strengthen Benjamin Netanyahu - whose political preference in the short term is an open-ended war, not a dealThe Biden administration remains in an intense phase of Middle East diplomatic activity working to avoid a regional war while optimistically spinning the prospects for a Gaza breakthrough deal.Following the latest round of provocative Israeli extrajudicial killings in Tehran and Beirut and the intensified exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend, the region appeared to lurch further in the direction of all-out war. Preventing that is a worthy cause in itself.Daniel Levy is the president of the US/Middle East Project and a former Israeli peace negotiator Continue reading...

The men's final is shifting its start time, putting it in a fight for eyeballs with the media behemoth and stripping away a unique moment on the tennis calendarOf all sports, baseball has claimed - somewhat arrogantly - the literary mantle with so many scribes waxing rhapsodically about the inherent beauty of the game, engendering wistful reflections upon a season's end. One thinks of the late MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti's quote about baseball being designed to break your heart" as it commences each year in spring with hope and then ends in October, leaving the fans to face the cold and chill of autumn alone.But at least baseball fans have the advantage of having their sport carry over into the middle of autumn, making the transition away from summer that much more gradual and easier. And anyway, baseball lovers shouldn't be the only inhabitants of our parallel sports universe to be granted an emotional sick day and wallow in their post post-season blues. Continue reading...

The club have won seven of eight games without their star player, clinching a spot in the MLS playoffs and picking up points at a record paceIn a game that had already seen two goals and a red card, it was a goalline clearance in the 76th minute that spoke as the clearest statement of Inter Miami's intent for the remainder of the 2024 MLS season.Hosting fellow Eastern Conference contenders FC Cincinnati at Chase Stadium, Miami raced into an early two-goal lead thanks to a Luis Suarez brace. Twice Tata Martino's side pounced on careless turnovers by the visitors inside the first six minutes, and twice the veteran Uruguayan striker finished ruthlessly inside the penalty area. Continue reading...

It's not just the AfD that poses a major threat in this weekend's regional elections - while traditional moderate parties are failing to inspire votersBritain is emerging, albeit grumpily, from eight years of Conservative mayhem. In France, voters clubbed together yet again to stave off the ever-present threat of Marine Le Pen. In the US, the Democrats have a spring in their step after the anointment of Kamala Harris as their presidential candidate. But this tentative resurgence of sensible politics is, sadly, eluding Germany.On Sunday, two former regions of East Germany are expected to support in droves two parties of the far right. The three centrist parties running the country nationally - the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) - are struggling to get over the 5% threshold that was designed to keep extremists out of legislatures. Meanwhile, the conservative CDU - Angela Merkel's old party - is struggling to counter the populists. Continue reading...

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is desperately needed - then comes the task of rebuilding a devastated Middle East

The country's traumatised people are desperate for a new approach to end atrocities and famine in beleaguered countryJeddah, Cairo, Addis Ababa - and now Geneva - are choice settings for a growing business: talking peace for Sudan. But whatever the venue, one deal seems impossible to broker: getting all the key players together at the same time and in the same place. Instead, fighting intensifies as diplomats shuttle between stakeholders unwilling to sit in the same room.The reasons are clear. The belligerents - the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) of GenAbdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti) - are not ready for peace. Well armed and resourced by external sponsors, each thinks they can win. Especially when winning means establishing future hegemony and monopolising the country's riches.Mukesh Kapila is a former UN official and current emeritus professor at the University of Manchester Continue reading...

Former 2020 Democratic candidate backs the Republican nominee and accuses Harris of abuse of power'Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman, has endorsed the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, in the US presidential election.Gabbard, who served in the military in Iraq, ran for president in the Democratic primary in 2020. She quit the party two years later and has become a fixture at conservative conferences and in rightwing media. Continue reading...

Lawsuit alleges new rules that could let local state boards delay certification of presidential election are illegalDemocrats sued Georgia state election officials on Monday, alleging new rules that could allow local officials to delay certification of November's presidential results were illegal.The lawsuit was filed in the superior court of Fulton county by local Georgia Democratic politicians, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic party of Georgia. It says the rules approved by the Republican-controlled Georgia state election board this month were intended to give individual county election officials the ability to delay or cancel the certification of votes. Continue reading...

Judge also bars ex-pharmaceutical executive, Pharma Bro', from streaming any more of Once Upon a Time in ShaolinSo-called Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli has been ordered by a federal judge to turn over all copies of the ultra-rare unreleased 2015 Wu-Tang Clan album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and is barred from streaming any additional content from the record.The Wu-Tang Clan spent six years creating Once Upon a Time in Shaolin before putting a single copy of the 31-track double album up for auction in 2015 on the condition that it not be released publicly. The multi-platinum hip-hop group wanted it viewed as a piece of contemporary art. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the 2024 US election, you can read our full coverage here.

Coco Gauff began her title defence with an emphatic win while the Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen was forced to come from behind in the first round*Choinski 1-2 Carballes Baena (denotes server): Choinski is such a strong server and because of the hardcourt they are quite speedy as well. It means that Carballes Baena is opting to stay so far back to recieve. He is well outside of the court lines and often times out of the camera frame as well. Choinski gets the advantage but Carballes Baena slowly moves up the court and hits a smashing forehand to make it a second deuce. We go back and forth for a while but it's at the sixth break point where after a short rally the Brit hits a shot out. That 13-minute felt never ending and had everything: foot faults, a few aces and some slicing shots.Choinski 1-2 Carballes Baena* (denotes server): On Court 16, Carballes Baena is leading by a game against Choinski. This match has been a lot more free-flowing but the unforced errors for both are mounting up. Think this might be a battle of who can hold their nerve better. Continue reading...

NeverWalz.com unexpectedly displays webpage that criticizes Trump and redirects to Harris's campaign siteIf you type in NeverWalz.com in your browser, the page that appears probably doesn't look like what you expected from a webpage donning a slogan against Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and the current vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic party.Trump is a convicted felon. Let's vote for adults," the webpage reads. Try being joyful instead of an asshole." Continue reading...

Election-denying Matthew DePerno withdraws from race and ex-chair Kristina Karamo escorted out as division boilsA messy Michigan Republican party gathering this weekend to nominate candidates for office illustrated the diminished sway of two high-profile Michigan election deniers and highlighted longstanding divisions within the party.Matthew DePerno, who faces charges for allegedly assisting in a scheme to improperly access voting machines in the wake of the 2020 election, withdrew from the race for Michigan's top court hours before the state party convention. In a statement, DePerno said that instead of running for state supreme court, he would use my knowledge about how elections work to get Republicans elected". Continue reading...

Without a ceasefire deal for Gaza, the dangers of a drift towards a disastrous regional war will growThe wave of Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon on Sunday morning, and the hundreds of drones and rockets launched soon afterwards by Hezbollah, was the biggest exchange of hostilities across Israel's northern border since the Hamas attacks of 7 October. As Gaza ceasefire negotiations continue to stall, and the appalling Palestinian death toll in that territory surpasses 40,000, the nightmare scenario of a regional war encompassing Lebanon and involving Hezbollah's patron, Iran, remains frighteningly possible.For now at least, despite the weekend's reciprocal show of force, all parties appear keen to avoid such an outcome. In the brutal choreography that governs Israel's relations with Hezbollah, Sunday's attack will have been factored in by Jerusalem following Israel's assassination of one of the organisation's top commanders last month. Hezbollah's leader, HassanNasrallah, emphasised that a decision had been taken not to risk Israeli civilian casualties in the assault, which targeted military locations and the Mossad spy base near Tel Aviv.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...

Thousands of detainees allegedly beaten, sexually assaulted and denied access to food and clean waterAbuse of thousands of migrants at federal immigration detention centers in Louisiana is rampant, inhumane and meets the legal definition of torture, according to a report published on Monday by a coalition of human rights groups.Accusations include the shackling of detainees for lengthy periods in painful positions, filthy drinking water, food contaminated by rat feces and served in meager portions, and a denial of or restricted access to medical and mental health treatment. Continue reading...