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Judge Tanya Chutkan agrees to pause proceedings while ex-president pursues claims he is immune from prosecutionDonald Trump's 2020 election interference case in Washington will be put on hold while the former president further pursues his claims that he is immune from prosecution, the judge overseeing the case ruled Wednesday.US district judge Tanya Chutkan agreed to pause any further proceedings that would move this case towards trial or impose additional burdens of litigation on defendant". But the judge said that if the case returns to her court, she will consider at that time whether to retain or continue the dates of any still-future deadlines and proceedings, including the trial scheduled for March 4, 2024". Continue reading...

Bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is determined to let kids drink full-fat milk in school, although critics say Congress is wasting its timeLet them drink milk!"A bipartisan bill to allow US schools to serve whole milk, in addition to low-fat options, is garnering support, as some call the attempts to bring back the dairy staple a waste of time. Continue reading...

Staff notified via livestream Wednesday by Josh Silverman, who acknowledged unfortunate' timing during holiday seasonEtsy is laying off 225 employees in a bid to cut costs as it grapples with very challenging" economic headwinds.The online retail company will reduce its headcount by about 11% after deciding that a leaner, more agile" workforce would help shore up growth. Continue reading...

California highway patrol detains 75 people who blocked six lanes of traffic, as drivers attempt to drag protesters out of the wayPolice in Los Angeles arrested a group of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza after they shut down a busy stretch of freeway in the city's downtown.Dozens of people assembled on the 110 on Wednesday morning, bringing traffic to a standstill during the morning commute for more than an hour. There were tense physical confrontations as commuters attempted to remove people from the road. Continue reading...

Looming over this year's climate talks was the spectre of Donald Trump regaining the US presidencyThe climate emergency needs better than this. It has taken almost 30 years of climate talks for the world to call on nations to transition away from fossil fuels" in a just, orderly and equitable manner". Cop28's final text was stating the obvious but it needed saying, and not a moment too soon. Ahead of the Dubai summit, the UN said that under current policies, global temperatures were on track to rise 2.9C above pre-industrial levels - nearly double the goal cited in the climate summit final declaration.The measures agreed - to triple renewable capacity and double the rate of energy efficiency - could limit warming to the 1.5C threshold. But this relies on an equitable climate financing deal for developing countries. On this key issue, the Cop28 outcome had little to say. A report for the UN has stated that developing countries - excluding China - would need $2.4tn a year. This is a lot of money, but then what is the price of saving the planet? The US is the richest nation on Earth. It should take the lead as the globe's largest oil and gas producer. Instead it will expand fossil fuel extraction - reckless and inexcusable behaviour given Washington's historical responsibility. Continue reading...

Senate Democrats argue justice poses potential conflict of interest because his wife has previously supported Trump's election liesSenate Democrats are pressuring the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from deciding whether Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution for alleged crimes he committed while president.Democrats have argued that Thomas poses a potential conflict of interest because his wife, Ginni Thomas, has previously supported Trump's false claims that the election was stolen, the Hill reported. Continue reading...

A common refrain I've heard from Black women over the years is: I wish more people talked about this. And so we are

The agreement on fossil fuel phase-out is full of loopholes, but those of us fighting for climate justice won't give upAs Cop28 ended after 14 gruelling days, many people were clutching at straws and looking for meaning in the mere mention in the text of a transition from fossil fuels. There will be headlines talking about what huge progress it is simply to say this - even without any requirement for real action.This would have been very welcome 20 or even 10 years ago, but it wasn't the gamechanger needed to prevent climate catastrophe, to end the era of deadly fossil fuels, or to save the north star of 1.5C. To claim that it is a triumph, or anything even close to that, is simply a lie.Asad Rehman is executive director of War on WantDo 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...

Case will determine future of mifepristone in first major abortion issue to reach country's highest court since it overturned RoeThe US supreme court on Wednesday agreed to hear oral arguments in a case that could determine the future of a pill used in most abortions in the US, in the first major abortion rights case to land at the country's highest court since the justices overturned Roe v Wade and abolished the national right to the procedure in 2022.A decision in the case will probably arrive in summer 2024, just months before the presidential election. The outcome of the case could affect not just access to the pill, which has been repeatedly deemed safe and effective, but the Federal Drug Administration's authority to regulate all manner of medications. Continue reading...

Woman, referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, was about eight weeks pregnant when she filed lawsuit against stateA pregnant woman in Kentucky who is suing the Republican state over its restrictive abortion laws has learned that her embryo is no longer viable, her lawyers shared on Tuesday.The woman, who is referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, was about eight weeks pregnant when she filed the lawsuit against Kentucky in a state court in Louisville. Continue reading...

House Democratic leader claims loud and growing' movement of Republican extremists want Russian leader to win warThe Democratic US House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has dismissed certain Republican colleagues as the pro-Putin caucus" amid a congressional fight over whether to send more aid to Ukraine in its efforts to fend off Russian invaders.During an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Jeffries singled out the far-right House firebrands Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan as the face of a loud and ... growing" movement aiming to undermine a $61bn military aid package that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy lobbied for during a trip to Washington DC on Tuesday. Continue reading...

President's son refuses to appear privately for deposition before GOP investigators and insists he will only testify in publicHunter Biden on Wednesday defied a congressional subpoena to appear privately for a deposition before Republican investigators who have been digging into his business dealings, insisting outside the US Capitol that he will only testify in public.In a rare public statement, the US president's son slammed a Republican subpoena requesting closed-door testimony, saying it could be manipulated. Continue reading...

Fans of the multiply indicted former president have the chance to own a piece of the blue suit he wore to his arrest in GeorgiaDespite his claims, Donald Trump's business career has had many more failures than successes.His record of catastrophic investments has never held Trump back, however, and now the one-term, twice-impeached, 91-time felony-charged former president has embarked on a new hustle: selling little cut-out pieces of a suit he wore during one of his arrests. Continue reading...

NBA bad boy Draymond Green was ejected after hitting Jusuf Nurki in the face during the Warriors' game against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. It has been less than a month since Green was suspended for five games by the league for putting Minnesota's Rudy Gobert in a headlock during an altercation in November. Green and Nurki were battling in the third quarter when the Warriors' player appeared to slightly lose his balance before inexplicably wheeling around and smacking Nurki in the face. Nurki immediately crumpled to the ground but eventually got up and continued the game. The referees reviewed the play before calling Green for a flagrant 2 foul, which causes an automatic ejection. Continue reading...

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, introduced a UFO transparency bill, which some Republicans want to kill. Even sceptics should oppose their effortsIt doesn't matter the topic, there always seems to be a group of lawmakers who will stop at nothing to thwart government transparency - even when it's a subject that could not be more bipartisan or in an obvious need for sunlight.This time, a small cadre of powerful Republicans have reportedly killed a provision in this year's defense authorization that would finally bring some transparency to the US government's knowledge around UFOs (now also known by the updated parlance of unidentified aerial phenomena", or UAPs).Trevor Timm is executive director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation Continue reading...

Women comprise a strikingly small portion of the clean tech workforce, but the White House has made steps to change thatAnna Bautista has heard the stories working in construction: penises and breasts drawn on porta-potty walls, sexist graffiti scrawled on job sites, photo calendars on break room walls featuring scantily clad women. She's seen women assigned menial tasks such as cleaning, getting lunch or organizing materials rather than learning new skills of the trade.This treatment is not limited to old-line construction sites. Bautista, the vice-president of construction for Grid Alternatives, the US's largest non-profit solar installer, says these problems are also common in the rapidly growing green economy - to the point that she goes to great lengths to present herself as very masculine when on a job site. She's even worn a wedding ring to a job site - despite not being married - so there would be no questions about what she was doing there. I was not there to date," she said. Continue reading...

Andre Braugher, who starred as Captain Raymond Holt in the hit comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine and as Detective Frank Pembleton in Homicide: Life on the Street, has died aged 61. The actor died on Monday after a brief illness, his publicist confirmed. Instantly recognisable for his deep voice, Braugher came to fame on the NBC drama Homicide: Life on the Street, which ran from 1992 to 1998. He won an Emmy for his portrayal of the tenacious, arrogant Detective Frank Pembleton in 1998

Black people who have experienced infertility talk about the difficult decision to end their pursuit of parenthoodA ghost haunted the labor and delivery unit the night my daughter was born.I remember hearing her guttural wails and begging her to stop screaming. But as the night wore on and the nurses came to check my wrecked vitals, the haze of childbirth and the oxytocin-induced euphoria that made me think I was holding my baby faded. Continue reading...

Like the climate crisis, artificial intelligence is global. The threats it poses can be resolved if we all work together

Summit president hails historic package to accelerate climate action', but critics decry litany of loopholes' in final text. Plus, why the silent treatment is so painful

Smith has asked the supreme court to rule - urgently - on whether Trump has legal immunity, as the ex-president claimsTiming isn't everything. But it certainly matters, and seldom more so than in special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution of Donald Trump.The former US president intends to use timing - delay, delay, delay - to avoid punishment for trying to overturn the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and for fomenting a violent coup.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Researchers and civil liberties advocates call for the safeguarding of protected speech amid an uproar over campus activismWell before the Israel-Gaza war broke out, a new McCarthyism was already widespread on American college campuses. During the Red Scare of the late 1940s and 50s, about 100 professors were fired for supposed communist sympathies; according to Greg Lukianoff, co-author of The Canceling of the American Mind, the number fired for their political beliefs - primarily for conservative or anti-woke" positions on race and gender - over the past 10 years is almost double that.Shadi Hamid is a columnist and editorial board member at the Washington Post and a research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Seminary. His most recent book is The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an IdeaBrett Max Kaufman is a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union's Center for Democracy Continue reading...

The coach has launched the Ultimate Tennis Showdown. It's the latest attempt to lure younger fans into a sport with an older fanbaseNo tennis player had ever done this before. It happened last September at a tournament in Frankfurt. On one side of the net was Gael Monfils, a veteran with uncanny agility. On the other was Andrey Rublev, ranked in the world's Top 10.Rublev was ahead, and it was Monfils's turn to serve. He stood at the baseline, bouncing the ball with his racket. Could he find his way back into the match? Continue reading...

The franchise has won just two playoff games in the past 11 seasons. But a talented young roster look like they could make a deep run this time aroundOne of the NBA's great recent runs of futility could finally be nearing an end.The Orlando Magic don't carry the league's longest active playoff drought - that dishonor belongs the Charlotte Hornets - but there's a real case to be made that no NBA fanbase has dealt with as much frustration over the past decade or so as folks in mid-Florida. They've won just two playoff games in the past 11 seasons, dropping five straight postseason series dating back to their Dwight Howard and Stan Van Gundy heyday. Continue reading...

As nation-state ownership within football becomes normalized, growing numbers of fans are willing to make excuses for autocratsIt was the clearest definition of sportswashing' you could hope for. Buried within Foreign Office exchanges unearthed in a recent investigation by The Athletic into the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United, one line stuck out: The takeover of Newcastle presents an opportunity to promote a different image of Saudi Arabia in the UK."The increased presence of nation-state ownership in sport - from the Saudi golf takeover to the acquisition of clubs such as Newcastle and Manchester City by investment funds linked closely to governments in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi - is, inevitably, money-oriented. Gulf states are attempting to diversify their economies and decrease their reliance on fossil fuels, with Saudi Arabia aiming to boost sport's percentage of the kingdom's GDP to 10% by 2030. Continue reading...

Walgreens Boots Alliance reportedly exploring options including flotation on London Stock ExchangeThe US parent company of Boots has revived plans to offload the UK's biggest pharmacy chain.Walgreens Boots Alliance, which abandoned a 5bn sale of Boots and its related No7 Beauty brand last year, is reportedly exploring options including an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. Continue reading...

Nothing should be taboo for comedy or satire. But a Sky TV project raises the question: who is telling the joke and writing the script?Is a comedy about slavery" desirable, or even possible? And if not, what about satire: is that an applicable lens through which to consider one of the greatest crimes in human history? Sky, the writer Rufus Jones and the actors Hugh Bonneville and Sarah Parish - all of whom are involved in a putative series about the repercussions of an inheritance derived from slavery - are about to find out. The omens are not good: it's attracted widespread criticism before even being made.First, let me be clear: slavery and the myth of white guilt are not too taboo for comedy and, even more so, satire. Absolutely nothing should be. Satire in particular, which differs to comedy in so far as the underlying objective is to expose folly, vice, hypocrisy and human shallowness, is an important tool for generating empathy for the downtrodden, and understanding some of humanity's more shameful and painful tendencies.Nels Abbey is a writer, broadcaster and former bankerDo 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...

At the European Council, liberalism and populism will lock horns. Whichever side prevails could decide the course for years to comeI have been in more than 20 European countries this year and I have seen two Europes. Across large parts of the continent, you're still in a Europe where high-speed trains waft you across frontiers you hardly notice, as you travel seamlessly between highly integrated liberal democracies resolved to solve all their remaining conflicts by peaceful means. But take an old slow train just a few hours to the east and you are spending time in bomb shelters and talking to badly wounded soldiers with tales from the trenches reminiscent of the first world war. I keep the Air Alarm Ukraine app active on my phone, so its warnings of air raids on Ukrainian cities remind me every day of that other Europe.There's a related duality in our politics. Many European countries still have governments on the spectrum between centre-left and centre-right, often with complicated coalitions, yet all committed one way or another to making both liberal democracy and the European Union work. In Poland, we can this week celebrate the return of such a government under Donald Tusk, kicking out a populist nationalist party that had dangerously threatened the country's democracy. On the other hand, populist nationalist parties of the hard right have scored notable successes, from the emergence of Giorgia Meloni as Italian prime minister last year, through to worrying regional election gains for Germany's Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) and the recent election victory of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands. Hungarian leader Viktor Orban is more aggressive than ever as he works against both the interests and the values of the EU, while exploiting all the advantages of membership in it. (Brexiters at least had the honesty to leave the club they loathe.)Timothy Garton Ash is a Guardian columnist. His latest book, Homelands: A Personal History of Europe, is being published in more than 20 European languages Continue reading...

Sergey Ochigava, who had Russian and Israeli identification, faces felony charges of being an aircraft stowawayA Russian man who flew on a plane from Denmark to Los Angeles in November without a passport or ticket told US authorities he didn't remember how he got through security in Europe, according to a federal complaint filed by the FBI. He has been charged with a federal crime.Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava, 46, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on 4 November via Scandinavian Airlines flight 931 from Copenhagen. He initially told authorities he had left his passport on the airplane which he flew on. A US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer could not find Ochigava on the flight manifest or any other incoming international flights, according to the complaint filed 6 November in Los Angeles federal court. Continue reading...

Speaking after a White House meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, US president Joe Biden said the US will support Ukraine in its war with Russia 'as long as we can'. 'Putin is banking on the United States failing to deliver for Ukraine. We must, we must, we must prove him wrong,' Biden said. The US president continued, highlighting praise for Republicans by a Russian TV host and said: 'If you're being celebrated by Russian propagandists, it might be time to rethink what you're doing. History ... will judge harshly'

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The 4-3 decision could have major ramifications for the control of the US House as Democrats angle to gain control of itNew York's highest court on Tuesday ordered the state to draw new congressional districts ahead of the 2024 elections, giving Democrats a potential advantage in what is expected to be a battleground for control of the US House.The 4-3 decision from the New York court of appeals could have major ramifications as Democrats angle for more favorable district lines in the state next year. Republicans, who won control of the House after flipping seats in New York, sought to keep the map in place. Continue reading...

Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss are seeking up to $43m in damages after Giuliani falsely accused them of trying to steal 2020 electionShaye Moss thought she was getting promoted when her boss stopped by her cubicle on 4 December 2020. But when she stepped into his office, something was amiss - she realized she was the only one smiling.It would wind up being the day everything in her life turned upside down". Continue reading...

In indication of possible shift in tone from the White House, Biden called on Netanyahu to change his hardline government

Police in Gary were able to track down the man after he allegedly shot a fellow customer during a fight at a grocery storeA debit card left behind at the scene of a fatal shooting helped police in the US state of Indiana track down and arrest a man suspected of killing a fellow customer at a grocery store.The violence on Monday evening was caught on the surveillance camera of the store in Gary, Indiana - video which shows two men in their 40s getting into a fight near the checkout counter. Continue reading...

Agreement thought to be the largest in state's history involving an incarcerated person's deathThe family of a man who died after starving in an Indiana jail while being held in solitary confinement for three weeks has secured a $7.25m settlement, thought to be the state's largest ever in connection with the death of an incarcerated person.Joshua McLemore's estate reached the settlement with the government of the county where the jail is. Wrongful death lawsuits against the jail's physician and its medical services provider, Advanced Correctional Healthcare Inc, are still pending. Continue reading...

Hannah Giles quits rightwing muckraker and says non-profit has become an unsalvageable mess'The chief executive of the rightwing muckraker Project Veritas resigned on Monday, saying the non-profit had become an unsalvageable mess" and alleging past illegality" and past financial improprieties" at the group founded by the political provocateur James O'Keefe.I am stepping down from all roles with Project Veritas and Project Veritas Action - effective immediately," Hannah Giles said. Continue reading...

State attorney general threatened to prosecute doctors if they provided abortion care to a woman with a nonviable pregnancyWhen a Texas court ruled that a 31-year-old woman with a non-viable pregnancy could have an abortion despite the state's strict bans, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, responded with a brazen threat to prosecute hospitals, doctors, or anyone else" who would assist in providing the procedure. The letter he sent Texas hospitals hours after the ruling, threatening first-degree felonies that could result in life in prison, was a stunning" move indicative of his longstanding crusade to criminalize abortion care, say legal experts and advocates.It is extraordinary that Paxton would threaten hospitals and doctors with this letter before even winning an appeal," Mary Ziegler, a UC-Davis law professor who focuses on reproductive rights, told the Guardian. It's a very unusual maneuver, but does certainly reflect his ultimate goal of wanting to go after abortion providers and supporters at all costs." Continue reading...

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects the most vulnerable: we must fight to defend and extend itDuring the week when we mark 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1948 convention on the prevention and punishment of genocide, I have been thinking about the genesis of both events and how we should commemorate them now.Adopted within 24 hours of each other in Paris in December 1948, the universal declaration seeks to protect individuals, while the convention seeks to protect groups. That moment in Paris was revolutionary: a recognition that the rights of the state are not unlimited, that the days of being allowed as a matter of law to trample over human lives were over. Continue reading...

Two years ago, a woman like Cox was able to control her body on her own terms. Now, she has to go before a court and begIn most cases, we would never have learned her name. Kate Cox, a Texas woman, is in a sadly common set of circumstances: a 31-year-old mother of two, Cox was pregnant with her third child when doctors informed her that something was wrong. Pregnancy complications are common, but in a state like Texas, they have become newly dangerous, threatening women with potentially disfiguring health complications, along with unimaginable heartbreak, as the state's multiple bans have mandated grotesque and inhumane treatment of doomed pregnancies.Cox's fetus had trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder. Trisomy 18 is a devastating diagnosis. Most pregnancies end in stillbirths; those infants born alive with the disorder live anguished, short and painful lives. Cox was informed that her fetus, in the sterile medical parlance, could not sustain life". The fetus had malformations of the spine, heart, brain and limbs. The pregnancy also posed dire threats to Cox's health; most significantly, she was at risk of losing her future fertility if she remained pregnant. Continue reading...

Marvin Haynes receives apology from DA who said prosecutors had no forensic evidence linking him to 2004 murderA man convicted of murdering a Minnesota flower shop clerk largely based on a single eyewitness identification has been freed from a sentence of life imprisonment, elating his supporters and him but outraging the slain victim's family.Marvin Haynes was 16 when the killing which sent him to prison for nearly two decades unfolded in 2004 in Minneapolis. His release comes amid the implementation of court-mandated reforms to the local police department, prompted in part by a former officer's murder of George Floyd in 2020. Continue reading...

The leaders of Harvard, Penn and MIT should have clearly condemned calls for genocide but the response has been almost as repugnantAmerica's prestigious universities play a big role in determining who gets into America's wealthy elite.A degree from Harvard, Penn or MIT, to take three examples, is a meal ticket to a lucrative job on Wall Street or a corporate law firm and to the richest and most influential people in the land. Continue reading...

There is wisdom gained through the years of being a human that offers insight and deep understanding. Why are women so reluctant to claim it as their own?Wisdom has oft been thought as a phenomenon that might only be found at the peak of a mountain, held in the fingertips of an older man who has taken himself away from the pesky happenings of the world below so as to contemplate the existence of truth. And then perhaps share that understanding with a book tour and motivational speaking encounter.One of my favourite stories about those who remove themselves from the world to live in caves to reach heightened states of wisdom and transcendence was the story of a monk who had spent a year in an isolated holding, on a mountain, without contact with the world. After that year of silence and contemplation, he reached a transcendent state and so found his way back down the mountain to live among the villagers below. He said it took only an hour before he felt enormous irritation arise - humans, it turns out, were quite annoying. He walked back up the mountain. I'm not sure how that story ended but maybe he never came back down. Continue reading...

Backlash against presidents of Harvard, UPenn and MIT has led to one resignation and implications for free speech on campusThe controversy over the comments of three elite US university presidents made at a congressional hearing on antisemitism could reverberate far beyond their campuses.On Tuesday, the Harvard Corporation, the school's highest governing body, announced that the university's president, Claudine Gay, would remain in her post after calls for her removal following the testimony. The news came days after another president, Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania, quit following backlash to her responses to combative questioning at the hearing from the New York Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik. Continue reading...

A growing number of Black women in the US are choosing IVF, surrogacy and other medical interventions to have children - and ending the silence around their difficulties conceivingWhen Monique Farook finally let go of what had been her secret shame, her mother's response was fast and painfully plain: Infertility? What is that?"Those were her exact words, recalled Farook, who spent six months trying to get pregnant, then almost four years trying to convince her husband that in vitro fertilization (IVF) or some other assisted reproductive technology was the way to go. After one failed intrauterine insemination (IUI), where sperm is injected into the uterus, and a successful round of IVF, where an embryo is implanted, Farook finally gave birth to her son, now six-year-old Omar. Continue reading...

The institution has progressed from its earliest, brutal form. But Marriage 3.0 still hands men the lion's share of benefitsIt sounds absurd, but the most compelling display of the collapse of modern American marriage in 2023 is happening on a show about Mormon polygamists.For 18 seasons, TLC's Sister Wives has followed Kody Brown and his four loudly Caucasian wives, who share 18 children and several houses in Arizona. The show started as a saccharine docu-soap about an unorthodox family trying to fit into an increasingly modern world. Now, I watch with rapt interest, practically foaming at the mouth, as one by one Kody's wives leave him. Continue reading...