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Giorgia Meloni is trampling what few rights the LGBTQ+ community has - so many just feel grateful to be tolerated'I was chatting online the other day with a female friend who is undergoing IVF in Italy to have a child with her girlfriend. IVF for lesbian couples is not approved by law in Italy; instead, doctors have the power to decide whether to approve the treatment on a case-by-case basis.My friend was enthusiastic about her gynaecologist, because, as she told me, despite being utterly against same-sex parenting, she is helping us do it without objecting". That conversation left me with a bitter taste and, above all, confirmed how desensitised queer Italians have become to the daily discrimination they face.Viola Di Grado is an Italian novelist and literary translator. Her latest novel is Blue HungerDo 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...

The former president ended the Republican convention with lengthy remarks that sounded much the same as usual

The pernicious, oppressive era of arresting people for holding signs or merely walking down the street must come to an endHow do you know when protest tactics are working? When governments ban them. The oppressive laws introduced by the previous government - the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 - are a tick list of effective political engagement. Everything from locking on and digging tunnels to actions on roads, at airports, oil refineries or newspapers, even marching down a street, has been criminalised. Why? Because these methods work. If they didn't, the government wouldn't have bothered.The Conservatives justified their draconian measures with the claim that they prevented disruption to the public". But had they cared about disruption, they would have done all they could to prevent climate breakdown. Nothing is more disruptive than the flickering and eventual collapse of Earth systems. If you believe a few people sitting in the street is a major impediment to traffic, take a look at what a sea surge, a flash flood, a windstorm or a rail-buckling, road-melting, bridge-jamming heat event can do to transport infrastructure.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Unpacking false claims made by former president and other speakers as he formally accepted Republican nomination

New charges filed against Anthony Odiong after eight accusers came forward alleging unwelcome sexual conductDays after being jailed in Florida on counts of possessing child abuse imagery, a Roman Catholic priest with ties to south-east Louisiana and Texas has been charged with two counts of sexual assault.Police in Waco, Texas, announced the new charges against Anthony Odiong late on Thursday in a statement. It said a total of eight victims had come forward alleging Odiong, 55, tried to use his influence as a priest to pursue sexual contact they either did not welcome or to which they could not consent. Continue reading...

Strategists view Republican convention address as time to pivot' ex-president's image, while critics remain skeptical

Former wrestler Hulk Hogan took the stage at the Republican national convention on Thursday, giving a speech riddled with wrestling metaphors. 'You know something, I've seen some great tag teams in my time. Hulk Hogan and oh yeah, the 'Macho Man' Randy Savage. But you know something, I see the greatest tag team of my life standing upon us, getting ready to straighten this country out for all the real Americans,' Hogan saidSubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Former House speaker has reportedly told colleagues president could be persuaded to leave race soonJoe Biden has reportedly become more open in recent days to hearing arguments that he should step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate, and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi has reportedly told Democratic colleagues that he could be convinced to leave the race soon.The Washington Post reported that Pelosi has taken a prominent role in passing messages from House Democrats to the White House, relaying concerns that Biden is incapable of beating Donald Trump in November, and has said she thinks Biden is close to making a decision to end his campaign. Continue reading...

The former president will speak from the Republican national convention in Milwaukee on Thursday night

The Michigan city's residents ask where is the humanity?' as war in Gaza rages on. Some won't vote this fall in protestAbu Bilal sits quietly on a stool in Oriental Fashion, a clothing store he owns on Dearborn's Warren Avenue, listening to the radio. It's hard to ascertain whether his tone when talking about the war in Gaza is one of near-complete defeatism or seething anger.Ninety people were killed today; hundreds were injured," he says, referencing an Israeli airstrike that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in Khan Younis on Saturday. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Trump's address at the Republican national convention tonight, you can follow live coverage here.

Biden says precedence established in Trump's classified documents case should prevail in his own tax and gun casesPresident Joe Biden's son Hunter asked a federal judge on Thursday to dismiss tax and gun cases against him, citing a ruling in Florida this week that threw out a separate prosecution of Donald Trump.The requests in federal court in Delaware and California underscore the potential ramifications of US district judge Aileen Cannon's dismissal on Monday of the classified documents case against the former president and the possibility that it could unsettle the legal landscape surrounding the justice department's special counsels. Continue reading...

Rory McIlroy's Open hopes were left in tatters after a 78 as Dan Brown birdied the last to take a surprise lead on 6-underAdam Scott came so close to lifting the Claret Jug in 2012. It wasn't to be, and those closing four bogeys at Lytham will have left a scar. He had the Scottish Open snatched from under his nose last week by Bob MacIntyre, too. But there's little that vexes the genial Aussie too much, and here he his holing out from one of the deep bunkers guarding 1. An opening birdie, and while there are 71 holes still to play, we're allowed to dream. It's free.-1: Song (2), Kinoshita (2), Scott (1) Continue reading...

For about $80 you can have a pail-full of food pouches with a 25-year shelf life to help cope with disasters of all sortsThe growing threat of climate change and the increase in unpredictable natural disasters that comes with it is leading survival-minded shoppers to a bucket of possible salvation from Costco.The big box warehouse club retailer is selling the Readywise Emergency Food Bucket" for around $80 to its US customers. Continue reading...

The seemingly overnight shift to a caring and loving', pro-unity nominee is reminiscent of Biden's approach

After Bernie Sanders and AOC threw Biden a lifeline, he turned his focus to supreme court reform and medical debtJoe Biden, who so far has defied calls to quit the presidential race from Democrats worried about his ability to beat Donald Trump, this week rolled out a catalogue of left-leaning campaign promises aimed at working-class and middle-class Americans. His renewed emphasis on core progressive priorities comes after leading Washington progressives, Senator Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw their weight behind his beleaguered candidacy.The moves reframe Biden's campaign to focus on a suite of issues from US supreme court reform to ending medical debt. They come as Biden is reportedly more open to calls for him to step aside, but still has not left the race. Continue reading...

Analysts play down concerns and maintain confidence in AI boom after index's worst day since December 2022The tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index has deepened its losses after this week's interventions by US presidential candidates, but analysts played down market jitters over chipmakers, saying the artificial intelligence boom would continue to support demand.New York's Nasdaq composite index staged a brief recovery on opening on Thursday but was down more than 1% at midday eastern time, after posting its worst day since December 2022 on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Corey Comperatore, 50, was a volunteer firefighter and father who died shielding his family from shootingHundreds of people who gathered to remember the former fire chief fatally shot at a weekend rally for former president Donald Trump were urged to find unity" as the area in rural Pennsylvania sought to recover from the assassination attempt.Wednesday's public event was the first of two to memorialize and celebrate Corey Comperatore's life. The second, a visitation for friends, was planned for Thursday at Laube Hall in Freeport. Continue reading...

Sebastian Hotz, aka El Hotzo, was dropped from his radio show and provoked anger from Elon Musk after now-deleted posts on XA 28-year-old German comedian has got into trouble with Donald Trump supporters and then Elon Musk after sending a series of tweets appearing to welcome the assassination attempt on the former US president.Sebastian Hotz, who posts and performs as El Hotzo, lost his job with a public broadcaster this week for a series of tweets on X, Musk's social media platform, after Trump narrowly escaped death, saying that the attempt had been like the last bus - unfortunately, just missed". Continue reading...

High-tops emblazoned with candidate's bloodied face and Fight Fight Fight' offered for sale before webpage disappears

Reagon used her stirring alto and lyrics to fight racism, and was a music scholar and professor emeritus of historyBernice Johnson Reagon, an American civil rights activist who used her stirring alto and lyrics to fight racism, died on Tuesday at age 81, her daughter said on Wednesday.As a scholar, singer, composer, organizer and activist, Dr Reagon spent over half a century speaking out against racism and systemic inequities in the US and globally," said daughter Toshi Reagon, who like her mother is a musician and activist, in announcing her death on Facebook. Continue reading...

South LA has the highest levels of gun violence in the county - local organizations want to address how that affects kidsOne night in April last year, Dolores Munoz was jolted awake by a barrage of bullets ricocheting off her home. The rounds crashed through her living room window and tore through the bedroom wall of her 15-year-old daughter, who was spending the night at her cousin's house.Instinctively, Munoz ran to check on her five other children who were in the home with her. Thankfully, none of them were harmed. Thank God my daughter wasn't here," Munoz, 35, said through a translator days later, as her children sat quietly in the living room. Bullet holes in the wall had recently been patched and the shattered front window had been covered up with plywood. If she was home, she could have been killed." Continue reading...

Police detain 21-year-old carrying backpack including AK-47 pistol, loaded rifle magazine, flashlight and black gloves

Secret Service official says it is an insult' to imply women unqualified to be agents based on genderThe US Secret Service decried as an insult" rightwing attacks on the performance of female agents during the failed assassination attempt against Donald Trump, and claims the presence of such agents and a woman as agency director are the result of diversity policies.It is an insult to the women of our agency to imply that they are unqualified based on gender," Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service communications chief, told NBC News. Continue reading...

The work of Justin Hardiman documents the lives of Black southern farmers, long sidelined in mainstream narrativesOn a hot afternoon in June, four people stood in the lobby of Travelers Hotel off Third Street in Clarksdale, Mississippi, each taking in the images that lined its walls. The photographs are part of Soil, an exhibition depicting Black farmers in the Mississippi Delta.The town's art and culture district, where Travelers Hotel is located, serves as a living monument to the region's history - with signs, murals and banners every few feet that immortalize famous current and former residents, such as Early Wright, the first Black disc jockey in Mississippi, and the musicians Leo Welch and Kingfish" Ingram. If Mississippi is known as the birthplace of America's music, Clarksdale is the home of the blues. Continue reading...

Toxic response to prayer from pro-Trump Harmeet Dhillon, leading figure on Republican national committeeA toxic, racist, far-right response to Harmeet Dhillon's Monday-night Sikh prayer at the Republican national convention is just one sign of the difficulties Donald Trump and Republicans have in selling a more diverse version of Trumpism to the party's base.Social media posts following Dhillon's prayer indicated that some far-right Trumpists had been polarized by the sight of a non-Christian form of religious devotion on the convention stage in Milwaukee. Continue reading...

Pressure rising once again for Biden to step aside in election race after president tested positive for Covid and cancelled events to self-isolate at his home in Delaware. Plus: the power of proprioception

I'm not one for competitive sport but if the Games added the long lunch mixed doubles I'd be in with a shoutIn a few days the Paris Olympics will begin. This should be a moment of true joy and excitement but, honestly, I'm not feeling it. This is because I find the whole sporting shebang terribly unrelatable. It's about people who can jump high, throw things a long way or run fast. I can do none of these things; I haven't run anywhere since that unfortunate incident during cross-country in 1980. The Olympics weren't always like this. From 1912 to 1948, they included cultural contests in things such as painting, music, literature and town planning. That's more inclusive but I'm still not sure I'd thrive. I'm not up to planning a whole town under competition conditions.What's needed, so that people like me can get involved, is a food aspect. I am of course aware there are already a bunch of competitions that style themselves as culinary Olympiads, but those mostly involve intense, young people in chefs whites fashioning the Wreck of the Hesperus out of pulled sugar and aspic, or a fully functioning submarine entirely out of chocolate. That's about as relatable as a bout of acrobatic gymnastics to the theme from Succession. Continue reading...

His near assassination transformed Trump's theology, giving the decidedly earthly ex-president a powerful spiritual sheenThe attempted assassination of Donald Trump has transformed the theology of Trump. He has long portrayed himself as an innocent lamb falsely accused, the target of slings and arrows to bear the suffering of believers. Now the bullet and the blood of Butler, Pennsylvania, have sanctified him for the faithful and brought forth a new gospel.Earlier this month, the Republican National Committee endorsed the party platform, a document that contained a plank pledging to create a new federal agency to defend Christian nationalism: To protect Religious Liberty, Republicans support a new Federal Task Force on Fighting Anti-Christian Bias that will investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment, and persecution against Christians in America." The document casts Christians as though they are a sect still persecuted by the Romans, about to be dragged into the Colosseum to face ferocious beasts.As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts - The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.'s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia Perfect" Phone Call charges. The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden's Political Opponent, ME. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

When we can't make sense of a dramatic event, fake news pedlars rush to social media to fill the information gapAccusations that the assassination attempt on Saturday was staged have proliferated all over social media. Many on the left are arguing that the attack was meant to garner pity for Trump and ensure a kind of Reichstag fire" scenario so Trump could seize power unilaterally. Many of these focused on the photos of Trump in the immediate aftermath, his fist raised in defiance, as evidence that the entire event was set up to garner sympathy and show the ex-president as unbowed. Meanwhile, on the right, rumours swirled that it was an assassination attempt by President Biden - on Sunday, Alex Jones blasted out an email with a subject line that read in part: Desperate Deep State Will Try to Assassinate Trump Again".None of this is surprising - the United States has a long history of presidential assassination and assassination attempts, and a long love affair with conspiracy theories of all kinds. But the ease with which conspiracists of all political alignments have been able to assimilate Saturday's shocking, unexpected news with their preformed opinions tells us what political conspiracy theories do for people and how they operate. Continue reading...

Judge Cannon acted like part of Trump's defense team. Her dismissal of his documents case is predictable yet disturbingDonald Trump stole thousands of classified documents when he left the White House in 2021, according to prosecutors, and shoved them in unsecured areas around the tacky Florida golf club where he lives. He kept them in basements, bathrooms and ballrooms; they were often unlocked, accessible to anyone who happened to wander by, as dozens or hundreds of people do, every day, at Mar-a-Lago. Trump refused to return the documents when asked; he also lied about what he had.On at least one occasion in 2021, he was recorded showing off one of the classified documents to a visitor, apparently for the sake of his own aggrandizement. It is like highly confidential. Secret," Trump said to the man, who was not authorized to see the information. See, as president, I could have declassified it. Now, I can't, but this is still a secret." Continue reading...

Denzel Washington has been accused of inauthenticity in Gladiator II. But why is upper-class, southern English considered the norm?Whose head could I give you that would satisfy this fury?" asks Denzel Washington's crafty Macrinus in the long-awaited trailer for Ridley Scott's Gladiator II. With its medley of aquatic gladiatorial games and charging battle rhinos, a vengeful Paul Mescal, a wearied Pedro Pascal, imperial Rome's answer to Tweedledum (Joseph Quinn) and Tweedledee (Fred Hechinger), and Connie Nielsen providing an enticing link to the previous film, the trailer looks and sounds epic. So of course some viewers have come out in a fury.A chief complaint appears to be Washington's use of his natural New York accent, with one observer asking: How did Ridley Scott ... allow Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington to do a NY accent in a movie set in Ancient Rome?" Conversely, there seems to be little furore over the English accent of Quinn or Mescal's loose adoption of what appears to be (from the trailer at least) received pronunciation - despite them being equally anachronistic. As it has been pointed out in the Hollywood Reporter, when combined with criticism of the music choice (Jay-Z and Kanye West's No Church in the Wild), it starts to look rather dog whistle-y". Continue reading...

Speaking at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, JD Vance accepted the GOP's nomination as vice-president and made a speech in which he praised Donald Trump, harkened back to his Ohio upbringing and condemned past leaders for creating a divide across the US. He also said there would be 'no more free rides' for the US's allies in terms of defence spending.

The president won 99% of the vote. But that isn't a sign of popularity - it's a sign of a democracy' that silences all dissent

JD Vance's addressed an enamored audience that chanted his name and a ringing silence on the topic of abortionRepublicans had a new chant on Wednesday night: not just Trump! Trump!" but also JD! JD! JD!" in honor of Trump's new vice-presidential pick, Ohio senator JD Vance, who introduced himself to the country Wednesday night in a confident and personal primetime address.Also new: the professionally printed signs reading Mass Deportations Now," a reference to Trump's campaign pledge to engage in the biggest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in US history. Continue reading...

So this is what it feels like, the presidential hopeful must be telling himself, to be admired, praised and respectedReports from the first two days of the Republican national convention in Milwaukee suggest that the mood of the room isn't merely energised but giddy. Some of us know that feeling; the sense of jubilation that comes after suffering a near-death experience (or, for those who haven't, see losing then finding one's wallet) that the Republicans and their leader are at present enjoying.Two days after a failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump, delegates in Wisconsin crashed around with the hysterical relief of people whose plane just dropped 4,000ft, then discovered, after all that, they're not going to die.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Junior senator of Ohio leaned into his own background and attacked Biden in Republican national convention addressJD Vance formally accepted the Republican vice-presidential nomination on Wednesday with a deliberate, and at times divisive, pitch to re-elect Donald Trump in November.Addressing delegates in Milwaukee on the third night of the convention, Vance, the junior senator of Ohio, presented the Republican party as a champion of working-class Americans while denouncing Democrats as out of touch and ineffective. The populist-tinged rhetoric offered the latest sign of how Trump has reshaped the Republican party and rejected much of the traditional conservatism of its past. Continue reading...

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Tensions amid party members rise as Biden tests for positive for Covid and will be in self-isolation in DelawarePressure for Joe Biden to step aside as the Democrats' presidential pick to face Donald Trump had eased since the Republican survived an assassination attempt last weekend, but began to rise again on Wednesday.The tension rose as Biden was diagnosed with Covid and cancelled events to self-isolate at his home in Delaware. Continue reading...

NBC News reports New Jersey Democrat, 70, found guilty of 16 federal charges, has told allies he will quitThe Democratic US senator Bob Menendez is refuting early reports that he told allies he was considering resigning from Congress after being convicted on corruption charges.I can tell you that I have not resigned nor have I spoken to any so-called allies ... Seems to me that there is an effort to try to force me into a statement," Menendez told CBS News late Wednesday evening. Continue reading...

US president Joe Biden has said he would end his presidential campaign if it emerged that he had a 'medical condition'. Biden's remarks came amid growing concern about his fitness to hold office, brought into sharp focus after a sluggish debate performance against Donald Trump on CNN. Defending his candidacy, Biden said his age gave him added wisdom and he had a lot left to do, so he was 'reluctant to walk away from that'

At the Republic national convention in Milwaukee, some Trump supporters have a new way of showing their support for their favourite presidential candidate beyond a red Maga cap: wearing bandages on their ears, as Donald Trump did himself when he first appeared at the convention on Monday in his first public appearance since Saturday's assassination attempt.

Ex-Trump official portrayed his contempt of Congress charges for obstructing January 6 inquiry as overreach

This blog is now closed. You can read our full report here on Biden's Covid news and follow the latest from the Republican national convention here