David and Philip Walker also reportedly stole and threw New York Times photographer's camera into body of waterTwo brothers were arrested on Thursday on charges that they assaulted a New York Times photographer inside the US Capitol during a mob's attack on the building more than three years ago.David Walker, 49, of Delran, New Jersey, and Philip Walker, 52, of Upper Chichester, Pennsylvania, also are charged with stealing a camera from the photographer during the 6 January 2021 attack. Continue reading...
Republicans sharing false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets has put national attention on SpringfieldThe city of Springfield, Ohio, has closed down its city hall due to a bomb threat issued to multiple facilities.Springfield has been the subject of national attention in recent days after Donald Trump's campaign and rightwing Republicans amplified a false social media rumor of the community's Haitian immigrants eating local pets. There is no evidence to back up the claims. Continue reading...
Eleven months on from 7 October, the deaths of Palestinians and Israeli hostages are still mounting, and the risks of a broader regional war persistIt is approaching a year since the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, in which 1,200 people were killed, and the beginning of the Israeli retaliation. Health authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza say that 41,118 people have now been killed, with 95,125 injured; a quarter of those are believed to have suffered life-changing injuries.The pace of killing may have slowed, but the deaths and suffering are no less horrifying. On Wednesday, six UN aid workers were among at least 18 people killed by an Israeli strike on a school in Nuseirat, central Gaza, where displaced people were sheltering. The day before, at least 19 people were killed by an Israeli attack in a supposed safe zone" in Khan Younis to which people had been urged to flee by the Israeli military. Onboth occasions, Israel claimed it was targeting Hamas command and control centres. The strikes came less than a fortnight after six Israeli hostages were found dead, reportedly shot in the head by their captors as Israeli forces approached.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...
US president, Joe Biden, swapped hats with a Trump supporter at an event commemorating the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In a statement on X after the event, the White House spokesperson, Andrew Bates, posted: At the Shanksville Fire Station, @POTUS spoke about the country's bipartisan unity after 9/11 and said we needed to get back to that'. Bates added: 'As a gesture, he gave a hat to a Trump supporter who then said that in the same spirit, POTUS should put on his Trump cap. He briefly wore it'
Alberto Gonzales denounces Trump's role in January 6 and joins other high-profile Republicans voting for DemocratAlberto Gonzales, a Republican attorney general under the George W Bush administration, has announced his endorsement of Kamala Harris.As the United States approaches a critical election, I can't sit quietly as Donald Trump - perhaps the most serious threat to the rule of law in a generation - eyes a return to the White House," Gonzales, who served as the US's 80th attorney general from 2005 to 2007, wrote in an article for Politico. Continue reading...
The White House and US Department of Education should clear loans burdening myself and millions of older AmericansAmericans over 60 are the fastest growing demographic of student debtors. I should know. I'm one of them. I'm 77 years old and today I owe $549,497.20 in student loan debt. As seniors stretch limited incomes across rent payments and medical bills, groceries and gas, student loan payments often end up getting paid last - if at all. Decades of broken student relief programs, corrupt loan servicers and government neglect now force millions of older Americans to drag decades-old student debts into their retirement. Without swift, bold policy change and clear political leadership, this crisis will only deepen. The debtors will get older, the debts will get bigger.That's why this Thursday, 12 September I am traveling from my home in Atlanta, Georgia, to Washington DC with the Debt Collective's caucus of older student debtors. Together, we are demanding the White House and the US Department of Education finally take responsibility for the mess they have made and clear the loans burdening myself and millions of older Americans. This will be the first time in history that elders lead the charge for student debt cancellation - for older debtors and for everyone. Continue reading...
It isn't a stretch, even at this very early stage, to think this could be the best Chiefs team of the Mahomes-Reid eraSound the alarm: the Chiefs have that look again.The most stunning thing about Kansas City's Super Bowl win last season was that it came in what should have been a retooling year. Sure, when you have Patrick Mahomes, every season carries championship expectations. But for much of last year, the Chiefs had that not-quite-good-enough feel of the mid-dynasty New England Patriots. Their defense was outstanding, but the offense had taken on too much water: their receivers couldn't catch; the offensive line struggled with injuries; the 34-year-old Travis Kelce showed inevitable signs of decline. Continue reading...
Hundreds of people gathered at a Seattle beach on Wednesday for a vigil in memory of the Turkish-American human rights activist Ayenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot and killed by the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank. Friends and family have called for an independent investigation into the incident, which the US and Turkish governments have criticised. Israel's military acknowledged that one of its soldiers killed Eygi but said it was unintentional
It takes a big person to beg for forgiveness. But it takes an even bigger one to realise they're not entitled to itThere's something deeply attractive about someone who can acknowledge when they've stuffed up and offer a genuine apology.As human beings, we tend to hold people in high regard when they eat a large portion of humble pie. It takes a big person to admit they're wrong", as the saying goes. Continue reading...
by Compiled by Rachel Obordo and Nyima Jobe on (#6QP36)
Battleground state voters generally awarded Harris a win, though they want to see more policy specifics[Donald] Trump lost, and it wasn't close. [Kamala] Harris was a strong performer, but I think I'm still concerned as far as her Israel-Gaza stance. I think she punted, to be frank. That was a missed opportunity for Trump. She was able to make appeals to Americans on both sides of the political spectrum, while he chose to be the same old, same old. Continue reading...
Mexican American singer condemns ex-president for his toxic politics and criminality' as he preps Tucson eventThe famed Mexican American singer Linda Ronstadt has condemned Donald Trump for his hatred" as the Republican presidential nominee prepares to host a rally in her namesake hall in Tuscon, Arizona.In a Facebook statement released on Wednesday evening, the 78-year old multi-Grammy winner said: Donald Trump is holding a rally on Thursday in a rented hall in my hometown, Tucson. I would prefer to ignore that sad fact. But since the building has my name on it, I need to say something. Continue reading...
The funk and soul singer, who has died aged 77, was part of Black family life in the US while being a cult sensation in the UK - and his smooth but never slick music rightly enduresThe online tributes to Frankie Beverly in the wake of his death on Wednesday offered a fascinating study in contrasts. Black Americans wrote about his band Maze as a fact of life, invoking memories of family parties, summer barbecues and picnics to which they had inevitably provided the soundtrack: Any time I heard Golden Time of Day or Happy Feelings, I knew it was a good time to be had in my neighbourhood", as actor and director Tyler Perry put it. Indeed, over time, Maze's music seemed to take on a symbolic quality: they were the band film-makers reached for if they wanted musical shorthand for Black family life on their soundtrack; when Beyonce wanted to put a distinctly African American stamp on the Coachella festival, it was Beverley's music she turned to, covering the 1981 single Before I Let Go.To British soul fans, Beverly was something else entirely: a connoisseur's choice. The flop singles he released with the Butlers in the 60s were highly prized by northern soul DJs and collectors. And, in the 80s, Maze became the ultimate if-you-know-you-know band among denizens of the underground soul scene. Championed by taste-making DJs Robbie Vincent and Greg Edwards, they never had a huge hit, but could pack out huge venues. In 1982, before any of their records had even made the charts, they sold out the Hammersmith Odeon. Three years later, as their biggest single, Too Many Games, stalled just inside the Top 40 - its sales boosted by its instrumental B-side Twilight, a massive floor-filler on the soul scene - they sold out six consecutive nights at the same venue. Continue reading...
Panel in San Francisco to discuss role artificial intelligence could play in 2024 election, including manipulated mediaGuardian US is co-hosting an event on 12 September with Bay Area public media outlet KQED and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism focused on the impact artificial intelligence could have on elections and democracy.The panel will discuss worries over the role AI could play in this year's elections and beyond, including manipulated or deepfaked media and false information spread on platforms. These disruptions could increase as the November elections near. Continue reading...
Ex-secretary of state excoriates Israeli PM and says campus protesters had blank stares' when talking about PalestineIn a new book, the former US secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton hits out at Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, for taking zero responsibility" for the surprise attack by Hamas on 7 October last year.In an important way, Netanyahu is nothing like [Golda] Meir," Clinton writes, referring to the Israeli prime minister who was in power when Egypt attacked in 1973, and whom Clinton says she admired for the way she mixed humor and gravitas". Continue reading...
Tyreek Hill said he 'could have been better' in a press conference, following a police incident three days earlier that saw him pulled out of his car by his arm and head. Hill acknowledged he could have rolled his window down when the police first approached his vehicle and said: 'I've got to follow rules. I've got to do what everyone else would do.' But he held firm in his position that the police escalated the situation beyond necessary. Speaking about the bodycam footage which showed officer, Danny Torres, pulling the NFL star out of his car, Hill asked the question: 'What would they do if they didn't have bodycams?' Torres has been placed on administrative duties since the incident.
Conservative group posts flyers with photos and names of students and faculty, calling them anti-Israel'Students and faculty at Atlanta's Emory University have been targeted by an outside group posting and handing out flyers labeling 14 of their colleagues anti-Israel". The flyer, titled Security Alert", included the names, ages and mugshot-style photos of each of them, arranged under the word Arrested".Campus Reform, a national group of conservative students, put its logo on the flyer, which refers to arrests made during last April's protests seeking Emory divestment from Israel. Charges for most of that day's 28 arrests remain unresolved and awaiting trial, after several faculty leaders have been unsuccessful in efforts to get Emory president Gregory Fenves to ask prosecutors to drop them. Continue reading...
Staffers claim June mass layoffs at civil rights non-profit was a union-busting tactic that destroyed lives'Workers at the civil rights non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) have voted on a motion of no confidence in its chief executive, Margaret Huang, following a mass layoff of staffers in June 2024 that they characterized as a union-busting tactic.The SPLC union announced this week that 92% of members who voted on the motion supported the no-confidence motion, with the union calling for Huang's removal, the reversal of the layoff of 25% of the organization's staff, and a call to involve the union in the hiring of a new CEO. The union also started a public petition to rally support for their demands. Continue reading...
Free school meals increase attendance rates, improve nutrition, help low-income students and cut down on bureaucracyChildren with stamped wrists. Debt collectors hounding parents. Untouched food thrown away while an adult says: You have no money." In a dystopian thriller, these scenes might be dismissed as on-the-nose. But they're all real humiliations inflicted over unpaid accounts in US public school cafeterias.Contrast these chilling scenes with a different one: a proud, middle-aged former teacher in a suit, surrounded by beaming schoolchildren, signing into law a program that will feed every student in his state. The most adorable bill-signing in US history - and a vision for how simple it could be to improve our kids' lives - came courtesy of Tim Walz. Continue reading...
Trump stoking bigotry and calling journalists enemies of the people' is reminiscent of Hitler. It's hard to imagine - until it isn'tClaud Cockburn, my grandfather, knew when it was time to leave Berlin.A young British journalist, he'd worked as a correspondent for The [London] Times in that city in the 1920s before transferring to New York and Washington DC. Returning to Germany in July 1932, he saw storm Troopers slashing and smashing up and down the Kurfuerstendamm", and war propaganda: huge exhibitions of the Front', soldier figures standing in a real-life size trench playing with a dummy machine gun", he wrote. Continue reading...
Branded stadiums turn community hubs into billboards. Memories are still made, but the corporate influence dulls the purity of the experienceThe Cleveland Browns held an oddly celebratory press conference last week to announce the sale of the naming rights to their stadium to Huntington Bank, a regional bank headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. For the next 20 years, what was once Cleveland Browns Stadium will be known as Huntington Bank Field. Never mind that Huntington Bank Field is a laughably generic name that does not even attempt to maintain continuity with the arena's two most recent monikers, both of which labeled it a stadium rather than a field; the real catch is that the Browns haven't even decided whether to renovate their current home on the shore of Lake Erie or build a new stadium in Cleveland's southwestern suburbs.Under the terms of the deal, the Browns' home will be Huntington Bank Field wherever it ends up: the stadium now has a fixed name but a curious air of ephemerality hangs over its address. Continue reading...
We analysed the voting patterns of far-right groups on eight issues including pay and tax. Their rhetoric is hollowIn the US and Europe, the far right is often portrayed as the defender of the working class, the representative of forgotten" people or the post-industrial left-behinds". The working classes, so the argument goes, have flocked to the far right because the left" has betrayed them. Moreover, far-right parties, it is claimed, have moved to the left on socioeconomic issues such as employment rights, replacing social democratic parties as the new working-class parties".Despite the popularity of this narrative, including among social democratic elites in Europe, workers have not flocked to far-right parties, but rather to the mainstream right and the Greens. And now, our new study shows that while far-right parties might talk leftwing, they still back rightwing anti-worker policies.Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today. Gabriela Greilinger is a PhD student at the University of GeorgiaDo 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...
Rabid Trussonomics or naked nativism? With the race down to four runners, here's my guide to a party reeling in two directionsReams of commentary will be written about the battle for the Tory leadership, because newspaper pundits confuse blowing hard on cold ashes with real manual labour. But if reading it all seems too much like hard work, then this column is for you. Today's piece won't be about What the Conservatives must do to become fit for government", since I don't want them back in government, ever. No, the purpose of our inquiry is to suss out what kind of opponent the party's next leader will be: the fights they'll pick, the parliamentary votes they'll force and the hurdles they'll heave into the path of better politics. And I believe the best way to do that is with a game involving two words. As you glance across the contenders, ask yourself this: are they a moron or a bastard?I am not in the business of throwing insults, but using two technical terms with specific definitions that draw upon three decades of rightwing history. Continue reading...
Andrew McCabe says Trump-Putin interactions raise questions', as Harris says Putin would eat Trump for lunch'Donald Trump can be seen as a Russian asset, though not in the traditional sense of an active agent or a recruited resource, an ex-FBI deputy director who worked under the former US president said.Asked on a podcast if he thought it possible Trump was a Russian asset, Andrew McCabe, who Trump fired as FBI deputy director in 2018, said: I do, I do." Continue reading...
Debate was watched by nearly 16 million more people than June event that saw Biden drop out, with a marked rise in younger and middle-aged viewers, ratings showAn estimated 67.1 million people watched the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, a 31% increase from the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden that eventually led to the president dropping out of the 2024 race.
Lawyers for Christina Cardenas say she was sexually violated during search when she tried to visit husbandThe wife of a California prisoner will receive $5.6m after being sexually violated during a strip-search when she tried to visit her husband in prison, her attorneys said Monday.After traveling four hours to see her husband at a correctional facility in Tehachapi, California, on 6 September 2019, Christina Cardenas was subject to a strip-search by prison officials, drug and pregnancy tests, X-ray and CT scans at a hospital, and another strip-search by a male doctor who sexually violated her, a lawsuit said. Continue reading...
Several blazes ravage state after record-breaking heatwave last week with temperatures topping 100FAs least 13 people have been injured in three major southern California wildfires that broke out this week during a scorching heatwave. Firefighters battling the blazes, already stretched to the limits by a challenging summer, were among the injured.The Bridge fire in the Angeles national forest, located north of Glendora, exploded from about 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) on Tuesday to 34,000 acres that evening, according to the Los Angeles Times. Continue reading...
Officials warn of life-threatening storm surge and flooding as evacuation orders in place in some parishesFrancine made landfall in south Louisiana on Wednesday as a category 2 hurricane as officials warned of life-threatening storm surge, flooding and 100mph winds.There were evacuation orders in some parishes, as communities braced. Continue reading...
Local election offices reportedly received mailed ballots days after the deadline to be counted in nearly every state'State and local election officials from across the country on Wednesday warned that problems with the nation's mail delivery system threaten to disenfranchise voters in the upcoming presidential election, telling the head of the US Postal Service (USPS) that it hasn't fixed persistent deficiencies.The officials said in a letter that over the past year, including the just-concluded primary season, mailed ballots that were postmarked on time were received by local election offices days after the deadline to be counted. Continue reading...
Nathan Clark calls Republicans hate-spewing' for falsely claiming Aiden Clark was murdered by Haitian immigrantThe father of an 11-year-old boy who was killed last year when a minivan driven by an immigrant from Haiti collided with his school bus has asked Donald Trump and JD Vance to stop using his son's name for political gain".During a city commission meeting on Tuesday in Springfield, Ohio, Nathan Clark, the father of Aiden Clark, addressed the forum alongside his wife, Danielle. Speaking at the meeting, Clark said: I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would say something so blunt, but if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone," the Springfield News-Sun reports. Continue reading...
US Soccer are jumping into the unknown by appointing a great club-level coach who has no international experienceA stodgy homegrown coach dismissed after a long tenure turned stale, replaced with an alluring foreign star who made his name among the elite of Europe? We've been here before.The appointment of Mauricio Pochettino as the new US men's head coach is exciting, bold and appears close to a best-case scenario given the middling status of the USMNT in world football and the shiny resume of a tactician who's successfully managed in the English Premier League, La Liga and Ligue 1. Continue reading...
by Ewan Murray in Gainesville, Virginia on (#6QNDH)
The biennial battle between Europe and the US always delivers drama and deserves a bigger audienceThe Solheim Cup's propensity to deliver drama remains its most endearing attribute. There was European rage in 2000 as Annika Sorenstam was accused of playing out of turn at Loch Lomond. Alison Lee was reduced to tears after an infamous clash with Suzann Pettersen in 2015. Madelene Sagstrom was in the same condition after picking up Nelly Korda's ball, too quickly, six years later. In 2013, an epic row broke out over a European penalty drop. Golf's routinely anodyne world changes tack at Solheim Cups.Wednesday saw the latest example of friction. Stacy Lewis, the US captain, referred to issues" with the European base, a house that backs on to the practice range. Their team room kind of exploded on to the driving range a little bit," said Lewis. But we reeled it in. It's all good. We adjusted the way the range was set up a little bit and moved the US team further down so Europe could do what they wanted basically. Continue reading...
US Swifties who were waiting for their idol's statement are hopeful' about its impact as Republicans criticize the moveAddy Al-Saigh had already gone to bed on Tuesday night when her phone woke her up with a notification: Taylor Swift had added a post on Instagram.The pop star had endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Al-Saigh was thrilled. Continue reading...
Donald Trump was unable to resist the vice-president's goading. Her commanding performance is another welcome campaign milestoneIf presidential debates don't really matter, as some have contended, Kamala Harris would not have been on the stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Yes, the spectacle can lead to excessive focus on their impact. But Joe Biden's disastrous performance, which triggered his withdrawal from the race, showed how these choreographed political events can catalyse, if not create, voters' sentiment about candidates.Only weeks before the nation makes its choice, Ms Harris's success was critical. Debates are often remembered, as in Mr Biden's case, when things go wrong. The vice-president didn't merely clear the very low bar set by her boss - basic competence - but soared over it. Her desire to stick it to Donald Trump may not have elucidated matters for undecided voters who say they want to know more about her and her policies. She did mention a few, including measures to codify abortion rights and promote an opportunity economy", but was keener to focus on the broad messages.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...
House speaker's bill to avert October shutdown combined stopgap funding with controversial election security' planThe House Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, hastily scrapped a planned vote on his government funding package on Wednesday after at least eight members of his own conference signaled opposition to the plan, raising more questions about how Congress will avert a partial shutdown before the end of the month.Johnson had combined a six-month stopgap funding bill with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (Save) Act, a controversial proposal that would require people to show proof of citizenship when they register to vote. Continue reading...
From the likes of Fox News has come a masterclass in post-debate pretzel logic. Surely the excuses must run out soonShort of sticking two pencils up his nose and muttering the word wibble", Trump's appearance on the debate stage on Tuesday night was never going to prove, decisively, to those on the fence, that he is unfit for high office. Unlike Biden's disastrous turn two and a half months ago, chaos is part of Trump's appeal - and if his thoughts are garbled, it signifies nothing beyond business as usual. And yet, even for Trump, aspects of his debate performance in Pennsylvania came so close to the edge on Tuesday that the next day what seemed most astonishing wasn't that Harris had performed so well but that so many apparently sentient human beings were still shilling for her unhinged opponent.Heading into the encounter, one had the strangest sense both of the height of the stakes and also of the sheer entertainment value of the encounter. I found myself wondering about Harris's nerves - how a person handles them in such a unique situation. In the debate's opening moments, the vice-president did indeed seem nervous. But she settled, and about 15 minutes in, it started to happen: while Harris's keenly controlled anger rose to a point, Trump, mouth bunching, eyes disappearing into his head, unravelled. Continue reading...
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