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I used to remove myself from experiences in favour of chasing matches. Now I'm fulfilled by the company of real peopleSwipe. Swipe. Swipe. For a while I was swiping so much I was barely thinking. Dating apps had hijacked my fingers, brain and evenings. I'd swipe left, mindlessly and without even looking, under the table at group dinners or during TV ad breaks. I'd fanatically check my new matches at the end of each day. This is modern dating," I'd tell myself. It's a job. I have to keep on going. This is the key to my happy ending."For months, this was my normality. But unsurprisingly, the lifelong romance I was looking for never materialised. As I sat on my sofa on yet another Sunday night ready to swipe until I ran out of steam, I decided I'd finally had enough. Even if my screen was flooded with likes or messages, my forays into dating app culture had rarely ended with in-person dates. I'd spend hours agonising over a single response - I needed to be funny, cool and captivating but not give too much away. But why was I so desperate to impress a distant stranger trapped behind a screen? What was I doing all the monotonous swiping for? I decided I needed to go cold turkey and figure out why I had been sucked in so completely.Anya Ryan is a freelance journalist Continue reading...

Much of the debate around the Indiana Fever rookie is led by politicians who employ discord as a means to posture to votersWhen Caitlin Clark was on the receiving end of a hard foul from Angel Reese on Sunday, the sound and fury around the Indiana Fever rookie intensified once again. She has been the focus of a number of controversies lately.After Clark was left off the USA women's basketball Olympic team earlier this month, I raised an eyebrow myself. She's a phenomenal player and athlete and someone who should hold the lion's share of the credit for the WNBA's massive increase in popularity. But, as is often the case in sports discourse, multiple things can be true at once. Clark is also an inexperienced rookie, who, aside from a few standout performances (including Sunday's win over the Chicago Sky), has had a rocky start to her WNBA career - she leads the league in turnovers per game. And when it comes to adding her to the Olympic roster, the US selection committee would have had to alter the roles of skilled guards like Diana Taurasi and Sabrina Ionescu. Continue reading...

From troll farms to racist hate speech, nationalists' bullying tactics are having a chilling effect on political journalismEmployees at Sweden's national news channel, TV4, were last month told to avoid wearing clothing or badges that might identify their employer's logo in public. The security risk was deemed too big. The advice was made in response to increased threats against the station and its reporters after its investigative programme, Kalla Fakta (Cold Facts), alleged that the far-right Sweden Democrats - the second biggest party in Sweden - operated a vast network of anonymous social media accounts, coordinating attacks on political opponents and the media.Sweden is one of the world's strongest democracies, with very high levels of trust in its media and political institutions. But journalists covering domestic politics now have to fear for their safety. Continue reading...

World No 1 admits busy buildup cost him at Pinehurst and he may take a different approach at Royal TroonFour hours before the eventual winner, Bryson DeChambeau, went out for the final round of the US Open, Scottie Scheffler stood on the first green of a Pinehurst No2 course that had scrambled his confidence over three excruciating days, carefully lining up a 20ft chance for birdie.The world's No 1 golfer curled a putt with perfect speed and line all the way to the cup, where it defiantly came to rest on the left rim without dropping in. Scheffler stared for a moment in disbelief before stepping forward to tap in for par. Itwould have been difficult to dream up a better example for howthe two-time major champion's week has gone. Continue reading...

From ancient Greece to modern Russia, sanctions are now the go-to option for policy-makers - so why do they so rarely achieve their aims?In the year 432BCE, the Athenian empire sought to teach its smaller neighbour, Megara, a punitive lesson after various acts of defiance. Instead of going to war, which would break the peace with Sparta, Athens took the novel path of blocking the Megarians from using all the ports in the region.It was known as the Megarian decree, and it was arguably the first recorded case of economic sanctions. It was also a failure, at least when it came to fending off a conflict. The Peloponnesian war, pitting Athens against Sparta, erupted a year later, and some ancient historians believe it was triggered by the Megarian sanctions. Continue reading...

The Texan won his second US Open title after Rory McIlroy missed two crucial short putts to extend his long wait for another majorIs our leader Bryson DeChambeau any good with a lead? Here's the tale of the tape which shows he's converted three times on the five occasions when he's had a piece of the lead. Interesting to note that Cantlay's name pops up a couple of times.2018 Memorial (outright lead), won in a playoff over Kyle Stanley and Ben An2018 Northern Trust (outright lead), won by 42018 Shriners Hospitals for Children (tied for lead), won by 1 over Patrick Cantlay2019 3M Open (tied for lead), finished T-2, 1 shot behind Matthew Wolf2021 BMW Championship (tied for lead), lost in a playoff to Patrick Cantlay Continue reading...

Cause of blaze, named Post Fire, unknown as two buildings damaged and nearby valley and lake reservoir closeA wildfire that forced the evacuation of at least 1,200 people in southern California has burned more than 16 sq miles, officials said Sunday.

Representative Ro Khanna says he will skip Netanyahu's address to Congress and that young people want war to endProgressive California Democrat Ro Khanna warned Sunday that Joe Biden is running out of time to win over young voters opposed to his administration's handling of the Israel-Gaza conflict and that he will not attend Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress next month.In an interview with NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Representative Khanna said the erosion of support that the US president is seeing among young voters is a challenge for our party" and the Democrats could be running out of time" to restore support with more people dying" in the conflict. Continue reading...

Police say eight-year-old shot in head is in critical condition and shooter Michael William Nash died by suicideNine people, including two children, have been shot and wounded at a city-run water park near Detroit in what appeared to be a random attack, police have said.Two children were among the victims, including an 8-year-old who was shot in the head and is in critical condition, after a shooter opened fire at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad park, where families had gathered to escape the summer heat. Continue reading...

News comes as US regulators investigate separate incident after Boeing 737 Max 8 plane did a Dutch roll' in MayThe Federal Aviation Administration is investigating after a Southwest Airlines flight reportedly plunged to within 400ft" of the Pacific Ocean during a flight.A memo distributed to Southwest pilots, obtained by Bloomberg, said that the Boeing 737 Max 8 plunged at a rate of 4,000ft a minute off the coast of Hawaii, coming within hundreds of feet of the ocean before climbing to safety. Continue reading...

Network says no studio audience in Atlanta and moderators will use all tools at disposal to ensure a civilized discussion'The first US presidential debate between incumbent Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump on 27 June will include two commercial breaks, no props and muted microphones except when recognized to speak, CNN said Saturday.The rules, agreed outside the Commission on Presidential Debates, are designed to reduce fractious interruptions and cross-talk that have often marred TV encounters in recent presidential election cycles. Continue reading...

Some feel limiting US-Mexico border crossings will protect the country, while others say it violates American values'Democratic mayors, governors and members of Congress from the south-west to the north-east stood beside Joe Biden at the White House, when he unveiled an executive order temporarily sealing the US-Mexico border to most asylum seekers - the most restrictive immigration policy of his presidency.We must face a simple truth," the US president said. To protect America as a land that welcomes immigrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now." Continue reading...

This forest is our home, our existence and our children's future. Politicians who can't resist selling it for oil cash will feel the strength of the Waorani peopleIn 2019 I helped lead a movement that defeated the Ecuadorian government's plans to auction half a million acres of Waorani territory in the Amazon to oil companies. We showed in court that the government had violated its legal obligation to obtain free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities. We won a moral and legal victory on behalf of our ancestral home in that moment - or so we thought. Now, however, Ecuador's president plans to plough through that legal judgment and recommence oil drilling on nearby Indigenous lands. He obviously hasn't reckoned with the strength and tenacity of the Waorani people.In winning that landmark legal case, we protected pristine rainforest lands, Indigenous autonomy and our planet's climate from further deforestation. We protected our homes, our children's future and the forests where I grew up playing with my siblings and pet monkeys, learning to garden and make fresh chicha, and where my people still live today. No more destroying our lives, homes and forests to pump the blood of our ancestors from beneath the soil.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...

President speaks with ex-president Barack Obama during campaign event at Peacock Theater on Saturday nightSome of Hollywood's brightest stars headlined a glitzy fundraiser for President Joe Biden, helping raise what his re-election campaign said was a record $30m-plus and hoping to energize would-be supporters for a November election that they argued was among the most important in the nation's history.George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand were among those who took the stage at the 7,100-seat Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday night. Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel interviewed Biden and former president Barack Obama, who both stressed the need to defeat former president Donald Trump in a race that's expected to be exceedingly close. Continue reading...

Champion may be out as Nathan's of Coney Island find Joey Chestnut's deal with a plant-based rival hard to stomachCompetitive eating star Joey Jaws" Chestnut shocked the world of holiday gluttony this week, announcing through representatives that he would not compete at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July hotdog eating contest on New York's Coney Island.The move has not only upset longtime fans of competitive eating, but shone a light on a niche subset of gastronomy and the drama within it. Continue reading...

Kevin Spacey weeps over lost jobs, but victims of sexual harassment were once routinely cancelledYes, they did something wrong. But the punishment is out of proportion. They have apologised, they have promised to change. Isn't it time we forgave some of the men brought down by #MeToo?It's an important question - one that anyone interested in justice should ask. Lately, the rate of askinghas picked up pace. In an interview with Piers Morgan last week, Kevin Spacey sobbed at the treatment hehad suffered, even as he conceded that his accusers - oneor two of them - had been telling the truth. Continue reading...

The normalisation of ideas once confined to the fringes is cause for concern, not complacencyFar right? Hard right? Radical right? Or just plain right? The success in the recent EU elections of parties such as Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National, or RN, (the rebadged Front National), and Germany's Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), has generated a debate about whether the label far right" should be retired because, as Spectator editor Fraser Nelson argues, many parties that carry that moniker are now mainstream in a way that wasn't the case 15 years ago".Such parties are, for Nelson, better categorised as new right". Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, whose party the Brothers of Italy is descended from a fascist organisation, has shown in practice that she is centre-right, not radical". It is nonsense", Nelson insists, to call Meloni's party post-fascist'" or to suggest that the disparate new right" parties all belong to a single far-right' or radical-right lump".Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Hitting the ground running has some very painful lessonsOne second I was running, a proud and gentle kind of lope, the next I was staring up at sunlight shivering through the leaves, my mouth somehow full of blood, and then everything was black. It was a warm morning as I set off, that bank holiday at the beginning of half-term, which meant my children were off school two times over and chattering around the kitchen table when my boyfriend heard - his whole face squints now as he describes it - the terrible thud of a body on concrete.It was comically small, the uneven paving stone that I tripped over, it was hilariously nothing - a centimetre or two maybe that the toe of my trainer must have caught on, but I flew somehow, quite high, and landed on my teeth and cheekbone. I passed out because of the shock, I think, rather than the impact, and spent some time there on the grass in a glorious faint. That was the best bit. I do recommend unconsciousness. I'm up for a light coma one day perhaps, but until then these rare moments of savage exit will have to do. The time asleep always feels longer than really it is - I was blissfully relaxed, in a theatre, in fact, watching hundreds of little children dance, until suddenly I was dragged back to life, and the path, and Mark was propping me up on his arm and saying my name too many times. Continue reading...

Gaffe came as 78-year-old Republican presidential candidate sought to bolster his support among Black and Latino voters in MichiganDonald Trump has made a point in recent months of deriding his rival Joe Biden as being cognitively impaired, mocking the 81-year-old US president for his verbal stumbles and accusing him of falling both up and down stairs.But people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Continue reading...

Former infectious disease head says big pharma tried to poach him while he was nation's Covid chiefBefore Anthony Fauci retired from his lengthy run as the US government's top infectious disease doctor, major pharmaceutical companies tried to lure him away from his post by offering him seven-figure jobs - but he turned them down because he cared about ... the health of the country" too much, he says in a new interview.Fauci's comments on his loyalty to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Niad) - which he directed for 38 years before retiring in December 2022 - come only a couple of weeks after he testified to Congress about receiving credible death threats" from far-right extremists over his efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19 at the beginning of the pandemic. Continue reading...

Two suspects in custody for deaths of Callie Brunett, 35, and her daughter Erin; second daughter found alive and brought to hospitalAuthorities investigating the abduction and death of a four-year-old Louisiana girl whose body was found in Mississippi say they uncovered evidence of possible human trafficking where the child was discovered.The evidence included cages meant for small animals, said investigators who had arrested Daniel Callihan, 36, and Victoria Cox, 32, with the killing of Erin Brunett. Continue reading...

In this speech she gave at last week's memorial service for the author, who died last year aged 73, his daughter pays tribute to the cool guy who lived in my house'Dad described himself as a father emeritus". This wouldn't have been funny if it were completely true. In fact, far from absent, Dad was homeall of the time. In high school, I described him tomy friends as less a dad-type and more a cool guy who livedin my house.Once, at the age of 14, I was caught by my mum smoking pot in my bedroom. She threw out my paraphernalia, took me around the block weeping, and cautioned me about the great history of addiction in our family. Later that night, or maybe even a few days later, Dad made his debut on the top floor of the house, the kids' floor. He poked his head around my door and said: You couldn't have cracked open a window? You bloody fool."Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Visitors to Portland's Oaks Amusement Park trapped on AtmosFear for half hour after it unexpectedly stoppedEmergency crews in Oregon rescued 28 people on Friday after they were stuck for about half an hour dangling upside down high on a ride at a century-old amusement park.Portland fire and rescue said on the social platform X that firefighters worked with engineers at Oaks Park to manually lower the ride, but crews had been preparing to conduct a high-angle rope rescue if necessary. All riders were being evacuated and medically evaluated, and there were no reports of injuries. Continue reading...

Kathy Hochul has not shared policy details or exemptions but said she is motivated by alleged antisemitic attacksNew York's governor, Kathy Hochul, is considering reimposing a ban on face masks in the Big Apple's transit system over allegations that masked protesters are taking advantage of identity-concealing face wear to stage antisemitic attacks.The governor has not spelled out details of the policy or people who may be exempted. But she has said that she is motivated to act by a group donning masks that took over a subway car, scaring riders and chanting things about [Nazi dictator Adolf] Hitler and wiping out Jews". Continue reading...

Seemingly random assaults in Britain and other parts of Europe are coming from left and rightThe response of Mette Frederiksen, Denmark's centre-left prime minister, to being physically assaulted in a Copenhagen street was dignified and very human. I'm not doing great, and I'm not really myself yet," she admitted last week. The attack, in which she escaped serious injury, had left her feeling shocked and intimidated, she said.Frederiksen suggested her experience was the culmination of some broadly familiar trends: proliferating social media threats, increasingly aggressive political discourse, a divisive Middle East war. As a human being, it feels like an attack on me. But I have no doubt it was the prime minister that was hit. In this way, it becomes a kind of attack on all of us." Continue reading...

Dogged by age issue, president, 81, is now highlighting Trump's many peculiarities, from hair style to Bible salesTaking a line out of Donald Trump's playbook, Joe Biden offered his rival a tongue-in-cheek birthday greeting on X on Friday, saying: Happy 78th birthday, Donald. Take it from one old guy to another: Age is just a number."The president then coupled his thoughts with a caustic video sarcastically touting 78 of Trump's historic ... accomplishments'" before a Biden re-election campaign spokesperson added: On behalf of America, our early gift for your 79th: making sure you are never president again." Continue reading...

The first archaeological dig of Sao Tome and Principe's largest sugar mill sheds light on the birth of plantation agriculture and slavery as a racial systemEdsiley da Encarnacao's wooden stilt house stands mere steps from the ruins of an old sugar plantation on the African island of Sao Tome. What remains of the 16th-century building, strategically built near a freshwater source and the sea, lies hidden among trees. Vines encircle stone walls.Everyone always says that people died there and that it's haunted," said Da Encarnacao, 24, who studies business at the University of Sao Tome and Principe. There were slaves there, and so people believe that the colonists brutally killed the slaves and their spirits remained, wandering around the place." Some neighbors avoid the site. Others visit to pick mangoes in the middle of the night from surrounding trees; youngsters sometimes prank the foragers, drifting through the grounds while dressed in ghostly white or black. Continue reading...

The Mavericks star, and particularly his defense, had been much maligned coming into Friday night's Game 4. He quickly set the record straightWhen Luka Doni dropped 73 points on the Atlanta Hawks in January - the fourth highest individual points tally in NBA history - Dallas head coach Jason Kidd was asked whether his star player's prodigious scoring feats threatened to disrupt the Mavericks' gameplan. He is the gameplan," Kidd replied.For much of these finals that gameplan, like the man it was centered on, seemed decidedly iffy. The Mavericks looked unbalanced, dangerously overreliant on their star guard pairing, and Doni himself - nursing injuries to both knee and chest - was in the middle of a historic series stinker in defense, footage of him lazily swatting at the ball as the Celtics repeatedly blew by him on offense threatened to become the visual summary of the entire finals. But in Game 4, Dallas obliterated Boston by the third-largest margin of victory in NBA finals history, reversing the pattern of the series with scrambling, urgent basketball at both ends of the court; suddenly, it was the Mavericks, not the Celtics, authoring all the blow-bys, authoritative dunks in transition, and handy cameos off the bench. The sweep has been averted. A once-moribund series has come thrillingly to life. And most importantly, the Mavs' main man is back. Continue reading...

If a certain subsection of Republicans get their way, obtaining a divorce in the US might soon become a lot more difficultThey've come after abortion. They've come after birth control. They've come after IVF. Now it looks suspiciously like far-right Republicans might have a new target: no-fault divorce. If a certain subsection of Republicans get their way, obtaining a divorce in the US might soon become a lot more difficult. Continue reading...

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The Le Pen family drama, Eric Ciotti apparently locking himself in his office ... it would almost be funny if it weren't so bleakEric Ciotti, exit stage right. On 11 June, the leader of France's legacy centre-right party Les Republicains (LR) went on TV to finally set the record straight. With France's leftwing parties negotiating a popular front" in the lead-up to the snap elections on 30 June and 7 July, Ciotti announced that he would seek an unprecedented alliance with Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) after its commanding victory in last Sunday's elections to the European parliament.This was the latest turning point provoked by Emmanuel Macron's surprise dissolution of parliament on Sunday, which has provoked a major political crisis likely to result in a shake-up of political forces and loyalties. Of course, the old centre-right had long since embraced the hallmarks of Le Pen-style politics - from the obsessive fear of national decline and culture wars against French Muslims to to embracing the so-called great replacement" theory. But the custodian party of what the French still like to call Gaullism" has clung to an at least rhetorical rejection of the Le Pen family's political project. The National Rally is the rebranded form of the Front National, the party founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen and other neo-fascists in 1972 as they nursed the wounds of Charles de Gaulle's recognition of defeat in France's colonial war over Algeria. Continue reading...

I believe the civil disobedience of ordinary people can secure great change. I do what I can - and accept the consequences Amy Pritchard is the first person to be jailed for a campaign that targeted banks across LondonEvery day I struggle to hold the insanity of our collective behaviour within me - in my psyche, my heart and my body. The harm we are causing to ourselves, to our fellow humans and all other beings, and our incredible, beautiful home, is horrific. Yet I know that what I think and feel is a healthy response to what's going on.In April 2021, Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the EU commission, said: Today's children will face a future of fighting wars for water and food." We are already facing significant impacts on our harvests here. The prospect of wars over resources and conflict caused by and exacerbated by climatic conditions is an almost unbearable intergenerational injustice. The loss of biodiversity, meanwhile, will erode the foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, law and order, health and quality of life worldwide.Amy Pritchard, an agricultural and woodland worker from Liverpool, was jailed for 10 months on 12 June 2024 after being found guilty of criminal damage. This is an edited extract of her mitigation statement. Last year, she was also jailed for using the words climate change" and fuel poverty" in court, contrary to the judge's order.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...

Ludvig Aberg is the halfway leader at Pinehurst No.2 after adding a 69 to his opening 66 to end on 5-under, a shot clearAn extremely careless bogey for Rory McIlroy on 11. Wedge in hand, 137 yards out, the pin in the middle of the green, he pulls his approach down a bank to the left. A chip up to six feet, but a missed putt, and that's the 2012 and 2014 champion's first backwards step of the week. A blemish-free card yesterday, but it didn't take long to spoil things this morning. Another par for Scottie Scheffler, who hasn't done anything particularly impressive so far today, but hasn't made any silly mistakes either.-5: Cantlay

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DoJ tells Republicans it will not pursue prosecution of attorney general after House votes to hold him in contemptThe US Department of Justice on Friday told the Republican House of Representatives speaker, Mike Johnson, that it would decline to pursue criminal contempt of Congress charges against the attorney general, Merrick Garland, according to a letter seen by Reuters.The Republican-controlled House had voted on Wednesday to hold Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over audio of Joe Biden's interview with the special counsel investigating his retention of classified documents after he was Barack Obama's vice-president. Continue reading...

The pronounced antisemitism in recent protests is an unsettling phenomenonCongratulations to the group of radical protesters who claim to be for the Palestinian cause in New York City. They brag online that they shut down" the Nova exhibit on Wall Street and played out their day of rage throughout the subway system, against some museums and museum directors, and on the New York City streets and even hit some UN missions.In reality, they didn't shut down the Nova exhibit. The exhibit will probably get more attendees than anticipated and its presentation has been extended. The exhibit, which originated in Israel, presents oral history and artifacts of the horrific 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas on thousands of mostly generation Z and millennials who were at a rave enjoying music, drugs and dance. Continue reading...