Three-month audit by FAA was not triggered by a specific event but is part of its oversight of safety cultureThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday it will open a three-month review of Boeing's compliance with safety regulations, continuing the agency's closer oversight of the company since a panel blew off a Boeing jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.The FAA said its review will examine key areas of safety processes at Boeing to make sure that they result in timely, accurate safety-related information for FAA use". Continue reading...
by Chris Stein in Moundsville, West Virginia on (#6RJRM)
Jim Justice, West Virginia's Republican governor, is seen as a shoo-in for the seat being vacated by Joe Manchin. But his opponent says Justice isn't as popular as he appearsThe man in the blue shirt leveled his gaze at Glenn Elliott, who had just walked into his yard in the quiet, conservative town of Moundsville and introduced himself as a candidate to represent West Virginia in the US Senate.It would take a lot to make me like any politician right now," the man replied. Continue reading...
With their perfect hair, kindly demeanour and songs about thrilling romance, boybands such as One Direction induce feelings that have much to teach us about lifeThe first time I fell in love, I was 13. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach constantly. I took any opportunity to mention my love, no matter how tangential to the conversation. If the subject came up organically, I felt as if I could burst with joy. I never met them, but that didn't make the feelings any less real. That I was in love with Take That was irrelevant: it was love all the same.When the British boyband split up in 1996, the press conference was broadcast live. During the Q&A, a journalist from BBC Manchester told the sombre group: We've just had a 14-year-old fan phone in tears. What's your message to her?" Looking a little befuddled, Mark Owen replied: Erm ... we're sorry, I suppose." Continue reading...
All public universities in the state join growing direct admission' program that aims to reduce application anxietyTexas universities have joined a number of other colleges and universities across 35 states in participating in a program, revolutionizing the normally tedious college application process by allowing students to determine if they will get accepted to a school before even applying.Direct admission", which was piloted in 2021 and formally launched at the end of 2023, aims to streamline the college application process, with schools offering students admission even if they didn't apply. Notably, not all colleges and universities across the US are part of the program. Continue reading...
The Israeli PM could cite the Hamas leader's death as a total victory', but his far-right partners would revolt and his ally Trump would not be happyA good day for the world, said Joe Biden. The best day of my life, said Mohammed, a 22-year-old Palestinian in Gaza, who refused to give his last name to the New York Times for fear of being punished by Hamas for speaking out. A day of celebration, said countless Israelis.They were reacting to the death of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas and architect of the 7 October massacre of 1,200 Israelis that unleashed this last year of devastation, a war that has turned Gaza into rubble and taken the lives of thousands upon thousands of Palestinian civilians. As Mohammed put it: [He] started the war, scattered us and made us displaced, without water, food or money ... He is the one who made Israel do this."Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The approach aims to avoid rewarding' assailants and prevent trauma reliving. Could it be a viable solution?In a Nashville courtroom in early July, survivors of the 2023 Covenant school shooting celebrated an unusual legal victory. Citing copyright law, Judge l'Ashea Myles ruled that the assailant's writings and other creative property could not be released to the public.After months of hearings, the decision came down against conservative lawmakers, journalists and advocates who had sued for access to the writings, claiming officials had no right to keep them from the public. But since parents of the assailant - who killed six people at the private Christian elementary school, including three nine-year-old children - signed legal ownership of the shooter's journals over to the families of surviving students last year, Myles said releasing the materials would violate the federal Copyright Act. Continue reading...
Two Georgia judges beat back Republican efforts to cast doubt on November's election, but the legal fight isn't overTwo court rulings in Georgia over the last week have beaten back efforts by Republican activists to empower political challenges to November's election results, though the expected legal fight over the election is far from concluded.Robert McBurney, a Fulton county superior court judge, ruled on Tuesday that elections officials had a legal obligation to certify an election, leaving disputes over results and allegations of misconduct to investigation by local district attorneys offices. The ruling rejected the assertion of Trump-aligned attorneys working with Julie Adams, a Republican appointee to the Fulton election board, that election board members could exercise their discretion in certification. Continue reading...
The Rue Dix marketplace and restaurant in Crown Heights offers Senegalese fashion and flavorNilea Alexander and her husband, Lamine Diagne, started out with a neighborhood coffee shop in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Over the past decade, though, their modest enterprise has evolved into what they call an experience". Next door to Cafe Rue Dix, which serves Senegalese cuisine, pastries and lattes, is Marche Rue Dix, their marketplace-boutique stocked with goods sourced directly from Senegal, Diagne's birthplace. The couple's goal is to create a one-stop destination where customers leave with both a story and a piece of Senegal.Rue Dix, or 10th Street" in French, is a nod to Diagne's roots in Pikine, a city to the east of the Senegalese capital of Dakar. Markets are very big in Senegal," he said. Visitors to the cafe can order its signature dish, thiebou jen - a savory blend of jollof rice, vegetables and red snapper stew. And then they can head to the boutique, which offers everything from traditional Ataya tea and an asymmetric crochet skirt to a gilded brass arm cuff and a bucket bag made from rope and plastic. Continue reading...
Turnout strong in battleground state still recovering from devastation of Hurricane Helene three weeks agoTurnout for early in-person voting has started strongly in the presidential battleground of North Carolina, including in mountainous areas where deadly Hurricane Helene destroyed property and upended lives but apparently did not dampen a fierce desire to participate in elections.More than 400 early voting sites opened as scheduled on Thursday for the 17-day period, including all but four of the 80 sites previously anticipated for the 25 western counties hardest hit by the storm, said the executive director of the state board of elections, Karen Brinson Bell. She credited election workers - including volunteers affected by the severe weather - emergency management officials and utility crews. Continue reading...
Activists in swing Michigan county are alarmed by Hispanic voters backing Trump despite his anti-immigrant rhetoricDan Soza has seen the harsh realities of Donald Trump's immigration policies up close and so he is alarmed that many Latino voters in Saginaw, Michigan, do not take seriously the former US president's threats of mass deportations.As a child welfare officer in Saginaw, Soza places young unaccompanied refugees in foster families and watched the Trump administration's separation of children from their parents at the Mexican border in 2018 with alarm. He said the cruelty of that policy, and the former president's threats against refugees legally in the US, should serve as a warning that Trump might do what he says. Continue reading...
As the descendant of a survivor of a genocide, the Holocaust, I refuse to be a bystander to another genocideTime after time, Sha'ban al-Dalou, a 19-year-old software engineering student living in Gaza, nearly escaped death. He began studying at Gaza's al-Azhar University two months before it was destroyed in November by a US-made bomb dropped by Israeli forces.Sha'ban posted videos to social media, describing how his family - which he took care of, as the eldest of five - was displaced five times by the assaults and asking for financial support to flee to Egypt.Elena Stein is director of organizing strategy for Jewish Voice for Peace, the largest anti-Zionist Jewish organization in the world and currently the fastest-growing Jewish organization in the country. Continue reading...
The Kansas City Chiefs kicker became a hero on the right after a speech in May. Suddenly Fox News is OK with athletes in politicsIn a segment last week, Laura Ingraham could barely contain her glee when she announced that Harrison Butker had decided to venture into politics: a move sure to drive the liberals crazy".Butker, for those who aren't aware, is a kicker with the Kansas City Chiefs - who are famous in non-sporty circles for being the team that Taylor Swift's boyfriend, Travis Kelce, plays for. As well as being the highest-paid kicker in the NFL and the owner of a very impressive beard, Butker is what a polite person might call traditional" and a more direct person might call Taliban-adjacent". He essentially thinks women should stay at home making sandwiches for their husbands and looking after their kids. In May, the athlete caused a stir when gave a commencement speech at Benedictine College, a Catholic private liberal arts school, espousing these views. In the same speech, Butker also denounced dangerous gender ideologies", called Pride month a deadly sin", and rattled off various other conservative talking points. Continue reading...
Other leaders joined calls for ceasefire and humanitarian aid. Plus, half of young Americans hesitant' to have kids due to climate crisisGood morning.Kamala Harris has said that the death of the Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, provides an opportunity for Israel to finally end its war in Gaza, as Joe Biden joined international calls for a ceasefire.How have Israel and Hamas responded to Sinwar's death? Netanyahu claimed it was the beginning of the end" while simultaneously declaring Israel must continue to fight". Hamas has not yet commented.Will it end the war soon? Most analysts believe Israel remains set on continuing the war for the foreseeable future.What are the latest polls saying? One showed Harris continuing to lead among Black voters in battleground states: 84% of respondents in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin said they planned to vote for her.Where is the Democratic campaign's focus now? Harris is spending most of her remaining three weeks in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin - blue wall" states Hillary Clinton lost eight years ago. Continue reading...
Created as a constitutional afterthought, the system now holds millions of voters hostage to a handful of countiesThese are not easy days for supporters of American democracy. But what twists my innards is not the prospect that in three weeks' time, the majority of voters could hand the reins of power to a vengeful authoritarian demagogue. Instead, I'm sickened by the prospect that the electoral college can do that for us - that Kamala Harris could win the national popular vote, but come up short where it counts.We know the popular vote winner has already twice lost in this young century, in 2000 and again in 2016. But few realize how narrowly we missed a catastrophic result in 2020 when Biden won the national popular vote by a substantial margin - over 7 million votes. In every other democratic nation, such a result would have settled matters. Not in the US. Biden's margin of victory in three key swing states - Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin - was razor thin, with fewer than 44,000 votes combined.Lawrence Douglas is the author, most recently, of Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. He is a contributing opinion writer for the Guardian US and teaches at Amherst College Continue reading...
Republican ex-president has received $14.1m oil and gas industry making it his fourth-biggest source of cashDonald Trump has raised more money from the oil and gas industry than at this stage of his previous campaigns for the US presidency, with a surge of fossil fuel funding coming in the six months since he directly requested $1bn from oil executives and then promised he would scrap environmental rules if elected.While the Republican nominee hasn't quite managed to get to that $1bn figure, he has received $14.1m from the oil and gas industry in the period up to 31 August, donation filings show. This is more than he got from the industry at the same stage of his presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020. Continue reading...
Trump's planned rally at Madison Square Garden will be the ultimate act of ego and the climax of his Hitlerian rhetoricFor the apotheosis of his entire poisoning of the blood" campaign, Donald Trump has planned a spectacular extravaganza in Madison Square Garden on 27 October, a week before the election. When JD Vance sings Trump's fulsome praises to introduce him, his ominous tribute will not inspire comparison to the night in the Garden of 19 May 1962, when Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday, Mr President to John F Kennedy.Trump's climactic rally will not be in the spirit of any past presidential event ever held there. His gathering for the great racist replacement theory will be the culmination of his spiraling descent since the Charlottesville rally in 2017 when neo-Nazis chanted, Jews will not replace us." Fine people on both sides," Trump said then. Now, at his night at the Garden, Trump will revive the memory of the infamous American Nazi mass rally held there on 20 February 1939 through his reflected Hitlerian rhetoric. Continue reading...
It has been called the great paradox' - when communities who most need government support vote for a Republican party hell-bent on dismantling itA few hundred yards from the shoreline- where the Gulf of Mexico meets the small town of Cameron in south-west Louisiana - my feet are crunching over four-year-old detritus.I am standing among the battered pews of a Baptist church, on shards of glass and wood that are strewn across the floor, gazing at its partly collapsed roof. The relics of the back-to-back hurricanes that pummelled this community in 2020 are still scattered here and throughout much of Cameron. Residents have long referred to this distant part of the US as the end of the world" - but the adage feels more prescient now than ever. The population has dwindled from nearly 2,000 to a few hundred since the storms; empty foundations mark the locations of many homes that were swept away in tidal surges; and a gargantuan gas export terminal looms on the horizon. Continue reading...
A rebuild is afoot in Toronto, Cincinnati's woes continue, while a new contender emerges in the Pacific NorthwestWelcome back to the Guardian's MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone. Unless you're the last-place San Jose Earthquakes, in which case you have enough to worry about without me getting all up in your face.Now, as a reminder, these aren't your standard, run-of-the-mill power rankings. We're still ranking teams from worst to first. But along with the rankings, we're diving deep into a handful of teams from around the league who are doing particularly interesting things. Continue reading...
Living in Marseille, I see how bread is a source of daily joy - but the reality of French bakery is not as charming as it seemsFor many French people, the first experience of being allowed out alone as a child is going to the local bakery. The smell of bread mingles with a sense of newfound freedom as the tip of the baguette, le quignon, is torn off on the way home. This is a romantic story, but it holds some truth about the esteemed role that bread and the baker hold in France - and it is partly what drew me, an English baker, to the country.Having worked and lived in Paris and Marseille, I've since learned that although there is much to admire about the French relationship to bread, it is all underpinned by a web of political, social and economic relations that make it not as charming as it may seem from the outside. For one, the sale of pre-frozen, industrially made bakery goods is on the rise. The Spanish company Europastry, one of the top producers in this growing sector, recently claimed that in a blind test you can't tell which is which" between their frozen products and the unfrozen, artisanal equivalent. In France, frozen pastries and sweet baked goods accounted for a remarkable 24% of all pastries in 2021, higher than Britain and Spain.Lizzie Parle is a baker in Marseille Continue reading...
US vice president Kamala Harris says 'justice has been served' with the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, adding that the US, Israel and the entire world were 'better off as a result'. Her comments came after Israel said it had killed Sinwar in Gaza. Harris also pressed for an end to the year-long war, saying 'it is time for the day after to begin, without Hamas in power'
In comments to reporters after landing in Germany, US president Joe Biden said he had congratulated Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's death and that 'now was the time to move on'. He called the killing an opportunity to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas and end the yearlong war in Gaza. US officials have expressed measured optimism that Sinwar's death might breathe new life into ceasefire talks that have so far failed to produce a breakthrough
Justice department says Vikash Yadav, who remains at large, planned to murder a Sikh separatist in New YorkThe United States has charged a former Indian intelligence officer who allegedly directed a foiled plot to murder a Sikh separatist in New York City last year.An indictment of Vikash Yadav was ordered to be unsealed on Thursday, court records showed. Yadav was a former officer in India's Research and Analysis Wing spy service, the records said. He remains at large. Continue reading...
Colt Gray, 14, and his father, Colin Gray, were indicted separately for the mass shooting at Apalachee high schoolA grand jury indicted a father and son on murder charges on Thursday in a mass shooting at Apalachee high school in Winder, Georgia.Georgia media outlets reported that the Barrow county grand jury meeting in Winder indicted 14-year-old Colt Gray on a total of 55 counts, including four counts of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, plus aggravated assault and cruelty to children. Grand jurors formally charged his father, Colin Gray, with 29 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct. Continue reading...
After cracking down on password sharing, expanding into ads and investing billions in live TV, group declares successNetflix expects to double its profits this quarter after the world's largest streaming service added more than 5 million new subscribers this summer.After cracking down on password sharing, introducing adverts to its service and investing billions in live TV, the group declared it had delivered" on plans to shore up its business. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington on (#6RJ1K)
Rifle association workers wrote letter warning that inaction against Doug Hamlin will destroy' NRA's comeback chancesThe board of the National Rifle Association (NRA) is facing pressure to suspend the gun rights group's chief executive, Douglas Hamlin, following revelations that Hamlin was involved in the sadistic killing of a cat.The news broke as Donald Trump cancelled a planned appearance with Hamlin next week in Savannah, Georgia, where the Republican nominee for president was meant to give a keynote address to an NRA convention. Organizers said Trump had a scheduling conflict. Continue reading...
Report by independent panel convened by DHS secretary criticises lack of critical thinking' by agencyAn independent investigation into the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump has warned that further such episodes will occur unless the Secret Service undergoes fundamental reform".In a sometimes scathing 51-page report, a panel commissioned by the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, lambasted the agency for a spate of failings, including a lack of critical thinking", and said it had not engaged in sufficient self-reflection" over the episode. Continue reading...
With the reported killing of the Hamas leader, Israel's partners should renew the push for a ceasefire and hostage dealThe Israeli military's announcement that it has killed the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar should be an opportunityto end the devastating war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children. The death of the man whomasterminded the 7 October massacres in southern Israel that killed more than 1,200 people would mark a key moment in the conflict. It could renew momentum for a ceasefire deal and hostage release - as families of those held have demanded. With the group's two other key figuresalready dead, Benjamin Netanyahu could declare victory.There is no sign that he is prepared to do so without intense and sustained pressure on him - the sort of pressure that the US has repeatedly been unwilling to exert. Mr Netanyahu knows that protracting conflict extends his political life. It seems more likely that he will vow that it's time to finish the job. The Israeli prime minister said last month's killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, had settled the score", and his approval ratings rose. Then Israel launched its ground offensive in Lebanon. Continue reading...
Designation will last 18 months to eligible people due to ongoing armed conflict, states homeland securityThe US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a new temporary protected status" allowing Lebanese nationals in the US to remain in the country and apply for work permits, as the ongoing armed conflict" in Lebanon continues with Israel expanding its invasion and its attacks on Hezbollah.As of July 2024, around 11,500 Lebanese nationals were believed to be in the US on nonimmigrant visas for business, tourism, temporary work or other opportunities, with California and Michigan hosting the most. About 11,000 of them will probably now be eligible to apply for temporary protected status, as well as for deferred enforced departure - in other words, protection from deportation. An additional 1,740 students from Lebanon may also be eligible for special student relief. Continue reading...
Lawsuit accuses sheriff of falsely characterizing Vem Miller's arrest as a thwarted assassination attemptA Nevada man who was arrested over the weekend with guns at a security checkpoint outside a Donald Trump rally in the southern California desert has filed a lawsuit accusing the sheriff of falsely characterizing his arrest as a thwarted assassination attempt for his own personal gain.The man, identified as 49-year-old Vem Miller of Las Vegas, had been driving an unregistered black SUV with a homemade" license plate when he was stopped by deputies assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside county sheriff Chad Bianco said on Sunday at a news conference. Continue reading...
Christopher Patrick Laney was also charged in connection with overdose and death of customerA southern California man was arrested on Wednesday after federal prosecutors say he used a drone to deliver fentanyl and other drugs to customers, including one who died of a fentanyl overdose.Christopher Patrick Laney, 34, of Lancaster, California, was arrested on several charges, including distribution of fentanyl resulting in death, four counts of knowingly and willfully operating an unregistered aircraft in furtherance of a felony narcotics crime, and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl, Martin Estrada, US attorney for the central district of California, said in a statement. Continue reading...
Lucky Loser, by two New York Times journalists, reveals just how much Donald owes to his father (spoiler alert: everything)The singular piece of publicity most helpful to The Apprentice, a film about Donald Trump that opened in the US last week and opens in the UK this Friday, is the fact its subject tried to block the movie's release. The title refers to Trump's adventures as a young man under the informal mentorship of the notorious New York lawyer Roy Cohn - former chief counsel for Joseph McCarthy, among other things - and from whom, the movie suggests, Trump picked up much of his conniving and ruthlessness. Trump is so lurid in life that he may be impossible to fictionalise, but the movie has a good crack. That it fails leaves one feeling vaguely cheated of an opportunity to deepen one's loathing for Trump with a little more background and insight.With the US election two and half weeks away, any representation of Trump, if it's not up to scratch, risks looking like either an act of hubris or total obliviousness. The Apprentice, which languished in development for years before getting a boost when the actor Jeremy Strong agreed to play Cohn, is at best a tabloid romp in which Trump-as-playboy is compellingly rendered and at worst a piece of counterintuitivism so obvious it's more predictable than a straightforward hatchet job. Sebastian Stan, as the young Trump, injects just the right level of nascent tics into his performance - the pursed lips, the flapping hands, the constant faffing with the hair - so that he appears physically very convincing. At the front end of the movie, the film-makers also make Trump appear gauchely, winningly, absurdly sympathetic. Continue reading...
Ex-president continues to distance himself from Heritage Foundation document as son preps staff blacklistDonald Trump's transition team is reportedly preparing a blacklist of potential officials to be banned from a future administration, with special emphasis being placed on those with links to the radical Project 2025 plan to overhaul the US government.The former president's eldest son, Donald Jr, is spearheading the drive to compile the list of barred staffers, according to Politico, citing a former official in the first Trump administration. Continue reading...
Document printed in 1787 to be sold in North Carolina, where minimum bid of $1m has already been madeA rare copy of the US constitution printed 237 years ago and sent to the states to be ratified is being auctioned on Thursday evening in North Carolina.Brunk Auctions is selling the copy, the only of its type thought to be in private hands. The minimum bid of $1m has already been made. There is no minimum price that must be reached. Continue reading...
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