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From the first day of the year to the end of June, the US endured 28 mass killings, and the death toll rose just about every weekSlain at the hands of strangers or gunned down by loved ones. Massacred in small towns, in big cities, inside their own homes or outside in broad daylight. This year's unrelenting bloodshed across the US has led to the grimmest of milestones - the deadliest six months of mass killings recorded since at least 2006.From 1 January to 30 June, the nation endured 28 mass killings, all but one of which involved guns. The death toll rose just about every week, a constant cycle of violence and grief. Continue reading...

An archive holding works by writers purged in the 1930s also hosted Victoria Amelina, lost to a Russian strike this summerOn 12 October last year, I met up in Kyiv with the novelist and war crimes investigator Victoria Amelina, who died on 1 July from injuries sustained in an attack on a Kramatorsk pizza restaurant. We had first encountered each other some days earlier at a literary festival, Lviv BookForum, and taken the same overnight train to the Ukrainian capital. Ninety minutes after we arrived, on the morning of 10 October, Moscow targeted the city centre with cruise missiles.The first person I rang to make sense of events, after the deafening whoosh-bang shook my hotel room windows, was Amelina. Her taxi home had taken her past three of the missile sites. Being absolutely unshakable in her calmness, and because of her determination to bear witness to events, she had got out of her taxi, filmed the smoking craters and recorded precisely what she had seen. One of the missiles had destroyed a children's playground in Taras Shevchenko park nearby, which two days later we were now sitting in. Continue reading...

Plus, a hair-raising theory behind Nadine Dorries's unwavering loyalty towards Boris JohnsonMaybe he IS my king after all ... According to a royal expert (a posher, creepier version of David Attenborough comes to mind, tiptoeing from pot plant to pot plant down the palace corridors to chart the exotic creatures' habits) it is Charles and Camilla's custom to sleep in separate bedrooms every night. Continue reading...

The Huw Edwards saga shows how the UK tabloids are both reckless and dangerously restrained at the same timeI hesitated about writing this column because, as a Brit in America, I don't like it when my mother country looks ridiculous. (Yeah, I know, the last decade has been rough.) And there is simply no way to write this without making the UK, and more specifically, its media ecosystem, look ridiculous. Sorry King Charles, I tried my best.So what's going on? Good question: nobody really knows. But it all started last Saturday when the Sun put out an explosive front-page story claiming that an unnamed but well-known male BBC presenter had been paying a now 20-year-old more than 35,000 since they were 17 in return for sordid images". The British tabloid, which built its brand by featuring topless women on its page 3 for almost 50 years, is not known for being nuanced and restrained. Still, even by the paper's own questionable standards, the reporting on this was shocking. The Sun rushed out a story suggesting a serious criminal offence, without seeming to possess much of the underlying evidence to support the allegation.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Since losing his best friend in the 2018 nightclub attack, Wolf has become an outspoken advocate for gun safety and LGBTQ+ rightsSeven years after surviving the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, and dealing with the guilt of losing his best friend there, Brandon Wolf is living life to the fullest. He belongs to an energized generation of young Democrats. He is a prominent gun safety and LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and, at just 34, is a newly published author.But in Governor Ron DeSantis's Florida, he does not always feel safe. Continue reading...

Group called Advancing Our Values registered as non-profit two weeks earlier but mailers intended to be anti-Trump', says expert

Negotiations between the US's largest shipping company and its union have stalled less than a month before the contract expires - here's what we knowTime is running out for negotiations to avert the largest strike against a single employer in US history. Contract negotiations between UPS, the largest shipping company in the US, and its workers' union have stalled less than a month before the union contract expires on 31 July. Without a contract, the union said that its 340,000 full- and part-time workers will strike, something that would significantly disrupt the US economy.Here's what we know so far about negotiations and the potential strike: Continue reading...

Fines on list given to the Guardian were levied by agency created at Ron DeSantis's behest to investigate voter fraud, which is rare. Plus, Anchor, first and oldest US craft brewery, to closeGood morning.Florida Republicans have hit dozens of voter registration groups with thousands of dollars of fines, the latest salvo in an alarming crackdown on voting in the state led by the governor, Ron DeSantis.Who is most likely to be affected? A crackdown on third-party voter registration groups is likely to disproportionately affect Floridians of color, who are about five times more likely to register with third-party groups than white voters are.What's happening elsewhere? Mild El Nino climatic conditions brewing in the Pacific Ocean will strengthen throughout the year, with an outside chance of a record-breaking event that will further turbocharge already sweltering temperatures around the globe, scientists have forecast. As well as the US, heatwaves have roiled China, India, parts of Europe and the Arctic. Continue reading...

Tommy Tuberville, from Alabama, had seemed determined to support extremists despite condemnation from his colleaguesPoliticians typically enter office with a variety of interests, goals and focuses.A wave of progressive Democrats were elected in 2018 with the stated goal of bringing universal healthcare to the US. Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised to lead the country out of the Great Depression with the New Deal. Donald Trump wanted to build a wall, drain the swamp", and force people to say Merry Christmas". Continue reading...

Street Soccer USA brought the tournament to California this year to showcase 300 players from 40 national teamsWhen the ball grazed the Finnish goalkeeper, the people in the stands celebrated wildly. But Sienna Jackson stood emotionless on the pitch. The 24-year-old American forward couldn't believe she had just scored the first goal of the Homeless World Cup, hosted for the first time in the United States.Just a few years ago, Jackson was sleeping on the streets of downtown Sacramento, less than 5 miles away from the Hornet Stadium at California State University where she was now playing. Continue reading...

After a formidable academic and athletic career at Stanford University, the Californian is an integral part of the defending champions' World Cup campaignEach Saturday morning as a young child growing up in San Jose, California, Naomi Girma would show up to the park to play a version of soccer that was as informal as you can think", she says now.The children were divided by the adults into three groups: little, medium, and big. From there, the kids would scrimmage, their voices cutting through the crisp, California air uninterrupted by any formal coaching. Continue reading...

The Nanny star blasts Hollywood studios after talks between the actors' union and studios fail to avert a strike, calling them 'disgusting' for claiming they're losing money while 'giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs'. Fran Drescher is president of Hollywood's biggest union, Sag-Aftra. About 160,000 of its members are joining the Writers Guild of America in a strike, marking the biggest shutdown of Hollywood since both unions last went on strike together in 1960. The unions are fighting for better terms with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios and streamers, including Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros DiscoverySubscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

Melissa Tempel dismissed after she tweeted frustration at ban of Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus song exalting virtues of inclusivityA teacher in Wisconsin has been fired from her job after she criticized her public school district's decision to ban the song Rainbowland, which exalts the virtues of inclusivity, from a children's concert at her campus.The members of the board governing public schools in the solidly Republican community of Waukesha voted unanimously to dismiss Melissa Tempel from her job on Wednesday, saying the teacher's defense of the Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton duet violated district policy because she did not speak to her supervisors first. Continue reading...

The son-in-law and former adviser to the ex-president testified that Trump seemed to believe that he had won the 2020 electionDonald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was among several witnesses to testify before a grand jury in recent weeks about the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, US media reported on Thursday.Testifying at a federal courthouse in Washington DC last month, Kushner, a former White House adviser to Trump, said it was his impression that Trump truly believed the 2020 election was stolen, the New York Times reported, citing a person briefed on the matter. Continue reading...

Officer is seen hitting woman twice in face as she holds her baby in video released by LA county sheriff Robert LunaFor the second time in a week, the Los Angeles sheriff's department is facing scrutiny over a brutal force incident, this time after a deputy was caught on camera punching a mother twice in the face as she held her newborn baby.The LA county sheriff, Robert Luna, on Wednesday released footage of the July 2022 incident in Palmdale, north-east of the city of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Prosecutors urged judge to reject Trump's request to postpone the trial and set December dateFederal prosecutors asked the judge presiding over the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case on Thursday to reject Donald Trump's request that any trial should not take place until after the 2024 presidential election and reset the trial date for December.There is no basis in law or fact for proceeding in such an indeterminate and open-ended fashion, and the defendants provide none," the prosecutors wrote in an 11-page court filing that sharply attacked Trump's arguments. Continue reading...

No age restriction on sales for Perrigo's once-a-day Opill, which will be available in stores and online early next yearThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first over-the-counter contraceptive pill, allowing millions of women and girls in the country to buy contraception without a prescription at a time when some states have sought to restrict access to birth control and abortion.FDA officials said on Thursday it cleared Perrigo's Opill - an every day, prescription-only hormonal contraception first approved in 1973 - to be sold over-the-counter. The pill will be available in stores and online in the first quarter of next year, and there will be no age restrictions on sales. The regulatory approval paves the way for people to purchase the pill without a prescription for the first time since oral contraceptives became widely available in the 1960s. Continue reading...

Law took voting authority from Black residents in Hinds county and Jackson, says DoJ, and created two-tiered system of justice'A recent Mississippi law that allows the state to appoint judges and prosecutors in Hinds county, including the majority-Black capital of Jackson, constituted a crude scheme that singles out and discriminates against Black residents", the justice department said on Wednesday.The agency announced its intent to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the NAACP against the state, arguing that the law, signed by the Republican governor, Tate Reeves, in April, took voting authority away from Black residents in Jackson and Hinds county, which are both Democrat-run and majority-Black. Continue reading...

President says Tommy Tuberville is jeopardising national security with protest against defense department's abortion policyThe Alabama Republican senator Tommy Tuberville is jeopardising US national security by blocking military leadership confirmations in protest of Pentagon policy on abortion, Joe Biden and the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on Thursday.Speaking to reporters in Finland, where he attended meetings after the Nato summit in Lithuania, Biden said he would talk to Tuberville if he thought there was any prospect he would change his ridiculous" position. Continue reading...

Court will sentence Robert Bowers for 2018 attack that killed people, after he was convicted on 63 criminal countsThe shooter behind the deadly 2018 antisemitic attack that killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue may face the death penalty, a federal grand jury concluded on Thursday.The verdict, five years after the devastating mass shooting at Tree of Life synagogue, now means the court will sentence Robert Bowers either to life imprisonment or death by capital punishment. Federal prosecutors argued that Bowers, who had spent months planning the attack and has since said he regretted not killing more people, met the standard that he had an intent to kill. Continue reading...

Biden says process under way' to free Wall Street Journal reporter held in Russia and accused without evidence of spyingJoe Biden has said he is serious about pursuing a prisoner exchange for the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days, and claimed the process was under way".I'm serious on a prisoner exchange," Biden told reporters on Thursday when asked about Gershkovich's continued detention in Russia. Continue reading...

The hypocrisy of its critics is grim to watch. Still, the BBC can retain support by making a virtue of transparencyOnce the feeding frenzy is over, this is what we're always left with. Families shattered, lives ruined and a thin, greasy feeling of shame descending over all who got caught up in the heat of the moment.The worst-kept secret of the week is out, for whatever that is worth. We all know now that the anonymous BBC presenter accused by the Sun of paying for sexually explicit images was Huw Edwards, the corporation's weighty anchor, in every sense of the word: the reassuring face and voice of every great state occasion, from election night to the death of a monarch.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

Inquiry into bag of drug found in West Wing concludes but lack of physical evidence' hampers efforts

Michael Reinoehl, an anti-fascist activist wanted in fatal shooting, was killed by police who never announced themselves, suit allegesThe family of Michael Reinoehl, an anti-fascist activist killed by police in 2020 while wanted for fatally shooting an Oregon man during a pro-Trump rally, have filed a lawsuit alleging his civil rights were violated when officers sprayed more than 40 bullets" outside the apartment complex where he died.The federal lawsuit filed on behalf of his children alleges that police killed Reinoehl at the apartment complex in Lacey, Washington, without ever identifying themselves. His family is seeking compensation for pre-death pain and suffering experienced by Reineohl and for his two children, who they say suffered permanent and irreparable emotional injury" from their father's death and the highly publicized, sensational and political nature" of his killing. Continue reading...

It was right to show that it is not above journalistic scrutiny, but it has given the story greater prominence than it should haveImagine you are director-general of the BBC. You are coming to the end of another gruelling week, having put your annual report to bed, and looking forward to one of the few perks of the job: entertaining guests in the BBC box at Wimbledon. It should be a brief moment of relaxation before hosting a press conference the following Tuesday when you know most questions will be about what its highest-paid presenters, such as Huw Edwards, earn, and not about how efficient the organisation is and how it is coping with a significant drop in income.And then you get a call from the Sun about your best-known news presenter, who has had a wonderful 12 months, hosting the BBC's coverage of great state occasions such as the funeral of Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of King Charles. Continue reading...

Critics decry vague language and misinformation' as Susan B Anthony claims US does not have true bans' since exceptions existIn the year since the US supreme court ruled there is no constitutional right to abortion, the anti-abortion movement is still struggling to define a cohesive vision of post-Roe America.Now they are employing a new strategy: use confusing or misleading language to repackage and soften the more extreme types of abortion restrictions. Continue reading...

Ticket buyers have chance at prize paid out in yearly increments or a $441.9m lump sum after no one won Wednesday's drawingThe Powerball jackpot soared to an estimated $875m after no winning ticket was sold for the latest drawing.No ticket for Wednesday's $750m jackpot matched the white balls 23, 35, 45, 66, 67 and red Powerball 20. Continue reading...

Sag-Aftra committee decision raises prospect of first simultaneous strike by writers and actors in more than 60 years. Plus, a surfing sea otter leaves experts puzzled

John Henry James, falsely accused of rape 125 years ago, was charged soon after - but he had already been killed by armed localsIn front of a packed courtroom on Wednesday, a judge in Albemarle County, Virginia, overturned the indictment of a Black man who the court now believes was falsely accused of raping a white woman. John Henry James's criminal record is now clear. But James wasn't present in court to celebrate: he was lynched by an angry white mob 125 years earlier.On 11 July 1898, Julia Hotopp, a white woman, said she was returning home from the nearby town of Charlottesville after having her riding horse re-shod, when she was violently assaulted in a remote part of the road. But from there, her story differs: in some accounts, she said she was able to fend the attacker off by scratching his face, while in others, the man raped her in such a foul manner she did not want to give particulars. Continue reading...

The line was supposed to offer expert guidance after Mayor Eric Adams expanded police powers to forcibly hospitalize peopleA young man hangs out on a street corner in Midtown Manhattan every day outside the entrance of a big chain restaurant. He shadowboxes and talks to himself, and beneath him are poster boards with scrawled conspiracy theories. The restaurant's manager worries the man could be scaring off customers and calls 911. Should the responding police officer remove the man to a hospital, forcing him if he refuses?This is a scenario from the training materials for a new 24/7 hotline touted by Mayor Eric Adams and run by New York City's public hospital system, which offers police officers on-demand guidance on whether to involuntarily hospitalize someone who appears mentally ill. Adams, a former transit cop, announced the hotline last November as part of a controversial directive to expand the police's authority to perform the removals, pledging that the hotline would be staffed by psychiatrists, social workers, and clinicians who will provide guidance to police officers who encounter individuals in psychiatric crisis". Continue reading...

The suit, filed by victim's relatives, says big tech bears responsibility for exposing the gunman to racist contentTech and social media giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google bear responsibility for radicalizing the Buffalo supermarket shooter, who was fueled by racist conspiracy theories he encountered online, the victim's relatives said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.They were the conspirators, even if they don't want to admit it," civil rights attorney Ben Crump said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified financial damages as well as changes in how the companies operate. Continue reading...

The blandness of the Threads experience makes me yearn for the trolls of TwitterWhat if someone invented Instagram without the cute golden retriever photos, without any of the fun? What if someone invented Twitter without any of the serious and snarky back-and-forth about news, politics, ideas, or essential information about weather or pandemics.Someone did. That someone is the one company that didn't have to do much to continue to dominate the world of social media and online advertising: Meta. The largest and richest social media company in the world and one of the most powerful surveillance and propaganda forces in the world, has introduced something that almost looks and feels like Twitter and almost looks and feels like Instagram.Siva Vaidhyanathan is a professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia and the author of Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2018). He is also Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

A new documentary makes distressing claims about the animals' welfare. If we really love dogs, let's start acting like itHumans owe dogs our eternal gratitude for the contributions they make to society - from saving lives in the military and police, to advancing scientific research through the power of their noses, to providing vital assistance allowing people to live fulfilling, independent lives.And yet, as a dog welfare specialist, I am increasingly dismayed by the way these unique animals are monetised and commodified. Puppy yoga" is a new so-called wellness trend. It has been popularised online in part by well-meaning celebrities posting about their own experiences, oblivious to the impact that it has on these incredibly young dogs.Esme Wheeler is a dog welfare specialist at the RSPCA Continue reading...

During LeBron James's acceptance speech at the ESPYs after winning the award for Best Record-Breaking Performance - having become the all-time top NBA points scorer in February - the Los Angeles Lakers forward dispelled rumours that he would announce his retirement, saying he intends to return for another NBA season. 'The real question for me is: Can I play without cheating this game?' he said. 'The day I can't give the game everything on the floor is the day I'll be done. Lucky for you guys, that day is not today.' Continue reading...

The NBA's hottest prospect since LeBron James drew sellout crowds to Las Vegas Summer League while flashing glimpses of his incandescent talent and emotional maturityLas Vegas likes to remind prospective visitors that its triple-digit summer temperatures are a dry heat. But at the Thomas & Mack Center for NBA Summer League on Friday evening, as the energy of a sold-out crowd of more than 17,000 fans permeated from the smoldering parking lot to the seats of the arena, the human-generated humidity was as pervasive as the excitement. I've never seen anything like this," one media member turned and said to me as we anxiously waited, with the rest of the arena, for 6pm tip-off of the San Antonio Spurs' first game. And I've been coming to this thing for years."The fever pitch was brought on by the likes of a 7ft 5in, 19-year-old French phenom named Victor Wembanyama, who was about to step on the court for his first ever game as an NBA player. The hype around Wembanyama has been, to put it mildly, immense: teams have had plans to tank for the chance to draft him since he was in high school, and basketball talking heads have gone so far as to say that if he doesn't end up as one of the greatest players of all time, he'll go down as a disappointment". Continue reading...

With flood waters receding around the devastated city of Montpelier, Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott has stated that the situation is still developing and more rain is likely to hit the impacted area. Vermont cities and towns were pummelled by a storm that delivered two months of rain in two days. A major cleanup effort on Wednesday was needed after the Winooski river broke its banks, unleashing a summer's worth of rainfall in a few hours that devastated the city

Patrick Wattigny is one of the few clerics appearing on a list of more than 70 priests and deacons whom his archdiocese strongly suspects of child molestation to face prosecutionFor years, leaders at the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans - the second-oldest organization of its kind in the US - maintained that none of its recently serving clerics had been credibly found to have abused children. This was after the global church approved safety measures meant to root out predator priests and deacons about two decades ago.That belief was eventually shattered when the city's archbishop, Gregory Aymond, received a complaint in February of 2020 that Patrick Wattigny was sending inappropriate text messages to at least one child at the local Catholic high school where he was chaplain. Continue reading...

At least eight tornadoes hit north-eastern Illinois, with no immediate reports of injuriesTornadoes and thunderstorms battered the Chicago area on Wednesday, forcing airports to halt air traffic and prompting officials to advise residents to seek shelter as tornado sirens echoed through the third largest US city.The National Weather Service reported that a tornado touched down near Chicago's O'Hare international airport on Wednesday evening - one of at least eight tornadoes to hit north-eastern Illinois, including four in Cook county. Continue reading...

There is no clear explanation for the sea mammal's behavior, say authorities, who has been seen riding and gnawing surfboardsA California otter is making headlines for her unique, and worrying, interactions with surfers.In recent weeks, Mark Woodward, a photographer who goes by Native Santa Cruz on Twitter and Instagram has been sharing photos and videos of southern sea otters riding on surfboards they've commandeered. Authorities are particularly concerned about one sea otter, known as 841, who was involved in multiple incidents and can be seen in a video relentlessly gnawing on a board that the aquatic mammal scared a rider off of. Continue reading...

Sergei Naryshkin says he and Bill Burns discussed the mutiny and what to do with Ukraine' in phone call last monthRussia's foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin has said that he and his CIA counterpart discussed the shortlived mutiny a week earlier by Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and what to do with Ukraine" in a phone call late last month.Sergei Naryshkin, head of the SVR foreign intelligence service, told Russia's TASS new agency on Wednesday that Bill Burns had raised the events of June 24" - when fighters from the Wagner mercenary group took control of a southern Russian city and advanced towards Moscow before reaching a deal with the Kremlin to end the revolt. Continue reading...

Patrick Wattigny, former high school chaplain who resigned in 2020, pleads guilty to molesting two minors at schoolThe former chaplain of a Roman Catholic high school in Louisiana has pleaded guilty to molesting two minors whom he met through his work and was ordered to spend five years in prison.Patrick Wattigny's plea and sentence on Wednesday came after both of his victims strongly advocated for a harsher punishment. One victim, who was present, described how Wattigny spent time grooming him in the mid-1990s. The victim said Wattigny told him he could help him gain entry to heaven, then took him to a rectory to fondle his genitals. Wattigny also used his fingers to rape the victim while masturbating. Continue reading...

St Louis-bound bus crashed into three semis parked along a highway exit to a rest area along Interstate 70A Greyhound passenger bus crashed into three tractor-trailers parked along a highway exit to a rest area early Wednesday in southern Illinois, killing three people and injuring 14 others, some seriously, state police said.The St Louis-bound bus was traveling westbound along Interstate 70 in Madison county around 1.55am when it crashed into the three semis, Illinois state police said, citing an initial investigation. Continue reading...

FBI director Christopher Wray appears before House panel as White House condemns Republican attacks on law enforcement

The USWNT are aiming for a historic third consecutive title but the buildup has been anything but straightforwardThis article is part of the Guardian's Women's World Cup 2023 Experts' Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 32 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from two countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 20 July. Continue reading...

EPA says new rules will reduce children's exposure to dust from lead-based paint in residential buildings and childcare centersThe Biden administration on Wednesday moved to reduce children's exposure to lead, proposing stricter limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and childcare facilities.Declaring that there is no safe level of lead," the administration estimates that the proposed rule would reduce lead exposure for approximately 250,000 to 500,000 children under the age of six each year. Continue reading...

Hearing comes as Republicans have accused FBI and DoJ of political bias in investigations of Trump and Biden's son