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Falls, slips and trips accounted for 865 worker fatalities in 2022 - more than 400 of whom worked in constructionWooden planks with nails covered the site where Antonio, a construction day laborer in Houston, Texas, was helping clear large fencing last December. The contractor that hired him provided no protection, he said - so when he slipped, and a nail struck him just above the ankle, it became really swollen".Antonio was given hydrogen peroxide, and the contractor promised to get him medical attention the next day. But after developing a fever overnight, and with his ankle still swollen, he took himself to the emergency room. Continue reading...

Four quarterbacks are likely to go in the top 10 of the 2024 draft later this week. But a similar rush occurred in 2021, and the results were not prettyOn 25 April in Detroit, Michigan, the 89th annual NFL draft will begin. As team owners, general managers, coaches and scouts pore over the best prospects preparing to jump from college to the pros, there is a strong possibility that four quarterbacks will be selected in the top 10 for just the third time in history. In fact, for what would be the first time ever, the top four picks could all be quarterbacks.That's partly a function of the talent available at the game's most important position this year. Caleb Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner coming out of the University of Southern California, is considered a generational prospect with a skillset that has been compared to Patrick Mahomes. He is almost certain to be taken No 1 overall by the Chicago Bears. Continue reading...

The X owner was always going to turn the video removal request into a glib culture war fought with 4chan-style memes and late-night missives

After last night's Commons vote, they want a proof of concept' journey to get the tawdry policy back on track. But it's too flawed for thatThere will be a sigh of relief in No 10 with the passing of the Rwanda bill, as well as a degree of frustration. Having to steward another migration bill through parliament was not part of the government's plan.With the Rwanda bill passing on to the statute book, overriding the supreme court judgment that Rwanda is not a safe country to which to send people seeking sanctuary, the government now hopes it can finally get on with locking up and then removing those seeking safety on our shores. The prime minister told a hastily arranged press conference on Monday morning that the first flight would not take off for 10 or 12 weeks" (having previously said it would be in spring). Officials are privately describing it as a proof of concept" flight - this means focusing on having an initial flight to test how legally watertight the new laws are.Enver Solomon is chief executive of the Refugee Council Continue reading...

Authorities move to break up encampments at two more US universities on Monday, as Columbia University cancels in-person classesPolice arrested dozens of people at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan, as student protests over Israel's war in Gaza continue to roil US campuses.On the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut, authorities arrested at least 47 protesters on Monday evening, the university said in a statement. Students who were arrested will be referred for disciplinary action. Continue reading...

Hundreds of members of teaching staff demonstrate in solidarity with arrested students as protest tents put back up on campusHundreds of faculty members at Columbia University in New York held a mass walkout on Monday to protest against the president's decision to have police arrest students at a pro-Palestinian encampment protest last week.The solidarity protest came as students put protest tents back up on campus. They had been torn down last week when the New York police department arrested more than 100 students, who were also suspended by the university. Continue reading...

George Kelly, 75, charged with second-degree murder over death of Mexican Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, on his property last yearAn Arizona judge declared a mistrial on Monday in the case of a rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man on his property near the US-Mexico border.George Kelly, 75, was charged with second-degree murder in the 30 January 2023 shooting of Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, who lived just south of the border in Nogales. Continue reading...

FTC lawsuit to block Coach parent from buying Michael Kors owner says deal would deprive consumers of competitionThe US Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it was suing to block Coach parent Tapestry's $8.5bn deal to buy Michael Kors owner Capri, saying it would eliminate competition.This comes at a time when several US lawmakers have sought increased scrutiny from the FTC of several multi-billion dollar deals that might risk higher prices and affect consumers. Continue reading...

Bathroom in Noe Valley neighborhood, which became focus of ire for reported $1.7m cost, actually came in at about $200,000San Francisco made international headlines in 2022 when news broke that a project to build a public restroom in a town square would cost $1.7m. This weekend the toilet affair finally came to an end as the city celebrated its newest lavatory.Residents gathered for a toilet-themed party in the Noe Valley town square on Sunday that was designed to poke fun at the whole saga and celebrate the long-awaited bathroom, which ended up costing far less than the initial price tag. Continue reading...

The former British PM went all Trumpy at the Heritage, with an audience hanging on her every word as she promoted her bookWas that Donald Truss? Or Liz Trump? A former British prime minister turned up in Washington on Monday channeling the Maga menace who once lorded it in the Oval Office and now spends his days in a dingy courtroom.Liz Truss was at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank in Washington, within sight of the US Capitol dome, to promote her grandly titled book Ten Years to Save the West. Why does she keep coming back to America? It was not hard to figure out. Continue reading...

The university is to hold virtual classes after protests on campus culminated in the arrest of more than 100 studentsOver 100 students at Columbia were arrested last week after refusing to leave a pro-Palestine protest encampment set up on the university's main campus. The arrests have since set off a chain of events, including the re-establishing of the encampment and solidarity protests on other US college campuses.On Monday, Columbia announced it will hold classes virtually to try to reset" the situation on campus. Here's what we know so far about what's happening at Columbia. Continue reading...

Former president Donald Trump's first criminal trial got going in earnest today with opening statements from prosecutors and defense

The ex-president appeared uncomfortable at times as his criminal trial finally got under way in New York on Monday

Deal keeps bond in a cash account that will gain interest but faces no downside riskNew York state lawyers and an attorney for Donald Trump settled their differences on Monday over a $175m bond that Trump posted to block a large civil fraud judgment while he pursues appeals.

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While Donald Trump is in court, House Republicans rejected their presidential nominee's bad land-for-peace deal in UkraineIn chaos theory, the flapping of butterfly wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. This weekend, Ukraine experienced a butterfly moment. Donald Trump's efforts to conceal the fact that he bought the silence of a porn star before the 2016 election landed him in court, facing charges that preoccupy him enough for congressional Republicans to reject his policy of prematurely ceding territory to Russia in return for peace in Ukraine. Kyiv will now get billions of dollars to buy the weapons crucial for it to defend against, and push back, the Russian advance. It is fitting that Mr Trump's divisive appeasement has been defeated - for now - by a bipartisan defence of democracy.The presumptive Republican nominee had, in an election year, counted on using his mendacious, inflammatory rhetoric to further convert his party into a truth-denying sect prepared to abandon the rule of law for the rule of revenge. Instead, he is required to attend every day that the Manhattan court is in session, for a trial expected to last at least six weeks. The proceedings will be closely followed around the world. But they will not be televised. It will be a circus, but without its ringmaster. Deprived of the camera's attention, the former president won't be able to bully Republican lawmakers or rally his followers so effectively. Continue reading...

Bass and her family were at home but not harmed when a man entered Getty House, the mayor's official residencePolice in Los Angeles arrested a suspect following a break-in at the home of the city's mayor, the former Democratic representative Karen Bass, on Sunday morning, officials said.Bass and her family were not harmed when a man entered Getty House, the LA mayor's official residence on Irving Boulevard, while they were home.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Ex-president orchestrated a criminal scheme' to corrupt 2016 election, prosecution says in opening statement

Nyet, Moscow Marjorie,' says New York Post front page in latest sign some on the right are turning on pro-Trump congresswomanA New York Post front page on Monday blaring Nyet, Moscow Marjorie", its mocked-up picture showing Marjorie Taylor Greene wearing a Soviet cap, was the latest sign of sections of the US right turning on the extremist, pro-Trump Georgia congresswoman over her opposition to military aid for Ukraine.The score in Congress is now Jewish space lasers lady 0, common sense 1'," the Murdoch-owned tabloid said, celebrating the fact that Greene and other Republican renegades'" failed to stop passage of the Ukraine aid on Saturday, though they long delayed it. Continue reading...

I would take any member of this girl group over our last five prime ministers - especially Mel C. They are a reminder of a better timeThe Spice Girls are like German biscuits in reverse. They don't remind you of the seasons - the seasons remind you of them. On the eve of St George's Day, our minds turn inexorably to Geri Halliwell's union jack dress. The approach of the Summer Olympics in Paris makes you wonder who the French could possibly find in their musical pantheon to match London's closing ceremony, and its full-ensemble performance of Spice Up Your Life. And the weekend marked the start of birthday season, with Victoria Beckham holding a party for her 50th at the private members' club Oswald's in London. She is not the oldest Spice Girl, even though she always acted like the one who wished everyone else would grow up: that's Geri, who turned 50 two years ago.Memories of Ginger and her performative patriotism are bittersweet: she loved red, white and blue and she really loved Margaret Thatcher, and it felt a little bit underexamined at the time - like, what was it exactly that she loved about Thatcher? Rapid deindustrialisation and utility privatisation? Yet given the choice between Geri's capers and what came later - public figures cosplaying the Iron Lady to baby talk a stupefied electorate while causing havoc to the nation's wellbeing - I would take Geri any day, not just as a Spice Girl, but also as prime minister. In fact, I would take any Spice Girl over any of the last five prime ministers, and Mel C in particular. She seems like a person who gets stuff done.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Shawn Fain tells the Guardian he expects more of the same to come' after celebrating union's historic victory at Tennessee plantAfter celebrating his union's historic victory at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, told the Guardian that he was confident of more unionization wins at auto plants across the US, saying: The workers at VW are the first domino to fall.They have shown it is possible," Fain added in an interview on Sunday evening. I expect more of the same to come. Workers are fed up." Continue reading...

I run from room to room, touching things as if they'll somehow transport me to the past. Not much has changed in the old weatherboard

As the Premier League continues to hike ticket prices and shut out local fans, Bayer's Bundesliga title shows the value of a club rooted in its home town

A recent study shows the reasons the 2022 talks failed are more nuanced than critics suggest. Compromise may still be possibleThe war in Ukraine will be a source of fascination and study for historians for decades to come. Even today, two years in, we're starting to see research into some of the big moments that characterised the early days of the conflict, and which sheds light on the confusing welter of news stories that emerged at the time. Military analysts, for example, have already been able to reconstruct some of the most critical battles of the war's early days, showing how contingent and critical Russia's failure to establish a beachhead at Hostomel airport near Kyiv was to the course of the war, when history could easily have gone down a different path.Another study, published last week by the historian Sergey Radchenko and the political scientist Samuel Charap, focuses on the poorly understood but consequential peace negotiations that played out between Russia and Ukraine in the spring of 2022 over ending the conflict. These negotiations - held predominantly in Istanbul - have become a focus for critics of the war in the US, who often argue that the west, and particularly then British prime minister, Boris Johnson, sabotaged these negotiations and prevented a successful ceasefire. Vladimir Putin would go on to make a similar argument in his now infamous interview with Tucker Carlson. Continue reading...

The country is on the defensive. While Israel has ironclad support from its allies, Tehran is vulnerable and isolatedTit-for-tat confrontation between Israel and Iran has sparked concerns about escalation dragging the Middle East into all-out war. Such a scenario remains unlikely because neither Israel nor Iran would benefit from full-on conflict. But while Israel is feeling emboldened, Iran is on the defensive.Iran's main interest is self-preservation. It wants to protect its nuclear facilities inside Iran, and its assets in the Middle East, mainly the armed groups it supports, the most valuable of which is Hezbollah. Iran's leadership continues to claim that it neither directed nor was informed about Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October, because they do not want Israel and its allies to target it, or to retaliate in a way that would erode Iran's influence in the region. Continue reading...

Jury to consider testimony related to $130,000 payment from Trump fixer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Plus, Louisiana's flagship university lets oil firms pay to influence its research

Aipac and other groups targeting candidates critical of Israel's war in Gaza - but progressives are not going down without a fightPro-Israel groups are pumping millions into this year's heated congressional races, singling out progressives who have voiced criticism of the Israeli government and its relentless campaign in Gaza.The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) is betting that $100m will be enough to fight back a wave of progressive dissent over Israel's war in Gaza this election cycle. After investing heavily in the 2022 midterms, Aipac is now doubling down on its electoral efforts. Continue reading...

The Toronto Raptors' Jontay Porter was just banned for life for violating betting rules. There will be much more of this to comeOn Wednesday, the NBA announced that Jontay Porter, a center for the Toronto Raptors, was banned from the league for life. An investigation found that the bench player disclosed confidential information to gamblers, exited a match early to influence an over/under" wager on his stat line, and bet on games using a friend's account.Porter's actions shouldn't be trivialized. Sport is an important part of our culture - and fair competition and the integrity of results are essential to it. But the real threat to sports and the livelihoods of billions of fans lies with the leagues, special interests and media outlets integrating addictive gambling with the games we love. The profit-seeking corporate encouragement of this behavior needs to be countered with strict federal regulation before an emerging public health crisis gets even worse.Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of the Nation, founding editor of Jacobin, and author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequalities Continue reading...

The lobby group has been a powerful force in American politics - but has Israel's war in Gaza changed the equation?A handful of pro-Israel groups fund political campaigns in support of individual candidates in US elections, led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), a powerful force in American politics. Before the 2024 election, Aipac plans to spend tens of millions of dollars against congressional candidates, primarily Democrats, whom it deems insufficiently supportive of Israel.Aipac and other pro-Israel lobby groups have recruited and supported challengers to a number of lawmakers and candidates - most notably members of the Squad, the group of progressive representatives who are particularly vocal in their criticism of Israel's offensive in Gaza. Continue reading...

It's easy to mock - and I fully intend to - but it takes real imagination to come up with something like Elephant's Breath or Overcome Nymph's ThighRecently, I went on an adventure to an alien and intimidating place, a real no-go area: Belgravia's interiors shops. My best friend is trying to buy a flat and to energise her for this grim journey of owner ghostings, asbestos, incompetent agents and outrageous prices, she needed a bit of escapist fun looking at chi-chi paints.Unfortunately, she brought me: a person with all the visual sensibility of a house brick (Terre D'Egypte? Porphyry Red?). I sat vacant and unhelpful as she discussed nuances of verdigris and celadon, interjecting when something obvious struck me. That one is yellow!" I would say, with toddler-like delight; or, I like that." Mostly I looked at colour charts. Continue reading...

Summer Lee, Pennsylvania's first Black congresswoman, has expanded her base on the left. Her primary is a test case in a year progressive candidates face a challenge from pro-Israel fundsThe US representative Summer Lee greeted a cheering crowd of a couple of hundred supporters at the Pittsburgh teachers' union headquarters on Sunday, with two days left until her Democratic primary.Lee, who made history in 2022 when she became the first Black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania, predicted that voters would send a resounding message on Tuesday about the resilience of the progressive movement. To underscore that point, Lee was joined at the rally by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, another member of the progressive Squad" in the House. Continue reading...

Former chief Middle East correspondent was longest-held western hostage of Shia Muslim groups during crisisTerry Anderson, a US journalist who was held captive by Islamist militants for almost seven years in Lebanon and came to symbolise the plight of western hostages during the country's 1975-90 civil war, has died aged 76, his daughter said.The former chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, who was the longest-held hostage of the scores of westerners abducted in Lebanon, died on Sunday at his home in Greenwood Lake, New York, said Sulome Anderson, who was born three months after her father was seized. No cause of death was given. Continue reading...

The never-ending commitment took its toll on my creativity and my mental health. Having a baby was the last strawI was one of the first people in the UK to make YouTube videos about sex and relationships. I started in 2011 when I was 19 years old. But at the end of last year, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life. After 12 years as a creator, I quit.This decision was something that had been building up for years but it wasn't until I had my baby in 2022 that things really changed for me, and I knew I could no longer just sit and wait for either burnout or social media irrelevance" to take me. I wanted to be in the driver's seat for any major changes to my life and career rather than just feeling like things were happening to me. Deciding to quit the thing I was known for was a gruelling and soul-searching process, but it was absolutely the right thing to do.Hannah Witton is an author and broadcaster Continue reading...

My family's kibbutz was devastated. After 200 dark days, we need to expand our compassion, to recognise each other's painPassover has an intensity I have always cherished. I love the sense of community, family, tradition, inclusivity and togetherness. We mark it with a ceremonial meal - the Seder - with rituals, special foods and a communal reading of the story of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. In London, we invite a joyous array of guests, Jewish and not Jewish, and find creative ways to interpret the story of the path to freedom.Each year we are encouraged to reflect: In each and every generation a person is obliged to regard himself as if he had come out of Egypt." This line from the Haggadah asks us to empathise with the freed Hebrew slaves, to put ourselves in their shoes. It is the thread that binds our generation to all those who came before us. Continue reading...

In Kyiv, I saw life under Russian aerial attack. If Europe doesn't share its air defence systems now, Putin's threat will only spreadThe value of an effective air defence system and of unwavering international support was crystal clear the night of Iran's massive attack on Israel: most Iranian missiles and drones were destroyed before they reached Israeli soil. The US, the UK and France, as well as Jordan, participated in Israel's defence.I arrived in Kyiv the following day. The contrast between the two emergencies could not be starker. Unlike Israel, Ukraine lacks sufficient air defences, and the west provides far less than it could or should to defend Ukraine against Russia. Ukraine is not dealing with one-off retaliation for striking a Russian consulate - as Israel is with Iran. Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine since 2014, aimed at eradicating its nationhood.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe 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...

Our shabby domestic reality is a far cry from the imperial grandeur of the Foreign Office. Politicians must recognise thisDeciding on what the UK's place in the world should be has been like watching politicians spin a wheel. Then spinning it again when the option they landed on doesn't work out. First, it was the imperial power projections of Brexit, the reassertion of Britain's place in the world unshackled by the limitations of equal partnership with Europe. You don't hear so much about this any more (funny that). Instead, we now find ourselves in an era chastened by the embarrassing bombast of the past few years, but still trying to work out where we fit", what our role is, in a world where the country's status has taken a beating.Earlier this month, former diplomats proposed that the Foreign Office be abolished altogether and be replaced by a new Department for International Affairs. As it stands, the Foreign Office works like a giant private office for the foreign secretary" and should be replaced by a new independent institution, one less rooted in the past". The new body they propose would be a more modern place. The colonial art would go, and with it, other outdated ways of working and thinking about foreign policy. Continue reading...

Proposed fast-track' law could see conservation concerns ignored and projects once rejected for environmental reasons given the green lightNew Zealand's parliament is considering a law that would allow major development projects to bypass environmental approvals - and that should be a cause for extreme alarm.The proposed Fast-track Approvals Bill emerged from the coalition agreements that enabled a centre-right government to form after last year's election.Nicola Wheen and Andrew Geddis are professors of law at the University of Otago. Continue reading...

Far-right representative says Mike Johnson's speakership is over' but has not followed through on threat to try to remove himRepublican infighting over the US House finally approving $61bn in military aid for Ukraine continued to roil the party on Sunday as the far-right representative Marjorie Taylor Greene renewed attacks on the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson.Johnson had betrayed his party and was working for the Democrats, and his speakership was over", the Georgia representative said, although it was not clear if and when Greene would file a motion to try to remove him, which she has threatened to do in recent weeks. Continue reading...

From the Bryan Mbeumo Show to penalty shouts at Goodison, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the top-flight weekendIf a player scores three goals, they walk away with the match ball. What do they get if they give away three penalties? The referee's whistle? Continue reading...

The radical right is set to dominate forthcoming European elections. Progressives need a fresh start and a new approachThe political signals coming from France are ominous. According to one poll last week, Marine Le Pen's National Rally party (RN) has increased its lead to a runaway 15 points ahead of June's European elections. For Emmanuel Macron, who pledged to use the French presidency to halt the rise of the far right, all indicators point to a humiliating defeat that would overshadow the remainder of his second term. But ahead of what will surely be the most important presidential election for a generation, in 2027, the numbers also send a powerful message to France's perennially divided left.Add up support for the four main progressive parties, which are running separate European campaigns, and their combined share of the vote comes within touching distance of the RN. The recent default setting in French politics has been a choice between Mr Macron's technocratic centrism and the nationalist, xenophobic right - which has benefited from the disappearance of industrial life that had sustained workers' participation in the political left. But manifestly, the space for a viable alternative is there. The difficulty lies in finding a way to occupyitsuccessfully. Continue reading...

Ukrainian president urges Senate to ratify aid package so that country can strengthen frontline with RussiaUkraine's president has said the vote by the US House of Representatives to pass a long-delayed $61bn (49bn) military aid package demonstrated that his country would not be abandoned by the west in its effort to fight the Russian invasion.Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with US television that Saturday's vote showed Ukraine would not be a second Afghanistan", whose pro-western government collapsed during an US-led pullout in the summer of 2021. Continue reading...

The CDC also announced it is looking into nationwide reports of harmful reactions after injections from unlicensed individualsHealth officials in New York City are the latest in the US to warn against Botox injections from non-medical providers.In a statement released on Friday, the New York City health department pointed to emerging reports of botulism-like illness as a result of botulinum toxin injections, commonly referred to as Botox. Botulism is a rare but serious disease caused by the same toxin found in the injections that attacks the body's nerve cells, in turn causing muscle paralysis, difficulty breathing and, at times, death. Continue reading...

I want a spiritual role model who would have understood how to avert a meltdown at school pickup. So who are the women spiritual leaders?Sometimes I think the entire point of religion is to help men behave more like women.Members of a religious community are supposed to get along with each other, even if they don't like each other. But women don't need religious rules to teach them social graces. From birth, we are socialised to prioritise the needs of the collective above our own. Continue reading...

Brother and sister, ages five and eight, killed as woman drives 25ft into a building, sheriff saysA young brother and sister died and several people were injured, some of them seriously, when a vehicle driven by a suspected drunken driver crashed into a young child's birthday party on Saturday at a boat club, according to a Michigan sheriff.An eight-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother died at the scene, when a 66-year-old woman crashed 25ft into the building at about 3pm at the Swan Creek Boat Club in Berlin Township, about 30 miles (48km) south of Detroit, the Monroe county sheriff, Troy Goodnough, said. Continue reading...

If I'm not stressed out by these modern dilemmas, then trust me, you needn't be eitherI don't like to blow my own trumpet but I'm really good at worrying. If a family member fails to answer my message within 30 seconds, they're definitely dead. Every name I forget means I've got Alzheimer's disease; every brown envelope is a court summons for a crime I've forgotten doing (because of Alzheimer's disease); every Do you have time for a quick chat?" is a cataclysm about to detonate, destroying my life. I've long wondered if this superpower has any practical application, and I've finally worked out what it is: it's telling people what not to worry about. From mass coral bleaching to the march of the robots, 2024 offers plenty of real worries, but even more absolute non-issues. I know, because, whatever the putative problem, I overthink all angles in nanoseconds and, if I'm not worried, trust me, you needn't be either.Take straw wrinkles. Straw wrinkles, I discovered the other day, are the wrinkles you might conceivably get from pursing your lips to drink through a straw. I don't suppose you'll be surprised to hear that capitalism has a solution: an anti-wrinkle straw", much admired by TikTok influencers (who arguably bear some responsibility for lip wrinkles, given their earlier enthusing about giant toddler cups with built-in straws). Continue reading...