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Border agents promise better chance of asylum for those agreeing to go to Mexico and apply there, then strands them with no accessBorder agents are promising some Venezuelan asylum seekers a greater chance to stay in the US if they agree to first return to Mexico and make appointments to re-enter from there - or otherwise be deported - but then the migrants are flown to the Mexican interior and stranded there without any way to access the US asylum system, immigration advocates have warned.People report being pressured by American federal agents into signing up for the arrangement, called voluntary return" which involves a choice between going back across the US-Mexico border or to the countries they originally fled, with the US government employing a kind of stick and carrot approach, as they seek to deal with fewer people in the US immigration system. The stick" is being threatened with deportation and related consequences such as a five-year ban on returning to the US, unless they agree to leave - before they go through the interview that screens for a credible fear of going home. And the carrot" is asylum seekers being told they will have a better chance of being granted refuge if they try again through a specific Biden administration-approved process from another country. Continue reading...

For decades, these Los Angeles streets have played host to key events in LGBTQ+ history. But gentrification has transformed the areaWe are driving up an almost vertical hill in a hip Los Angeles neighborhood, looking for one of the birthplaces of the gay civil rights movement. At the wheel is Roland Palencia, a gay activist who has lived and organized here for decades.The Silver Lake Reservoir shines behind us, the hills around it crowded with bungalows. Silver Lake was once a Bohemian retreat, a neighborhood for artists and activists, and even, in the 40s and 50s, Communist party members. Now it's impossible to buy the tiniest shack here for less than a million dollars. Continue reading...

Florida governor launched his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential pick as Trump's main challenger but finds himself sinking in the pollsAmong the books still available in Florida despite Ron DeSantis's ongoing purge of unsuitable" material is one the Republican governor might want to peruse.Dale Carnegie's 1936 bestseller How to Win Friends and Influence People would appear to be the antithesis of DeSantis's stuttering push for his party's 2024 presidential nomination, as Donald Trump's closest challenger traverses the country turning off voters to his dull personality and extremist policies. Continue reading...

Bernie Wagenblast's voice is known to millions of passengers on the AirTrain service. Now, at 66, she's happy with a new lifeOne of the first voices millions of commuting New Yorkers hear each morning is the measured tone of former traffic reporter Bernie Wagenblast reminding them to stand away from the platform edge. Wagenblast, AKA the voice of New York", reminds AirTrain passengers at JFK or Newark that the doors are closing, and hosts a podcast about infrastructure, including episodes on Ohio's bridges and wildlife crossings in Oregon. But that neutrally pan-American male voice, honed by years of practice to impart clarity and authority but not alarm, is changing.Earlier this year, Wagenblast, 66, went on the radio to present herself publicly as a transgender woman, and has this month been participating in US Pride celebrations with gusto, including the march at Asbury Park on the Jersey shore. Wagenblast is still Bernie, but that's now derived from Bernadette, not Bernard. Continue reading...

The court is part of a gang of reactionaries clawing back rights we already won, which means we can win them backThe first thing to remember about the damage done by the US supreme court this June and the June before is that each majority decision overturns a right that we had won. We had won a measure of student debt relief thanks to the heroic efforts of debt activists since 2011. We had won reproductive rights protection 50 years ago with Roe v Wade, and we won wetlands protection with the Clean Water Act around the same time. We had implemented affirmative action, AKA a redress of centuries of institutionalized inequality, step by step, in many ways over the past 60-plus years. We had won rights for same-sex couples and queer people in a series of laws and decisions.What this means is that the right wing of the US supreme court is part of a gang of reactionaries engaging in backlash. It also means we can win these things back. It will not be easy, but difficult is not impossible. This does not mean that the decisions are not devastating, and that we should not feel the pain. The old saying don't mourn, organize" has always worked better for me as mourn, but also organize". Defeat is no reason to stop. Neither is victory a reason to stop when victory is partial or needs to be defended. You can celebrate victories, mourn defeats and keep going. Continue reading...

Alliance with PGA and DP World Tours sparked talk of an end for the startup but this elite golf element carries momentumAlmost 13 months have passed since the confirmation that a wind of change had swept through golf. In sleepy, leafy Hertfordshire, LIV Golf teed off against the backdrop of intense acrimony and serious doubts. Golf, but louder" was the chosen advertising slogan.It was golf, but jitterier. Players looked over shoulders, nosy interlopers were concerned about even being spotted in the rebel environment. Partly through concerns over the sportswashing element attached to the LIV plan and partly through the belief that the establishment, the PGA and DP World Tours, could not be overhauled, the tournament at the Centurion Club was viewed with ridicule. Continue reading...

Each time it happens, the world insists: never again'. But the political and moral blindspots that allow these atrocities will persist until the lessons of history are learnedIt's happening again. In Darfur, scene of a genocide that killed 300,000 people and displaced millions 20 years ago, armed militias are on the rampage once more. Now, as then, they are targeting ethnic African tribes, murdering, raping and stealing with impunity. They" are nomadic, ethnic Arab raiders, the much-feared devils on horseback" - except now they ride in trucks. They're called the Janjaweed. And they're back.How is it possible such horrors can be repeated? The world condemned the 2003 slaughter. The UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigated. Sudan's former president, Omar al-Bashir, was charged with genocide and crimes against humanity along with his principal allies. The trial of one suspect, known as Ali Kushayb, opened last year. Yet Bashir and the guilty men have evaded justice so far. Continue reading...

Kathleen Sorensen, of California, sentenced to three months in prison for knowingly making false report of crimeA white California woman who styled herself on social media as a mom influencer" has been ordered to spend three months in prison for falsely accusing a Latino couple of attempting to kidnap her children.State jurors in Sonoma county found 30-year-old Kathleen Katie" Sorensen guilty in April of knowingly making a false report of a crime in a case that involved her publishing a December 2020 social media post that asserted a man and a woman had tried to steal her two children from her in the parking lot of a Michaels craft store about 40 miles outside San Francisco. Continue reading...

Business owners are concerned about growing labor costs they say could force them into financial hardshipThe swanky, celebrity-studded city of West Hollywood officially has the highest minimum wage of any US city after pay zoomed to $19.08 an hour Saturday.Workers in West Hollywood welcomed the increase amid rising rent, gas and food prices, although employers grumbled about growing labor costs that they say could drive them out of business. Continue reading...

Scott Kirby apologized but blamed the disruptions last weekend on a shortage of FAA air traffic controllersUnited Airlines CEO Scott Kirby apologized Friday for hopping on a private plane to get out of the New York area earlier this week while thousands of United passengers were stranded because the airline canceled so many flights.Taking a private jet was the wrong decision because it was insensitive to our customers who were waiting to get home," Kirby said in a statement issued by the airline. I sincerely apologize to our customers and our team members who have been working around-the-clock for several days - often through severe weather - to take care of our customers." Continue reading...

Sales expected to hit an all-time high', with figures suggesting fireworks market should increase by $100m from last yearCost of living, poor air quality and environmental concerns are no match for Americans' willingness to spend a record amount on fireworks, according to reports ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, US consumer fireworks retailers have reported that sales of rockets, missiles, roman candles, aerial spinners, parachutes, sparklers, poppers, fountains, jumping jacks and firecrackers should increase by about $100m this year over 2022. Continue reading...

Terrel Vineyard was checking on cattle while riding his horse Shorty when both were hit by lightning in OshkoshA Nebraska rodeo athlete and his horse both died after being struck by lightning last month in an exceedingly rare worst case scenario that came to pass.Terrel Vineyard, 27, was on his horse, Shorty, and checking on cattle in Oshkosh, Nebraska, on the afternoon of 21 June when he and the animal were hit by lightning, according to the Lighting Safety Council. Continue reading...

Biden committed to rejoining body to counter Chinese influence' after Trump administration pulled out over anti-Israeli bias'The US is set to rejoin Unesco this month after a four-year absence from the global cultural and educational body that the country abandoned during the Donald Trump presidency over what his administration called anti-Israeli bias".The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization's reunion with the US came after a two-day special session held at the body's headquarters in Paris. Continue reading...

Vice-president decries conservative-dominated court's decisions on LGBTQ+ rights, student debt relief and affirmative actionThe US supreme court rulings which struck down the White House's student debt relief plan, affirmative action in college admission and a Colorado law that protected LGBTQ+ rights portend a national movement to attack hard-won and hard-fought freedoms", Vice-President Kamala Harris has said.In an interview with National Public Radio's Michel Martin, Harris declared that this is a serious moment" for people who believe in the promise of our country [but] understand we have some work yet to do to fully achieve that promise". Continue reading...

The supreme court's ruling ending race-conscious admissions shifts the burden of proving' racism to the college essayThose who knew Justice Clarence Thomas during his formative years at College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School have long noted the sharp ideological turn he took over the course of his life: from admiring Malcolm X and protesting racism alongside his Black classmates to deeply resenting the affirmative action policies that afforded him his success.That switch may have occurred most pointedly during his time at Yale, when, in Thomas's own recollection, a white admissions officer told him and a group of Black students that none of them was qualified to be there. Continue reading...

A new book by Miles Taylor, an ex-Trump official, claims the former president repeatedly sexualized his daughterIf you're eating anything right now I'd advise you to stop immediately because the next couple of paragraphs will turn your stomach. A new book by Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official, contains some extremely disturbing claims that Donald Trump repeatedly sexualized his daughter Ivanka Trump. Continue reading...

Weather probably milder than previous summers but wet winter spurred growth in grasses and vegetation that is ready to burn'It's been a slow start to the summer in California, where an extremely wet winter and unseasonably cool spring have left the landscapes lush. But a timely spike in temperatures is forecast for the holiday weekend, providing both ideal weather for revelry and the return of high risks.State officials have issued strong warnings to residents and visitors alike: California has been spared a ferocious fire so far this year - but the dangers still loom large. Continue reading...

No reports of injuries as black smoke seen billowing into the air at Hollywood film and TV studiosAn electrical fire that broke out at the Warner Bros studios in California is under investigation.In pictures circulating on social media, black smoke could be seen billowing into the air at the Hollywood set, where hit TV shows including Friends and The Big Bang Theory were filmed. Continue reading...

Edward Blum's group used Asian Americans for display to serve a longstanding anti-affirmative action agendaDuring last October's oral arguments in the supreme court's affirmative action cases, Justice John Roberts interrupted Harvard's lawyer, Seth Waxman, to ask: Isn't that what the case is about, the discrimination against Asian Americans?"In a word, no. Continue reading...

For street ice-cream sellers, seniors lacking air-conditioning and even animals in the zoo, relief from extreme temperatures is hard to come byJust after 8am, when temperatures are already reaching 80F, Mark Jalufka arrives at Sam's Club to pick up 20 cases of bottled water.Jalufka is the general manager of the Lions Club Tube Rental in San Marcos, Texas. Every day during the summer, he rents inflatable inner tubes to hundreds of Texans looking to cool off in the spring-fed San Marcos River. He and his staff work outside all day, and that means he needs lots of water. Continue reading...

State department's findings also reflect poorly on Antony Blinken as it outlines the agency's failure to expand crisis taskforceA US state department report on Friday criticized the handling of the 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan, saying decisions by President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump to withdraw troops had serious consequences for the viability" and security of the former US-backed government.Adverse findings in the report also reflected badly on Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, without naming him. They included the department's failure to expand its crisis-management taskforce as the Taliban advanced on Kabul in August 2021 and the lack of a senior diplomat to oversee all elements of the crisis response". Continue reading...

Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and others lend their names to demand a strong deal as writers' strike enters third monthThe US actors' union and Hollywood studios announced in a statement on Friday that the two sides had agreed to extend their current labor deal through 12 July, hours before a midnight deadline.The parties will continue to negotiate under a mutually agreed upon media blackout," the parties said. Continue reading...

From its recent rulings to its billionaire donor scandals, this supreme court term has been defined by judicial activist Leonard LeoOnce again, the US supreme court has issued rulings triggering national uproar. This time, the court has ruled that universities' race-conscious admission policies are unconstitutional, that businesses can deny services to LGBTQ+ customers, and that Joe Biden can't move forward with his student loan forgiveness plan. And just like the justices' decision last year to end federal abortion protections and other troubling Scotus developments this term, the court's new decisions are all examples of how dark money reigns supreme.That's because one person's fingerprints are all over these developments: the conservative legal activist Leonard Leo, the king of dark money. And based on Biden's preliminary response to some of these new court rulings, it appears the president isn't going to do anything to stop him.In light of that, the money and gifts flowing to conservative justices can be seen not merely as cheap influence-peddling schemes to secure specific rulings in individual cases. It can also be seen as a grand plan to deter the ideological freedom that lifetime appointments afford.In short, the largesse from billionaires and Leo - who helped assemble the supreme court's 6-3 conservative supermajority as Trump's judicial adviser - creates personal financial incentives for justices to remain doctrinaire ideologues and resist any deviation from the conservative line, even if they might once in a while have an inkling to dissent."The article was co-published with the Lever, a reader-supported investigative news outletJoel Warner is the managing editor at the Lever Continue reading...

Joe Biden accused the Republicans who led the successful effort to block his plan to cancel some federal student loan debt of 'stunning' hypocrisy, and vowed to keep fighting to help more Americans afford college degrees.Biden announced a new path on student loan relief that would be slower but legally sound

President says the court misinterpreted the constitution' as he announces intention to use another law for debt forgivenessJoe Biden vowed the fight was not over" on Friday after the US supreme court ruled against his landmark student debt forgiveness plan.I think the court misinterpreted the constitution," the president said, delivering remarks at the White House and announcing his intention to pivot to another law to find another path forward. Continue reading...

A salary analysis found that when controlled for other factors affecting pay, the disparities arose from gender discriminationThe Walt Disney Company has systematically underpaid women, depriving female employees of more than $150m in wages in California since 2015, according to a new analysis of salary data carried out as part of a class-action lawsuit alleging widespread pay gaps at the company.Attorneys for a group of women suing Disney alleged in state court in Los Angeles on Friday that the entertainment and media corporation has paid women on average 2% less than men doing equivalent jobs, in violation of California's Equal Pay Act. Continue reading...

Riots in France, the Wagner mutiny in Russia, the missile attack in Kramatorsk, Eid al-Adha in Indonesia and Elton John at Glastonbury: the most striking images this week Continue reading...

Rivera's appearance on Friday's Fox & Friends will be his last on the channel as staffing shake-ups continueFox News mainstay Geraldo Rivera has parted ways with the network as staffing shake-ups at the conservative institution continue.Rivera first shared word of his departure from the channel on Thursday, posting a video on Twitter showing him on a boat off the coast of Long Island while saying that he had been dismissed from a panel show which Fox airs weekdays at 5pm ET. Continue reading...

Court overturns judge's ruling which suspended the ban though it is not clear how soon it will take effectThe Indiana supreme court ruled on Friday that the state's abortion ban does not violate the state constitution, removing a major hurdle to enforcing the ban Republicans approved last summer.The court's decision overturns a county judge's ruling that the ban probably violates the state constitution's privacy protections, which she said are stronger than those found in the US constitution. That judge's order has allowed abortions to continue in Indiana since September, despite the ban. Continue reading...

The killing of 17-year-old Nahel shows how little has changed since the deaths of two teenagers fleeing police in 2005Since the video went viral of the brutal killing by a police officer of Nahel, a 17-year-old shot dead at point-blank range, the streets and housing estates of many poorer French neighbourhoods have been in a state of open revolt. France faces George Floyd moment," I read in the international media, as if we were suddenly waking up to the issue of racist police violence. This naive comparison itself reflects a denial of the systemic racist violence that for decades has been inherent to French policing.I first became involved in antiracist campaigning after a 2005 event that had many parallels with the killing of Nahel. Three teenagers aged between 15 and 17 were heading home one afternoon after playing football with friends when they were suddenly pursued by police. Although they had done nothing wrong (and this was confirmed by a subsequent inquiry) these terrified youngsters, these children, hid from the police in an electricity substation. Two of them, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traore, were electrocuted. The third, Muhittin Altun, suffered appalling burns and life-changing injuries.Rokhaya Diallo is a writer, journalist, film director and activistDo 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...

Conservatives cooked up an absurd case because they know the Biden administration is fully able to cancel debtLast August, President Biden did something no president has done before. He announced a plan to mass cancel student debt, offering $10,000 to $20,000 of relief for borrowers who earn under $125,000 annually.The triumph of this policy was more than the sliver of debt that it potentially sliced off the second-largest type of household debt in the US. More fundamentally, Biden's policy proposal put an ideological dent in the American doctrinal belief that a creditor's right to repayment is the first-order business of any economy.Eleni Schirmer, a writer and postdoctoral fellow at the Concordia University Social Justice Centre in Montreal, is part of the Debt Collective Continue reading...

The acclaimed American actor - known for Catch-22, Little Miss Sunshine and Edward Scissorhands - has died at the age of 89. Here we look back at his long and varied career Continue reading...

Don't worry, privileged white students can still rely on their parents' money and connections to get into Harvard. Yay!Affirmative action as we know it is officially over.The US supreme court ruled this week that race can no longer be considered as a factor in university admissions. And just to be clear, affirmative action as a whole isn't cancelled - it's just the race part that the court is gutting.Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Taylor Taranto found with materials to create an explosive device a few blocks away from former president's Washington DC homeA man armed with explosive materials and weapons, and wanted for crimes related to the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, was arrested late on Thursday in the Washington DC neighborhood where the former US president Barack Obama lives, law enforcement officials said.Taylor Taranto, 37, was spotted by law enforcement officials a few blocks from the former president's home and fled, though he was chased by Secret Service agents. Taranto has an open warrant on charges related to the insurrection, two law enforcement officials said. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing case and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Continue reading...

Maxwell was given 20-year prison sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girlsThe US government has urged an appeals court to uphold Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.In a Thursday night filing with the second US circuit court of appeals in Manhattan, federal prosecutors said none of Maxwell's legal arguments about the fairness of her trial held merit.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html. Continue reading...

The crime of infanticide provides context for tragic cases such as Paris Mayo's - but courts are becoming ever harsherLast week, 19-year-old Paris Mayo was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison for the murder of her newborn baby when she was 15. After concealing her pregnancy, Mayo delivered her baby alone, silently, in her parents' home in Ross-on-Wye while upstairs her father, who would die 10 days later, was undergoing dialysis, and her mother slept.Mayo told police the baby all of a sudden popped out" while she leaned against a windowsill downstairs. Terrified of being discovered, she crushed her baby's head and stuffed his mouth with cotton wool balls before concealing his body in a bin bag, explaining: I didn't want anyone to throw him away, I just wanted someone to deal with it."Julie Wheelwright is a historian and author of Sisters in Arms: Female Warriors from Antiquity to the New MillenniumDo 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...

Byrne worked with the late Sands on three films - Gothic, Siesta and All Things to All Men. He remembers a fierce, mysterious and much-loved man, fearless as both actor and adventurerOver the last few months, images of Julian have been recurring in my mind.A summer morning, so many years ago, filming Gothic in Berkshire. Julian, Natasha Richardson and myself lounging beneath a cedar tree. Continue reading...

Studies show that states with higher murder rates are those that vote red even as conservatives stoke fear about crimeBe it congressional campaigns or defending Donald Trump from his many legal entanglements, Republicans have kept up a consistent message to the US: Democrats can't be trusted to keep you safe.Alvin Bragg ... is going after President Trump when you have all kinds of things happening in his town that are harmful to families who live there," Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, one of Trump's top allies in Congress, said on Fox News after the Democratic Manhattan prosecutor in March indicted Trump for allegedly falsifying business records. Jordan, who chairs the House judiciary committee, appeared to be ignoring data that shows New York is one of the safest cities in the country. Continue reading...

Alliance Defending Freedom distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to fringe groups attacking trans, gay and abortion rights. Plus, Ketanji Jackson's impassioned affirmative action dissent

Severe weather, staffing issues and record-high numbers of summer travelers strain country's airline industryAmericans may have to put their weekend celebrations on hold. Travelers in the US faced a chaotic week leading up to the Fourth of July weekend as soaring flight delays and cancellations were seen across the country.From Monday through Wednesday, at least 28,000 flights were delayed each day, and at least 1,200 were canceled, with Monday and Tuesday seeing about 2,200 cancellations each, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) forecast 29 June would be the busiest day for air travel during the summer, with 52,564 scheduled flights. By 1pm ET on Thursday, over 19,000 flights across the country had been delayed and 1,160 had been cancelled, according to FlightAware. Continue reading...