The bar may have been busy for the football but it was nothing compared with the crowd that surged in as team ended 53-year wait for the NBA titleAt John Doe's bar on 28th and 5th in Manhattan, the crowd was already heaving energetically by early evening, as a multitude of TV screens beamed Vinicius Junior's equaliser for Brazil, responding to Ismael Saibari's opener for Morocco. With competing nations' flags as bunting and inflatable footballs - the correct, round kind - hanging from the roof, there was no lack of World Cup visibility. Football shirts abounded, with Brazilians here and the odd Moroccan shirt there, as well as a Manchester United and Casemiro fan somewhat aghast at the mobility of his hero.Yet there could be no doubting the main event in town. Despite the fact that New York's mayor Zohran Mamdani was at MetLife Stadium for the football - a subdued groan met his appearance on the TV screen, followed by loud, defiant Democrat cheers - this was a mere curtain-raiser for the real show. The New York Knicks were bidding to end a 53-year wait to win the NBA title and were playing the San Antonio Spurs in Texas. Continue reading...
by Maanvi Singh with photographs by Aleksey Kondratye on (#76A08)
Thousand of arrests last summer led to mass protests and some deaths - across the city, communities bear the scarsMost people in Brian Gavidia's life haven't seemed to notice that a year has passed since armed federal immigration agents descended on their city.In East Los Angeles, in the neighborhood where he was born and has lived his whole life, the scene this week appeared more or less normal. A family in formalwear settled into the big round table at the torta ahogada restaurant for a post-graduation celebration. The vendors selling fruit or flowers or perfumes were once again lining the streets. Continue reading...
Two friends found Kathryn Woessner, 68, in wooded area almost entirely submerged in mud puddleA woman has been rescued from a mud pit in Minnesota after becoming trapped for several days.On 6 June, two friends, Adam Sandbeck and Mike Gravalin, were riding their all-terrain vehicles through a wooded area near Backus and Hackensack in northern Minnesota when they discovered Kathryn Woessner, 68, almost entirely submerged in a mud puddle. Continue reading...
Celebrations filled the streets, subways and bars as police reported some riots, damaged properties and violenceMarvita Davis, 70, was a teenager in Harlem the last time the New York Knicks won a championship, in 1973.I was like, Oh, I like this game. I can get into this game," recalled Davis, who went on to play basketball at Northeastern University. Continue reading...
For a half century, New York was the center of the universe but the joke of the NBA. In these glamour-filled finals, the franchise finally got its momentThe New York Knicks had been here before. As Jalen Brunson and his band of not-so-merry men stood at the top of this year's NBA finals, they confronted not just the San Antonio Spurs, their foe on the court, but the very idea of what the Knicks themselves - as a team, as a franchise, as a symbol of New York City - could be. The team's run to last year's Eastern Conference finals was thrilling but had the aspect of an underdog romp, and ultimately ended in defeat. Was this the limit of what New York's fans, Rabelaisian in their rages and saintly in their endless capacity for patience, could expect from their team? Brunson was dogged and clever but perhaps not quite elite, a Stakhanovite toiler in a league built for transcendent talents. Karl-Anthony Towns was elite but perhaps too soft, too sensitive, too zesty" to carry a team to the NBA's pinnacle. The questions hanging over the leading pair extended to a team forged in their image. The lineup was good; was it great?Coach Mike Brown, in his first year with the franchise, had promise but no small amount of baggage, having landed at the Knicks after being dismissed by the Sacramento Kings following a horror start to the 2024/25 season. And then, of course, there was the weight of history: no title since 1973 and a litany of near-misses and false dawns in the intervening decades. New York had watched through the 1980s and 1990s as first Los Angeles, then Chicago (under the guidance of its own son, Phil Jackson, who won the 1973 championship as a Knick) propelled the NBA to global prominence, a narrative in which the Knicks filled the role of a dutiful punching bag. Hakeem Olajuwon's block on John Starks to kill their hopes in 1994, the tragic heroism of Patrick Ewing, death by Tim Duncan in '99, and all the fizzled promise of Carmelo and Stoudemire and Linsanity: the memories had faded but the scars lingered. The franchise was destined, it seemed, to remain forever on the fringes, a mournful witness to others' joy. Could they do it? Surely they couldn't: the curse of the Knicks had driven the fans, the team, the city itself to despair. Neurosis, not success, was hardwired into New York's psychology. The center of the universe and the joke of the NBA: the city was Larry Fink off the court, and Larry David on it. Continue reading...
Platner's long road ahead shows how Democrats may have fumbled the bag in MaineThe Democratic establishment's early bet on Janet Mills, as its best hope to pick up a coveted Senate seat in Maine, now looks like a clear miscalculation - one that has left the party boxed into a far riskier general election fight than it ever anticipated. By rallying behind the septuagenarian governor, and sidelining Graham Platner for months, party leaders helped create the very predicament they face.Platner's primary victory on Tuesday now means the closely-watched race will be a test of fortitude for Democrats in the long road to November. One where either outcome has wide-ranging implications for the party. Continue reading...
The monument excites reverence for the Declaration of Independence. Of course it is threatening to a president who doesn't share its egalitarian visionThe Lincoln Memorial has always been special. Its siting is perfect, facing the Capitol, across the length of the Mall, as if speaking truth to power. The symmetry of its proportions adds to its moral grandeur. It feels balanced and open to all, like Lincoln's vision of democracy.That was consciously on the mind of the architect, Henry Bacon. It is not a towering monolith; instead, it invites the visitor in. There are some steps to climb, but not too many; 87 in all, chosen specifically because of the four score and seven" in the Gettysburg Address, the number separating the year of Lincoln's speech (1863) from 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence.Ted Widmer is the author of Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington, and a new book, to be published 23 June, The Living Declaration: A Biography of America's Founding Text Continue reading...
by Aram Roston and Joseph Gedeon in Washington on (#76A1Y)
Some fighters will receive bonuses in stablecoins' issued by Trump family business World Liberty FinancialThe Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced on Friday that it will pay bonuses to fighters in a form of cryptocurrency issued by Trump family business World Liberty Financial at the heavily publicized White House mixed martial arts event on Sunday.The development connects the Trump family's financial interests to the high-profile UFC competition being promoted on government property. The competition on the south White House lawn is scheduled for 14 June, Donald Trump's birthday. Continue reading...
The US president has deported far more Cuban nationals during his second term than the entirety of his firstThere was a time not so long ago when US immigration officials would have rolled out the red carpet for Cuban immigrants like May Diaz.The 36-year-old native of the city of Camaguey joined thousands of other Cubans in spontaneous nationwide demonstrations against the Communist regime on 11 July 2021. Like many other protesters, Diaz was beaten up by truncheon-wielding police officers who were deployed to crush the protests, and three months later she fled the island and landed in the Mexican resort city of Cancun. Continue reading...
Coweta county could become third in state history to stage referendum, letting residents challenge a policy or decisionA post-church downpour didn't deter hundreds of people from showing up at Morgan's Market on a recent Sunday afternoon to sign a petition aimed at giving people in rural Coweta county, Georgia, the chance to vote on a datacenter known as Project Sail and prohibit other datacenters and cryptocurrency mining operations from moving forward.It was one of about a dozen petition-signing events held in the area in a push that launched several weeks ago. As of Friday, organizers said they had collected about 6,500 signatures; the goal is about 14,000. Located less than an hour south-west of Atlanta, Coweta county has about 160,000 residents. Two-thirds of the county voted for Trump. Continue reading...
Fans thronged the streets to celebrate as the New York Knicks won their first NBA championship since 1973. Crowds were dancing into the night after the nail-biting 94-90 finish to game 5 of the finals against San Antonio Spurs.
The recent exodus of people - voluntary and not - from the US threatens to worsen America's authoritarian slippageThe recent frenzy of attempts to redraw electoral districts is ultimately about voice and silence in US democracy. When districts are cut to maximize one ideological perspective, the representation of large concentrations of Americans with opposing views can be diluted or erased. In many of the new Republican-drawn state maps, it will be as if such citizens have departed entirely.Since Donald Trump enacted a series of policies that undermine institutional checks and balances, new population data suggests that, at the same time, many such citizens have departed quite literally.Justin Gest is a professor at George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government. He has authored seven books on the politics of immigration, democracy, and demographic change, including his forthcoming work, Democratic Drain: Global Migration and the Struggle for Democracy Continue reading...
Study of mothers in Seattle underscores widespread, systemic problem' of chemical contamination, experts sayBreast milk samples from mothers in Seattle contain alarming levels of dangerous hormone-disrupting chemicals, including BPA, BPS, melamine, cyanuric acid, and triclosan, new peer-reviewed research has found.The chemicals present a serious risk to infants because they likely interfere with hormones that are critical to newborns' proper development, and have been found to be harmful at very low levels of exposure. About 92% of 50 samples were contaminated with at least one of the anti-microbials or plasticizers for which researchers checked. Continue reading...
Questions about the efficacy of door-knocking feel valid. But I see it as a weapon against autocracy - and a spiritual workoutIn the fall of 2024, I spotted a middle-aged couple standing on their front lawn in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. I waved and gingerly approached. The woman, whose name appeared in my canvassing app, told me she had never voted in an election before, had never seen politics as relevant to her life. And her husband, she said, was a lifelong Republican. But after the return of Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee, it felt like it was time to take a stand. They were both going to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot in November.On the other side of the street, directly facing their house, were two of the biggest Trump 2024 flags I had ever seen, along with a life-size cutout of Trump on a third lawn. Continue reading...
For the first time in 53 years, the New York Knicks won the NBA. Jalen Brunson scored 45 points, including 13 straight for New York in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Saturday night.The Knicks won the series 4-1, rallying from double-digit deficits in all four of those victories
Strange things are afoot at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, giving rise to an obvious question: how did we get here?Rising from the South Lawn of the White House is a 92ft-tall skeletal structure known as the Claw". Beneath it sits an octagonal cage surrounded by sponsor logos, temporary grandstands and thousands of seats for a mixed martial arts card on Sunday night to celebrate Donald Trump's 80th birthday and the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand.The event has prompted comparisons to Idiocracy, Mike Judge's satire of a future US where politics, entertainment and corporate branding become indistinguishable. Others have gone further, dismissing it as a kleptocratic spectacle". Continue reading...
It could top 90F in several cities hosting World Cup games - and workers could pay the price with their healthAs the World Cup kicks off, labor advocates and scholars warn that the workers making the tournament possible could face serious heat-related risks.It's going to be extremely hot, and you just cannot leave people unprotected or you're going to deal with a lot of injuries," said Jonathan Alingu, co-executive director of Central Florida Jobs With Justice, which has been calling for worker protections at the Miami games. Or, God forbid, something even worse." Continue reading...
by Penny Holliday, Femke de Jong and Sjoerd Groeskamp on (#76A0E)
The system of ocean current that moves heat in the Atlantic Ocean plays a key role in regulating climate. Today's monitoring of it may be discontinuedImagine we detect a large asteroid heading straight for Earth. We are able to intervene and prevent disaster, but instead we cut the funding needed to track it. A few million dollars, it was argued, was too expensive to have a chance to save society.While this scenario isn't real, the metaphor is alarmingly accurate. In Europe, we spend 1bn to monitor space for asteroids, even if the actual risk of a civilisation-ending asteroid strike is close to zero. Continue reading...
The Knicks ended a decades-long title drought behind a 45-point explosion from Brunson, whose teammates say his influence extends far beyond the box scoreThe New York Knicks spent decades searching for the player who could carry them back to the top of the NBA. On Saturday night, Jalen Brunson removed any remaining doubt that they had found him.With Karl-Anthony Towns limited to two points and New York struggling offensively for much of the evening, the Knicks' 6ft 2in floor general erupted for 45 points in a 94-90 victory over the Spurs that delivered the team's first championship in 53 years and earned him Most Valuable Player honors. Continue reading...
The Socceroos kicked off their campaign with a win after Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe strikes sunk Turkey in VancouverKenan Yildiz starts on the bench as he recovers from a slight knock. Kerem Akturkolu starts up front in the only deviation from what you might consider Turkey's best XI.23 Cakir (gk), 20 Kadioglu, 14 Bardakci, 3 Demiral, 2 Celik; 16 Yuksek, 10 Calhanoglu (c); 21 Yilmaz, 6 Kokcu, 8 Guler; 7 Akturkoglu. Continue reading...
The 47th has his 80th this weekend - a milestone that surely shouldn't go unmarked. Artists, activists, writers and thinkers send their messages to the man of the hour (even if they're unlikely to get a party invite)Cory DoctorowDear Comrade Trump: On this, the occasion of your 80th birthday, I write to extend my sincere thanks for all the work you have done. After decades of deadlock, you have inspired the world to action! You have done more to de-dollarise the world than any American leader in history. Without you, there would be no way that Ethiopia would be revaluing its national debt in yuan. You have done more to end the global dependence on oil than any leader (except, perhaps, for Comrade Putin). Without you, there would be no way that India would be chucking out its gas hobs and replacing them with induction tops. And, of course, you have done more than any president in history to end American dominance over the internet. Without you, there would be no way the EU would be racing forward with projects such as Eurostack and European Digital Infrastructure Consortium, with whole nations ditching American tech exports like Microsoft Office 365 in favour of free, open, auditable, transparent alternatives running on servers within the EU's borders. Comrade Trump, you are, at long last, ushering in the post-American world, and a grateful planet salutes you! Continue reading...
Vinicius Junior's goal gave Brazil a jolt of energy against a Morocco team who earned a deserved drawWe also have Leander Schaerlaeckens in the box at New York/New Jersey Stadium" today!For three hours now, the masses in yellow have been streaming into the MetLife - sorry, that's what it's called - outnumbering the red of Morocco by 10-to-1 or so. A huge Brazilian diaspora lives in the tri-state area. Moroccans I've spoken to have come from Marrakech, of course, but as far afield as Dubai, the UK and (in surprising numbers) Montreal. Continue reading...
Washington and Tehran express increasing optimism that weeks of halting negotiations may be drawing to a close - key US politics stories from Saturday 13 June at a glanceDonald Trump says a deal with Iran to end the war would be signed on Sunday, and that the strait of Hormuz would be open to all" immediately after.Iran had offered a different timeline earlier in the day, but nonetheless signalled an agreement was in the offing, as both the warring parties and their mediators expressed increasing optimism that weeks of halting negotiations were drawing to a close. Continue reading...
Fire at medical supplier Medline in Tracy, city of more than 100,000 residents, is affecting the air qualityCalifornia firefighters continued to battle a blaze on Saturday that had engulfed a roughly 1m sq ft warehouse, causing officials to warn residents over unhealthy air quality.The fire has been raging at the medical supplier Medline Industries' warehouse in Tracy, a city of more than 100,000 residents located about 55 miles (90km) east of San Francisco. Officials expect to be battling the fire for a few more days. Continue reading...
Heavy rain, lightning and strong winds tore through Moneta, about 124 miles south-west of RichmondA large tent collapsed during a Virginia church's 20th anniversary celebration on Friday evening, killing one person and injuring nearly two dozen others, officials said.Heavy rain, lightning and strong winds tore through Moneta, a small community about 124 miles (200km) south-west of Richmond, as the EastLake community church was holding an outdoor service, Shelley Basinger, a spokesperson for Bedford county, said in a statement. The group was in the process of leaving the event tent when it collapsed, according to Abbey Johnston, acting chief of Bedford county fire and rescue. Continue reading...
Boualem Khoukhi scored a late goal to snatch his nation's first ever World Cup pointOne of those Swiss veterans, Ricardo Rodriguez, has quite a back story. From 2018. He has 138 caps for his country and now plays for Betis.The expected formations, are Qatar 4-3-3 and Switzerland 4-2-3-1. Continue reading...
by Jason Burke in Jerusalem and Marina Dunbar on (#769Q6)
US president says in online post he reserves ultimate alternative' if Tehran refuses to sign agreementDonald Trump said on Saturday that the US is set to sign a new agreement with Iran the following day, claiming that the deal would prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as well as reopen the strait of Hormuz to international shipping.In a Truth Social post, Trump said that Iran no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement". Continue reading...
Four-ton Paige, brought in as surprise for attenders, made gushing debut after governor finished keynote speechAn African elephant weighing roughly 4 tons that was brought to the Texas Republican party's annual convention to excite attenders ended up drawing widespread attention for the wrong reasons after she urinated on the convention floor and became the focus of animal welfare concerns.Inside the George R Brown convention center in Houston on Friday, attenders had been told to prepare for a larger-than-life surprise" after governor Greg Abbott finished his keynote speech. Organizers also displayed a message asking people to keep the aisles clear. Continue reading...
Former congresswoman nevertheless said she hoped the fighting event would be great' and wished president wellMarjorie Taylor Greene has criticized Donald Trump's plan to hold a UFC fight on the White House lawn, as the president prepares to host seven fights on Sunday.The former rightwing Republican congresswoman, a once fierce defender of Trump who turned on him towards the end of her time in office, told NewsNation the location is inappropriate for the mixed martial arts event. Continue reading...
Haji Najibullah imprisoned for role in capture of David Rohde, New York Times journalist held for months in 2008Haji Najibullah appeared unbothered as he walked into Manhattan federal court earlier this week to learn whether he would face life behind bars for his role in brutal violence during his time as a Taliban commander - including the 2008 kidnapping of US journalist David Rohde.Najibullah, who walked into the courtroom in shackles at about 9.50am Monday, sporting khaki jail garb and a black skullcap, could even be seen grinning at various points before proceedings started. Continue reading...
New York City mayor's stumping is irking some Democrats, but others see a cautious strategy from a rising political starThe New York Knicks are on an epic playoff run. The World Cup is here. And amid sizzling summer weather and a sports-induced, joyful buzz that has seized New York City in recent days, mayor Zohran Mamdani has been more ubiquitous than ever - donning an Arsenal kurta, Knicks gear and an affordable, NYC-inspired World Cup soccer jersey he himself launched as he zipped across the five boroughs from one event to the next.Early voting in New York also kicks off this weekend, in the first primary election since the November victory that cemented Mamdani as a political prodigy and hope of the left. Six months into his first term as New York City mayor and after early wins on issues like childcare and taxing the rich, he has been boosting fellow leftists in an effort to capitalize on his popularity to promote politicians - from Washington to Albany - aligned with the socialist, pro-Palestinian values that got him elected. Continue reading...
Bill Ritter, anchor on WABC since 2001, said he's stepping down but will continue to report on the diseaseA longtime New York City television news anchor has announced his sudden retirement from the airwaves after revealing that he has the early signs of Alzheimer's disease.Bill Ritter, a veteran of ABC New York station WABC, has presented the main evening news in New York since 2001 and become a familiar face to millions of its residents. Continue reading...
In the dead of night, behind a screen, the president's name was purged from the facade of the Washington buildingA crew of workers spent the night removing Donald Trump's name from the facade of the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, hours after a judge rejected an emergency appeal to block the removal of the president's name.Work began in the early hours of Saturday, shortly after the performing arts venue missed a federal judge's two-week deadline to excise the words The Donald J Trump and" from its exterior by Friday at 11.59pm local time. Continue reading...
Bill signed into law by the president bankrolls his mass deportation campaign through the end of his second termDonald Trump signed a new law this week that gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) roughly $70bn in additional funding, bankrolling his mass deportation campaign through the end of his second term in what critics say amounts to a huge blow for accountability.What will this increase in the power of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) mean for the US president's sweeping anti-immigration agenda? Continue reading...
Following a failed relationship in my 40s, solitude is tempting. But I'm not giving up on finding love, warts and allMy birthday is coming up next month. I will be, by my count, even more ancient than I was last year. I'll be far enough from 40 to make it irrational to lie and say I'm actually in my late 30s. I'm solidly, unequivocally in middle age.And when you're in middle age, you do a lot of looking back, soul-searching and other highly unproductive activities. I've been doing that even more thanks to being dumped by my girlfriend a month before my birthday. Yes, I am a 41-year-old man who uses the term girlfriend", a word that infantilizes me just typing it. What am I, a teenager sobbing to a Smiths song? In spirit, yes. I am. Continue reading...
Barbara McQuade's book is a piercing expose of how Trump is eroding democracy by turning the US into a mafia stateI believe in America."So says Amerigo Bonasera, a humble funeral director, in the opening scene of the 1972 film The Godfather. As Barbara McQuade recounts at the start of her new book, Bonasera has come to the shadowy office of Vito Corleone to ask him to avenge a brutal attack on his daughter. Ultimately, Corleone agrees, whispering: Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me." Continue reading...
Immersed in the daily churn of Washington DC, I found an unexpected source of hope in the Knicks' improbable seasonWhen it comes to the length of my relationship with the New York Knicks, I'm more Taylor Swift than Timothee Chalamet.But it was inevitable. For months, Knicks fever was slowly drawing me in. A close friend said the team was singularly healing her from a breakup. Another from depression. I had inadvertently been subjected to playoff games through friends, or the daily turmoil of them, through colleagues. Continue reading...
Graham Platner's primary victory in Maine says more about the unpopularity of the Democratic party elite than any race to dateNot long after governor Janet Mills had effectively dropped out of the primary race, a storm grew around Platner's campaign. Rightwing operatives and liberal media mouthpieces started singing in unison that Platner was unfit for office, flimsy allegations poured in accusing the candidate of all sorts of alleged misconduct with former girlfriends.Chris Hayes, of the uber-liberal MS NOW network, questioned whether Platner was going after underage girls. Not to be outdone, Mika Brzezinski of the same network compared his behavior with that of Jeffery Epstein. All of this after an earlier campaign that claimed the former Marine's tattoo was indicative of his secret affection for Nazis. Continue reading...
Soldiers arrested university student Sama Safi, 20, along with members of Palestinian women's national soccer teamA 20-year-old Palestinian American woman has been held in Israeli military detention for nearly two weeks after Israeli soldiers stormed her family home in a pre-dawn raid on 2 June.Sama Safi, a psychology student at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, has not been charged with any crimes. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said she and three other women detained around the same time were arrested after promoting hostile terrorist activity and additional terrorist-related activities". Continue reading...
Show goes on for Trump's 80th birthday event - featuring a 92ft Claw', thousands of seats and a fighting cage - despite ominous weather forecastsThere may be swarms of bugs, rain showers and thunderstorms, but this isn't Exodus, or the apocalypse: the president of the United States will host the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) at the White House on Sunday, his 80th birthday.The iconic South Lawn - typically used by presidents to board Marine One on their way to summits, funerals and wars - has been blanketed by an octagon, ringed by thousands of seats in a mini coliseum, and dominated by a 92ft, 600-ton steel structure organizers have nicknamed the Claw", not unlike the alien tripods from the 2005 film War of the Worlds. Continue reading...
by Presented by Max Rushden with Barry Glendenning, S on (#769E5)
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Seb Hutchinson and Pablo Maurer as the USA begin their World Cup campaignRate, review, share on Apple Podcasts and join the conversation on email.On the podcast today: the USA ... might actually be very good? They blew Paraguay away in their opening game in LA. Christian Pulisic, we owe you a huge apology. Continue reading...
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