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California family lets Diesel live his best life' with his new herd after he got loose on a camping tripA donkey spotted apparently living with a herd of wild elk in a video that went viral on the internet has been identified as Diesel, a once beloved pet who had apparently run away five years ago.The video was taken earlier this year, when Max Fennell, a hunter in northern California, filmed a group of wild elk apparently hanging out with a donkey who appeared to be a member of their herd. Continue reading...

Footage was unsealed in court action by families of victims who claim Saudi government was complicit in eventA 25-year-old video has come to light of a man identified by the FBI as a Saudi intelligence agent filming locations in the center of Washington three months before Al-Qaida decided to carry out the 9/11 attacks.The footage, shot in the summer of 1999 and in the possession of the FBI, was unsealed in a court action by families of the victims of 9/11, who claim that Saudi Arabia's government was complicit in the event, which the country's rulers deny. It was obtained by CBS and shown on the 60 Minutes program. Continue reading...

Traumatic brain injuries are common among young players, who are left dealing with them long after their athletic careers are overThe six-month stretch where I was both going through concussion-related symptoms and continuing to engage in football activities was the worst time of my life," former Vanderbilt offensive lineman John Jabo" Burrow told us by email of his time in college football.That stretch came between spring practice in 2011, when he experienced what he considers to be an undiagnosed concussion, and the first game of that fall season, after which he chose to medically retire from a sport which is treated like a religion in the small city where he grew up.Former players we spoke to for The End of College Football have been granted anonymity to protect them from reprisal and in accordance with academic research protocols and research ethics board requirements. Continue reading...

Britain is complicit in mass slaughter on a horrifying scale. But those campaigning for our votes pretend it's not happeningIs this a serious country or not? It is egregious enough that this general election campaign is so stripped of discussion about the defining issues facing us at home for the next half decade, whether that be public spending, the NHS or education. But it is especially shocking how quickly the butchery in Gaza - and the position of this imploding government and its successor - has been forgotten.This week alone, Israel has threatened all out war" with Lebanon, while Hezbollah's leader threatens a war without rules or ceilings", dangling the prospect of a far graver bloodbath than that unleashed by Israel's genocidal rampage in Gaza. The spokesperson of the Israel Defense Forces has admitted that Hamas cannot be destroyed militarily: this amounts to a confession that the central war goal used to justify the slaughter of tens of thousands is unattainable. And the UN has released a report offering evidence as to how Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza may have systematically violated the laws of war on protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

A growing number of rural Americans now plan to vote for Biden, fearing Trump could cost farmers againFor two decades, Christopher Gibbs, a row crop and cattle farmer in Shelby county, Ohio, was an ardent Republican party member.He served as chair of his county's Republican party branch for seven years and when Donald Trump became the party's presidential candidate in 2016, Gibbs, like more than 80% of Shelby county voters, fell in line. Continue reading...

800m gold medallist from Tokyo took a break last year for her mental health but is back and focusing on ParisGrace, gratitude, appreciation," says Athing Mu of her approach to running, which by no small coincidence also happens to be her approach to life. We're talking about learning and growth, about setbacks and what they can teach you, about expectations and when to let them go. About how to take joy from the process in this most brutally unequivocal of sports, where you win or you lose based on fractions of a second.Things are going to happen," she says with a wisdom beyond her 22 years, via a video link from Los Angeles, where she lives and trains. Say I run 10 more years. In those years, so many things will happen. It's not going to be all smooth sailing. Problems that we have are lessons that we learn." Continue reading...

Tim Mellon, who said US safety net was slavery redux', has now given $75m to Trump and $25m to support RFK JrBillionaire banking heir Tim Mellon gave $50m to Donald Trump's election campaign after the former US president's hush-money trial in New York, a sum that significantly boosted Trump's post-conviction cash haul.Mellon, a reclusive scion of the banking dynasty founded in America's gilded age, gave the sum to Trump's political action committee Make America Great Again. According to federal filings, Mellon, 81, has now given $75m to Trump, and $25m to a Pac fund supporting the independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, this year. Continue reading...

This week, a musical genius's stuff goes on sale for absurd sums and a heatwave hits New YorkThere is nothing more poignant, or grippingly voyeuristic, than a brass-tacks estate sale after the death of a legend. At Doyle Auctions on the east side of Manhattan this week, the personal effects of Stephen Sondheim, who died in 2021, aged 91, went under the hammer, providing superfans with an opportunity to bid on his gloomy furniture and collection of old crossword puzzles. There hasn't been such excitement in the auction world since Joan Didion's paperclips flew out the door at Stair Galleries two years ago for a cool $1,300. Continue reading...

Many prisoners clean toilets and prep food with no pay - as the state charges $50 a day for their incarcerationA $9bn food services company is using prisoners to make meals for other prisoners that can cost up to $30 - but it's not paying them.Food service provider Aramark runs a prison program called In2Work that hasn't been paying prisoners for the work they've been doing for the company. The work includes making premium meals that family and friends can purchase for their loved ones in prison. Continue reading...

From disappointments on Gaza and climate to hope on housing, six 18- to 24-year-olds share their thoughtsIn 2019, Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party embraced the concept of the green new deal, a comprehensive set of integrated policies ranging from creating green jobs to improving home insulation. I was a young climate activist about to vote in a general election for the first time, so a concrete programme for tackling the climate crisis was the push I needed to vote Labour.Bethan Williams lives in Cardiff Continue reading...

Exports of Russian weapons would add to tensions on Korean peninsula, experts say. Plus, Winklevoss twins donate $1m each to TrumpGood morning.Vladimir Putin's suggestion that Russia could supply weapons to North Korea is incredibly concerning", a senior US official said, days after the Russian president and Kim Jong-un signed a defense pact that requires their countries to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.What is North Korea's involvement in Russia's invasion of Ukraine? The US and South Korea say there is evidence that Pyongyang has already provided significant numbers of ballistic missiles and artillery shells to Russia. North Korea has described the allegations as absurd".What do the new Israeli powers cover? Everything from building regulations to the administration of agriculture, forestry, parks and bathing locations. Lawyers have long warned that transferring them from military to political control would risk bringing Israel into conflict with its responsibilities under international law. Continue reading...

If the UK seems less attractive to rich people who crave sunny tax havens, so be itDear Mr and & Mrs Loadsadosh,I see you are leaving us. According to the people whose job it is to count our resident millionaires (proper millionaires, not just the couple with a gentrified house in Hackney), you're upping sticks and heading to places more amenable.Nels Abbey is a writer, broadcaster and former banker. He is the author of Hip-Hop MBA: Lessons in Cut-Throat Capitalism from Rap's Moguls and the founder of Uppity: The Intellectual Playground Continue reading...

Although the Washington Post uproar has highlighted cultural differences, we're probably heading to the same placeWhen I first joined Columbia Journalism School as a faculty member in the sweltering summer of 2010, the joke was that I had been recruited to help instill the high ethical standards of British journalism" in the student body. I opened with this in my introductory lectures and it always raised a laugh.Around that time, the Guardian was breaking story after story about news organizations, particularly the Murdoch-owned News of the World, hacking private phones to access information. The Guardian's investigations often met a muted response from the rest of the British press, which felt that phone-hacking was a scandal hidden in plain sight"; everyone was aware of tabloid tactics, if not directly using them. Continue reading...

Again and again, the conservative movement promotes cases based on inaccuracies, falsehoods and outright deceptionsThe first of many lies at the center of Moore v United States, the major tax case that the supreme court decided on Thursday, was that the issue at stake was an existing tax law.Conservative movement lawyers had taken up the cause of Charles and Kathleen Moore, a Washington state couple who own a substantial stake in an India-based company that manufactures farm equipment. The Moores were given a one-time, $15,000 tax bill for their stake in the company under 2017's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the law colloquially known as the Trump tax cut. To pay for the steep cuts to federal revenue, that bill included a tax on foreign assets held by American shareholders - hence the bill that the Moores received from the IRS.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Tyler Adams, Weston McKennie and Christian Pulisic discuss the pressure of a tournament in front of a home crowd and their expectations for this summerDo you feel pressure?" Tyler Adams asks teammate Weston McKennie. I don't feel pressure."Speaking before the USMNT's first major tournament on home soil since 2016, McKennie echoes the sentiment of his captain. I wouldn't say it's added pressure, I would say it's added excitement. We spend our careers playing over in Europe and we come back [to the US] every once in a while with the national team. I think the World Cup and Copa America allow friends and family that maybe haven't been able to see us play in a long time to watch us, and also fans who can't get over to Europe to watch a game or to even introduce new people to the game. Continue reading...

Washington says Moscow's influence over company poses significant risk, as Kaspersky argues its activities do not threaten US securityJoe Biden's administration has banned Russia-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky from providing its popular antivirus products in the US over national security concerns.Kaspersky will generally no longer be able to, among other activities, sell its software within the United States or provide updates to software already in use," said a commerce department statement. The announcement came after a lengthy investigation found Kaspersky's continued operations in the United States presented a national security risk due to the Russian government's offensive cyber capabilities and capacity to influence or direct Kaspersky's operations". Continue reading...

Lionel Messi's through ball led to Julian Alvarez's goal in the 49th minute, then he assisted on Lautaro Martinez's goal in the 88th as Argentina began the defense of their Copa America title with a 2-0 victory over Canada on Thursday night.Argentina are seeking their third straight major title after winning the 2021 Copa America and the 2022 World Cup. Continue reading...

Manhattan prosecutors decline to pursue charges against dozens of students who occupied building in April protestDozens of pro-Palestinian student protesters arrested in April after occupying and barricading a building at Columbia University in New York City have had all criminal charges against them dropped, Manhattan prosecutors said at a court hearing.The hearing at the Manhattan criminal courthouse came seven weeks after Columbia administrators called in hundreds of armed and heavily armored police officers to the university's campus in a high-profile law-enforcement response that was broadcast live on national news channels. Continue reading...

Incumbent Bob Good, chair of far-right Freedom Caucus, appeals for patience as votes counted in congressional raceThe conservative US representative Bob Good is asking for patience from the people of Virginia's fifth district over the coming weeks" as he hopes the final ballot count from Tuesday's primary will allow him to fend off a fellow Republican challenger endorsed by former president Donald Trump.Good, who chairs the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, currently trails state senator John McGuire by a little more than 300 votes as elections officials finalize their vote counts and mail-in ballots continue to trickle in. Continue reading...

Crypto tycoons claim Biden has openly declared war against crypto' in lengthy critique of administration policyCryptocurrency tycoons the Winklevoss twins have each donated $1m in bitcoin to Donald Trump's campaign and pledged to vote for the former president in November, claiming Joe Biden had openly declared war against crypto".Trump is pro-Bitcoin, pro-crypto, pro-business", Cameron Winklevoss declared on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. And he will put an end to the Biden Administration's war on crypto." Continue reading...

Agents also conducted searches at two homes owned by members of the politically influential Duong familyFederal authorities have raided a home belonging to the mayor of Oakland, California, as part of an investigation that included a search of at least two other houses, officials said on Thursday.The raid took place on Thursday morning, when FBI agents carried 80 boxes out of a four-bedroom home that property records link to Sheng Thao, who is serving her first term as the city's mayor. Continue reading...

Wrapped in bald eagle packaging, 21kg of cocaine was found off the Florida Keys coastBoaters have discovered $1m worth of cocaine off the coast of the Florida Keys, authorities announced.In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Monroe county sheriff's department announced that recreational boaters discovered a package containing approximately 21kg (61lbs) of packaged cocaine around seven miles (11km) off Islamorada, a village of islands in the Florida Keys. Continue reading...

Aileen Cannon was urged by senior jurists to recuse herself over perception of bias towards Trump, report saysAileen Cannon, the Florida judge who has come under fire for her handling of classified document charges against Donald Trump, ignored the advice of more senior colleagues to decline the case and pass it to another jurist, it has been reported.Two senior judges on the Florida bench urged Cannon to defer when it was randomly assigned to her last June, in part due to a perception that she was biased in Trump's favour because of her actions after the allegations against him of illegally retaining sensitive government documents first came to light. Continue reading...

Aipac breaks its own record to back George Latimer against incumbent fellow Democrat Jamaal BowmanThe primary for New York's 16th congressional district, which takes place on Tuesday, has drawn record-breaking spending, with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) and a crypto-currency Super Pac behind the lion's share of the funding.AdImpact, a group tracking political advertisements, reported earlier this week that the race between the incumbent progressive representative Jamaal Bowman and his challenger, George Latimer, has become the most expensive House primary ever", with more than $23m spent on ads so far. Continue reading...

Funeral home gets overwhelming response to request for pallbearers and attendees for Gary Brooks's serviceFormer US marine Gerry Brooks died alone at a nursing home in Maine, all but forgotten. Then the funeral home posted a notice asking if anyone would serve as a pallbearer or simply attend his burial.Within minutes, it was turning away volunteers to carry his casket. A bagpiper came forward to play at the service. A pilot offered to perform a flyover. Military groups across the state pledged a proper sendoff. Continue reading...

The Comstock Act, largely unenforced in recent history, could be used to restrict abortion drugs in post-Roe USDemocrats introduced legislation on Thursday to repeal a 19th-century anti-obscenity law that bans mailing abortion-related materials, amid growing worries that anti-abortion activists will use the law to implement a federal abortion ban.The bill to repeal the Comstock Act was introduced by the Minnesota Democratic senator Tina Smith, whose office provided a draft copy of the legislation to the Guardian. The Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren and Nevada senator Catherine Cortez Masto also back the bill, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the news of Smith's plans. Companion legislation was also set to be introduced in the House. Continue reading...

The revival of ties between Russia and North Korea is prompted by events outside Asia, but the best hopes of containment may lie within the regionA shiny, sanctions-busting Russian limousine for KimJong-un. A fawning, rapturous reception for Vladimir Putin. These grand gestures may be welcomed by the North Korean and Russian leaders, but are intended as much for their global audience as for each other. The real prize is the strategic partnership treaty that they signed during Mr Putin's first visit to Pyongyang since 2000. The question is what it will mean in practical terms.The relationship has been reinvigorated by events outside Asia, but hopes of containing it lie within the region. The proximate cause is evidently Russia's invasion of Ukraine: an isolated and impoverished Pyongyang is already believed to have supplied millions of artillery shells in return for cheap oil, food and other sorely needed goods. Russia might also benefit from North Korean manpower, though much more likely for labour than combat. Continue reading...

The state recently passed a law requiring that all public schools display the Ten Commandments in every classroomUS civil liberties groups have sued Louisiana for what they called its blatantly unconstitutional" new law requiring all state-funded schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) joined with its Louisiana affiliate and two other bodies - Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom of Religion Foundation - for the suit against the law, signed on Wednesday by the state's rightwing Republican governor, Jeff Landry. Continue reading...

More than 1,400 structures destroyed or damaged after village of Ruidoso residents forced to flee earlier in the weekDays after devastating wildfires killed at least two people and burned more than 1,400 buildings, the village of Ruidoso in New Mexico has seen heavy rain that forced more evacuations as well as water rescues.On Wednesday, the National Weather Service declared a flash flood emergency, and warned people to seek higher ground. Water rescues are ongoing in the Ruidoso area as flood waters surge down the slopes from nearby burn scars," the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque said on Wednesday afternoon. The flooding temporarily forced some fire crews to evacuate, KOB4 reported. Continue reading...

Baseball's most exciting player and the first black superstar of the post-integration eraIn America's golden age, the 1950s, when baseball was still the national pastime and New York was the unofficial centre of the world, the city had three baseball teams that were each blessed with an outstanding centre-fielder. Brooklyn's Dodgers, for decades loveable losers until Jackie Robinson broke baseball's apartheid, had Duke Snider. The dynastic Yankees, the team of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, boasted Mickey Mantle. And just across the Bronx River from Yankee Stadium, the Giants had Willie Mays.Mays, who has died aged 93, was the first black superstar of the post-Robinson era of integration, and though arguments persist as to whether he or Mantle was the greatest of the three, or indeed greater than the legendary Ty Cobb, he was inarguably baseball's most exciting player. Continue reading...

Four construction workers were briefly trapped by smoke in Charlotte Douglas international airport fireAn air traffic control tower caught on fire on Thursday morning at Charlotte Douglas international airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.The fire broke out at about 8.10am at the airport's old air traffic control tower on Josh Birmingham Parkway, according to the Charlotte fire department. Videos posted on social media showed dark heavy smoke billowing in the air. Continue reading...

I run the brush along his body and he arches with pleasure. My heart fills with lightness

Independent candidate is confirmed on ballot in only five states and reached 15% polling threshold in just three surveysRobert F Kennedy Jr, who is running as an independent presidential candidate, will not be included in CNN's debate next week after failing to meet the network's criteria.A Wednesday midnight deadline passed without Kennedy being able to demonstrate that he had met the conditions necessary to share the debate platform with Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Past politicians tried to undermine democracy. They failed because Americans refused to tolerate their wrongdoingDonald Trump's threats to democracy - including his promise to govern as a dictator on day one" and his refusal to abide by the norm of a peaceful transition of power - are often called unprecedented. While commentators and journalists are rightly focused on the danger of the moment, there are precedents for what we face today. Three examples, far from minimizing the current danger, show both how fragile American democracy has always been and how American citizens can fight successfully to save it.The first example of a presidential threat to democracy came close to the founding. The second US president, John Adams, criminalized dissent and sought to prosecute his critics. The number of these prosecutions was vast. The most recent research on the subject identifies 126 individuals who were prosecuted. These cases were not just based on the hurt feelings of a thin-skinned president (although they were partly that). They came in response to reports that Adams's party was attempting a kind of self-coup, not unlike the events of January 6.Corey Brettschneider is professor of political science at Brown University and the author of The Presidents and the People: Five Leaders Who Threatened Democracy and the Citizens Who Fought To Defend It Continue reading...

Attorney for families says plane maker should be fined $25bn, but amount could be reduced if Boeing improved safety standardsFamilies of the victims of two Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia have demanded that the plane maker be criminally prosecuted and fined $25bn for the deadliest corporate crime in US history".In a letter to the US justice department, Paul Cassell, an attorney for 15 victims' families, said that the amount is legally justified and clearly appropriate", but could be significantly reduced if Boeing improved safety standards and agreed to an independent monitor. Continue reading...

Merger with International Paper moving at absolutely full steam' in face of separate interest from Brazil's SuzanoThe boss of the FTSE 100 company DS Smith has said its 5.8bn takeover by a US rival is going at absolutely full steam", despite concerns it could be derailed by another packaging sector merger.Miles Roberts, DS Smith's chief executive, said merger work with International Paper was going very well" and that he definitely expected the deal to complete. Continue reading...

Over the course of a 24-hour shift, Joseph Sakran bears witness to horror after horror. His experiences have driven him to become a national advocate and organizer against gun violenceWarning: this story contains graphic imagesJohn Doe's torso was a nest of bullets, over a dozen lead pellets shot from two feet away. The moment Doe got off the ambulance, Joseph Sakran rushed him to the operating room and slashed through his abdomen. Doe's innards were obliterated, covered by a mixture of stool and blood. Continue reading...

After offering test-free admissions, some US schools are reversing course, claiming it will helped under-resourced students - but critics say it will do the oppositeWhen SAT and ACT testing sites closed at the start of the pandemic in 2020, about 2,000 higher education institutions in the US had no choice but to offer prospective students test-optional or test-free admissions. It was a sweeping decision that by many accounts increased the applicant pool and enrollment of underrepresented communities.But as the public health crisis waned in recent years, some Ivy League and state schools have changed course by reinstating SAT and ACT score requirements in their admissions. In just the past few months, schools such as Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Tennessee announced reinstatements, citing the tests as strong indicators of potential college success. Brown and Dartmouth, in particular, said high test scores could help under-resourced students stand out to admissions officers and therefore increase school diversity. Continue reading...

The NHS says it's not trying to replace qualified doctors with physician associates. But we can see the terrifying truthSomething radical, precipitous and sweeping is under way in the NHS. It's untried, untested and sorely lacking in evidence, with the potential to cause significant patient harm. I'm talking about the Department of Health and Social Care's project to rapidly expand so-called medical associate professions (MAPs), the largest group of which are termed physician associates (PAs). None of these groups have a medical degree, nor postgraduate medical training. But their deployment in our health service is billed as essential" workforce planning - the only way to address rising patient demand and a desperate shortage of trained medics.Last week marked a new and depressingly low point for doctors, like me, who believe this project to be one of the most singularly dishonest, duplicitous and downright reckless political responses to the NHS workforce crisis. We discovered that a large NHS body - the Bradford District and Craven health and care partnership, responsible for the health and care needs of 2.4 million people - appeared to be breaking the law by producing posters that misrepresented physician associates as doctors to its patient population. The physician will see you now" stated the posters. But the member of staff featured and explicitly described as a physician in Bradford" was no such thing. In place of a five-year medical degree, they had a truncated, two-year physician associate degree.Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor and the author of Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic Continue reading...

Sources' claims suggest Will Lewis's advice to British PM contradicted instructions to staff. Plus, East Palestine crash chemicals spread to 16 states

Ukraine is expected to make a renewed push for membership in the military alliance. The US must oppose the proposalUkraine and its supporters are pushing the White House for a stronger pledge to bring the country into Nato at the 75th anniversary July summit in Washington. Their push is understandable - but this is a dangerous idea that would commit the US to a long-term defense of Ukraine, while creating a major vulnerability for Nato, which would end up weaker, not stronger, than today. Nato membership is also not the best option for Ukraine.Joe Biden has already gone to lengths to show Ukraine support by signing a bilateral security agreement in Italy last week, not to mention prying $175bn in US assistance from Congress. He should use the upcoming summit to put Ukraine's Nato membership onto the back burner.Christopher S Chivvis is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he directs the program on American Statecraft. He served as the US national intelligence officer for Europe from 2018 to 2021. Continue reading...

Fears that pink slime' sites could be as harmful to political discourse as foreign disinformation in 2016 and 2020Political groups on the right and left are using fake news websites designed to look like reliable sources of information to fill the void left by the demise of local newspapers, raising fears of the impact that they might have during America's bitterly fought 2024 election.Some media experts are concerned that the so-called pink slime websites, often funded domestically, could prove at least as harmful to political discourse and voters' faith in media and democracy as foreign disinformation efforts in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Continue reading...

In the state's most diverse district, some recoil at the US border closing while others wrestle with impacts of undocumented migrationRepublicans claim that their election year rhetoric about immigration has a new audience in the Black community. North Charleston's newfound racial complexity tests that claim.The working-class city of about 120,000 is one of the most strongly Democratic in South Carolina, more so than even its larger, storied neighbor to its south. It has also long been split almost evenly between Black and white residents. Immigration has been adding a third dimension to what was a two-way relationship. Continue reading...

Jesse Marsch's squad have an eye on 2026 but have enough talent to disrupt the group stage as they prepare for the tournament opener against ArgentinaHistory was made 67 seconds into Canada's game against Croatia at the 2022 World Cup. Alphonso Davies' leaping header was the team's first-ever goal at the men's tournament and set the tone for a new era of Canadian soccer - an era that Jesse Marsch will hope to accelerate at Copa America.In May, Marsch was announced as the Canadian men's national team head coach, replacing John Herdman, who left to join Toronto FC in MLS. Historically, coaching Canada has been tough. The organization has experienced political and financial turmoil, with the women's national team being especially vocal about a lack of investment. Despite those concerns, Marsch, who interviewed for the USMNT job in 2022, accepted a job some would say he is overqualified for - thanks to some creative accounting from Canada's MLS franchises. Continue reading...