Richard Grenell's shadow foreign policy campaign is unsettling diplomats and threatens to collapse US interestsFor Donald Trump, he is my envoy", the man apparently anointed as the former US president's roving ambassador while he plots a return to the White House.To critics, he is seen as an online pest" and a national disgrace" - and most importantly, the dark embodiment of what foreign policy in a second Trump administration would look like. Continue reading...
The Revs are in trouble, Dean Smith has things rolling in Charlotte and the champions have a headache up frontWelcome back to the Guardian's MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone. Unlike Cucho Hernandez, we're strapped in and ready rock.Now, as a reminder, these aren't your standard, run-of-the-mill power rankings. We're still ranking teams from worst to first. But along with the rankings, we're diving deep into a handful of teams from around the league who are doing particularly interesting things. Continue reading...
The quarterback needs to play a more cautious game if he wants to extend his career. But his team need to give him the tools to do soThe Buffalo Bills are the most fascinating story of the NFL offseason. Ever since Josh Allen ascended to the tier level of NFL quarterbacks in 2020, the team has headed into the season with Super Bowl expectations ... and then fallen bitterly short.Windows in the NFL are never as long as teams hope. Injuries mount up. The cap bites. A botched free agent signing or a coaching snafu can be the difference between winning it all and exiting the playoffs early. Since 2021, the Bills have experienced it all, from the painful to the bizarre:The 13-second defeat in the 2021 season playoffs to the ChiefsSean McDermott referencing al-Qaida as inspiration in a motivational speechPassing up on offensive additions in the draft in favor of defensive talentSigning Von Miller to a huge free-agent contractMiller being made a healthy scratch after allegations of domestic abuseDamar Hamlin collapsing on the field against the BengalsBeing out-muscled at home by the Bengals in the 2022 season playoffsLeslie Frazier's awkward departure as defensive coordinatorFiring offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey midseason in 2023Stefon Diggs vanishing during training campLosing to the undermanned Chiefs at home in last season's playoffs Continue reading...
Both domestically and internationally, Germany is struggling to disentangle its past from events today in GazaGermany, more than any other country, is struggling to disentangle the horrors of the 7 October Hamas massacre in Israel, the subsequent death of more than 30,000 Palestinians and the demolition of Gaza, and the killing of aid workers, from the scale of the Holocaust more than eight decades earlier.History has come back to haunt Germany with unpredicted ferocity. The confusion is intense, but it predates 7 October and permeates wider questions about the nature of the country's contemporary society.John Kampfner is a commentator and broadcaster. He is the author of In Search of Berlin and Why the Germans Do It Better Continue reading...
Independent US presidential candidate's team later said statement in its fundraising email was an error' not reflective of his viewsA spokesperson for the independent US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr said a passage in a fundraising email that called January 6 prisoners activists ... stripped of their constitutional liberties" was the result of an error by an outside contractor.That statement was an error that does not reflect Mr Kennedy's views," the spokesperson, Stefanie Spear, told NBC News, which first reported the fundraising email. It was inserted by a new marketing contractor and slipped through the normal approval process." Continue reading...
by David Hammer of WWL-TV in New Orleans on (#6KVME)
Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker, 92, was evaluated by psychiatrist after defense attorneys said he's too sick to be triedSeven months after his arrest on rape and kidnapping charges, 92-year-old Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker appeared in court in Louisiana on Thursday in an orange prison jumpsuit, was rolled in a wheelchair to a back room and was evaluated by a doctor to see if he's competent to stand trial.Since being charged with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft, Hecker has taken ill and was transferred from Orleans parish jail to a long-term care facility, under armed guard. Hecker's defense attorneys argue he's too sick to be tried and filed a motion last month to have him evaluated for his mental competency. Continue reading...
Trump's Presidential Records Act argument could be resurrected at trial even as the judge denied his motion to dismissThe federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's prosecution on charges of retaining classified documents denied his effort to have the case dismissed on the contention that the Presidential Records Act allowed him to transform them as personal property and possess them at his Mar-a-Lago club.The ruling by US district judge Aileen Cannon was significant as it struck one of Trump's main defenses and suggested the case is headed to trial. Continue reading...
Centrist group says it won't field unity ticket' in US presidential election after reaching out to 30 potential people and raising $60mThe centrist group No Labels will not field a third-party candidate for US president this year, it announced on Thursday.Americans remain more open to an independent presidential run and hungrier for unifying national leadership than ever before," the group, which previously said it raised $60m, said in a statement.Biden v Trump: What's in store for the US and the world?On Thursday 2 May, 3-4.15pm ET, join Tania Branigan, David Smith, Mehdi Hasan and Tara Setmayer for the inside track on the people, the ideas and the events that might shape the US election campaign. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live Continue reading...
Dog that had gone missing was discovered in Michigan clean and well-fed: Whoever had her took good care of her'Nearly nine months after his disappearance, a dog that had gone missing in California was discovered more than 2,000 miles away in Michigan.A resident in Harper Woods, a Detroit suburb, contacted police in late March to report a stray dog in her neighborhood. Police collected the terrier mix, named Mishka, and brought her to an animal welfare group. Continue reading...
Stock debut that could net the former president billions was kept afloat by opaque loans provided in part by Anton PostolnikovDemocratic groups escalated calls on Thursday for Congress to investigate Donald Trump's social media company Trump Media after a report that it relied partly on emergency loans in 2022 traced back to a Russian-American under federal criminal investigation to make it to its stock market debut.The move increased political scrutiny into the merger between Trump Media Technology Group and the blank-check company Digital World Acquisition - which could net Trump about $4bn - as federal prosecutors secured guilty pleas from two investors who insider-traded on the deal. Continue reading...
One of the largest cash heists in the city's history went unnoticed until police opened vault that few people knew aboutThieves in Los Angeles pulled off one of the largest cash heists in city history over the weekend, stealing as much as $30m from a money storage facility on Easter Sunday, authorities said on Wednesday.The break-in unfolded at an unnamed facility in the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley that handles and stores cash from businesses across the region. Burglars were able to enter without immediate detection and breached a safe, said Elaine Morales, a Los Angeles police department commander, to the Los Angeles Times. Continue reading...
LIV golfer appreciates opportunity to contend again after comeback 12 years on from last competitive tournamentFourteen years to the day since he won the Houston Open, Anthony Kim tepidly took to a podium in Miami. His shirt hung loose, his face of a man much older than the 38 years depicted in his biography.When doctors are telling you that you may not have much time left, that's a pretty rude awakening," Kim explained. I still think about it to this day when I'm out there and I get frustrated with my golf ... how far I have come. I got to a point where I may not be here speaking to you guys." Continue reading...
Governor says officials don't know how or when money materialised in state coffers, what it's for, or if it's even realTo put it mildly, the South Carolina state government faces an unusual problem: what to do about $1.8bn found in a state bank account when no one knows how it got there, how it should be spent or even whether it really exists.Discussing the problem, the Republican governor, Henry McMaster, made a play for political understatement of the year. Continue reading...
Richard Slayman was discharged from Massachusetts hospital on Wednesday after pioneering surgeryThe Massachusetts man who received the world's first transplant of a genetically modified pig kidney has returned home less than three weeks after the pioneering surgery, and says he feels just fine.Richard Slayman, who had been diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, was discharged from Boston's Massachusetts general hospital on Wednesday, and thanked doctors who performed the four-hour operation on 16 March. Continue reading...
Ford EV unit's pretax losses expected to jump to more than $5bn as US electric vehicle sales growth slows to 2.7%With US electric vehicle sales starting to slow, Ford Motor Co says it will delay rolling out new electric pickup trucks and a new large electric SUV as it adds gas-electric hybrids to its model lineup.The Dearborn, Michigan, company said on Thursday that a much ballyhooed new electric pickup to be built at a new factory in Tennessee will be delayed by a year until 2026. Continue reading...
The relatives of slain civil rights leader will visit Tennessee city to bring attention to erosion of civil rights in USRelatives of the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr are making a rare trip to Memphis on Thursday on the anniversary of his assassination, to speak on the rising threat of political violence, especially in an election year.Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of the late King, will pay tribute to his father's legacy, 56 years after the assassination in the Tennessee city. Continue reading...
Years of work by alleged victims and advocates have led to an investigation of the mogul and a suit against Russell SimmonsLast week, the world watched as agents of the US Department of Homeland Security dramatically raided two properties - one in Miami and one in Los Angeles - belonging to the music mogul Sean Diddy" Combs, as part of an ongoing investigation into sex-trafficking allegations.What fewer people probably knew was that just a couple of weeks earlier, the former hip-hop executive Drew Dixon had tracked down another industry legend, Russell Simmons, to serve him with a defamation lawsuit relating to her own alleged history of abuse at Simmons's hands. Continue reading...
Ditching the Republican-wife wrap dresses is easy, but my mother's 196os boots are replete with memoriesI'm spring cleaning and last week filled eight huge boxes with clothes during a once-in-a-decade pass through my wardrobe. We put these things off for a reason: the time it takes, and more than that, what we have learned to call the emotional labour. Going through old stuff, whatever the particulars, threatens to drag us back through the years, but the wardrobe thing is particularly stark. Here, before me, is evidence that entire chunks of my life were lost to the delusion that the Banana Republic shirt dress was a thing I should wear.Contrary to previous attempts, this time I vowed things would be different. I was in charge. I was going to be ruthless. I wasn't going to be bossed around by this stuff and its freight of memory. No hanging on to clothes so I could stare at them to spark images, when my memories could just as easily be preserved by taking a photo.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Trump's New York trial is only superficially about his tawdry sex life and really about his ultimate victim: the constitutionOf all of Donald Trump's charged crimes, spelled out in 88 felony counts - from plotting to overthrow the government of the United States to stealing national security secrets, and obstruction of justice along the way - there is one case that most closely parallels the greatest political crime in American history: his trial in New York, scheduled to begin 15 April, for falsifying business records.Yet against the enormity of the former president's transgressions, that case's gravitas has been diminished by some legal pundits as the runt of the litter" and probably the least serious of the crimes he's been charged with". This case, brought by the Manhattan district attorney, however, reveals Trump as having essentially the same purpose as Richard Nixon in Watergate, hiding the truth through fraud and bribery in order to manipulate the outcome of a presidential election. Continue reading...
Kathryn Archer could not terminate her pregnancy in her home state and, instead, had to wait more than three weeks for an emergency abortion at an out-of-state abortion clinicIn January 2023, whenever Kathryn Archer took her young daughter out to the local playground in Nashville, Tennessee, strangers often noticed her visibly pregnant stomach and wanted to make small talk.When are you due?" they would ask Archer. Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?" Oh, I bet your daughter's so excited to be a big sister."This article was amended on 4 April 2024 to correct a quotation from Kathryn Archer in which she said a one-day procedure turned into two-day procedure, not into a three-day procedure as originally quoted. Continue reading...
Until we have a mechanism to test for artificial intelligence, writers need a tool to maintain trust in their work. So I decided to be completely open with my readersWhere do you get the time?" For many years, when I'd announce to friends that I had another book coming out, I'd take responses like this as a badge of pride.These past few months, while publicising my new book about AI, God-Like, I've tried not to hear in those same words an undertone of accusation: Where do you get the time?" Meaning, you must have had help from ChatGPT, right? Continue reading...
Party members in key swing states say they won't re-elect a president who enables the continued Israeli bombardmentThis Tuesday, more than 48,000 people defied cold, rainy weather to register protest votes in the Wisconsin Democratic primary against the Biden administration's unrelenting support for Israel's war on Gaza.In 2020, Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by an excruciatingly narrow margin of victory of about 21,000 votes. As of Wednesday afternoon, Wisconsin's uninstructed" vote tally - the equivalent of the uncommitted" campaign that Arab Americans launched in Michigan - was 48,093 votes, more than twice Biden's 2020 win margin.Malaika Jabali is a 2024 New America fellow, journalist and author of It's Not You, It's Capitalism: Why It's Time to Break Up and How to Move On Continue reading...
Ban on using private grants and requiring only election officials designated by law' to perform election tasks could harm votingWisconsin voters enshrined in the state constitution on Tuesday two amendments that election officials and voting rights advocates worry will hurt election administration in the state.The first bans election offices from accessing private grants - a source of revenue that election officials relied on in 2020 to run elections during the pandemic and have since used to stock voting equipment in polling places. Continue reading...
Trade bodies are setting out rules to avoid unacceptable' behaviour, but part of the problem is how we view work itselfAn old, cruel joke claimed David Beckham wore headphones at all times so a voice could remind him to breathe in, breathe out". Some things that should come naturally don't.You might think that a code of conduct for adult professionals attending a work-related social event, reminding them to be considerate and respectful to each other" and refrain from any unacceptable conduct" (defined elsewhere in the code), falls into the same category of advice as Beckham's breathing tips.Stefan Stern is co-author of Myths of Management and the former director of the High Pay Centre Continue reading...
The LSU coach is one of the most polarizing figures in sports. But her true focus, and first love, has always been basketballEverything about Kim Mulkey screams LOOK AT ME - from her garish sideline fashion to her in-your-face coaching style to her combative media posture. But perceptions of Mulkey have never shifted as wildly as during this year's NCAA women's basketball tournament, where the LSU coach has been under a level of scrutiny unlike any she has endured over her long hoops career.The rollercoaster ride started late last month, with the 61-year-old dedicating the first of two postgame news conferences to lambasting an imminent Washington Post hit piece" on her. This, despite the paper spending two years courting her cooperation and giving her two more days to respond to a final list of questions. Mulkey threatened legal action and tarred Kent Babb, the respected Post writer in question, as a two-bit muckraker. (Not many people are in a position to hold these kinds of journalists accountable, but I am, and I'll do it," Mulkey said.) While the aggressive PR defense endeared Mulkey to swathes of conservative-leaning hoops agnostics who are plenty leery of the press already, it had the backfiring effect of providing free advertising for what proved to be a fairly benign profile - a major letdown for readers who were half expecting the Post to report that she had been at the Capitol on January 6, based on the coach's outburst. Continue reading...
The Uruguayan striker has been the best player in MLS through the early weeks of the season, carrying a Messi-less Miami through an injury crisisHe is 37, carries a visible paunch and is nursing chronic knee pain that requires regular injections. But old Luis Suarez still looks a lot like the Luis Suarez of old.Since linking up with former Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, Suarez has scored seven goals and provided five assists across 10 appearances in MLS and the Concacaf Champions Cup. He has already shown that he still possesses a wide and devastating arsenal of scoring techniques, too - there's been a set-piece header against New York City FC, a rampaging solo effort versus Orlando City, a deft left-footed chip against DC United and a few tap-ins plundered thanks to wily penalty-box movement. Continue reading...
Popular English golfer explains the reason behind visiting breakaway tour which heightened speculation over his futureGolf's rich tapestry is demonstrated by Tommy Fleetwood's start to 2024. The Englishman opened the year by seeing off Rory McIlroy to win in dramatic circumstances in Dubai. His subsequent visit to LIV Golf's event in Las Vegas triggered a social media frenzy, given the interest the rebel circuit has been known to have in Fleetwood in the past. Fleetwood will begin a three-week US tournament stretch - which includes the Masters - from Thursday. Thereafter, he will caddie for his stepson in a Challenge Tour competition in Abu Dhabi.Fleetwood's LIV stop-off was perfectly innocent. The 33yearold was in Nevada visiting his coach, Butch Harmon. Still, it was notable that Fleetwood was relaxed enough in his own mind regarding speculation that he dropped by the Las Vegas Country Club. Continue reading...
Many are hyping a return to the dark days'. Their obsession with security comes at a high political priceFootball fans heading to the stadiums of Germany for Euro 24 this summer face a resurgence in far-right neo-Nazi hooligans who have been overwhelming the police across Europe", the Sun has warned, with its usual sense for nuance.It was just one of many recent articles that have appeared in British and other European media on the alleged return" of hooliganism" in Europe. The situation is apparently so bad that governments in countries such as France and the Netherlands have vowed to tackle the issue. Almost always, the response leans towards the authoritarian, including calls for more police and more restrictions.Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today Continue reading...
From bull-riders to beauty queens, photographer Rahim Fortune's Hardtack project chronicles Black families and communities in the post-emancipation American south Continue reading...
Boy, as yet unidentified, is third child killed by San Bernardino law enforcement in less than two years and second in under a monthSouthern California sheriff's deputies shot and killed a 17-year-old boy with mental health issues after he armed himself with a knife and locked himself inside a bathroom at a home, authorities said Wednesday.The teen was being transferred from a hospital, where he had been treated after cutting himself, to a mental health facility when he escaped on Tuesday, the San Bernardino county sheriff Shannon Dicus said. Continue reading...
Jack Smith says if judge decides Trump can cite federal records law in his defense to claim immunity, he will appeal to higher courtIn a court filing, the special counsel Jack Smith said that the judge in Donald Trump's criminal case over his retention of classified information was relying on a fundamentally flawed legal premise" when asking lawyers to consider whether the former president can claim immunity under federal records law.Smith also said that if the judge, Aileen Cannon, ruled Trump can indeed cite the Presidential Records Act (PRA) in his defence, he would appeal to a higher court, seeking an order for her to apply the law correctly and, implicitly, her removal from the case. Continue reading...
Prison guards, judges, jurors and prison workers have beseeched Mike Parson to commute capital punishment to life without paroleWith less than a week until Brian Dorsey is scheduled to be executed at Potosi correctional center in Missouri for the 2006 killings of his cousin and her husband, an extraordinary effort is underway to have the 52-year-old's capital sentence commuted to life without parole.More than 150 people have called on the Missouri governor Mike Parson to commute Dorsey's punishment - including more than 70 current and former prison workers, many of whom got to know Doresy behind bars, Republican state representatives, jurors and even the appeals judge who upheld Dorsey's conviction and death sentence in 2009. Continue reading...
Louisiana's Republican governor has called for the scholarships of college athletes who are not present for the national anthem before games to be revoked. His announcement came after the LSU women's basketball team were absent during the pre-game ceremonies on Monday night before their NCAA Tournament contest with Iowa.Kim Mulkey, who has won four national titles as head coach and was inducted into basketball's Hall of Fame in 2020, said afterwards that her players were undergoing their regular pregame preparations on Monday night when the anthem was played.
Taylor James Johnatakis barked commands' and shouted step-by-step directions for overpowering police officersA Washington state man who used a megaphone to orchestrate a mob's attack on police officers guarding the US Capitol was sentenced on Wednesday to more than seven years in prison.Royce Lamberth, the US district judge, said videos captured Taylor James Johnatakis playing a leadership role during the January 6 riot. Continue reading...
Solicitor general says in appellate hearing that SB4, paused from going into effect, may have gone beyond limitations of state lawsThe state of Texas has conceded that it may have gone too far" in passing a law last year that made entering the state illegally a crime and allowing state judges to order undocumented people to be deported.The admission that Texas's SB4 may have gone beyond the limitations of state laws, which typically bow to federal law on immigration matters, came at a hearing on Wednesday before the fifth US circuit court of appeals. Continue reading...
We'd like to know how you feel about your child's school lunch - and how those lunches vary across the countryAcross the US, parents, kids, educators and public health advocates are pushing to change the multibillion-dollar school meals industry.At the same time, public schools have to contend with government requirements for nutrition, decreases in funding, religious and dietary restrictions and parent and student opinion. Continue reading...
Israel wants to dismantle the agency. The US has halted funding. But its capacity is essential to saving livesHow are starving Palestinians to be fed? Even if the bombing stopped tomorrow, the death toll would continue to climb without a proper resumption of aid. The international court of justice (ICJ) last week ordered Israel to ensure the unhindered provision at scale ... of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance" including food, water, fuel and medical supplies.Yet a few days on, the Israel Defense Forces' killing of seven foreign relief workers from World Central Kitchen and their Palestinian driver has halted not only the organisation's work but other relief operations too. Aid drops are little more than a conscience-salving gesture that has, in some cases, led to further Palestinian deaths.Do 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.
Ellis, a Black man, was shocked, beaten and restrained face down as he pleaded for breath in Tacoma, Washington, in 2020A former Tacoma, Washington, officer acquitted of murder in the 2020 homicide of Manuel Ellis - a Black man who was shocked, beaten and restrained face down on a sidewalk as he pleaded for breath - has been hired by a neighboring sheriff's office.The Thurston county sheriff's office, based in Olympia, Washington, announced on its Facebook page on Monday that it had hired the former Tacoma officer Christopher Burbank as a patrol deputy, despite an ongoing federal investigation into the 2020 death. Continue reading...
US news | The Guardian