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A few years ago, Germany seemed like it had all the answers. But in 2024, we find ourselves in a land of bleak absurdityGermany doesn't have a reputation as a funny country, but its dark humour is currently shaming the best recent efforts of both Britain and the US. Not that there is a sudden bumper crop of talented comedians in Germany, but who needs them when reality itself is already so bleakly cartoonish? A few years ago, Germany seemed like it had all the answers: a robust economy and a stable and broad-based coalition against the far right. Now, the economy is faltering as the combined effects of mismanagement collide with a bureaucratic culture that makes investment and innovation difficult. Striking rail workers and protesting farmers have brought chaos to the cities. The only thing collapsing faster than the German economy is the country's status as a moral example, which hit an all-time high with the refugee crisis of 2015-16 and has now tumbled like a vaudeville star on a banana peel.Jewish critics of Israel being arrested by Berlin police for allegedly antisemitic speech? It's a joke worthy of Franz Kafka, who would also certainly have got a kick out of the enormous disparity between the treatment of protests in support of a ceasefire in Gaza and the farmers' protests and their cavalcades of tractors.Peter Kuras is a writer and translator based in BerlinDo 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...

An atmospheric river storm has battered California with record amounts of rain, destructive mudslides, and violent winds. The intense weather caused flooding and triggered mud and debris flows in the Hollywood Hills and the Santa Monica mountains. Nearly 38 million people are under flood alerts across the state and into Arizona, including about 10 million people in Los Angeles county. "This has been a tough day for our city," said Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass.

Nearly 38 million people under flood alerts across state and into Arizona as officials warn dangers still lurk in the waters

Administration backs broader bill providing funds to Ukraine, Israel and US border as it tells Congress to reject this political ploy'Joe Biden's administration said on Monday he would veto a standalone bill backed by House of Representatives Republicans that would provide aid to Israel, as it backs a broader bill providing assistance to Ukraine and Israel and providing new funds for border security.The Administration strongly encourages both chambers of the Congress to reject this political ploy and instead quickly send the bipartisan Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act to the President's desk," the Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. Continue reading...

Vote comes amid protests against the methodology the council adopted for signature matching on referendum petitionsThe Atlanta city council adopted new rules on Monday that would allow the referendum process for the public to vote on the Cop City" project to move forward. The vote came amid protests against the methodology the council adopted for signature matching on referendum petitions, which critics say gives the city a way to block a public vote on the controversial project.Three people calling for the signature matching element of the ordinance to be removed were escorted from the council chambers ahead of the 10-5 vote adopting the ordinance. Continue reading...

California is being drenched by a giant atmospheric river-fuelled storm that has caused record levels of rain, dangerous flooding and violent winds that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands.Nearly 38 million people are under flood alerts across the state and into Arizona, including about 10 million people in Los Angeles county. At least two people have died because of the storm, both struck by felled trees that toppled on to or around their homes

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Storm caused record levels of rain, dangerous flooding and violent winds Continue reading...

CNN survey shows 48% of those polled believe it essential' case is resolved before voting as judge orders delayNearly half of those in the US want to see Donald Trump's 2020 election subversion case resolved before the former president runs for the White House again in November, according to a poll published on Monday.Meanwhile, a quarter of Americans do not think Trump will ever concede if he loses a second time to Joe Biden, said the survey, commissioned by CNN. Continue reading...

State department policy will allow US to impose visa restrictions on individuals involved in misuse of spywareThe US said it will impose global visa restrictions on individuals who have been involved in the misuse of commercial spyware, in a move that could impact major US allies including Israel, India, Jordan and Hungary.The new policy, unveiled on Monday, underscores how the Biden administration continues to see the proliferation of weapons-grade commercial spyware - which has been used by governments around the world against hundreds of political dissidents, human rights advocates, journalists and lawyers - as a major threat to US national security and counterintelligence capabilities. Continue reading...

People found to be abusing illegal drugs would be required to enroll in treatment if they want to receive cash assistanceLondon Breed, the Democratic mayor of San Francisco, is pushing a pair of controversial public safety proposals on the 5 March ballot, including one that would require single adults on welfare to be screened and treated for illegal drug addiction or else lose cash assistance.Breed also supports a ballot measure that would give police access to more technology, such as the use of drones and surveillance cameras. In November, she will face voters in a competitive re-election bid. Continue reading...

Prime minister joined UK Sun God for an exchange of awkward blokey bants, unbased claims and bonfire of vanitiesIt was the interview Piers Morgan insisted they all wanted - a chance for one lucky person to sit down with him for a whole hour. Piers is the most important person in any room he enters; if you understand that you will get along with him just fine. His ego is in inverse proportion to his self worth. There is Piers World or there is nothing. That level of narcissism must get tiring after a while - the constant struggle to reconfigure reality, the terror of it all falling apart.Not that Rishi Sunak looked particularly grateful to be granted an audience on TalkTV. Rather he seemed edgy and on guard. As if he would rather have been anywhere else but had been nudged into a game of high stakes macho bullshit politics. He had to prove he was man enough to last an hour with the UK Sun God. He said he would do it a year ago and he's a man who does what he says. Except when he doesn't, of course. Continue reading...

Between tight budgets and the stranglehold of big corporations on the school food supply, the system seems stacked against healthy optionsAfter more than three decades of working to feed students under increasingly difficult circumstances, Katie Wilson was fed up. The leader of the Urban School Food Alliance, a non-profit that supports nutrition programs at the country's largest school districts, wanted to do something to disrupt a school food status quo she says is so broken it's unbelievable".Wilson's biggest beef is with the convoluted and overly restrictive way schools are forced to purchase food, something she thought the alliance could start to change. In 2021, she decided to try something deceptively simple: creating a recipe for a chicken patty. Continue reading...

Company to acquire three sites from Catalent amid runaway demand for weight-loss drugThe explosion in demand for the weight-loss drug Wegovy has led to the holding company behind its maker, Novo Nordisk, buying a leading US-based drugmaker for $16.5bn (13.2bn) to increase capacity.Novo Holdings is to buy the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical firm Catalent, and then immediately sell three of its sites for $11bn in US and Europe to Wegovy Novo Nordisk, which will increase its ability to match supply with growing demand. Continue reading...

Disgraced US representative reportedly earning six figures on site, selling videos for $350 eachDisgraced US representative George Santos claims he has made more than 1,000 videos on the platform Cameo, allowing him to generate a substantial amount of income - about a half-million dollars - since his expulsion from Congress.Santos said on Sunday during an interview with CNN's Manu Raju that he had sold 1,200 videos to date" on Cameo, which allows users to buy personalized videos from celebrities. Continue reading...

With mounting long-term financial concerns, there is no quick-fix in sight for the club's on-field struggles

No evidence backs up Jason Shoaf's claims bears on crack are breaking into homes and opponents say bill will allow people to kill bears without threatA Florida lawmaker seeking looser regulations on the killing of wildlife has claimed that black bears high on crack are breaking into people's homes and tearing them apart".The allegation from Republican state congressman Jason Shoaf, whose biography reveals a passion for hunting, is bizarre even by the already unorthodox standards of Florida, which in recent times has boasted cocaine sharks and marauding herpes-ridden monkeys. Continue reading...

When lockdowns ended I was left holding the kitten and the kitty litter - but now we're like an old married coupleAfter years of indoctrination from my native-animal loving parents, I arrived at adulthood wary of domestic pets. We didn't have any when I was growing up. Instead, Mum would jokingly tell us to go outside and play with the skinks that sun-baked on the hot bricks, or with the echidna that waddled through the garden. The native animals were not so keen on this, so I began collecting dead spiders and storing them in an old jewellery box, their limbs slowly disintegrating over time until they were nothing more than dust.When I left home, we bought goldfish for our sharehouse, naming them after musicians we loved. Madonna was a quick-darting thing and Cyndi had bright-orange scales. They were low-maintenance pets, requiring nothing more than a pinch of food each morning and the occasional top-up of water. Even I could manage that.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Each side must realise it has dehumanised the other to the extent that extremes of violence have been justifiedOne question has been frequently asked since the beginning of the Hamas-Israel war: What will happen when hostilities end in Gaza?" And the only positive answer thus far has been a call to resume peace negotiations endorsing a two-state solution. This solution, it's been claimed, is the only way to prevent what happened on and since 7 October from ever happening again.The hope of establishing a Palestine state alongside the existing state of Israel is not impossible to achieve as long as sincere efforts are made by all concerned parties. According to Gordon Brown, such hope was actually within inches of being reached during his premiership in 2008. But would that have been sufficient to bring about a lasting solution? Continue reading...

In interview with George Stephanopoulos, Ohio senator also suggested Trump should ignore illegitimate' US supreme court rulingsJD Vance, the Ohio senator who is being floated as a potential Republican running mate to Donald Trump, said Sunday that he still questions the results of the 2020 election and that the votes should not have been immediately certified.Do I think there were problems in 2020? Yes, I do," Vance told ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, adding it was ridiculous" to ask if he would have certified the results as Mike Pence had done and told the host he was obsessed with talking about this". Continue reading...

Oglala Sioux tribe banishes Republican Kristi Noem after she spoke about wanting to send razor wire to TexasA South Dakota tribe has banned the state's Republican governor, Kristi Noem, from one of the US's largest reservations after she spoke this week about wanting to send razor wire and security personnel to Texas to help deter immigration at the southern border with Mexico.The Oglala Sioux tribe president said Noem's ban from the Pine Ridge reservation resulted from the fact that many arriving at the US border with Mexico are Indigenous people from places like El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, who come in search of jobs and a better life". Continue reading...

Emirates Airlines boss says manufacturer in last chance saloon' as supplier Spirit AeroSystems finds new production glitchBoeing will have to delay deliveries of more of its bestselling 737 Max planes after a supplier found new production glitches, adding to pressure on the beleaguered US manufacturer.The aircraft maker will have to conduct work on about 50 undelivered planes after supplier Spirit AeroSystems discovered two holes drilled incorrectly, Reuters has reported. Continue reading...

The Pennsylvania Democrat's support for Israel and for migrant restrictions at the border has irritated many on the leftThere was a time when John Fetterman, the rough-and-ready Pennsylvania senator, was a budding star of the left.Endorsed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in his 2022 Democratic race, Fetterman had supported the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders for president in 2016. On the campaign trail, Fetterman said he would fight for an increased minimum wage, while he had previously suggested he wanted to see the implementation of universal healthcare. Continue reading...

Jill Habig has filed an amicus brief saying the 14th amendment applies to Trump - and the brief gives the court's originalists a taste of their own medicineWhen Jill Habig had an office down the hall from Kamala Harris in California, Barack Obama was US president, abortion was a constitutional right and January 6 was just another date on the calendar. A lot has happened since then.On Thursday Habig, now president of the non-profit Public Rights Project (PRP), hopes her arguments will persuade the supreme court that Donald Trump is an insurrectionist who should be disqualified from the 2024 presidential election. Continue reading...

In the fight for a balanced economy and healthier democracy, the increasing power of the ultra-rich is a calamity we cannot affordTo celebrate the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Oxfam releases a study of how much of the world's wealth the ultra-rich own. This year's was a doozy. The five richest men in the world were revealed to have doubled their wealth in the years since 2020. Seven of the 10 biggest corporations in the world have a billionaire as their CEO or principal shareholder. Combined, the value of these companies - which include Apple, Microsoft and Saudi Aramco - exceeds the GDP of every single country in Africa and Latin America combined. That's 87 countries: virtually everything bought, sold, consumed produced and dreamed up by two billion people in a whole year.The charity also reported that, within a decade, the world will probably see its first trillionaire. A trillion is a number (it's one followed by 12 zeros) to numb the mind. Even Ronald Reagan - a friend and ally to the ultra-rich if there ever was one - could not wrap his head around it. A few weeks ago I called such a figure, a trillion dollars, incomprehensible, and I've been trying ever since to think of a way to illustrate how big a trillion really is," he said in 1981 when talking about the US national debt. And the best I could come up with is that if you had a stack of thousand-dollar bills in your hand only four inches high, you'd be a millionaire. A trillion dollars would be a stack of thousand-dollar bills 67 miles high." Continue reading...

Biden urges Congress to pass bill that includes measures to temporarily close US-Mexico border if more than 5,000 undocumented people cross a day. Plus, why we should prioritize friendshipsGood morning.US senators released the details of a highly anticipated $118bn package yesterday evening that pairs federal enforcement policy on the US-Mexico border with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and others, launching a long-shot effort to push the bill past sceptical, hard-right House Republicans - whom Democrats accuse of politicizing immigration while being in thrall to Donald Trump.What has the impact of the stall been? With Congress stalled on approving $60bn in Ukraine aid, the US has halted shipments of ammunition and missiles to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian soldiers outgunned as they try to come out on top of a grinding stalemate with Russian troops. The United States and our allies are facing multiple, complex and, in places, coordinated challenges from adversaries who seek to disrupt democracy and expand authoritarian influence around the globe," Schumer said in a statement.What has The National Weather Service said? This is a DANGEROUS SYSTEM [sic] with major risks to life and property," NWS Los Angeles warned in a Sunday afternoon forecast discussion, adding that roads and highways would become inaccessible, rockslides were likely through canyons, and rising waters would surge into homes and businesses in low-lying neighborhoods. Continue reading...

In Nevada, a key swing state, most Latino voters tend to chose Democrats. But the party hasn't solidified support - a problem for Biden, strategists sayIn East Las Vegas last week, there were few signs that Nevada was gearing up for the first presidential election contest in the western US, happening in mere days.The neighbourhood, the heart of the city's Latino community, was bereft of lawn signs and campaign banners. There were no clipboard-wielding canvassers crowding its wide, palm-tree-lined streets. An occasional ad on the local Spanish-language radio station, encouraging listeners to vote, was one of the few signals that the presidential primaries were coming up. Continue reading...

Anti-migrant rhetoric has reached the point of a congressman citing a far-right meme about Augusto Pinochet's death-flightsThree years ago, the Intercept published an illuminating article about the rise of the Hoppean snake" among far-right extremists, a meme which the Intercept labelled especially disturbing for its frightening historical reference". For the uninitiated, the Hoppean Snake in its various forms usually depicts a serpent wearing the military hat of the American-backed Chilean dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet in the foreground while figures are dropping out of helicopters to their death in the background.The meme specifically refers to Pinochet's known strategy of kidnapping, torturing, killing, and - here's the point - throwing his political opponents out of helicopters and into the ocean to dispose of them. The Intercept noted that many groups and individuals on the far right, such as the Boogaloo Bois, Proud Boys, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, armed Trumpists, and the like wear T-shirts that offer free helicopter rides'." and when they do so, they are referencing a program of extermination."Moustafa Bayoumi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

With mass production of the cheese threatening to wipe out the bacteria needed to produce it, the troubled French president could do worse than throwing money at the problemNews so grave for France I can't quite understand how it hasn't provoked a general strike of its own: camembert is facing extinction.The French Centre for Scientific Research has reported that the bacteria required to make the cheese - Penicillium camemberti - are dangerously lacking in genetic diversity. This is because industrial cheesemaking has become dependent on one strain of the bug, rather than using the vigorous, multicoloured bacteria of the past. Until the 1950s, camemberts had grey, green and orangey mould, apparently (I feel a bit queasy thinking about it), but the food industry wanted camembert white and velvety. If I understand correctly, the albino bacteria it selected aren't able to reproduce with other strains. Now, mutations mean the bacteria are also losing the ability to reproduce asexually, putting the whole stinking enterprise at risk. Continue reading...

An enormous atmospheric river-fueled storm unleashed rain and furious winds across California on Sunday, leaving destruction and hazards in its wake. Howling winds tore down power lines and trees, and scattered debris in communities across the state, prompting officials to issue the first-ever hurricane-force wind warning along the coast. By late afternoon, streets in northern and southern regions of California were left submerged, with far more rain on the way

Harrison Butker, who will kick for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, has said soccer helped him in American football. He is far from alone in the NFLOn Sunday in Las Vegas, Harrison Butker will suit up alongside Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Co in Super Bowl LVIII and attempt to claim a third championship in five years for the Kansas City Chiefs.And if the 28-year-old kicker is as accurate in this Super Bowl as he was in his previous three - in which he has made a combined five out of six field goals, including the game-winner in last year's edition - his success, he believes, will in part be due to his past as a high-school soccer standout. Continue reading...

Giorgia Meloni's much-touted plan has more to do with energy supply and EU politics than tackling longstanding inequalitiesNot so long ago, Giorgia Meloni was calling for naval blockades along the African coastline and regaling her millions of supporters with white-nationalist conspiracy theories. Now, just over a year into her mandate, Italy's far-right prime minister has radically sanitised her discourse. Last week, at a summit in Rome, Meloni declared that Europe's paternalistic" approach to Africa had failed. From now on, she promised, Italy would be pursuing a mutually beneficial" cooperation among equals", free from the predatory impositions" of the past.As a gesture towards this new approach, the government has pledged more than 5.5bn (4.7bn) to fund energy, education, healthcare and agriculture initiatives in Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Mozambique, Egypt, the Republic of the Congo and others. In exchange, Meloni hopes African nations will take measures to help stop irregular boat crossings in parts of the Mediterranean, which last year rose by approximately 50% on 2022.Jamie Mackay is a writer and translator based in Florence Continue reading...

Mothers giving birth with no medical help, babies without milk, one toilet between 500 people - but none of it evokes empathySometimes a disaster is so large that it obscures its own details. Behind the number of dead and displaced in Gaza, for women and girls the conflict has been disproportionately grinding. In a cruel inversion" of the history of this conflict, the head of UN Women told the Associated Press, women and children have borne the brunt of the war.The details are unfathomable. There are about 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza and 40% of those pregnancies have been classed as high risk; 180 give birth daily. The healthcare infrastructure has been all but obliterated. According to the charity Care: There is no doctor, midwife or nurse to support women during labour. There is no pain medication, anaesthesia or hygiene material when women give birth." Babies are born on the ground in the wilderness, umbilical cords cut with whatever sharp object there is to hand, and tins filled with hot water keep the newborn warm. C-sections, painful in the aftermath even when drugs are plentiful, are being performed without any anaesthesia at all, by surgeons who do not have any water to wash their hands, let alone sterilise them, and no antibiotics for any resulting infections. In some cases, according to Washington Post reporting, C-sections were performed on women postmortem.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Biden urges Congress to pass bill which includes measures to temporarily close border if over 5,000 undocumented people cross a dayUS senators on Sunday evening released the details of a highly anticipated $118bn package that pairs federal enforcement policy on the US-Mexico border with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and others, launching a long-shot effort to push the bill past sceptical, hard right House Republicans - whom Democrats accuse of politicizing immigration while being in thrall to Donald Trump.The proposal is the best chance for Joe Biden to bolster dwindling US wartime aid for Ukraine - a major foreign policy goal that is shared by both the Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, and top Republican, Mitch McConnell. The Senate was expected this week to hold a key test vote on the legislation, but it faces a wall of opposition from conservatives. Continue reading...

Mayor Abdullah Hammoud increases law enforcement near places of worship after piece calls Michigan city the jihad capital' of USThe mayor of Dearborn has ordered more police officers onto the streets, ramping up law enforcement presence across places of worship and major infrastructure points this weekend following an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal that called the Michigan city the jihad capital" of the US.And on Sunday Joe Biden weighed in, denouncing anti-Arab hate and, without referring specifically to the newspaper, saying it shouldn't happen to the residents of Dearborn - or any American town." Continue reading...

Republican candidate attacks Trump for being more concerned with himself than with country ahead of South Carolina primaryNikki Haley pressed her case on Sunday to become the Republican presidential nominee by launching a sharp attack on her rival Donald Trump as a candidate who is set to spend more time in court than on the campaign trail this year and is intent on ranting about his own supposed victimhood rather than fighting for the American people.With less than three weeks to go before the Republican primary in her home state of South Carolina, which many observers see as the former governor and UN ambassador's last stand, Haley attacked Trump for being more concerned with himself than with the future of the country. She told CNN's State of the Union Sunday morning TV show that his multiple court cases, in which he faces 91 charges across four criminal cases, amounted to a real issue". Continue reading...

As Florida's governor returns after his failed presidential bid, some wonder if he's thinking about 2028 - or about his legacyTwo weeks have passed since Ron DeSantis crashed out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, but many in Florida are questioning if the rightwing governor is still auditioning.On his return to Tallahassee following his national humiliation there was no period of quiet contemplation, or pause to refocus on his day job. Instead, DeSantis got straight down to business, little of it having immediate consequence to Florida or its voters. Continue reading...

Hundreds of migrants die during southern border crossings each year. Volunteers are hiking for miles to support themAt the southernmost edge of California, just a mile or two from the sprawling US-Mexico border wall, the terrain is perpetually hostile.Sheer desert mountains give way to narrow canyons of rock and sand. With few trails or paths in some areas, each step means navigating loose boulders and thorny vegetation; rattlesnakes and tarantulas can lurk just out of sight. In the summer months, temperatures can exceed 120F (49C), some of the hottest on Earth. This time of year, temperatures can plunge below freezing, with searing winds and the occasional snowfall. Continue reading...

It's easy to get lost in the idea that the traditional housewife role is a soothing existence of baking bread and Agas. The reality is so much darkerI've been dipping pruriently into a kerfuffle that kicked off in the ruddy-cheeked and sourdough-scented world of the tradwife lifestyle influencer recently. Its brightest star, Hannah Neeleman of Ballerina Farm, has just prepared for and then competed in a beauty pageant, two weeks after giving birth to her eighth child.Even some fans of this corner of social media - where stay-at-home mothers document their lives as helpmeets to strong, outdoorsy gents, exalting labour-intensive domestic chores, child-rearing and churning your own butter - have found this a touch, well, much. At odds with Neeleman's shots of folksy simplicity; a harmful and unrealistic example for other new mothers, that kind of thing. But most think it's so inspiring!"Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Bones had been used to provide disproven scientific justification for white supremacy before being housed in the Penn MuseumThe remains of 19 Black Philadelphians have finally been laid to rest, almost 200 years after they were stolen and corralled into the Morton Cranial Collection, the world's largest 19th-century assemblage of human skulls. The individuals' bones had been used to provide pseudo-scientific justification for white supremacy in the lead-up to the American civil war.The Penn Museum, the branch of the University of Pennsylvania which has housed the remains since 1966, staged an interfaith service on Saturday to commemorate their restitution to hallowed ground. Continue reading...

Immigration is key issue in special election as Tom Suozzi takes on Mazi Pilip in New York race that could be bellwether for NovemberGeorge Santos, an overcoat draped around his shoulders like a villain's cape, finally left Washington in December, expelled from Congress as he faced more than 20 fraud charges, and after his almost entirely fabricated backstory fell apart.To hell with this place," Santos declared as he exited. Continue reading...

Nikki Haley is competing in the just the primary, but only the caucuses award delegates for the Republican presidential nominationWhen Nevada Republicans started receiving their mail-in ballots for the state's 6 February primary, Nikki Haley's name was on them, but a key person was missing: Donald Trump. It's not an accident.Instead of appearing on the primary ballot in the key swing state, Trump is participating in the separate Republican caucuses to take place two days after the primary, on 8 February. Haley isn't participating in those caucuses. The bizarre set-up means that Nevada Republicans will be asked to vote in a primary on 6 February and then in caucuses two days later to choose their party's nominee. Only the caucuses will determine how Nevada's 26 delegates are awarded at the Republican national convention. Continue reading...

As big tech celebrates AI, it's time to demand accountability for the harms tech has caused before they wreak further havocWhen Facebook first launched as a college-based social network 20 years ago this week, there was little indication that it would become what it is today. The company, now rebranded as Meta, controls the critical infrastructure of our information and communications systems and access to the public sphere, and is central to the digital economy.Who would have predicted that a company that started as a way to connect college students would be blamed for deteriorating mental health, genocidal violence and the rise of anti-democratic populism around the world?Courtney C Radsch is the director of the center for journalism and liberty at Open Markets Institute and the author of Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change Continue reading...

Danny Chauvin, 76, the honey-do dude' of Mississippi, fixes doors and unclogs drains to protect his mental health after his wife diedA retired US military veteran is coping with grief from his wife's death and post-traumatic stress from fighting in the Vietnam war by providing daily handyman services to people in his community - for free.Danny Chauvin is the so-called honey-do dude" of Waveland, Mississippi, according to a CBS Evening News profile of him published Friday. He told the news program that one of his favorite parts of his marriage to his wife had been the small, mostly repair and building tasks she would ask him to complete around the house, which Americans colloquially refer to as honey-do" jobs. Continue reading...

President derided Trump after easily winning first primary contest for Democratic presidential nominationPresident Joe Biden won his first official primary election in a season that has become increasingly predictable with each contest.Biden and the Democratic National Committee had successfully lobbied to thwart tradition and designate South Carolina the first contest for the party's presidential nomination instead of Iowa and New Hampshire. On Saturday, Biden handily won more than 95% of the vote in the state that had launched his campaign in 2020. Long-shot candidates Dean Phillips, a congressman from Minnesota, and Marianne Williamson, a self-help author, trailed far behind. Continue reading...

In alienating vital allies over Gaza, Netanyahu is delighting those hoping for his country's collapseIt is widely predicted that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fractious, rightwing ruling coalition will not survive acceptance of an extended Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal with Hamas, as tentatively proposed by Arab mediators last week.Far-right politicians such as the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, are vowing to collapse the government rather than condone what they claim would be a victory for terrorism after the 7 October atrocities. Opponents fervently hope they carry out their threat. Continue reading...