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Ex-South Carolina governor at a town hall in New Hampshire said one should talk about a pardon after someone has been convicted'

Atlas Air 747 cargo plane bound for Puerto Rico was filmed trailing flames from left wing before landing safely back in MiamiA Boeing cargo airliner made an emergency landing in Florida on Thursday night after what its operator called an engine malfunction" occurred shortly after takeoff, in the latest setback for the beleaguered company.Video taken by an eyewitness and posted to social media showed the 747-8 aircraft trailing flames and sparks from its left wing as it circled back to land at Miami international airport at about 10.30pm. Continue reading...

They had health warnings but focused on other things. Their deaths opened my eyes to the scale of the challenge aheadThe kids' bedtime had long since passed, and my frustration was beginning to show.As they faffed, I fretted - about the list of chores still to do before I could collapse into bed myself. At last as I harriedly tucked in my daughter, she looked up at me with a concerned expression and said: Dad, does Poppy need surgery?" Continue reading...

Majiah Washington saw the baby's parents, her neighbors, struggling to save the baby after a storm coated Portland with iceMajiah Washington noticed a flash outside her home this week in Portland, where a dangerous storm had coated the city with ice. Opening her blinds, she saw a red SUV with a downed power line on it and a couple who had been putting their baby in the car.The woman screamed to her boyfriend to get the baby to safety, and he grabbed the child and began to scramble up the driveway on concrete so slick it was almost impossible to walk. But before he made it halfway, he slid backward and his foot touched the live wire - a little fire, then smoke," Washington said. Continue reading...

The state party has voted to oust Kristina Karamo, but she is refusing to accept the result. So who's in charge?Michigan's Republican party has devolved into feuding factions - and at this point, it's not even clear who, if anyone, is in charge.Kristina Karamo, the Michigan GOP's election-denying chair, was ousted in a 6 January vote held during a special meeting called by state committee members critical of Karamo. But she and the faction that support her have refused to step down, further inflaming the chaos that has engulfed the swing-state Republican party with just months left before the 2024 presidential election. On Saturday, the party will meet to vote on a new state party leader. Continue reading...

The decision by Britain's strictest head' reflects a wider culture with a myopic view of what multiculturalism should look like

The shutdown would have started at 12.01am on Saturday. Plus, Netanyahu says he opposes creation of Palestinian state after war

Legislators proposed 49 bills targeting transgender people in the first three weeks of January, more than any other stateIn a packed hearing room on Wednesday, lawmakers gathered in Missouri to embark on a nine-hour marathon session, aiming to pass new legislation focused solely on one topic. The bills considered did not address the economy, healthcare, jobs or inflation, all ranked as top issues for US voters in 2024. Instead, the lengthy committee session concentrated exclusively on agenda item: transgender people in bathrooms, books, schools and doctors offices.One bill under consideration would allow pharmacists, desk workers and nurses, among others, to refuse to dispense medication or complete paperwork for transgender patients seeking gender-affirming care. Another bill would force trans youth already receiving treatment off their medication, eliminating a grandfather clause allowing them to continue. One bill would end all legal recognition of transgender individuals in the state, echoing the recent anti-transgender laws in Russia and Hungary. Yet another bill would prohibit transgender individuals from using bathrooms of their gender identity in workplaces, potentially mandating small businesses to construct separate bathrooms for them. Continue reading...

As the former president wins a landslide in Iowa and appears in court, Brooklyn Beckham serves up a bacon sandwichThere wasn't much to laugh to about when the Iowa caucus results came in on Monday, although the New York Post, erstwhile endorser of second place candidate, Ron DeSantis, raised a smile with the evidently vein-popping effort it had to put into finding a normal-sounding quote from Donald Trump. Trump easily wins Iowa caucus in historic landslide, urges unity to straighten out death and destruction'," was the best they could eke from slim pickings. Continue reading...

There is a direct and alarming link between Trump's political rise and the increase in political violence and threats in AmericaDonald Trump has galvanized an army of vigilantes who are casting a fearsome shadow over the 2024 election.It's impossible to know how large this potential army is, but last October 41% of pro-Trump Americans agreed with the statement that because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country." (That view was shared by 22% of independents and 13% of Democrats.) Continue reading...

Israel allows an average of 100 trucks a day to enter Gaza , but aid groups say 500 trucks a day are neededThe US claims it is working relentlessly" to get humanitarian aid into Gaza amid UN warnings that the territory's 2.2 million people are highly food insecure and at risk of famine".Antony Blinken, speaking at Davos this week, called the situation in Gaza gut-wrenching". But the US secretary of state was unable to secure any major new gains on increasing the amount of assistance entering the territory during his recent visit to Israel, even as leaders of international organizations advocate for urgent access. Continue reading...

The late general manager's widow was left in tears by Chicago fans. They forget he helped build a team that gave them great joy

The Premier League is experiencing an injury crisis and the women's game has an ACL epidemic. Advances in technology could help slow the spiralIt was one of the indelible sights of the 2023 Champions League final. With a noticeable limp, Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City's star midfielder, crossed the touchline and into the arms of Pep Guardiola, who hugged him tight.Unbeknown to De Bruyne, that was one of the last times he'd wear the City shirt in 2023. Two months later, in the opening match of the 2023-24 Premier League season, the Belgian reinjured his hamstring and was sidelined for the next five months. Continue reading...

The best weekend in the NFL calendar is almost here as top seeds San Francisco and Baltimore join the fight for the Super BowlWhat the Texans need to do to win: Head coach DeMeco Ryans has to be aggressive on defense. The Ravens' last defeat, a 33-31 loss to Cleveland in November, provides the blueprint. Given time, Lamar Jackson will pick teams apart. But the Browns blitzed him 33.3% of the time on passing downs as they knocked him out of his comfort zone. Cleveland forced him into the only game this season in which he has thrown multiple interceptions, and he completed just 56.5% of his passes. Houston need to up their current blitz rate of 15.4%, otherwise Jackson will take everything they give him. Continue reading...

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Populists are taking advantage of agrarian protests sparked by genuine crises - and it all feels horribly familiarWhen environmental activists calling for less pollution sit in the streets, across Europe they are now abused and attacked, arrested and handed extreme and draconian sentences. When farmers contesting pollution rules block entire city centres and major roads and spray manure on government buildings, the authorities sit and wait for them to go home. Few, if any, are prosecuted, and those who are receive small penalties. The promise of equality before the law has seldom looked emptier.The hard right and far right demonise people who challenge the status quo, and valorise those who seek to restore it. Governments and police forces across the rich world have proved all too responsive to their demands. Continue reading...

Lawmaker JJ Humphrey seeks punishments for acts of terrorism' and defines terrorist as any person who is of Hispanic descent'An Oklahoma lawmaker is facing backlash for proposing a discriminatory bill that deems people of Hispanic descent as terrorists".The Republican state representative JJ Humphrey introduced the bill, HB 3133, which seeks to combat problems in the state, such as drug and human trafficking, and lay out punishments to those who have committed these acts of terrorism". Continue reading...

The case was automatically frozen after the ex-president appealed judge's decision to reject his motion to toss criminal charges

Lawyers call on justices to reverse disqualification after Colorado barred him from primary ballot over January 6 insurrectionDonald Trump's lawyers urged the US supreme court on Thursday to reverse a judicial decision disqualifying the former president from Colorado's Republican primary ballot as the justices prepare to tackle the politically explosive case.Trump's lawyers in court papers presented the former US president's main arguments against a Colorado supreme court ruling on 19 December barring him from the primary ballot over his actions around the January 6 Capitol attack, citing the 14th amendment of the US constitution. Continue reading...

Agreement ends months of defiance from president's son, who had insisted on testifying publiclyHunter Biden has agreed to appear before House Republicans for a private deposition next month, ending months of defiance from the president's son, who had insisted on testifying publicly.The House oversight committee announced on Thursday that the two parties have come to an agreement for Hunter Biden to sit for a deposition on 28 February. Continue reading...

Mercer board of elections will not vote on disqualifying Arienne Childrey for a law requiring past names on petition paperworkA transgender candidate vying for a seat in the Republican-majority Ohio house was cleared to run on Thursday after her certification had been called into question for omitting her former name on qualifying petitions as required by a little-used state elections law.The Mercer county board of elections chose not to take up a vote on disqualifying Arienne Childrey, a Democrat from Auglaize county who is one of four trans individuals campaigning for the legislature, for not disclosing her previous name on petition paperwork. Continue reading...

Ronda Stryker and husband William Johnston announce $100m donation to the historically Black women's college in AtlantaA billionaire couple is giving $100m to Atlanta's Spelman College, which the women's school says is the largest-ever single donation to a historically Black college or university (HBCU).The donation was announced on Thursday by Ronda Stryker and her husband William Johnston. She is the billionaire granddaughter of the founder of the medical device maker Stryker Corp and he is the chairman of the money management firm Greenleaf Trust. They live in Michigan. Continue reading...

House approves bill in vote of 314 to 108 after bipartisan deal, sending legislation to Biden's deskThe House passed a short-term spending bill on Thursday, sending the legislation to Joe Biden's desk with just two days left before government funding runs out.The House approved the bill in a vote of 314 to 108, with 107 Republicans and 207 Democrats supporting the proposal. The House speaker, Republican Mike Johnson, took up the bill under suspension of the rules, so he needed two-thirds of the chamber to support the legislation to get it passed. In a potentially worrisome sign for Johnson, 106 Republicans opposed the bill as hard-right members of the conference called for steeper spending cuts. Continue reading...

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Fatalities reported in at least nine states and forecasters warn of another round of snow and ice over the weekendPowerful winter storms in numerous US states left multiple people dead, damaged buildings and cut power to tens of thousands, authorities said, as forecasters warned of another round of snow and ice sweeping in for the weekend.Fatalities have been reported in at least nine states this week as one of the deadliest cold snaps of the season took hold from the Pacific north-west to the north-east and as far south as Mississippi. Continue reading...

Elections department in Yuba county says worker found powdery substance inside envelope and contacted policeAn envelope containing fentanyl was mailed to an elections office in northern California, where a worker was exposed to the drug, officials said on Wednesday.The elections department in Yuba county, a rural area about 40 miles from Sacramento, the state capital, received the package on Tuesday. It appeared to come from a verified agency" and did not initially look suspicious, a county spokesperson said. A staff member found a powdery substance inside and contacted law enforcement. Continue reading...

As Alina Habba, Trump's counsel, hammered on about the writer's commentary on social media, questioning took an absurd turnE Jean Carroll's New York defamation trial against Donald Trump resumed on Thursday with the ex-president's lawyer trying to discredit her on cross-examination with a bizarre dialectic about genitals and by intimating that she has loose morals.Did you ever post any tweets that could be considered sexually explicit?" Alina Habba, Trump's lead attorney, asked. Continue reading...

Republican Nick Wilson hurriedly redrafts proposed law to combat familial abuse that would have legalized sex between first cousinsA Kentucky state lawmaker and 2018 winner of the television competition Survivor had to hastily scrap a proposed measure that - if approved - would have unintentionally legalized sex between first cousins.After correcting the gaffe within a day, Nick Wilson - a Republican representative in Kentucky's house of representatives - expressed hope that the misstep would not doom a measure whose purpose is to combat familial abuse. Continue reading...

Comments on Truth Social prompt warning that Trump intends to wield authoritarian powers should he return to the White HouseDonald Trump provoked outrage with an all-capitals 2am post to his Truth Social platform in which he claimed full", total" and complete and total presidential immunity" over acts committed in office.The comments prompted warnings that Trump intends to wield authoritarian powers should he return to the White House and come amid widespread fears that any Trump victory in the 2024 election would pose a dire threat to American democracy. Continue reading...

Scores of media professionals have been killed in the last three months. The truth itself is under threatNo war has killed so many journalists so quickly. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says that at least83 media workers have died since 7October. Seventy-six of them were Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza, while three Lebanese citizens were also killed, and four Israelis were killed by Hamas in the 7October attacks.Even given the total number of deaths in Gaza - at least 24,600, the Palestinian authorities say - the media toll is shocking and disproportionate. On one estimate, it amounts to a tenth of all journalists there compared with a reported one in 100 of the overall population. Reporters Without Borders has warned that journalism is being eradicated in the Gaza Strip". Chillingly, the CPJ describes an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families" - including at least two cases where journalists reported threats from Israeli officials and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers before family members were killed.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. Continue reading...

No Labels asks justice department to investigate alleged unlawful conspiracy' to stop potential bid against Republicans and DemocratsThe centrist group No Labels has filed a formal complaint with the justice department, asking it to investigate an alleged unlawful conspiracy" to shut down its effort to secure ballot access for the 2024 presidential election.No Labels has not yet decided whether it will run a third party against Joe Biden and the Republican nominee, widely expected to be Donald Trump, in November's presidential election. Critics say the effort would have the unintended consequence of hurting Biden and helping Trump. Continue reading...

Hisham Awartani and Kinnan Abdalhamid say they believe their shooter took aim at them for being Palestinian in NBC interviewTwo Palestinian college students who were shot in Vermont said they suspected they were the targets of a hate crime in their most extensive public remarks since the attack.Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ali Ahmad and Kinnan Abdalhamid were shot on 25 November while walking near the home of Awartani's grandmother in Burlington, Vermont. Continue reading...

Trump ally allegedly threatened to assassinate Congressmen Jerry Nadler and Eric Swalwell, Mediaite reported

The New York congresswoman at the top' of the race, Trump's close ally Steve Bannon told news outletThe New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik is a killer", Donald Trump reportedly said, amid a flurry of speculation around who might be his presidential running mate for 2024, after his crushing victory in the Iowa caucuses.Citing eight unnamed sources, NBC News said Trump discussed his options for a potential vice-president in Florida late last month. Continue reading...

Conde Nast's gutting of the esteemed alternative publication and its staff is the latest example of media conglomerates prioritising capital over cultureIn late summer 2011, I was in Norway covering a music festival for NME. One night at a party in another writer's hotel room, I got talking to an American guy called Zach Kelly. Zach, it turned out, wrote for Pitchfork. As a 22-year-old music journalism freak, I could only imagine this was how it must feel to meet a member of your favourite football team. He kindly let me pin him into a corner to probe him about life there - he had started as an intern at their Chicago office - and the kind of work he did. That would have been thrill enough, meeting someone from a publication I perceived as so untouchable it was hardly worth aspiring to. Shortly after I got back to the UK, I got an email from an editor there, Mark Richardson: Zach had recommended me, and would I like to review albums for them? NME said no. But Mark persisted, and a year later, Pitchfork asked me to become their first UK member of staff, an associate editor. I said yes.I tell this story as it is one of hundreds like it: Pitchfork's editors were extraordinarily committed to investing in new critical talent, the writers and editors who were the driving force in unearthing and chronicling the defining alternative acts of the 21st century, as the website that midwestern record-store employee Ryan Schreiber founded in 1996 evolved into an authoritative, professional outlet. Arguably not since the inky heyday of NME itself had a music publication developed such a distinct reputation, thanks in part to its famous decimal-point scoring system and early take-no-prisoners reviews. Pitchfork" even became a byword for a certain kind of music and music fan: artisan before artisan culture took over everything; a little forbidding, cloistered; maybe you loved to hate it, but still clicked through half a dozen times a day. Continue reading...

Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general, rejects order for the state to end its control of Shelby Park, where people cross into the USTexas officials have refused to comply with an order from the Biden administration to allow American border patrol agents to access a part of the US-Mexico border that is now under the state's control.Texas's attorney general, Ken Paxton, rejected a request for the state to end its control of Shelby Park, a public park in Eagle Pass, Texas, where undocumented immigrants have increasingly crossed into the US via the US-Mexico border, NBC News reported. Continue reading...

David Borrero, a Miami Republican, believes students are being subliminally indoctrinated' and radicalized' in classroomsA Florida state congressman, convinced students in the state are being subliminally indoctrinated with critical race theory, Marxism and transgender ideology", has introduced a law that seeks to ban Pride flags from school and college campuses.Miami Republican David Borrero, an extremist who is simultaneously pushing a bill that would effectively ban all abortions in the state, also believes students are being radicalized and evangelized" in Florida's classrooms. Continue reading...

Report likely to revive scrutiny of officers who responded to 2022 massacre but waited over an hour to confront gunmanPolice officials who responded to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas demonstrated no urgency" in setting up a command post and failed to treat the killings as an active shooter situation, according to a justice department report released Thursday that identifies cascading failures" in law enforcement's handling of one of the deadliest massacres at a school in American history.The justice department report, the most comprehensive federal accounting of the haphazard police response to the 24 May 2022 shooting at Robb elementary school, identifies a vast array of problems from failed communication and leadership to inadequate technology and training that federal officials say contributed to the crisis lasting far longer than it should have. Continue reading...

Huge swaths of the country have turned into news deserts', lacking credible journalism. I fear for the Baltimore SunPaul Moore vividly remembers the Baltimore Sun in its heyday, not so long ago.More than 400 newsroom staff, six foreign bureaus and a 12-person Washington bureau," Moore recalled. He was the Sun's deputy managing editor (and, for a time, its public editor) until 2009. We were a full-service newspaper, covering the country, the region and the world." And winning multiple Pulitzer Prizes for the quality of its aggressive, ambitious journalism. Continue reading...

Sign up for Trump on Trial: a free newsletter on all the latest court developmentsWant this sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe here, and we will send you a weekly update each Thursday to keep you looped in on the proceedings - as well as bonus editions on major trial days. Have any questions? Please send them our way trumpontrial@theguardian.com.On the docket: hitting the campaign trial Continue reading...

Kobe the husky has saved his Philadelphia neighbourhood after detecting a gas leak. In a video posted to social media, Kobe's owner, Chanell Bell, recounts how she noticed her four-year-old dog repeatedly digging in a hole that was in the concrete of her front yard. Bell said she thought the action was unlike him and decided to investigate further because there had been a gas leak in her home in the previous weeks. Workers remarked that something as simple as turning on a light switch could have caused the fumes to ignite and blow up Bell's whole house, making the importance of Kobe's alertness crystal clear. Kobe's heroism has since been turned into a book after thousands of fans deemed the story worthy

Kenneth Bonawitz, a member of the Proud Boys group, was described as one of the most violent rioters by prosecutorsA Florida man described by prosecutors as one of the most violent rioters who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison, court records show.Kenneth Bonawitz, a member of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group's Miami chapter, assaulted at least six police officers as he stormed the Capitol with a mob of Donald Trump supporters. He grabbed one of the officers in a chokehold and injured another so severely that the officer had to retire, according to federal prosecutors. Continue reading...

Experts say Operation Ceasefire contributed to a significant decrease in homicides before falling off track - what happened?By the end of last year, major cities across the United States released violent crime reports that looked markedly different than those in recent years.The increase in gun violence and homicides that had devastated underserved Black and Latino communities since the pandemic was finally beginning to ebb, including in cities like Detroit and St Louis, with incident numbers seeing their first dips since 2020. Continue reading...

Communities bargain for shelter and investment in return for giant real estate projects. But what happens when the deal is done and developers stall?For more than a decade, John Fisher, the owner of the Athletics Major League Baseball team, has been threatening to move the club out of Oakland if the city didn't pony up enough public money for a new ballpark.Among his final bids were plans for a massive West Oakland redevelopment that included far more than just a stadium. It involved 1.8m sq ft of commercial space, a hotel, a performing venue and, most important for a region undergoing an immense housing crisis, 3,000 residential units. Arguments over how many of those units would be deemed affordable" kept erupting and were often cited as the major hangup keeping shovels out of the ground. It was unclear how much of this was public posturing because, ultimately, any plans to keep the Athletics in Oakland were ditched. Continue reading...

Both Fifa and the IOC have avoided statements denouncing Israel's war and the ensuing humanitarian crisis, a decision in stark contrast to their handling of Russia's invasion of UkraineAs the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli bombs in Gaza continues to rise - and amid reports that pockets of famine" have started to emerge in the territory - there seems to be few ways they can defend themselves. One method could be through something that unites the world: sport.On New Year's Eve, Jordan's Football Association (JFA) released a statement calling on the global sports community to take decisive action to stop the aggression against Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories."Karim Zidan writes a regular newsletter on the intersection of sports and authoritarian politics. Continue reading...

Eat food that is mostly healthy, but also eat delicious food that isn't healthy: these are the eminently sensible words of ... Arnold SchwarzeneggerIn this, the most glowering month of the year, we all need a guru, and I have found mine. He is a one-time bodybuilder, turned action movie hero, turned (soft) Republican politician and his name is Arnold Schwarzenegger.At the very end of last year Arnie took to a site which, because I'm an old nostalgic who thinks names should have more than one letter, I like to call Twitter. He said he had been told that lists go viral, so he had written one. The first piece of advice was: You should mostly eat food you know is healthy. There is no magic food." Continue reading...

If it lets an insurrectionist like Trump on the ballot, the supreme court will be putting out a welcome mat to autocracyOver the decades, several US supreme court justices have warned that the US constitution is not a suicide pact - in other words, that the constitution shouldn't be interpreted in ways that jeopardize the survival of our nation and our democracy.Right now, however, I worry that the supreme court's rightwing supermajority, in its anticipated rush to prohibit states from kicking Donald Trump off the ballot, will turn the constitution into a suicide pact. By letting an insurrectionist like Trump remain on the ballot - a man who spurned centuries of constitutional tradition by refusing to peacefully turn over the reins of power to the man who defeated him - the supreme court would be putting out a welcome mat to a candidate who has made no secret of his plans to trample all over the constitution and trash our democratic traditions. Continue reading...