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Updated 2024-10-11 21:30
What does the release of Georgia’s grand jury report mean for Trump?
Partial release gives insight into investigation examining if Trump and allies acted criminally in efforts to overturn electionThe partial release of a special grand jury report’s on Thursday could give some of the most significant insight to date into a long-running Georgia investigation examining whether Donald Trump and allies committed a crime in their efforts to overturn the presidential election. Here’s all you need to know about that hearing and what to expect next.What exactly is happening on Thursday? Continue reading...
Ex-Barclays boss accused of holding discussions with Jeffrey Epstein about photos of young women
US lawsuit claims Jes Staley received pictures of young women in seductive poses from the sex offenderJes Staley, the former boss of Barclays, has been accused of holding discussions with the late billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein about photographs of young women in sexually suggestive poses.Staley, 66, is accused in a US lawsuit of exchanging more than 1,200 emails with Epstein, including messages about “women who they referred to by the names of Disney princesses that Epstein [allegedly] procured for Staley”. It is also claimed that Epstein “emailed Staley photos of young women in seductive poses”. Continue reading...
El Paso shooting near Walmart where 23 were killed brings ‘traumatic memories’
One person killed and three wounded on Wednesday in attack at shopping mall near site of 2019 racist attackOne person was killed and three wounded on Wednesday in a shooting at a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, close to a Walmart where 23 people were killed in a racist attack targeting Hispanic people in 2019.El Paso police said two people had been taken into custody. Details of what led to the shooting remained unclear. Continue reading...
US cancer patient developed ‘uncontrollable’ Irish accent, doctors say
Man in his 50s with prostate cancer maintained accent until his death despite having never been to IrelandA cancer patient in the US developed what researchers say was an “uncontrollable Irish accent” during treatment, despite never having been to Ireland nor having immediate relatives from the country.While still rare, cases of foreign accent syndrome (FAS) are more common in patients following strokes or head trauma, or who have psychiatric disorders, according to the experts from North Carolina’s Duke University and the Carolina Urologic Research Center of South Carolina. Continue reading...
Mikaela Shiffrin breaks modern record with gold in GS at world championships
Deputies suspended in Tyre Nichols case failed to keep body cameras on
Two deputies each violated multiple policies after they reported to the location of Nichols’ violent arrest, says sheriffTwo sheriff’s deputies suspended for five days for their role in the arrest of Tyre Nichols failed to keep their body cameras activated after they went to the location where Nichols had been beaten by five Memphis police officers, officials said.Shelby county sheriff’s office deputies Jeremy Watkins and Johntavious Bowers each violated multiple policies after they reported to the location of Nichols’ violent arrest on 7 January, said the sheriff, Floyd Bonner, in a statement. Continue reading...
Of course China’s balloon was spying. States all spy on each other – and we all benefit | Jonathan Steele
The latest standoff has sparked international hysteria. But the more countries know about friends and enemies, the betterLong ago, in May 1960, an American U-2 spy plane took off from Pakistan to fly at high altitude across the Soviet Union as part of a mission to photograph key facilities and military sites on behalf of the CIA. The Russians saw it and shot it down. The pilot, Gary Powers, managed to descend by parachute and was arrested. In Washington, the Eisenhower administration lied about his mission, claiming the U-2 was a “weather plane” that had strayed off course after its pilot had “difficulties with his oxygen equipment” (sound familiar?).The incident caused a temporary poisoning of US-Soviet relations as the Kremlin turned it into political theatre. Moscow subjected Powers to a highly publicised criminal trial and gave him a 10-year sentence.Jonathan Steele is a former Guardian correspondent in Moscow Continue reading...
American teenage girls are experiencing high levels of emotional distress. Why? | Moira Donegan
The CDC has found that youth of all genders are suffering at worrying levels, but girls are experiencing far greater levels of distressTeen girls are in a state of despair, according to the Centers for Disease Control. A new report from the agency, based on data collected by the Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted in 2021, finds that teenagers overall are in a state of desperation, with increases in debilitating sadness, violence, and suicidal ideation.The survey, which the CDC conducts once every two years, questioned 17,000 high school students from across the country, asking them to report on their own mental health and behavior. In a few respects, the news is good, pointing to the success of some public health interventions aimed at teens: kids are less likely to take drugs than they have been in previous decades, for example, and fewer of them are having unprotected sex. Continue reading...
US could default this summer unless $31.4tn debt ceiling raised | First Thing
Historic federal debt default could occur before July, cautions non-partisan agency. Plus, whatever happened to middle age?
Report reveals deteriorating labor conditions at big US wireless carriers
Wage theft, security issues and health problems on the rise after AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile outsource retail stores, report findsLabor conditions and collective bargaining rights have worsened in the large US wireless carrier industry now that big telecommunications firms are increasingly outsourcing their retail sales and customer service operations from company-owned stores.The sector, dominated by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile, which together reported $337.1bn in revenue in 2022, is now plagued by wage theft, security issues, overworked staff and health and safety problems, according to a new report. Continue reading...
Uber Eats is begging me to come back – but I’m out there in the real world, supermarket shopping | Emma Brockes
Post-pandemic, companies that boomed by helping us stay at home are struggling to stay afloat. Their loss is my gainThere’s a pathetic but satisfying thing that occurs when you stop using an online service you’re used to frequenting. This was Facebook a few years ago, when plummeting engagement whipped the social media platform into a frenzy of desperate invitations and prompts. It’s Fresh Direct when you fill your basket with groceries and – I can’t recommend this enough, if you’re looking for the tiny high that comes from withholding – don’t check out, triggering a bunch of wheedling automated messages, begging you to come back.This week, in my life, it’s Uber Eats. For the past couple of years I’ve ordered from them once a week and now I’ve stopped, causing the food delivery service to issue a flurry of semi-hysterical special offers. Each spam text, each begging notification, reminds me of the money I’m saving. If you like rejecting things (I like rejecting things) then this exercise will thrill you: rejection without the human cost of hurting someone’s feelings.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Congressman Ro Khanna: ‘The American dream has slipped away’
As an Asian American on the new House panel on China, the California Democrat says he’s in ‘a unique position’ to offer a message of economic strengthFor Congressman Ro Khanna, the best part of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last Tuesday came within the first 10 minutes. Touting the creation of 800,000 manufacturing jobs since he took office, the president boasted that the revitalization of America’s middle class is already under way.“For decades, the middle class has been hollowed out … Too many good-paying manufacturing jobs moved overseas. Factories closed down,” Biden said. “Now, thanks to what you’ve all done, we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs.” Continue reading...
New Jersey to expand African American studies after Florida bans them
Democratic governor Phil Murphy says his state ‘will stand on the side of teaching our full history’New Jersey has announced the expansion of Advanced Placement African American studies across its schools.In a move counter to Florida Republican governor Ron DeSantis’s decision last month to ban African American studies from the state’s high schools, New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, announced the expansion of the class subject yesterday while visiting a Newark high school. Continue reading...
Labour must be a broad church. Starmer’s purge of the left puts his future government in peril | Neal Lawson
When any leader says ‘it’s my way or the highway’ – as he effectively has – they sign their project’s death warrantAll political projects carry within them the seeds of their own destruction. Contradictions, paradoxes and limitations are hardwired through the context and conditions of their creation. An endpoint is built in at birth. After Keir Starmer’s announcement that Jeremy Corbyn will not be allowed to stand as a Labour candidate at the next election – the leader’s latest shut-up-or-ship-out message to the party’s left – the lifeline of any incoming Labour or Labour-led government has been shortened, perhaps dramatically.This is not about support for Corbynism or leftwing ideas per se. Instead, it is to argue that in an age of increasing complexity, chaos and confusion any political project must have an agility, nimbleness and fluidity that allows it to forge ever-changing intellectual and movement alliances. Pragmatic politics is now defined by openness – not the closure of debate he has called for with a legitimate, though some would say misguided, wing of his party.Neal Lawson is director of the cross-party campaign organisation Compass Continue reading...
XFL 3.0: can Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson make spring football work?
More than two decades after the XFL’s first incarnation imploded, the latest attempt at a spring football league kicks off this weekend. Will it manage to pull in fans?He’s starred in updates of Baywatch and Get Smart, so the Rock has some experience of questionable reboots. Now we’re about to discover whether he can score a box-office hit with the third version of the XFL.The actor, aka Dwayne Johnson, is a co-owner of the spring American football league, which kicks off on Saturday when the Dallas-area Arlington Renegades host the Vegas Vipers in Choctaw Stadium, the former home of the Texas Rangers baseball team. Continue reading...
Most UFOs – like the Chinese spy balloon – can be explained away. But what about the other 2%? | Heather Dixon
As a UFO investigator, it’s my job to be sceptical and rigorous. Yet an air of mystery remains – and I hope it always will
Major League Rugby returns for season six – with US game at a crossroads
Utah chief executive bullish about prospects despite men’s Eagles’ World Cup failure and an ever-shifting landscapeIn January, the Utah Warriors of Major League Rugby announced an alliance with Stade Toulousain of France.Toulouse play at Stade Ernest Wallon, a temple of the world game which holds around 20,000 fans. Champions of Europe five times and France 21 times, they field stars – including Antoine Dupont and Romaine Ntamack – who are set to shine at a home World Cup this year. Continue reading...
LIV Golf’s honeymoon period may be hurtling towards a tangled conclusion | Ewan Murray
If a four-time major winner like Brooks Koepka is not pondering what on earth he is doing on the LIV Tour, he should beEstablishing the precise thoughts of Brooks Koepka is a knotty business. This is the individual who, prior to last year’s US Open, barked at a line of questioning relating to his potential involvement in the breakaway LIV Tour. No sooner had dust settled on Matt Fitzpatrick’s famous Brookline success than Koepka was unveiled as a LIV recruit. Koepka’s earlier podium protesting identified him as little more than a phony.Oh to be inside the mind of Koepka now. As Scottie Scheffler returned to No 1 in the world courtesy of a dominant victory at a packed Phoenix Open, focus immediately turned towards Tiger Woods’s appearance at this week’s Genesis Invitational. Koepka had followed up a share of 46th at the Saudi International with a missed cut on the Asian Tour in Oman. He was only spared broad ridicule on the basis that nobody aside from dedicated fans and cheerleaders for Saudi’s dubious stampede into golf actually knew these events were taking place. Continue reading...
Virginia governor clears path for ‘extreme’ bill allowing police to seek menstrual histories
Glenn Youngkin blocks bill passed in Democratic-led state senate to ban search warrants for menstrual data on tracking appsThe Republican governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, appears to have thwarted an attempt to stop law enforcement obtaining menstrual histories of women in the state.A bill passed in the Democratic-led state senate, and supported by half the chamber’s Republicans, would have banned search warrants for menstrual data stored in tracking apps on mobile phones or other electronic devices. Continue reading...
FBI searched University of Delaware in Biden documents investigation
The justice department is looking into how classified documents came to be found in Joe Biden’s home and former officeThe FBI searched the University of Delaware in recent weeks for classified documents as part of its investigation into the potential mishandling of sensitive government records by Joe Biden.The search, first reported by CNN, was confirmed to the Associated Press by a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The person would not say whether anything was found. Continue reading...
In praise of the ‘15-minute city’ – the mundane planning theory terrifying conspiracists | Oliver Wainwright
The frightening prospect of greener, people-friendly streets and convenient amenities has sent the online right – and Tory MPs – into a tailspinThere’s an international socialist conspiracy afoot, and it wants to make it easier to walk to the shops. Fringe forces of the far left are plotting to take away our freedom to be stuck in traffic jams, to crawl along clogged ring roads and trawl the streets in search of a parking spot. The liberty of the rush-hour commute, the sanctity of the out-of-town shopping centre and the righteousness of the suburban food desert is under threat as never before. The name of this chilling global movement? The “15-minute city”.Westminster can often seem like a badly scripted spoof of itself, but rarely has parliament descended into parody as far as it did last week, when the Conservative MP for the South Yorkshire constituency of Don Valley, Nick Fletcher, launched a plucky tirade against the concept of convenient, walkable neighbourhoods. “Will the leader of the house please set aside time for a debate on the international socialist concept of so-called 15-minute cities and 20-minute neighbourhoods?” he asked, in an ominous tone. “Sheffield is already on this journey, and I do not want Doncaster, which also has a Labour-run socialist council, to do the same.” Continue reading...
Pompeo says Israel has biblical claim to Palestine and is ‘not an occupying nation’
Trump’s secretary of state makes comments on podcast to defend former administration siding more openly with IsraelMike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it.Pompeo told the One Decision podcast that his religious beliefs, US strategic interests and his view of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “known terrorist” underpinned his support as the Trump administration’s top diplomat for the shift in US policy away from mediating a two-state solution and toward more openly siding with Israel. Continue reading...
One killed and three hurt in shooting at Texas mall near site of 2019 mass killing
One person in custody after shooting in Cielo Vista shopping center, near Walmart where 23 people were killed in racist attackPolice in El Paso, Texas, say one person was killed and three other people were wounded in a shooting on Wednesday in a shopping mall.One person has been taken into custody, El Paso police spokesperson Sgt Robert Gomez said. No immediate information was given about that person. Continue reading...
US could default this summer unless $31.4tn debt ceiling is raised, CBO warns
Historic federal debt default could occur before July, cautions non-partisan agencyThe Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday said the US treasury department will exhaust its ability to pay all its bills sometime between July and September, unless the current $31.4tn cap on borrowing is raised or suspended.In a report issued alongside its annual budget outlook, the non-partisan CBO cautioned that a historic federal debt default could occur before July if revenue flowing into the treasury in April – when most Americans typically submit annual income tax filings – lags expectations. Continue reading...
Matt Gaetz says sex trafficking case against him closed without charges
Provocative congressman, who long claimed his innocence, was focus of long-running investigation by justice departmentRepresentative Matt Gaetz, a Republican known for his strong support of former president Donald Trump and membership in the archconservative Freedom Caucus in the House, said on Wednesday that the justice department has ended a sex trafficking case with no charges against him.The lawmaker, who represents much of the Florida panhandle, issued a statement through his congressional office that the long-running investigation was over. Gaetz had insisted throughout he was innocent of any wrongdoing. Continue reading...
Society has never produced so much food, yet we live in a world where only the rich get to be healthy | Van Badham
It’s not a failure of collective willpower that’s jeopardising our health, but a diet of bad food that’s culturally familiar, low in nutrition and super availableWestern culture bears a weight that it struggles to shift. Two recent stories perhaps expose why.The first is an investigation by Australia’s drug regulator into online influencers and platforms promoting a diabetes drug for weight-loss. Ozempic is on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme for treatment of type 2 diabetes but has been prescribed “off label” by doctors to those struggling to manage their weight. Continue reading...
Man rushes at Buffalo shooter during sentencing hearing – video
In an emotionally charged sentencing hearing a man rushed at the convicted Buffalo shooter, Payton Gendron, before guards restrained him and escorted Gendron out. The incident happened as Barbara Massey Mapps, the sister of one of Gendron’s victims, was expressing her anger at him. ‘You are going to come to our city and decide you don’t like Black people. Man, you don’t know a damn thing about Black people,’ said Mapps. She added: ‘We never go to no neighbourhoods and take people out,’ before the unidentified man in a grey tracksuit shoved past her and lunged at Gendron
US could default on debt in July unless Congress raises ceiling, CBO warns – as it happened
Hollywood’s slide into sexlessness is a denial of basic desire | Adrian Horton
Comments by You actor Penn Badgley are the latest in a conservative move away from celebrating eroticism on-screenTwitter may be slowly decaying, but it still finds a way to generate a minor sex panic. The latest micro-iteration blazing through one corner of the pop culture sphere: Penn Badgley, best known for playing Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl and as the star of Netflix’s You, said that he no longer wished to act in sex scenes, citing fidelity to his wife. According to his podcast, Badgley asked You showrunner Sera Gamble for a reduction in intimate scenes in the show’s fourth season, which premiered last week; his character, the disarmingly bookish serial killer/love addict Joe Goldberg, still has sex in the new season but less so than in prior ones, and fully clothed.Specific contractual clauses regarding intimacy on camera are not new – Julia Roberts is one of many actors who’ve said they’ll never do on-screen nudity, for example. And Badgley is certainly entitled to his own boundaries. (A new Variety story connects his reluctance to film intimate scenes to his feelings of discomfort as a child actor.) But a segment of the Twittersphere’s extension of his personal logic into an argument against sex on-screen in general, and the conflation the professional performance of intimacy with individual fidelity, feels disturbingly puritanical. Some have expressed distaste at any on-screen nudity, or asserted that most sex scenes are gratuitous, unnecessary and rife with issues of consent. Continue reading...
Raquel Welch: a life in pictures
The American actor has died at the age of 82. In 1966, her appearances in Fantastic Voyage and One Million Years BC, wearing a fur bikini, shot her to stardom. Here we look back at her life and career.
Nikki Haley calls for ‘new generation’ of leaders in presidential campaign launch
Haley, 51, cast herself as an agent of change who could transform a nation inflicted with ‘doubt, division and self-destruction’Republican Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and a UN ambassador under Donald Trump, formally launched her campaign for president on Wednesday, calling on Americans to reject the “stale ideas and faded names of the past” and to instead put their faith in a “new generation” of political leaders.Appearing publicly for the first time since declaring her candidacy, Haley, 51, cast herself as an agent of generational change who could transform a nation gripped by “doubt, division and self-destruction”. Continue reading...
California Medieval Times actors leave the castle to go on strike
Actors at dinner theater say company has blocked efforts to raise wages and improve safetyFrom queens to knights, actors at a southern California medieval-themed dinner theater have left the castle.The Orange County Register reported on Monday that about 50 performers and stable hands have gone on strike at Medieval Times about 30 miles south-east of Los Angeles in Buena Park, California. Continue reading...
Judge rejects Trump DNA offer in E Jean Carroll rape defamation case
Lewis Kaplan says Trump has missed his chance to provide DNA sample to rebut allegations first made by Carroll in 2019 bookDonald Trump missed his chance to use his DNA to try to prove he did not rape the writer E Jean Carroll, a federal judge said on Wednesday, clearing a potential roadblock to an April trial.The judge, Lewis A Kaplan, rejected the 11th-hour offer by Trump’s legal team to provide a DNA sample to rebut claims Carroll first made publicly in a 2019 book.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 802 9999. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...
Tesla to expand supercharger stations to all electric vehicles, White House says
Funding for the EV charging network comes from the infrastructure bill that allocates $7.5bn to the expansionThe White House is partnering with Tesla to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the US, with the company opening at least 7,500 of its chargers to all electric vehicles (EVs) by the end of 2024, the White House announced on Wednesday.Tesla charging stations currently use a certain power connector that require non-Tesla EVs to use an adapter. The White House said that Tesla will work to include at least 3,500 new and existing 250 kW superchargers along highways and level 2 destination chargers at locations like hotels and restaurants across the country. Tesla is also planning to double its network of superchargers. Continue reading...
Michael Jordan celebrates 60th birthday with $10m donation to Make-A-Wish
Teen who killed 10 Black people at Buffalo supermarket given life in prison
Sentencing for Payton Gendron disrupted as man in courtroom charges towards him before being restrainedA white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, last year was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday after listening to relatives of his victims express their pain and rage.The sentencing hearing for Payton Gendron was disrupted when he was charged at by a man in the audience who was quickly restrained. It resumed after about 10 minutes, with more emotional testimony from people who talked about losing loved ones in the attack. Continue reading...
Arizona highway closes after nitric acid leaks from tanker truck crash
Residents near the deadly accident on Interstate 10 outside Tucson told to evacuate on TuesdayThe deadly crash of a commercial tanker truck caused hazardous material to leak onto Interstate 10 outside Tucson on Tuesday, shutting down the key highway through Arizona and forcing evacuations near the accident.Residents within a half-mile (800 meters) were ordered to leave and those within a mile (1.6km) were told to shelter in place for several hours after liquid nitric acid was determined to be leaking from the tanker, the Arizona department of public safety said. Continue reading...
Rare footage of first sight of Titanic wreck released – video
Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of a 1986 dive through the wreckage of the Titanic is being released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. More than 80 minutes of footage on the institution's YouTube channel on Wednesday chronicle some of the remarkable achievements of the dive led by Robert Ballard. The expedition marked the first time human eyes had seen the ocean liner since it struck an iceberg and sank in the frigid North Atlantic in 1912. The footage was released to mark the 25th anniversary of the Oscar-winning film Titanic Continue reading...
‘A shock he took off’: Shiffrin splits with coach during world championships
World No 784 Pecotic requests time off from day job after shock Delray Beach win
Rats! New York mayor fined $300 over rodents at Brooklyn property
Eric Adams gets split decision while spokesman says: ‘One decision is clear, however: the mayor still hates rats’In the latest round of his long battle against rats, the New York mayor, Eric Adams, scored a split decision on Tuesday when a hearing officer dismissed one summons while upholding another citing Adams for not doing enough to keep rodents at bay at his Brooklyn townhouse.Adams was fined $300. A spokesperson, Fabien Levy, said the mayor was “grateful” one summons was dismissed and would consider his options about the second. Continue reading...
Nikki Haley: who is the Republican taking on Trump in 2024? – video profile
The child of Indian immigrants, Nikki Haley began her political career in South Carolina. She worked her way up to governor, before being appointed US ambassador to the UN by then president Donald Trump. She was known as a combative diplomat, who sometimes aggressively advocated for the US in the global forum. Here is a look at her career so far, as she announces her bid for the US presidency.
How New York’s Rockaway Beach became a harbor for Black surfers
The surf spot is a subway ride from Manhattan, and it welcomes a diverse community connecting to nature and each otherIt’s a silver-blue January morning with no separation between sky and water, and a diverse line up of surfers take in their ritual. The waves come choppy, clean, short, thick, fast, chest high and occasionally over my head. On this frigid day I’m encouraged to surf with a longboard, and I’ve almost forgotten to don my cap. The wind greets my face and I howl in return, grateful. I look around after finishing my ride and see people simmering in joy. These are the scenes at New York’s Rockaway Beach, a harbor for Black surfers.Coming from the security of snow-blanketed mountain peaks to the crashing, storm propelled waves of the east coast, I’ve stumbled on a dynamic community of surfers: artists, activists, community leaders, film-makers, and creatives. Surfers mending the world through their connection to the sport. Continue reading...
The taboos are falling fast as the EU embraces the far-right racist approach to migration | Shada Islam
Allowing controversial ‘fortress Europe’ policies to become mainstream puts the EU’s cohesion and world standing at riskEuropean Union leaders want to reinforce their controversial “fortress Europe” policies by clamping down even harder on inward migration. This reveals a deep and self-defeating disconnect between the 27-nation bloc’s internal actions and its international aspirations.The EU’s self-image is that of a benign power and a force for global good. European leaders spend a lot of time telling the world about the virtues of “European values”. There is even an EU commissioner whose sole task it is to promote the “European way of life”. Other countries are constantly taken to task, often through the imposition of sanctions, for their failure to align with international human rights standards. Continue reading...
Republicans blocked gun reform laws a year before Michigan State shooting
Democrats attempted to advance bills requiring secure storage of firearms and expanding background checks for gun buyersLess than a year before a gunman attacked Michigan State University’s campus on Monday, killing three students and injuring five, Republican legislators in the state rejected an opportunity to change gun regulations.In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, Michigan Democrats attempted to advance bills requiring secure storage of firearms and expanding background checks for gun buyers. Six months earlier, a shooting at Oxford high school near Detroit had also reinvigorated Democratic efforts to change Michigan gun laws. But the gun bills were blocked by Republicans, who controlled both chambers of the state legislature. Continue reading...
One in 20 US homicides are committed by police – and the numbers aren’t falling
Police killings of any sort account for nearly 5% of all homicides, with at least 1,192 people killed by law enforcement in 2022In the US, an estimated one in 20 gun homicides are committed by police, as law enforcement killings have failed to decrease despite years of nationwide protests.Law enforcement officers killed at least 1,192 people in 2022, the highest number recorded in a decade, according to Mapping Police Violence, a prominent non-profit database of police killings. More than 1,100 people were killed by the police in both 2020 and 2021. The vast majority of these deaths were police shootings. Continue reading...
‘Filling in the gaps’ for food access: women-run farms rethink California agriculture
Female farmers represent an increasing share of Golden State cultivators – and grow a wider variety of ‘specialty crops’ than done in traditional monocultureAt Radical Family Farms, Leslie Wiser recently planted bitter melons, what she refers to as “one of our most beloved crops”, a staple in many types of Asian cuisine that grows on a vine and is related to zucchini, squash and cucumber. It was a warm day on her three-acre farm, yet the cloud cover made it just right to be working on what Wiser says is her “dreamy but expensive” mixed-Asian vegetable farm that she started in 2018.“Regenerative climate, smart farming takes a lot of time,” said Wiser, the child of Chinese-Taiwanese, German and Polish-Jewish immigrants who came into farming in her early 40s. She dreamed about growing vegetables that reflect her heritage and teach her children where their food comes from, and this is exactly what she’s doing. Continue reading...
Nikki Haley must walk a fine line in bid to be next Republican president
Former South Carolina governor and daughter of Indian immigrants aims to be standard bearer of party fired by race and gender fights while not alienating Trump supportersAs the Republican governor of South Carolina in 2015, Nikki Haley stood shoulder to shoulder with political leaders from across the state to call for the removal of the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. Days before, an avowed white supremacist who posed with the flag in photographs massacred nine Black parishioners at a church in Charleston.As her state – and the nation – reeled from the heinous act, Haley argued that the flag embraced by many southerners as a symbol of “noble” traditions was for too many others “a deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past”. Continue reading...
The hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections | First Thing
Tal Hanan, the mastermind of the ‘Team Jorge’ unit, claims covert involvement in 33 presidential elections. Plus, the truth about caffeineGood morning.A team of Israeli contractors who claim to have manipulated more than 30 elections around the world using hacking, sabotage and automated disinformation on social media has been exposed in a new investigation.How did undercover reporters catch “Team Jorge” disinformation operatives on camera? For more than six months, undercover reporters posed as consultants working on behalf of a businessman who wanted to delay an African election.How does the unit spread disinformation? Advanced Impact Media Solutions, or Aims, which controls more than 30,000 fake social media profiles, can be used to spread disinformation at scale and at speed. It is sold by “Team Jorge”.What’s happening in France? France’s most-watched news channel, the 24-hour BFMTV, has suspended one of its longest-serving presenters and launched an internal investigation into news packages linked to an Israeli disinformation unit calling itself “Team Jorge”.What else did Whitmer say? “We know this is a uniquely American problem … Our children are scared to go to school. People feel unsafe in their houses of worship, or local stores. As parents, we tell our kids it’s going to be OK. But the truth is words are not good enough. We must act and we will.”Who were the victims? They have been named as Alexandria Verner, Brian Fraser and Arielle Anderson. All three came from the suburban Detroit area. Continue reading...
Revealed: Mississippi bill would create 80% white judicial district in majority-Black city
Republican-proposed jurisdiction fuels allegations of ‘apartheid in Jackson’Eighty per cent of the white residents in Mississippi’s majority-Black capital city would be included in a proposed new judicial district with hand-selected prosecutors and judges, an analysis by the Guardian has found, leading to further allegations of deliberate racial prejudice in a Republican-backed bill.The measure would increase the geographic size of an improvement district in the downtown area of the city of Jackson from 7.8 square miles to 25 square miles. It would create a new unelected judicial district within the city, with two judges, two prosecutors and two public defenders. Continue reading...
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