US news | The Guardian

Jazwares claims that rival has created its own pillow-like toys to cash in on its viral successThe company behind Squishmallows, the squidgy pillows-with-a-face that count Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian among their fans, has filed a lawsuit against Build-A-Bear over claims it has produced a knock-off" to cash in on its success.Jazwares, which Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired two years ago as Squishmallows became a global TikTok sensation, said that Build-A-Bear Workshop's new Skoosherz toys look too similar to its own plush, huggable toy. Continue reading...

Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican Mazi Pilip battle to win New York district after expulsion of fabulist congressmanThe replacement for George Santos, the disgraced Republican congressman, is set to be decided on Tuesday, as New Yorkers head to the polls in what has become a closely watched election nationwide.Voters in Long Island, east of New York City, face a choice between Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who previously spent six years in Congress, and Mazi Pilip, a relatively unknown local politician, in an election that will impact Republican's narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Continue reading...

Margaret Hoover takes issue with president and rival for using predecessor who battled Great Depression as example of failureJoe Biden is taking a cheap shot" whenever he gleefully compares Donald Trump to Herbert Hoover, a prominent political commentator said, defending the 31st president whose single term in office coincided with the Great Depression.It's such a cheap shot," Margaret Hoover, the president's great granddaughter and a commentator for CNN and PBS, told Politico. If a person spent a minute studying Herbert Hoover's contributions, one would come to see that these political jabs have obscured a shining example of an uncommon public servant." Continue reading...

New Orleans carnival attendees have long protested against injustice - this year, Palestinian solidarity is part of the pictureCarnival in New Orleans, a time of indulgence before the Lenten season, is known for its bright, boldly decorated parades and floats, and celebratory atmosphere. Mardi Gras Day, or Fat Tuesday, the last day of revelry, is a culmination of this indulgence. But, historically, carnival has also been an occasion for protesting against injustice and subverting political norms.This year's festival pushed that tradition forward with krewes - groups that host parades and balls - that incorporated demonstrations of Palestinian solidarity into their processions. Amid the Israel-Gaza war, hundreds of carnival participants have used the marches to bring awareness to the conflict. Continue reading...

Pasco county, near Tampa, Florida, was most perilous, while Sarasota and Manatee counties ranked second and thirdOf the top 10 deadliest areas for cycling in the US, seven are in Florida, according to a new analysis of federal highway data.Conducted by the Georgia-based personal injury law firm Bader Scott, the study looked at National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures from the country's 200 most populous counties, and the number of road crashes in each that killed pedal cyclists between 2017 and 2021. Continue reading...

Protests come as over two-thirds of flight attendants in the US are currently in new union contract negotiationsFlight attendants are holding picket protests at over 30 major airports across the US today as part of the Worldwide Flight Attendant Day of Action.Picket line events are planned in New York City, Orlando, Miami, San Francisco, Charlotte, Washington DC, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and several other major cities. Some 100,000 flight attendants across three different labor unions are expected to participate. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has called on Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint - but he is still too wary of alienating voters in an election yearDespite the pressure coming from the Biden administration, there is little sign of the Netanyahu government changing its plan to destroy Hamas - whatever the cost in death and destruction in Gaza.The immediate risk is to the city of Rafah, where Israel is launching intensive airstrikes and planning a full ground offensive. Rafah and its immediate surroundings are sheltering about 1.5 million people, many of them in flimsy tents, while food and clean water are scarce and medical support is minimal. Warning of a ground assault, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Turk, described it as terrifying, given the prospect that an extremely high number of civilians, again mostly children and women, will likely be killed and injured". On Monday, at least 67 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes on Rafah, which coincided with an Israeli mission to free two hostages.Paul Rogers is emeritus professor of peace studies at Bradford University and an honorary fellow at the Joint Service Command and Staff College Continue reading...

US president says gaps remain' in truce proposal and that planned Israeli operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan'. Plus: wall off coast of Germany may be Europe's oldest known human-built megastructure

An argument between two groups of teenagers left one person dead and five others injured in a shooting at a New York subway station on Monday, police said. The shooting started after the train's doors opened on the elevated platform at the Mount Eden Avenue station in The Bronx at about 4.38pm - the start of the evening commute. A 34-year-old man was killed. The wounded included a 14-year-old girl, 15-year-old boy and three adults aged 28, 29 and 71. Some of the victims were believed to have been involved in the dispute and others were bystanders waiting for the train, police said, describing four of the injuries as serious

In the desperate scramble to combat AI, there is a real danger of penalising students who have done nothing wrong

From Russell Brand to Steve Bannon, pundits are distorting our past oppression - when it should be a source of solidarity with refugeesWestern liberal democracies are apparently inhabited by vast and increasing numbers of disaffected, dissatisfied citizens who could conceivably put populists in power on both sides of the Atlantic over the coming year. Donald Trump's White House comeback bid should be the stuff of dystopian fantasy, not a news story. But as Naomi Klein describes brilliantly in her new book, Doppelganger, our collective trajectory away from reality seems to be in freefall.Why are populist narratives gaining so much traction even in mainstream political discourse? Perhaps the truth is too boring or complex for our shortened attention spans: after all, who has the time to make sense of reality when we can entertain ourselves with fantasy? Vanishingly few politicians keep their promises, which fuels a sense that we may as well just listen to the best storyteller, or the best shit-poster, whoever gets us riled up most effectively.Emma Dabiri is an Irish academic and broadcaster, and the author of Don't Touch My Hair and Disobedient Bodies. She is a Guardian Europe 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...

Wartime funding bill likely to pass in Senate after procedural hurdle cleared but prospects uncertain in Republican-led HouseAfter many setbacks and much suspense, the Senate appeared on track this week to approve a long-awaited package of wartime funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Republican opponents staged a filibuster to register their disapproval over a measure they could not block.The Senate voted 66-33, exceeding a 60-vote margin, to sweep aside the last procedural hurdle and limit debate on the measure to a final 30 hours before a vote on passage that could come on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Man, 34, killed at Bronx station in afternoon shooting police say was prompted by argument between two teen groupsAn argument between two groups of teenagers left one person killed and five others injured in a shooting at a New York subway station on Monday, police said.The shooting started after the train's doors opened on the elevated platform at the Mount Eden Avenue station in The Bronx at about 4.38pm - a time when stations throughout the city are filled with kids returning from school and when many workers are beginning their evening commute. Continue reading...

The Guardian and Mission Local unravel grey money' network flooding progressive city with conservative cashIn a way, it's a story as old as time: ultra-wealthy figures pouring a flood of money into city politics in an effort to shape the way it is run.Still, the political-influence machine that tech billionaires and venture capitalists have recently built in San Francisco stands out for its size and ambition. A new analysis of campaign filings, non-profit records and political contributions by the Guardian and Mission Local reveals the extent of this network, which is using its financial and organizational muscle to push the famously progressive city into adopting policies that are tougher on crime and homelessness, and more favorable to business and housing construction. Continue reading...

Hearing provides new hurdle for Fulton county DA: county administrators have not handed over key subpoenaed documentsA blockbuster hearing with details of Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis's relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade will go forward Thursday, after the presiding judge chose not to immediately quash subpoenas for their testimony.But the hearing revealed a possible new hurdle for Willis: county administrators have not turned over key documents subpoenaed by Ashleigh Merchant, attorney for former Trump White House aide Michael Roman, one of the 19 defendants charged in the county's sweeping election interference and racketeering case with the former president. Continue reading...

Ex-president met deadline imposed by federal appeals court to keep the criminal case on hold as he prepares a last-ditch challengeLawyers for Donald Trump asked the US supreme court on Monday to keep on hold the criminal case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results while he prepares to challenge a recent appeals court ruling that found he was not immune from prosecution.The former US president also asked the nation's highest court to stay the US court of appeals for the DC circuit order that prevented him from seeking what is known as an en banc" rehearing of the case by the full bench of appeals judges. Continue reading...

Kentucky senator who opposes the aid package has indicated he will use every tool at his disposal to delay the final voteThe House majority leader, Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana, will return to Capitol Hill tomorrow after undergoing cancer treatment in recent weeks.The House speaker, Republican Mike Johnson of Louisiana, welcomed Scalise back with a tweet noting that the majority leader was now in remission. Continue reading...

Tom Cotton echoes fellow GOP senators, saying former president was simply ringing the warning bell'

Ex-president's presence could raise stakes for judge as she decides if prosecutors are allowed to withhold some classified documentsDonald Trump attended on Monday a critical court hearing where his lawyers presented their defense theories to the federal judge presiding in the criminal case over his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago club and obstruction of justice.The presence of the former president in the courtroom could raise the stakes for the US district judge, Aileen Cannon, as she decides whether prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith should be permitted to withhold or redact certain classified documents that will be turned over in discovery. Continue reading...

US defense secretary underwent non-surgical procedures for bladder issue and cancer prognosis remains excellent'The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, is expected to resume his normal duties" on Tuesday, a day after he was admitted to a hospital for what the Pentagon described as an emergent bladder issue".A statement issued by the Pentagon said Austin, 70, had undergone non-surgical procedures under general anesthesia to address the bladder issue. We anticipate a successful recovery and will closely monitor him overnight," the statement read. Continue reading...

Police chief Troy Finner says unclear whether five-year-old boy wounded in incident was struck by officers who shot at attackerA shooter with a rifle was killed by two off-duty police officers and a child was critically wounded at a Houston megachurch run by the prominent evangelical Christian pastor Joel Osteen, the city's police chief said.Troy Finner said it was not clear whether the boy, five, was struck by the officers who returned fire after the shooter, wearing a trenchcoat, entered Osteen's Lakewood church with the boy shortly before 2pm and began shooting. Continue reading...

Council for American-Islamic Relations calls for release of Samaher Esmail and other Palestinian Americans seized by IDFAn influential Arab-American group sought to increase pressure on Monday on the Joe Biden White House to use its influence with Israel to help free a US-Palestinian grandmother detained by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.Samaher Esmail's family also alleges that she has been beaten and denied access to medical attention. Continue reading...

Continue reading...

Biden's top military adviser is receiving treatment for an emergent bladder issue' and has transferred duties to deputyJoe Biden's top military adviser, Lloyd Austin, has cancelled a trip to Brussels to meet with Nato counterparts this week, following his hospitalization on Sunday because of an emergent bladder issue".A US official told Reuters on Monday that Austin had cancelled a meeting with Nato defense ministers due to be held on Thursday, and a separate meeting with allies for Wednesday on how to continue supporting Ukraine in countering Russia's invasion. Continue reading...

New York City closes public schools ahead of storm as meteorologists predict snowfall rate of 2in an hourThe north-east of the US is bracing for possibly the largest nor'easter snow storm in two years, with New York City public schools closing in-person attendance on Tuesday amid forecasts of up to 8in of accumulation.Meteorologists are predicting snowfall rates of 2in an hour from eastern Pennsylvania to Massachusetts, with the heaviest snowfall forecast to intersect with Tuesday morning's rush hour. Higher rates of 2 to 3in an hour are possible across eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, and up through northern Connecticut and Rhode Island.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

California authorities investigating if attack on Google's Waymo car is latest in series of protests targeting autonomous vehiclesAuthorities in California are working to determine if the destruction of a driverless taxi in an arson attack by a mob of lunar new year revelers was the latest in a series of protests targeting autonomous vehicles in the state.According to the San Francisco fire department, which posted images of the incinerated SUV on Twitter/X, a group of people jumped on the electric vehicle in the city's Chinatown district Saturday night, smashing windows and spraying it with graffiti before setting it alight with a firework. Continue reading...

The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is suddenly one of the most familiar faces in the world. But after a confrontation with his coach he helped clinch the Super BowlIs Travis Kelce out of his natural born mind?That was the question on millions of lips when CBS cameras caught the Kansas City star screaming in Andy Reid's face and bodychecking the Chiefs coach on the sideline, to the point of staggering the 65-year-old. Kelce looked upset about Reid's decision to take him off the field in the second quarter of Sunday's Super Bowl as the Chiefs drove towards the San Francisco 49ers' goalline. Right when the Chiefs were poised to score, running back Isiah Pacheco coughed up the ball, and San Francisco recovered to preserve a 3-0 lead. Continue reading...

Saying he would encourage' Russian attacks on non-paying members was outrageous. Europe needs a vision for peace, with or without US supportDonald Trump is appalling and unhinged", says everyone. His invitation to Vladimir Putin at the weekend to invade Nato and do what the hell he wants" if Europe does not spend more on its own defence, puts all our security at risk", warns Nato boss Jens Stoltenberg. The alliance is supposed to be the bastion of liberty against dictatorship, not about who pays for what.We might start by pointing out to Trump that the most outrageous abuse of Nato has been by the US. Washington's demand that the alliance support its retaliatory invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 was a costly, drawn-out fiasco that had nothing to do with western security and everything with American neo-imperialism. Likewise, its summoning of allies to join other militaristic interventions, from Vietnam to Iraq and across the Middle East. The US's withdrawal from empire" is proving as bloody as was Britain's, and if anything, more ham-fisted. For a former US president to incite Putin to war on Nato is outrageous.Simon Jenkins 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...

Refugio Jimenez Jr and Angela Renee Jimenez plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter over firefighter killed battling fireA California couple whose gender-reveal party caused a fatal California wildfire pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Friday.Refugio Jimenez Jr and his partner, Angela Renee Jimenez, also pleaded guilty to several other counts in connection to a the El Dorado fire, which they set off at a ranch park in Yucaipa, California, on 5 September 2020, when a firework used in a photo shoot set the dry grass on fire. Continue reading...

After suffering the biggest tournament defeat since Brazil at 2014 World Cup and sacking their coach, the hosts triumphed

TV spot by pro-Kennedy political action committee drew sharp criticisms from members of late president's familyRobert F Kennedy Jr apologized for a presidential campaign commercial during Sunday's Super Bowl that alluded to his uncle John F Kennedy's successful 1960 White House run.I'm so sorry if the Super Bowl advertisement caused anyone in my family pain," Kennedy wrote on social media late on Sunday. He said the ad was created by American Values 2024, a pro-Kennedy political action committee (Pac), without any involvement or approval" from his presidential campaign. Continue reading...

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in Las Vegas after a tight game that could have gone either way. At the end of the first half the 49ers were leading and by full time the score was an equal 19-19, sending the Super Bowl into overtime for the first time since 2016 and the second time ever.

Shasta county removed a moderate supervisor. Two years later, a member of the ultra conservative majority faces a recall of his ownIn 2022, 5,000 voters, angry about Covid-era health restrictions, ousted a moderate Republican official in Shasta county, California. The vote helped put the rural region, in the state's north, on the map for extremist far-right politics.In the two years since, the ultra-conservative majority that controls the county's governing board has attempted to upend the voting system and spread conspiracy theories that elections were being rigged. They moved to allow people to carry firearms in public buildings in violation of state law and offered the county's top job to the leader of a California secessionist group. Continue reading...

Swift endorsed Biden in 2020 but has yet to back anyone in 2024, and Trump says she benefitted from act passed in his presidencyDonald Trump, who attempted to overturn the democratic vote of the American people in 2020, on Sunday accused the pop star Taylor Swift of being disloyal" should she endorse Joe Biden for president.With the rightwing conspiracy theory machine fretting that Swift is a Pentagon plant whose relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, and his team's victory yesterday in the Superbowl, was designed to give Swift a platform to swing the election for Biden, Trump weighed in with his own thoughts. Continue reading...

Several earthquakes, the largest of which registered a magnitude of 5.0, struck El Centro in the Imperial ValleyParts of California were hit by more than a dozen earthquakes overnight, with 13 shaking the state during a span of just 25 minutes.Good morning Southern California! Did you feel the magnitude 4.8 earthquake about two miles north-west of El Centro at 12.36am? The #ShakeAlert system was activated," the United States Geological Survey Shake Alert account posted on X. Continue reading...

The undeclared race to be the former president's running mate has sent leading figures into new paroxysms of sycophancyI just love you!" Tim Scott bleated at Donald Trump.The South Carolina senator, who three months earlier had said Trump could not beat Joe Biden in the presidential election, was speaking on stage at a rally in New Hampshire. Continue reading...

If the president is serious about recognising Palestinian statehood, defunding the settlements would be a great first stepIsrael and its settlement enterprise are getting a crash course in coercive diplomacy. In the first few hours and days after the Biden Administration announced it was placing financial sanctions on four extremist Israeli settlers, there was a bit of confusion in Israel about what it all meant. Demonstrating the absurdity of the moment, Israeli Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich told fellow parliamentarians that, it is not possible for an Israeli citizen with Israeli money in an Israeli bank to be deprived of rights and assets due to an American order."Within a day, one of the sanctioned settlers, a violent extremist named Yinon Levi who the Biden Administration said was involved in forcing Palestinian communities off their land, had his personal and business accounts frozen by Israel's Bank Leumi. A state-owned bank followed suit and froze the account of a second sanctioned settler. The banks understood something the Israeli finance minister didn't seem to grasp - the United States is a very powerful country.Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man is the director of research for Israel-Palestine at Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn). He worked as a journalist in Israel-Palestine for over a decade, including as editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine Continue reading...

I've had some amazing experiences in Boston. But I want fun from my holiday meals, not joyless refuellingI almost never leave Europe, so spending a month in Boston is expanding my provincial horizons and blowing my tiny mind. Wild turkeys (huge!) wander the streets, there are rodeo bouts on TV and everyone drinks iced coffee even though it's absolutely Baltic. I feel more foreign here than in places I've visited where I didn't speak the language, and I keep getting things wrong. I think I rode the bus illegally yesterday.Mostly, though, I'm baffled by bowls. In this corner of the world full of twentysomething Stem graduates wearing Patagonia and Lululemon activewear, with earning potential many multiples of mine, meals seem almost all bowl-based, composed of grain, protein, greens and some kind of sauce.Emma Beddington 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...

Short-term lodgings, pet-sitting ... it's taken me everywhere from Dorset to Tbilisi, and I've (mostly) enjoyed itI'm typing this while sitting at a very nifty, handmade foldaway desk in a compact, one-bedroom flat in Kentish Town. The cosy apartment's dark wooden floorboards are overlaid with thick, Bhutanese woven rugs depicting tigers and mandalas. When I make toast on weekends, miniature, primary-coloured Tibetan prayer flags, strung above the toaster, dance in the rising heat. Bedroom bookshelves are stacked with intriguing travel guides, musings on Buddhism, and titles extolling the benefits of cold-water swimming; a good thing since Hampstead Heath's Kenwood ladies' pond is just a 35-minute walk away. Parliament Hill Lido is even closer.This feelgood flat has been the ideal winter bolthole, and a place I felt immediately at home when I moved in three months ago. But come spring I'll be living somewhere entirely different, in a completely new flat or house, most likely in a new borough, perhaps a new city, maybe even a new country. These are the exciting unknowns in my transient life.Lydia Swinscoe is a freelance travel writer Continue reading...

The first alternate Super Bowl telecast for kids was a brilliant feat of marketing aimed at stoking a younger generation's interest in the sport. It was also a legitimately compelling riotThis alternate Super Bowl program is, per a production company statement, intended for lovers of slime and really good sports time". Can't say I'm in either camp. But nevertheless I find myself parked in front of - or should I say glued to? - Nickelodeon's and CBS Sports' slime-soaked Super Bowl simulcast, while the other members of my family are across the room, watching the extra-tense sport showdown like normal people.Super Bowl LVIII Live from Bikini Bottom, as the wackadoodle extravaganza is called, is streaming from an official broadcast booth overlooking Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Seated in front of the cameras is a pair of humans, sports commentators Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson; as well as partners-in-slime Tom Star and Bill Fagerbakke, who voice SpongeBob SquarePants and his starfish sidekick, Patrick Star, respectively. Thanks to the miracle of reality-augmented animation, the latter gentlemen appear on my screen as blobby animations in the commentator booth. A menagerie of other inhabitants of SpongeBob's underwater world pop up on the football field, such as Larry the Lobster and Sandy Cheeks, the bucktoothed Texan SpongeBob character who pulls her weight as (a hilariously biased) sideline commentator. Dora the Explorer cameoed as a rules expert. And let's not forget the enormous purple pelicans who sporadically materialize on the sidelines to burp up whole cheeseburgers by the dozen. Continue reading...

Kyle Shanahan's edition of the 49ers have had Patrick Mahomes on the ropes twice. They've been unable to finish him off both timesLosing a Super Bowl always stings. For the San Francisco 49ers, losing 25-22 to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime on Sunday will hurt more than most. It will leave a lifetime of ifs'.If not for Jake Moody's missed extra point. Continue reading...

She was six years old Continue reading...

It was surreal when Szymon Hoownia, our answer to Simon Cowell, became speaker. But he has made the legislature a YouTube hitWho is the most popular politician in Poland today? Not, as you might expect, the new prime minister, Donald Tusk, nor is it the defeated leader of the opposition, Jarosaw Kaczyski. It is not the president, Andrzej Duda, an ally of Kaczyski's arch-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ran Poland for eight years before elections last October. No, the most popular politician in Poland is the newly elected speaker of the parliament, Szymon Hoownia.Even keen observers of Polish politics can be excused for not having heard of Hoownia, as he is a newcomer to Poland's legislature, the Sejm. He is famous in Poland but not, until recently, for political reasons. For more than a decade, he was the co-host of the TV show Poland's Got Talent!. Continue reading...