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Sources say weapons package authorized even as Washington expresses public concern over anticipated offensive in RafahThe US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post. Continue reading...

Ex-president deserves sanction for Truth Social post that criticized daughter of Juan Merchan, hush-money trial prosecutors sayManhattan prosecutors asked the judge presiding in Donald Trump's upcoming criminal trial on charges of covering up hush money to a porn star before the 2016 election to confirm that a recent gag order preventing the former president from making inflammatory comments extends to the judge's family members.The prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office suggested in a two-page letter on Friday that, as far as they were concerned, Trump had violated the gag order by attacking the judge's daughter in a recent social media post and should be sanctioned for future violations. Continue reading...

Influencer sobriety is a world where alcohol addiction is history, but it's all too neatAt a glance, sobriety looks pretty on social media - and relatively simple to achieve. A quick search for sober motivation will send you off on a stream of brightly coloured listicles that advise making plans that don't involve alcohol, spending time with friends who support your choices, trying new things (like mocktails!) and going for a walk to combat alcohol cravings. The posts are often accompanied by a white-toothed influencer who is standing on a mountain in a bikini.The internet paints a picture of sobriety that has been smoothed around the edges, with an occasional snag of vulnerability; a woman pushing her toddler on a swing with the caption I was buzzed on vodka here"; a word tile that reads: I realised that inebriated women are easier to control." The darkness creeps in, but then it's back to normal programming; memes and hashtags and journalling at sunrise. Continue reading...

Los Angeles case revolves around question of whether people in makeshift camps along US-Mexico border are in legal custodyA federal judge has sharply questioned the Biden administration's position that it is not responsible for housing and feeding migrant children while they wait in makeshift camps along the US-Mexico border.Recent media reports have shed light on the harsh conditions at sites along the border, where people waiting for processing by US immigration authorities live under open skies or in tents or structures made of tree branches. The camps are often short on food, water and sanitation, relying on groups of volunteers to distribute aid and basic supplies. Continue reading...

Attorneys for ex-president and eight co-defendants ask Georgia's appellate court to remove Fulton county district attorney

Centrist senator from Connecticut who sought to become vice-president alongside Al Gore and went on to support No LabelsIn 2000, midway through his 24 years as a US senator from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman, who has died aged 82 following complications from a fall, was chosen as Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election, becoming America's first, and still only, major-party Jewish vice-presidential candidate. That moment was a peak in a career that arced from the liberal left of the Democratic party to the embrace of Republicans.He identified as a bipartisan centrist, liberal domestically and conservative on foreign policy. The Republican Jewish Coalition chairman Norm Coleman said Lieberman put principle over politics", but many of his early Democratic supporters found his later move rightward anathema. Continue reading...

Colorado Republicans chose former mayor Greg Lopez, who plans to step down, leaving no incumbent or favored primary candidateA Colorado Republican panel made the surprising decision on Thursday night to choose a former mayor, Greg Lopez, to be congressman Ken Buck's likely replacement until the November general election, a saving grace for Lauren Boebert's bid for another term in Congress.Lopez will now run as the Republican candidate in the 25 June special election after Buck's resignation at the same time GOP primary candidates are vying to be the congressman's successor. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. You can read all our politics news hereWhy did Russia arrest Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and what might they want in return for his release? The Guardian's Julian Borger looks into the question, one year into the American journalist's detention:Friday marks the grim first anniversary of the day when masked Russian officers grabbed Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist, at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg where he was waiting to eat on a reporting trip. Continue reading...

The Gulf state is the new chair of a UN women's commission. That reflects a bigger issue as governments attack or fail to prioritise gender equalityNext year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Beijing declaration, a landmark blueprint for advancing women's rights. It marked the mainstreaming of feminist concerns, with 189 states signing up to the text at a conference in China, where Hillary Clinton, then first lady of the US, declared that women's rights are human rights".Yet when the United Nations celebrates that achievement, its commission for promoting and evaluating progress on gender equality will be steered by Saudi Arabia. A country known for its abysmal record on women's rights was chosen unopposed this week to chair the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Even the personal status law it brandishes as a sign of progress in fact enshrines discrimination including male guardianship over women, and gives immunity to perpetrators of honour crimes". Women's rights advocates have been jailed and there are multiple allegations of their torture.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...

Wall Street Journal marks first anniversary of reporter's detention with largely blank front page headlined His story should be here'Joe Biden on Friday said the US was working every day to secure the release of Evan Gershkovich on the first anniversary of the 32-year-old Wall Street journalist's detention in Russia on charges of spying that he and the US government vehemently reject.Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter - risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine," Biden said in a statement on Friday. Continue reading...

Darlene Weber says I don't think I'd be standing here' after son and pit bull defended family from man charged with killing fourA woman's son and dog fought off a man who authorities have charged with stabbing and killing four other people in her Illinois town on Wednesday, saving her along with her relatives from being murdered, she has said in an interview.Darlene Weber described the remarkable, life-or-death encounter in an interview published on Thursday evening by NBC News, explaining how I don't think I'd be standing here talking to you right now" had it not been for her 21-year-old son Jacob Vollman and the family pit bull Brandy. Continue reading...

Legislators change state laws including increasing documentation officials need to certify electionsGeorgia legislators changed state election laws in the midnight hours of Friday, widening the criteria to challenge a voter's registration, removing bar codes from printed ballots and increasing the documentation local elections officials must produce to certify elections.The proposals will take effect 1 July, assuming the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, signs the legislation into law. Continue reading...

Traumatic attacks tap into a common fear in the city, but they remain unusual. That hasn't stopped them from being politicizedSarah Harvard was doing everything right as she walked home through the Lower East Side one night earlier this month: she paid attention to her surroundings and didn't get too close to anyone; she wasn't listening to music or looking at her phone.None of that protected her from the man who came up behind her and punched her in the back of the skull. Continue reading...

Meanwhile spring has sprung, and in keeping with their traditions, Tory MPs are plotting regicide yet againI wouldn't say I'm a Conservative confidence-vote prepper, but like many in the political survivalist community I do prefer to keep track of the threat level. Over the past few years, what you might call the Loonsday Clock has mostly hovered at somewhere between four minutes and one minute to midnight. The British people have accepted this is a fact of their lives, even if the prospect of the Tories going into opposition has been greeted with the same sort of exhausted relief that Kingsley Amis felt about the eventual loss of his libido: For 50 years, it was like being chained to a lunatic."During the past eight years (feels like 50), the fateful midnight chimes have rung out on five separate occasions, turning a series of prime ministers back into pumpkins/lettuces/highly remunerated international speakers/future foreign secretaries/devoted husbands and procreators who go away a lot on business. As for what time it is now, I am afraid the news is ... not great. In recent weeks the formal assessment has moved from Even they aren't mad enough to try" to Yeah, no, actually they are going to be mad enough."Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Sources say an email circulated saying if you inadvertently wound up taking something off the plane, we can facilitate a quiet return'A White House staffer recently met a reporter for a covert assignment by the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square.But the House of Cards-esque rendezvous was not staged to hand over state secrets, or leak presidential gossip, or even to spread dirt on Joe Biden's opponents. The item handed over - an embroidered pillowcase from Air Force One - was handed back, by the reporter involved. Continue reading...

It started with a single Dominican bodega worker. Now his family's chain, Compare Foods, has found a sweet spot in the sun belt's changing demographicsIvan Almonte has been in the US for almost 25 years years, but he still takes photos of the perfect produce - bouquets of epazote, mountains of chiles and perfectly ripe tunas from the prickly pear cactus - in his favorite Durham, North Carolina, grocery store.The 45-year-old remembers when those items were hard to find in this bustling New South city, when he first arrived in 1999 from California after emigrating from Michoacan, Mexico. Continue reading...

War monitor reports Israeli airstrike in Syria has killed more than 40 people, mainly troops. Plus: ecocide in Gaza

Carlos Alcaraz's hopes for a Sunshine Double came undone in spectacular fashion after the top seed lost 6-2, 6-4 to Grigor Dimitrov, who will move on to face Alexander Zverev in the Miami Open semi-finals. It was a crushing defeat for Alcaraz, who arrived full of confidence after lifting the Indian Wells title 11 days ago, but fell three wins shy of becoming the first male player to clinch the double since Roger Federer in 2017.

He was a tough bouncer from Kent who, like the country around him, grew to accept social progressMy late dad was the hardest nightclub bouncer in a tough working-class area in Medway, Kent. He was a bodybuilder and terrifyingly quiet; you never quite knew what was going through his head.My underage sixth-form mates knew he would refuse them entry if they tried to get into the sprawling, sticky floored and aggressively heterosexual nightclub where he worked the door with a formidable scowl. Luckily, I would sooner pour petrol in my eyes than set foot inside. He told me he broke the arms of any drunken louts giving him trouble. I believed him.Gary Nunn is on X. Visit his free Substack hereComments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. Continue reading...

BSU's Scott Yenor ran Action Idaho, which attacked the university, LGBTQ+ people and Republicans deemed not rightwing enoughBoise State University (BSU) professor and Claremont Institute scholar Scott Yenor was the hidden hand behind Action Idaho, a far-right online media platform that featured inflammatory rightwing commentary on politics in that state, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.The documents, obtained through public records requests, also show that Yenor sought and received funding for the initiative from wealthy and influential donors like Claremont Institute board chair, Thomas D Klingenstein. Continue reading...

A small but aggressive group of election deniers have been pressuring state officials on a weekly - sometimes daily - basis to investigate unfounded claimsIn December, a Texas man named Kevin Moncla emailed Georgia election board members in response to their decision not to investigate the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, over bogus election fraud claims. Moncla made a vague threat that he was willing to take things outside the bounds of his increasingly frustrated emails.The communication alarmed members of the state election board (SEB) enough to contact federal law enforcement. Continue reading...

Chuck Schumer and Lizzo made appearances before the presidents talked onstage in event that widens fundraising lead over TrumpJoe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with Bill Clinton on Thursday that organizers said raised more than $25m for the US president's re-election campaign.Such a haul, which Politico called an NYC money bomb", will widen Biden's lead over Donald Trump in fundraising for the November election. Continue reading...

Attorney hired by family casts doubt on department's claim that girl disarmed deputy, and will conduct investigationAuthorities have identified the teenage girl who died of a gunshot wound inside a Los Angeles county sheriff's station as 17-year-old Johanna Gonzalez, according to the county medical examiner, who has classified her death as a suicide.Deputies were called to a home in the City of Industry, a small city 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, on 25 March for a teen allegedly having a mental health crisis. By the time they arrived, Gonzalez, who was being fostered by her aunt and uncle, had already left. Continue reading...

Maryland governor warns of very long road ahead' as cranes and barges start work to remove twisted metal and concrete from riverThe Maryland governor Wes Moore has warned of a very long road ahead" to recover from the loss of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge as the Biden administration approved $60m in immediate federal aid after the deadly collapse.The funding does not cover the reconstruction of the crippled bridge itself, but to instead remove shattered parts of the structure and deal with traffic in order to reopen Baltimore's shipping channels. Continue reading...

Shasta county's Kevin Crye fought off recall effort, but a far-right official who pushed election conspiracies lost the race for his seatShasta county voters returned a mixed verdict on the ultra-conservative politics the rural enclave in northern California has become known for, ousting one far-right local official and offering another a political lifeline.County residents on 5 March resoundingly declined to re-elect Patrick Jones to the board of supervisors, the county's governing body. Jones, a leader of the local far-right movement, had repeatedly, and baselessly, argued that county and US elections are being rigged. Jones's opponent, Matt Plummer, won the race for the seat with nearly 60% of the vote. Continue reading...

Americans of Middle Eastern descent used to have to identify as white on government forms - new categories will change thatFor the first time in 27 years, the US government is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity, an effort that federal officials believe will more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage.The revisions to the minimum categories on race and ethnicity, announced Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget, are the latest effort to label and define the people of the United States. This evolving process often reflects changes in social attitudes and immigration, as well as a wish for people in an increasingly diverse society to see themselves in the numbers produced by the federal government. Continue reading...

Christian Soto, 22, tells detectives he became paranoid after smoking marijuana provided by one of victimsA man in northern Illinois has been charged with murder following a stabbing attack that left four people dead which he told detectives happened after he became paranoid smoking marijuana given to him by one of the victims, authorities said.Police said that Christian Soto, 22, has been charged with multiple counts of murder, intent to kill and home invasion after the stabbings on Wednesday in Rockford, 90 miles north-west of Chicago. The attacks also left seven people injured. Continue reading...

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We had no idea,' handlers say, as Pennsylvania groundhog who predicts when winter will end and partner spring surpriseThe weather-predicting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil and his partner Phyllis have sprung a surprise nobody saw coming: welcoming two baby groundhogs into the world.In a post on Wednesday, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle of Pennsylvania announced the news, saying: We have babies!" Continue reading...

Republican senator, who flew to Mexico as Texas faced deadly cold snap, complains of serious security threats' to lawmakersThe Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz, who achieved viral infamy in 2021 when he was seen at Houston airport for a flight to Cancun even as his state faced a historic and deadly spell of cold weather, this week moved a step closer to securing police escorts for lawmakers at airports.Under an amendment to the Federal Aviation Authority Reauthorization bill introduced by Cruz, members of Congress and other prominent officials, and some family and staff members, will be offered security escorts if they are deemed currently ... or previously ... the subject of a threat, as determined by such applicable federal protective agency". Continue reading...

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We don't know if they were warned before the impact,' says wife of one of eight construction workers who was on the bridgeThe construction workers who were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday were on break in their cars, according to the wife of one of the construction workers who survived.Speaking to NBC on Thursday, the wife of Julio Cervantes, one of the eight construction workers who was on the bridge when it collapsed, said: All of the men were on a break in their cars when the boat hit. We don't know if they were warned before the impact." Continue reading...

National security spokesperson says US passed on warnings and dismissed Russian allegations Ukraine was involved as nonsense'The US repeatedly alerted Russia that extremists were planning to attack large gatherings in Moscow ahead of last week's concert hall attack that claimed more than 140 lives, the White House has said.The national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said on Thursday that US officials passed on warnings - including one in writing - and dismissed Russian allegations that Ukraine was involved as nonsense". Continue reading...

The Rev Al Sharpton makes comment to MSNBC amid backlash over Republican's latest moneymaking schemeThe spectacle of Donald Trump selling $60 Bibles is a spit in the face of people that really believe", the Rev Al Sharpton said, amid widespread backlash over the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's latest moneymaking scheme.Blasphemy certainly comes to mind," Sharpton told MSNBC. Continue reading...

Brian Pritchard, first vice-president of state party, voted in nine elections while on probation for 1996 forgery felony convictionAn official in the Georgia Republican party who has said the 2020 election was stolen was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and will receive a public reprimand for voting illegally nine times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Thursday.Brian Pritchard, the first vice-president of the state Republican party, illegally voted in nine elections from 2008 to 2010 while he was still on probation for a 1996 forgery felony conviction in Pennsylvania. Georgia and 14 other states require people to have completed their sentence, including probation, before they can vote. About 163,475 people could not vote in Georgia in 2022 because they were on felony probation, according to an estimate by the Sentencing Project, a criminal justice non-profit. Continue reading...

Federal court allows map to be used for 2024 election despite earlier finding it discriminates against Black votersA federal court will allow South Carolina Republicans to use their congressional map for the 2024 election, it said on Thursday, despite an earlier finding that the same plan discriminates against Black voters. The decision is a big win for Republicans, who were aided by the US supreme court's slow action on the case.In January 2023, a three-judge panel struck down the state's first congressional district, which is currently represented by Nancy Mace, a Republican. The judges said legislative Republicans had impermissibly used race when they redrew it after the 2020 census. As part of an effort to make it more solidly Republican, lawmakers removed 30,000 Black voters from the district into a neighboring one. Republicans argued that they moved the voters to achieve partisan ends, which is legal. The district was extremely competitive in 2020, but Mace easily won the redrawn version in 2022. Continue reading...

The Stanford neuroscientist is highly credentialed and endearingly earnest on his popular wellness podcast, but is now facing claims against his credibilityI'm going to divulge something rather embarrassing: earlier this year I got sucked deep into the Hubersphere", the cult-like following of Andrew Huberman, the controversial neuroscientist and podcaster who is the subject of a viral New York Magazine article that came out this week. Huberman has racked up a massive (and lucrative) following with his data-driven protocols" for a better life. These protocols involve things like taking enormous amounts of expensive supplements, ensuring you view early morning sunlight for 10-30 minutes after waking, carefully timing when you drink coffee, and plunging yourself in ice baths.Sounds like your run-of-the-mill scammy wellness influencer, right? Not quite. What makes Huberman different from others in the Goop for bros" wellness space is that he is highly credentialed and endearingly earnest. The 48-year-old describes himself as a neuroscience professor at Stanford and a lab director at Stanford School of Medicine. He leans heavily on his affiliation with the Ivy League to bolster his credibility and frequently has other Stanford professors on his podcast, which was the third most popular in the world last year, according to Spotify. Continue reading...

New rules around kickoffs are a boost to a player who may sign for the Super Bowl champions. But a practice squad remains his likely destinationIf ever there was time, if ever there was a place, for Louis Rees-Zammit to chase his NFL dream, this is it. The former Welsh rugby union star is reportedly nearing a deal to join the Kansas City Chiefs, the back-to-back Super Bowl champions.Rees-Zammit is likely to join the team for their annual training camp, a kind of extended trial as he learns the rigors of the NFL. He will join a 90-man training camp roster that will eventually be whittled down to 53, with 16 further places up for grabs on the practice squad, an effective reserve team. This season also marks the first time that teams will have an extra spot available on the practice squad carved out for players who have come through the league's International Player Pathway program. Since the IPP was introduced, 37 international players have signed with teams and 18 remain on rosters. Continue reading...

Former New Jersey governor's decision closes another door on No Labels, the non-partisan group seeking to mount a campaignChris Christie, the former New Jersey governor and two-time losing candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said he would not mount a third-party White House run - closing another door on No Labels, the non-partisan group seeking to mount a campaign.I appreciate the encouragement I've gotten to pursue a third-party candidacy," Christie said. Continue reading...

Robotic dog, controlled remotely by state troopers, deployed in house to locate person and found someone armed in basementA robotic dog is being thanked by state police in Massachusetts for helping avert a tragedy involving a person barricaded in a home.The robotic dog named Roscoe was part of the Massachusetts state police bomb squad and deployed on 6 March in a Barnstable house after police were fired upon. Police sent in two other robots often used for bomb disposal into the house to find the suspect along with the robotic dog. Continue reading...

The Republican challenger to Democrat Sherrod Brown for US Senate in Ohio has made dubious claims in his campaignBernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Ohio who expected to mount a stern challenge to Sherrod Brown, the incumbent leftwing Democrat, says his family fled socialism when they came to the US from Colombia in 1971, when he was four years old.Though such statements formed a central part of Moreno's campaign message on his way to securing the Republican nomination with support from Donald Trump, they do not withstand historical scrutiny. Continue reading...

Four other construction workers who were on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed this week still missing and are presumed dead. Plus: the cost of a burrito

Bruce Carnegie-Brown says disaster could cost billions and result in largest single marine insurance loss everThe collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge is likely to lead to the largest single marine insurance loss ever, the chair of Lloyd's of London has said.Bruce Carnegie-Brown said he expected to see insurers incur multibillion-dollar losses after the disaster, which resulted in the deaths of at least two people, with four others missing and presumed dead. Continue reading...

Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association warned of the dangers of bigger cargo vessels and smaller crews not at par with US levelsA top labor union for maritime engineers has sounded the alarm against corporate profiteering in the wake of Tuesday's cargo ship crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, claiming the industry is probably the worst offender".The Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (Meba) warned of the dangers of growing vessels and shrinking crews - claiming that those from overseas are not up to the standards" required in the US. Continue reading...