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I fear we are forgetting lessons from that terrible historyI don't usually talk about my great-uncle Walter. Gen Walter Warlimont, as my grandfather's brother was formally known, was head of the national defence department in the high command of the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany. Only two people were between him and the Fuhrer in the chain of command. Walter worked so closely with Hitler that the failed assassination attempt in July 1944 injured his arm. The orders he signed during wartime - about who to shoot to kill, about how to treat prisoners - meant he had hundreds of thousands of lives on his conscience.Not that Uncle Walter was the only one in the family who facilitated the Third Reich and the Holocaust. My paternal grandparents were very proud to have been among the very earliest members of Hitler's party. My maternal grandfather - Walter's brother - was the head of a factory in Vienna that made the guidance systems for the V2 rocket, a factory that was staffed by Russian and Ukrainian slave labourers. Continue reading...

President's suggestion that his Uncle Bosie' was eaten by cannibals harms US efforts to build Pacific ties, say local expertsJoe Biden's suggestion that his uncle may have been eaten by cannibals in Papua New Guinea during world war two has been met with a mixture of bemusement and criticism in the country.Biden spoke about his uncle, 2nd Lt Ambrose J Finnegan Jr, while campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, describing how Uncle Bosie" had flown single engine planes as reconnaissance flights during the war. Biden said he got shot down in New Guinea", adding they never found the body because there used to be a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea." Continue reading...

Seven men and five women have been chosen to sit on the jury in the ex-president's hush-money trial. Here's what we knowThe difficult process of selecting a jury in the case against Donald Trump neared its conclusion on Thursday, with a jury of 12 people empaneled for the first criminal trial of a former president in US history.The jury is made up of seven men and five women who live in different parts of Manhattan, including the Upper East Side, Harlem, Hell's Kitchen and the West Village. They come from a range of personal backgrounds and employment histories. Several jurors said they had no strong opinions on Trump, and a few said that they do not closely follow the news. The exact racial makeup of the jury, and the ages of the jurors, is unclear. Continue reading...

Students set up encampments to demand Columbia divest from Israel while those at USC gathered in support of Asna TabassumTensions on Columbia University's campus continued to rise on Thursday as the New York police department began breaking up student protests over Israel's war on Gaza, at the direction of the school's president, and arrests were made.Hundreds of students pitched tents and began camping out in the center of the famous central campus from early morning on Wednesday in protest, demanding a ceasefire and for the university to financially divest from Israel, prompting Columbia's president, Minouche Shafik, to issue a stark warning. Continue reading...

Lawrence Hecker is charged with raping teenager after strangling him in 1975 in a New Orleans churchA mental competency hearing has been delayed again for a 92-year-old retired Catholic priest faced with charges of raping a teenager after strangling him unconscious in 1975 in a New Orleans church.Lawrence Hecker's trial on state charges of aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft has been delayed several times since January. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Trump's criminal trial, read our full report:

This was not Donald Trump the business mogul or Donald Trump the 45th president - it was Donald Trump the defendantWith Donald Trump just a few feet away, a potential juror in the criminal case against him summed up the experience in just three words. This is bizarre," she said, with just a slight hint of a seasoned New York accent.Bizarre it was. There was a potential juror who once spent the night at one of Trump's lawyers' homes more than a decade ago (Trump's team used one of its peremptory strikes to remove the juror). The microphones didn't work. The proceedings had to start over when Judge Juan Merchan realized that a court reporter hadn't been present first thing. And the temperature in the courthouse was so frigid that Todd Blanche, one of Trump's lawyers, asked Merchan if it would be possible to turn up the temperature just one degree". Continue reading...

Siblings appear on stage with president at campaign event in Philadelphia and offer full-throated support of White House runProminent members of the Kennedy political dynasty delivered a full-throated endorsement of Joe Biden's re-election campaign on Thursday, a pointed message that was in equal measure a stinging repudiation of their relative Robert F Kennedy Jr, who is making an independent run for the White House.Kerry Kennedy, one of six siblings of the controversial candidate on stage at a Biden campaign event in Philadelphia, called the US president my hero" as she celebrated a litany of his achievements she said would have pleased her father, the late former US attorney general Robert F Kennedy and late uncle and president John F Kennedy. Continue reading...

Bridget Thorne, a Republican elected in Fulton county in 2022, has spread election fraud lies and accused county employees of crimesA Fulton county commissioner in Georgia has been operating a private Telegram channel for years, propagating debunked claims about the 2020 election, and spreading accusations of crimes by county employees, including Ruby Freeman, an election worker defamed by Rudy Giuliani in the wake of Donald Trump's 2020 loss.Bridget Thorne, a Republican representing the relatively conservative cities of Fulton county north of Atlanta, indirectly identifies herself as the creator and administrator of the Fulton County Elections channel on Telegram, a mobile messaging platform, in multiple posts to its page. The channel uses the official logo of the Fulton county board of registration and elections. Continue reading...

Panel urged denial of Israel funds because of serious human rights violations but state department has not yet acted, report saysThe US state department has failed to act on internal reports of human rights abuses by Israeli army and police units, according to a new report, raising new questions over whether Washington's continued supply of arms to Israel is breaking US law.The ProPublica investigative journalism site quoted officials as saying that a special panel set up by the Biden administration had recommended that multiple Israeli military and police units be denied US funding because of serious human rights abuses. But the state department has yet to act on the recommendations. Continue reading...

Hopes of a ceasefire have ebbed, concerns about an assault on Rafah endure, and aid remains wholly insufficientThe Middle East is on the precipice" and one miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable," the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, warned on Thursday. Israel has vowed to retaliate to Iran's weekend barrage of missiles and drones - itself a response to Israel's killing of two generals at an Iranian diplomatic facility in Damascus. It is hard to have confidence in either's ability to calibrate their actions when both have misjudged already.Yet the spectre of full-scale regional conflict, and themany deaths that could result, must not draw attention away from the almost 34,000 Palestinians already killed in Gaza, according to its health authorities, and the many more who will soon diewithout an immediate ceasefire and massive increase in aid in what Mr Guterres called a humanitarian hellscape".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...

Sean Patrick Palmer, of Oklahoma, arrested after explosive device found last week near porch of Satanic Temple in MassachusettsAn Oklahoma man was arrested on Thursday morning in last week's bombing attempt of a Satanic Temple in Massachusetts.Sean Patrick Palmer, 49, of Perkins, Oklahoma, was arrested on charges of using an explosive to cause damage to a building used in interstate or foreign commerce", the United States' attorney office for the district of Massachusetts said in a statement. Continue reading...

The mogul has taken these hacking allegations out of the public arena. Use this moment to craft reforms that can be trustedTrue crime dramas, in which nobody wins but the lawyers, are not the kind of films that made Hugh Grant famous. His starring role in the long-running legal action against the Sun newspaper for phone hacking instead proves that real life is far more flawed and frustrating than film.After more than a decade of leading a campaign against what he called the worst excesses of the oligarch-owned press", Grant settled with Rupert Murdoch when offered such an enormous" sum of money that to proceed would have seen him liable for even bigger costs. Continue reading...

In a congressional hearing, Republicans used specious charges of rampant antisemitism to advance an illiberal agenda on campusesAs Jewish faculty at Columbia University, we watched with alarm as our president, Minouche Shafik, appeared before the House education and workforce committee on Wednesday to answer questions about antisemitism on our campus. While we are deeply concerned about antisemitism, we are also disturbed by the ways the hearing - like those in December, and surely those to follow - used specious charges of rampant antisemitism to advance an illiberal agenda.We were shocked that President Shafik capitulated to its mendacious premises and failed to stand up for fundamental academic principles of honest intellectual inquiry and free expression. Most galling was the absence of any acknowledgment of the relentless devastation in Gaza: the urgent reason for the student protests that the committee caricatures and condemns as antisemitic.Alisa Solomon is a writer, professor of journalism, and the director of the arts and culture concentration at the Columbia Journalism School. Marianne Hirsch is the William Peterfield Trent professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University and professor in the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Sarah Haley is associate professor of history at Columbia University. Helen Benedict is a novelist and professor at Columbia Journalism School. Continue reading...

Fifa is considering a policy change that would allow leagues to play domestic matches overseas, reopening one of football's most squalid ideasThe dream - or nightmare - of a 39th Premier League match in America has drawn a little closer. After reaching a settlement with US promoter Relevent Sports, Fifa last week signaled it will consider changes to its policy of blocking league matches from being played outside the league's home country. The indication that Fifa's thinking on the issue may be evolving in a more flexible direction will be welcomed by Europe's top clubs and deplored by football traditionalists.For clubs, the commercial case is clear. This is an argument anchored not in culture but money. The work of evangelizing soccer is already done; the sport is not like American football, say, or rugby league, or basketball, or even cricket, which are still trawling the globe for converts and regularly hold matches overseas. In the world of professional sport, football is No 1 and probably always will be. Taking chunks of the European domestic season on the road represents a juicy financial opportunity, potentially unlocking valuable revenue to help weather the storm of a newly restrictive regulatory environment and bringing teams closer to the millions of football fans who live outside Europe. Continue reading...

Mike Gallagher, a representative from Wisconsin, is stepping down on 19 April, before the end of his termMike Gallagher has suggested that he is resigning from his seat in Congress because of death threats and swatting targeted at his family.The Republican US representative for Wisconsin shared more insight into his decision to vacate his seat while talking with reporters on Tuesday, the NBC affiliate WLUK reported. Continue reading...

Gigantic bill apparently reflected using 9.5 gigabytes of data on a phone that had not been set up for international roamingA Florida man was stunned to come back from a European trip and - upon checking his phone bill - realize that he had been charged a staggering $143,000 by his phone company for using his device while overseas.ABC Action News reported that Rene Remund and his wife had toured Switzerland last September and had even gone to a T-Mobile store to share his travel plan with his phone provider before leaving. Continue reading...

Measures including background checks on private sales and waiting periods for purchases follow deadly shooting last yearMaine's state legislature approved sweeping gun safety legislation including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people before adjourning on Thursday morning, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history.The Democratic governor, Janet Mills, and the Democratic-led legislature pressed for a number of gun and mental health proposals after the shooting that claimed 18 lives and injured another 13 people, despite the state's strong hunting tradition and support for gun owners. Continue reading...

How Uri Berliner went about his complaint made it clear he was not interested in constructive criticism, but a viral moment

A round packed with goals brought us a smiling Ousmane Dembele, a frustrated Bukayo Saka and match-winning performance from a goalkeeperIf Tuesday night's Champions League second legs tipped one way and then the other with attacking flair, then Wednesday was a night for grit to win the day - and English football to be the loser. It also brought a restoration of the old order, with Bayern and Real Madrid to meet in the semi-finals.Goalkeeper: Andriy Lunin, Real Madrid Continue reading...

Process server allegedly approached adult film star at Brooklyn nightclub seeking information related to recent documentaryDonald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the adult movie actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.A process server working for Trump's lawyers said he approached Daniels with papers demanding information related to a documentary recently released about her life and involvement with Trump, but was forced to leave them at her feet", according to a court filing made public on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Only 28% of Arizona voters approve of the 1864 law. Plus, Israeli media reports weapons deployments for Rafah offensive

Elizabeth Hanna says she was fired by the American Diabetes Association after refusing to approve recipes heaped with the additive made by a major donorElizabeth Hanna had a simple job: help people with diabetes figure out what to eat. Anyone with common sense knows this should probably not entail foods that might increase people's risk of getting diabetes. But that's not necessarily the thinking at the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the world's leading diabetes research and patient advocacy group, which also receives millions of dollars from sponsors in the pharmaceutical, food and agricultural industries.According to a lawsuit Hanna recently filed against the ADA, the organization - which endorses recipes and food plans on its website and on the websites of partner" food brands - tried to get her to greenlight recipes that she believed flew in the face of the ADA's mission. These included recipes like a cucumber and onion salad" made with a third of a cup of Splenda granulated artificial sweetener, autumnal sheet-pan veggies" with a quarter cup of Splenda monk fruit sweetener and a cranberry almond spinach salad" with a quarter cup of Splenda monkfruit sweetener.Neil Barsky, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and investment manager, is the founder of The Marshall Project Continue reading...

The public supports it, and even the rich are calling for it. We must prevent a deeper slide into global inequality

Caleb Williams will almost certainly be the No 1 overall pick this month. But there are plenty of interesting players lower down the boardIn recent drafts, we've seen players selected from Australia. We've had a tight end with no experience picked out of Germany in the sixth-round, thanks to Mike Mayock demanding it on the draft broadcast - that really happened! What we haven't seen is an American-born player selected out of Canada. And we haven't seen an American-born player drafted who played no college football. Continue reading...

With Donald Trump and the Capitol Hill riots in court, the studiously apolitical vibe of this dystopia feels like a cop-outAs the supreme court heard arguments relating to the 6 January riot and Donald Trump sat in a criminal court in Manhattan, cinemas across America have been showing scenes from an imagined world after the end of democracy. The movie Civil War, written and directed by Alex Garland, depicts a conflict-ridden US in which rebel forces battle to overthrow the government. As a thought experiment, this would be a lot more fun in a year in which a man with 91 felony charges wasn't standing for his second term as president. As it is, the film currently at No 1 at the US box office is under some pressure to say something meaningful about where we are now.Civil War does have things to say: about how war is bad, and violence corrupts, and once things get under way people exploit the chaos for all sorts of reasons - which explains the presence of Florida in the film's imagined secessionist uprising. It's a gripping ride that, depending on your view, is either shrewdly non-partisan in a way that assumes the audience can fill in the gaps for themselves (the New York Times), an empty but entertaining romp with lots of explosions (the New Yorker) or a provocation to liberals who don't understand what movies are for (the Hollywood Reporter). Meanwhile, in court this week, prospective jurors in the former president's hush money trial were warned to keep details of themselves confidential, to preserve against the possibility of juror intimidation - the kind of deep background detail in which the film has no interest. Continue reading...

Officer shot and killed both a man who was attacking customers and Valentina Orellana-Peralta, who was hiding in a dressing roomA Los Angeles police officer who fatally shot a 14-year-old girl inside a clothing store in 2021 will not face charges, the California attorney general announced on Wednesday.Valentina Orellana-Peralta was shopping with her mother at a north Hollywood Burlington Coat Factory on 23 December 2021 when the LAPD entered to apprehend a man suspected of attacking customers in the store. When officer William Dorsey Jones Jr fired three rounds at the man, Valentina was in a nearby dressing room with her mother praying and was killed by Jones's gunfire. Continue reading...

Western fire chiefs association details challenges faced by first responders during blazes that killed 101 peopleAs wildfires ripped across Maui last August, the head of the emergency management agency dragged his heels on returning to the island amid the unfolding crisis, while a broad communications breakdown left authorities in the dark and residents without emergency alerts, according to a report released Wednesday.Communications problems were also encountered by Hawaiian Electric, with officials unable to confirm that power lines had been de-energized until well after flames had caused widespread damage, the report from the Hawaii attorney general said. Continue reading...

President touted plan during speech on Wednesday in Pennsylvania, where union support could prove crucialJoe Biden announced plans to triple tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum and promised to block the acquisition of US Steel by a Japanese company during a speech to steelworkers on Wednesday in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where union support could prove crucial in the November general election.Biden touted the plan during a visit to the United Steelworkers union headquarters in Pittsburgh, the heart of the American steel industry, where he said the backbone of America has a steel spine" and promised to keep US Steel as a totally American-owned, American-operated" company. Continue reading...

Senate Democrats dismissed the articles of impeachment, as the charges failed to meet bar of high crimes and misdemeanors'Senate Democrats on Wednesday dismissed the impeachment case brought by House Republicans against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, on grounds that the charges failed to meet the bar of high crimes and misdemeanors" outlined in the constitution as a basis for removing an official from office.In a pair of party-line votes, Democrats held that two articles alleging Mayorkas willfully refused to enforce the nation's immigration laws and breached the public trust with his statements to Congress about the high levels of migration at the US southern border with Mexico were unconstitutional. On the first article, Lisa Murkowski, the Republican senator from Alaska, voted present". Continue reading...

Kari Lake of Arizona warned supporters of intense' election year in which Democrats will come after them with everything'Republican US Senate candidate Kari Lake has told supporters to strap on a Glock" ahead of the 2024 elections as she struggles to gain ground against her Democratic rival in Arizona.In a campaign speech made to a crowd in Arizona's Mohave county on Sunday, Lake echoed Trump-like terms in calling Washington DC a swamp" - and used a reference to carrying guns when she told people to prepare for an intense" election year. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Mayorkas impeachment, read our story here.Chuck Schumer has released a lengthy statement about the commencement (and presumably very swift termination) of the impeachment trial of homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this afternoon.It is the least legitimate, least substantive, and most politicized impeachment trial in the history of the United States," the Democratic Senate majority leader said, encapsulating remarks he made in the chamber just now and posted to Facebook:The charges brought against Secretary Mayorkas fail to meet the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors. To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future.For the sake of the Senate's integrity, and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, Senators should dismiss today's charges.It is beneath the dignity of the Senate to entertain this nakedly partisan exercise.Impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements. That would set a disastrous precedent for the Congress and could throw our system of checks and balances into endless cycles of chaos. Continue reading...

Minouche Shafik appeared beleaguered as House members grilled her over reported upsurge in antisemitism on campusThe head of a prestigious US university clashed with members of Congress today in highly charged hearings over a reported upsurge in antisemitism on campus in the wake of Israel's war in Gaza.Minouche Shafik, the president of Columbia University, appeared beleaguered and uncertain as one Congress member after another assailed her over her institution's supposed inaction to stop it becoming what one called a hotbed of antisemitism and hatred".This article was amended on 17 April 2024 to correctly identify the school where Elizabeth Magill resigned as president last year. The school was the University of Pennsylvania, not Pennsylvania University. Continue reading...

Two fellow Republicans have threatened to remove House speaker if he advances Ukraine funding proposalThe House speaker, Mike Johnson, is pushing ahead with his plan to hold votes on four separate foreign aid bills this week, despite threats from two fellow Republicans to oust him if he advances a Ukraine funding proposal.Shortly after noon on Wednesday, the rules committee posted text for three bills that would provide funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The text of a fourth bill, which is expected to include measures to redirect seized Russian assets toward Ukraine and force the sale of TikTok, will be released later on Wednesday, Johnson said in a note to members. Continue reading...

The University of Southern California canceled its valedictorian's planned speech after pro-Palestinian posts. It's no surpriseIf you want to get ahead in life then I have some advice: keep your mouth shut about Palestine. Or, if you must say something, then make sure it is nuanced like - I'm just paraphrasing a former Mossad agent here - no Palestinian over the age of four is an innocent civilian and they all deserve to be starved to death. Certainly make sure you don't use controversial words like genocide" or occupation", even if those are accurate descriptions according to international law and UN human rights experts. Best to avoid considering Palestinians as humans altogether, rather think of them as Israel's defense minister does - human animals" - if you want to avoid unpleasantness.Asna Tabassum, a first-generation south Asian American Muslim from near Los Angeles, is the latest person to learn this lesson the hard way. Tabassum, who is graduating from the University of Southern California (USC) with a major in biomedical engineering and a minor in resistance to genocide, was recently named her class valedictorian and due to give a speech at her May graduation. Giving a valedictorian address, in which a student reflects on shared experiences and imparts wisdom about the future, is a major honour. It would have been a high point in Tabassum's academic life. Continue reading...

Indian voters ought to think hard about giving Narendra Modi another popular mandateThe world's largest elections begin this weekend in India, amid claims that the race to lead the country has already been won. If Narendra Modi were to secure a third term with a big parliamentary majority, his achievement would match that of the country's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Whatever the outcome, the loser has been Indian democracy. Unlike Mr Nehru, who anonymously criticised his own leadership, Mr Modi has little time for his opponents.Democracies run best when there is a contest of ideas and equal treatment of citizens in everyday administration. These are in short supply in Modi's India. The main opposition Congress party found its bank accounts frozen. It can't be a coincidence that all the leading Indian politicians arrested by enforcement and tax authorities belong to the opposition and none to the ruling party. Weaponising India's prosecutorial apparatus seems unnecessary, as Mr Modi can massively outspend his rivals. Since 2018, Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata party has received about 1.25bn from wealthy donors, more than all other political parties combined. Continue reading...

St Louis officer Jatonya Muldrow claimed she was transferred to undesirable new job because of her sexThe US supreme court on Wednesday gave a boost to a St Louis police officer who sued after claiming she was transferred to an undesirable new job because of her sex, in a case testing the scope of federal workplace protections.The 9-0 ruling by the justices threw out a decision by a lower court to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the officer, Jatonya Muldrow, and directed it to reconsider the matter. Continue reading...

The American Diabetes Association takes millions from companies that stand to profit from our reliance on drugs. Is that affecting their guidance?For a glimpse into how big business influences the $4tn US healthcare system, look no further than the world's most powerful diabetes advocacy and research non-profit, the American Diabetes Association (ADA).Diabetes afflicts 38 million Americans, with another 90 million considered pre-diabetic. Every year the disease claims the lives of over 100,000 Americans and disproportionately affects people of color. It is also ruinously expensive, as doctors visits, hospital stays, insulin, blood test strips, leg amputations, continuous glucose monitors and numerous glucose-lowering drugs add up to about $400bn a year. To put it bluntly, we are losing the war on diabetes. Continue reading...

The core of the Golden State team that won four NBA titles may hang around for a while longer. But there seem few options to reverse the declineThe detractors of the Golden State Warriors dynasty of the past decade thought the party was over when Kevin Durant left in 2019 after three seasons and two NBA titles. They thought it again when the Warriors were a dreadful 15-50 in 2019-2020 and missed the playoffs again the next year. But the doubters have yet to be proved correct and Golden State got the band back together to win the championship in 2022.This time, however, those waiting for an end to this Warriors era of dominance may have a point. On Tuesday, Golden State lost in the NBA's Play-In Tournament to the Sacramento Kings, 118-94. The game was never close, and it was heavy on symbolism. Sharpshooting guard Klay Thompson had perhaps the worst game of his career, going 0-for-10 from the field and putting a zero on his scoreline. Draymond Green, the defensive and playmaking wizard, found himself bullied in the post by the Kings' Domantas Sabonis. Chris Paul, the future Hall of Fame guard, had all of three points in 18 minutes of action. Underpinning it all was the face of the franchise, Stephen Curry, scoring a fine 22 points but unable to carry the whole team. Continue reading...

Smartmatic sued OAN in 2021, saying it was a victim of OAN's disinformation' that its equipment flipped the election for BidenThe voting equipment company Smartmatic has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit with the far-right One America News Network (OAN) over lies broadcast on the network about the 2020 election.Erik Connolly, a lawyer for Smartmatic, confirmed the case had been settled, but said the details were confidential. Attorneys for Smartmatic and OAN notified a federal judge in Washington on Tuesday that they were agreeing to dismiss the case, which Smartmatic filed in 2021. Continue reading...

Airline says it experienced IT issue during upgrade to system that calculates weight and balanceThe US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a ground stop advisory on Wednesday for Alaska Airlines, saying: All Alaska mainline and subcarrier flights ground stopped."In a separate statement, the FAA said the carrier asked the FAA to pause the airline's mainline departures nationwide". It did not provide a reason for the stoppage. CNBC reported that the problem may have been an IT issue and that the airline's system used to calculate weight and balance for flights was not functioning correctly. Continue reading...

Luther Hall was severely injured by his own colleagues while undercover at a 2017 protest in MissouriA Missouri judge awarded more than $23m to a former St Louis police officer who was beaten by other officers while working undercover at a protest in 2017.On Monday Luther Hall was awarded the significant sum in a default judgment by Joseph Whyte, the St Louis circuit judge, after one of the defendants failed to respond to a lawsuit over the 2017 attack. Continue reading...

The president's moral failure in Gaza has taken on historic proportions, like Lyndon Johnson's in Vietnam before himAmerica is big, diverse and polarized. Yet, when it comes to the war in Gaza, opinions here are converging. A Gallup poll in March found 55% of respondents disapprove of Israel's actions", up from 45% in November. Among registered Democrats, the figure is 75%. As the number of citizens voting uncommitted" in Democratic primaries makes plain, President Biden's unqualified support for Israel is a problem. Beyond the human carnage - 32,000 Palestinians, including over 14,000 children, have been killed by Israel in Gaza - Biden's Israel policy could cost him the election.We have given Biden and his administration and the party a gift," said Layla Elabed, organizer of the Listen to Michigan campaign, where 100,000 voters marked the uncommitted" box in February. The vote in Michigan, a battleground state where Biden beat Trump by a little more than 154,000 votes in 2020, has triggered a cascade of protest votes in primaries across the country. At least 25 uncommitted delegates will be sent to the Democratic national convention in August. Continue reading...

Restored trifecta could allow Democrats to pass laws protecting voting rights and election administrationSpecial elections for two vacant seats in the Michigan house of representatives flipped control back to Democrats, who organizers say could use their restored trifecta in the state to pass legislation protecting voting rights and election administration.A push to codify voter protections stalled after two Democratic lawmakers resigned and the party lost its majority in the house of representatives last November. With the election on Tuesday of Mai Xiong and Peter Herzberg, who represent sections of Detroit and its suburbs, legislators could use their newfound majorities to renew those efforts. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Residents of Ukraine's second city tell of impact of Russian attacks targeting suburbs and power suppliesKharkiv is at risk of becoming a second Aleppo" unless US politicians vote for fresh military aid to help Ukraine obtain the air defences needed to prevent long-range Russian attacks, the city's mayor has warned.Ihor Terekhov said Russia had switched tactics to try to destroy the city's power supply and terrorise its 1.3 million residents by firing into residential areas, with people experiencing unscheduled power cuts for hours at a time. Continue reading...