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When even the Met police and National Trust scones are apparently peak wokerati', it's become the establishment normIs woke dead? Is it over? Has it peaked", run its course before we've even properly agreed on what this endlessly controversial but somehow never quite defined social justice movement actually was? Though American rightwingers have been hopefully pronouncing its last rites for a while now, until very recently rumours of its death seemed exaggerated in Britain.Sure, some vegan restaurants have gone bust lately, but sadly so have plenty of other restaurants in the face of a cost of living crisis. And yes, oat milk sales are down. But is that because it has been toxified by political association, or because it has fallen out of favour with the wellness lobby, or just because it's expensive? Even reports of a YouTube-fuelled anti-feminist backlash among some young men, or of young women lapping up the original (not very woke) Sex and the City series on Netflix didn't feel like much of a tipping point. But then came the paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass's landmark review on treating transgender children, which found that medical interventions have been underpinned by remarkably weak evidence" and made clear treatment should be holistic, seeking a full understanding of everything going on in children's lives.Gaby Hinsliff 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...

Revelation in new book that possible Trump running mate killed untrainable' hunting dog prompts widespread revulsionConservative pundits have condemned the South Dakota governor and possible Trump running mate Kristi Noem, amid widespread horror over her admission in a new book that she killed both an untrainable" dog and an unruly goat during a single day in hunting season.Alyssa Farah Griffin, a Trump White House staffer turned critic, said: I'm a dog lover and I am honestly horrified by the Kristi Noem excerpt. I wish I hadn't even read it. A 14-month-old dog is still a puppy and can be trained. A large part of bad behaviour in dogs is not having proper training from humans. Continue reading...

We helped bring Dominik Feri to justice. His trail should have rattled a complacent political establishmentHe was spoken of as an extraordinary talent. A rising star with a million followers on Instagram, who made politics relevant for younger generations. As recently as 2018, Politico ranked him among 28 people who would shape Europe in the years ahead.But earlier this week, Dominik Feri was sentenced to three years in prison for rape. A man once feted as the great hope of the Czech Republic, and the youngest member of parliament in the country's history is now its first politician to be jailed for sexual violence. Continue reading...

Jeremy Cooper injected McClain, 23, with ketamine after police forcibly restrained him as he walked home in Denver in 2019A former paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with ketamine avoided prison and was sentenced to probation on Friday after his homicide conviction in the Black man's death, which helped fuel the 2020 racial injustice protests.Jeremy Cooper faced up to three years in prison. He administered a dose of the sedative to McClain, 23, who had been forcibly restrained after police stopped him as he was walking home in a Denver suburb in 2019. Continue reading...

Police sound alarm after 13-month-old dies in Everett near Seattle and two other babies taken to hospital in past weekOfficials in Washington are sounding alarms after a baby died, and two others apparently also overdosed, in the past week in separate instances in which fentanyl was left unsecured inside residences.A 911 caller on Wednesday afternoon reported that a 13-month-old baby was not breathing in an apartment in Everett, a city near Seattle, the Daily Herald reported. The baby died later at a hospital, according to authorities. The Snohomish county medical examiner's office will determine the baby's official cause and manner of death, officials said. Continue reading...

Representative running for US Senate forced to attend dinner in shirtsleeves after formal clothing taken from car parked in city garageSan Francisco has earned an unwelcome national reputation for car burglaries, which Adam Schiff was reminded of the hard way: the Democratic representative had his luggage swiped from his car while it was parked in a downtown garage.With his formal clothing gone, Schiff ended up at a fundraising dinner Thursday for his US Senate campaign dressed like he was headed to a Los Angeles Dodgers game - in shirtsleeves and an insulated vest. Others who attended the event were mostly decked out in suit jackets and ties. Continue reading...

Minneapolis city council approves payment to Donald Williams, who tried to intervene to stop police killing in 2020The Minneapolis city council approved a $150,000 settlement to an eyewitness who tried to intervene to prevent George Floyd's murder by police in the city almost four years ago and alleges he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.Donald Williams, 35, a mixed martial arts fighter who testified against Derek Chauvin in the former police officer's 2021 murder trial, sued the city last spring, alleging he was assaulted by police while trying to prevent Floyd's death on 25 May 2020. Continue reading...

Ex-president rails against ban on attacking key people connected to the trial; longtime Trump assistant asked whether boss distracted while signing checks. This blog is now closed.

We've now finished our first week of testimony in former president Donald Trump's criminal trial - and have one major witness in the books.

Investigators say man concealed iPhone to record bathroom video of 14-year-old girl, who used her phone to document evidenceAn American Airlines flight attendant was indicted on Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September. Authorities also alleged that Estes Carter Thompson III had four separate videos which showed girls using lavatories on an aircraft where he worked.The 36-year-old Thompson of Charlotte, North Carolina, was indicted on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of images of child sexual abuse depicting a prepubescent minor.In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International Continue reading...

Dramatic footage shows law enforcement deploying Tasers and teargas against protesters at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Police detained 28 people on campus, the university said, after protesters began erecting a tent encampment in an attempt to emulate a symbol of vigilance employed by protesters at Columbia University and elsewhere. When officers in tactical gear began detaining people, some submitted while others pushed back. Video shows officers at least once used an electrical stun gun on a protester who was handcuffed on the ground

President drops by Sirius XM studios to speak with the shock jock as Donald Trump sat in a courtroom downtownJoe Biden sprang a surprise on the Washington press corps on Friday when he gave an interview to the radio host and shock jock Howard Stern.The president also made news. Asked if he would debate Donald Trump before the election in November, as the presumptive Republican nominee (who skipped all debates in the primary) has demanded, Biden said: I am, somewhere, I don't know when, but I am happy to debate him." Continue reading...

The US president continues to support Israel in its onslaught on Gaza. Morehouse College's most famous alumnus was anti-warMorehouse College is a special place. The only all-male historically Black college in the world, it has alumni ranging from Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the most celebrated anti-war civil rights leader in history, to Theodore Ted" Colbert III, the CEO of Boeing's defense, space and security division, a key player in supplying the weapons technologies for Israel's months-long campaign of military vengeance on Palestinians.While there is much diversity among the ranks of this brotherhood, Morehouse - also my alma mater - places a primacy on moral leadership and service, and Dr King has been a critical avatar in these efforts. There is a prominent statue of him on campus, his likeness is depicted as a silhouette on official college brochures, the chapel on campus is named in his honor. His papers are held nearby at the Robert W Woodruff Library. Considering King's anti-militarism, and the college's embrace of him as a beacon on campus, the decision to invite Joe Biden to give Morehouse's commencement speech to this year's graduating class is a moral disaster.

Bulk carrier uses deep-water channel en route to Canada marking important step in recovery efforts after last month's disasterThe first cargo ship passed through a newly opened deep-water channel in Baltimore after being stuck in the harbor since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed four weeks ago, killing a work crew and halting most maritime traffic through the city's port.The Balsa 94, a bulk carrier sailing under a Panama flag, passed through the new 35ft channel headed for Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, on Thursday. Two more commercial ships followed later, including a vehicle carrier headed to Panama. Continue reading...

Both sides are beset by those who think their words and deeds bring peace closer. Instead they instil fear and make a better future harder to attainBeware the friend who is only trying to help. Not, perhaps, as a rule for life but certainly when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict and the clashes that battle provokes around the world. So often those who think they're doing their bit serve only to make an already impossible situation even worse.The week began with an instructive example, when Gideon Falter, head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, released a video clip of himself being steered away from one of London's weekly Gaza demonstrations by a police officer on the grounds that: You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march." Falter argued that he had flushed out proof that the Metropolitan police regard the marches as an unsafe environment for visibly Jewish people, even though the Met allows them to go ahead week after week. Continue reading...

Secretary of state met Xi Jinping in Beijing and warned of sanctions over China's support for Russian arms industryWashington has seen evidence of attempts by Beijing to influence and arguably interfere" in this year's US elections, the secretary of state has said during a trip to China, also warning that Chinese companies face new sanctions if they do not stop supplying material and equipment to the Russian arms industry.Antony Blinken told CNN that he had reiterated Joe Biden's message to Xi Jinping not to interfere in November's vote - a warning that reportedly received assurances from the Chinese president that he would not do so. Asked whether China was keeping to its promise, Blinken said: We have seen, generally speaking, evidence of attempts to influence, and arguably interfere, and we want to make sure that that's cut off as quickly as possible. Continue reading...

Police clashed with protesters at Ohio State University, hours after they gathered on Thursday evening. Those who refused to leave after warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, said a university spokesperson, Benjamin Johnson, citing rules barring overnight events.As the death toll mounts in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis worsens, protesters at universities across the US are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies they say are enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the demonstrations have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus, partly prompting the calls for police intervention

South Dakota governor includes bloody tale in campaign volume - and admits a better politician ... wouldn't tell the story here'

As he entered the courthouse for the fourth day of testimony in his New York hush money trial, the former US president Donald Trump stopped to speak to reporters about his wife Melania's birthday and the temperature of the courtroom.

Luzerne county, in the battleground state Pennsylvania, has faced high-profile mistakes like discarded ballots, and turnover. Did it pass its primary season test?

As pro-Palestinian demonstrations roil campus, the station's undergraduate reporters - working 18 hour days - have become an essential news sourceThe turning point was certainly immediate, very sudden ... We received a tip at 4am that there would be a demonstration on Columbia's campus, and pretty soon after that, we went live on air."The presenter, Georgia Dillane, is describing the moment on 17 April that student radio station WKCR was thrust into the spotlight with its quick news updates from inside the university grounds. Continue reading...

The California university cancelled Asna Tabassum's speech because of security concerns'. The real reason is cowardiceWhen Asna Tabassum, a hijab-wearing Muslim, was announced as the valedictorian for the University of Southern California class of 2024, my initial reaction was the thought of my south Asian mother saying, What are you doing? Why aren't you valedictorian?" But what followed was pride.

This is not a repeat of the Covid pandemic. Yet global governments should follow the US and prepare a responseAvian flu, or H5N1, is making headlines in the United States. The past few years have seen concerning signs of it spreading across the world - whether in chickens in Britain, sea lions in Peru, or Caspian seals in Russia. This time, it is has been confirmed in American cows, and the World Health Organization has warned that the risk of it spreading to humans is of enormous concern".While it is early days, the hypothesis is that in late 2023, a single cow was infected by coming into contact with infected birds' faeces, or having infected dead birds in its feed. This began cow-to-cow transmission, and potentially even cow-to-bird transmission. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also confirmed one human case of H5N1 in a farm worker, which could either represent cow-to-human (not seen before) or bird-to-human transmission.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...

Offer for cutting edge' UK firm from Thoma Bravo signals another blow for the London Stock Exchange

Students demonstrating and hunger-striking face arrests and hospitalization - but they think they can make a difference

The professor on his famous 13 keys' to the White House, a method for predicting election results that's been right nine times out of 10He has been called the Nostradamus of US presidential elections. Allan Lichtman has correctly predicted the result of nine of the past 10 (and even the one that got away, in 2000, he insists was stolen from Al Gore). But now he is gearing up for perhaps his greatest challenge: Joe Biden v Donald Trump II.Lichtman is a man of parts. The history professor has been teaching at American University in Washington for half a century. He is a former North American 3,000m steeplechase champion and, at 77 - the same age as Trump - aiming to compete in the next Senior Olympics. In 1981 he appeared on the TV quizshow Tic-Tac-Dough and won $110,000 in cash and prizes. Continue reading...

Both were pilloried, but that was then. Today, one has beaten a rape conviction, the other may return as presidentAccording to his representatives, former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is still digesting the overturning of his rape conviction by a New York court, but they did come out to say he was cautiously excited". Cautiously excited? I'm not sure these are the words I'd alight on to paint a word-picture of a rapist. You might as well say tentatively aroused". Then again, as we're about to discuss, quite a lot of guys don't particularly have to worry about what they say or do, or how they say or do it. It's only natural that Harvey should very much want to be one of them again.Speaking of word-pictures, though, how's this for a vignette of our times? When they heard the news that Weinstein's conviction had been overturned on Thursday, a whole host of reporters happened to be looking at the exact spot in the exact New York courtroom that he'd sat in when that original judgment had been handed down. This was because they were waiting for Donald Trump to sit in it for Thursday's proceedings in his hush money trial. Mr Trump, you might recall, is in such a lot of trouble that he is the presumptive Republican nominee and current bookies' favourite to win the US presidency again, though admittedly he lags behind Weinstein on the sexual assault and misconduct front, given that only 26 women have accused him of it. Ultimately, though, I guess the question is: if #MeToo went too far", what would going just far enough" have looked like? Continue reading...

Germany's complicity with Turkey's repressive regime worries me more than its doner diplomacyNazis eat doner kebabs in secret," must be one of the dumbest slogans I have seen at German protests against the far right. Yes, the popularity of the kebab in Germany has become something of a symbol of labour migration from Turkey after the second world war. And yes, Nazis get hungry, too. So what? If the consumption of ethnic-minority food was really an obstacle to the ideology of white supremacy, Germans would either be starved out by now or they wouldn't vote for Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD). Neither of these is the case: the kebab is the second most popular fast food among Germans, and according to polls, the AfD their second most popular political party.Still, for the German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, it seems to be a sign of cosmopolitanism to promote kebab eating, so his team thought it a good idea to send him to Turkey with a whole skewer full of meat as part of an official visit this week, the first by a German president in 10 years. Continue reading...

New York appeals court has thrown out 2020 conviction, but disgraced movie mogul is staying jailed from separate rape conviction. Plus, scheme launched for reparations to Ukrainian sexual violence survivors

Coastal elites' feel the pinch of fast-food price hikes too. Plus: Liz Truss bars Guardian journalists from book launch. LolDonald Trump's appearance in criminal court on Monday has raised many questions, constitutional and otherwise, but on the evidence of the first day I find myself most curious about the former president's McDonald's order. During jury selection last week, the Daily Mail reported on a $700 (560) McDonald's order put in by Trump staffers that included 27 orders of fries, 27 quarter pounders, a bunch of nuggets and no drinks. A McDonald's employee complained anonymously that they didn't leave a tip - in line with everyone who eats at McDonald's - but still. Continue reading...

His viral TikToks of his generic 9-5 life in a Texas suburb have become a Rorschach test of sortsConnor Hubbard might be the most boring man on the internet. The 29-year-old dresses like a generic white guy, lives in a nice but unremarkable house in the Dallas, Texas, suburbs and works a 9-5 in insurance. He lives for" his morning coffee and loves going to the gym after work and watching TV in the evening. He is perfectly happy with his mundane existence - which includes a wife, a dog and a baby on the way - and does not aspire to anything more. The internet is obsessed with him.Every few months one of Hubbard's slice-of-an-ordinary-life videos goes viral eliciting extreme reactions. A Rorschach test of sorts, half of the viewers seem to think his world is morbidly depressing (what is the point of even living?" one person asked), while the other half thinks it is hugely aspirational. Under the comment section of the latest video to go viral, people are having heated debates about whether the man is a role model or a cautionary tale. Continue reading...

The indictment details the steps to push the concept of alternate electors in an alleged effort to overturn Biden's victoryThe indictment against the slate of fake electors in Arizona and the Trump allies who advanced the scheme there includes a host of public statements and private exchanges that show how the group intended to overturn the state's electoral votes for Joe Biden in 2020.Arizona's Democratic attorney general Kris Mayes announced Wednesday that a state grand jury charged the 11 false electors and seven others with nine felony counts of fraud, forgery and conspiracy. The indictment from Mayes' office is sure to be a talking point in this year's elections , nearly four years after the acts themselves occurred. Continue reading...

As support for abortion even in states as red as Kentucky and Kansas grows, the GOP appears to be breaking ranks with the hardlinersIn the two years since the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade, the 50-year-long partnership between Republicans and anti-abortion activists has steadily fractured as political backlash to abortion bans has mounted. But perhaps the biggest crack emerged on Wednesday, when Arizona's Republican-controlled state legislature moved to repeal the state's 1864 near-total abortion ban.After days of national outcry over an Arizona supreme court ruling that upheld the 1864 ban, passed before Arizona became a state, three Republicans in the state house broke ranks to vote with Democrats to support a repeal. Last week, two Republicans in the state senate also voted with Democrats to advance a similar repeal. As long as those Republican votes hold firm, Democrats will likely send the repeal to Arizona's Democratic governor in May. Continue reading...

Multiple arrests at crackdown on Emory University campus encampment focused on Palestine and Cop CityPolice have carried out multiple violent arrests at Emory University in Decatur, Georgia, in what appears to be the first campus crackdown in recent days to involve rubber bullets and teargas after students set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestine and against Cop City.On Thursday, Emory students set up multiple tents on the campus's lawns in protest against the university's ties to Israel, as well Atlanta's Cop City, a police and fire department training center that is being constructed on a 171-acre plot in a forest south-east of Atlanta. Continue reading...

Victims and their families are at their wits' end. We owe it to them to throw everything at this national crisisIt's happening again.Another run of alleged domestic violence homicides has horrified the nation, and the media is again searching for answers. Continue reading...

Jose Andres, founder of organisation, told mourners gathered at Washington National Cathedral how the loss of his staff should inspire us to do better'The seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes represented the best of humanity" and risked everything to feed people they did not know and will never meet," Jose Andres, the celebrity chef who founded the organisation, told mourners on Thursday.Speaking at Washington National Cathedral to those gathered to honour the aid workers, Andres said there was no excuse for the killings and renewed calls for an investigation into the deaths. Continue reading...

Move made after more than 90 demonstrators arrested on campus and university cancels pro-Palestinian valedictorian's speechThe University of Southern California (USC) has canceled its main stage graduation ceremony, citing new safety measures as student protests over the Israel-Gaza war have surged on the campus.USC is one of many campuses across the country that have become hubs for student demonstrations against the war, with hundreds of arrests nationwide as tensions escalate. Police arrested dozens of students and activists at USC this week on trespassing charges. Continue reading...

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David Pecker testified about his role in buying a story from the model Karen McDougal about an alleged affair with Trump

Oral arguments over former president's claim of immunity seem to have left Trump happier than the justice departmentWell," said one reporter to another as they left the supreme court chamber, sometime after noon on Thursday. Looks like we're getting a king."Notwithstanding a certain mordant hyperbole on a momentous day in American history, the sentiment seemed within bounds. Continue reading...

Dazhon Darien impersonated high school principal in Maryland in clip that quickly spread on social media, police sayA high school athletic director in Maryland has been charged with using artificial intelligence to impersonate a principal on an audio recording that included racist and antisemitic comments, authorities said on Thursday.Dazhon Darien faked the voice of Pikesville high school's principal in January following conversations that Darien's contract would not be renewed, according to charging documents filed by Baltimore county police. Continue reading...

Court ruled last month that Crystal Mason, initially sentenced to five years in prison, did not know she was ineligible to vote in 2016A Texas prosecutor will appeal against a court ruling tossing out a five-year prison sentence for a woman who unintentionally tried to vote while ineligible in the 2016 election, an unexpected move that continues one of the most closely watched voting prosecutions in the US.Last month, the second court of appeals, which is based in Fort Worth, threw out the 2018 conviction of Crystal Mason, a Black woman who submitted a provisional ballot in 2016 that ultimately went uncounted. Mason was on supervised release for a federal felony at the time she voted and has said she had no idea she was ineligible. The panel said prosecutors had failed to prove Mason actually knew she was ineligible. Continue reading...

Republican Mike Johnson accused of wilfully spreading misinformation' and inciting violence' after CNN interviewProgressive activists have condemned Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, for willfully spreading misinformation" and inciting violence" in a TV interview about student protests against Israel's war in Gaza.Johnson, who was booed and heckled during a press conference at Columbia University on Wednesday, when he said Hamas backed" the protests in a CNN interview. There is no evidence Hamas has had any role in the student protests, though the organization has praised the demonstration. The Republican went on to make sweeping, incendiary claims: Some of these students apparently are unaware of the atrocities of October 7 or they're denying it. Continue reading...