The world’s largest active volcano has erupted for the first time in 38 years. While the eruption of Mauna Loa wasn’t immediately endangering towns, officials have told about 200,000 people living on Hawaii’s Big Island to prepare to evacuate in the event lava flows started heading towards populated areas.The US Geological Survey warned an eruption 'can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly'
Low vaccination rates seen as hurdle to easing strict zero-Covid policy. Plus, Biden’s labor credentials under scrutinyGood morning.Chinese health officials have announced a drive to accelerate vaccinations of older people against Covid, as police patrolled several cities to stamp out the protests against the country’s strict zero-Covid policy.Why is China still having severe lockdowns? In what could be read as a rare criticism of the country’s health system, a recent comment article published in China’s state-run People’s Daily quoted a pharmaceuticals analyst as saying that a full reopening might “threaten a health system that currently has far fewer ICU beds than those of other developed countries”. Continue reading...
USA manager Steve Sampson and player Alexi Lalas recall ‘the mother of all games’ – and how they would do it differently nowSteve Sampson feels hoodwinked. The USA boss played down any rivalry with Iran before the teams met at the World Cup but, looking back on his team’s 2-1 defeat more than two decades on, he believes he was too diplomatic.With the two teams going head-to-head at the finals again this week to decide which of them makes it out of their group, memories are naturally going back to a contest whose impact reached much further than sport. And Sampson knows where USA lost it. Continue reading...
Democrat set to succeed Nancy Pelosi maintains ties to Aipac and others but could be challenged by critics in his own caucusHakeem Jeffries might be about to make history but some critics fear that on one issue, at least, he will be on the wrong side of it.The progressive New York congressman widely expected to lead the Democrats in the US House of Representatives will be the first person of color to head either party in the chamber. Jeffries’ election as House minority leader in the new Congress in January would also see the baton pass to a new generation of Democratic leaders as the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, 82, steps aside. Continue reading...
Officers charged with cruelty and endangerment after Randy Cox fractured neck when vehicle brakedFive Connecticut police officers have been charged with cruelly neglecting a Black man after he was partially paralysed in the back of a police van, despite his repeated and desperate pleas for help.Randy Cox, 36, was being driven to a New Haven police station on 19 June for processing on a weapons charge when the driver braked hard at an intersection to avoid a collision, causing Cox to fly headfirst into a metal partition in the van. Continue reading...
World’s largest active volcano spews ash and debris for first time in 40 years as eruption migrates to a rift zone, US Geological Survey saysWaves of orange, glowing lava and smoky ash belched and sputtered Monday from the world’s largest active volcano in its first eruption in 38 years, and officials told people living on Hawaii’s Big Island to be ready in the event of a worst-case scenario.The eruption of Mauna Loa wasn’t immediately endangering towns, but the US Geological Survey warned the roughly 200,000 people on the Big Island that an eruption “can be very dynamic, and the location and advance of lava flows can change rapidly”. Continue reading...
Cochise county officials have endorsed claims of voter fraud despite no evidence of any problemsRepublican officials in a rural Arizona county refused on Monday to certify the results of the 2022 midterm election, despite no evidence of anything wrong with the count from earlier this month.Some officials who have embraced voter fraud theories held out, defying a state deadline and setting the stage for a legal battle. Continue reading...
Governor attends Monday ceremony as Chesapeake residents mourn diverse groupHundreds gathered on Monday in Virginia’s second-largest city to honor six people killed in a mass shooting at a Walmart, with the state’s governor pledging to confront a “mental health and a behavioral health crisis”.Chesapeake’s candlelight vigil paid tribute to a diverse group of third-shift workers, ages 16 to 70, who unloaded trucks, broke down cardboard boxes and stocked shelves in this sprawling but tight-knit community near the coast. Continue reading...
With 9 December deadline fast approaching, business groups also push US government to intervene in labor dispute before holidaysJoe Biden called on Congress to intervene and block a railroad strike before next month’s deadline in the stalled contract talks, saying a strike would “devastate our economy”.Biden’s move comes as business groups have warned that the looming strike would hit just before the holiday season and worsen the US’s inflation problems. Continue reading...
Suspect met teen online and ‘catfished’ her before killing three members of her family, according to officersThe suspect in a triple homicide in southern California who died in a shootout with police was a Virginia law enforcement officer who police believe drove across the country to meet a teenage girl before killing three members of her family.Austin Lee Edwards, 28, also probably set fire to the family’s home in Riverside, California, on the day of the shooting on Friday before leaving with the girl, the Riverside police department said in a news release. Continue reading...
Advisers wanted ex-president to distance himself from white supremacist with whom he dined but Trump feared alienating supporters – insidersDonald Trump repeatedly refused to disavow the outspoken antisemite and white supremacist Nick Fuentes after they spoke over dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort, rejecting the advice from advisers over fears he might alienate a section of his base, two people familiar with the situation said.The former US president was urged publicly and privately to denounce Fuentes in the aftermath of the dinner, which included the performer Ye, previously known as Kanye West, who has also recently been propagating antisemitic remarks. Continue reading...
White supremacist admits to murder and hate-motivated domestic terrorism charges in May attack that left 10 Black people deadThe white gunman who fatally shot 10 Black shoppers and workers at a Buffalo supermarket earlier this year pleaded guilty on Monday to murder and hate-motivated terrorism charges, guaranteeing he will spend the rest of his life in prison.Payton Gendron, 19, entered the plea on Monday in a courthouse roughly two miles from the grocery store where he used a semiautomatic rifle and body armor to carry out a racist assault he hoped would help preserve white power in the US. Continue reading...
The two sides meet with a place in the World Cup knockout stages at stake amid growing tension in the Islamic republic“I’m not well versed on international politics. I’m a football coach,” said Gregg Berhalter, but he was a man who had just been exposed to politics in the raw. Twenty-four hours before his side’s definitive Group B fixture against Iran, the USA head coach had been hit by a fusillade of hostile questioning from Iranian media. Everything from censorship to American racism and the presence of the US fleet in the Gulf was thrown at him. It was an experience he will never have had before and few coaches will encounter.It was not entirely unpredictable, however. The complicated and bloody history that exists between Iran and the USA has led to simple sporting encounters between the two nations becoming diplomatic flashpoints. It was the case when the countries first faced each other at the World Cup during France 98 and, in a different way, it has happened again now. Continue reading...
American supporters at the tournament praise the infrastructure and welcome of the hosts although the lack of beer remains a universal gripeThe myriad controversies that have come to dwarf the Qatar World Cup have not kept American fans from turning out in droves, filling bustling public spaces like the Doha corniche and the Souq Wahif clad in USA shirts and stars-and-stripes-patterned regalia.While Fifa has not specified how many tickets it sold directly to US supporters, it has confirmed the United States ranked third in tickets sold by country of residence behind Qatar and Saudi Arabia and ahead of Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Continue reading...
Shanquella Robinson reportedly died while on holiday after viral video shows her being beaten, apparently by an American womanThe US is weighing an extradition request from Mexico after authorities in the country charged an American woman with murdering another US woman shown being beaten while they vacationed in a viral video.Prosecutors in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur have not named the suspect in the death of North Carolina’s Shanquella Robinson, who reportedly died of a severe spinal cord or neck injury while on holiday in Mexico on 29 October. Continue reading...
From Xinjiang to Shanghai and Beijing, protests are creating a rare sense of unity that Xi Jinping cannot afford to allowChina’s heavy-handed zero-Covid policy was intended to save lives. Now, it’s having devastating consequences. Last week, a fire killed at least 10 people, including children, in a tower block in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. As ever in China, official numbers are unreliable, and the true number of casualties may be much higher. It’s clear that the citizens now protesting across China blame the tragedy on the lockdown, despite the claims of local officials that fire escapes in the building were not locked. Horrific videos of the fire show emergency services attempting in vain to douse the flames from beyond a roadblock, while victims scream from the windows pleading for somebody to open the doors of their apartments.For once, the suffering of Xinjiang’s people seems to have evoked widespread empathy among China’s wider populace. When Uyghur demonstrations in Urumqi were crushed by police and security services in 2009, it evoked little sympathy from China’s ethnic Han majority. Instead, the demonstrations precipitated a wave of ethnic violence, accompanied by calls across the Chinese internet for severe punishment for the demonstrators. Similarly, the intense crackdown on Uyghur society that has been going on since 2017 – involving mass incarcerations, forced sterilisations and the destruction of communities – was largely dismissed by the rest of the Chinese populace as a necessary measure to control a defiant and restive minority.Dr James McMurray is a research associate in anthropology and a member of the Asia Centre at the University of Sussex Continue reading...
Melissa Highsmith, who family say was abducted in Fort Worth in 1971, located in South Carolina, more than 1,000 miles awayMore than 50 years after her babysitter kidnapped her as a baby in Texas, a US woman has reunited with her family, who tracked their missing loved one down with a DNA test and without help from law enforcement or other outside involvement.The incredible saga centering on the disappearance of Melissa Highsmith concluded in South Carolina on Saturday, according to a report from the Charleston television news station WCIV as well as a news release from her family. Continue reading...
It’s insurance renewal time again – when I discuss cover in New York, hear tales of NHS woe in the UK, and wonder which is worseFor the second time since moving to the US 15 years ago, I had to call 911 this week. The first time, six years ago, was when smoke poured into the elevator from a fire in the laundry room and four fire trucks arrived within minutes. This week, it was to request an ambulance for a sick neighbour. Between dialling the number, and a gurney and two paramedics materialising in our hallway, was approximately seven minutes. I found myself thinking something I used to think about the NHS: what an amazing service.My understanding, at this distance, is that most ambulances in the UK do not show up in under 10 minutes, even when the emergency is dire. A friend who had a heart attack in the street in London this year was, he told me, lying on the pavement for 40 minutes before the ambulance showed up. This is terrifying, and yet still marginally less terrifying than the common American experience of emergency care, in which gratitude for efficiency is undercut by the dim but thrilling possibility of losing one’s house when the invoice arrives.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The zero-Covid policy is damaging the economy, but to reverse it risks loss of life, economic damage and the emergence of new variantsProtesters across China have made one thing very clear: after three years of harsh restrictions, many people are tired of their government’s pursuit of an increasingly ineffective zero-Covid strategy. China once celebrated its success in containing outbreaks and keeping its economy running, but it has been slow to adapt to a world of more infective variants and mass vaccination. As life begins to feel increasingly normal in Britain and elsewhere, 49 cities – representing a third of China’s population and two-fifths of its economic output – are in partial or total lockdown.The protests will put pressure on the regime to change its approach, but that may be easier said than done. China has been highly politically committed to its Covid policy, even as it has become less and less tenable. And the situation with its health system, population immunity and vaccine stocks is vastly different from ours, partly because of the choices it made earlier in the pandemic. China will have to face some form of living with Covid soon, and millions of lives – not to mention global economic stability – depend on how this happens.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...
Lookups of term for psychological manipulation of a person increased by 1,740% during 2022“Gaslighting” – mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful – is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year.Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn’t a single event that drove significant spikes in the curiosity, as it usually goes with the chosen word of the year.
Beijing, Chengdu and Wuhan are also rocked by demonstrations as anger over restrictions builds. Plus: could ‘cloud brightening’ slow Arctic thawing?Good morning.A wave of civil disobedience – to degrees unseen in mainland China through the past decade – is taking root as frustration mounts over Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy persisting almost three years into the pandemic.How significant is the unrest? Widespread public protest is rare in China, where room for dissent has been all but eliminated under Xi, writes Helen Davidson, forcing citizens mostly to vent their frustration on social media, where they play cat-and-mouse with censors.Chinese police assaulted and detained a BBC journalist covering a demonstration in Shanghai, releasing him after several hours, the broadcaster said. Authorities allegedly claimed they had “arrested him for his own good in case he caught Covid from the crowd”. Continue reading...
Relentless attacks are cutting off power, heat and water. Civilians will need the west’s help to survive the winterOn 17 November, Kyiv woke to its first snow of the winter, the now familiar sound of air-raid sirens and explosions, and the news that, yet again, scores of Russian missiles were cutting through Ukraine’s skies headed for power plants and electricity substations.The destruction of civilian infrastructure is meant to paralyse Ukrainian cities, but has led instead to a new buzz of activity as people try to adapt. Walking through the capital, you tune in to the hum of generators outside cafes that hint cooked food may be had. Other eateries have switched to cold menus and pre-brewed filter coffee, kept warm in a flask. Continue reading...
A small plane crashed into high-voltage electricity lines about 30 miles north of Washington DC, trapping two seriously injured people inside and causing mass outages.The pair were rescued and treated for hypothermia and orthopaedic and trauma-related injuries. The aircraft crashed in Montgomery Village, Maryland, and got caught in live power lines about 30 metres from the ground
Crash near Washington DC caused major outages and left two people with serious injuriesTwo seriously injured people trapped inside a small plane that crashed into high-voltage power lines near Washington DC, causing mass outages, have been rescued, authorities have said.“Both patients have been transported to local area trauma centers with serious injuries,” the Montgomery county fire chief, Scott Goldstein, said in a press briefing on Monday, adding that the two people had suffered hypothermia and orthopaedic and trauma-related injuries. Continue reading...
Les Rouges should take pride in their achievements over the last few years. It’s a shame mistakes on and off the pitch held them backThe softly spoken Fifa translator paused for a moment. But she held her nerve. “In the end,” she said as she relayed man-of-the-match Andrej Kramaric’s words, “Croatia demonstrated who eff’d whom.”Sunday night at the Khalifa Stadium was a cruel, chastening one for Canada. The ignominy didn’t end at the final whistle. Kramaric, whose two goals came in an emphatic 4-1 Canadian defeat, was joined by his manager Zlatko Dalic at the post-match top table where the final words, no matter which language you translate them into, were all Croatian. Continue reading...
The GOP made surprise gains in immigrant enclaves in Brooklyn, as Republicans slammed Democrats as ‘soft on crime’When political pundits predicted a national “red wave” in the midterm elections, they never imagined that one of the few areas it would actually surface would be southern Brooklyn, New York.They weren’t imagining Sunset Park, a working-class area where nearly three in four residents are people of color: a tight-knit Mexican community on its west side and a fast-growing Chinese community to the east, with plenty of mouth-watering taquerias and hand-pulled noodle joints. At the park, when it’s nice out, Latin dance music intermingles with old Mandarin pop songs until the sun goes down. Continue reading...
Party chair says ‘I’ll move this thing to Halloween if that’s what it takes’ amid suggestion Democrats may go to Michigan firstFew in the US would suggest that the presidential election process should last even longer than it already does, but that is exactly what may happen if Republicans in Iowa follow through with a recent threat.In an interview this week with NBC News, Iowa’s Republican party chair said he would be prepared to move the state’s caucuses – the process Iowa uses to identify its preferred presidential candidate – “to Halloween” should Democrats shake up their primary schedule. Continue reading...
Mike White was superb for New York on Sunday. But after the shambles that had gone on before, things could only improveNew York Jets coach Robert Saleh sounded as if he did not want to make too big of a deal of the nice things he saw Sunday from Mike White, the quarterback whom Saleh tapped last week to step in for the struggling Zach Wilson, who was drafted last year to be the team’s latest savior.At one point in his postgame news conference, Saleh said of White: “He’ll make good decisions with the football, and he’ll make them quick.” Then he added: “Just my take on it.” Continue reading...
Despite pledges from governments worldwide, not nearly enough has been done over the past decade to help survivors and deter perpetratorsAlmost a decade ago, more than 150 countries joined the global declaration of commitment to end sexual violence in conflict. They promised to bring perpetrators to justice, to put survivors’ needs first, and to take other practical steps to end impunity.These were lofty goals and there has been some progress, including a few prosecutions at the national level, the adoption of the Murad Code and the establishment of the Global Survivors Fund. But it has not been nearly enough to meet the needs of survivors, or to deter perpetrators from using rape as a weapon of war in almost every new conflict in the past decade. Continue reading...
Reinstating the likes of Donald Trump and Kanye West looks likely to turn the social media site into an extremist ghettoFree speech absolutists are like the cocky audience of a spectator sport – they think they could do better than the players, if they were just allowed a crack at it. To them, speech should be as free as possible, period. Nowhere is their oversimplification of the issue more evident than on social media, where abuse and disinformation have created a new frontier of regulation – and with it a cohort of disingenuous free speech warriors.These absolutists are so unaccustomed to facing consequences for their actions that they have pushed the idea that a censoring “woke” orthodoxy now prevails, and is a threat to freedom of expression. Elon Musk is among them, but since his takeover of Twitter he is having to learn quickly that free speech is not simply about saying whatever you want, unchecked, but about negotiating complicated compromises.Nesrine Malik 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.
Navy member Thomas James was one of two men who prevented gunman from doing more harm after he killed five peopleA member of the US Navy who was injured while helping prevent further harm during a shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado last weekend said on Sunday that he “simply wanted to save the family that I found”.Petty officer 2nd class Thomas James made his first public comments on the shooting in a statement issued through Centura Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, where James is recovering from undisclosed injuries suffered during the attack. Continue reading...
Fauci and Jha comments come amid campaign to encourage public to get the new coronavirus boosters as well as flu shotsWhite House public health officials offered cautious optimism that Americans could begin to move on from coronavirus, but cautioned that keeping immunity vaccination up-to-date and combating scientific disinformation remained key for the country to successfully emerge from the three-year Covid-19 pandemic.“If you look at where we were a year ago at this time, when [coronavirus variant] Omicron started to surge, we were having 800,000 to 900,000 infections and 3,000 to 4,000 deaths [a day]. Today, we had less than 300 deaths. Yesterday, we had 350 deaths, and…anywhere from 27,000 to 45,000 cases” Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the US president, said. Continue reading...
Dinner highlights long-standing ties between the US and France and honors President MacronMusician Jon Batiste is on tap to perform at Joe Biden’s first White House state dinner, this Thursday, highlighting long-standing ties between the US and France and honoring President Emmanuel Macron.“An artist who transcends generations, Jon Batiste’s music inspires and brings people together,” said Vanessa Valdivia, a spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden, whose office is overseeing dinner preparations. Continue reading...
Questions also raised about the funding of law enforcement agencies in places that refuse to enforce so-called red flag lawsGun control returned as a leading topic over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats issuing fresh calls for a ban on assault weapons for the general public.At the same time, questions were raised about the funding of law enforcement agencies in places that refuse to enforce so-called red flag laws, after shooting tragedies in Virginia and Colorado in the last two weeks. Continue reading...
‘It’s very troubling,’ says Arkansas governor who condemned Trump’s meeting with anti-semite Nick FuentesThe Republican governor of Arkansas on Sunday joined a chorus of criticism of Donald Trump for having dinner with American white supremacist and anti-semite Nick Fuentes, accusing the former US president of effectively “empowering” such extremists.“It’s very troubling and it should not happen,” Asa Hutchinson told CNN’s State of the Union show on Sunday morning, becoming the most senior Republican politician to condemn the meeting. Continue reading...
On Tuesday, Gregg Berhalter’s side win or go home. The problem is that US sports culture is built around endless second chancesThe flavor of this World Cup is very different: I’m tempted to call it “The beautiful distraction”. It’s Argentina focusing only on doing this for Lionel Messi and then forgetting how to play soccer without him. It’s Germany trying to make a statement before kickoff and then losing to Japan. It’s what has happened to Iran in their opener, where they were dealing with so much politically that England smelled blood and destroyed them. It’s Qatar hosting the tournament despite not being good enough to play in it. (This game will not only punish a coward, it will also punish the untalented.) Make sure you’re good enough to be there next time.The USA cannot engage in the distraction. Next they have to play Iran, and the decades-old political backdrop is enormous. For our players I think this is the one week to say, “No comment”. It doesn’t mean you don’t care. But if they stuck a microphone in my face as a player and asked how I feel about what’s going on in Iran, I’d say: “Ask me on Wednesday. Next question.” Continue reading...
Regis Prograis had worked for three years to get another shot at the highest level of his sport. I was with the fighter and his team as he prepared for the boutThe late autumn sun, which had lit up Los Angeles on a beautiful afternoon, slipped away when Regis Prograis arrived at the Dignity Health Sports Park. It was 5.45pm on Saturday and LA Galaxy’s home had turned into the War Ground – as their boxing arena is known. Prograis was three hours from stepping into the ring to fight Jose Zepeda for the WBC’s world super-lightweight title on an unforgettable night.Drifting past the David Beckham statue, and down into the basement, Prograis and his team wore gleaming white tracksuits with an image of the Rougorou emblazoned on the front and back. The rougarou, a wolf-like monster in Cajun folklore as well as being the boxer’s nickname, is a mark of his Louisiana roots. Prograis grew up in New Orleans and only left for Houston after he and his family lost everything in 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, when he was 16. Continue reading...
I love my job so much that I’d do it even if I won the lottery. But you have to draw the line somewhereIt feels like we talk about work more than ever, but also that we’re ever more unsure what to think about it. I suppose the two go together: if we had reached a serene consensus about the space it should occupy in our lives and souls, we would just get on with it. Instead, bewilderingly contradictory takes on the philosophy of work are everywhere, flowering and fading as fast as TikTok microtrends.For instance: the Washington Post declared this week that, like high heels, sleeping in the office is “making a comeback”. This in response to Elon Musk’s blowhard demand that staff sign up to work like dogs or ship out (followed, of course, by the inevitable backtrack when many reportedly chose the far-more-attractive ship out option).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...
Idaho governor also directs up to $1m in state emergency funds for investigation after four students killedPolice hunting who is behind the shocking killings of four University of Idaho students have now received hundreds of digital media submissions via an FBI internet link as they continue to seek clues for the unsolved crime.In a statement released on Friday, the Moscow police department said that more than 260 digital media submissions have been sent in by community members since authorities launched an investigation into the quadruple homicide that happened on 13 November.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...
Employees at the company’s hub outside Cincinnati Northern Kentucky international airport are now mobilizingAmazon workers at the air hub outside the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky international airport, Amazon’s largest air hub in the world, are pushing to organize a union in the latest effort to mobilize workers at the tech company.Workers say they are dissatisfied with annual wage increases this year. About 400 of them have signed a petition to reinstate a premium hourly pay for Amazon’s peak season that hasn’t been enacted at the site yet. Their main demands also include a $30 an hour starting wage, 180 hours of paid time off and union representation at disciplinary hearings. Continue reading...
Rick Wilson, a veteran Republican strategist, suggests the ex-president still holds sway despite multiple crisesDonald Trump, the former US president, is all washed up. Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, is poised to dethrone him. This is the view currently in vogue among many in Washington.Not so fast, argues Rick Wilson, a veteran Republican strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group that shot to prominence with go-for-the-jugular advertisements before becoming mired in scandals of its own. Continue reading...
Final report by House select committee is scheduled for release in December – but fixation on Trump has opened a rift on the panelThe House January 6 select committee’s final report into its investigation is expected to focus heavily on Donald Trump’s involvement in the Capitol attack and his potential culpability, opening a rift on the panel weeks before its scheduled release in the middle of December.The nature of the final report – alongside criminal referrals to the justice department – is expected to be the defining legacy of the investigation that brought into sharp relief Trump’s efforts to stop the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s election win and return to the White House for a second term. Continue reading...
Putin’s missiles are raining down on Ukrainians, but the biggest danger they face is weakening support from the US and EuropeA two-day-old baby is killed in an attack on a maternity ward in southern Ukraine. Officials say at least 437 children have died since Russia’s invasion began. More than 800 have been injured. How many kids are permanently traumatised is anybody’s guess.Every day, Vladimir Putin gets away with murder. Continue reading...
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