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Inspired by Michigan, Minnesota organizers are urging people to vote uncommitted' to protest Biden's support of IsraelDozens of families turned up to a Minneapolis park on Sunday to hear why they should cast an uncommitted" protest vote in Tuesday's presidential primary and how that could affect the Israel-Gaza war.Kids played on the playground or made signs to support Palestine while their caregivers listened as organizers shared an easy action": show up at your local polling place on Tuesday, ask for a Democratic ballot and check the box that says uncommitted". Continue reading...

Real friends don't expect instant feedback. They know you're busy slicing potatoes or loading the washing machineFew things bring me greater joy than someone taking two weeks to reply to a WhatsApp message. I mean it. This week, my friend and former teacher replied to a message I sent asking after his knee, with a very friendly and funny message. It had taken him a mere 24 days to respond. Glorious.Not only does that kind of slack immediately take any pressure off me to reply there and then, while trying to simultaneously slice a potato, open a box of magnets for my son, load the washing machine and turn down the radio; but it proves the two of us have enough mutual affection and respect that, at some point, we can just pick up where we left off. Have I replied to him yet? Of course not. I've had cables to untangle and rice to boil. But I will. Continue reading...

We're falling out of love with manual cars, says the DVLA. What will driving enthusiasts' have left to feel superior about now?You can do whatever you like when you're reviewing a car, because the cultural standard was set by Jeremy Clarkson. You're almost expected to ding it. I once took a whole hubcap off a Toyota Hilux and pretended I'd done it off-road on a caper, when in fact I'd backed into a pillar in a car park. The Hilux was somewhat longer than I realised; watch out for that.This being the case, I'd been doing the job for years without a moment's anxiety, not even when I took a Ferrari California T on the Isle of Wight ferry and its internal alarm thought it was being car-trafficked. And then I found myself in a Fiat Spider on a winding Italian road (lovely little roadster built off the Mazda platform) and I've never been so stressed in my goddam life.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The EU's influence over Netanyahu is limited but it could pressure an electorally vulnerable Joe Biden to stop the warEurope is flanked by two grotesque wars involving mass slaughter (Gaza is, after all, just 578km away from Cyprus), waged by far-right fanatics harbouring either imperial or colonial intentions, and for whom war has become inextricably tied up with holding on to political power. One war implicates European security directly; the other is a shot at projecting its voice in the world. On both, the EU must start acting like a foreign policy superpower - not just independent of the US but also capable of nudging its hand.It's striking how much images of Gaza and Mariupol look similar. Bombed-out and destroyed, as broken as the bodies of the thousands of civilians killed beneath Russian bombs in one place, and Israeli bombs in the other. Each has its particular horror - in Ukraine, the legions of abducted and transferred children, in Gaza, the now rampant risk of mass hunger confronting nearly 2 million people.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist

Selling the game in Vegas was worth a try but pyrotechnics, booming music and its commonality to other sports won't work in the long runWith a doubleheader of games on Saturday night in cavernous Allegiant Stadium, only a few weeks removed from its duties as the Super Bowl venue, the NRL made a hard sales pitch for a US audience.I promise - I promise you are going to enjoy what we affectionately call the greatest game of all," intoned Australian commentator Dan Ginnane at the opening of Fox Sports' American broadcast of an Australian game being played on an American field in the otherworldly city of Las Vegas. Continue reading...

Houses, roads and cars in South Jordan have been hit by a swathe of invasive weeds after a strong spring stormTowns in Utah have been inundated with tumbleweeds that have blocked roads, surrounded houses and buried cars after a strong storm.South Jordan, which lies south of state capital Salt Lake City, is cleaning up after winds blew thousands of the plants through streets. Continue reading...

The western part of the United States has seen blizzards and high winds over the last few days with video showing tumbleweeds swarming across roads and overtaking homes and vehicles. Extreme weather has hit Utah, California and Nevada, causing widespread disruptions

Haley is the first woman to win a Republican primary, her campaign has said, but faces steep odds with Donald Trump expected to secure the nominationNikki Haley has notched up her first victory of the 2024 Republican primaries, after winning the vote in the District of Columbia.Haley, the only remaining challenger to Donald Trump, won 62.9% of the vote, versus 33.2% captured by the former president. Haley will pick up 19 delegates from her win, a small portion of the 1,215 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Continue reading...

A pair of horses temporarily slowed down traffic after escaping the Cleveland police stables and making their way to Interstate 90, the longest highway in the United States. Surveillance videos posted online by the Ohio transportation department showed the pair of horses weaving through cars in oncoming traffic.

The vice-president called for a ceasefire and the immediate release of hostages, in comments that appeared to be the strongest yet by a US leader on GazaUS vice-president Kamala Harris has bluntly called out Israel for not doing enough to ease a humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza as the Biden administration faces increasing pressure to rein in its close ally while it wages war with Hamas militants.Harris, speaking on Sunday in front of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers beat US civil rights marchers nearly six decades ago, called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept a deal to release hostages in return for a 6-week cessation of hostilities. Continue reading...

Rogue pair temporarily slowed Ohio traffic after escaping Cleveland police stables and making their way to Interstate 90Motorists in Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday were met with two horses running free down Interstate 90, the longest highway in the United States.The pair of horses temporarily slowed down traffic over the weekend after escaping the Cleveland police stables and making their way to the highway. Continue reading...

The bill sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66tn for fiscal 2024 and still faces opposition from hardline House RepublicansUS congressional negotiators on Sunday revealed a bill to fund key parts of the government through the rest of the fiscal year that began in October, as lawmakers faced yet another threat of a partial shutdown if they fail to act by Friday.The legislation sets a discretionary spending level of $1.66tn for fiscal 2024, a spokesperson for Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said. It fills in the details of an agreement that Schumer and Republican House of Representatives speaker Mike Johnson set in early January. Continue reading...

College announces new member activities are suspended pending investigation of possible activities that threatened people's safetyProgram activities of fraternities and sororities at the University of Maryland have been suspended indefinitely, the university announced.The University of Maryland's decision comes after the University of Virginia suspended its Kappa Sigma chapter and all fraternity events following an alleged hazing incident last month which left a student injured. Continue reading...

Court did not specify what ruling, planned for Monday, will be issued, but decision to come a day before state's primary electionThe US supreme court plans to issue at least one ruling on Monday, the day before Colorado holds a presidential primary election in which a lower court kicked Republican frontrunner Donald Trump off the ballot for taking part in an insurrection during the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack.The supreme court, in an unusual Sunday update to its schedule, did not specify what ruling it would issue. But the justices on 8 February heard arguments in Trump's appeal of the Colorado ruling and are due to issue their own decision. Continue reading...

Donors raise more than $100,000 for man who gave his $17.74 paycheck for 136.50 hours of work to relief efforts in GazaDonors have raised more than $100,000 for an incarcerated man in the US who, earning 13 cents an hour in a California prison doing janitorial and porter work, donated his paycheck of $17.74 to Gaza relief efforts.Last month, Los Angeles-based filmmaker Justin Mashouf who has been in correspondence with the 56-year old man - known only by the name Hamza - shared photos on social media of Hamza's October time log and a check of $17.74 with the words, California department of corrections and rehabilitation." Continue reading...

From Rashford's screamer to Chelsea's struggles, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the top-flight weekendPhil Foden is in the middle of the biggest heat check since Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things. He was the best player on the pitch in City's 3-1 win in the Manchester derby, finishing with two goals, including a now trademark stunner from the edge of the box. Continue reading...

Donald Trump confused Barack Obama for Joe Biden at a rally in Virginia, triggering further questions about the age of the likely Republican presidential nominee who has made a string of such gaffes. Trump said: 'Putin has so little respect for Obama that he's starting to throw around the nuclear word'. The crowd reportedly went silent as Trump referenced Obama, who left office more than seven years ago. It was the third time Trump had made the same blunder in the past six months

Largest fire in state history so far scorched 1.1m acres and killed two people, while thousands of livestock were killed or euthanizedFerocious winds continue to thwart firefighters across a broad swathe of Texas on Sunday where the second largest wildfire in US history is only 15% contained after six days.As of Sunday morning the Smokehouse Creek Fire has so far scorched almost 1.1m acres - 1,700 sq miles - across the Texas Panhandle in the north of the state, as well as tens of thousands of acres in Oklahoma. Continue reading...

Results are latest blow to Biden's election campaign which has faced a barrage of criticism over his ageA majority of voters in the US believe Joe Biden is just too old to be an effective president, according to a new poll by the New York Times and Siena College.According to the poll's results, 73% of all registered voters believe Biden is too old to be effective, in turn revealing spreading concerns about the 81-year-old president's mental competency. Continue reading...

Richmond crowd reportedly went silent as 77-year-old mixed up the president and ex-president for third time in past six monthsDonald Trump confused Barack Obama for Joe Biden at a rally in Virginia on Saturday, triggering further questions about the age of the likely Republican presidential nominee who has made a string of such gaffes.It also comes at a time of similar concerns about the Biden. At 77 and 81 respectively, Trump and Biden are the oldest people to run for the presidency in US history. Continue reading...

The progressive congresswoman doesn't have the funds of her opponents, but she has a record of being on the right side'Barbara Lee has never lost an election.That is quite a feat, given that she has built a career championing unpopular, even radical causes. Continue reading...

Candidate says she does not feel bound to Republican National Committee pledge anymore as RNC is now not the same'Nikki Haley on Sunday declined to say she would support Donald Trump in the coming presidential election if he won the Republican party's nomination to face Joe Biden in the race for the White House.The former South Carolina governor is the last serious opposition to Trump who seems almost certain to become the nominee, despite a raft of legal problems and the multiple trials he faces linked to his businesses, attempts to subvert American democracy and alleged hush money pay-offs to former lovers. Continue reading...

Howard University's the Hilltop chronicles one of the US's most storied HBCUs and is helping a new generation of journalists navigate institutional racismMalcolm X, one of the most evasive and non-specific individuals I've ever met (with his objectives and radical plans he would have to be), is perhaps one of the most clever artists of appealing to the emotions that I've ever seen. Bayard Rustin was not' in my estimation a fair match for Mr X. (Dr Martin Luther King would have been.)"So begins an account of a debate between the civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Bayard Rustin that took place at Howard University in Washington. Along with a visit by the British anti-apartheid activist Trevor Huddleston, a student theatre production of Rashomon and an advert for Lucky Strike cigarettes, it is part of the mix in a 1961 issue of the Hilltop, the oldest Black collegiate newspaper in America. Continue reading...

Activists warn of creeping restrictions on expression' as bill forbidding schools from displaying flags is expected to clear senateTennessee is poised to become the first state to in effect ban Pride flags in public and charter school classrooms, prompting outrage from the LGBTQ+ community.The Tennessee house advanced a bill, HB 1605, that forbids schools, teachers or faculty from displaying flags other than the US flag and the Tennessee state flag in public schools. The bill would also allow a parent of a child who attends, or who is eligible to attend" a Tennessee public or charter school to sue their school district if a Pride flag is displayed anywhere students may see the object". Continue reading...

The ex-White House chief strategist is no longer in daily contact with Trump, but his influence on the Maga right remains totalWearing an olive green jacket over a black shirt, Steve Bannon blew the doors off a subject that most other speakers had tiptoed around. Media, I want you to suck on this, I want the White House to suck on this: you lost in 2020!" he roared. Donald Trump is the legitimate president of the United States!"

Rugby league may not be the world game - yet - but the NRL's showcase event in Las Vegas has proven it is capable of thriving on a global stage.Rugby League has a long and sordid history of promising the world and delivering an atlas, the big dreams only matched by the bigger failures to execute. Not any longer. Over 40,000 fans attended the first premiership matches in the United States in what was a dazzling result for the NRL.The dream of Peter V'Landys to take rugby league to America launched a new reality for the NRL with two outstanding games living up to the unprecedented hype that surrounded the event. The steak matched the sizzle. Continue reading...

Two goals and two assists for the Uruguayan striker in Saturday's Florida derby underline why Inter Miami are more than just MessiIf Inter Miami are to transition from glamour expansion club to true MLS Cup contenders - as the bookmakers suspect - the catalyst was evident within 10 minutes of the Florida derby against Orlando City.It wasn't Leo Messi magic that gave the home side a rapid two-nil lead, but two instinctual, clinical finishes from his former Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez. Continue reading...

Interstate closures, avalanche warnings and gale-force winds as storm pummels region with up to 10ft of snowA powerful blizzard pummeling California brought double-digit feet of snow; 190mph wind gusts; closures of a main trucking artery, national parks and ski resorts; and even a tornado. And that was just day one.Ski resorts in the Sierra foothills reported more than 2ft of snow accumulated in the 24 hours from Thursday evening to Friday evening. Snowfall at the Northstar ski resort in Truckee, California, was up to 44 inches (1 meter) since Thursday afternoon. Continue reading...

Former president is awarded all 39 state delegates for November's national convention in Milwaukee, WisconsinDonald Trump continued his march toward the GOP nomination at the Michigan Republican party convention on Saturday, sweeping all 39 delegates.The delegates awarded will fuel Trump ahead of Tuesday, 5 March, when 15 states will hold primaries and Trump's nomination could be all but decided. The Michigan state party delegates met on Saturday at the sprawling Amway Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, huddling in 13 separate meeting rooms representing the state's 13 congressional districts. Continue reading...

Personnel battle to keep largest wildfire in state history from turning more of the Panhandle into a parched wastelandFirefighters in Texas faced rising temperatures, whipped-up winds and dry air Saturday in their battle to keep the largest wildfire in state history from turning more of the Panhandle into a parched wasteland.Firefighters were focused on containing the fire along its northern and eastern perimeters, where aggressive gusts from the south-west threatened to spread the flames and consume more acreage, according to Jason Nedlo, a spokesperson with the team of firefighters battling the Smokehouse Creek fire, which began Monday and has claimed at least two lives. Continue reading...

Wim Wenders' film Perfect Days is on to something with its depiction of main character Hirayama's calm, habitual lifeHirayama loves his routine. The protagonist of Wim Wenders' transcendent new film Perfect Days wakes up each morning and follows the same ritual. He makes his bed, trims his moustache, shaves, waters his saplings, and gets a can of coffee from a dispenser just outside his apartment before he enters a small blue van to head to work as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo.On his way to work, he fits a cassette into his tape-player and listens to a range of popular musicians - from Lou Reed to Van Morrison, Nina Simone to the Animals. After his shift, he sits alone in a park with his milkshake and sandwich, and takes a picture of the trees and the sky. Continue reading...

Move is to comply with state law passed by Governor Ron DeSantis that prohibits public funding of DEI programsThe University of Florida is terminating all its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions to comply with a state law passed in January that prohibits state or federal funds from being used to fund the programs.The university, with more than 30,000 undergraduates, said in a memo issued on Friday that it was closing its office of the chief diversity officer, eliminating DEI positions and administrative appointments, and halting DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors. Continue reading...

Despite concerns about the state of the world, Americans have soured on their global policing roleIf Joe Biden believes his record as a world leader will help him get re-elected in November, he may have another think coming. His term began with catastrophe in Afghanistan, was thrown into turmoil by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and is ending on a desperately sour note in Gaza. Add in US-China standoffs and a proxy war with Iran, and the old foreign policy hand begins to look decidedly cack-handed.That was partly the message from Michigan last week, where younger voters used the Democratic presidential primary to signal dismay over Biden's unstinting backing for Israel's war with Hamas. For sure, he has gradually become more critical of Benjamin Netanyahu's criminal clique - and is finally pushing a ceasefire. But his lethal, almost callous misjudgments following 7October will not be forgotten. Continue reading...

The president has a 47% disapproval rating, but it's a mixed bag when accounting for double haters' - those who dislike Trump tooStrong voter disapproval of Joe Biden's job performance has reached 47% - the highest negative polling number at any point in his presidency, according to a survey published on Saturday.The Siena College-conducted poll, commissioned by the New York Times, showed that Biden currently lags behind likely Republican candidate Donald Trump 43% to 48% in registered voters nationally. Continue reading...

The education department said it will launch an inquiry after the non-binary teen died after a fight at an Oklahoma public schoolFederal authorities have announced an investigation into allegations of bullying involving Nex Benedict, the non-binary teen who died last month after a fight with classmates in a women's bathroom at their high school in Oklahoma.The US Department of Education said in a letter on Friday that it was investigating whether Owasso public schools, outside Tulsa, had failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment of students" - a violation of federal law. Continue reading...

Aaron did not die in vain. He has already inspired so many to stand up for truth and justiceOn Monday 26 February, at 3.43pm, I got a text from a friend.Have you seen the news out of DC today about the air force member? Let me know if you need to talk tonight or later this week." I replied and explained that I had seen the headlines, and that it saddened me. She texted: Since he was based in San Antonio I wondered if he was someone you crossed paths with or had friends in common with."Levi Pierpont is a conscientious objector Continue reading...

The talkshow host's embrace of the weight-loss drug threatens to disrupt our persistent association of weight with moralityBig news in the weight-loss world this week: Oprah Winfrey is exiting WeightWatchers. The talkshow host has been the public face of the company for almost a decade but is stepping away from the board and donating all her shares to charity to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest around her taking weight-loss medications". Continue reading...

President says US will insist' Israel does more to facilitate help, saying children's lives are on the line' Middle East crisis - live updatesJoe Biden twice confused Gaza with Ukraine as he was announcing that the US would provide desperately needed aid to Palestinians.The US president, 81, confirmed on Friday that humanitarian assistance would be airdropped into Gaza and said the US would insist" Israel did more to facilitate help for those affected by famine and the effects of war, saying: Children's lives are on the line". Continue reading...