US news | The Guardian

EU laws have banished plastics from French fast-food chains, but in New York I couldn't escape throwaway cultureThough I grew up in the United States, I've spent the majority of my adult life in France - which means that every trip back" across the Atlantic has become a moment of curiosity and culture shock. Most recently, the shock was over the sheer prevalence of plastics in American daily life.In Paris, and elsewhere in Europe, plastics are clearly on their way out and paper is in. The standard takeaway cup in coffee shops, juice bars and cafes serving hipster smoothies is paper, and when there is a straw, it's paper as well (or some other biodegradable non-plastic material). Delivery food orders arrive in paper cartons -some with a chic design touch that plastic could never replicate, unspooling like origami flowers to reveal the food within - in paper bags. Utensils, when requested, are wooden and wrapped in paper. And in grocery stores, bulk sections for pasta, nuts, dried fruit, cereals, rice and legumes are normal, as is putting those things (or your fruit and vegetables) in paper bags. Continue reading...

A weak PM, a dying government, a radicalised rightwing press: these are the foundations of Truss's unlikely relaunchIt's quite unusual, the sight of a former prime minister for whom everything went wrong, explaining in public why she was right all along. In her defence, Liz Truss could have no precedent, as no one has ever flamed out as badly as she did.I knew I was right" isn't exactly what she said at the Institute for Government event this week. She went much further, pacing with a witchfinder's authority, giving shape to the lefty sleeper agents who have been poisoning the economic well since the beginning of the Thatcherite project. It's compelling to wonder what her motivation is. If, as she plainly believes, the reds have seeped into every institution - including her own party - and will subvert every plan for growth, what's the point of addressing us all? Surely something more decisive is called for, like a ducking stool?Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Georgia attorneys said that merely performing a role in the presidential election did not make them federal officialsFulton county prosecutors argued at a court hearing on Wednesday that three fake Trump electors seeking to transfer their criminal cases for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia should have their requests denied as they were not federal officials and thus ineligible.The prosecutors cited past comments made by supreme court justices to contend that merely performing a role in a federal election did not make them federal officials and, in any case, they were not even the duly elected electors for the state because Donald Trump lost. Continue reading...

Two men convicted partly on evidence presented by Dr Henry Lee, who in July was found liable for fabricating evidence in the caseConnecticut has agreed to pay a $25m settlement to two men who spent decades in prison for a brutal murder they did not commit, and whose convictions were partly based on evidence presented by a forensic scientist who worked on some of America's most notorious criminal investigations and trials.Ralph Ricky" Birch and Shawn Henning were convicted for the 1985 murder of Everett Carr after Dr Henry Lee - whose name would later become widely known in connection with the OJ Simpson, Lana Clarkson and JonBenet Ramsey cases - testified about blood" evidence on a towel and how blood from the victim's wounds had spattered in an uninterrupted" fashion. Continue reading...

Trial is first of several stemming from 2019 death of Black man put in neck hold and injected with powerful sedativeThe trial of two suburban Denver police officers was set to open on Wednesday in the killing of Elijah McClain, a Black man put in a neck hold and injected with a powerful sedative whose 2019 death later became a rallying cry for nationwide protests and spurred police reform in Colorado.It's the first of several trials stemming from the death of McClain, and lawyers for the two sides are expected to paint contrasting pictures of the deadly struggle between the officers and the 23-year-old massage therapist. McClain was stopped by police in the city of Aurora while walking home from a convenience store carrying only a plastic bag and his phone. Continue reading...

The trial for Andrew Lester, who shot the 16-year-old after he mistakenly rang his doorbell, has been scheduled for 2024A white 84-year-old homeowner who is accused of shooting a Black teenager after the high schooler mistakenly came to his Kansas City home entered a not-guilty plea on Wednesday, and the judge scheduled his trial for next year.Andrew Lester, a retired aircraft mechanic, is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the 13 April shooting of Ralph Yarl. The trial in the case, which shocked the country and renewed national debates about gun policies and race in America, was scheduled to begin on 7 October 2024. Continue reading...

Attorney general questioned by House judiciary committee members in hearing that White House called a circus'Merrick Garland faced down the latest Republican attacks on the justice department's handling of Hunter Biden and other issues on Wednesday, vowing to not be intimidated".The House judiciary inquiry came just a week before the Joe Biden impeachment hearing, which will also focus on the scope of Hunter Biden's legal troubles and alleged corruption. Both are part of the Republican party's ongoing attempt to erode trust in federal institutions such as the Department of Justice and its FBI arm, claiming they are partisan actors. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For our latest reporting on the Garland hearing, you can read our latest story:

Woman lowered herself inside the toilet after dropping the watch and was later heard yelling for helpA woman was rescued on Tuesday from an outhouse toilet in northern Michigan while trying to retrieve her Apple Watch.The woman, whose name was not released, lowered herself inside the toilet after dropping the watch at the department of natural resources boat launch at Dixon Lake in Otsego county's Bagley Township, state police said on Wednesday in a release. Continue reading...

Exclusive: in a new book, Hutchinson describes incident in which the former New York mayor put his hand under my blazer, then my skirt'Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump aide turned crucial January 6 witness, says in a new book she was groped by Rudy Giuliani, who was like a wolf closing in on its prey", on the day of the attack on the Capitol.Describing meeting with Giuliani backstage at Donald Trump's speech near the White House before his supporters marched on Congress in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Hutchinson says the former New York mayor turned Trump lawyer put his hand under my blazer, then my skirt". Continue reading...

Expert says Senate candidate Tim Sheehy's estimate wildly off as there are 1.12 million people in state and nowhere close to that number of bear'In the compendium of false claims, an offering from Tim Sheehy, a Montana 2024 Republican Senate candidate, is readily disprovable.In an interview with Breitbart, the former Navy Seal observed that the state, which he referred to as flyover country", did not typically have much in political power - a situation that could change with the balance of power in the US Senate races next year. Continue reading...

Using anti-racketeering laws created to fight the mafia, the state is cracking down on people protesting a police training facilityWithin weeks of each other, Donald Trump and 61 leftwing activists were indicted under criminal conspiracy laws in Georgia. What may feel like a victory for centrism and justice is actually a dangerous conflation.The protesters are part of the Stop Cop City movement, fighting to prevent the construction of a new police urban combat training facility over what the Muscogee Creek people call the Weelaunee forest outside of Atlanta. One protester has already been killed by police, with an independent autopsy detailing that they probably had their hands up when they were shot 57 times.

Driver was delivering package to Palm City home when she was bitten by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake near the front doorA Florida Amazon delivery driver is in serious condition after being bitten by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake.The driver was delivering a package to a home in Palm City on Monday when she was bitten by the snake which was coiled up near the front door of the delivery location, according to the Martin county sheriff's office (MCSO) in south-eastern Florida. Continue reading...

Buddy Teevens, the innovative coach who brought robotic tackling dummies to Dartmouth practices, has died of injuries he sustained from a bicycle crash in March. He was 66. Teevens was a former star Dartmouth quarterback who went on to become the school's all-time wins leader with a 117-101-2 record in 23 seasons. He coached the Big Green from 1987-91 and returned in 2005. His teams have won or shared five Ivy League championships. Teevens' lasting legacy will be in his efforts to make the sport safer. He reduced full-contact practices by focusing on technique, while still leading winning teams. He also led the development by Dartmouth's engineering school of the the Mobile Virtual Player, a robotic tackling dummy that has also been used by other college programs and NFL teams.

Move comes as education laws restricting teaching of race, sexuality and other topics are being implemented across the USA Texas teacher was fired after assigning an illustrated adaptation of Anne Frank's diary to her middle school class, in a move that some are calling a political attack on truth".The eighth-grade school teacher was released after officials with Hamshire-Fannett independent school district said the teacher presented the inappropriate" book to students, reported KFDM. Continue reading...

Year after year, I struggle to give away an enormous crop of scarred, worm-eaten apples - while everyone else struggles to avoid themSometimes you smell them before you see them. These people carry a particular scent. It is worthy and rich but with a suggestion of the fetid - like creamy milk that is on the verge of turning sour. I don't want to be rude about them because they are nice folk and I am one of them. I own a fruit tree. And I can't get rid of the fruit.Every autumn the world divides into those with fruit trees and those without. The latter have to be on high alert for the people bearing fruit. A friend, a colleague, even a passing stranger can stage an ambush. Before you know it, they will have whipped out a bag of their produce and thrust it under your nose so that particular smell assaults your senses. Help yourself," they say. Ooh, lovely!" you are forced to exclaim. It's the simple gift there is no polite way to refuse. Continue reading...

Cold-case investigators worked for more than 20 years to identify the man who killed nine-year-old Debbie Lynn RandallJohn and Juanita Randall died in recent years without ever knowing who kidnapped, raped and strangled their daughter after she went across the street from their family's home north of Atlanta, Georgia, to run an errand in 1972.But authorities never stopped pursuing the truth about nine-year-old Debbie Lynn Randall's slaying, and this week, their community learned the identity of her killer. By all indications, it was a stranger who ultimately died by suicide, authorities announced, citing the results of an investigation that combined evidence collected shortly after Randall's death as well as DNA technology. Continue reading...

The next generation of autoworkers faces a future with no healthcare or retirement - unless the union prevailsWhen Ryder Littlejohn started working at Ford in 1994 his starting wage was $12.45 an hour with a path to go full rate after three years at $25 an hour.A third-generation autoworker, Littlejohn noted that adjusted for inflation, his starting rate was over $20 an hour in today's dollars and a full rate of $45 an hour, with pension, retiree healthcare and cost-of-living adjustment. Continue reading...

Animals liberated by unknown actor' who cut hole in fence, as residents warned not to try to capture any fugitivesIt was a jailbreak for the ages: thousands of dangerous captives on the run in Pennsylvania, an all-hands alert for law enforcement, and anxious officials warning the public to report sightings to an emergency hotline.The escapees are animals from a mink farm in Rockefeller Township, 60 miles north of Harrisburg, and were liberated by an unknown actor" who cut a hole in a fence in the early hours of Sunday, according to a report from Pennsylvania state police. Continue reading...

If true, a state-sponsored assassination in British Columbia would suggest a new, brazenly aggressive foreign policy from New DelhiCanada has not yet offered any definitive evidence of Indian complicity in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia in June. The prime minister Justin Trudeau's recent parliamentary statement noted credible allegations" of a potential" Indian link to the assassination. But putting aside the veracity of Canada's claims, the downturn in Indo-Canadian relations points to signs of a more assertive Indian foreign policy.India has been in the geopolitical spotlight over the past year, as evidenced by it hosting the G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month. It has surpassed China in population and the UK in GDP. India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, has received a red-carpet welcome in several capitals, most notably Washington in June. The contrast between China's struggling economy and forecasts that India will be the world's fastest-growing major economy this year could not be starker.Dr Chietigj Bajpaee is senior fellow for south Asia at the thinktank Chatham House Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ex-aide Cassidy Hutchinson says Trump ordered White House guests who tested positive to remove masks in Oval OfficeDonald Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows joked about the then US president having Covid on Air Force One after the first debate with Joe Biden in 2020 - an event at which Trump was not tested but three days before which, Meadows later confessed, Trump had indeed tested positive.On the flight, on 29 September 2020, Trump speculated about his health, saying he thought his voice had sounded a little bit off" at a rally in Duluth, Minnesota. But he also said he did not want the media to accuse me of something ridiculous, like having Covid". Continue reading...

Conservative efforts to expand the second amendment are exactly what may help Hunter Biden in courtAfter spending years attacking Hunter Biden over his allegedly illegal behavior, Republicans reacted to the news of his indictment last week with a measure of disappointment.Congressman James Comer, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee who has focused his investigative work on the president's son and his business dealings, described the three-felony gun charges filed against Hunter Biden as a very small start". In a post shared to his social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump lamented that the gun charges were the only crime that Hunter Biden committed that does not implicate Crooked Joe Biden". Continue reading...

Government events once seen as rare, dangerous and to be avoided at all costs are now deployed with increasing abandonIf it's Thursday, it must be impeachment. If it's Saturday, it must be government shutdown. Next week, Republicans in Congress seem determined to prove that US democracy is broken.The party plans to hold the first hearing on its impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden over his family's business dealings on 28 September. Meanwhile the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is barreling towards a deadline of 30 September to keep federal agencies running. Continue reading...

Rightwingers are blaming the Pennsylvania Democrat for Senate's dress code changeDoes it matter what politicians wear? It's an issue pundits have long debated - especially when the subjects are women. This time, though, the target is John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, whose wardrobe is drawing ire, as rightwingers seek to blame him for recent relaxation of the Senate dress code policy.Fetterman is known for dressing in oversized hoodies, sweatsuits, and shorts. Rightwingers have been blaming him for Senator Chuck Schumer's introduction of a new dress code last week: lawmakers no longer have to don formalwear before entering the chamber. Continue reading...

English is still the continent's most widely used language - and the Guardian's new digital Europe edition is a major addition to the EurosphereHow can anyone govern a country with 246 different kinds of cheese?" Charles de Gaulle, the founding president of France's Fifth Republic, is said to have asked. As it prepares for European elections next year, the European Union faces an even bigger challenge: how to run a multinational democratic community with 24 official languages. And remember that the union is gearing up for a decade of enlargement, potentially including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia as well as six countries in the western Balkans, which would take the official language tally closer to 30. In Europe at large, there's an even greater diversity of languages - somewhere between 64 and 234, according to one expert.This matters. Politics is also theatre. Politicians are actors, as we watch them on the national and international stage". And democracy is meant to involve people deliberating with each other. What if you can't understand a word they say?Timothy Garton Ash is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Liberal group Vote Vets called out Republican Tommy Tuberville and party leaders for holding up promotions in protest of abortionA liberal group representing US military veterans took aim at Tommy Tuberville, the Alabama Republican senator holding up officer promotions in a protest over abortion, but also at party leaders who have not forced him to stand down, calling them traitors" and warning: Tight lips could sink ships."Presented in the style of a second world war propaganda film, a short ad from Vote Vets bemoans an un-American assault on our military" by a so-called American senator singlehandedly stop[ping] hundreds of military leaders from taking command". Continue reading...

When it comes to spreadable fats, there's an ocean of mayo between Europe and the US - and my wife is drowning in itSometimes it takes a random TikToker to make you realise you don't know your wife quite as well as you thought. In my case, the revelation came via an American influencer in Paris called Amanda Rollins. She went viral recently thanks to a video in which she earnestly explained that the French do this really weird thing: they put butter on sandwiches.What they do, it's like a classic sandwich: it's ham, cheese and butter. Literally, just swab it on - no mayonnaise, no mustard, just butter," she says in the video. And listen, I know you might be thinking that sounds gross. It's actually so good."Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Majority of offset projects that have sold the most carbon credits are likely to be junk'. Plus, how lucid dreams can make us fitter, more creative and less anxiousGood morning.The vast majority of the environmental projects most frequently used to offset greenhouse gas emissions appear to have fundamental failings, suggesting they cannot be relied upon to cut planet-heating emissions, according to an analysis.What did the research find? A total of 39 of the top 50 emission offset projects, or 78%, were categorised as likely to be junk or worthless because of one or more fundamental failing that undermined its promised emission cuts. Overall, $1.16bn of carbon credits have been traded so far from the projects classified by the investigation as likely junk or worthless; a further $400m of credits bought and sold were potentially junk.What did campaigners want the text to say? Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights proposed using the text of the amendment, which includes guarantees that the state cannot interfere with the right to contraception, miscarriage care and abortion up until the point of viability, a benchmark that's generally pegged to about 24 weeks of pregnancy. Continue reading...

The nickname Commanders' is unpopular with fans. Maybe a complete reboot will wash away the stench of the Dan Snyder eraIt sounds like another change is in store for Washington's NFL franchise, whose nickname has been changed twice already in the last three years. The new owners did just insist that the club won't go back to that nickname used for 87 years, however.Even though that name was a racist slur, many longtime fans want to bring it back - in part because the current nickname, Commanders, fails to resonate. The owners don't sound keen on a hybrid using parts of the old name, as in Red Hogs or Pigskins. Continue reading...

After accidentally wading into a labor dispute on a road trip, the club helped raise the visibility of workers' struggles in southern CaliforniaOn a recent leg of the high-profile, celebrity road show that is Lionel Messi in Major League Soccer, the Argentine star and his Inter Miami teammates walked into the middle of a southern California labor dispute.What followed was a show of support and solidarity that demonstrated the players' understanding of workers' rights, stemming from the prominence and importance of their own unions. Continue reading...

Chronic underfunding has led to a record exodus of teachers but the government is using populist policy as a cheap distractionShortly before schools opened for the new term in September, Unicef France issued an alert that almost 2,000 pupils were homeless, twice as many as in January 2022. The UN's warning was timely, because parts of the state education system in France are in crisis - if not entirely dysfunctional. Yet what made the headlines wasn't such urgent challenges, but a manufactured controversy over what children are accused of wearing to school.In a country where the far right is steadily gaining ground, politicians and policymakers know how to play on the fear of Islam as an easy way to mobilise public opinion and pander to populist ideas. Witness Gabriel Attal, France's education minister, who made the ban on the abaya, the long loose dress favoured by some Muslims, his top priority for the new school year. Continue reading...

From people struggling in phone boxes to pipe-smoking scooterists, Mavis CW captures a city whose inhabitants are always battling to survive and thrive Continue reading...

Media mogul has become a frothing-at-the-mouth' Trump critic, Fire and Fury author writes in new book, The FallRupert Murdoch loathes Donald Trump so much that the billionaire has not just soured on him as a presidential candidate but often wishes for his death, the author Michael Wolff writes in his eagerly awaited new book on the media mogul, The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty.According to Wolff, Murdoch, 92, has become a frothing-at-the-mouth" enemy of the 77-year-old former US president, often voicing thoughts including This would all be solved if ... " and How could he still be alive, how could he?" Continue reading...

Epps, who died suddenly Tuesday, previously was the law school dean and provostJoAnne A Epps, the acting president of Temple University, died Tuesday shortly after becoming ill on stage during a memorial service, officials said, describing her loss as a gut punch and struggling through emotion as they recalled her nearly four decades of service.Epps was attending a memorial service at the university for Charles L Blockson, a curator of a collection of African American artifacts, when she suffered what a doctor speaking at a news conference described as a sudden episode". Continue reading...

State general assembly passed a shield law in May allowing it to keep secret the suppliers of drugsSouth Carolina has obtained a drug needed to carry out lethal injections and is ready to perform the state's first execution in over 12 years, officials announced on Tuesday.The pause on executions wasn't official. The state's supply of the three drugs it used to kill inmates expired and drug companies refused to sell them any more because they could be publicly identified. Continue reading...

Lahaina's cherished banyan tree is showing the first signs of new growth after deadly wildfires torched much of Hawaii in August. Footage showed small shoots of green leaves on the tree after it was burnt and left charcoal black following the fires. Described as the 'heartbeat of Lahaina Town', the beloved tree was planted 150 years ago.

Shares close at $34.23, the second successful IPO in a week following sale of UK chip designer ArmShares in online grocery delivery business Instacart jumped 43% in its Nasdaq trading debut on Tuesday.While shares dropped back in later trading, ending the day up just over 12%, the price pop was the second successful initial public offering (IPO) in a week following the sale of British microchip designer Arm. Continue reading...

McCarthy faces uphill climb as far-right Republicans signal that even a resolution to temporarily delay a shutdown is out of reachRepublican leaders seemed to move further away from a resolution to the impending government shutdown on Tuesday.In a sign of how bad the party's split has become, a procedural vote on the short-term funding bill expected to happen today was cancelled, and an attempt to advance a Pentagon spending bill was voted down, thanks to rightwing Republicans. The vote intensifies the risk of a shutdown on 1 October and Kevin McCarthy losing his speakership. Continue reading...

Ukrainian president says all leaders who do not tolerate any aggression' would be invited to a peace summitVolodymyr Zelenskiy has told the UN general assembly that Russia is committing genocide in Ukraine and urged world leaders to attend a peace summit to help stop the invasion and future wars of aggression.Appearing in the assembly chamber in New York for the first time in person, the Ukrainian president used the opportunity to try to galvanise support for his country's plight among many countries, especially in the global south, many of whom have sought to sit on the fence in the face of the full-scale Russian invasion. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For our latest reporting on the looming shutdown, you can read:

Billy Chemirmir, 50, was convicted of two murders and accused of killing nearly two dozen womenA man who Texas authorities say smothered at least two dozen elderly women in a two-year killing spree, while stealing possibly millions of dollars worth of jewelry and other valuables, was himself murdered on Tuesday morning by a prison cellmate, according to the state's criminal justice department.Billy Chemirmir, 50, worked as an in-home caregiver and posed as a maintenance worker to gain access to luxury independent living communities in and around Dallas. He would gain access to the apartments of seniors then force a pillow over their face, smothering them to death before raiding the apartment of its valuables to pawn or sell online. Continue reading...

The network of ceremonial mounds join the Acropolis, Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge and the Great Wall of ChinaA network of Native American ceremonial and burial mounds in southern Ohio have been added to the list of world heritage sites of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). The move places what the organization describes as part cathedral, part cemetery and part astronomical observatory" on the same cultural plane as the Acropolis, Machu Picchu, the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China.The recognition of the Hopewell ceremonial earthworks was announced by Unesco's world heritage committee during a meeting in Saudi Arabia. Continue reading...

Can we really be surprised when rich and powerful men are accused of sexual abuse?There's nothing new but the details about what the Times journalists uncovered about Russell Brand in their investigative report published this weekend. We've been through this so many times, the story finally uncovered of a rich or powerful or celebrated man being accused of sexual abuse for years or decades. Russell Brand says all of his relationships were absolutely always consensual.That's the first piece of the familiar story - that they got away with it for years because one of the forms inequality takes is inequality of voice -the voice with which you say what's happened, the voice that's listened to and believed and respected, the voice that determines what happens.Rebecca Solnit's most recent books are Orwell's Roses and the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, co-edited with Thelma Young Lutunatabua Continue reading...

Whatever the truth about the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the row shows that building relationships with New Delhi won't be easyCanada made waves when it recently announced an inquiry into potential foreign election interference. Its tanking relations with China have been watched closely, not least for how they reflect upon other western countries' dealings with Beijing. Russia's activities were also under scrutiny. Fewer people noticed that ministers also cited the potential role of the Indian government.The decision looks like a ripple in a millpond following Justin Trudeau's extraordinary statement that Canada is pursuing credible allegations" of a potential link between New Delhi and the murder of a Canadian national, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia this June. Nijjar had campaigned for an independent Sikh nation - known as Khalistan - to be created from Punjab state. Indian authorities had accused him of terrorism, and issued a bounty for his arrest. Canada's spy agency had reportedly warned him of threats. Continue reading...