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A selection of the fashion on show at the gala of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles Continue reading...

Will Wilkerson, co-founder of Trump’s media company, also alleges that ex-president pressured executives to give shares to MelaniaThe co-founder of Donald Trump’s beleaguered social media company has turned whistleblower, alleging the firm violated federal securities laws and that the former president pressured executives to hand over lucrative shares to his wife.Will Wilkerson, a former Trump Media and Technology Group executive, has told the US government’s financial watchdog that the company’s bid to raise more than $1bn via an investment vehicle known as a special purpose acquisition company (Spac), relied on “fraudulent misrepresentations … in violation of federal securities laws.” Continue reading...

January 6 committee member speaks days after panel voted to subpoena Trump and says ex-president ‘required by law to come in’Election deniers are not “going to go away organically”, and if they are ever to vanish, US voters must signal “that truth matters” beginning with the upcoming midterms, according to a Republican member of the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.Adam Kinzinger’s latest remarks on the baseless insistence by Donald Trump’s allies that fraudsters denied him a second term in the Oval Office and handed the 2020 election to Joe Biden came Sunday, days after the House January 6 select committee unanimously moved to subpoena the former president’s testimony over his knowledge of the deadly Capitol attack. Continue reading...

US president rejects ‘cutting taxes on the super-wealthy’ and says he is not the only world leader critical of abandoned planJoe Biden has called Liz Truss’s abandoned economic plan that sent financial markets into chaos and caused a sharp drop in the value of the pound a “mistake” as criticism of her approach continued.The US president hinted that other world leaders felt the same way about her disastrous mini-budget, saying he “wasn’t the only one” who had concerns over the lack of “sound policy” in other countries. Continue reading...

Missouri woman, 22, escapes less than a month after police dismissed concerns about a serial killer as ‘completely unfounded’A 22-year-old Black woman in Missouri who escaped after a white man abducted, tortured and held her captive for weeks in a basement has said several other Black women were killed by her captor – less than a month after police dismissed community concerns about a serial killer as “completely unfounded”.The woman, who has not been named, escaped on 7 October after about a month in captivity, still wearing a metal collar locked with a padlock that authorities had to remove. Continue reading...

Former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder broke into tears as he spoke about the dangers of boxing and its effects on fighters such as Puerto Rican boxer Prichard Colón, who was left in a vegetative state after a fight in 2015. "You don't understand what we go through, man." he said. Wilder was speaking after defeating Finnish opponent Robert Helenius with a trademark knockout blow in the first round.

Comments will be embarrassing for royal who has tried to distance himself from disgraced socialiteGhislaine Maxwell has spoken from a US prison cell about how she feels “so bad” for her “dear friend” Prince Andrew.In her first lengthy interview since her conviction on sex-trafficking charges last year, Maxwell said she still cared about the Duke of York, who has been stripped of royal duties over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...

Republicans want midterm voters to believe lies about crime, inflation and taxes. This is what they’re claiming – followed by the factsRepublicans are telling three lies they hope will swing the midterms. They involve crime, inflation, and taxes. Here’s what Republicans are claiming, followed by the facts. Continue reading...

US employee rights agency issues growing number of complaints against coffee chain as hundreds of stores try to form unionsIn April 2022, Hannah Whitbeck, a barista at a Starbucks store in Ann Arbor, Michigan was fired just weeks after she helped file for a union election at her store, which many employees voted in favor of shortly after her termination.Whitbeck filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging her termination was in retaliation for union organising. On 7 October, a judge with the NLRB ruled she was illegally fired, ordering her reinstatement with back pay and the arrangement of a meeting to clarify workers’ rights and how Starbucks broke the law. Continue reading...

‘This has nothing to do with Trump,’ a parent says, as people pressure officials to censor books with LGBTQ+ themesA recent school board meeting at which about 1,000 people gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, to pressure district officials to censor books with LGBTQ+ themes was in most ways similar to hundreds of other recent book ban hearings across the US.Speakers alleged the books “promote mental health issues” and “self harm”, while the school district and liberals were seeking to “indoctrinate children”. Gay people, they said, were “creeps and pedohiles”, and gay lifestyles were equated with zoophilia. Continue reading...

The Republican ex-governor was known for his offensive, belligerent attitude – but this time, he says he’s reformedIn the late summer of 2016, Drew Gattine received a surprising voicemail. The sender was Paul LePage, then the governor of Maine, and he called Gattine “a little son-of-a-bitch socialist cocksucker”.Amid the inevitable media frenzy that followed, LePage lamented not having the opportunity to engage Gattine, a Democrat in the Maine house of representatives, in a duel. Rather than follow in the footsteps of Alexander Hamilton, who pointed his gun in the air when he dueled Aaron Burr in 1804, LePage told reporters, “I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt.”. Continue reading...

Democrats and Republicans are largely talking past each other as they campaign, with little to no overlap on what they consider major issuesRon Johnson’s priorities were clear. “We have a huge problem with skyrocketing crime,” insisted the US senator for Wisconsin, accusing his debate opponent, Mandela Barnes, of pushing to reduce cash bail, release violent criminals and slash police funding.Minutes later it was Barnes’s turn to go on the offensive. Johnson, the lieutenant governor said, had described the end of the constitutional right to abortion as a “victory” and shown himself to be “callous” and “out of touch”. Barnes promised to codify that right into law if elected. Continue reading...

Ahead of the findings of a major inquiry, it’s clear we’re not even getting the basics rightThe more time you spend looking at government policy, the more you realise how much of its intervention is recklessly short term, ignores the evidence and attempts to fix the problem when it’s staring us in the face, rather than prevent it escalating. Many years of it has left me a pretty hardened cynic: it takes a lot to surprise me when it comes to things the state should be doing, but doesn’t.But I was left shocked after I recently attended a briefing from the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse in my capacity as a trustee of the Indigo Trust (which gives it some funding). Slide after slide highlighted how we are failing children who are being subjected to sexual abuse at the most basic level and, if anything, these failures are getting worse. Continue reading...

As cases of war crimes pile up against Russia, can peddlers of hate be held to account?I was in gorgeous, courageous Kyiv on Monday when the latest Russian missile shower hit Ukraine, murdering civilians and knocking out heat and light on the cusp of winter. Kyivans took it calmly. My meeting smoothly transferred from a cafe to the metro, where we chain-drank coffee and carried on under the sirens and occasional, reverberating booms of missile defence. On social media and Russian TV, the grotesque propaganda cast of state-controlled media, officials and tub-thumping pundits were their usual sadistic selves, celebrating the strikes and calling for more attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure.For years, and especially since the invasion of 24 February, Russian state media has been calling to wipe Ukraine off the map, for killing Ukrainians en masse, and dehumanising its people, smearing them as “Nazis” who need to be “denazified”. Continue reading...

Diplomacy isn’t working and Putin doesn’t want peace. Western countries should close their embassies and send Russia’s envoys packingLike early morning river mist, hopes of peace in Ukraine rise momentarily, then dissipate with the first sigh of a contrary breeze. UN chief António Guterres mounts a mission to Moscow and Kyiv – then Vladimir Putin’s missiles blow it all to hell. Russia coyly offers talks at next month’s G20 summit. Then Joe Biden scoffs: they’re not serious, he’s heard it all before.Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, watches his cities burn anew and vows never to negotiate while Putin rules. Turkey, playing a double game, confuses mediation with collaboration at a secretive Kazakh tryst. Meanwhile, a world aghast at scary escalations and threats of nuclear war cries out in alarm: “When will it end? And how?” Continue reading...

In the run-up to World Menopause day, we in the UK need to remember it’s not just white, posh women who need helpWhat’s the difference between menopause and depression? asks Jo Brand with a cheeky wink on my Twitter feed. “Nothing according to some doctors …” She’s followed by a series of famous women offering such gags as: “Why are menopausal women so good at poker?… All those flushes!” This Menopause is Beyond a Joke campaign is promoting a rally in Parliament Square on Tuesday to celebrate World Menopause Day. And all power to their elbow.Ever since Davina McCall burst onto our screens with her documentary last year, the menopause has been out and proud. Brands are peddling menopause creams and potions, there are menopause clothes to help combat symptoms – The Bookseller even ran a special menopause edition. Continue reading...

Doug Mastriano, Jenna Ellis and Peter Navarro among those named in case related to attempt to overturn Pennsylvania resultFacing a Washington DC legal ethics prosecution over his role in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has turned to a cast of characters from that failed effort.A witness list filed by lawyers for Giuliani on Friday included Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania; the former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis; and Christina Bobb, an attorney currently caught up in Trump’s fight with the US Department of Justice over the retention of classified records. Continue reading...

‘We are sure we stopped another killing,’ Stockton police chief saysA man suspected of killing six men and wounding a woman in a series of shootings in northern California was arrested before dawn on Saturday as he drove through the streets of Stockton, armed with a handgun and possibly searching for another victim, police said.Investigators began watching the suspect after receiving tips and stopped him in a car at about 2am in the Central Valley city where five of the shootings took place, the police chief, Stanley McFadden, said at a news conference. Continue reading...

Spokesperson confirms plan to continue with immigration stunts which have attracted investigations and lawsuitsThe Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, plans to continue flying undocumented migrants to Democratic strongholds, his spokeswoman said on Saturday, a day after released records showed the state paid nearly $1m to arrange two sets of flights to Delaware and Illinois.Documents released on Friday showed that the planned flights will transport about 100 migrants. They were scheduled for before 3 October but were halted or postponed. The contractor hired by Florida extended the window for the trips until 1 December, according to memos released by the state transportation department. Continue reading...

These men and boys were dehumanised not only by Dahmer’s brutal actions but by retellings limited to descriptions of their deaths and bodiesThe true crime genre has a tendency to portray killers and victims in a way that only leads to further pain, and Netflix’s new series about the the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is no different. This approach is summarised by the show’s exclusion of a powerful statement from the uncle of one of Dahmer’s victims.On the last day of Dahmer’s trial in 1992, the families of the men and boys who lost their lives at his hands gave victim impact statements to the court. Continue reading...

US political insider admits there are ‘reasons to worry’ for its democracy as allies wonder at damage done to the west’s credibility

In 1990 incident, Sheila Keen Warren is alleged to have dressed as a clown before shooting her employer’s wife in the faceThe trial of a Florida woman accused of dressing up as clown in 1990 and fatally shooting the wife of a man she later married has been postponed, following the disclosure of a law enforcement file containing information about other clown-sighting leads at the time.Prosecutors informed defense attorneys for Sheila Keen Warren last Thursday that they had found a “clown sighting file” which defense attorneys had been demanding but prosecutors had been saying they didn’t have, according to a court filing by defense attorneys in the Palm Beach county case. Continue reading...

Judge acts after prosecutor says woman and Paul Bellar, 24, had ‘non-verbal communication’ in form of eye contact and smilingA judge dismissed a young woman from the jury hearing the trial of three men in connection with a 2020 plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, after attorneys accused her of flirting with a defendant.Judge Thomas Wilson announced on Friday that the woman had been removed from the jury, two days after attorneys raised concerns she was having too much non-verbal communication with the defendant Paul Bellar, the Jackson Citizen Patriot reported. Continue reading...

Barnes, who would be the first Black senator from Wisconsin, is looking to unseat Republican Ron JohnsonBarack Obama, who twice won Wisconsin by large margins, will travel to the battleground state in the final weeks of the current midterm elections, seeking to boost Mandela Barnes, the young lieutenant governor looking to unseat the Republican Ron Johnson in a key US Senate contest.Barnes would be the first Black senator from Wisconsin. He held early leads over Johnson but the Republican, a prominent figure on the GOP hard right, has surged back. This week, a Marquette University Law School poll showed Johnson in the lead. Continue reading...

Authorities have not commented on what charges teen could face after five people killed and two injuredA 15-year-old boy alleged to have killed five people and injured two in a shooting rampage in Raleigh, North Carolina, will be charged as an adult, authorities said.Authorities did not immediately comment on what charges the teen could face. But the Wake county district attorney, Lorrin Freeman, said adult charges would be brought. Continue reading...

In a video shown to the January 6 committee, Roger Stone calls Donald Trump's daughter an 'abortionist bitch' amid his fury at not being pardoned for his activities around the Capitol attack. The Republican operative also says Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and, like her, an adviser to the former president in the White House, 'has an IQ of 70'. The video was shot by Danish film-maker Christoffer Guldbrandsen and shown in Thursday’s dramatic hearing

Republican operative calls Trump an ‘abortionist bitch’ in video released by film-maker who provided footage to January 6 panelIn video released by a Danish film-maker who provided footage to the January 6 committee, Roger Stone, furious he will not be pardoned for his activities around the Capitol attack, is seen to call Ivanka Trump an “abortionist bitch”.The Republican operative also says Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and like her an adviser to Donald Trump in the White House, “has an IQ of 70”. Continue reading...

The Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker addressed his past claims about being a law enforcement officer by producing what he said was a police badge. The former college football and NFL star, who is endorsed by Donald Trump, was accused of ‘pretending to be a police officer’ by his rival, Democratic senator Raphael Warnock, during a debate on Friday. Saying ‘I have to respond to that,’ Walker produced his badge. Walker has never been a trained law enforcement officer, though he has law enforcement endorsements

As Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Paul Haggis are all in court, it is clear that there has, in fact, been forward motion – in the courts, in our workplaces, in societyFive years nearly to the day since the New York Times and the New Yorker published their explosive exposés on Harvey Weinstein and his myriad misdeeds – all of them leveraging his vaunted position in Hollywood to extract sex and force humiliation on hopeful actresses – Weinstein and several other men accused as part of the broader #MeToo movement are seeing the inside of a courtroom.

Two decades before Colin Kaepernick’s protest of oppression and tyranny during the national anthem, the former NBA star followed a similar path guided by principle – and met a similar fateThe United States of America was born from protest: the country’s roots grew from dissent. Yet, today, social protest is often looked upon with disdain, even as selfish. If any evidence is needed, just look at how Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel for the national anthem effectively cost him his NFL career. While the fallout from Kaepernick’s actions became an international talking point, it wasn’t at all unsurprising. Especially if you were to ask former NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who, 20 years before Kaepernick, himself began to protest oppression and tyranny during the national anthem – and also suffered the consequences.“When I first heard [of Kaepernick kneeling], immediately I ended up sending – I didn’t have access to him, so I sent something on social media saying, ‘I’m with you 1,000%’” Abdul-Rauf tells the Guardian. “But my mind was – he’s getting ready to get it, right? Because history shows that any time an athlete, particularly a Black athlete, says something like that, whether it’s Muhammad Ali or Tommie Smith and John Carlos, you’re going to be ridiculed and condemned for it.” Continue reading...

One relationship ended publicly, then I fell for another broken-bird boy. I had to acknowledge what these situations had in commonFor some people, heartbreak looks like inhaling a chest freezer’s worth of Ben & Jerry’s, sitting saucer-eyed in the bath like a sad frog, or screaming your way through Alanis Morissette’s entire back catalogue.For me, heartbreak looked like a flight from Los Angeles to New York in March after yet another “romantic estrangement”. We started experiencing turbulence somewhere over Nebraska. The plane lurched, lights flickered, and a bowel-emptying plunge took those who had not belted up out of their seats. Masks dropped, adults prayed and children screamed bloody murder. Me? I just sat staring straight ahead, uncaring. My heart had been ripped out a couple of days earlier. I was already dead.Rebecca Humphries is an actor and author of Why Did You Stay?Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Not only did it create a booming avenue of tourism for Denver, but it caused a domino effect, leading to 19 states and DC legalizing recreational marijuanaTen years ago voters in Colorado approved a ballot measure called Amendment 64 that legalized cannabis for adult, recreational use. This not only created a booming avenue of tourism for Denver – which became the Las Vegas of legal weed – but sparked a domino effect of similar reforms across the US, eventually leading 19 states (and DC) to legalize recreational marijuana, and increase the number of medically legal states to 37.Since then, Colorado has racked up $13.2bn in cannabis sales, which has gleaned $2.2bn in taxes and fees for the state. Continue reading...

The former president is considering granting the Capitol attack committee’s demand to appear – but would such a move be wise?The House January 6 select committee’s unanimous move to subpoena Donald Trump, demanding that he testify about his knowledge of the Capitol attack, sets up the prospect of a political spectacle as the congressional investigation races towards what could be an explosive conclusion.The former US president may decide to ignore the subpoena and decide not to cooperate with the inquiry, or alternatively, believing that he is his own best spokesman and can answer for his actions to anyone, may agree to a dramatic deposition. Continue reading...

Republican spars with Democratic senator Raphael Warnock in one-off contest in vital midterms raceThe Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker, a staunch anti-abortion politician accused by a former girlfriend of encouraging and paying for her abortion in 2009, used his only debate against the Democratic senator Raphael Warnock on Friday to deny his previous support for an outright national abortion ban.The former college football and NFL star, who is endorsed by Donald Trump, was asked about his support for “a complete ban on a national level”. He said the moderator misstated his position. That contradicted statements made repeatedly on the campaign trail, including in July when Walker said it was “a problem” that no national ban existed. Continue reading...

President tells demonstrators that Iran’s protests ‘awakened something that I don’t think will be quieted for a long, long time’Joe Biden has said he is “stunned” by the mass protests in Iran and that the US stands with that country’s “brave women”.The US president said at a college in Irvine, California, during an address to a group of protesters holding “Free Iran” signs: “I want you to know that we stand with the citizens, the brave women of Iran.” Continue reading...

Independent arbiter was tasked to inspect thousands of documents taken from Mar-a-Lago in August search by FBIThe US justice department has asked the 11th circuit court of appeals to void the appointment of the special master examining materials seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for privilege protections, arguing it impedes the criminal investigation into mishandling of sensitive documents.In a 53-page brief filed on Friday, the justice department argues that the Trump-appointed US district court judge who oversees the case, Aileen Cannon, should never have granted the former president’s request to have a special master because he failed to demonstrate the need for such a process. Continue reading...

Democrats call for suspension of transfer of Patriot missiles in wake of ‘turning point’ in relationship with SaudisDemocrats on Capitol Hill have suggested transferring US weapons systems in Saudi Arabia to Ukraine and suspending a planned transfer of Patriot missiles to Riyadh in the wake of what they call a “turning point” in Washington’s relationship with the kingdom.Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman from California who is a leading supporter of a weapons freeze, said he believed that “at the very least” Congress would move to halt the transfer of Patriot missiles to the kingdom, and probably pause other defense initiatives. Continue reading...

FDA says supply does not meet demand and drug-maker says backorders are due to ‘significant rise’ in prescription ratesAn increase in prescriptions and an ongoing labor crunch have helped contribute to a nationwide shortage of Adderall across the US.The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday confirmed the shortage of the drug, used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. The FDA said Teva, the largest manufacturer, is facing “ongoing intermittent manufacturing delays”. Continue reading...

Executive order makes voting easier in Florida’s Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota counties but not in Democratic Orange countyGovernor Ron DeSantis has made voting easier in certain Florida counties battered by Hurricane Ian – but only Republican-leaning ones.DeSantis signed an executive order on Thursday that eases voting rules for about 1 million voters in Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota counties, all areas that Hurricane Ian hit hard and that all reliably vote Republican. Continue reading...

This is the biggest humiliation of Britain since Suez, a reminder that no government can ignore realityHard to believe now, when we’re in the middle of the maelstrom, but one day this too will be the past. And when it is, when we’re out of the hourly psychodrama – no longer staring at the screen, watching Kwasi Kwarteng’s plane do an actual U-turn in the sky en route to his being fired on touchdown, for the crime of doing what his boss wanted him to do – it may not look all that complicated.Historians will look back and see a point of origin to the current madness, one that explains how a new prime minister could see her administration fall apart in a matter of weeks, even if we struggle to name that cause out loud right now. When the textbooks of the future come to the chapter we are living through, in the autumn of 2022, they will start with the summer of 2016: Brexit and the specific delusion that drove it.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Sources tell Guardian ex-president may choose to appear before Capitol attack committee after Thursday vote to subpoena himDonald Trump is considering testifying in front of the House January 6 committee, which this week concluded a dramatic hearing establishing what it says is his culpability for the deadly Capitol attack by voting to subpoena the former president.On Friday, sources close to Trump confirmed to the Guardian that he may choose to appear before the congressional panel. Such an appearance would set up an unprecedented, high-stakes political event. Continue reading...

Seven slayings in Stockton and Oakland, with the killer still at large, has shocked the majority Latin residents of the two citiesKimberly Warmsley does not remember the last time a string of homicides have so deeply affected her community, as the seven slayings that have rocked the cities of Stockton and Oakland.“All of this keeps me up at night,” said Warmsley, who serves as a city council member in this Northern California city. “It’s caused some of our residents, especially in our Hispanic community, to be a little disturbed and uneasy.” Continue reading...