US news | The Guardian

The sole question posed to voters in the special election is a direct attempt to stop the legalization of abortion through democratic meansTechnically, August special elections are supposed to be illegal in Ohio. Late last year, a Republican-backed bill passed the state house prohibiting most special elections in August, reasoning that timing an election in the dog days of late summer depressed turnout, and cost too much money. But those same Republicans changed their tune in May, when it became clear that abortion rights supporters in Ohio would be able to put a ballot measure to voters securing abortion rights in the state in the November 2023 election. Ohio has a six-week ban on the books, but it is currently blocked by a court, and abortion remains legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The measure, if passed, would help keep it that way, amending the Ohio state constitution to grant individuals a right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions".Ballot measures have been extremely successful tools of the pro-choice movement since the supreme court abolished the federal abortion right last year in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health: pro-choice ballot initiatives passed by surprisingly large margins even in Ohio's heavily Republican neighbor state, Kentucky, as well as the similarly deep-red Kansas. Since Dobbs, every single time abortion rights have been put to the voters, they have prevailed. And so suddenly, the Ohio GOP felt that it was important that a vote be held in August: a vote, that is, to curtail the power of voting. Continue reading...

Sibley was stabbed after he confronted teens who taunted his group of gay, Black friends as they danced at a Brooklyn gas stationA funeral Tuesday in Philadelphia will honor O'Shae Sibley, who was fatally stabbed after he confronted teenagers who taunted his group of gay, Black friends as they danced at a New York City gas station.Meanwhile, on Monday, the 17-year-old arrested in connection with Sibley's slaying was arraigned on a count of murder as well as a hate crime charge. The suspect was identified as Dmitriy Popov, of Brooklyn, and he is being prosecuted under a New York law which allows anyone who is over the age of 13 and accused of murder to be tried as an adult. Continue reading...

Everything the mainstream debate shrinks from, O'Connor put front and centre. Her unmitigated candour made a differenceIn March 2016, Sinead O'Connor, who died last month at 56 and whose funeral takes place today in Bray, Ireland, went missing. I remember this specifically because the Telegraph ran a live blog on the singer's whereabouts after she had posted suicidal thoughts. A live blog. I pointed out to an editor at the paper that rolling updates about a person going through a severe mental health episode, an episode that might have ended fatally - and for all they knew, already had - was neither responsible nor compassionate. It was, coincidentally, Mental Health Awareness Week.On that occasion, O'Connor was found safe, if not well. It was not the only brutal public example of how her mental illness manifested, and mental illness was the blunt - accurate - term she used. Of contemporary public figures, O'Connor was perhaps the one whose experiences of psychiatric disorder - she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and complex PTSD - spoke most to the realities of those who live with, or endure, the kind of warped brain that can make even the simplest thing feel like a Sphinx's riddle.Hannah Jane Parkinson is a Guardian columnistIn the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. For more information visit www.samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.orgComments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. Continue reading...

Execs make hundreds of millions of dollars, yet 87% of Sag actors don't make the $26,470 a year to qualify for health insuranceOn Friday, negotiators for the Hollywood studios finally sat down with the Writers Guild of America after a three-month standoff. But don't hold your breath. The Screen Actors Guild is still on strike, studio tycoons sound like Logan Roy and the two-union shutdown could drag on for months.Writers and actors want raises, residuals from streaming platforms and some regulation of AI.Kathleen Sharp is the author of Mr & Mrs Hollywood (Blackstone) and co-producer of The Last Mogul (ThinkFilm) Continue reading...

Rising interest in dollhouses suggests people find solace and joy in tiny things - especially when real homes are so priceyIt's the summer of Barbie, and I'm thinking about her Dream House.Not its recent incarnations - so much pink and plastic! - but the 1962 folding cardboard original. The studio apartment came with modest furnishings: a small bed, a couch, books, a TV. Continue reading...

Voters weigh in on constitutional amendment process in decision with huge consequences for abortion rightsOhioans will decide on Tuesday how difficult it should be to amend the state's constitution in an election that will have huge consequences for reproductive rights and the future of majority rule in the state.Currently, Ohio requires activists to get a certain number of signatures on petitions, both statewide and in 44 of 88 counties, to send an amendment to the ballot. In each of the 44 counties, the total number of signatures needs to be equivalent to 5% of the vote in that county in the last gubernatorial race. Statewide, the total has to be equivalent to 10% of the same. Continue reading...

Inside California's oldest prison, a mix of hope and fear as the governor's $380m plan to reimagine' incarceration beginsOn the recreation yard of San Quentin prison on a recent morning, dozens of residents were jogging around an open track, playing basketball and lounging on grass and picnic tables. Lt Guim'Mara Berry was leading a media tour of California's oldest prison, touting its acclaimed running club and a recent pickleball game between staff and residents.Officials had brought in a group of reporters to promote Governor Gavin Newsom's plan to completely reimagine what prison means" by transforming the complex into a rehabilitation center" inspired by prisons in Norway, where officers act more like social workers. Continue reading...

Exclusive: memo reveals Gregory Aymond disregarded recommendations from board advisers to publicly label certain accused clerics as credibly suspected molestersWhen he took over leadership of New Orleans's Roman Catholic archdiocese in 2009, one of the administrative tools that archbishop Gregory Aymond inherited was a board of advisers which was set up to help determine the credibility of sexual abuse allegations made against clerics under his command.But, multiple times, Aymond has demonstrated his comfort with disregarding recommendations from those advisers to publicly label certain accused clerics as credibly suspected molesters. Continue reading...

Politicians including chairs of US and UK foreign affairs committees criticise lack of pressure placed on Serbia'

Thousands of flights have been cancelled and more than 1m homes and businesses are without power. Plus, why are Americans obsessed with secret societies?Good morning.A wave of destructive strong storms moving through the north-east of the country has left two people dead, caused thousands of flight cancellations and left more than 1.1m homes and businesses without power.What about the heatwaves? Triple-digit temperatures are persisting in the south of the US, from Arizona to Florida, with heat indexes as high as 115F as the heatwave affects more than 65 million Americans. Extreme heat advisories remain active in several cities including Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and Orlando.What did he say in response to interviewer Dasha Burns asking how he would know deadly force was being used against the right people? Same way a police officer would know," DeSantis said. Same way somebody operating in Iraq would know. You know, these people in Iraq at the time, they all looked the same. You didn't know who had a bomb strapped to them. So those guys have to make judgments." Continue reading...

Asked how authorities would distinguish cartel members from migrants, governor likens Mexico border strategy to Iraq warThe rightwing Florida governor and 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has sparked controversy by outlining a hardline border policy of deadly force despite acknowledging that drug traffickers could be difficult to distinguish from migrants crossing into the US.DeSantis, whose ailing campaign has failed to cut into the lead of the Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump, said that under his direction as president, US law enforcement on the lookout for drugs would not mistakenly use lethal force on migrants because US agents would have rules of engagement" similar to police or US forces in war zones like Iraq. Continue reading...

Prize has inflated because no one has matched the game's winning numbers since 18 April - but this could all end on TuesdayA Mega Millions lottery jackpot has grown to $1.55bn, making it the third-largest ever ahead of Tuesday night's drawing.The prize has ballooned because no one has matched the game's six winning numbers since 18 April, amounting to 31 straight drawings without a big winner. Continue reading...

As we move towards the second anniversary of the extremists retaking power, this denial of education must be addressedTwo years of ever-intensifying repression since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 have not dimmed the resilience of girls and women in Afghanistan, who continue to risk their lives fighting for their right to an education and employment. But no one should be in any doubt that what Afghan girls are experiencing is not a temporary disruption. It is nothing less than gender apartheid", the chilling words used recently by the permanent representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations. Only a term as devastating as this can capture the grave violations of rights involved. It is time to declare it a crime against humanity, and the prosecutors of the international criminal court (ICC) should open an investigation into the repression ordained by the Taliban regime.Even now, under fear of arrest, detention and torture for transgressing the Taliban's rights-violating edicts, brave children across Afghanistan are attending underground schools. A major initiative on internet learning in universities has also recently started, with support from the refugee agency UNHCR and the consortium Connected Learning in Crisis. Many families have realised that the only chance of education for their daughters is through emigration. That still leaves an estimated 2.5 million girls and young women with no education at all, and they will soon be joined by a further 3 million who are about to complete their primary education. Unable to move up to secondary school, yet another generation of Afghan girls will be denied a chance to realise their talents and fulfil their dreams. Continue reading...

A new Netflix documentary shows the college football great as a man unwilling - or perhaps unable - to move on from his pastEven the most casual US sports fan isn't likely to have forgotten about Johnny Manziel, football's Charlie Sheen. The latest instalment of Netflix's sports documentary series Untold devotes an episode to the bad boy quarterback's controversy-stained rise in college football, his NFL flameout and his off-field tumble into infamy and disgrace. Titled Untold: Johnny Football, the 72-minute runtime barely covers everything, and resolves even less.For a start, director Ryan Duffy (the Vice media alum who also co-stewarded Untold's excellent two-part deep dive into college football cat-fishing victim Manti Te'o) could have fast-forwarded through Manziel's humble Texas small town beginnings and jumped straight to 12 November 2012: the day Manziel led Texas A&M to a shock upset over the vaunted Alabama on the Crimson Tide's hallowed home turf. That victory, the film rightly points out, didn't just make Manziel a household name across the US. It also changed the economics at Texas A&M, a military school in the Lone Star hinterlands that had recently jumped into the SEC - the top-level conference known for churning out future pros.Untold: Johnny Football is available on Netflix on 8 August.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

The consultancy business model is catching on

Trump's lawyers want the ability to widely share some evidence, including sensitive witness transcriptsFederal prosecutors asked a federal judge to reject Donald Trump's request for fewer restrictions over how he can publicly share evidence in the case involving his efforts to subvert the 2020 election, arguing the former president was seeking to abuse the discovery process.The defendant seeks to use the discovery material to litigate this case in the media," prosecutors wrote in an eight-page brief on Monday. But that is contrary to the purpose of criminal discovery, which is to afford defendants the ability to prepare for and mount a defense in court." Continue reading...

Annette Pershal, 68, who was shot multiple times with a pellet gun, was full of love', said daughter Brandy NazworthTwo San Diego teenagers have been arrested in the fatal shooting of Annette Pershal, a 68-year-old unhoused woman who had lived on the streets for years and was known to locals as Granny Annie".Pershal was found on the street unconscious on 8 May and taken to the hospital where doctors discovered she'd been shot multiple times with a pellet gun, officials said. She died several days later and her death was ruled a homicide. Continue reading...

Order was issued against the city of Sacramento after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own orderAmid a heatwave that is sweeping through parts of the American west, a federal judge in California has placed a temporary ban on sweeps of homeless encampments.US district court judge Troy L Nunley issued the order against the city of Sacramento on 3 August, after advocates called out the municipality for violating its own order by sweeping an encampment during a time of excessive heat, which is anything over 90F. Continue reading...

Ex-president claimed that writer defamed him when saying he raped her, but judge said term is commonly used and understood' in contextDonald Trump suffered another legal reversal on Monday, losing his counterclaim for defamation against E Jean Carroll, the writer against whom he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation and fined $5m, and who continues to pursue a separate defamation case against him.Dismissing the counterclaim, a judge in New York, Lewis A Kaplan, said that when Carroll repeated her allegation that Trump raped her, her words were substantially true". Kaplan also set out in detail why it may be said that Trump raped Carroll.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...

Mayor Eric Adams plans to house as many as 2,000 adults seeking asylum, in tent city where center opened and then closed last yearNew York City's mayor, Eric Adams, announced a plan Monday to house as many as 2,000 migrants on an island in the East River where a migrant center was set up last year and then taken down weeks later.The state will reimburse the city for the cost of operating a tent city for adult migrants on Randalls Island, Adams said. Continue reading...

Bear was not, as initially thought, solely responsible for all instances of property damage - there are other Hanks'A notorious, extremely food-habituated" 500lb female black bear known as Hank the Tank has been detained in the Lake Tahoe area of California more than a year after the wildlife equivalent of an APB was issued by the state's wildlife authorities.Hank, who was initially misgendered as a male, was matched by DNA to more than 21 home break-ins and other instances of property damage in the Lake Tahoe region since 2022. She was safely immobilized" by tranquilizer dart and apprehended Friday morning, according to state officials, and will now be moved to a sanctuary in southern Colorado. Continue reading...

Tou Thao sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for holding crowds back as other officers restrained George FloydA former Minneapolis police officer convicted in state court for his role in the killing of George Floyd was sentenced on Monday to four years and nine months in state prison even as he continued to deny any role in Floyd's death.Tou Thao, who had held crowds back as other officers restrained Floyd, was found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter by a jury in May. He had claimed that he merely served as a human traffic cone" during the deadly encounter. Continue reading...

In the US, gun purchases by Latinos have surged in recent years - including among self-described progressives. Some are anxious about being armed but feel they have little choiceOn a crisp Sunday afternoon in Royse City, Texas, 32-year-old Cesar Hurtado unzipped a hardshell case to reveal a custom-built AR-15-style rifle in his living room. Emblazoned on the side of the gun is the tagline no war, no gods, no masters".Hurtado's interest in firearms started with hunting, but after the 2019 Walmart shooting in El Paso that targeted Latinos, Hurtado felt he had to embrace firearms for his own protection. For white gun owners, they feel they have a right to a gun," Hurtado said, but for Latino gun owners, it's a matter of survival and safety." Continue reading...

Florida Republican governor admits Biden won as Trump leads DeSantis by more than 30 points in most polling averagesOf course" Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, Ron DeSantis said in an interview broadcast Monday - after being pressed on the issue.Appearing on NBC, the Florida governor and nearest challenger to Trump for the nomination in 2024 was asked: Yes or no - did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?" Continue reading...

Trump antagonist and former House speaker also says classified documents and 2020 election interference charges are exquisite'Indictments of Donald Trump regarding his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his retention of classified information are exquisite ... beautiful and intricate", the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said.The indictments against the president are exquisite," Pelosi, 83 and a regular antagonist of the 77-year-old former president, told New York magazine in an interview published on Monday. Continue reading...

The World Cup champion's career on the sporting stage is drawing to a close. But she was always more complex that many would have us believeThe sun had barely risen over half of the United States on Sunday when a wave of schadenfreude swept the nation like an August heatwave.On the other side of the world, the mighty US women's soccer team had crashed out of the World Cup. For many Americans, this was sad news. But in a country still in the throes of the Great Polarization, many people who would call themselves patriotic delighted, with no apparent awareness of irony, in an American defeat. Continue reading...

Charles Gregory rescued by US Coast Guard after enduring jellyfish stings as sinking boat filled with waterA Florida man survived after being stranded at sea for more than 24 hours while enduring a blazing sun and stings from jellyfish as his sinking boat filled with water.Charles Gregory, 25, left for a for a fishing trip off the coast of St Augustine, Florida on Friday when his 12ft jon boat became partially submerged. Continue reading...

Ex-president's open criticism of team started in 2019, when Megan Rapinoe said she wouldn't visit White House after winningLess than 24 hours after the US women's national team suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of their longtime nemesis Sweden in the second round of the 2023 Women's World Cup, Donald Trump gloated about the team's elimination on social media.The former president, a longtime vocal critic of the team, specifically Megan Rapinoe, a blue-haired talisman and outspoken LGBTQ+ advocate who missed a crucial penalty during the final moments of the game, said that the team's loss is fully emblematic of what is happening to our great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden". Continue reading...

Fight appeared to start when a worker objected to a pontoon boat preventing a larger river boat from docking, and was attacked by a group of white menA dramatic brawl on the Montgomery, Alabama, riverfront pitted people standing up for a Black riverboat worker against a group of white people who began beating him for telling them to move their illegally parked pontoon.The Saturday night fight, which was captured in multiple videos posted to social media, appeared to unfold largely along racial lines. And many social media users celebrated footage of the riverfront dust-up, which showed the white assailants get the tables turned on them by Black people who rushed to the riverboat worker's aid. Continue reading...

Mary MacCarthy, who is white, was accused of human trafficking when traveling to a funeral with her biracial daughterA white mother who was accused of human trafficking by a Southwest Airlines employee because the woman was traveling with her biracial daughter has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of racial discrimination.Mary MacCarthy was traveling with her 10-year-old daughter on 22 October 2021 on a Southwest flight from California to Denver to attend a funeral, according to a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Colorado. Continue reading...

The former president continues to threaten witnesses despite warnings not to violate conditions of releaseAt Donald Trump's arraignment last Thursday for trying to overturn the result of the 2020 election, magistrate judge Moxila A Upadhyaya warned him that he could be taken into custody if he violated the conditions of his release, including attempting to influence jurors or intimidate future witnesses.Calling him Mr Trump" rather than President Trump - thereby emphasizing that he was being treated as any criminal defendant would be treated - she said:Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

Ever since I was a teenager, people have thought I am much older than I actually am. Their mistakes have stopped bothering meWhen I was 14, someone thought I was my nine-year-old sister's mum. In purely practical terms, imagining me having had her at, say, 14, that would put me at nine years over my actual age, but I was reading the cues of this exchange with passionate concentration and completely absent from it was any of the normal condescension people heaped upon a teenage mother. This mistaken person had clearly processed me as a legitimate child-rearer who had had her nine-year-old at the appropriate time, which placed me conservatively at 30.So that was the backdrop to my mystified neurosis - do I really look twice my real age? - when, later that year, I went to help my mum with her job. She was a set designer, filming a children's drama that necessitated making summer look like spring, to which end someone had to remove the cherries from some trees, eat them, and glue on some fake carnations, to look like blossom. It's not even respectable work for a 14-year-old, but someone had to do it. When I needed a lift back to a station at the end of the day, there was only one guy free to take me, and I arrived at Sheringham in a 16-metre articulated lorry, which the fella in the ticket office then asked me to move as it was blocking, well, everything; it was blocking Norfolk's entire connection with the outside world.Zoe Williams 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...

One of the largest US trucking companies, Yellow's customers include Walmart and Home Depot and Uber FreightUS trucking firm Yellow Corp filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday and said it would wind down, after struggling with a mounting debt load and following tense contract negotiations with the Teamsters Union.The nearly 100-year-old company's bankruptcy filing in a Delaware court estimated assets and liabilities of $1bn to $10bn, with more than 100,000 creditors. Continue reading...

Cause of deadly accident near Cabazon, about 90 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, not immediately clearThree members of a firefighting helicopter crew were killed after their helicopter collided with another in midair and crashed while battling wildfires in southern California on Sunday evening, officials said.The cause of the deadly accident near Cabazon, about 90 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, was not immediately clear, the chief of Cal Fire's southern region, David Fulcher, told a news conference early Monday. Continue reading...

The Americans were ahead of the pack for years. Then the rest of the world started to give the women's game the respect it deservesSunday will be remembered as the day the United States women's team hit rock bottom. In truth, it was a long time coming.USA's last-16 elimination at the hands of Sweden in Melbourne marked their worst finish at a major tournament. The United States had won four of the last eight World Cups - including the last two - and had never finished worse than third. Continue reading...

Bus carrying 45 to 50 people collided with another vehicle on an interstate late SundayMultiple passengers have died after a charter bus carrying up to 50 people collided with another vehicle on an interstate in Pennsylvania late Sunday, according to state police officials.The crash happened at about 11.50pm in the southbound lanes of interstate 81 in Dauphin county's Lower Paxton Township, the state police said. The bus flipped on its side after striking the rear end of a car. Continue reading...

Sherard Cowper-Coles claimed British government was bowing to US demands in dealing with BeijingA senior executive at HSBC has apologised after saying the weak" UK government had caved in to the US in its approach to doing business with China.Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the bank's head of public affairs and a former British diplomat, said sorry after sharing his personal views" on Britain's policy towards Beijing at a private event, a spokesperson for HSBC said. Continue reading...

John Lauro says indictment is full of holes and that Mike Pence could help former boss fight off 2020 election conspiracy charges. Plus, is racism at heart of US failure to tackle deadly heatwaves?Good morning.Donald Trump's attorney has suggested Mike Pence could help his former boss fight off the 2020 election-related criminal conspiracy charges against Trump, claiming that the former vice-president would be the best witness" for the defense.Will Pence testify for the prosecution? Earlier on Sunday, Pence - who is running against Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination - told CBS he had no plans" to testify for the prosecution. But he did not rule it out. In response to Lauro's assertion last week that all Trump did was ask him to pause the certification, Pence said: That's not what happened."What happened during the first breakthrough? In December, Lawrence Livermore achieved a net energy gain in a fusion experiment using lasers. That experiment briefly achieved what is known as fusion ignition by generating 3.15 megajoules of energy output after the laser delivered 2.05mj to the target, the Energy Department said. In other words, it produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy used to drive it, the department said. Continue reading...

The obstruction of an official proceeding count is notable among his recent charges as it may not turn on whether Trump believed his own claimsIncluded in the indictment last week against Donald Trump for his efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election was a count of obstructing an official proceeding - the attempt to stop the vote certification in Congress on the day his supporters mounted the January 6 Capitol attack.The count is notable, because - based on a review of previous judicial rulings in other cases where the charge has been brought - it may be one where prosecutors will not need to prove Trump knew he lost the election, as the former president's legal team has repeatedly claimed. Continue reading...

CBP One requirement creates unlawful hurdle for migrants on app riddled with glitches and indecipherable error messages, suit saysImmigrant rights advocates and asylum seekers filed a lawsuit against Customs and Border Protection last week, claiming federal officials have created a new, unlawful hurdle for people seeking asylum in the United States.Migrants fleeing violence in their home countries are now required to book an appointment with border officials through CBP One, a smartphone app designed by the US government. Continue reading...

Critics say GOP leaders misrepresent asylum seekers as being behind smuggling of opioid that kills 70,000 Americans a yearRepublican politicians have been accused of exploiting the tragedy of America's fentanyl crisis by blaming Joe Biden for the rising death toll, and linking it to his immigration policies and populist anger over the US's troubled southern border.Critics say Republican leaders are guilty of a cynical political ploy by misrepresenting an increase in asylum seekers as a cause of the serious problem of cross-border drug smuggling driving a huge US public health crisis. Continue reading...

The NBA team's backing of a US presidential candidate who has crusaded to delegitimize the horrors of slavery is hypocritical and disgustingThe Orlando Magic's decision to make a $50,000 contribution in support of the presidential bid of Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, sends a clear message to their Black players, employees and fans. And that message is a U-turn from the one in the summer of 2020 when the United States was in an uproar over the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, the shooting of Jacob Blake as well as countless other examples of police brutality.Back then, the Magic issued this statement through CEO Alex Martins, allegedly standing in solidarity with Black people: Continue reading...

The seven-time Super Bowl champion has one of the most impressive resumes in NFL history. Why has he turned his sights to second-tier Blues?Maybe it was inevitable that once Tom Brady conquered American football, he would set his sights on the other kind. Still, it came as a surprise last week when Birmingham City announced that the NFL great would be partnering with Knighthead Capital Management to take on a minority stake in the English Championship club.The nature of Birmingham's interest is self-evident. First of all, there's the media attention. Birmingham's footprint in the lucrative US market was nonexistent a few days ago, but that's changed now they are associated with one of the most famous people in America. And Brady is not just any celebrity but one who embodies team success and individual greatness: a seven-time Super Bowl champion with an obsessive drive to win, he also holds a legitimate claim to being the best player in NFL history. Continue reading...

A state grand jury indicted Melody Felicano Johnson in Tucson in July after her husband sent video to policeAn Arizona woman tried to kill her husband - a US military member - by poisoning his coffee with bleach daily since March before her arrest, authorities allege.Melody Felicano Johnson faces charges of attempted first-degree homicide, attempted aggravated assault, and adding poison to food or drink after her husband sent video to police of her apparently pouring bleach into his coffee pot. A state grand jury indicted her in Tucson in July. Continue reading...

Combined naval patrol appeared to be largest such flotilla to approach US territory and highly provocative', expert saysThe US dispatched four navy warships as well as a reconnaissance airplane after multiple Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska last week.The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach US territory, according to experts that spoke to the outlet. Continue reading...