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Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick allegedly made $22m based on tips about Trump's media groupUS prosecutors on Thursday charged three men with insider trading ahead of the proposed merger of former president Donald Trump's social media company and a shell company in late 2021.Michael Shvartsman, Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick allegedly made more than $22m trading in Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), a so-called special purpose acquisition company, or Spac, based on tips about its planned combination with Trump Media & Technology Group. Continue reading...

Former vice-president is first Republican presidential candidate to meet with Ukrainian president during campaignFormer vice-president Mike Pence visited Ukraine this week and met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to a report by NBC News.He's now the first GOP presidential candidate to meet with Zelenskiy during the campaign. Continue reading...

At a recent fundraiser he said he's not big on' abortion. It's not pro-choice activists who are out of step with the mainstream; it's Joe BidenA closed-door fundraiser for the very wealthy is a place where a lot of politicians really shine. Among their fellow elites, surrounded by people like them who like them - and are giving them money - Democrats and Republicans alike often become their truest selves. They drop the flesh-pressing affectations, the focused-group soundbites, the stiff smiles. They become something they're usually not: honest.Honest is what Biden was at a similar fundraiser in tony Chevy Chase, Maryland, this past Tuesday, when he told a crowd of his wealthy supporters that he was personally ambivalent about abortion rights. I'm a practicing Catholic. I'm not big on abortion," the president said. Nevertheless, he claimed that the compromise Roe v Wade decision on abortion got it right".Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

About 1,200 flights cancelled on Wednesday and nearly 7,000 delayed due to poor weather and staff shortagesThousands of airline passengers have faced cancelled or delayed flights amid surges in summer travel, as many worry about possible travel woes ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.About 1,200 flights were cancelled on Wednesday and nearly 7,000 delayed, according to data from FlightAware, according to Newsweek. Continue reading...

The court's ruling reflects a decades-long drive to return higher education to the control of a white privileged classOn Thursday, in a 6-3 decision, the US supreme court ruled against affirmative action in American colleges and universities. The obvious concern now is whether the ruling will significantly reduce the number of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students enrolled at elite institutions. But a more dire reality undergirds the court's decision: it reflects a decades-long drive to return higher education to white, elite control.That movement predates affirmative action by at least a century, because no entity impacts American life more than higher education. During the Reconstruction era following emancipation, Black people were allowed to advance in political and various other roles, but white powerbrokers drew a hard line at higher education. On 28 September 1870 the chancellor of the University of Mississippi, John Newton Waddel, declared: The university will continue to be, what it always has been, an institution exclusively for the education of the white race."Eddie R Cole is an associate professor of education and history at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the author of The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom Continue reading...

Florida governor vows to push back against woke ideology ... we see creeping into all institutions of American life'Ron DeSantis pledged on Wednesday that he would eliminate four federal agencies if he were elected president: the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, and Department of Education.If Congress will work with me on doing that, we'll be able to reduce the size and scope of government," the Florida governor said in an interview with Fox News' Martha MacCallum. If Congress won't go that far, I'm going to use those agencies to push back against woke ideology and against the leftism that we see creeping into all institutions of American life." Continue reading...

Three of the train's seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in California, which critically injured the truck's driverAn Amtrak train carrying nearly 200 passengers struck a county water truck and derailed on Wednesday in Southern California, critically injuring the truck's driver, authorities said.Three of the train's seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in Moorpark, said Ventura County Fire Department captain Brian McGrath. The derailed train cars remained upright on tracks adjacent to an orchard and bare sections of land. Continue reading...

Ukrainian forces seize strategic initiative' while Russian president poses for selfies in Dagestan. Plus, are pink-haired liberals' killing New York pizza? Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Vladimir Putin greeted supporters in a rare up-close public appearance yesterday after arriving in the remote southern region of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea.What else is happening? A Russian general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine has not been seen in public since Saturday, with US intelligence reportedly claiming he had prior knowledge of the uprising led by the Wagner chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.What has the German chancellor said? Last weekend's mutiny has weakened Putin's authority, as it shows that the autocratic power structures have cracks in them and he is not as firmly in the saddle as he always asserts", Olaf Scholz said during a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with the German broadcaster ARD.What's going to happen now? Retrieving the debris from the submersible is a key part of the investigation to establish what went wrong. The wreckage of the Titan will assist in an investigation into the tragedy and answer questions about the craft's experimental design, safety standards and lack of certification. Industry experts have long had doubts about the design of the craft and raised questions about the safety record of OceanGate, the US company that operated the submersible. Continue reading...

The Russian leader's show of mercy towards Yevgeny Prigozhin was not a sign of weakness but a shrewd moveMuch of the western analysis of the events in Russia last weekend has concluded that Vladimir Putin displayed his weakness by allowing Yevgeny Prigozhin and other Wagner group commanders to depart peacefully for Belarus, and the rank-and-file to join the Russian army or retire to their homes. Of course, if Putin had in fact crushed the revolt by force and executed its leaders, commentators would have used this as more evidence of his brutality and ruthlessness, and perhaps also of the innate savagery and violence of the Russian national tradition.These conclusions are coloured by an understandable dislike of the Russian leader, and they do not constitute sober and objective analysis. In fact, though Putin was obviously responsible for creating the background to this mess, we should consider the possibility that at the weekend he handled things well. In his address to the nation on Saturday morning, he displayed determination and resolve. Putin made clear that he had no intention of surrendering to Prigozhin's demands, and that if he and the other Wagner leaders continued their revolt, they would be charged with treason (and, by implication, probably executed).Anatol Lieven is director of the Eurasia programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and author of books including Ukraine and Russia: A Fraternal Rivalry Continue reading...

National Security Council's statement comes after the Guardian reported Hollywood financier's interest in NSO group's assetsThe Biden administration has warned that any attempted takeover by an American company of Israel's NSO Group, the maker of one of the world's most sophisticated cyber-weapons, could prompt a review of whether the acquisition posed a counterintelligence threat to the US government.The statement by the National Security Council comes after the Guardian reported that Robert Simonds, a Hollywood financier best known for producing several Adam Sandler films, is exploring a possible bid to take control of NSO's assets, including Pegasus, the company's spyware. Continue reading...

Brad Raffensperger disregards report identifying vulnerabilities and claims findings are no more than conspiracy theoriesGeorgia's top election official is disregarding a recently released report that identifies serious vulnerabilities in Georgia's computerized election system, instead siding with a conflicting report and claiming that scientific findings about cybersecurity threats are no more than conspiracy theories.The Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, charged with overseeing elections, announced that despite the report's findings, he will not update software to protect against the vulnerabilities before the 2024 presidential elections. Continue reading...

My only consolation is that it feels so damn good to take them off at the end of the dayI don't mean to boast, but I've got lovely legs. They are easily my best feature. But - there's a but - while my right leg is simply perfect, and my left leg is good down to the knee, what comes below that is a proper old mess.It was more than 30 years ago, playing in goal in a cup tie at Amersham Town, that I broke my left leg. Impressive," said the radiologist of the X-rays. I spent seven months in plaster and it was a year before I could walk without a stick. Even then, I wasn't out of the woods.Adrian Chiles is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Museum of Revolution denounced over event with Moms for Liberty, which has been labeled as an extremist, hate groupHistorians, civil rights organizations and lawmakers are denouncing the Museum of the American Revolution for hosting an upcoming event with Moms for Liberty, a controversial campaign organization that has been called an extremist group by critics.Moms for Liberty (M4L), which the anti-hate watchdog Southern Poverty Law Center labeled as an extremist, anti-government group, will hold a summit in Philadelphia this weekend featuring several Republican presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley. In a decision that has generated widespread backlash, the Museum of the American Revolution has agreed to host a welcome event for the organization on Thursday. Continue reading...

Only holdout' in area that used to house over 50 manufacturing firms to halt operations in March 2024 with over 400 jobs lostFor over 100 years, the Master Lock plant in Milwaukee manufactured locks and security products. Now, what was for years the last remaining large manufacturing holdout on the north side of Milwaukee's industrial sector, is being shut down after the company informed employees a phased shutdown will begin on 31 October 2023, with final operations halting by March 2024.The plant employed more than 1,100 employees in the 1990s but the number of employees in the plant fell to about 270 in 2003 as Master Lock began offshoring jobs to Mexico and China. Continue reading...

Twin Cities community has long battled Islamophobia, and some say attacks are a backlash to new rule allowing broadcast any timeMuslims in Minnesota have vowed not to stop answering the call to prayer, despite a series of attacks on mosques some believe to be a backlash to a new rule that permits the Adhan to be broadcast at any time of the day or night.In April, Minneapolis made history when it became the first major city in the US to allow mosques to broadcast the call to prayer using loudspeakers at any time. Before the change to a city noise ordinance, it had only been permitted to be put out between 7am to 10pm. Continue reading...

Some thought Major League Baseball games with pitch clocks might feel forced, rushed, even gimmicky. But the new rules have proven to be a rousing successThe time - emphasis on time - has come to declare that Major League Baseball has nailed its effort to speed up games. MLB people always talked about wanting to finish games in less than three hours, but they never could make it happen. Now they have.The average time of a game in the first two-plus months of the season is 2hr 40min - a span not seen since the early 1980s - much shorter than the bloated averages of 3hr 6min in 2022 and 3hr 11min in 2021. But stats are only part of the story. Continue reading...

US president lays out economic vision centered around three key pillars', giving a glimpse at a key piece of his 2024 campaignTwenty years have passed since the United States invaded Iraq, and the country has dropped substantially in priority among Washington's foreign policy concerns.At the White House and in the halls of Congress, you are much more likely to hear about China, Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, or the perennial issue of Iran than about America's relations with Baghdad. But it's worth remembering that before he became vice-president under Barack Obama, or president 12 years later, Joe Biden played a major role in getting Congress to approve America's invasion of Iraq.Biden did vastly more than just vote for the war. Yet his role in bringing about that war remains mostly unknown or misunderstood by the public. When the war was debated and then authorized by the US Congress in 2002, Democrats controlled the Senate and Biden was chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations. Biden himself had enormous influence as chair and argued strongly in favor of the 2002 resolution granting President Bush the authority to invade Iraq.I do not believe this is a rush to war," Biden said a few days before the vote. I believe it is a march to peace and security. I believe that failure to overwhelmingly support this resolution is likely to enhance the prospects that war will occur ..." Continue reading...

Joe Biden called Bidenomics" a success during a speech in Chicago, boasting about his record on promoting employment and wage growth in the US over the two and a half years since he took office.

Former president makes counterclaim, after civil trial found he sexually abused herDonald Trump has sued E Jean Carroll for defamation, alleging she falsely accused him of rape after a jury in a civil trial found that he sexually abused her.Trump's counterclaim against Carroll in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday cited Carroll's statements on the CNN cable news channel after the verdict, and comes after a jury's finding in May that he sexually abused and defamed Carroll, but the jury did not find that he raped her. Continue reading...

Salaam, who was falsely accused along with four others of raping a woman, faced two veteran politicians for Harlem seat in New YorkYusef Salaam, who as a child was part of a group of teenagers wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned for the rape of a woman jogging in New York's Central Park, has declared victory in a Democratic primary for a city council seat in New York - giving him a very good chance of representing a Harlem district as an elected official.Salaam faced two veteran politicians, New York state assembly members Al Taylor, 65, and Inez Dickens, 73, in the race for a seat representing part of the majority-Black uptown Manhattan neighborhood. The incumbent, democratic socialist Kristin Richard Jordan, dropped out of the race in May but remained on the ballot. Continue reading...

Emergency medical providers respond to heat-related illnesses as extreme temperatures become more frequent and prolonged

Daniel Penny, 24, also pleads not guilty to criminally negligent homicide after incident on New York subwayThe man accused of fatally strangling Jordan Neely with a chokehold in a New York City subway car last month pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in a court appearance on Wednesday to enter a plea to a grand jury indictment charging him in the killing.Daniel Penny, 24, was captured in videos recorded by bystanders choking Neely from behind for several minutes on 1 May while they rode on a train on the F line, in Manhattan. Continue reading...

As MPs examine the issue, one thing is clear: terminally ill people shouldn't have to beg for the right to die with dignityThere are limits to how much you can infer from the 540 British people who have elected to die with the help of Dignitas since it opened in 1998: it's hard to tell how many more people would make this choice if they had 10,000, which is how much it typically costs.But one figure, which came out in this week's House of Commons' assisted dying investigation, tells its own story: Britons constitute more than one in seven of the people who end their lives in this way; roughly the same proportion are French; in the majority by far are Germans, at 40%. The German government overhauled the laws on assisted dying in 2020, and the French are in the process of doing so, recognition of a fact so obvious that it is astonishing anyone should have to say it out loud: most people don't even want to go to a hospital to die, let alone travel to another country.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Grey has nothing to do with joy, optimism, passion or life. Why has the world been drained of colour?My friend once came to see me in a flat I'd just moved into. This was Lee Dixon, the former footballer and a television colleague at the time. He looked around approvingly but said: You've got to be a bit careful here. Your carpets, your sofa and your walls are all grey. You've got these big windows and outside the clouds are grey. Your hair is grey and so are your clothes. Your disposition's a bit grey sometimes, too. You're blending in. I can barely see you. You might have to put on some hi-vis."Footballers can be terribly savage like this. But I saw Lee had a point, and I've been trying to de-grey myself ever since. This is hard in the world we live in. Having chosen a new lease car, I had to select a colour. I was spoilt for choice: there were only shades of grey available, so I plumped for grey. Looking around, it then struck me that most cars are now grey. Apart from the sheer dreariness, this is surely suboptimal in terms of safety; like me in my front room that day, they're all camouflaged against the roads and, often, the sky.Adrian Chiles is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Is age really just a number? Post-pandemic, it's easy to feel like we've been robbed of precious yearsImagine someone offered you the chance to take a couple of years off your age - no catch, no need to hide your passport or cross your fingers that no one checks up on your LinkedIn claim to have graduated in 2008.You'd jump at it, wouldn't you? The people of South Korea certainly have: their government has just given its citizens the gift of youth, making them all a year or two younger overnight.Claire Cohen is a journalist and the author of BFF? The Truth About Female Friendship Continue reading...

More than 80m Americans under air quality alerts while temperatures hit triple digits in south and south-westHuge swaths of the United States continue to face extreme weather as temperatures persist into the triple digits in the south and south-west while smoke pollution is blighting the midwest.Chicago and Detroit both had the most unhealthy air in the world for several hours on Tuesday evening, CNN reported, as smoke drifts from record Canadian wildfires. More than 80 million people, largely from the midwest to the east coast, are under air quality alerts. Continue reading...

The Grand Depart will be in the Basque Country this year before crossing the Pyrenees and then heading across the Massif CentralThe Tour starts in Spain's foremost cycling heartland, with a stage through the Basque Country hills which will give many the jitters. Four stiff ascents in the final 80km with the Cote de Pike less than 10km from the line means an initial sort-out of the field; at least one favourite could lose the race here. The finish is made for Julian Alaphilippe, so France will expect a win and yellow jersey. Continue reading...

Democratic state senator will seek Delaware's sole seat in House of Representatives in 2024Sarah McBride, the highest-ranked openly transgender elected official in the US, announced she is running for the US House of Representatives this week. If elected, she will be the first openly transgender member of Congress.This campaign isn't just about making history - it's about moving forward," said McBride in a press release on Monday. To strengthen our democracy, we need effective leaders who believe in taking bold action and building bridges for lasting progress." Continue reading...

North Carolina Republicans requested justices issue ruling after dispute over electoral maps. Plus, Brittney Griner's triumphant return to the WNBA

Millions of Americans can't access a doctor or dentist or have to wait months to be seen. Let's change thatThe bad news is that the US healthcare system is broken and dysfunctional. We spend twice as much per capita as almost any other country, nearly $13,000 per year, while 85 million Americans remain uninsured or underinsured. In addition, our health outcomes are often worse. In terms of life expectancy, for example, we live far shorter lives than the people of many other industrialized nations.The system is failing ordinary Americans. On the other hand, the insurance and drug companies that dominate it have sky-high profits and their CEOs receive exorbitant compensation packages. The thousands of lobbyists those companies have on Capitol Hill are also doing very well.Bernie Sanders is a US senator and chairman of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. He represents the state of Vermont, and is the longest-serving independent in the history of Congress Continue reading...

Mohammed bin Salman said to look to repair his reputation after 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in IstanbulThe proposed merger between the Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the American PGA Tour marks the latest maneuver by Riyadh in its campaign to repair its reputation and head off the sort of blacklisting that occurred after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent advocate for democracy in the Middle East told the Guardian.This is a merger in name only. This is really about the Saudi government throwing a premium at PGA Tour that they obviously found too overwhelmingly tempting to resist," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn). Continue reading...

The independent state legislature' theory was a terrifying threat to voting rights and never should have made it this farSuch is the dismal state of the US supreme court that it is genuinely surprising any time the court's conservative supermajority turns down an opportunity to further distort American democracy to the benefit of their partisan benefactors and enhance the prospects of enduring one-party minority rule.Moore v Harper - the case from North Carolina involving the so-called independent state legislature" (ISL) theory, the ludicrous notion that state legislatures have a free hand when it comes to election law and redistricting, unfettered by pesky state constitutions, state supreme courts or even gubernatorial vetos - was satisfyingly swatted away on Tuesday by a 6-3 majority. Continue reading...

Employees condemn workplaces that deny them rest, leaving them in pain and leading to class-action suitsWhen Zay clocked into her customer service job one recent morning, she noticed things looked different. There were no chairs in the break room. She had nowhere to sit at the table where she usually files invoices. When she reached the back of the store, there was one lonely folding chair propped against the wall. Not for employee use," read a handwritten note taped on the metal.When employees asked their boss what had happened, they learned about a new no-sitting policy. Hopefully, the business owner said, this would increase worker productivity". Continue reading...

My wife and I trust one another with our finances, but we have never opened a shared account. When it comes to a happy marriage, there is an easier way ...A few years ago I had a terrible shock: a bank statement arrived at my house with an extremely large number on it. According to this letter, I was filthy rich! I stared at the statement for a long time. Had I bought bitcoin in my sleep a decade ago? Had I cashed in that bitcoin when it was at its peak? Was I unwittingly skilled at finances?You'll be shocked to hear this, but the answer to all the above is no. The statement arrived because, well over a decade ago, I had a joint bank account with an ex who has a big corporate job, and they'd never got around to taking my name off it. (They very swiftly did when I texted them about it, however.) Continue reading...

Tentative trial date in December unlikely to hold due to complex nature of government's rules for using such secrets in court, legal experts sayFederal prosecutors in the classified documents case against Donald Trump have asked for a tentative trial date in December, but the complex nature of the US government's own rules for using such secrets in court, and expected legal challenges, could delay the trial until at least the spring of 2024.Trump was charged with retaining national defense information, including US nuclear secrets and plans for US retaliation in the event of an attack, which means his case will be tried under the rules laid out in the Classified Information Procedures Act, or Cipa. Continue reading...

While some analysts have argued that Putin's rule was never truly threatened, Putin's actions suggest he believed otherwiseDays after Russia extricated itself from its biggest domestic political crisis in decades, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin continue to deal with the reverberations. Amid the uncertainties, this much is clear: the saga has produced no winners, only losers. Belarus's president Aleksandr Lukashenko put it well, even as he drew attention to his role as peacemaker: I asked people not to make a hero out of me, neither out of me, nor out of Putin, nor out of Prigozhin."For Putin, the consequences of the turmoil are obvious. The Wagner group's unimpeded march to within 200kms (127 miles) of Moscow took Russia's military and intelligence services by surprise and exposed the Russian system writ large as utterly inept - a far cry from the image of competence and strength that Putin has cultivated assiduously since rising to the presidency in 1999. Wagner's capture of Rostov - a city of a million and the headquarters of the southern military district - and its northward march toward the capital along the M4 highway left Russia's strongman looking like a hapless bystander. That, at minimum, tarnished his image - an essential ingredient of his overweening power.Rajan Menon is the director of the grand strategy program at Defense Priorities, a professor emeritus at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York, and the co-author of Conflict in Ukraine: The Unwinding of the Post-Cold War OrderDaniel R DePetris is a fellow at Defense Priorities and a syndicated foreign affairs columnist for the Chicago Tribune and Newsweek Continue reading...

Many feared the Mercury star would struggle on court after her time in Russian prison. But she has already been named in the league's All-Star teamPrior to being detained in a Russian prison for 294 days, Brittney Griner was on top of the world.The 32-year-old was coming off one of the best WNBA seasons of her career. She was the Most Valuable Player runner-up, averaging 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds for the Phoenix Mercury, who she led back to the WNBA finals for the first time since winning the title in 2014. Meanwhile, Griner was on her way to play for Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg, who she had led to four EuroLeague titles since she started spending her WNBA off-seasons there in 2014. Continue reading...

Kristi Hadfield saved John Cunningham, a military veteran, in 2016 and years later, donated a kidney to his daughter, MollyA paramedic who once restarted a US military veteran's heart has now saved the life of that man's daughter.Kristi Hadfield's life-saving heroics in benefit of retired marine John Cunningham and his daughter Molly Cunningham Jones earned a heartwarming narrative feature from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week, which went viral among social media platforms that aggregate uplifting news stories. Continue reading...

Ray Brewer, 66, of Porterville, California, was sentenced on Monday for a green energy scam that cost investors $8.75mA California man is going to prison for running a cow dung-to-green energy scheme that authorities say was a load of manure.Ray Brewer, 66, of Porterville was sentenced Monday to six years and nine months in federal prison for a years-long scam that bilked investors out of $8.75m, according to a statement from the US attorney's office. Continue reading...

Yes, Finland has nature and saunas in abundance. But more important is an attitude I've found lacking in the UKWhen I was invited to take part in a masterclass in happiness on the shores of Finnish Lakeland, a few of my friends expressed their surprise. But, Lucy, said one, you're one of the happiest people I know. What are you hoping to learn from the Finns? I suppose she had a point. I've always been one of those annoying, glass-half-full people - not the most obvious choice for a four-day trip designed to teach me why Finnish people are consistently rated the happiest in the world. But, ever the optimist, I gladly accepted.We Britons have about 60 words for happiness: blissfulness, ecstasy, pleasure, delight ... The list is as varied as it is surprising, given that we only just scraped into the top 20 happiest countries in the world this year. Finns, who have been named the happiest nation for the sixth year running, are either onnellinen or iloinen. The latter roughly translates as joyful or glad: you might be iloinen that you're heading off on holiday. Onnellinen, on the other hand, speaks to the notion of being content with your life, rather than describing a fleeting feeling.Lucy Pearson is a freelance writer, book blogger and host of The Bondi Literary salon Continue reading...

When pilgrims don the hajj attire, they discard more than their clothes. Nationality, race and socioeconomic status are tossed to the waysideMillions of men, women and children converged on Mecca this week for the hajj pilgrimage. The Saudi government says it will be the largest crowd ever for the pilgrimage.The hajj pilgrimage is, at its core, a pilgrimage towards God. This presents a paradox of sorts. If God is beyond time and space, then what is the purpose of travelling to a particular place? Is God not present now, everywhere?Our sense of the divine Presence is blunted. We need to find it focused on a particular place and, for the Muslim, that place is the Ka'ba at Mecca, which he has faced every time he prayed and to which he now journeys in pilgrimage.There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colours, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.In my thirty-nine years on this earth, the Holy City of Mecca had been the first time I had ever stood before the Creator of All and felt like a complete human being. Continue reading...