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People across the US braved heat and heavy rain to take part in Fourth of July activities on Tuesday, celebrating the nation's founding with parades, fireworks and hot dog eating contests Continue reading...

The San Francisco Bay Area was once home to a dream team including Marta, Christine Sinclair, Camille Abily and Kelley O'Hara. But nobody cared enough to keep the club afloatRunning away from the cleat-melting turf at Hayward's Pioneer Stadium, the newly minted 2010 national soccer champions chanted Obama! Obama!" as they gathered around the champagne-filled coolers in the locker-room. Led by the likes of Brazil's Marta, Canada's Christine Sinclair and then-rookies Kelley O'Hara and Ali Riley, FC Gold Pride, the San Francisco Bay Area's representative in the short-lived Women's Professional Soccer league (WPS), defeated the Philadelphia Independence 4-0 in the final. As is customary for championship teams in the United States, they would be expecting their invitation to the White House soon after.The day was 26 September 2010. On 16 November, FC Gold Pride announced they were ceasing operations because of high costs and low ticket sales. Continue reading...

The explosion of interest in true crime coincides with the rise of online dating. I suspect those things are more linked than they appearWomen love true crime. Studies over the last few years report that women overwhelmingly make up most of the audience of the explosion of true crime podcasts, books and TV shows. It's almost a cliche, the image of a woman sitting with a glass of red wine and consuming with rapt attention one of the countless choices in the genre, from Dirty John to Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.Researchers have offered a number of theories about why women are so attracted to tales of serial killers, murder and rape. One possible reason, they say, is that women identify with the victims of violent crimes, as women are often victims of such crimes themselves. In the US, nearly three women are killed every day by intimate partners. According to the CDC, over half of women have experienced sexual violence. And women make up 70% of the victims of serial killers.Nancy Jo Sales is the author, most recently, of Nothing Personal: My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno Continue reading...

In her writing, she depicted bold African women; in her activism, she nurtured and inspired people everywhereIt sounds ridiculous to say that I have been preparing myself for the death of Prof Ama Ata Aidoo for years, but that's exactly what I tried - and failed - to do. A few years ago, there was a rumour she had died and I called her daughter, Kinna Likimani, a close friend, in a panic.She reassured me: Mummy is fine, don't worry." A few weeks ago, I was in London preparing to host the first live show of my podcast, Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women, when I got a voice note: All the best with your live show. Also just a heads-up, Mummy is very unwell." Continue reading...

2022 finalists Elena Rybakina and Ons Jabeur sailed through their first-round tests, along with Carlos Alcaraz, Andy Murray and Cam NorrieIt's stopped raining and off we go again, the All England microclimate changing once more.Boulter has broken Saville ... oh and Saville has broken back for 2-2. But what's this? Er, I'm afraid it's raining. Centre and Court 1 have roofs closed, so I wonder if they'll move a couple of matches to there - I think Tistsipas said he's happy for that - but they'll want to know it's worth the logistical aggro before they schlep everyone over, which will presumably be contingent on how long they think the weather will last. Continue reading...

The 69-year-old was found dead on Hilton Head Island with the reptile appearing to guard her body and hampering rescue effortsA South Carolina woman died on Tuesday after she was attacked by an alligator while walking her dog near a golf course, authorities said.The 69-year-old woman, who has not been named, was found dead in the Spanish Wells community of Hilton Head Island, the Beaufort county sheriff's office said in a news release. Continue reading...

The air and ground offensive is the biggest raid in the West Bank for decades. It won't stop attacksIsrael has portrayed its strikes on the Jenin refugee camp - the biggest military operation in the occupied West Bank for two decades - as a limited intervention lasting just a few days. This is scant comfort for the thousands fleeing violence, including families making their escape as homes and infrastructure were destroyed. The Palestinian health ministry said on Tuesday that at least 11 people had been killed, and 100 injured.Whenever the troops leave, the idea of a short-lived offensive is also misleading.The intent is a show of force in retaliation for renewed attacks on settlers, and unexpectedly strong resistance to a previous raid. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, said it was an attack on a safe haven for terrorists" and people who would annihilate our country". But this is only the latest and most intense of multiple raids on Jenin, one of which killed the renowned journalist Shireen Abu Akleh last year. And it will only fuel the surge of violence. On Tuesday a Palestinian resident of the West Bank injured at least nine people in Tel Aviv in a truck and knife attack; he was shot dead. Continue reading...

Since the 2018 gilets jaunes crisis, the French president seems to have accepted brutal police tactics. Is it fear or indifference?As of this week, a crowdfunding campaign set up by the French far right in support of the police officer who shot and killed Nahel M, a 17-year-old from Nanterre, has now surpassed 1.4m. Around the same time that Nahel's killer's fund passed the 1m mark, it was reported that at least 120 young people who had been arrested in the unrest unleashed by his death had already been sent to prison.So far, this swift, firm and systematic judicial response" to the riots, as demanded by the justice minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, has been the only real response by the government to the unrest that has swept across French cities. Locals have been met with curfews and reduced transport in some cities, and in every cite where cars have burned and shops have been looted, the police presence has grown exponentially, with 45,000 officers deployed across France on Friday night.Pauline Bock is a French journalist based in Paris Continue reading...

Further extreme conditions expected during 4 July holiday, as thunderstorms and intense heat continue across the countryGood morning.Millions across the US have been caught up in dangerous weather conditions over the weekend and are braced for further extreme conditions ahead of today's 4 July holiday, as thunderstorms and intense heat continue to affect much of the country.What else is happening? Many midwest cities are also dealing with the aftermath of severe rain and flooding. Weekend thunderstorms in Chicago flooded streets and highways as nearly nine inches of rain fell in some areas of the city in just a few hours, affecting trains as well as motorists. Many in the midwest are without power after the weekend storms.What's happening in North Carolina? PFAS pollution from a Chemours plant in North Carolina has widely contaminated the soil, water and air for hundreds of square miles around the company's Fayetteville Works plant, and residents have said their exposure to the chemicals is behind elevated cancer levels and other serious health problems. Residents have also said they suspect their pets have gotten sick from exposure to the chemicals. Continue reading...

Experts had flagged safety problems with OceanGate's vessels much before the doomed journey that killed five peopleAs additional details emerge about the Titan submersible's deadly implosion in June, raising still more unknowns, concerns surrounding exploration company OceanGate Expeditions' allegedly cavalier attitude toward safety have come into sharper relief.The doomed vessel reportedly dropped weights at some point during its descent; however, it is not known whether this was due to a routine part of descent or in an effort to abandon the doomed mission. All five Titan occupants died in the implosion. Continue reading...

Rudy Farias was found lying on the ground in front of a church, with his whereabouts for the past eight years still unknownA Texas man who went missing as a teenager in 2015 after last being seen walking his dogs in Houston has been found alive, his family and police said on Monday.Police and firefighters found Rudolph Rudy" Farias IV around 10pm on Thursday after getting a call about a person lying on the ground in front of a church in south-east Houston, a police spokesman, John Cannon, said. Continue reading...

Experts say Eastman, faces possible disbarment in California, under increasing scrutiny in federal and state inquiriesJohn Eastman, who was in the vanguard of lawyers plotting schemes involving fake electors" and other ploys to help Donald Trump thwart Joe Biden's win in 2020, is now under close scrutiny in federal and state investigations of Trump's drives to stay in power, and faces possible disbarment in California, say former prosecutors.The former California law professor is one of several lawyers whose legal stratagems have been heavily examined by Special Counsel Jack Smith's accelerating investigation into Trump and his allies' efforts to block Biden from taking office. Continue reading...

Homicides spike in the summer, and large gatherings with a lot of people - and alcohol thrown in - can see gun violenceGun violence is a daily reality across the US, but an emerging body of research indicates the most risky day for mass shootings in the nation is the Fourth of July, when Americans celebrate their independence from Britain.Using data from the Gun Violence Archive, James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, found that there have been 52 mass shootings on the Fourth of July over the past decade, averaging just over five a year, and more than on any other given day. Continue reading...

The state was one of a few to secure a Democratic trifecta in 2022, and since then has passed abortion rights along with voting rights and democracy reform legislationOn 1 June, in front of a gaggle of press, Kevin Reese signed his voter registration papers - a possibility that felt remote for the more than 14 years he spent locked up inside of Minnesota correctional facilities.In prison, Reese thought constantly about what it would mean to leave. He formed a group that met weekly to talk about what it would take to get out and not only be OK, but to transcend and be able to live our dreams". The men talked about the responsibilities that awaited outside: children, parole, taxes. In 2013, Reese said, they began to focus on one concern in particular: voting, and restoring the right to vote to other formerly incarcerated Minnesotans. Continue reading...

Striking employees, who accuse the hotels of cutting staff levels and increasing workloads, want an immediate $5 hourly raiseThousands of southern California hotel workers have gone on strike over the holiday weekend, pushing for better wages in one of the most expensive metro areas in the US.About 15,000 cleaners, cooks, cloakroom attendants, front desk agents, bellmen, servers and dishwashers were picketing across Los Angeles and Orange counties. During one of the busiest tourist weekends in the region, workers are demanding wage increases amid a spiraling cost-of-living crisis in the region. Continue reading...

Baseball's pace-of-play rules have made for quicker games than in recent memory. But they'll be hard-pressed to approach the all-time record set by the Giants and Phillies in 1919No matter how many rules Major League Baseball adds to speed up play, it is safe to say that no two teams will ever be able to beat the record for the fastest nine-inning game in big-league history: 51 minutes. Not one hour and 51 minutes. Fifty-one minutes.On 28 September 1919, five days before the Cincinnati Reds met the Chicago White Sox in an infamous World Series tattered by gambling, the New York Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1, in New York in the first game of a doubleheader - in 51 minutes. Continue reading...

My father was so upset at having a girl he refused to visit me in hospital. He later changed his mind, but such attitudes keep women uneducated and limited to housework and care dutiesMy father didn't come to the hospital when I was born. I discovered this later in life. In Kyrgyzstan, parents often wish for sons. When a girl is born first, it is no problem - a son is still likely to come. When the second child also turns out to be a girl, the family begins to worry. And to pray.They might sacrifice a ram, study eastern calendars to work out which days are good for conception. God forbid if the third child turns out to be a girl. This would now be a serious problem.Gulbarchyn Toialieva has worked for 15 years on peace building and conflict prevention and is the founder of the non-governmental organisation Zhalyn. Her foundation was established in response to the growing restrictions on the rights of young people and women Continue reading...

Amid the supreme-court rulings and the gun violence, there have been some heartening developments - and a call to actionIt's been a grim week or so in the United States, especially for those with progressive values.In Baltimore, a deadly mass shooting underscored, again, how desperately gun reform is needed, and, tragically, how unlikely it is to happen.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Suspect in custody after shooting, with at least two juveniles said to be among the victimsFour people have been killed and four others injured in a shooting in Philadelphia, and a suspect has been taken into custody, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, citing local police.A spokesperson for the Philadelphia police department confirmed to Reuters by email there were multiple gunshot victims" but said no further details were immediately available. Continue reading...

Donald Felix Zampach collected over $830,000 in his mother's social security and military retirement paymentsA California man has pleaded guilty to hiding his mother's death for more than three decades while he collected her social security and military retirement payments, a scheme the US attorney said is believed to be the longest-running and largest fraud of its kind in the district.Donald Felix Zampach of Poway, about 20 miles north of San Diego, collected over $830,000 of public funds and nearly $30,000 in fraudulently opened credit cards over the course of three decades, US attorney Randy Grossman said last week. Continue reading...

Former president made comments in 2016 days before election he won, and predicted Hillary Clinton would face criminal trialThe election of a president under indictment and facing criminal trial would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis" and cripple the operations of government", Donald Trump said.But the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, who faces 71 criminal counts in state and federal cases and is expected to face more, was not speaking about himself - or speaking this year. Continue reading...

Applicants are facing the brunt of pandemic-related staffing issues and the agency flooded with a record 500,000 applications a weekSeeking a valid US passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you venture to the airport.A much-feared backup of US passport applications has hit a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide post-pandemic travel rebounds - with too few humans to handle the load. Continue reading...

We have dismissed the riots as trivial, just like we did in England in 2011. It's finally time to ask: why do the protesters feel so powerless?If you followed the French riots via much of the British media, you'd think the entire country was on fire, but also that the riots weren't about anything. We have a knack for making civil unrest sound completely massive yet utterly trivial, a threat to civilisation and yet, at the same time, entirely powered by TikTok. The Foreign Office never went so far as to advise against travel to France, merely noting that there were riots, and that you should stay away from rioters. But even if it had, I would just have assumed the civil servants had spent too much time listening to Radio 4.Mr Z and I have just had a few days in France. The first night in Paris, we saw nothing except some broken glass. A barmaid described in granular detail where the riots had been the night before, but it didn't sound at all like a warning, more like a tour guide disappointed that you'd missed the northern lights. On the second day, we unintentionally passed through Marseille, having missed a train going elsewhere. The superiority of French trains is so pronounced it has become unmentionable, like having a sibling who is much more intelligent than you. Don't think about it - it'll just make you sad. But seriously, the train we missed was going a distance equivalent to London to Inverness. If we'd missed that at home, we wouldn't have arrived for another four days. To get the most out of this experience, I need to miss more trains," was my take-home, and I did take it home because we also missed the train back. Anyway, Marseille: no riots, but it was daytime.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Phoenix expected to hit 116F (46C) on Monday as thunderstorms also likely across US for Fourth of July holidayMillions across the US have been caught up in dangerous weather conditions over the weekend and are braced for further extreme conditions ahead of the 4 July holiday, as thunderstorms and intense heat continue to affect much of the country.As of Monday, 36m people are under excessive heat warnings in the US, particularly in the south and western areas, reported ABC News. Record high temperatures in some places will likely remain as many gear up to celebrate the Independence Day holiday on Tuesday. Continue reading...

There's value in online communities - but how do we walk the line between commiseration and doxxing?For those suspicious that their partner might be doing the dirty, there are hundreds of Do We Have The Same Boyfriend" Facebook groups across Australia and New Zealand. The premise is this: people - mostly women - can request to join to post details about the person they're dating to check if they're simultaneously dating anyone else in the group.Once inside, you can find a mix of bad dating stories (can relate), memes, and screenshots of cringeworthy dating app conversations. In the comments, things often get spicy. Across TikTok, users laugh about how the pages are more entertaining than reality TV. Continue reading...

Growing number of judges blocking laws passed by conservative politicians from taking effect on 14th-amendment groundsIn state after state, conservative lawmakers this year have banned medical treatment designed for transgender youth dealing with changes in their gender identity. Now, a growing number of federal judges are blocking those laws from taking effect.US district court judges have halted such laws in six states so far - Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee - finding that they infringe on the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the 14th amendment to the US constitution. Continue reading...

We don't know the motive for the president's retention of files at Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, but let's not rule out stupidityThere are many surreal revelations in Jack Smith's federal indictment of Donald Trump. There are the texts between various Trump underlings and Walt Nauta, the Trump body man who has also been indicted, showing the president directing his employees to move the boxes containing classified information back and forth to various locations around his properties in Palm Beach and Bedminster, New Jersey. There is the annoyed missive from Trump's wife Melania, trying to make sure the boxes don't crowd out room for her luggage on a private plane. There is the claim from Trump's former attorney, compelled to testify against him in an unusual arrangement, that the former president suggested, with a Grinch-like pinching gesture, that the lawyer destroy confidential documents to prevent them from being produced in a subpoena. There is a text message Nauta sent to another Trump underling, showing a box having fallen over in a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, secret documents spilling on to the floor - whoops.What there is not, conspicuously, is a motive. Over the course of more than a year following his departure from office, it appears that Trump spent considerable effort and resources in transporting the documents with him and keeping them near at hand - and that later, as the federal government began to demand the boxes back, that he then went out of his way to keep and conceal them, going to great length, sparing no expense, and ultimately breaking the law so much that he incurred himself a series of felony charges. Anyone can tell you how this behavior is typical of Trump: how it reflects his pettiness, his contempt for the law, his willingness to sacrifice and endanger others. What no one can tell you is why he did it.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Developer of North Carolina neighborhood for homeowners 55 and older says his brand only the beginning' of a movement'The 17 June groundbreaking of a future suburban neighborhood in Gastonia, North Carolina, had all the trappings of a campaign rally. Brock Fankhauser, the real estate developer of 1776 Gastonia, waved to onlookers from the open top of a sport-utility vehicle; his wife, Nicole, was by his side, wearing a cowboy hat and matching T-shirt with the development's namesake year, referring to the American Revolution.Video footage of the event shows a crane dangling a giant US flag over the site where 43 lots are for sale. Parcels range from $17,500 to $75,000 for land, and homes cost $410,000 and up in this city 20 miles from Charlotte. A young girl rode a horse down a newly paved street flanked by American flags. She gripped the saddle with one hand; in the other, a giant flag. Her sandy blonde hair flowed in rhythm with the Stars and Stripes. Continue reading...

Congresswoman's comments come days after nation's highest court released batch of incendiary and far-reaching rulings. Plus, what's causing the shortage of sriracha?

Then a professor at Notre Dame, the supreme court justice was on a board that selected Jon Balsbaugh to head the Trinity SchoolsA senior administrator of Christian private schools closely linked to People of Praise, conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett's controversial faith group, abruptly resigned from his post earlier this year following complaints that allegations of teacher misconduct had been mishandled.Jon Balsbaugh, an influential figure within the Christian education movement, was appointed president of Trinity Schools in February 2017, after being selected by a board of trustees that included Barrett, who was a professor at Notre Dame at the time. Continue reading...

City opens cooling centers to help residents fend off disrespectful' hot spell that has settled in region for past two weeksAfter service ended at the New Philippians Missionary Baptist church in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans on Sunday, the church kept its doors open for people from the neighborhood who needed a break from the heat.A heat dome of high pressure has been hovering over Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma creating dangerously hot weather for nearly two weeks. On Sunday, heat index values threatened to hit 110F in New Orleans, according to the National Weather Service. Continue reading...

Republicans failed to defend a fringe legal theory, but they are already pushing through new state election legislationThe US supreme court ruled in favor of North Carolina voting rights groups last week, which celebrated with one breath and with the next condemned the new election laws and political maps being pushed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature.We are still in a five-alarm fire here in North Carolina," said Gino Nuzzolillo, campaign manager for the state's Common Cause branch, which was one of the plaintiffs that won in the case the supreme court ruled on. Continue reading...

A New Zealand native was the surprise winner as Nascar celebrated its 75th season on a soggy Sunday evening with the Grant Park 220 through downtown Chicago, the American stock-car circuit's first ever street race Continue reading...

Light a candle, wear matching pyjamas, go to bed early. Why has tedium become an aspiration for so many young people?In sections of the internet populated by under-30s, one piece of advice has become common: romanticise your life. Take the good things you have and view them more positively - while also, at the same time, making changes to your living situation that will get you closer to the life of your dreams.On Instagram, you will find millions of posts from (mostly) young women saying how all their problems were solved by following this guidance. On TikTok, videos on the subject have more than 1.4bn views. In these clips, though, you won't find advice on how to live a life that is exciting and fulfilling, or punctuated by surprise, newness and glamour. Instead, you will find millions of young people describing an ideal life that is overwhelmingly dull, fundamentally rooted in living each day the same, and following a narrow, regimented routine.Sarah Manavis is a US writer covering technology, culture, and society

Ro Khanna of California said he will support another relief plan that Joe Biden is proposing under the Higher Education ActThe US supreme court's decision to strike down Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan late last week usurped the authority of Congress", Democratic House representative Ro Khanna said on Sunday.Khanna, of California, argued that if anyone thought Biden was unduly empowered by the legislation which the president used to issue the debt relief program, then the solution is Congress can repeal the ... act". Continue reading...

Former New Jersey governor speaks out after bizarre video from Florida's governor and juvenile' nicknames from the ex-presidentAn escalating feud between the two main rivals for the Republican presidential nomination is akin to a teenage food fight", another challenger, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, said on Sunday.He made the comment after the campaign of Ron DeSantis, the rightwing Florida governor who has slipped in the polls to Donald Trump, released a homophobic" video attacking the former president for his previous support of the LGBTQ+ community. Continue reading...

Last weekend, Victoria Amelina and I discussed the Kremlin's violations in Ukraine. Days later, she became their victim

Yellen heads to Beijing this week in move one expert calls an attempt to put some floor' under strained economic tiesUS Treasury secretary Janet Yellen will visit Beijing this week, marking the second trip by a cabinet official to China since ties between the world's top two economies deteriorated earlier this year.Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges", said the Treasury Department in a statement on Sunday. Continue reading...

The majority of the extremely powerful illegal opioid entering the US is manufactured in Mexico using Chinese precursorsDrug Enforcement Administration administrator Anne Milgram has called for further cooperation from China and Mexico in the fight against the US's fentanyl crisis.In an interview with Chuck Todd, the host of NBC's Meet the Press, on Sunday, Milgram said that despite the DEA standing ready to work with anyone who will work with us", the US has not had the cooperation that we want to have" from China, adding that the Mexican government also needs to do more". Continue reading...

As the tourist season is taking off, workers walked off the job at more than 60 hotels for higher pay and better benefitsThousands of hotel workers in southern California walked off the job on Sunday, as the Fourth of July extended holiday weekend begins, demanding higher pay and better benefits in what their union is calling the largest strike in its history.Cooks, room attendants, dishwashers, servers, bellmen and front desk agents at hotels were picketing outside major hotels in Los Angeles and Orange counties just as the summer tourist season is ramping up. Continue reading...

Bus with 41 people, including 11 children who were with families, was welcomed by collective of faith and immigrants' rights groupsAnother bus carrying asylum seekers arrived in downtown Los Angeles from a Texas border city early on Saturday, the second such transport in less than three weeks.The bus, which arrived at about 12.40pm at Los Angeles's Union Station from Brownsville, Texas, held 41 people including 11 children who were with their families, according to a statement from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles (Chirla). Continue reading...

Two adults killed and 28 wounded, about half of them children, police say as they search for more than one shooter'Two people have been killed and 28 wounded, about half of them children, in a mass shooting in Baltimore, police have said.The Baltimore police department's acting commissioner, Richard Worley, confirmed there were a total of 30 victims during a press conference at the scene on Sunday afternoon. Among the 28 injured were an estimated 14 who were under the age of 18, said Worley, noting that police were still trying to confirm victims' ages. Continue reading...

President Nayib Bukele's hardline campaign against gangs has won admirers at home and abroad. Look closer and its flaws are glaringJailing 2% of your adult citizens turns out to be a surprisingly popular move, both at home and abroad. In El Salvador, the president, Nayib Bukele, has sent almost 70,000 people to prison in an iron fist" crackdown on gangs, under a state of exception" he imposed last March and has yet to lift.Despite the suspension of basic liberties, due process and other human rights infringements, it is fast becoming a model for other nearby countries in the region. Honduras has launched a similar crackdown, after the gang-related massacre of 46 female prisoners. Other governments are considering it. In Guatemala, people have held pro-Bukele marches. Copy it, as simple as that," a mayor in Ecuador remarked of El Salvador's tactics after a bomb attack in her city. Continue reading...

Congresswoman's comments come days after nation's highest court released batch of incendiary and far-reaching rulingsThe conservative supreme court is creeping dangerously towards authoritarianism", the Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Sunday, raising again the unlikely scenario of impeaching justices for recent actions.Her comments came just days after the nation's highest court released a batch of incendiary and far-reaching rulings striking down affirmative action in colleges, LBGTQ+ rights and Joe Biden's student loan relief program. Continue reading...