Microsoft co-founder says he wants to ‘eventually move off the list of the world’s richest people’Bill Gates plans on giving away almost all his money to the philanthropic foundation that bears his name – eventually removing him from the list of the world’s wealthiest people, he said this week.The billionaire Microsoft co-founder, who launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 with his then wife, Melinda, said the non-profit plans to increase spending from $6bn annually at present to $9bn annually by 2026. Continue reading...
First wife of Donald Trump who established the trademark glitzy style of the Trump OrganizationAppearing on TV on Good Morning America in 2017, Ivana Trump, who has died aged 73, explained her status succinctly. “I am basically first Trump wife – I am first lady, OK?” She was indeed the first of the former US president Donald J Trump’s three wives, the one with the highest profile and easily the most influential on the career of her husband.It was Ivana who defined Trump as “The Donald” when they were the epitome of New York’s conspicuously flashy 1980s and it was Ivana’s own style that became Trump’s trademark glitz. As vice-president of interior design for the Trump Organization, her motto became: “If something could be leafed in gold or upholstered in damask, it was,” and the rule applied to her: with big golden hair, and upholstered lips and body, she was the embodiment of Trump style. After their marriage broke up, she branded that style “Ivana”. Continue reading...
US president promises $300m in aid amid anger in Bethlehem and East Jerusalem at sidelining of quest for Palestinian stateJoe Biden was greeted by small groups of protesters and billboards decrying the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories as apartheid during his brief visits to East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, signs of disappointment at the sidelining of the Palestinian quest for statehood during the president’s tour of the Middle East.The president visited Augusta Victoria hospital in East Jerusalem on Friday morning, where he promised $300m (£250m) in assistance for the Palestinians, before travelling in a convoy to Bethlehem to meet the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, and visit the Church of the Nativity. Continue reading...
Biden’s low approvals have caused a crisis in confidence. He needs to act nowThe New York Times recently published a poll that marks an exclamation point on months of bad news for the rapidly faltering Biden presidency. Biden’s meager 33% approval rating is in line with other polls, but the shocking and worrying number for the White House is that fully 64% of Democrats believe he should not run for another term in 2024. That number rises to an absurd 94% among Democrats under 30.While younger voters have consistently given Biden lower marks than other cohorts this year, that number now stands at a miserable 19%. Young voters are not a group that can be ignored as flighty non-voters: they are the backbone of the Democratic party’s recent wins. In 2020, the youth vote surged to record numbers, and young voters gave Biden a 24-point margin. Without both high turnout and high margins from young voters, Biden would have easily lost every swing state. Increased turnout among the young also provided much of the margin for Democrats in the 2018 midterms. Continue reading...
The Safer Communities Act finally addressed prevention efforts with $250m dedicated to funding violence interruptersIn 2013, a month after the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, a group of Black pastors and other activists visited the Obama White House to press the administration to do more to prevent gun violence in communities of color.Obama had just released his post-Newtown gun violence prevention plan, which did not include any funding for community violence prevention efforts, and which made no mention of the disparate impact of gun violence on Black Americans. Continue reading...
There’s a great river of molten horror approaching. What better time for a nice, long, frenzied leadership contest?I do hope you’re enjoying the triennial Conservative party leadership contest, which has frequently resembled tipping-out time at Arkham Asylum. Various insane claims have been made – “Rishi Sunak is a socialist”, “Only Liz Truss can save Brexit now” – and the UK remains very much in search of a costumed vigilante to rescue it. Boris Johnson insists he will leave Downing Street “with my head held high”. But by who? Which of our hopefuls will be grasping that severed noggin by the famously unkempt hair, and roaring something totally questionable about public service?We’ve already said goodbye to historical footnotes such as Jeremy Hunt; footnote’s footnotes, such as Rehman Chisti; and verrucas on the footnotes, such as Suella Braverman. Making all the running is supposed cleanskin Penny Mordaunt, whose ascent from comparative obscurity to the office of prime minister would be like an arranged marriage, giving the British public and Penny all the time in the world to get to know each other after the event. The scale of the knifing operation against Mordaunt is laid bare by the anonymous briefing that she would make Andrea Leadsom her chancellor of the exchequer. I hear what you’re thinking: Andrea Leadsom? Chancellor? IN THIS ECONOMY?! But yes. Of course, of course. The second I heard it, given the experience of the past few years, I realised that I had long ago subconsciously accepted the inevitability that Andrea Leadsom hadn’t actually finished with us. In fact, I think I’ve … always known it.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The world’s best athletes are heading for a town with a population of 170,000 where track and field still reigns supremeThey call it TrackTown USA: a magical oasis where track and field is respected and revered, and given near-equal billing to the major sports. And for the next 10 days Eugene, Oregon will seek to conjure up an even greater feat: by making the rest of America follow suit.To the outsider, Eugene appears a baffling choice to host America’s first world athletics championships. Especially when its population is only 170,000. Continue reading...
The whole NBA cinematic universe has descended on Vegas for Summer League, a basketball junkie’s paradise where players, coaches, media and execs rub shoulders with the rest of usI’ve never been on the surface of the sun, but I’d imagine it doesn’t feel too dissimilar from Las Vegas in the middle of July. The heat can only be described as oppressive, a sense of urgency to reach the safety of air conditioning assaults you the second you step into it, and you can feel anything on your person that’s made of a plastic-like material warping and deforming in real time.The irony is, of course, that the metaphorical side to the “close proximity to a star” coin is also what makes summer in Vegas so alluring … for basketball fans, at least. Because for 10 days every July, the entire NBA extended cinematic universe descends upon Sin City for the most stress-free, jovial and widely attended event on the league’s annual calendar: Las Vegas Summer League. Continue reading...
Carolyn Bryant Donham, 87, mentions in her unpublished book that she didn’t wish Till any harm nor could she protect himThe white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of making improper advances before he was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 says she neither identified him to the killers nor wanted him murdered.In an unpublished memoir obtained by the Associated Press, Carolyn Bryant Donham says she was unaware of what would happen to the 14-year-old Till, who lived in Chicago and was visiting relatives in Mississippi when he was abducted, killed and tossed in a river. Now 87, Donham was only 21 at the time. Continue reading...
Office of Inspector General revealed that messages from 5 and 6 January were destroyed only after the request was madeTexts sent between US Secret Service agents on 5 and 6 January 2021 were erased after the agency’s oversight body sought the communications in a review into the Capitol attack, according to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).The disclosure in the letter, sent on Thursday to the House homeland security and Senate homeland security and government affairs committees, marked the latest failure for the Secret Service amid increasing scrutiny for their actions over the attack. Continue reading...
by David Tindall and Matt Cooper (at St Andrews) on (#61D4P)
Cameron Young, the current world No 32, is the overnight leader with Rory McIlroy two shots back after a long opening dayLeader Webb Simpson drops a shot at 8 but bounces back with a birdie at 9 to return to -3. That’s an outward half of 33 and he’s a shot clear of Australian Lucas Herbert, who has picked up shots at 2 and 4.Forget Reed, the leader in the hat stakes is English amateur Barclay Brown, who sounds like an English character actor from the Terry-Thomas era. A member of last year’s Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team, Brown has made an excellent start: six pars and a birdie at 7 to sit tied third. Continue reading...
The former champion, twice a winner at St Andrews, was struggling from the first fairway and shot a six-over-par 78The Open Championship’s official slogan for this year – ‘everything has led to this’ – is a bit too ‘live, laugh, love’ to have its intended effect of emphasising both the history of St Andrews and a misty-eyed sense of destiny for those out on the Old Course. But as Tiger Woods stood on the 8th tee with those exact words emblazoned on the grandstand behind him, reeling from a double bogey on the 7th, it did feel oddly fitting.Nobody here balances history and destiny quite like Tiger. What has been before, and what could come again. Three times an Open champion (twice at St Andrews), Woods considers this his “favourite course” and it is the place where the finest golfer of his generation – possibly of all time – played his finest ever tournament, to win in 2000 by eight shots. Continue reading...
Czech-born skier and model, and mother to Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric, praised by ex-president as ‘beautiful and amazing woman’Donald Trump has announced the death at 73 of Ivana Trump, his first wife and the mother of his three oldest children, Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric.In a post to his Truth Social platform, the former president said: “I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City. Continue reading...
The SEC has asked the Tesla chief to submit any material aimed at influencing shareholders after it finds issue with previous filingsThe US financial watchdog has stepped up the pressure on Elon Musk over his attempt to buy Twitter by asking further questions about his filings during the process.The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked Musk why he did not amend a filing related to the deal in a letter sent last month, according to correspondence disclosed by lawyers representing the Tesla CEO on Thursday. The disclosure by Musk’s lawyers also reveals that the SEC has asked the entrepreneur to file any material aimed at influencing shareholders properly, after pointing out an issue with one such filing. Continue reading...
The stealthy feline, who escaped from her cage after a flight from Germany, will be reunited with her human familyA three-week cat hunt at Boston airport is over.After nearly a month spent eluding not just the staff of Logan International airport but also hi-tech wildlife cameras and special traps, the cat, Rowdy, was finally caught on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Superb first round at St Andrews showed off all McIlroy’s skills – the question is whether he can maintain this momentumGod but Rory McIlroy makes the game look easy when he’s in the mood. If it hadn’t been for the grandstands, and the tens of thousands of fans, you’d never have guessed what was at stake as he strolled around the Old Course in the opening round of the Open.Up, down and around the slopes and hollows, all the drives down the middle, a chip there, a flop there, each lag putt right up to the hole, each short one into it, the ball only ever one stroke away from where he wanted it to be. He made a carefree 66, with seven birdies, and just the one dropped shot. Continue reading...
President says he will not avoid rights issues but skirts commitment to discuss Khashoggi murderJoe Biden has defended his imminent trip to Saudi Arabia, saying he will not avoid human rights issues on the final leg of his Middle East tour, despite refusing to commit to mentioning the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi when he meets the kingdom’s crown prince.Speaking during a news conference with the interim Israeli prime minister, Yair Lapid, in Jerusalem on Thursday, the US leader said his stance on Khashoggi’s killing was “absolutely” clear. Continue reading...
Charges for prominent lawyer represent milestone in sprawling saga involving interlocking deaths and dozens of fraud chargesFormer South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has been indicted for double murder in the killings of his wife, 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh, and son, 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh, almost 13 months after he made an emergency call saying he had found them dead near a dog kennel at the family’s country home.The charges mark a milestone in a case that encompasses seven separate investigations in the sprawling saga, each involving the 54-year-old attorney at their center. Continue reading...
Authorities initially reported 44 people missing following heavy rainfall and winds, but now have declared all were found safeAll missing people have finally been accounted for after severe flooding in south-western Virginia caused a slew of missing persons reports, authorities said on Thursday.Virginia governor Glenn Younkin declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as the flash flood rammed more than 100 houses and damaged bridges across Buchanan county. Continue reading...
After their first round together as professionals, the wildly contrasting Americans ended day one like old friendsIt is doubtful this 150th Open could have thrown up bigger beasts of such towering cultural polarity as Bryson James Aldrich DeChambeau and Long John Daly. Yet, after their first round together, they ended day one like old friends. If they never meet again, they will cherish this memory at least.Asking the 28-year-old cerebral timebomb from California and the bewhiskered good old boy from Arkansas to gambol alongside each other over the rolling landscape of the Old Course – in company with the altogether uncontroversial Cameron Tringale – turned out to be inspired match-making. Continue reading...
by Adam Gabbatt in New York and Hugo Lowell on (#61DGN)
Recording shows the president intended to ‘take advantage’ of early vote lead and declare himself the winner prematurelyDays before the 2020 presidential election Donald Trump was planning to declare victory on election night, even if there was no evidence he was winning, according to a leaked Steve Bannon conversation recorded before the vote.In the audio, recorded three days before the election and published by Mother Jones on Wednesday, Bannon told a group of associates Trump already had a scheme in place for the 3 November vote. Continue reading...
Vincent Fraser, who aspires to be a commercial pilot, missed cars and power lines as he touched down on the four-lane roadA Florida man who aspires to be a commercial pilot showed his skills in an emergency when he landed a single-engine aircraft on a four-lane North Carolina road, missing cars and power lines as he touched down.Vincent Fraser was flying the plane 3 July when the aircraft began to lose engine power as he was checking out land he had bought near a lake. Fraser’s father-in-law also was aboard. Continue reading...
Phil Mickelson revealed the R&A didn't think it was a good idea for the American golfer to attend the past champions' events at the Open Championship. The 2013 champion was a notable absentee at a four-hole challenge for former winners on Monday and dinner the following evening. The 52-year-old has been mired in controversy since joining the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Series.
A Florida man who aspires to be a commercial pilot showed his skills when he made an emergency landing of a single-engine aircraft on a four-lane North Carolina road, missing cars and power lines as he touched down. Vincent Fraser was flying the plane on 3 July when the aircraft began to lose engine power. Fraser’s father-in-law was also aboard. 'I told him I loved him and that I was sorry for putting him in the situation,' Fraser said. His father-in-law responded that he loved Fraser and to do the best he could. 'And from there on, I was just like, "Game on. Let’s get down alive,"' he said Continue reading...
Police say Ohio man confessed to raping a girl who went to Indiana for abortion, following the right’s attempts to discredit storyIn a case that has become a flashpoint in the abortion debate after being highlighted by Joe Biden and baselessly disputed by some rightwing media and politicians, an Ohio man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who later traveled to neighboring Indiana for an abortion.Gerson Fuentes, 27, who was arrested on Tuesday, appeared in Franklin county, Ohio, municipal court for an arraignment on Wednesday. A police investigator testified at the hearing that Fuentes had confessed to raping the girl at least twice. Continue reading...
Some advocates suggest AMA could partner with civic groups to encourage voting, which correlates to better health outcomesAccess to voting is now considered a health issue, according to the country’s largest physician group.The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates adopted a resolution calling voting a social determinant of health, a term used to describe non-medical factors that affect health and wellbeing. Co-sponsored by the National Medical Association, the resolution also recognizes that gerrymandering limits access to care and leads to worse health outcomes. Continue reading...
Depending on where you lived and which consoles or computers you had as a child, the story plays out completely differently – and we should embrace that subjectivityThere is no single objective history of video games. There are certainly elements we can all agree on – the order in which home computers and consoles were launched, the general sweep of technology, from blocky monochrome sprites to vast realistic landscapes – but everyone who plays games holds within them a completely different version of events, based on the machines they owned and the games they loved.My own history started with arcade machines on the Blackpool seafront in the early 1980s. In 1984, my dad bought a Commodore 64, and a little later I started helping my friend design games for the Dragon 32. I spent my first ever pay cheque on an Atari ST, and then my dad bought our first console, a Mega Drive, which I still have. When I went to university in 1991, I got into PC games, largely because I lived with two computer scientists who set up a LAN in our house so that we could play Doom together. Afterwards, I joined Edge magazine and our key platforms were PlayStation, Saturn and 3DO – but we also had a Neo Geo and a PC Engine in the games room. At the close of the 20th century, I was a Dreamcast fanatic until I folded and embraced the PS2. I was an Xbox 360 player much more than PS3, but I was PS4 more than Xbox One. I’ve always taken a slalom approach. Continue reading...
Corporations are underwriting the thuggery of Trump and his allies – all because they want to pay as little tax as possibleIn 2016, when clashes with taxi drivers broke out in 2016 in Paris, Uber’s then-chief executive Travis Kalanick texted fellow executives that “violence guarantees success” in what was a key market for the company.Uber leveraged the violence against its drivers to win sympathy from regulators and the public, as it also did in South Africa where Uber drivers were burned when their cars were set on fire. (This look inside Uber’s internal deliberations came from records Uber lobbyist Mark MacGann turned over to the Guardian.)Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at 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...
The economy, energy prices and upcoming midterms weigh heavily on the president during his Middle East trip. Plus, House committee argues Capitol attack was premeditatedGood morning.Domestic concerns were high on Joe Biden’s agenda as he embarked on his tour of the Middle East on Wednesday, with soaring inflation hitting the president’s approval ratings ahead of this year’s midterm elections.Economic concerns are paramount for “non-white and working class voters”, a New York Times/Siena College poll found, while white college-educated voters are more focused on issues like abortion and guns.Only 20% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say Biden’s policies have improved the economy.But it could still be a tighter race than expected, following a series of mass shootings, the supreme court ruling on Roe v Wade, and recent revelations about Donald Trump’s attempts to hold on to power.What did Georgieva recommend? She called for raised interest rates, reduced government debt and more global cooperation. Continue reading...
Voters in Ulster county, New York, may receive a sticker of Hudson Rowan’s design this November – and many say it’s ‘a fitting image’ of the political sceneHello, and Happy Thursday,One morning a few months ago, Ashley Dittus, a Democratic election commissioner in Ulster county, New York, came into work and saw that someone had sent in the first submission in a countywide contest for an “I voted” sticker. She opened the email and was shocked. “It was a moment I’ll never forget,” Dittus told me on Wednesday.Grid published a deep dive into the Conservative Partnership Institute, a conservative non-profit, that has been leading a push to recruit election workers, among other efforts.The Wisconsin supreme court ruled on Friday that ballot drop-boxes were illegal. Writing in dissent, three justices said the majority’s rhetoric was “downright dangerous to our democracy”.Election officials are worried about insider threats to voting systems Continue reading...
The full impact of Griner’s body of work has always been bigger than basketball. It’s a story of confronting discrimination, breaking glass ceilings and leading radical changeThe images of Brittney Griner from 15 April 2013 are striking. It was the night of the annual WNBA draft, and Griner was beaming from ear to ear. For months, everyone expected her to be chosen first by the Phoenix Mercury. But when WNBA commissioner Laurel J Richie called Griner’s name from the podium as the top overall pick, there was a separate and nearly tangible anticipation in the room.Because in that moment, Griner became the most prominent openly gay basketball player in the world. Continue reading...
The sobering numbers, caused by high energy prices, will be top of the agenda as President Biden tours the Middle EastAnother searing inflation report yesterday underscored the deep challenges facing Democrats ahead of this year’s critical midterm elections, with widespread pessimism about the state of the US economy and Joe Biden’s stewardship of it.Inflation soared 9.1% in June compared with the previous year, a new 40-year high. The rising cost of gas, fuel and rent squeezes American households and puts pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates further. Continue reading...
Child received care in Indiana in case cited by Biden in condemning supreme court decisionAn Ohio man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old girl who later traveled to neighboring Indiana for an abortion, a case that Joe Biden highlighted in criticizing a US supreme court decision eliminating a nationwide right to abortion.Gerson Fuentes, 27, who was arrested on Tuesday, appeared in Franklin county, Ohio, municipal court for an arraignment on Wednesday. A police investigator testified at the hearing that Fuentes had confessed to raping the girl at least twice. Continue reading...
Wednesday declared day of mourning in Akron, Ohio, two weeks after Black man, 25, was killed by officers after chaseHundreds of people filled a theater and passersby sounded horns in sympathy as family and friends shared their memories of Jayland Walker, the 25-year-old Black man killed in a hail of police gunfire in Akron, at his funeral on Wednesday.Mourners passed his open casket during the viewing at the Akron Civic Theatre, some wearing T-shirts that said “Black Lives Matter” or “Zero Threat, Zero Violence, Justice for Jayland”. Continue reading...
by Associated Press in Falls Church, Virginia on (#61CHE)
US judge Penney Azcarate rejects Heard’s claims after actor filed motion seeking to have defamation verdict against her set asideA judge on Wednesday rejected a request from the actor Amber Heard to set aside the $10m defamation judgment awarded against her in favor of her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.Depp won a suit against Heard last month in a high-profile civil trial. Heard won a $2m judgment on a counter-claim against Depp. Continue reading...
by David Smith Washington bureau chief on (#61CEQ)
Criminal prosecution appears increasingly likely as January 6 committee strengthens case against former presidentDonald Trump is facing growing legal peril as the House January 6 committee lays out a case that appears increasingly geared to making a criminal prosecution all but inevitable.The panel’s seventh hearing on Tuesday argued that Trump instigated an attack on the US Capitol that was premeditated rather than spontaneous and that he cannot hide behind a defence of being “willfully blind”. Continue reading...
Executives say the coffee giant’s stores were not immune to problems related to mental health and drug useStarbucks will close 16 US stores by the end of July, citing safety concerns and disruptive behavior at locations in Los Angeles, Seattle and other large cities.Six stores in Seattle, six in LA, two in Portland, one in Philadelphia and one in Washington DC will close, a Starbucks spokesperson confirmed. Continue reading...
Newly published footage shows officers in body armor waiting outside the fourth-grade classroom where the 21 were killedNewly published surveillance footage has prompted fresh criticism of the police response to the mass shooting inside an Uvalde school in which 19 children and two teachers died.The video, published on Tuesday by the Austin American-Statesman and the local television channel KVUE shows the gunman entering Robb Elementary school with an AR-15-style rifle, and later shows officers in body armor waiting in the hallway outside the fourth-grade classroom where the 21 people were killed. Continue reading...
First lady likened the diversity of Latino community to breakfast tacos, as Republicans quickly seized on her commentJill Biden has apologized for remarks in a speech to the civil rights and advocacy organization UnidosUS in which she likened the diversity of Latino Americans to breakfast tacos.Speaking in Texas on Monday, the first lady said: “The diversity of this community – as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio, is your strength.” Continue reading...
I can’t stop thinking about the woman who tweeted about her mother’s death – and the comfort it brought herLast month, a woman shared the following with me: “My mum took a Covid test yesterday. It was positive. She died this afternoon. I can’t say that Covid was the cause of her death. She was my world. I loved her with my heart and soul. I am in pieces. My heart and my world are shattered. How do I go on without her?” Appalling, obviously, but the thing is, I don’t know this woman at all. Her howl of pain came my way in the form of a tweet, presumably having been liked or retweeted by someone I follow. Two weeks later, her suffering is still on my mind.Yet when I first saw the tweet I winced. Why? Well, I suppose I felt this was oversharing. But being something of an oversharer myself, in these pages and elsewhere, this is hypocrisy on my part. I also might have suspected – how dare I? – that she was baring her soul on Twitter only because she didn’t have any real friends to talk to, poor woman. And it felt intrusive, even voyeuristic, to be privy to this stranger’s suffering. What business of mine is her grief? But equally, what business of mine is it to have a view on how she expresses it and to whom?Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Domenico Criscito, Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi represent an influx of talent that could help Toronto FC reconnect with the city’s deep Italian roots“I’ve met a lot of Italians in this first week I’ve been here,” said Domenico Criscito, cracking a broad smile in what was an otherwise staid, businesslike first press conference as a new Toronto FC player.The 35-year-old former Genoa and Zenit Saint Petersburg defender, who also has 26 caps for Italy, arrives on the undercard to Lorenzo Insigne as part of a new Italian influx at Canada’s most successful Major League Soccer side. Continue reading...
Prominent state attorney not yet charged in connection with deaths of wife Maggie, 52, and son Paul, 22, in June last yearA lawyer for the disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has said investigators have indicated they intend to pursue murder charges against him for the deaths of his wife and son, who were shot outside their home more than a year ago.Jim Griffin said in a statement the South Carolina law enforcement division told Murdaugh family members they plan to seek indictments from a grand jury later this week. Continue reading...
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