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Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison in her New York sex trafficking case for procuring teen girls for Jeffrey Epstein for him to abuse.

Demand for a new union contract that raises wages to cover rising cost of living and to attract workers in understaffed departmentsLike all casino towns, Atlantic City in New Jersey trades on a public image of get-rich-quick success where a little slice of luck can deliver the good life. But for thousands of workers who toil in the city’s casinos, hotels, restaurants and shops, that image is in stark contrast to reality.Irina Sanchez, a housekeeper at Caesars Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City since 1998, has been struggling with increases in rent, gas and food, which has made it even more difficult to care for her daughter with diabetes. Continue reading...

Javier Salazar posted on Facebook that he would not use his power to ‘impose the morals’ of others on those ‘exercising a right’A Texas sheriff, whose beat largely includes the city of San Antonio, has declared he would not be pursuing those in his jurisdiction who choose to get an abortion after the supreme court scrapping of federal abortion rights.In a Facebook post he shared on Tuesday, Bexar county sheriff Javier Salazar wrote of his “two beautiful and intelligent” daughters, whom he said have a right to choose what to do with their own bodies. Continue reading...

Parker Hannifin expects to complete £6.3bn move for British defence manufacturer within two monthsThe UK government has signalled it is likely to accept the £6.3bn takeover of the British defence manufacturer Meggitt, the second deal by a US buyer to receive a green light in a week.The American industrial conglomerate Parker Hannifin said on Wednesday that it expected to complete the takeover within the next two months after receiving assent from the UK business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng. Continue reading...

“It was 17% interest rates when I bought my houses so …”

Philadelphia, where I live, is nicknamed Filthadelphia and I’m getting more disgusted by the dayI have been having some very dirty thoughts lately, and it’s been driving my wife bonkers. “Just look at all the litter!” I’ll exclaim numerous times a day. “Why is there so much rubbish on the street? Why aren’t there more bins in this city? Why does Philadelphia [where I live] have such a subpar municipal waste management system?” These are all valid questions (there is a reason Philly has the nickname Filthadelphia), but my wife doesn’t want to hear about city sanitation any more. “Please,” she keeps saying, “get over it!”The thing is, I can’t get over it. Is it a function of middle age? Am I losing my mind? I don’t know what has precipitated it, but I am hung up on waste management. I have gone full disgusted-of-Tunbridge-Wells about it, as we all should, really. Litter isn’t just unsightly and unhygienic, it is associated with more crime and antisocial behaviour: cleaning up neighbourhoods makes them safer. Sanitation workers are the unsung heroes of the streets: the US should be diverting some of the money it gives to its bloated police departments to street cleaners. If I was going to run for mayor (I’m not), that would be at the top of my policy platform. Continue reading...

Many recalled their own experience of migrating to the US, calling for better immigration practices and protection of asylum seekersTony Bokanian got a call on Monday afternoon from a neighbor who told him police were massed near his used auto parts business on the south-western edge of San Antonio in southern Texas.Bokanian went out to look. That was when he saw the bodies – dozens of lifeless men, women and children heaped behind a lorry on an obscure backroad while swarms of emergency vehicles arrived. Continue reading...

Former president and senior aides face exposure over knowledge that supporters were armed and intended to march on CapitolDonald Trump and his two closest advisers could face widening criminal exposure over the Capitol attack after ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified about their potentially unlawful conduct to the House January 6 select committee at a special hearing on Thursday.The testimony revolved around the disclosure – one of several major revelations from Hutchinson – that the former president directed supporters to descend on the Capitol even though he knew they were armed and probably intended to cause harm. Continue reading...

The Republican, a county clerk, is facing criminal charges for tampering with election equipmentTina Peters, a Colorado county clerk who is facing criminal charges for tampering with election equipment, lost the Republican nomination to be the state’s top election official on Tuesday. She was defeated by Pam Anderson, a former county clerk.The race was among several closely watched contests this year in which Republicans who denied the election results are seeking key roles with oversight of elections. Continue reading...

The government will expand access to and increase supply of two different formulations to contain the infectionThe US government is ramping up efforts to staunch the spread of monkeypox by sending hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses to states in the coming months, expanding access for those most at risk and increasing supply to areas with high case numbers.The plan, announced on Tuesday, involves rapidly expanding access to doses of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine – which has so far been limited – to prevent monkeypox in areas with the highest transmission and need. Continue reading...

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, gives explosive revelations about TrumpThe sixth hearing into the attack on the Capitol on Tuesday heard from just one witness but presented a series of explosive revelations about Donald Trump and the events of January 6.Here are the key points from an extraordinary two hours on Capitol Hill. Continue reading...

Serena Williams lost her first-round match to Harmony Tan in a thrilling three-hour epic

Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony of a president lunging at a Secret Service agent’s throat ‘is going to loom very large’ in US history, experts sayHe lunged at a Secret Service agent’s throat. He threw dishes during temper tantrums. And he wanted metal detectors taken away so his fans could march with guns and knives.An astonishing portrait of Donald Trump as an unhinged and personally violent president emerged at Tuesday’s hearing of the congressional committee investigating last year’s attack on the US Capitol. Continue reading...

The British socialite maintained her innocence as women came forward to accuse her of sexual abuse and traffickingShortly before Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in her New York sex trafficking case, several of the former British socialite’s victims provided impact statements in court.The victims who addressed Judge Alison Nathan described harrowing abuse at the hands of Maxwell and her one-time boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein and the longterm emotional impact that still haunts them. Continue reading...

Trump aides wanted to be ‘doing something more’ to stop the riot, Cassidy Hutchinson told January 6 committeeA crucial witness before the House January 6 committee testified that senior aides had described how Donald Trump thought his vice-president, Mike Pence, deserved to be hanged for not blocking certification of election results, as demanded by the mob that attacked the US Capitol.Describing events at the White House on the afternoon of 6 January 2021, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, said: “I remember Pat [Cipollone, the White House counsel] saying something to the effect of, ‘Mark, we need to do something more. They’re literally calling for the vice-president to be fucking hung.’ Continue reading...

Cassidy Hutchinson, aide of ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified former president didn’t care people had guns on themDonald Trump knew members of the crowd at his rally near the White House on 6 January 2021 were armed, but demanded security apparatus be removed to allow them closer, then instructed the crowd to march on the US Capitol, a key witness told the January 6 committee.According to the witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, the president later attempted to assault an aide who refused his demand that he go to the Capitol too. Continue reading...

As Maxwell faced financial and social ruin in New York after her father’s death, in stepped Jeffrey Epstein, a relationship that would come to a sordid conclusionWhen Ghislaine Maxwell arrived in New York City in 1991, she seemed like the perfect candidate for its elite social scene. The British socialite’s father, UK publishing titan Robert Maxwell, had dispatched her to launch an international magazine called the European, as part of his sprawling media conglomerate.Robert Maxwell had also purchased the New York Daily News in March of that year, around the time of her arrival, further boosting her status, as ownership of that tabloid once conveyed real-world influence. Maxwell’s pedigree and appearance further enhanced her profile. Continue reading...

Maxwell’s attorneys had pushed for leniency after 60-year-old was convicted in US in December of five of the six charges she facedGhislaine Maxwell was sentenced on Tuesday to 20 years in prison in her New York sex-trafficking case for procuring teen girls for Jeffrey Epstein for him to abuse. Maxwell, 60, has maintained her innocence.Epstein, a convicted sex offender and financier whose elite associates once included Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton, was captured by federal authorities in July 2019, on sex-trafficking counts. He killed himself in a New York City federal jail just over one month after his arrest. Continue reading...

Judge sets hearing for 12 July, meaning abortions up to six weeks of pregnancy can resume for at least two weeksA judge in Texas on Tuesday temporarily blocked a state abortion ban linked to the US supreme court decision which last week overturned the ruling guaranteeing the right to terminate pregnancies.The Texas case followed stays issued in Louisiana and Utah. Continue reading...

Mexican foreign minister mourns ‘huge tragedy’ as US investigates effort to smuggle people across border

The former executive assistant to Mark Meadows will be the first ex-Trump White House employee to testify in personThe House January 6 hearings into the attack on the Capitol may not yet have found their John Dean – the White House counsel who turned on President Richard Nixon during Watergate – but in Cassidy Hutchinson they have turned up a surprisingly potent witness.Hutchinson was an executive assistant to Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s last chief of staff, and a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs. Continue reading...

Discovery of 50 people dead in a trailer prompts outpouring of compassion but governor bucks trend by blaming deaths on BidenThe deaths of 50 people crossing into the US from countries south of the border on Monday prompted an outpouring of compassion from some while others seized on the chance to criticize American immigration policies.After the dead were found in a trailer abandoned in a remote area in a south-west part of his city, San Antonio’s mayor, Ron Nirenberg, called the discovery “a horrific human tragedy”. Continue reading...

SEC alleged audit employees cheated on exams required to obtain and maintain CPA licenses, and then misled investigatorsErnst & Young, one of the world’s largest accounting firms, agreed to pay a record $100m to US regulators on Tuesday amid charges that dozens of its audit staff cheated on an ethics exam and misled investigators.The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged that “over multiple years” EY’s audit professionals cheated on exams required to obtain and maintain Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licenses, and withheld evidence of this misconduct from the SEC’s enforcement division during an investigation of the matter. Continue reading...

Alexander Drueke told the state department that ‘he is OK, receiving food and water and has shelter’, Dianna Shaw, his aunt, saidThe US state department has spoken by telephone to an Alabama man who was recently captured in Ukraine while voluntarily helping the country’s armed forces fight Russian invaders, according to his family.Alexander Drueke told the state department that “he is OK, receiving food and water and has shelter and bedding”, Dianna Shaw, his aunt, said late on Monday. He was also able “to send a direct communication to his family,” Shaw said. Continue reading...

Corporations are offering to pay for employees who have to travel to access a termination. But there are worrying consequences when human rights are doled out by HR departments

President Zelenskiy and Ukraine want it finished by winter, but Russia still holds the balance of powerRussia’s latest attack on civilian targets in Ukraine, causing at least 18 deaths in a shopping centre in Kremenchuk, far from the frontline, could be interpreted as a message to the G7 and Nato meetings under way in Germany. The message is one of Russia’s indifference to condemnation of its crimes. Moscow will not back down. And that in turn may be based on confidence – whether sound or misguided – that over the long term the war is going Russia’s way.Russia has been making gains. Its eastern Ukraine offensive slowly grinds forward by destroying everything in its path, and there is a growing realisation in the west that there will be no early end to the conflict. But the war is dragged out even further by Russia successfully deterring Ukraine’s western backers from providing it with the weapons systems it needs – including more ammunition, drones, jammers, radars, and means of intercepting Russia’s long-range missile strikes like the ones seen over recent days. Continue reading...

Further 16 people in hospital after tragedy in San Antonio. Plus, Louisiana judge blocks abortion ban

The court’s rightwing majority was extremely receptive to a case this week that would weaken the separation of church and stateOn Monday, the United States supreme court overturned decades of precedent governing the separation of church and state, and achieved one of the most long-standing goals of the Christian right: the return of official Christian prayer to public schools.Kennedy v Bremerton School District had a strange path to the supreme court. Initially filed in 2015, the case concerns Joseph Kennedy, formerly a public high school football coach from a Seattle suburb, who sued the community that used to employ him for religious discrimination after the school objected to his habit of making public, ostentatious Christian prayers on the 50 yard line at football games, surrounded by young athletes. Kennedy has lost at the district and circuit levels; he moved to Florida in 2019, which technically should have rendered his case moot. But the supreme court agreed to hear his case anyway. This week, they ruled in his favor, 6-3.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Democrats can’t fix the past. But the least they can do is learn from it – and change course accordinglyWith Roe v Wade overturned by the US supreme court and American women now living in a nation where our most fundamental rights are dependent on the state in which we reside, a lot of us are looking around and asking, “how did we get here?”There is much blame to go around, and the bulk of it rests on the shoulders of the right-wing anti-abortion movement that sprung out of the white supremacist movement that fought to maintain Jim Crow and school segregation. The racist, misogynist Religious Right gained tremendous power within the Republican party; the Republican party proved itself willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get their way; and as a result, Americans are now living in an undemocratic nation of reactionary minority rule.Jill Filipovic is the author of the The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness

In more than half the states, abortion is now banned or under serious threatThe US supreme court ruled that abortion is not protected under the constitution, which means states now have the power to regulate the procedure as they see fit.Abortion bans invalidated by Roe v Wade have suddenly been resurrected. States hostile to abortion are now putting into force “trigger laws”, designed to ban abortion if federal protections were overturned. And inevitably conservative state legislatures and governors will pass additional restrictions in the coming weeks and months. In about 60% of states, abortion is now banned, soon-to-be banned or under serious threat. Continue reading...

Salesh Prasad could be sent to Fiji, where he fears anti-LGBTQ+ violence, with California law enforcement aiding his detentionA 50-year-old California man who was born in Fiji but has lived in the US since he was six years old is facing deportation to a country where he has no family and is at risk of violence and abuse as a queer person.Salesh “Sal” Prasad was detained by federal authorities after he was granted parole from state prison, where he had been incarcerated for years. His case has sparked outrage among human rights activists and local lawmakers who say it highlights the cruelty and expansive reach of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) under a Democratic president who has promised a more humane approach and in a state that claims to be a sanctuary for immigrants. Continue reading...

Use of teargas and arrests by police and targeting by anti-abortion activists disrupts demonstrations in multiple statesFears over police violence and attacks by anti-abortion activists have been growing following a wave of incidents at demonstrations against the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which upheld the constitutional right to an abortion.Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered at protests objecting to the ruling. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful but some have seen incidents of police violence – including attacks on protesters – and an incident of a car driving dangerously through marchers. Continue reading...

Participants in the Tennessee race must negotiate extreme temperatures, wild terrain and more than 50,000 feet of accumulated ascentAt 6.54am on 8 March 2022, 39-year old Johanna Bygdell from Sweden was perched next to her tent in the middle of Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee, eating breakfast with her boyfriend when she finally heard the noise she had been both craving and dreading. It was the blowing of a conch, marking one hour until the start of arguably the world’s most hellish race: the Barkley Marathons.“Finally, let’s get the party started,” she thought. Continue reading...

Incident marks one of the deadliest tragedies involving people attempting to cross US border from Mexico in recent decades

Maxwell, 60, faces 30 to 55 years in prison after she was found guilty of procuring teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuseGhislaine Maxwell is scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday morning in her New York sex-trafficking case, some six months after a jury found the British socialite guilty of luring teenage girls into Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit for him to abuse.Maxwell, 60, faces up to 55 years in prison. Continue reading...

At least 46 people have been found dead inside a trailer truck in San Antonio, Texas. San Antonio's WOAI-TV said the people found were migrants and police were investigating. The truck was found next to railroad tracks in the city's Southwest Side neighbourhood. Video from the scene and aerials showed police and other emergency services surrounding an 18-wheeler truck

Footage captured by documentary film-maker understood to show former president’s children privately discussing election strategiesThe House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is closely focused on phone calls and conversations among Donald Trump’s children and top aides captured by a documentary film-maker weeks before the 2020 election, say sources familiar with the matter.The calls among Trump’s children and top aides took place at an invitation-only event at the Trump International hotel in Washington DC that took place the night of the first presidential debate on 29 September 2020, the sources said. Continue reading...

An Amtrak train has derailed in northern Missouri after hitting a truck at a crossing, the US national passenger railroad service said. There were reports of fatalities and scores of injuries after eight cars derailed. Aerial scenes showed all but one of the eight passenger cars resting fully on their sides, just off a parallel track surrounded by large plots of grass and farmland. Dozens of trucks and cars lined a nearby street and helicopters could be seen as rescuers assisted the recovery

John Eastman had put forth the proposal for then vice-president Mike Pence to halt the certification of electoral votesA conservative lawyer who aided former President Donald Trump’s efforts to undo the 2020 election results and who has been repeatedly referenced in House hearings on the January 6assault on the Capitol said on Monday that federal agents seized his cellphone last week.John Eastman said the agents took his phone as he left a restaurant last Wednesday evening, the same day law enforcement officials conducted similar activity around the country as part of broadening investigations into efforts by Trump allies to overturn the election results in an unsuccessful bid to keep the Republican president in power. Continue reading...

The amendment added to this year’s ballot is part of Democrats’ aggressive strategy to expand access to abortionCalifornia voters will decide in November whether to guarantee the right to an abortion in their state constitution, a question sure to boost turnout on both sides of the debate during a pivotal midterm election year as Democrats try to keep control of Congress after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade.The court’s ruling on Friday gives states the authority to decide whether to allow abortion. California is controlled by Democrats who support abortion rights, so access to the procedure won’t be threatened anytime soon. Continue reading...

Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray both progressed safely into the second round on a packed first day of action in SW19Murray-mania will descend later this afternoon. And Big Nick knows how difficult he can be to play against.“I think he’s one of the most dangerous players on grass still,” Kyrgios, who lost against Murray in Stuttgart this month, said on Sunday. “I definitely think the way he can handle speed, return, compete, slice, volley, as long as his body is feeling well, I don’t want to see him on the grass at all. I’m playing unbelievable tennis at the moment. That first set was as good a level as anyone can produce on the grass.” Continue reading...

The crossing at the rural site did not have guard rails or a train signal and neighbors had complained of safety issues in the pastAn Amtrak train in California collided with a vehicle at an unprotected crossing along a rural dirt road on Sunday, leaving three people dead and at least two others injured.Authorities said the passenger train was traveling westbound when it struck a sedan crossing the tracks near Brentwood, California, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, around 1pm. The crash sent the vehicle into a parked SUV roughly 60ft away, the East Bay Times reported. Continue reading...

State temporarily blocked from enforcing ban as other US states pass ‘trigger laws’ designed to severely curtail access to abortionA Louisiana judge on Monday temporarily stopped the state from enforcing Republican-backed laws banning abortion, set to take effect after the US supreme court ended the constitutional right to the procedure last week.Louisiana is one of 13 states which passed “trigger laws”, to ban or severely restrict abortions once the supreme court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that recognized a right to the procedure. It did so on Friday, stoking uproar among progressives and protests and counter-protests on the streets of major cities. Continue reading...

Noor was resentenced to four years nine months for manslaughter of Justine Damond in Minneapolis after murder charge droppedA former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot an unarmed woman who called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in the alley behind her home has been released from prison on parole, months after his murder conviction was overturned and he was resentenced on a lesser charge.The Minnesota department of corrections website said Mohamed Noor, 36, was placed under the supervision of Hennepin county community corrections. He was freed 18 days shy of the fifth anniversary of the 15 July 2017 fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, a 40-year-old dual US-Australian citizen and yoga teacher who was engaged to be married. Continue reading...