With Jacinda Ardern gone, her party's political capital has been squandered. But a turnaround is possibleIt looks like curtains for New Zealand's Labour government.The party won its best result since 1946 just three years ago, as voters rewarded Jacinda Ardern for keeping Covid-19 out and punished the opposition for its litany of scandals, giving Labour one of every two votes. Continue reading...
It was one of the longest seasons in resort's 70-year history, helped out by a colossal snowpack from an extreme weather winterAfter a historic amount of snowfall, a popular California resort is ending its second-longest ski season. The ski lifts at Mammoth Mountain, in the eastern Sierra Nevadas, have been open since early November and, up until 5 August, remained available well into summer.While it is not unusual for people to powder-surf on the Fourth of July at the resort, the sheer amount of snow the mountain saw made this season exceptional and one of the longest in the resort's 70-year history, according to NPR. Continue reading...
Agents were trying to serve warrant on Craig Deleeuw Robertson's home hours before president was expected to land in stateA Utah man accused of making threats against Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president was expected to land in the state on Wednesday, authorities said.Special agents were trying to serve a warrant on the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, when the shooting happened at 6.15am, the FBI said in a statement. Continue reading...
Trump's lawyers asked for a secure facility to be reinstalled at the same Mar-a-Lago club where he hoarded classified documentsLawyers for Donald Trump asked a federal judge on Wednesday to approve the re-establishment of an ultra-secure facility at his Mar-a-Lago club to review classified documents produced to him in discovery, an audacious request without precedent in national security cases.The request essentially would give Trump the freedom to discuss and review the same classified documents he has been charged with illegally retaining in the same location where the alleged crimes took place. Continue reading...
Social media platform delayed complying, court filing shows, prompting judge to hold Twitter in contempt and fine it $350,000The US special counsel who is investigating Donald Trump obtained a search warrant for the former president's Twitter account, and the social media platform delayed complying, a court filing on Wednesday showed.The delay in compliance prompted a federal judge to hold Twitter in contempt and fine it $350,000, the filing showed. Continue reading...
by Léonie Chao-Fong (now) and Maya Yang (earlier) on (#6DPBT)
This blog has now closed. Read our latest story hereThere has been open debate within the Democratic party over whether Senator Dianne Feinstein, 90, whose health and cognitive abilities have come into question after a two-and-a-half-month absence due to shingles and other medical complications, should resign.Questions over Feinstein's ability to effectively represent California, the most populous US state, have been a sensitive issue for Democrats going back years. As her diminishing health plays out in the public eye there is a renewed urgency to the situation. Riding out her term in absentia until retirement next year is also not a viable option, with Feinstein the tie-breaking vote on the Senate judiciary committee, which holds confirmation hearings for judicial nominees, and effectively the only person who can ensure that Joe Biden's picks for judges go through. Continue reading...
While anti-abortion activists vow to continue the fight', supporters of abortion retain hope for November electionIn a resounding victory for supporters of abortion rights, Ohio voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Issue 1, a GOP-backed ballot measure that would have made it considerably harder to amend the state constitution.Abortion rights advocates celebrated the defeat of Issue 1, which means Ohio keeps its longstanding rule on citizen-led state constitutional amendments: a simple majority of state voters can change the constitution through a ballot measure. Continue reading...
J Michael Luttig, who advised Mike Pence not to try to overturn 2020 election, says former president has destroyed GOPA respected conservative judge who advised the former Republican vice-president Mike Pence not to attempt to overturn the 2020 election believes Donald Trump has destroyed the Republican party.American democracy simply cannot function without two equally healthy and equally strong political parties," J Michael Luttig told CNN on Wednesday. So today, in my view, there is no Republican party to counter the Democratic party in the country. Continue reading...
Monique Worrell, second Democratic prosecutor DeSantis has removed, says elected officials are being suspended by whim of the governor'Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, suspended the top prosecutor in Orlando on Wednesday, claiming dereliction of duty" on crime. In return, the prosecutor said DeSantis, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, was a weak dictator" acting undemocratically and for political reasons.Monique Worrell, the ninth judicial circuit state attorney, is the second Democratic prosecutor DeSantis has removed. Continue reading...
Bloodshed in Manipur is just the latest example of sweeping ethnic frictions. The PM must show he is the solution, not the problemIt is a hot and furious week in India's parliament. Narendra Modi, the prime minister, is accused of turning a blind eye to three months of bloodshed in some of the poorest villages of India, in the remote north-east state of Manipur. Barbaric details are surfacing: hundreds of villages destroyed, Christian churches and schools torched, and widespread sexual assault of women. About 50,000 people have fled their homes; at least 124 are dead.This week, at last, Modi is being forced by a no-confidence motion to speak about the violence. The charge against him: a brazen indifference" to the killing. Continue reading...
Body of Jimmy Hendricks, 66, from Austin, was found after he announced on Facebook plan to hike in Arches national parkA Texas man found dead while hiking in Utah was on the way to scatter his late father's ashes, according to family members.Jimmy Hendricks, 66, left his Austin home in mid-July for Nevada, where he planned to scatter the ashes on a mountain. Along the way, he made stops at Guadalupe Peak in Texas and the Grand Canyon. Continue reading...
California senator, 90, was only in hospital for an hour or two', spokesperson told the ChronicleThe California US senator Dianne Feinstein, 90, was hospitalized on Tuesday evening after suffering a fall in her home, a spokesperson said.Senator Feinstein briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home," a spokesperson said in a statement. All of her scans were clear and she returned home." Continue reading...
Attorney says allegations against Rex Heuermann not meeting standards that would compel him to provide DNA sampleA lawyer for the suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann is opposing a request for a DNA swab, arguing in court papers prosecutors failed to meet probable cause standards to compel the 59-year-old Manhattan architect to do so.As reported by the Long Island newspaper Newsday, the attorney, Danielle Coysh, said allegations against Heuermann could be read as rising to the level of a reasonable suspicion", but not as meeting standards that would compel her client to provide a DNA sample. Continue reading...
by Associated Press in Jackson, Mississippi on (#6DPF4)
Born weeks before his famous relative died, Brandon Presley often talks about growing up in a home where where money was tightA cousin of Elvis Presley is the Democratic candidate for governor in Mississippi, after winning his primary unopposed on Tuesday.The general election will be held on 7 November. The Democrat, Brandon Presley, said he would advocate for people who struggle to make ends meet. Continue reading...
We never needed gizmos and expensive tickets to enjoy great art. If Disney's Lighthouse Immersive is ailing, that's no bad thingRepetition and familiarity are everywhere in our culture. From the commercial novels advertised entirely in terms of their similarity to popular titles from the previous year or two, to endless and proliferating film franchises, the selling point of so many things now is, in effect: this is a slightly (even very) worse version of something you've seen already. The immersive art" concept offered by companies like Disney's Lighthouse Immersive is the purest form of this wearying trend, so recent news that Lighthouse has filed for bankruptcy feels like a faintly promising development.Lighthouse Immersive puts on shows in which reproductions of work by household-name artists are blown up and projected on to the walls of galleries. Music is piped into the space to curate the mood, taking the place that imagination plays in a traditional exhibition. The idea is that these magnified projections encourage an audience to appreciate the finer details of certain famous paintings. Continue reading...
Japan remain in first place but France, Australia, Spain and Colombia are all making upward movesFutoshi Ikeda's side continue to look the most in-form team in the competition. After a 3-1 win against Norway in the last 16 they progressed comfortably with their 100% win rate intact. Hinata Miyazawa starred once again and remains top scorer with five goals, equalling Homare Sawa's Golden Boot-winning total in 2011, when Japan won the World Cup. Continue reading...
Unknown winner receives third-largest prize in US history after stretch of winless lottery drawsSomeone in Florida won a $1.58bn Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday night, ending a stretch of winless lottery draws that had stretched for nearly four months and bestowing on the unknown winner the third-largest prize in US history.A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to the Florida Lottery. Continue reading...
US workspace-sharing firm once valued at $47bn made net loss of $397m between April and JuneWeWork has warned there is substantial doubt" over whether it will be able to remain in business as the flexible workspace company scrambles for cash to survive.The New York-based firm said its status as a going concern was in doubt because of its financial losses and need for cash to stay afloat over the next year. Continue reading...
Young women struggling with debt and burnout need a better vision than getting a rich man to pay the billsA month ago, I decided to wrap up work early and have a little treat. I took myself out to a hotel bar and sat alone reading in the sun, while people socialised in twos and threes around me. Someone bought me a drink, and a little while later, a woman leaned over to me on her way out and said: Sprinkle sprinkle."She was quoting the catchphrase of the YouTuber SheraSeven, the viral sensation and self-styled financial adviser" whose advice I had inadvertently followed. The way to get wealthy men to buy you drinks, Shera says, is to go to high-end bars alone before the after-work rush. Continue reading...
To mark Thursday's launch of his new newsletter, Jonathan Wilson drops in to respond to Guardian readers' queries on the gameWhat do you think of the Wrexham experiment? Cynical self-promotion by two actors or a genuine heartwarming story? Evan, New HampshireSo far, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney seem to have done everything pretty much right. They seem to grasp what a British football club is and its part in the community and to have taken to Wrexham the town. I don't think there's any reason to believe it's about self-promotion but, equally, I'm a little uncomfortable about the idea that a football club should be there as a content provider. The test will probably come if they find themselves sitting in mid-table at Christmas - do they then do something wacky to create a better narrative for the documentary?Jonathan Wilson's new soccer newsletter for a global audience. What's more, it's free. The first edition is out tomorrow and you can sign up here. Continue reading...
Policy that can't work and laws written purely for campaign slogans are clear symptoms of a moribund regimeThe language of bureaucracy, while rarely poetic, sometimes has a sinister eloquence. Residents on board the Bibby Stockholm, the barge moored in Dorset to house asylum claimants, are classified by the Home Office as non-detained" persons. They are not imprisoned, but nor are they free.Occupants of the vessel can travel to places agreed with local agencies" on special buses provided by the Home Office. They are not subject to a curfew, but there is a register. Checks are made to count people out and in again. Continue reading...
Jinchao Wei's mother told her son providing information could help him get a job with Chinese government, prosecution saysThe mother of a US navy sailor charged with providing sensitive military information to China encouraged him to cooperate with a Chinese intelligence officer, telling her son it might help him get a job with the Chinese government someday, the prosecution said on Tuesday.The assistant US attorney Fred Sheppard made the accusation at a hearing in federal court in San Diego in urging the judge not to release Jinchao Wei, who was arrested last week on a rarely used espionage charge. Continue reading...
Proposal would have made it considerably harder to amend state constitution as voters give verdict on Issue 1Ohio voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would have made it considerably harder to amend the state constitution in a major win for reproductive rights and democracy advocates in the state.The result means that Ohio will keep its current process for amending the state constitution in place. The procedure first requires voters to collect a certain number of signatures from at least 44 of the state's 88 counties to send an amendment proposal to the ballot and then a simple majority to pass it. Continue reading...
John Lauro slams indictment as full of holes and says Mike Pence could help former boss fight off 2020 election conspiracy chargesDonald Trump's attorney has suggested that Mike Pence could help his former boss fight off the 2020 election-related criminal conspiracy charges against Trump, claiming that the former vice-president would be the best witness" for the defence.In an interview with CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday, attorney John Lauro played down differences between the former president and Pence's accounts of what happened in the run up to the 6 January 2021 certification of Joe Biden's victory over Trump, whose supporters attacked the US Capitol that day. Continue reading...
Judge writes: Fear of retaliation will exist unless Memphis seven, apparently terminated for their union support, are reinstated'A US appeals court on Tuesday rejected Starbucks Corp's challenge to a ruling requiring the coffee chain to rehire seven employees at a Memphis, Tennessee, store who were allegedly fired for supporting a union.The decision by the Ohio-based sixth US circuit court of appeals is the first from an appeals court involving a nationwide campaign that has seen workers at more than 300 Starbucks locations vote to unionize. Continue reading...
Maura Healey calls on federal government to provide urgent action' as shelters housing migrants and refugees reach capacityMassachusetts governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as shelters housing migrants and refugees reached capacity, and called on the federal government to help.In a letter addressed to US secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas, Healey said: To our partners in the federal government, Massachusetts has stepped up to address what sadly has been a federal crisis of inaction that is many years in the making. Continue reading...
One man in custody and two others expected to surrender after a group of white men attacked a Black boat worker in MontgomeryThree arrest warrants were issued on Tuesday by authorities in Montgomery, Alabama, relating to the chaotic riverfront brawl that broke out on Saturday during which punches were thrown, people were hit with chairs, and others were thrown into the river.Montgomery police chief Darryl Albert announced on Tuesday that one man is in custody and two others were expected to turn themselves in. Montgomery mayor Steven Reed said none of the three are residents of the city. Continue reading...
by Chris Stein US politics live blogger on (#6DN98)
This blog has now closed. Read our latest story on Biden's national monument hereAbout a year ago, former Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro was indicted for defying a subpoena issued by the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack.Navarro's case still has not been resolved, and Politico reports that in a filing today, the ex-president's ally is seeking to further delay his trial: Continue reading...
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut says the Senate needs to change rules to sidestep Tommy Tuberville's block on promotionsThe Alabama Republican senator Tommy Tuberville is prepared to burn the military down" with his block on promotions in protest of Pentagon policy on abortion, the Connecticut Democratic senator Chris Murphy said.I think everybody's been hoping that Senator Tuberville would back down," Murphy told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Snake dropped from the grasp of a hawk in the sky and wrapped itself around the woman's arm, then the bird tried to retrieve itA Texas woman is rattled but recovering after being viciously attacked by a snake and a hawk at the same time.Peggy Jones, 64, was mowing her lawn with her husband at around 8pm in the evening on 25 July in Silsbee, Texas - less than an hour from the Louisiana border - when a large snake fell from the sky and landed on her. Continue reading...
While a country of 250 million people grapples with multiple crises, the political struggle over Imran Khan's future continuesThe multiple crises facing Pakistan are not merely daunting, but immense. Six million more people have been plunged into poverty since the devastating floods inundated a third of the country last year; around two in five children in affected areas are suffering stunted growth due to malnutrition. The International Monetary Fund finally approved a $3bn bailout last month, but the economy is still reeling. Attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other militants have surged in the north-west. Amid all this, the outgoing government of Shehbaz Sharif has prioritised a new census and the redrawing of constituency boundaries.The real reason is to delay the general election that was due later this year. The purpose was made pretty plain by the fact that it was announced on the same day that the former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested after a court sentenced him to three years in prison on corruption charges and barred him from politics for five years. The precise details of the case are less significant than the fact that it is only one of well over 100 that he faces. The media has been silenced: broadcasters are unable to mention his name. And parliament has just pushed through more than 50 bills in just two days - handing draconian powers to its feared military intelligence agency. As one seasoned Pakistani observer has noted, removing Mr Khan from electoral politics is not the same as removing him from the political scene. But the army and rival civilian politicians are doing their best to achieve the latter together.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Federal regulation aims to reining in privately made firearms that are difficult for law enforcement to traceThe US supreme court on Tuesday granted a request by President Joe Biden's administration to reinstate - at least for now - a federal regulation aimed at reining in privately made firearms called ghost guns" that are difficult for law enforcement to trace.The justices put on hold a 5 July decision by US district judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, that had blocked the 2022 rule nationwide pending the administration's appeal. O'Connor found that the administration exceeded its authority under a 1968 federal law called the Gun Control Act in implementing the rule relating to ghost guns, firearms that are privately assembled and lack the usual serial numbers required by the federal government. Continue reading...
US firm cuts revenue forecast as consumers opt for cheaper options amid cost of living crisisIt launched with the promise to eat what you love", but consumers' love affair with Beyond Meat's pricey meat substitutes is waning.Quarterly sales at the vegan burger maker have slumped by almost a third as shoppers shift away from expensive meat substitutes amid the cost of living crisis. Continue reading...
DeSantis law that clamps down on LGBTQ+and gender issues also says material sexual in nature should not be used in classesTeachers in a Florida county are preparing to use only excerpts of works by William Shakespeare, rather than whole plays, as part of an attempt to conform to hardline rightwing legislation on teaching about sex .There's some raunchiness in Shakespeare," Joseph Cool, a reading teacher at Gaither high school in Hillsborough county, told the Tampa Bay Times. Because that's what sold tickets during his time." Continue reading...
Boy, 15, killed by falling tree in South Carolina and man, 28, struck by lightning in Alabama, while more than 1,700 flights canceledMore than 300,000 homes and businesses in the eastern US were without power on Tuesday after another storm passed over the region, killing at least two people and disrupting air travel.A 15-year-old boy was killed after a tree fell on him as he got out of a car in South Carolina, and a 28-year-old man died after he was struck by lightning in Alabama. Continue reading...
USA's exit in the last-16, in a penalty-shootout loss to Sweden, marked their worst finish ever at a major tournament. Now what?There are many systemic issues to address within the US soccer ecosystem that have come to the fore in recent days. There is also an Olympics in less than a year, and work to be done on the field immediately. Here's a to-do list for the powers that be. Continue reading...
After revisiting Plath's book in my early twenties, I ended up writing a novel of my own as a way of understanding the recognition and repulsion I felt
Change should come around 2045, study of updated US census data predicts, but author says ageing is not race-neutral'Gen Z Americans - who were born between 1997 and 2012 - will be the last generation with a white majority and will give way to a post-2012 majority minority" Generation Alpha, according to a new study of updated US census data.That change - when non-Hispanic white people will fall below half as a share of the overall US population - should come around 2045, the study predicts. Continue reading...
Working from home offered the chance for a great rebalancing of family, friendship and our careers. But the dream is fading fastI started my career in the corporate world and soon realised that I was extremely bad at corporate-ing. My main problem was that I liked to leave the office and have a life which was obviously a big no-no for anyone hoping for career progression.At one point a superior had to sit me down and tell me sternly that I should never be seen leaving before 8pm at the earliest, even if I had nothing to do. So, in a misguided attempt at climbing the greasy pole, I started printing Wilkie Collins novels, sticking them in an official looking binder, and poring over them with a highlighter, so it looked like I was doing important business things. No need to tell you that I didn't last very long at that job. Continue reading...
The sole question posed to voters in the special election is a direct attempt to stop the legalization of abortion through democratic meansTechnically, August special elections are supposed to be illegal in Ohio. Late last year, a Republican-backed bill passed the state house prohibiting most special elections in August, reasoning that timing an election in the dog days of late summer depressed turnout, and cost too much money. But those same Republicans changed their tune in May, when it became clear that abortion rights supporters in Ohio would be able to put a ballot measure to voters securing abortion rights in the state in the November 2023 election. Ohio has a six-week ban on the books, but it is currently blocked by a court, and abortion remains legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The measure, if passed, would help keep it that way, amending the Ohio state constitution to grant individuals a right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions".Ballot measures have been extremely successful tools of the pro-choice movement since the supreme court abolished the federal abortion right last year in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health: pro-choice ballot initiatives passed by surprisingly large margins even in Ohio's heavily Republican neighbor state, Kentucky, as well as the similarly deep-red Kansas. Since Dobbs, every single time abortion rights have been put to the voters, they have prevailed. And so suddenly, the Ohio GOP felt that it was important that a vote be held in August: a vote, that is, to curtail the power of voting. Continue reading...
Sibley was stabbed after he confronted teens who taunted his group of gay, Black friends as they danced at a Brooklyn gas stationA funeral Tuesday in Philadelphia will honor O'Shae Sibley, who was fatally stabbed after he confronted teenagers who taunted his group of gay, Black friends as they danced at a New York City gas station.Meanwhile, on Monday, the 17-year-old arrested in connection with Sibley's slaying was arraigned on a count of murder as well as a hate crime charge. The suspect was identified as Dmitriy Popov, of Brooklyn, and he is being prosecuted under a New York law which allows anyone who is over the age of 13 and accused of murder to be tried as an adult. Continue reading...
Everything the mainstream debate shrinks from, O'Connor put front and centre. Her unmitigated candour made a differenceIn March 2016, Sinead O'Connor, who died last month at 56 and whose funeral takes place today in Bray, Ireland, went missing. I remember this specifically because the Telegraph ran a live blog on the singer's whereabouts after she had posted suicidal thoughts. A live blog. I pointed out to an editor at the paper that rolling updates about a person going through a severe mental health episode, an episode that might have ended fatally - and for all they knew, already had - was neither responsible nor compassionate. It was, coincidentally, Mental Health Awareness Week.On that occasion, O'Connor was found safe, if not well. It was not the only brutal public example of how her mental illness manifested, and mental illness was the blunt - accurate - term she used. Of contemporary public figures, O'Connor was perhaps the one whose experiences of psychiatric disorder - she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and complex PTSD - spoke most to the realities of those who live with, or endure, the kind of warped brain that can make even the simplest thing feel like a Sphinx's riddle.Hannah Jane Parkinson is a Guardian columnistIn the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. For more information visit www.samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.orgComments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. Continue reading...
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