Joe Biden must be bold at this week's summit, and help to give Kyiv the security that would allow it to rebuildUnless the US gives bolder leadership on long-term security for Ukraine at Nato's Vilnius summit this week, historians may one day ask, Who lost Ukraine?" And their shocking answer might be: President Joe Biden.I say this after talking to a wide range of people in Kyiv last week, before departing Ukraine on Saturday, the 500th day of the largest war in Europe since 1945. There's still the extraordinary fighting spirit that I found on my last visit, in February. But in five months, some people seem to have aged five years. They are exhausted. The casualties, military and civilian, continue to mount.Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Gal Luft, director of a Washington-based organization is accused of recruiting and paying a former adviser to Donald TrumpThe head of a US thinktank has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent of China, as well as seeking to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said.Gal Luft, a citizen of the United States and Israel, is accused of recruiting and paying a former high-ranking US government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016, without registering as a foreign agent as required by law. Continue reading...
A Cessna 172 nosedived into a roof with its tail sticking straight up after a landing and takeoff practice went wrongA pilot escaped with only minor injuries after a single-engine plane nose dived into the roof of a hangar Monday at a southern California airport, authorities said.The crash happened around 2.30pm while the pilot of the Cessna 172 was practicing landings and takeoffs" at Long Beach airport, south of Los Angeles, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. Continue reading...
Release date changed to 2032, records show, but reasons for change are unclearElizabeth Holmes' prison sentence was quietly shortened by two years, new records show.An update to Holmes' profile on the website of the Bureau of Prisons now projects her release date as 12 December 2032, two years sooner than initially scheduled. A spokesman for the federal agency confirmed the update but said he could not comment further citing privacy, safety, and security reasons" for inmates. Continue reading...
The 14-year-old's grandmother had reported the girl's absence and authorities said a marine had been taken briefly into custodyTwo weeks after a 14-year-old girl's grandmother reported that she had run away in early June, the teenager was found in an unusual location: inside the barracks at a California Marine Corps base north of San Diego.Federal law enforcement officials said Monday that they are investigating and had taken a marine with the combat logistics battalion 5, 1st marine logistics group into custody briefly for questioning. He has since been released to his command while the investigation continues, said Marine Capt Charles Palmer of the 1st marine logistics group at Camp Pendleton, about 40 miles (65km) north of San Diego. Continue reading...
Jesssica Burgess of Nebraska admits to providing abortion after 20 weeks and tampering with human skeletal remainsA Nebraska mother has pleaded guilty to giving her 17-year-old daughter pills for an illegal abortion last year and helping to burn and bury the fetus.Under a plea agreement, Jessica Burgess, 42, of Norfolk, admitted to providing an abortion after 20 weeks of gestation, false reporting and tampering with human skeletal remains. Charges of concealing the death of another person and abortion by someone other than a licensed physician were dismissed. Continue reading...
An unruly passenger was allegedly upset about the menu and raised a stink after plane took off from HoustonA United Airlines flight heading from Houston to Amsterdam was diverted to Chicago after an unruly business class passenger interrupted the flight, reportedly because his first meal choice was unavailable.The flight took off at 4.20pm local time in Houston on Sunday, and was in Chicago airspace two hours into the flight. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed that the plane circled Chicago's O'Hare airport as it had to use up fuel, known as dumping fuel, or it would have been too heavy to land. Continue reading...
Gen David Berger steps down as Alabama senator stages months-long blockade of successor to protest over abortion policiesThe commandant of the US Marine Corps, Gen David Berger, stepped down on Monday, leaving the military branch without a confirmed leader for the first time in more than 150 years.The vacancy comes as one Republican senator, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, has staged a months-long blockade of Pentagon nominations to protest against the department's abortion policies. Continue reading...
Residents of a dozen homes had to evacuate as structures moved from their foundations and could fall into a canyon belowHillside homes in an affluent southern California community crumbled and cracked over the weekend as the land beneath them shifted and slid into a canyon below, forcing residents to evacuate.More than a dozen residents of the Rolling Hills Estates in Los Angeles county rushed to leave on Saturday after the sidewalks fractured and houses splintered. Continue reading...
Kansas will now be among only a few states that do not allow any such changes after lawsuit from Republican state attorney generalKansas must stop allowing transgender people to change the sex listed on their driver's licenses, a judge ordered on Monday as part of a lawsuit filed by the Republican state attorney general.The district judge Teresa Watson's order will remain in effect for up to two weeks, although she can extend it. It is significant because transgender people have been able to change their driver's licenses in Kansas for at least four years, and almost 400 people have done so. Continue reading...
Torrential rain flooded homes and caused extensive damage in New York's Hudson valley on Sunday, killing at least one person. Footage shared on social media showed flood water rushing through houses as people waded through knee-deep water. New York officials said rescue teams found the body of a woman in her 30s who drowned after being swept away while trying to evacuate her home, and several people are still missing. The storm is expected to have already caused tens of millions of dollars worth of damage in the Hudson Valley area. The National Weather Service extended flash flood warnings into Connecticut and Massachusetts
Heavy rain drenches parts of US north-east, washing out roads, forcing evacuations and halting some airline travelRescue teams raced into Vermont on Monday after heavy rain drenched parts of the US north-east, washing out roads, forcing evacuations and halting some airline travel. One person was killed in New York as she was trying to leave her home.Mike Cannon of Vermont Urban Search and Rescue said crews from North Carolina, Michigan and Connecticut were among those helping to get to towns that had been unreachable since rain belted the state overnight. Continue reading...
Barack Obama was proud' of his fellow Hawaiian, who saw off the challenge of England's Charley Hull to win her first majorWhen Barack Obama is leading the tributes, it is impossible not to realise the scale of success. Allisen Corpuz prevailed over Charley Hull at the US Women's Open at Pebble Beach on Sunday and Obama was immediate in his praise towards his fellow Hawaiian. You make us all proud," said the 44th president of the United States on social media. He has done a lot in his career," Corpuz responded with more than a hint of understatement. That is really special."The nature of Corpuz's triumph was similarly striking. The 25-year-old had been trending in the right direction in majors - she was tied fourth at the Chevron Championship and shared 15th at the PGA championship - but missed three cuts in four previous US Open appearances. Corpuz had never won a mainstream tour event before; the weight of expectation at Pebble Beach played a part in her deliberate approach and she was warned she could be penalised for slow play during round four. Continue reading...
Guns or butter? To build up the military capacity vital for self-protection, European nations will have to make painful choicesHowever Russia's war in Ukraine ends, Europe is staring uncomfortably down the barrel of a decade of defence. A wounded, vengeful Russia will remain a threat as long as Vladimir Putin, or like-minded successors, are in power. There is no way back to the post-cold war security order, which was cracked by Moscow's assault on Georgia in 2008, ruptured by its annexation of Crimea in 2014, and finally shattered by its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year.The end of Europe's holiday" from defence is going to be expensive and impose painful choices between guns and butter, which the left will find particularly uncomfortable.Paul Taylor is a senior fellow of the Friends of Europe thinktank and author of the report After the war: how to keep Europe safe Continue reading...
US president had earlier met Rishi Sunak to talk about Ukraine's counteroffensiveJoe Biden and King Charles have held a meeting on how to tackle the climate emergency, after the US president earlier discussed Ukraine's counteroffensive with Rishi Sunak in Downing Street.Biden, on a brief stopover in the UK before the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, hailed the rock-solid" friendship between the UK and the US. Continue reading...
Objecting to capital punishment was once taboo too. Real change comes from politicians brave enough to speak upThe Scottish government declared last week that it wanted to decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal use. Possession of drugs in Scotland remains under the pre-devolution Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and, as the Scottish drugs policy minister Elena Whitham says, the current approach has failed". Scotland has the highest drug mortality rate in Europe. Drug use is polluting every public service from mental health and homelessness to welfare, policing and imprisonment.Scotland is supposedly in charge of these services. Yet the central government in London absolutely refuses to allow it to touch drugs policy. It reacted to Whitham's announcement as though she were a lobbyist for the dealers. A horrified Rishi Sunak rushed out a statement reinforcing his government's tough stance" on drugs. An equally horrified Labour promptly agreed.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Nassar reportedly in stable condition after becoming involved in an altercation in Florida prison and being stabbed multiple timesLarry Nassar, the former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor who was convicted of decades of abuse of women and girls under the guise of medical treatment, was reportedly stabbed at a federal prison in Florida on Sunday.The Associated Press reported that Nassar was involved in an altercation with another person at United States Penitentiary Coleman in Florida and was stabbed multiple times, including in the chest and back. Continue reading...
Congressman who has pleaded not guilty to 13 fraud-related counts condemned as disgrace' by prospective opponentGeorge Santos, the Republican congressman whose resume has been shown to be largely fabricated and who has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds, stoked outrage by comparing himself to the great civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks.Rosa Parks didn't sit in the back, and neither am I gonna sit in the back," Santos told Mike Crispi Unafraid, a rightwing podcast. Continue reading...
The US president touched down in Windsor to meet the king for first time since the coronation. After warmly greeting Charles, Biden listened to the US national anthem before inspecting the guard of honour.Biden also met the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in the morning
Democratic congresswoman says rightwing Florida governor, trailing Trump in the polls, has made very large, critical errors'Ron DeSantis has made very large, critical errors" in the Republican presidential primary, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, the biggest of which is the Florida governor's attempt to out-Trump Trump" and appeal to the hard-right GOP base.The dynamics of these races change from day to day," the New York progressive congresswoman told MSNBC. I think that Governor DeSantis has made some very large, critical errors. Continue reading...
Ro Khanna of California wants John Roberts' account of controversies besetting the out of touch' courtThe US chief justice should testify before Congress about ethics scandals besetting his supreme court for the good of democracy", a leading Californian progressive said.The justices are so cloistered, they're so out of touch", the congressman Ro Khanna told MSNBC on Sunday. They don't have a sense of what life is like, so my plea to him would be for the good of democracy come testify. What are you afraid of?" Continue reading...
National Weather Service urges people to take precautions against life-threatening heat conditions'. Plus, what is a TikTok girl dinner'?Good morning.The US's summer of weather misery is expected to escalate further this week as the south-west braces for record-breaking temperatures never seen before.What has the NWS said? The atmospheric setup ... also looks to have similarities to the conditions on July 28 1995, that led to Phoenix reaching 121 degrees and Yuma hit 124 degrees," the NWS said, adding: Even if we do not get quite that hot during this current heatwave, this should go down as one of the longest, if not the longest duration heatwave this area has ever seen."Has Twitter taken any action? Twitter has received notice of the legal action and has since acted to block some of the offending tweets. Continue reading...
Feeling panic about their fertility, or just to keep their options open, a rising number of women are opting to freeze their eggsI guess I'll just freeze my eggs." Perhaps you've heard your partner, friend or daughter say this, or have said it yourself, throwing your hands up in real or mock despair over the biological clock. It has become a more common refrain as the science that allows some women to preserve" their fertility becomes more sophisticated. Although such phrases might sound flippant, egg freezing is an insurance policy that didn't exist for previous generations, and its existence has transformed the way that we see fertility.Last month, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority reported a dramatic rise" in the number of UK women freezing their eggs, with some experts suggesting it was prompted by the pandemic and the anxiety it caused women who felt they were being robbed of their fertile window".Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Drink backed by YouTube star Logan Paul has the equivalent caffeine of six Coke cans and has prompted bans in the UKAn influencer-backed energy drink that has earned viral popularity among children is facing scrutiny from lawmakers and health experts over its potentially dangerous levels of caffeine.On Sunday, Senator Chuck Schumer called on the Food and Drug Administration to investigate Prime, a beverage brand founded by the YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI that has become something of an obsession among the influencers' legions of young followers. Continue reading...
The economy is getting better overall - but as the rich get richer and the poor grow poorer, overall has become a worse gauge of wellbeingIt's a Goldilocks economy - not too hot to spur inflation, not too cool to invite recession.On Friday, the labor department announced that the US economy added 209,000 jobs in June.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, 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...
Caitlin Bernard deserves a statue for her service. Instead, she's been harassed and persecutedIf the United States was a country that valued women and girls, or that understood the moral gravity of misogyny, then there would be statues to people like Caitlin Bernard. The Indiana doctor has long been a champion of reproductive rights; she joined a 2019 lawsuit challenging her state's Roe-era ban on dilation and evacuation abortions, or D&E procedures; she's long been outspoken, in her very red state, about her faith that women and girls are worthy of control over their own bodies. So maybe Indiana Republicans, like the attorney general Todd Rokita, already thought of her as an enemy in July 2022, when, just days after the supreme court's Dobbs decision overturned Roe and threw an anti-abortion trigger ban into effect in neighboring Ohio, Bernard performed an abortion on a patient who had had to travel to Indiana to get her procedure: a 10-year-old girl, the victim of rape.This act alone - Bernard's gesture of compassion and respect to an abused child, one that spared the young girl the danger and torture of an underage, rape-produced pregnancy and helped to end the suffering and indignity that followed her assault, is itself a solemn kind of service. Bernard's work brought her into the darkest realities of what men do to women - raping and impregnating them as children, making laws that will keep them pregnant against their will, as children, unless they can flee - and to face that darkness with integrity and courage. Few of us would have the capacity to do what Bernard did in treating that child; few of us would be able to face that truth about our world.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Civil rights lawyer laments dismissal of suit which attempted to force city to make recompense for the destruction of Black areaAn Oklahoma judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, dashing an effort to obtain some measure of legal justice for elderly survivors.The judge, Caroline Wall, on Friday dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit which attempted to force the city and others to make recompense for the destruction of Greenwood, a once-thriving Black district. Continue reading...
The Republican governor of Florida said he'd take executive action as appropriate' to revoke Beijing's legal designationThe Republican presidential candidate and Florida governor Ron DeSantis said on Sunday he would aim to revoke China's permanent normal trade relations status if he wins the White House next year.I favor doing that," DeSantis told Fox News. Continue reading...
Statement says that strike was carried out by the same drones that were earlier harassed by Russian aircraftThe US military said on Sunday it conducted a strike that killed Usamah al-Muhajir, an Islamic State leader in eastern Syria.The strike on Friday was conducted by the same MQ-9s that had, earlier in the day, been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours," a statement from US Central Command said. Continue reading...
The state-of-the art International African American Museum opened last month - can it effect radical change?Sharrilyn Aiken McKinney and her daughter Shaylyn slowly scanned the colorful walls of the new International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. As they perused a timeline that established the global roots of slavery in the 1400s until its US demise in the 19th century, Shaylyn paused and snapped an image of an antebellum slave tag, an object common in Charleston during that time. Worn by the enslaved who were leased to work for people other than their slaveholders, such metal badges proved they had permission to move about the city.Meanwhile, the elder McKinney moved toward the museum's Center for Family History, where the pair plans to seek help from in-house genealogists to find out more about their Charleston heritage. The mother and daughter know there's a chance their enslaved ancestors may have arrived on or near the museum's grounds, built on Gadsden's Wharf, which received thousands of captive Africans on slave ships. Shaylyn, who self-identifies as Gullah Geechee (McKinney does not), told me she couldn't wrap her head around the possibility that she may have been walking in the footsteps of her forebears. Her mother was in a different state of mind: I'm here just to see that the truth is being told," she said. They can't keep it away. I want to see the local stuff." Continue reading...
Former president who dominates Republican primary finds receptive audience at Las Vegas rallyDonald Trump attacked Ron DeSantis at a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, saying his closest challenger for the Republican presidential nomination had no personality" - but claiming responsibility for the Florida governor's career on the national stage.Trump also repeated his lie about electoral fraud in his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, to a receptive audience, before high-fiving fans at a mixed martial event. Continue reading...
Move to 15 January puts first votes of GOP primary a little more than six months awayIowa Republicans announced on Saturday that their presidential caucuses will be held on 15 January - the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.The move puts the first votes of the 2024 election a little more than six months away, as Republicans try to reclaim the White House. Continue reading...
by Gabrielle Canon in Lees Ferry, Arizona on (#6CTNR)
The serene beauty of the Colorado River belies an ecosystem that is forever changed. I met the scientists fighting for its futureOur small metal boat glides through the current as it snakes between steep sandstone cliffs. Tucked between America's two largest reservoirs, the stretch of the Colorado River that lies north-east of the Grand Canyon is cool and calm. As the water glimmers in the early morning light, it is easy to forget this serene waterway has been named the most endangered in the US.But as we round a bend, a shadow envelops the boat and Glen Canyon Dam comes into view - 4.9m cubic yards of concrete ominously arching 710ft into a cloudless sky. This is as close as we can get," says Ted Kennedy, a biologist and one of my guides for the day, as he cuts the engine. Continue reading...
A new TikTok trend sees young women eschewing hustle culture to focus on life outside of work. Perhaps they are beating capitalism at its own gameIn the mid-2010s, I worked in a cafe in a south London art gallery. Every day I'd make a few coffees, gossip idly with customers and then take home my little sack full of generous tips. It smelled nice in there, too: like baked bread, and salty anchovies fresh from the tin. And though I've had jobs more suited to my genuine interests since, that cafe job was one of my favourites, mainly because of the pure leisure of it. I got paid more or less the same as I did later, as an editor at a major media publication. But I was relaxed, all of the time, and never checked my emails.Young women have taken to calling these sorts of jobs - as in, jobs that are undemanding but well enough paid, with little personal passion involved - lazy girl jobs". Mostly the term refers to menial office jobs as opposed to the service industry: people on computers, sending a few emails and taking home a comfortable salary. On TikTok, the #lazygirljob hashtag currently has about 14m views, and the mood is overwhelmingly aspirational. I love my lazy girl job," reads one post. I don't have to talk to people, only come to the office twice a week." Me at my lazy girl job that lets me do whatever the heck I want as long as I answer emails and keep everything clean," reads another. The posters appear to be unanimously women - I've seen no evidence of a lazy boy jobs" hashtag. Perhaps the concept of men being paid more to do less isn't quite as novel or interesting. (Similarly, there's no male equivalent of the girlboss" phenomenon.)Daisy Jones is a writer, editor and author of All The Things She SaidDo 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...
Meeting partially overshadowed by US president's decision to send to Ukraine cluster munitions banned in BritainJoe Biden will meet King Charles for the first time since the coronation, in a fleeting UK visit that will be used by Rishi Sunak and the US president as a pre-meeting" ahead of joint efforts at this week's Nato summit.However, what will be the sixth meeting between Biden and Sunak since Sunak took office in October has been partly overshadowed by the US president's decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, weapons that are prohibited by 100 countries including the UK, which currently holds the presidency of a convention banning them. Continue reading...
The fossil fuel industry has a long history of hiring PR firms to sow confusion about climate change - but the Climate Leadership Council isn't just a front groupThe New York Times op-ed opened on a provocative note: There is a real danger that the climate debate is deteriorating into a game of name-calling," it began, with oil and gas companies all too often portrayed as opponents of climate progress."The January 2020 article was written by the founder of the Climate Leadership Council (CLC), a Washington DC-based non-profit that advocates for scrapping certain fossil fuel regulations and replacing them with a carbon tax, with the proceeds from the tax returned to Americans as a rebate. Among the group's corporate founding members" are some of the world's biggest oil and gas companies, including Shell, BP and, until 2021, Exxon - companies that have indeed spent decades, and billions of dollars, opposing climate progress. Continue reading...
US treasury secretary feels trip to Beijing has steadied ties and improved communication despite significant disagreements' between the powersThe US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said a four-day trip to Beijing has put ties with China on a surer footing" and paved the way for better communication between top officials who run the world's two largest economies.This relatively modest outcome had been flagged by US officials and expected by analysts before Yellen arrived, and is a reflection of how fraught one of the world's most critical relationships had become. Continue reading...
A late try from Le Roux Malan gave the Free Jacks a 25-24 win over the Legion and their first US professional titleThe New England Free Jacks and the San Diego Legion scored three tries each in the Major League Rugby Championship Final in Chicago on Saturday, the boot of Jayson Potroz making the difference and giving New England their first US professional rugby union title.The New Zealander Free Jacks fly-half was one of a number of international players on show at the SeatGeek Stadium outside Chicago - with the 103-cap All Blacks center Ma'a Nonu turning out for the Legion, not long having turned 41. Continue reading...
Megan Rapinoe has announced that she will retire at the end of the 2023 football season and that the upcoming Women's World Cup will be her last. 'It's with a really deep sense of peace, gratitude and excitement that I want to share with you that this is going to be my last season, my last World Cup and my last NWSL season,' she said.'I could never have imagined where this beautiful game would have taken me,' said the 38-year-old. 'I feel so honoured to be able to have represented this country and this federation for so many years. It's truly been the greatest thing I've ever done.' Continue reading...
The Charles Manson follower could be free in about two weeks, after spending more than 50 years in prison for two murdersCharles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten could be freed in about two weeks after California governor Gavin Newsom announced he will not ask the state supreme court to reverse her parole. The move paves the way for Van Houten's release after spending more than 50 years in a southern California prison for two murders in 1969.The governor's office said an appeal against a parole ruling by a California appeals court was unlikely - the court only accepts reviews in about 3% of cases petitioned - to succeed and that Newsom was disappointed. The governor had previously rejected parole for Van Houten but on 30 May an appellate court overturned that decision. Continue reading...
US news | The Guardian