US news | The Guardian

Some had grumbled it was mere politicking from Macron, yet enshrining the right to abortion felt like a rare moment of unityThere was little doubt that the French parliament would reach a majority on Monday, when it gathered in a special session to enshrine the right to abortion into its constitution. But even so, it was an electric moment. At the Palace of Versailles, big enough to host the 925 MPs and senators eligible to vote, the scene was set to the solemn drumming of the republican guard.Broadcast live on every news channel and beamed on to a giant screen at the Paris Trocadero, opposite the Eiffel Tower, French citizens watched as the national assembly's first female president, Yael Braun-Pivet, looking calm and focused, walked towards the packed chamber to declare the hearing open. Passing republican guards in full regalia, sabres drawn, forming a guard of honour, there was total silence as she made her entrance to make history, as France became the world's first country to guarantee women's rights to abortion.Agnes Poirier is a political commentator, writer and criticComments 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...

Biden administration rescinds not sanctioned' memo that said VJ Day image depicting non-consensual act' would be withdrawnThe Department of Veteran Affairs has walked back a memo that banned the iconic VJ Day in Times Square photograph from its facilities.The VA secretary, Denis McDonough, announced the reversal of the memo on X, only hours after it began circulating online. Continue reading...

Measure allows parent to seek child support up to a year after giving birth to retroactively cover pregnancy expensesThe Republican-led Kentucky senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to grant the right to collect child support for fetuses, advancing a bill that garnered bipartisan support despite nationwide fallout from a controversial Alabama decision also advancing fetal personhood".The measure would allow a parent to seek child support up to a year after giving birth to retroactively cover pregnancy expenses. The legislation - Senate Bill 110 - won senate passage on a 36-2 vote with little discussion to advance to the House. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers. Continue reading...

Pop star says on Instagram Story: If you haven't already, make a plan to vote today'

Central bank leader cautions that continued progress on inflation is not assured' in remarks prepared for House committeeThe US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said on Wednesday that the central bank still expects to reduce its benchmark interest rate later this year but warned continued progress on inflation is not assured".If the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year," Powell said in remarks prepared for delivery to the House financial services committee as US lawmakers prepare to face inflation-weary voters in a charged presidential election year. Continue reading...

An ill-matched narrator can ruin an otherwise rollicking book. But a good one can bring stories to life - and evoke our earliest childhood memories

Lawyers say judge erroneously excluded evidence of former president's state of mind and also call for $83m award to be cut

The growing evidence on UPFs merits sober discussion, but products marketed with a halo of health' are avoiding scrutinyIn the fevered world of diet and nutrition, the past year has been dominated by heated arguments about the evils (or not) of ultra-processed foods. These have not just been confined to the media but have, unusually, engendered equally fractious debate in academic circles. So what is the truth" about UPFs? Are they as bad for health as many claim? And how are consumers, armed with this information, meant to navigate the supermarket aisles?The processing of food, including cooking, fermentation, pickling, curing and smoking, is as ancient as humankind. These processes reduced the chances of food poisoning, increased nutritional availability and ensured that we had a predictable source of calories through seasonal changes in the availability of fresh food. They were critical to our ability as a species to survive and eventually thrive. Continue reading...

Many Democrats angry with Biden over support for Israel voted uncommitted' while Trump's rival Nikki Haley continued to draw sizable supportJoe Biden and Donald Trump swept to victory in states across the US on Super Tuesday, easily winning presidential primary elections from Maine to California as they all but solidified an unprecedented rematch in November.But the biggest night of the primary season exposed glaring weaknesses in both candidates' electoral coalitions. Continue reading...

After Real Salt Lake's blizzard-battered win over LAFC, there have been calls for the league to change the calendar. That may not be a good ideaIf former Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had hoped to segue into a sunny semi-retirement after his move to Los Angeles, his debut for LAFC would have felt especially satisfying. The 36-year-old World Cup winner made a club-record seven saves in a victory over the Seattle Sounders beneath the California sun on the opening weekend of the 2024 MLS season.A week later, however, in his first away match since moving to the US, Lloris experienced a less comfortable time. With his goalkeeper's gloves acting more as a barrier against frostbite than a shot-stopping aid, he was forced to pluck a fluorescent orange match ball from his net three times in the first half after a sudden snowstorm and near-freezing temperatures descended upon Real Salt Lake's America First Field. Continue reading...

Coalition of advocacy groups warn that deal would further concentrate risk' in the financial system and must be stopped'Regulators have been urged to block Capital One's $35bn takeover of Discover by campaigners who say the blockbuster deal is dangerous, illegal, and must be stopped".Urging the Federal Reserve and Department of Justice to intervene, a coalition of more than a dozen advocacy groups cautioned that combining two of the largest credit card companies in the US would damage competition and further concentrate risk" in the financial system. Continue reading...

Biden and Trump are each on their way to tie up respective nominations, as down-ballot races promise retributive runoffsSuper Tuesday brought few surprises in the presidential race: Joe Biden and Donald Trump won state after state, pushing their delegate totals closer to what they each need to secure their party's nomination.Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, did beat Trump in Vermont, her first state-level victory over the former president - and had previously won the District of Columbia - though she reportedly decided on Wednesday to drop out, with her team scheduling a press conference for the morning. Continue reading...

Former South Carolina governor, who tried to position herself as more electable than her rivals, was the last prominent Republican candidate standing opposite Donald TrumpNikki Haley will reportedly end her long-shot Republican presidential primary bid after losing 14 Super Tuesday contests to Donald Trump.The former South Carolina governor, who became Trump's UN ambassador and the first prominent woman of color to seek the Republican nomination for president, is due to deliver remarks near her South Carolina home at 10am ET on Wednesday. Continue reading...

The presumptive nominees took shots at each other, while reports said Nikki Haley is set to drop out the race. Plus, UN experts condemn Israeli massacre'

Rather than bask in his Republican primary victories, the ex-president asserted that the state of the union is bleakIf this is what he sounds like when he wins, imagine how he would react to defeat.Donald Trump swept to victory after victory on Super Tuesday, all but clinching the Republican presidential nomination, but you wouldn't have known it from his joyless victory speech. Continue reading...

Essex-based hub to pass into hands of private-equity firm after agreement on 194m debtSouthend airport is to pass into the control of the US private-equity group Carlyle after an agreement to settle a debt, in the latest takeover of a UK firm by a foreign company.The London-listed aviation group Esken, formerly Stobart Group, said it had reached a deal over the 193.75m debt that its subsidiary London Southend airport owed to Carlyle Global Infrastructure Fund (CGI). Continue reading...

The Spaniard faces a tough test in the first round against Milos Raonic, who is also keen to put dispiriting injuries behind himAs he prepared for what could very well be his final professional season this year, Rafael Nadal ensured that he took his time and he was ready for whatever was left. He wrote off the entire 2023 season after his serious hip injury at the Australian Open, only returning in time for the new year.And yet, within a couple of matches into this season, the 22-time grand slam champion's body betrayed him again. In the first week of January, Nadal limped out of the Brisbane tournament with another hip injury, missed the Australian Open and has not competed for two months. Continue reading...

Famine looks inevitable without urgent intervention. Children are being starved of food - and it is entirely preventableThe news from Gaza feels too painful to watch. Videos of immediate violence capture TV and social-media audiences: within seconds, entire hospitals are destroyed and buildings fall to the ground. We are watching death in real time. In my last piece on Gaza, I highlighted the records being set: considering its short duration, it has been the deadliest war in modern history for children, for journalists, for healthcare workers and for UN staff. But there are parts of the on-the-ground situation that are harder to convey in short clips. The thing I hear most when I speak to colleagues in humanitarian organisations is that they are worried about starvation.They say that, right now, Gaza has the highest proportion of people living with food deprivation anywhere in the world. Before 7 October, when the war started, acute malnutrition was largely nonexistent in Gaza. Since then, among children in northern Gaza it has increased to 15% - that's one in six children under the age of two - while it is 5% in Rafah in southern Gaza. Unicef has highlighted that 90% of children under five eat fewer than two food groups a day, which is defined as severe food poverty", while roughly 90% are affected by an infectious disease, including 70% with diarrhoea. A lack of nutrition and high rates of infectious disease cause a deadly cycle in children: hungry children are more likely to fall sick and have weak immune systems given their fragility, while diarrhoea causes weight and water loss in already thin children. Continue reading...

Putin claims to embody faith and family values only to manipulate ordinary Russians. But Alexei truly lived by them

Trump and Biden pick up most delegates of any state in key win; Haley notches up surprise victory by beating Trump in Vermont

Neither Biden nor Trump have secured the nomination of their respective parties, but both are likely to do so within the next two weeks

As Africa's first elected female head, I know the barriers we face. But this could be a pivotal year if we can rise to the challengeThis year, the citizens of more than 60 countries, representing nearly half of the global population, will go to the polls, making 2024 the biggest election year the world has ever seen. A democratic mechanism of that magnitude will have a far-reaching impact on billions of citizens.Municipal, national and presidential elections take on an even more crucial significance given the scale of global challenges - from conflicts and famine to the climate crisis, gender-based violence and terrorism. Continue reading...

As the world burns, the ultra-wealthy are spending like there's no tomorrow - and they've stopped trying to hide itThey say money can't buy you love, but it can certainly buy you one hell of a pre-wedding. The world's one percenters are currently nursing their hangovers after three ostentatious days in India spent celebrating the upcoming nuptials of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Asia's richest man.The event, which reportedly cost $120m, was an ode to excess: there was a nine-page dress code, a private concert by Rihanna, and a feast which even Nero might have thought a little over the top. Continue reading...

Here's what we learned as more than a dozen states cast ballotsThe sleepy US presidential primary continued on, with more than a dozen states turning out to cast ballots on Super Tuesday.President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump dominated yet again, all but ending the primary season, though some states still have to go to the polls. Voters have stayed home or tuned out, waiting until later in the year to show their enthusiasm. Continue reading...

Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after romping to victory in Super Tuesday states across the US, former US president Donald Trump marked down 5 November as 'the single most important day in the history of our country'. Doubling down on his nativist messaging and criticising Joe Biden over his border policies, Trump said America's cities are 'choking to death'. With both Trump and Joe Biden scoring wins and dominating Super Tuesday, a November rematch between the pair is looking increasingly likely

Palmer, who hails from Baltimore, took on the president in what some might say was an uneven match, but won four delegates to Joe Biden's two

Trump, Nikki Haley and Ryan Binkley are the remaining Republican hopefuls seeking to best Joe Biden or one of his long-shot challengers in the 2024 election

Mark Robinson, who has history of making inflammatory comments, will face Democrat Josh Stein, in what's expected to be a close race in November

Congressman fails against Biden in Democratic primary, capping string of poor showings, as questions swirl over fate of candidacy

The former president's bigotry isn't a deterrent for a small sector of Black conservativesLast month, in a room full of Washington's most prominent Black conservatives, Donald Trump declared that Black voters are drawn to him because of his criminal indictments and mugshot.Democrats quickly denounced his comments as racist". But some Black Republicans have defended Trump, claiming that life was better four years ago under his administration" because of certain initiatives during his presidency that were geared towards Black communities. Continue reading...

Scheme was critical part of anti-democratic effort to overturn 2020 election and is now at center of two criminal cases against TrumpKenneth Chesebro was eager to help.It was five days after the 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden was projected to defeat Donald Trump and win Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes. Trump's campaign was requesting a recount. Chesebro, a little-known Harvard-educated lawyer, believed there were abnormalities in the election and emailed Jim Troupis, a friend and former Wisconsin judge, to offer to help with any of the campaign's legal efforts. Continue reading...

Eighteen-count indictment adds to corruption charges New Jersey Democrat already facedSenator Bob Menendez and his wife were charged with obstruction of justice in a new, 18-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday, adding to corruption charges the New Jersey Democrat already faces.Menendez has pleaded not guilty to earlier charges of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from businessmen to impede law enforcement investigations they faced, and illegally acting as an agent of the Egyptian government. Continue reading...

Sinema won in 2018 as a Democrat and was first non-Republican to win a Senate seat for Arizona since 1994Kyrsten Sinema, the former Democrat from Arizona who is an independent in the US Senate, said on Tuesday she would not run for re-election this year.I love Arizona and I am so proud of what we've delivered," Sinema said in a video posted to social media. Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year." Continue reading...

Up to 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed and two people killed in state's northern Panhandle areaRain and snow are expected in parts of the Texas Panhandle area starting Thursday, bringing possible respite to the Lone Star state as firefighters continue to battle the largest wildfire in its history.Up to 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed by the flames as of Monday, and two people have died: Cindy Owen, 44, and Joyce Blankenship, 83. Thousands of cattle have also either been killed or euthanized after being injured in the wildfires. Continue reading...

Co-owner Chris Carley asked for opening bids above $3,000 on eBay, reportedly aiming for $10,000 towards a renovationMore than 15 years after the cliffhanger final scene of The Sopranos screened in 2007, the classic American diner booth where it was filmed was sold at auction for a price that eventually cranked up to $82,600.The TV mob drama, which the Guardian once described as the most masterful show ever", memorably saw the patriarch character Tony Soprano and his family sit in that booth in a New Jersey diner in the final scene of the series. Continue reading...

Three-judge panel blocks Ron DeSantis's 2022 act banning employers from mandatory diversity training in scathing rulingIn countless campaign appearances during his futile pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination, Florida's rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, celebrated his state as the place woke goes to die".Now, by virtue of a federal appeals court ruling that skewers a centerpiece of his anti-diversity and inclusion agenda, Florida resembles a place where anti-woke legislation goes to die. Continue reading...

Crackdown led by Governor Ron DeSantis comes after 2023 saw two deadly shootings, 488 arrests and 230 people charged with feloniesFlorida's rightwing Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, will deploy state troops to help with crowd control during the spring break season, warning that the Sunshine state will not tolerate lawlessness".About 140 state troopers will be sent across Florida to assist 17 law enforcement agencies, as thousands of college students make their way en masse to popular spring break destinations, the Miami Herald reported. Continue reading...

If the will is there, so too is the potential for unions to transform working conditions in the multibillion world of college sportsThe only way things will change is if the players leverage their value to implement their interests. The only way this changes is the creation of a college football player's association." That's what one former player told us about how to solve the problem of exploitation in college football in our forthcoming book The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game.Since we had that conversation, members of the men's basketball team at Dartmouth College have followed the exhortation of National Labor Relations Board general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo in her September 2021 memo to petition to form a union, and on Tuesday they voted to by a count of 13-2 in an election held on the school's campus in Hanover, New Hampshire. While there likely remains a long and murky road ahead before the question of Dartmouth basketball's unionization bid is resolved - including a potential appeal to federal court - what remains apparent is that college athletes require unionization to defend their working conditions and that they clearly want it.Nathan Kalman-Lamb is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick. Derek Silva is Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology at King's University College at Western University. They are co-authors of The End of College Football: On the Human Cost of an All-American Game and co-hosts (with Johanna Mellis) of The End of Sport podcast. Continue reading...

The Biden administration is gradually turning up the volume, but Israel's prime minister is ignoring it. Airdrops are just a gestureThe cogs of US diplomacy are grinding. But they are turning neither far nor fast, and the people of Gaza are dying now. The World Health Organization says starvation is killing children in the north. The UN has warned that over a quarter of the territory's populationare one step away from famine.In this context, the US airdrops that began last weekend offer such trivial relief that they verge upon the insulting. They are usually a last resort for delivery into hostile environments; this time the impediment to aid is a US ally that is itself dependent on US aid. Continue reading...

Voters have cast ballots in Iowa and New Hampshire. Here are the upcoming primaries, caucuses and debates to watchThe 2024 election season has officially begun in a year that will see US voters choose the next president and determine which party holds the House and Senate.Voting kicked off in Iowa on 15 January, where Republican voters handed Trump a landslide victory over Niki Haley and Ron DeSantis. In New Hampshire, Trump again beat Haley; meanwhile in the Democratic race, Joe Biden won the primary - despite his name not being on the ballot. Haley lost to none of the candidates' in Nevada's 7 Feb primary. Next up is a caucus in Nevada on 6 February. Continue reading...

Trump described himself as very honored' by the court's recent ruling. His sudden adoration might not be misplacedOn Monday, the US supreme court unanimously overturned the Colorado supreme court's decision to remove Trump from the Republican primary ballot. The highest court in the land predictably concluded that the insurrection clause" of the 14 amendment did not authorize state enforcement with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency".A contrary ruling would have been a recipe for chaos, and, worse still, would have done nothing to safeguard the nation from a potential Trump victory in November. I say this because presumably the only states that might have barred Trump from their ballot would have been those of the solidly blue variety - states Trump was going to lose anyway. And given that Republicans, particularly of the Maga-stripe, are masters of the politics of retaliation and escalation, we would have witnessed red states clamoring to remove Biden from their ballots. The result would have been an election precisely to Trump's liking - one without democratic legitimacy.Lawrence Douglas is the author, most recently, of Will He Go? Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020. He is a contributing opinion writer for the Guardian US and teaches at Amherst College Continue reading...

James Crumbley accused of failing to take steps to prevent son Ethan Crumbley from killing four studentsA man who purchased a gun with his son four days before a Michigan school shooting is headed to trial, accused of failing to take steps that could have prevented the teen from killing four students and wounding others.No one says James Crumbley knew what Ethan Crumbley planned to do at Oxford high school on 30 November 2021. But prosecutors allege that his gross negligence" was a cause of the violence. Continue reading...

Victims yet to be named after single-engine aircraft from Kentucky crashes near highway on Monday eveningFive people died when a small single-engine airplane crashed on the side of Interstate 40 in West Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday evening.The single-engine crash was reported at 7.44pm local time on Monday between the Nashville West Shopping Center and the interstate highway. The Metropolitan Nashville police department confirmed in updates posted on X (formerly Twitter) that five people died in the crash. Continue reading...

I was terrified I'd do the wrong thing when a woman began gasping for air on the London underground. But doing nothing was not an optionWhen I was nine, my oldest friend nearly choked to death on a gobstopper. We had snuck out of my back garden to get sweets, a girl gang of four, hopping over a low wall and armed with enough pennies for at least one treat each. In the end, probably copying each other, we had bought gobstoppers - white terrazzo boiled sweets with a chewing-gum centre that took plenty of licking to get to. We were having an excellent time until, halfway home, my friend started to cough - and then choke.Her face went red, her eyes looked panicked and she started to wheeze. We called for help, but no one was around, apart from some boys we had made fun of on the way to the corner shop. They ignored our cries. Eventually, after we rammed her on the back a few times, she coughed up the monstrous thing into a pot plant. I haven't had a gobstopper since and I have carried with me a fear of watching someone choke again. Sadly, as I discovered this week, lightning can strike twice.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...

State law that would arrest people who cross the border unlawfully placed on hold as court considers caseTexas's plans to arrest people who enter the US illegally and order them to leave the country is headed to the supreme court in a legal showdown over the federal government's authority over immigration.An order issued Monday by Justice Samuel Alito puts the new Texas law on hold for at least next week while the high court considers what opponents have called the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since an Arizona law more than a decade ago. Continue reading...

The enforcer' role had looked like it was slowly being eliminated from professional hockey. Then a hulking New York Rangers rookie emergedNear the start of the third period on Saturday night in Toronto, it finally - and inevitably - happened. Leafs' tough guy Ryan Reaves squared-off at centre ice with Matt Rempe, the hulking New York Rangers rookie. Rempe, a 6ft 7in, 240lbs centre, has one goal and one assist in his first seven games in the NHL. He also has 37 penalty minutes, five more than he's spent actually playing on the ice. He's what most people would call an enforcer" - a role that in recent years has been more or less phased-out of the NHL. That's not to say there aren't guys around still who are willing to drop the gloves or play a more physical than finesse game - every team has at least one. But what Rempe is doing is different.Rempe has, so far, spent most of his time fighting. This kind of thing hasn't been seen in the NHL for years for a few reasons. For one, guys were dying. The off-ice deaths of enforcers Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak, and Rick Rypien within just months of each other in 2011 were a catalyst for change. In the years since, the case against the so-called goon" has strengthened. Multiple studies have, for instance, linked fighting to CTE - even though the NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, still disputes the link. But there was another change in hockey around the same time: analytics. In recent years, every player and prospect has become subject to intense data-based analysis, and teams search endlessly for quantifiable metrics - alongside human scouting reports - to chart a path to victory. An enforcer doesn't easily fit within this new matrix. They rarely generate points and they typically don't skate well or quickly enough, let alone create things like consistent successful zone entries. Continue reading...

The driver of a tractor-trailer dangling precariously over the side of a bridge in Kentucky was rescued by a firefighter who abseiled down to reach her. Three other cars were involved in the crash at the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge between Louisville in Kentucky and southern Indiana, and two people were taken to hospital, Louisville metro police said

Educators shared their concerns with the Guardian about a deepening culture-war agenda fought over race and genderAn alliance of Indiana teacher unions has called for the removal of a website encouraging parents to report teaching material they perceive as indoctrination, saying it is dividing parents and teachers.The state attorney general Todd Rokita launched the Eyes on Education portal earlier this month, prompting criticism from educators for hosting outdated and inaccurate information. Continue reading...