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Deaths rise even as teen drug use drops overall, with researchers pointing to flood of deadly counterfeit pillsDrug overdose deaths among high school-aged US teens have more than doubled since 2019, driven by a rise in the deadly opioid fentanyl, a new study has found.Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, who analyzed mortality rates among 14- to 18-year-olds over the past decade, found that while drug use among this age group is actually falling, fatalities are on the rise, jumping from 492 in 2019 to 954 in 2020, then climbing to 1,146 in 2021. Continue reading...

Papini will plead guilty to lying to authorities and mail fraud over 2016 incident that led to three-week searchSherri Papini, the northern California woman charged last month with faking her kidnapping in 2016, accepted a plea bargain with prosecutors on Tuesday and acknowledged she had made up the story that prompted a frantic search and international headlines.Her defense attorney William Portanova said his client would plead guilty to charges of lying to a federal officer and mail fraud. Continue reading...

Democrat Brian Benjamin pleads not guilty to several charges, as arrest creates political crisis for governor Kathy HochulNew York’s lieutenant governor, Brian Benjamin, resigned on Tuesday in the wake of his arrest in a federal corruption investigation, the state’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, said.The development created a political crisis for Hochul seven months after she selected Benjamin as a partner to make a fresh start in an office rocked by scandal after Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of bullying and sexual harassment. Continue reading...

Business groups warn of supply chain disruptions after Governor Greg Abbott orders checks for people and contraband smugglingMexican truck drivers have blockaded bridges at the border with the United States for a second day to protest against an order by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, to increase safety inspections that has snarled traffic at ports of entry and led business groups to warn of supply chain disruptions.“Yesterday it took me 17 hours to cross into the United States and return,” said Raymundo Galicia, a Mexican driver participating in a protest at the Santa Teresa bridge connecting San Jerónimo, Chihuahua, to Santa Teresa, New Mexico. Continue reading...

Reported cases dropped in early months of Covid-19 pandemic but disrupted healthcare and diverted resources aided sharp riseAfter briefly dropping in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) then resurged beyond 2019 levels to finish the year at a record high, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Researchers with the CDC said its report, 2020 Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance, shows how Covid-19 disrupted in-person healthcare and diverted scarce public health resources away from STIs, which had been on the rise for years. Continue reading...

Ten people were shot and a total of 16 injured in a subway shooting in New York City on Tuesday morning, a New York fire department spokesperson said.

Plea deal spares Miya Ponsetto of prison after charges from 2020 incident in which she tackled 14-year-old at Manhattan hotelA California woman who went viral in 2020 for wrongly accusing a Black teen of taking her phone at a New York City hotel has reached a plea deal to spare her prison if she avoids further trouble.Miya Ponsetto, 23, pleaded guilty on Monday to unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime, which is a felony, but will have a chance to re-plead to a misdemeanor aggravated harassment charge if she follows the terms of the agreement. Continue reading...

Bill makes it a felony to perform an abortion, unless it’s necessary to save a mother’s life, punishable by up to 10 years in prisonThe governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, signed a bill into law on Tuesday that makes it a felony to perform an abortion, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, as part of an aggressive push in Republican-led states across the country to scale back abortion rights.The bill, which takes effect 90 days after the state legislature adjourns next month, makes an exception only for an abortion performed to save the life of the mother. Continue reading...

They will be forever followed by tales of people who abided by the Covid rules and died alone – while Downing Street partiedThey broke the rules they set for everyone else. Then the prime minister lied and lied again to parliament. “Never before in history has a prime minister broken the law,” Chris Bryant, chair of both the standards and privileges committees, told me this afternoon. “These aren’t just rules; they broke the law.” Johnson’s chancellor, asked if he had attended two Downing Street Christmas parties, told the Commons: “No, Mr Speaker, I did not attend any parties.”Breaking the law and lying about it or misleading the house would have seen any other prime minister and chancellor resign instantly. But nothing can make them go if they cling to their posts. Only their own MPs can oust them, with a flurry of those famous letters to the backbench 1922 committee chair. There should be queues forming outside Sir Graham Brady’s door right now, but don’t hold your breath. Instead, you hear calculating perplexity: without them, who would be our winning leader? But for the sake of their reputations, these MPs should only consider the probity of their party.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

A new survey highlights the abuse LGBTQ+ people suffer from family members. Britain’s anti-trans rhetoric will make things worseYou don’t need to have raised children to know that, at its core, parenthood is about unconditional love. We don’t get to choose them, and we may find friends and companions that we gel with better, but family is supposed to be that ultimate safety net. If your life is upended and all else seems lost, it should be a reserve of love that will never be depleted. Of course, parenthood also means disapproval, disappointment, even blind fury – but, for most, being rejected or abandoned by those who brought you into the world is unthinkable.For many LGBTQ+ people, however, it can be a grim fact of life. It has been more than half a century since same-sex acts were partly decriminalised, and 25 years since a Labour government was elected that commendably repealed anti-gay laws. But according to a new study by the charity Galop, a third of LGBTQ+ people have suffered abuse from relatives, mostly their parents. Among trans and non-binary people, that figure is even higher: more than four in 10.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Few British waterways are in decent condition, with thousands of tonnes of sewage discharged into the environment. It is high time we demanded more from our leadersThere are certain phrases that deserve a nod of recognition when they prove to be literally true: anyone who’s ever dug such a big hole that they hit the rock bottom will know what I’m talking about. Or if you’ve ever stood at a ferry terminal realising that you have, in fact, missed the boat. Perhaps this Easter you will unpack your shopping, covered in a slimy, clear film, and understand the error of putting all your eggs in one basket. Personally, I have found myself swimming through actual shit.Not just once, either. Not by a long chalk. Over the past 37 years, I have probably swum through enough sewage to fill a river. Because, you see, it does fill our rivers. And seas. And lakes. And the little streams that snake behind housing estates, and the pools that have the audacity to sit beside poorly maintained pipes. Such is the problem that you would be hard pressed to find any body of water in Britain that a privatised water company hasn’t flushed with turds now and again in the quest for ever-greater profits. Continue reading...

Joshua Vining and Colton Whitler, both 17, were arrested for the death of Christopher BroadOne teen was killed and two jailed after a pair of boys put on body armor and took turns shooting each other, local authorities in Florida said.In some quarters the death of Christopher Broad, 16, and the arrests of two of his friends were held up as examples of a permissive gun culture, particularly in the US south, that has driven calls for meaningful gun control reform. Continue reading...

Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’s husband, argues in a mock trial hosted by the Shakespeare Theatre Company and presided over by Stephen Breyer“I haven’t been in court for a few years, so excuse me if I’m a bit rusty,” said Doug Emhoff. “You know, not too much has changed in my life – except for the Secret Service, Air Force Two, the selfies, the cameras following me everywhere, and oh: my wife is the vice-president of the United States.”The theatre erupted in whoops and clapping. Kamala Harris, sitting in the fifth row with her sister Maya, blew kisses through a black face mask and applauded her husband. Continue reading...

Animal jumped in car to get a bag of Cheetos, and then knocked car into neutral causing it to roll down driveway and across the streetA hungry javelina ended up going for a drive in Arizona when it became trapped inside an empty car and bumped it into neutral.Javelinas are pig-like animals that are native to desert environments. Deputies in Yavapai county responded to a call last week in Cornville, a community 10 miles south of Sedona, about a javelina stuck in a Subaru station wagon. Continue reading...

Thomas Robertson was found guilty of all six counts he faced stemming from his participation in the 6 January 2021 riotsA federal jury convicted a former Virginia police officer of storming the US Capitol with another off-duty officer to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.Jurors on Monday convicted former Rocky Mount police officer Thomas Robertson of all six counts he faced stemming from the 6 January 2021 riot, including charges that he interfered with police officers at the Capitol and that he entered a restricted area with a dangerous weapon – a large wooden stick. Continue reading...

Valerie Biden Owens, who has worked on all her brother’s campaigns, also says ‘no there there’ on her nephew HunterDonald Trump is “very intent on bringing my brother down”, Joe Biden’s sister said.“The only race I wasn’t enthusiastic about Joe getting involved in was the 2020 presidency,” Valerie Biden Owens told CBS News. Continue reading...

State department cites risk of children and parents being separated as EU warns zero-Covid strategy eroding investor confidence

Musk has long advocated a libertarian vision of an ‘uncontrolled’ internet. That’s also the dream of every dictator, strongman and demagogueThe Russian people know little about Putin’s war on Ukraine because Putin has blocked their access to the truth, substituting propaganda and lies.Years ago, pundits assumed the internet would open a new era of democracy, giving everyone access to the truth. But dictators like Putin and demagogues like Trump have demonstrated how naive that assumption was.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

On a moral crusade, the former prime minister believes that anyone who opposes him is corrupt and an American puppetLast weekend, Pakistanis saw something they never expected to see: their prime minister, Imran Khan, in tears. He was addressing the nation on TV after being sent back to the national assembly by the supreme court to face a vote of confidence that he would go on to lose, to be replaced by Shehbaz Sharif.Earlier he had refused to face the vote and had dissolved the assembly, but the court declared his actions illegal. Khan refused to accept the rules of the national assembly, tried to evade a ruling by the highest court in the land and only relented a few minutes before the midnight deadline imposed by the court. He turned a banal parliamentary procedure into a nerve-racking, edge-of-the-seat thriller. He behaved like a child who realises for the first time that other children have birthdays too. Because he believed that if he wasn’t in charge of the house, he might as well burn it down.Mohammed Hanif is the author of the novels A Case of Exploding Mangoes and Red Birds. He is based in Karachi Continue reading...

Some Republicans are calling for Ohio supreme court chief justice Maureen O’Connor’s impeachment because she is refusing to let them distort electoral districts to their advantageIn one of the final acts in a 24-year political career, the Republican chief justice of the Ohio supreme court is defying her party and refusing to let them distort electoral districts to their advantage, a move that has some fellow Republicans calling for her impeachment.Since January, Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor has served as the decisive vote on three separate occasions blocking Ohio Republicans from enacting proposed state legislative maps. She also sided with Democrats to block an initial GOP proposal for congressional districts before going into effect in January. Those decisions have prompted chatter among Republicans about impeaching O’Connor, 70, who will leave the court after nearly two decades at the end of this year because she has reached the mandatory retirement age for judges in Ohio. Continue reading...

Product recalls after illnesses and deaths linked to powdered infant formula products combine with supply chain problemsStores across the US have started to ration baby formula while some others are reporting increasing shortages.The nationwide shortage in baby formula comes two months after a huge manufacturer recall which occurred as a result of illnesses and deaths among infants. Continue reading...

Anti-tank missiles and RPGs are being supplied through undercover networks via Iraq, militia there say. Plus, how sonic pollution hurts marine life

Pork belly at 2,500 calories, with a side of cauliflower cheese at nearly 500? Printing calories on menus forces people to either stay at home or stop caringIt was a sunny Saturday and my first experience of calories on menus. I can now tell you that prawns are low in calories, chorizo is high , and salt and pepper squid is surprisingly energy-rich – though this is not surprising to me because I am a woman of a certain vintage, and we can all tell you how many calories are in absolutely everything, so long as it was in common usage by 1985, in other words, not seitan.The calories in/calories out model – the fitness industry now calls calorie counting “If It Fits Your Macros”, which conveys something huge about modern life – tyrannised my youth. Even if you pretended not to care, or actually didn’t care, you could still rate any given food item at 50 paces. You could name everything that looked healthy but was highly calorific, everything that was more or less calorie neutral, all the miracle foods that did high satiety for low energy load, all the foods that were discreetly low calorie (cottage cheese was so obvious). There were so many numbers and properties all neatly filed away in millions of brains. Continue reading...

Covid-19 cases have risen more than 50% in 10 days, the threshold at which city’s guidelines call for masking indoorsPhiladelphia on Monday became the first major US city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, with the city’s top health official saying she wanted to forestall a potential new wave driven by an Omicron sub-variant.Confirmed Covid-19 cases had risen more than 50% in 10 days, the threshold at which the city’s guidelines called for people to wear masks indoors, said Dr Cheryl Bettigole, Philadelphia health commissioner. Continue reading...

A judge also granted a restraining order to the pair accused of terrorizing students who ‘provoked extreme fear and anxiety’A pair of YouTubers are facing a lawsuit and a restraining order after allegedly filming themselves disrupting classes at the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles and uploading footage of the staged pranks online.The University of Southern California sued Ernest Kanevsky and Yuguo Bai over the incidents, USC Annenberg Media reported last week. A judge granted a restraining order banning Kanevsky and Bai, who are not USC students, from campus after university attorneys said the pranks had terrorized “students to the point where they are running out of lecture halls for fear of their lives”. Continue reading...

President promises to tackle gun violence and vows prosecution for those who use untraceable guns assembled from kitsJoe Biden has announced a crackdown on “ghost guns”, untraceable firearms assembled from kits that have been used in a rising number of shooting crimes.The US president, who promised to tackle gun violence across America, said the new rule would make it easier for law enforcement officials to track and catch those who use illegal firearms. Continue reading...

Anti-LGBTQ+ measures among more than 156 bills targeting issues of identity, says PEN reportSince Florida passed its controversial “don’t say gay” bill, conservative states across America have been advancing similar bills as they attempt to ban the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms.Last month, Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, signed into law the Parental Rights in Education bill. The law prohibits all discussion of sexuality and gender identity in schools, a move that advocates say will “erase” LGBTQ+ students and history.This article was amended on 11 April 2022. An earlier version of the standfirst suggested all 156 bills in question related to LGBTQ+ issues. Continue reading...

US’s largest utility reaches settlement with prosecutors but does not admit wrongdoing over Dixie and Kincade firesPacific Gas & Electric, the nation’s largest utility provider, has agreed to pay more than $55m to avoid criminal prosecution for two large wildfires started by its ageing power lines in northern California.PG&E does not admit wrongdoing in the two settlements reached with prosecutors for last year’s Dixie fire, one of the biggest wildfires in California’s history, and the 2019 Kincade fire in Sonoma county. The deals expedite damage payments to the hundreds of people whose homes were destroyed. Continue reading...

Some readers offended by its reference to high rates of mental illness among incarcerated people to attract psychologistsPsychologists who work for the bureau that runs federal prisons in the US can treat incarcerated people with every mental illness imaginable, according to an employment ad that stirred controversy on social media.The ad, bought by the US Bureau of Prisons (BOP) on Facebook as part of a broader campaign, asks readers to flip to any page in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a standard US text. Continue reading...

The school I worked in has been forced to close. Our dreams are shattered and we urge you, people of the west, to helpI am a woman living in Kabul and I am a teacher. Until eight months ago, I was one of the staff at The City of Knowledge (COK), an educational centre that helped women go to university and pursue the careers of their choice. Through my work, I witnessed the ambition and hope of many women in my country. Since the Taliban came back, our life has drastically changed. We are like moving bodies without souls. Our dreams, and the knowledge we could have had, are shattered.I always believed history was a progression, but I have seen in the past few month’s my country’s rapid regression to the middle ages. Before, women and girls were still taking tiny steps towards a better future. Now, just going to school has become an unattainable dream for hundreds of thousands of them.The author is a former teacher at the now closed COK, an education centre in Kabul for girls and women supported by the charity V-Day. Her name has been changed to protect her security Continue reading...

McIlroy’s best performance at Augusta should give him the belief to contend at the remaining majors this yearRory McIlroy has been dejected enough times when exiting on to Washington Road via Magnolia Lane that he is entitled to savour a sense of harmony after leaving Augusta National this year.If the latest staging of the Masters ultimately belonged to Scottie Scheffler, it was a tournament dominated by other themes. Fascination regarding Tiger Woods’s every move was clear by the depth of galleries and television ratings. And when those around the 18th green roared for McIlroy’s hole out from a bunker, it was the loudest celebration of day four. That Scheffler four-putted his final hole played a part in that scenario but we had already been served a reminder of the fervour with which people want McIlroy to regain his major-winning touch. McIlroy’s own display of emotion resonated; he had given himself a chance to win the Green Jacket as his bunker shot rolled in. Continue reading...

Bryson Galaz was six years old when ball hit his head, causing brain damage, during warmup at Angel Stadium in AnaheimThe family of a boy who suffered a fractured skull and brain damage after being hit with a baseball during the warmup for a Los Angeles Angels game has sued the Angels, claiming negligence on the team’s part.In 2019, Bryson Galaz, who was then six years old, was walking with his father in the first row of Angel Stadium, where players were mingling with fans more than an hour and half prior to the game, the lawsuit said. Bryson was struck on the side of his head when Keynan Middleton, an Angels pitcher who was warming up on the field, threw a ball at a teammate who missed the catch. Continue reading...

A new wave raises questions about identity, elections and how we live. Conventional politics must answer them or dieIf today’s democracy teaches any lesson it is don’t underestimate populism. Insult it, deride it, excuse it, no-platform it, but it is a serious force in electoral politics. In France, Marine Le Pen has surged into contention for the presidency.Earlier this month, Hungary’s authoritarian Viktor Orbán swept the board. In Russia, albeit in vexed circumstances, Vladimir Putin retains a patriotic hold on opinion. In the US, Donald Trump refuses to disappear. These individuals are in no way the same, but they speak the same message.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The president exploited the ideas of Le Pen and Zemmour for his own political gain. As disaster looms, he must change tackOn 6 May 2017, the day Emmanuel Macron was elected president of France after running on a “neither-left-nor-right” platform and defeating his far-right rival, Marine Le Pen, the new ruler made a promise to the French people: that the country would never again see a far-right candidate reach the second round of the presidential election. “Our task is immense,” Macron said as he took office. “In the five years to come, my responsibility will be to appease fears, to revive the French optimism … I will fight with all my strength against the divisions that undermine us.” He vowed to “rally and reconcile” the French, for “the unity of the people and the country”. Today, almost five years later, France woke up to the result of the first round of the presidential election – and the prospect, once again, of a runoff between Macron and Le Pen.The incumbent president (of the La République En Marche party, founded by Macron in 2016) won 27.6% of the vote on Sunday, followed by Le Pen (National Rally, formerly National Front) with 23.4%. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the leftwing party La France Insoumise, came close but failed to qualify for the runoff with 22%; then came Éric Zemmour (Reconquête party), the openly racist candidate who ran on a platform based entirely on the “great replacement” theory, with 7.1%. Continue reading...

Midwives, nurses and physician assistants authorised to perform abortions after lawmakers approve bill vetoed by Larry HoganMaryland has become the 15th US state to allow health professionals other than doctors to carry out abortions, as part of a bill expanding access to reproductive rights for women.Under the new law, midwives, senior nurses and trained doctor’s assistants will be authorised to perform medical abortions from 1 July. The bill also directs the state to ring-fence $3.5m a year for abortion-care training. Continue reading...

The 24-year-old was a son, a teammate and a friend. But some could not see beyond his status as an entertainer when he was killed on SaturdayWhen Daniel Wilcox read the tweet ESPN’s Adam Schefter posted to break the news of NFL quarterback Dwayne Haskins’ death, he thought about how some view athletes as mere entertainers without taking the time to see them as human.“When you’re in the NFL, you’re just a piece of meat. You’re a name and you’re a number,” says Wilcox, who played tight end for the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Baltimore Ravens. Continue reading...

I’d love to stop Britain’s neighbour from repeating our mistakes, but advice from overseas counts for nothing – and can sometimes backfireAs France trudges towards a runoff election between a technocrat and a populist, it’s natural to want to help. “Don’t do it!”, say Americans on the socials, “Please, France, this is a really bad idea.” “It might seem fun now,” we, their neighbours, chime in, “but once you’re fielding a moral vacuum on the world stage, you’ll see that it isn’t fun at all.”It reminds me of the period just before the referendum, when Europeans begged us not to leave, with heart emojis and witty videos, and it changed my mind only insofar as it made the whole situation sadder, while not changing the minds of the leavers in any way. Or maybe that’s wrong: maybe it made them more determined. Continue reading...

Karl Nehammer will be first EU leader to meet Russian president since invasion began. Plus, what happened when Fox News viewers watch CNN for a month?

Thanks to a flourishing ADHD positivity movement, women like me who once hid their neurodivergence are finding ways to celebrate itOn any given day I will spend a considerable amount of time tensing my muscles to the rhythm of the national anthem. I might be driving, in a meeting or writing to a deadline, but my muscles will be sending our gracious Queen victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us. Other times, I breathe in sync with the sound of traffic going past, bite my nails or pinch myself when I’m trying to complete a task, so that if my brain decides to abandon its instructions, the sensation will serve as a reminder of them. I often forget to buy food or take my medication, and often can’t recall whether I’ve showered or not. My email inbox currently has 18,485 unread messages.Still, I am luckier than most women with ADHD. I received a diagnosis at the age of seven after a school referral. But many women come to be diagnosed later, after decades of being called scatty or disorganised, plagued by guilt and anxiety. The latest NHS figures show that while more than 100,000 men were diagnosed with ADHD in 2019-20, just 33,000 women received a diagnosis. With diagnostic standards set by studies of boys and men – who tend to show symptoms such as hyperactivity, as opposed to the introverted and inattentive presentations more common in women and girls – we are often forgotten.Mim Skinner is the author of the book Jailbirds: Lessons from a Women’s Prison and co-founder of REfUSE. Her second book Living Together, finding community in a fractured world will be published later this yearAdditional reporting for this piece by Ashleigh Dick

Somalia’s first woman to head a media house explains how she beat the odds to become a journalist and why Bilan was set up

Strangers are so keen to tell me my life as I know it will be over soon – thank goodness for those who have told me it will be OK“Enjoy it while you can”: how I’ve come to dislike these five little words, which have followed me everywhere since my pregnancy became obvious. Suddenly, they are applied to anything pleasurable – sleep, holidays, a meal in a restaurant. “Enjoy it while you can,” people say (because when the baby comes, your life as you know it will be over).They mean well, I think, but I’ll confess that I’ve been shocked by the negativity surrounding parenthood. People seem to feel that they simply must tell you how hard it is, warts and all, maybe because no one told them, and they do it with the zeal of missionaries: they have seen the truth, and it is terrible to behold. Hollie McNish has a book of poetry about parenthood called Nobody Told Me. Mine would be called Everybody Told Me, All the Time, Until I Had to Ask Them to Stop.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Judge to rule on challenge from Georgia voters that says far right congresswoman should be disqualified under the 14th amendmentA federal judge has indicated that an attempt to stop the far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene running for re-election will be allowed to proceed.The challenge from a group of Georgia voters says Greene should be disqualified under the 14th amendment to the US constitution, because she supported insurrectionists who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Continue reading...