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The Firm, as it's known, is old and looks it. Young Britons are most sceptical and see little in the new king to change thatIt is a truth universally unacknowledged, not least by the media, that the British scarcely think of the monarchy from one year to the next, unless some event - a jubilee, a death, a coronation - sends the institution swimming back into the national consciousness.Nevertheless, as Lord Halifax told Queen Victoria's private secretary in 1871 as she disappeared into seclusion: People want the gilding for their money." The past 18 months, of course, has had a surfeit of royal occasions, with no more on the horizon for a while, so a period of silence was perhaps to be expected, especially as a 96-year-old monarch was succeeded by her 74-year-old son, whose latest idea of excitement appears to be the introduction of a new tartan for his kilt.Stephen Bates is a former Guardian royal correspondent and author of The Shortest History of the Crown Continue reading...

Florida governor aims to rescue flailing presidential campaign that has been further scarred by petty and small' snub of Biden's visitOne reality of Florida politics is that a bad hurricane for the state traditionally blows good fortune for its governor. It was true for Rick Scott, elected a senator in November 2018, one month after guiding Florida through Category 5 Hurricane Michael; and again for Ron DeSantis, whose landslide re-election last year followed his much-praised handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.This year, however, DeSantis is struggling to shake the dark clouds of Hurricane Idalia, as his return to the national stage to try to rescue his flailing presidential campaign after an 11-day break has been further scarred by his petty and small" snub of Joe Biden's visit to Florida last weekend to survey the storm's damage. Continue reading...

If state's highest court upholds the 15-week ban, a separate, stricter law would take effect prohibiting abortion after six weeksThe Florida supreme court on Friday will hear arguments in a case that could drastically limit abortion access in the south-eastern United States.Abortion providers in Florida filed a lawsuit to block the state's ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Continue reading...

Former defence minister Oleksii Reznikov tells west that Moscow's goal is the destruction of Ukrainian statehood'Good morning.Ukraine's former defence minister is warning his western counterparts that any deal with the Kremlin will not end the war.This comes after Mexico's supreme court ruled that criminalizing abortions was unconstitutional, a ruling with the potential to turn the country into a popular destination for Americans seeking abortion access, as US state abortion bans proliferate. Continue reading...

A school shooting propelled a call for tighter gun laws - but parents and advocates feel vulnerable as legislature adjourns without making any changesThe deadly shooting at a Nashville suburban Christian school in March sparked an outcry among devastated parents, students and Democratic lawmakers who called for tighter gun laws in Tennessee, where they are notoriously weak. It also set off a series of political events, including the failed Republican-led banishment of two Democratic state representatives, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson of the Tennessee Three", for protesting guns on the House floor.For a short time, with ample national attention and grassroots mobilization, Tennessee seemed poised to become the latest state to enact legislation on gun reform after a tragedy. The Republican governor, Bill Lee, who lost two family friends in the Covenant school, ordered stronger background checks and proposed an amendment to Tennessee law that would temporarily confiscate guns from individuals under a mental health order of protection". Continue reading...

Despite his lip-service to democracy and human rights, Biden keeps embracing autocrats and would-be autocratsIn December 2021, President Joe Biden hosted an event billed as a Summit for Democracy". Biden opened his address to the summit by describing his motivation for holding it: in the face of sustained and alarming challenges ... democracy needs champions".Since that time Biden has embraced, as allies, autocrats and would-be autocrats all over the world, including the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who US intelligence has said was responsible for the brutal murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. More recently, Biden invited Benjamin Netanyahu, who is presiding over the destruction of Israel's democracy by targeting its judicial system, for an official visit to the United States. Continue reading...

Man whose report of abuse led to Lawrence Hecker's indictment on Thursday first reported it as a teenager in 1975The accuser of a retired New Orleans Catholic priest who was indicted on a child rape charge on Thursday remembers immediately reporting the assault to the high school where it happened - and being heartbroken that nothing was ever done about it.Now, 48 years later, the victim is hopeful that Lawrence Hecker - the man charged with raping him at a church attached to his school - will finally face justice, his attorney told the Guardian and WWL-TV in an interview Thursday. Continue reading...

Technology firms like Amazon, healthcare groups and banks have thrown money at affordable housing, but even billions in short-term private capital can't solve the crisisTo Kimberly Driggins, executive director of Washington Housing Conservancy (WHC), the late 2020 news that Crystal House apartments had come up for sale signaled a rare opportunity. The 825-unit luxury apartment building had long been an icon in Arlington, Virginia, lending its name to the immediate neighborhood, Crystal City.If the affordable housing organization could buy the property, it could house people with a wider range of incomes. But WHC had been founded two years earlier, and this would be its first deal; there was no way the group could afford it alone. Continue reading...

The tournament in Mexico has been all but forgotten about for nearly 50 years. A Venus and Serena Williams produced documentary aims to correct the recordBrandi Chastain is the star of the opening scene of Copa 71, a documentary poised to change how the history of women's sport is remembered. Chastain is not talking about her famous moment in 1999, when she ripped off her shirt to celebrate winning the World Cup for the United States in front of 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl.Instead, Chastain is seen watching footage of another match played in front of a packed stadium. But she is trying to guess which one. That's a massive stadium ... that's a men's football match ..." She stops as she sees the players. Continue reading...

Armed with a booming serve as prodigious as his sense of entitlement, the 20-year-old American upstart is out to buck the odds against Novak Djokovic in the US Open semi-finalsA few months ago Ben Shelton appeared on a podcast called All on the Table, a brown bag session he held with Christopher Eubanks and Francis Tiafoe. For an hour, the three Americans chewed the fat about life on tour between big bites of steak. But the conversation doesn't really get interesting until Eubanks and Tiafoe, the seasoned professionals, ask Shelton what his ultimate goal is now that he's spent a year on the men's tour.I wanna be that dude in the draw that there's not one player who wants to see me," Shelton said. Continue reading...

To my defence ministers friends around the world, I say: thank you for the military support, but heed this adviceHow long is 671 days? In the context of modern history, it is perhaps the equivalent of a few seconds. But for me, it accounts for a period of time during which morehas happened to Ukraine than many countries go through in a century. It is also the number of days that I served as my country's minister of defence.I took up the position on 4 November 2021, when Ukraine had been facing Russian hybrid warfare for eight years. Within 112 days, the Kremlin had begun full-scale warfare - unknown to Europe since the second world war. Ukraine became the first state in the world forced to wage war against an aggressor in five domains at once: land, air, water, and the informational and cyber environments.Oleksii Reznikov was Ukraine's minister of defence from 2021-23Do 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...

American caver Mark Dickey credits the Turkish government and the caving community with saving his life after he developed gastrointestinal bleeding while exploring the Morca cave with other explorers. Speaking more than a kilometre below the surface, he said: 'I'm going to need a lot of help to get out of here' but added that it was also 'a great opportunity to show just how well the international world can work together'. According to Turkey's caving federation, 150 rescuers were trying to reach Dickey and bring him back to the surface safely.

Eric Edson, 52, gave police the slip in multiple ways and was finally caught after he jumped into a river to evade captureA Vermont armed robbery suspect who police say eluded capture in the past week in a vehicle, on a stolen bike, on foot and in a stolen sailboat was arrested on Thursday after he was spotted in a kayak on a river, authorities said.Eric Edson, 52, was wanted on accusations of a robbery of a store in Burlington on 24 August, impeding and assaulting two police officers and the theft of a sailboat and vehicles, police said. Continue reading...

Lawrence Hecker, 91, charged with first-degree rape two months after Guardian report on 1999 statement in which he admitted overtly sexual acts'A retired Catholic priest from New Orleans who years ago secretly admitted to church leaders that he sexually molested or harassed numerous children is now facing criminal charges.State prosecutors in New Orleans obtained an indictment charging Lawrence Hecker, 91, on Thursday with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft.In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International Continue reading...

Former president's lawyer notifies judge in Fulton county that he may seek removal of his prosecution'Donald Trump's lead defense lawyer notified a judge in Fulton county on Thursday that he could soon seek to remove to federal court the racketeering prosecution charging him with attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.The unusual filing, submitted to the Fulton county superior court judge Scott McAfee, said only that the former president may seek removal of his prosecution", stopping short of submitting a formal motion to transfer the trial venue. Continue reading...

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The actor, 47, who has been in custody since May, was found guilty of raping two women two decades agoActor Danny Masterson, who starred in That 70s Show, was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on Thursday for the rapes of two women two decades ago.Los Angeles superior court judge Charlaine F Olmedo handed down the sentence to Masterson, 47, after hearing statements from the women about the trauma and suffering they experienced. Continue reading...

Republicans energized after special counsel seeks indictment of president's son by end of September on gun possession chargeThe White House is bracing for political trench warfare after prosecutors pursuing Joe Biden's son on a gun possession charge said they would seek a criminal indictment by the end of September.The prospect of Hunter Biden standing trial is likely to energise Republicans preparing to launch an impeachment inquiry into the president even as Congress tries to avert a government shutdown. Continue reading...

Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser, had refused to cooperate with the investigation of the House January 6 committeeA White House adviser to Donald Trump was found guilty of contempt of Congress on Thursday when he refused to cooperate with an investigation of the deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol.Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser during Trump's presidency and who had promoted his baseless claims of mass voter fraud, was convicted in Washington's federal courthouse after a short trial. Continue reading...

The two outsiders have vastly different grand slam experience but both face a battle to prevent a Djokovic-Alcaraz finalAs the ATP tour neared the halfway point of its 2023 season, the year had been largely defined by what had not occurred. It had been clear for a long time, as they tore through the opposition, that Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz were the best players in the world. Yet the two best players had also, somehow, not faced each other in more than a year.Things can change so quickly in tennis. In a few short months, this rivalry has come to define the entire men's season. The important question before the US Open men's singles semi-finals on Friday is whether either of the remaining challengers can stop Djokovic and Alcaraz from meeting again. Continue reading...

Activists entered open gate where trees are being cleared two days after state attorney general indicted 61 people under Rico lawAtlanta police arrested five activists, including two clergy members, on Thursday after the activists chained themselves to a bulldozer at the construction site for Cop City", a huge police and fire department training center being built in a forest south-east of Atlanta.The activists entered an open gate around 9am local time where trees are being cleared and land is being graded for the training center, which would occupy a footprint of 170 acres if completed according to plans. Two Unitarian Universalist church clergy members hung a sign on the bulldozer saying: Stop work." Continue reading...

Police are investigating discovery of ancient' skull with several teeth attached and what appeared to be a missing mandiblePolice in Arizona were investigating after a human skull was discovered in a box of donations to a Goodwill store.On Tuesday, police in Goodyear responded to a call near Sarival Avenue and Yuma Road. On arrival, they discovered what appears to be an actual human skull", authorities said. Continue reading...

Two-thirds would like someone other than Biden but respondents say he is best placed among declared candidates to beat TrumpA majority of likely Democratic voters say the party should nominate someone other than Joe Biden for president next year, according to a poll released on Thursday.Two-thirds of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters surveyed by CNN and SSRS from 25 to 31 August said they would prefer someone other than Biden. Among those voters, 18% specified another candidate but the overwhelming majority - 82% - said they just want to see someone besides" the current president. Continue reading...

First such public declaration says US support for human rights across the globe undermined when our own house [is] in disarray'Concern for US democracy amid deep national polarization has prompted the entities supporting 13 presidential libraries dating back to Herbert Hoover to call for a recommitment to principles including the rule of law and respecting diverse beliefs.In a statement, the first such public declaration, the libraries said Americans have a strong interest in supporting democratic movements and human rights around the world because free societies elsewhere contribute to our own security and prosperity here at home". Continue reading...

Eric Adams blames lack of federal aid and Republican governors who have bussed asylum seekers north for creating emergencyThe mayor of New York, Eric Adams, has said an increase in migration would destroy" the city, seemingly blaming the Biden administration for failing to provide federal support as much as the Republican governors who have sent asylum seekers north.Adams made the remarks during a Wednesday town hall meeting on the Upper West Side. The comments were some of his most biting to date on the issue of asylum seekers. Continue reading...

Bear was involved in fatal attack on Amie Adamson, 48, about eight miles from West YellowstoneA grizzly bear that fatally mauled a woman on a forest trail west of Yellowstone national park in July and also attacked a person in Idaho three years ago was killed after it broke into a house near West Yellowstone over the weekend, Montana wildlife officials said.Early on Saturday, a homeowner reported that a bear with a cub had broken through a kitchen window and taken a container of dog food, the Montana fish, wildlife and parks department said. Continue reading...

The ex-Fox host's segment on a convicted con man who claims he had druggy liaisons with Obama was embarrassing to watchOh, how the mighty have fallen. This time last time year Tucker Carlson had a primetime spot on Fox News where his hate-heavy, fact-light sputtering drew an audience of over 4 million. Then, in April, he was summarily fired. Fox didn't explicitly say why. Carlson has claimed that it was a condition of the media company's $787.5m settlement with Dominion Voting Systems relating to the broadcast of Donald Trump's lies about election fraud; both Fox and Dominion have denied that Carlson's firing had any relation to the settlement.Once cock of the walk, a humiliated Carlson quickly revived his show on the social network formerly known as Twitter, calling it Tucker on Twitter. (Elon Musk's rebrand to X really messed with his alliteration.) Over the last few months he's resorted to increasingly cheap tactics in order to keep himself relevant. If someone's controversial, Carlson wants them on his show.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnistThis article was amended on 7 September 2023 to reflect that both Fox and Dominion deny that Carlson's firing had any relation to their legal settlement Continue reading...

US Coast Guard says Reza Baluchi, stopped off South Carolina coast, threatened crew with knife and warning of bombA serial adventurer intercepted off the South Carolina coast during his latest attempt to cross the Atlantic in a makeshift hydropod" was charged with criminal conduct on the high seas after holding off US Coast Guard crews with a knife and threats of a homemade bomb, court papers said.Reza Baluchi, an Iranian-born resident of Florida, was stopped 70 miles from Georgetown in the vessel resembling a giant hamster wheel. He told officers he was trying to reach London. Continue reading...

Experts say official data obscures scale of emergencies and underscores how little is known about abortion in states with bansIf you're a pregnant person in Texas and you find yourself facing a medical emergency, you are legally able to have an abortion. At least, that's what the law says.But the Texas Health and Human Services Commission recorded only 17 legal abortions in the first four months of 2023, according to a new report by the agency. All the procedures were performed due to medical emergency" and to preserve [the] health of [the pregnant] woman". Continue reading...

Breakout in Pennsylvania wasn't detected by guards for an hour, officials say, as Danelo Cavalcante eludes manhunt for seventh dayA murderer made a brazen escape from a jail in the Philadelphia suburbs by scaling a wall, climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof. The breakout was not detected by guards for an hour, authorities said as the killer eluded a widening manhunt for a seventh day.The timeline and details of Danelo Cavalcante's escape - including that he got out using the same route another prisoner took in May - were released as police flooded a search zone of increasingly worried residents. A tower guard on duty during the breakout was put on leave as part of the escape investigation. Continue reading...

Pennsylvania's John Fetterman says any attempt to impeach president would end up hurting the Republican partyThe Democratic Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman directly dismissed Republican moves towards impeaching Joe Biden, saying doing so could end up hurting the GOP.Go ahead. Do it, I dare you," Fetterman told reporters on Capitol Hill. If you can find the votes, go ahead, because you're going to lose. It's a loser. Continue reading...

Mehdi Hasan of MSNBC repeatedly presses Republican candidate to explain past condemnation of former presidentIn a heated interview, the Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy four times refused to answer the MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan when asked to explain his own words: that Donald Trump's abhorrent" behaviour made him a danger to democracy".The former president, 77, leads national and key state polls by vast margins despite facing 91 criminal charges under four indictments, two relating to his attempt to overturn the last election. Continue reading...

The state's Republican governor is already appealing a judge's decision to strike down unlawful election mapsIn mid-August, lawyers representing Florida Republicans made a startling admission. The state's new congressional map, drawn by governor Ron DeSantis, made it harder for Black voters in north Florida to elect the candidate of their choosing. On Sunday, a judge in Florida ruled the map was unlawful.From 2016 until last year, Florida's fifth congressional district had stretched more than 150 miles across the northern part of the state, from Jacksonville to just west of Tallahassee. It was a portion of the state once home to the Ku Klux Klan and lynchings. In 2022, it was represented by Al Lawson, a Black Democrat, and 46% of eligible voters were Black. Continue reading...

Environmental and community groups file lawsuit as the lake shrinks from overuse. Plus, US Open struggles in New York heatwave

It's free speech for me, but not for thee' in his world - he doesn't like it, he suesEven before he took over Twitter, Elon Musk touted himself as a free speech absolutist".This was always a troubling notion for an insanely rich guy with a cult following whose sense of history is as limited as his ego is boundless.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

The men's US Eagles failed to qualify but events in France will still give American rugby fans a chance to come togetherOn Friday, the 10th Rugby World Cup will kick-off in Paris with a monumental match-up, France against New Zealand, les Bleus against the All Blacks. Like most rugby fans in Washington, and across the US, I will be watching on TV.With my sister-in-law, who played at Dartmouth, I'll be at the French embassy in Georgetown. We are promised a taste of the extraordinary atmosphere found at rugby matches at French stadiums". Lucky us. Less fortunately, the US men's team will also watch from these shores. The Eagles failed to qualify for France, losing out to Uruguay, Chile and Portugal. Nonetheless, American sports fans who do not know rugby should consider tuning in too. Continue reading...

As disaster capitalists descend on Lahaina, Indigenous Hawaiians fight for self-governanceAt a time of climate crisis, dwindling resources and unfettered capitalism, the decades-long Native Hawaiian struggle for sovereignty has gained a renewed sense of urgency following the August wildfires that incinerated west Maui.Indigenous activists say restoring Hawaii as a self-sufficient island nation is the only way to preserve it for their children and grandchildren. Continue reading...

While states in recent years have moved away from Jim Crow-era policies, several still make it difficult for people leaving prison to regain the right to voteWhen a US federal appeals court issued an opinion last month striking down Mississippi's practice of revoking voting rights for life from people convicted of certain felonies, the state lost its designation as the most difficult for people with felony convictions to restore their right to vote.The fifth circuit court of appeals panel found that the state's felony disenfranchisement policy violated the constitution's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling followed a pattern of states in recent years moving away from their Jim Crow-era policies - an estimated 4.6 million Americans were barred from participating in elections as of October 2022, a number that's down 24% since 2016, according to the Sentencing Project. Continue reading...

Translators say the US immigration system relies on AI-powered translations, without grasping the limits of the toolsIn 2019, Carlos fled Brazil with his sister and two nephews after his son was murdered in front of him by a local gang. Upon arriving in the US, he was separated from his family and detained in a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention center.Carlos, who is Afro-Indigenous, speaks Portuguese but does not read or write it. Staff at the Calexico, California, detention center spoke only English or Spanish. The staff used an artificial intelligence-powered voice-translation tool to interpret what Carlos was saying, but the system didn't pick up or understand his regional accent or dialect. So Carlos spent six months in Ice detention unable to meaningfully communicate with anyone. Continue reading...

It's not enough to point out the government's inadequacies: Keir Starmer must show us his vision of a better BritainI cling for morale to the idea that there's never been a period of Conservative rule as bad as this one: the external shocks of recent times, set against a degraded backdrop left by David Cameron and Theresa May, have been met by leaders as woefully inadequate as Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.Nevertheless, exactly 30 years ago, Labour leader John Smith, in a long Commons debate nominally about economic issues", made a case that we'd all recognise: There is proof abundant that this is a government who are ... deeply untrustworthy, hopelessly incompetent. Perhaps their most defining characteristic is an aggressive, bullying and dogmatic obstinacy which assumes that they are entitled to control our affairs without the slightest recognition of the expertise of others." He rattles off crisis after crisis: Black Wednesday; energy shortages due to pit closures; the corruption and dishonesty laid bare in the Matrix Churchill affair; the disaster waiting to happen in the privatisation of our railways". Continue reading...

The marriage between the Rossoneri and the American comes as Serie A look to make inroads into a lucrative market across the AtlanticChristian Pulisic is not the first Captain America to play in Serie A. Michael Bradley earned the same nickname when he joined Chievo in 2011 and set to stealing scenes with heroic last-gasp interventions. It stuck when he moved on to Roma, where teammates borrowed an airplane captain's hat to crown him after a winning goal against Udinese. Never mind that one commentator thought the midfielder looked more like Lex Luthor.Bradley was the fourth American ever to play in the Italian top flight, and only the second since the end of the second world war. The fifth was Weston McKennie, who joined Juventus in 2020. Oguchi Onyewu signed for Milan, but never made a league appearance - his time there remembered instead for a training ground brawl with Zlatan Ibrahimovi. Continue reading...

The new season kicks off on Thursday night. How will Aaron Rodgers fare in New York? Which rookies will impress? And who will win it all?Make-or-break quarterback seasons. It's hard to think of a time in recent history with a more concentrated pool of quarterback talent. But somebody is going to have to lose games, no matter how many points they put on the board. There's pressure on Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert, who have new-look offenses built to tap into their gifts. Josh Allen is in year two with Ken Dorsey. Likewise for Tua Tagovailoa in Mike McDaniel's set-up. There will be no more excuses of rust for Deshaun Watson. A down year for any of those five quarterbacks will lead to uncomfortable questions. OC Continue reading...

The reported meeting of the two dictators reveals a shift in power balances and the threat of a return to old, cold war politicsReports that North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong-un, may visit Russia soon to meet Vladimir Putin - probably to discuss the supply of North Korean weapons for Putin's war in Ukraine - point to a rather remarkable transformation of Russian-North Korean relations. During the cold war, North Korea was Moscow's key ally in north-east Asia. But at that time, the North Koreans were, at best, poor supplicants to a mighty superpower. Today, Kim's hermit kingdom stands tall and proud as Russia's partner in crime.Putin's engagement with North Korea is as old as his presidency. But the relationship was generally more exotic than practical. Russia's real partner was South Korea, which consistently ranked among its top 10 trade partners, with nearly $30bn in trade volume in 2021. North Korea was never an attractive partner, and it was subject to very restrictive sanctions that Russia, as a permanent member of the UN security council, had helped craft. Until it invaded Ukraine, Russia tried to abide by them in letter and spirit. Continue reading...