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In House committee transcript, commerce secretary denied any further contact with disgraced financier

The US supreme court demolished the 1965 Voting Rights Act when they ruled in Louisiana v Callais last month that states can't consider race in redistricting. Southern states from Tennessee to Alabama have rushed to erase majority Black districts, sparking chaos for the midterm elections. Kai Wright talks with Stacey Abrams, voting rights activist and former Georgia house minority leader, about the fallout from the decision, and why, even now, she thinks the way forward is still through engaging more voters to participate in democracy: They have fractured communities and said we're going to scatter these seeds. Our job is to grow." Continue reading...

Brian Kemp's move makes Georgia latest southern state to initiate map-making after dismantling of Voting Rights ActThe Republican governor of Georgia called a special session for next month to redraw electoral maps, the latest southern state to initiate new map-making after the US supreme court's dismantling of the Voting Rights Act.Brian Kemp announced the special session, which will start on 17 June, on Wednesday. It will focus on enacting, revising, repealing, or amending" district lines for the state legislature and congressional district, in light of the supreme court's decision in Louisiana v Callais. Continue reading...

Jordan Derrick charged in connection with deadly attack in the French Quarter on New Year's Day 2025

Justices said decision was due to improper external influences on the jury' by a court clerk during the trial

Tiffany McElroy says inmates assisted in delivering her baby in May 2024 after jail staff left her to fend for herselfAn Alabama woman has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that her civil rights and those of her infant daughter were violated after jail staff where she was incarcerated allegedly left her to labor alone for more than a day.Tiffany McElroy, now 28, was booked into an Alabama jail in May 2024. Three days after arriving, she said she felt her water break weeks before she was expected to give birth. Continue reading...

The US president's late-night Truth Social vitriol riddled with erratic capitalization and spelling? That's leadership

Tate Reeves cancels special legislative session but expects to redraw four congressional districts before 2027 electionsOn Wednesday morning, Mississippi's governor, Tate Reeves, said that he was canceling a special legislative session that was scheduled to redraw the state's supreme court districts next week. However, Reeves, a Republican, noted that he does expect the state to redraw its four congressional districts at some point in the near future.Reeves, in an appearance on SuperTalk radio, a conservative talk radio network, also said that it would be difficult for the state to redraw the congressional districts in the Republicans' favor in time for the upcoming midterm elections, slated for November. Doing so might also hurt Republicans in congressional races. Continue reading...

Richard Werstine, wanted in connection with killing of Cold as Life vocalist Rodney Barger, was arrested in PanamaA suspect accused of murdering his rock singer friend in 1993 has been apprehended in Central America after spending more than 30 years successfully evading authorities.According to the US Marshals Service, Richard Werstine, who was wanted in connection with the killing of Cold as Life vocalist Rodney Barger, was arrested in Panama. Continue reading...

The guard helped the Atlanta Hawks to their best season for years but sees room for improvementHe is a shooting guard that doesn't often shoot. A wing deployed less for lift than pressure. The style of Australia's best basketballer, Dyson Daniels, is difficult to describe. It's kind of hard for me to describe it too," he says. It's unique."He runs the point, and rebounds to make another. And, yes, he is perhaps the NBA's best defender. It's different every game, put it that way." Continue reading...

Uline, owned by billionaire Republicans Richard and Liz Uihlein, halts construction of a new facility in KenoshaUline, a business and shipping supplies company owned by billionaire Trump supporters Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, is pausing the construction of a new distribution facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin, citing economic uncertainty.The construction pause comes in a key battleground state, where Trump won in 2016 and 2024, but lost to Biden in 2020. Continue reading...

Exclusive: In letter seen by the Guardian, 30 members of Congress warn US president's Cuba military operation would worsen mass suffering'

State officials told vendors at the facility to prepare for a breakdown of the tented camp beginning next month

Experts say latest move by acting attorney general suggests more cases against foes amid claims of vindictive DoJThe second indictment of ex-FBI director James Comey, a top target of Donald Trump in his drive for revenge against critics, suggests more charges could be coming against other Trump foes as the US president continues to use the department of justice to settle political scores, ex-prosecutors and law professors said.Legal critics also see the new indictment by acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, as embarrassing" and ridiculous" and revealing Blanche's desire to quickly appease Trump and persuade him to make his appointment as America's top justice official permanent. Continue reading...

Facility would require more power than entire state uses and suck up vast amount of water in drought-stricken areaA plan to create one of the world's largest datacenters, a gargantuan project spanning an area more than twice the size of Manhattan, has provoked a furious public backlash in Utah amid concerns over its vast energy use and impact upon the state's stressed water supplies.The Stratos artificial intelligence datacenter footprint will cover more than 40,000 acres (62 sq miles) over three sites in Box Elder county in north-western Utah. The facility will require about 9GW of power, which is more than the entire state of Utah currently consumes, and suck up a significant amount of water in an area that has been hit by severe drought in recent years. Continue reading...

The Iran war will cast a long shadow over the talks. Plus, the 100 best novels of all timeGood morning.Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening, the first visit to China by a US president since he was last there nearly a decade ago, as he seeks to mend power and prestige weakened by the war in Iran.What is the state of US-China relations? The two countries remain locked in a fragile tariff truce, reached last autumn after tensions threatened to erupt into a full-scale trade war. Trump has long complained about China's trade surplus with the US, while Beijing has opposed American export controls and sanctions.What is the latest with the US-Iran ceasefire? The war has entered its third month, with Tehran tightening its grip over the strait of Hormuz and Washington struggling to turn a fragile ceasefire into a lasting settlement. Behind the scenes, US officials have spent weeks urging China to put pressure on Iran to reopen the strait and accept US terms for peace.What did the Atlantic allege? It reported that Patel's alcohol consumption had become a recurring source of concern across the government" which made him a national-security vulnerability", citing interviews with more than two dozen people including current and former FBI officials. Patel denies all the allegations, calling them outrageous" and malicious". Continue reading...

Fugitive faces charges including corruption and money laundering in US and Malaysia for role he allegedly played in scandalThe fugitive Malaysian financier Jho Low, a central figure in the multibillion-dollar scandal at the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), is reportedly seeking a pardon from the US president, Donald Trump.Low faces multiple charges including corruption and money laundering in the US and Malaysia for the important role he allegedly played in the misappropriation of at least $4.5bn (3.3bn) from 1MDB. Continue reading...

The man who shaped the Raptors' NBA title has moved to Texas. But his ideals may clash with his new team's ownershipOn its face, the fit between Masai Ujiri and the Dallas Mavericks is perfect. It's almost like a match made in heaven," Ujiri said after being introduced as the franchise's president of basketball operations and alternate governor last week. Every single one of us in this world is chosen for something special, and we just have to find it," he added. And I found basketball."Since he became the first African to run a major sports franchise in the United States as the general manager of the Denver Nuggets in 2010, Ujiri has accomplished everything. After winning Executive of the Year with the Nuggets in 2013, he moved to Toronto and inherited a Raptors franchise unsure of itself. The Raptors were the only NBA team outside the US - one centered in a city that hadn't won anything since 1993 - and Ujiri had to convince Raptors fans to believe in themselves. He built one of the deepest and most international teams in the NBA after hitting on numerous draft picks and finally swapping franchise cornerstone DeMar DeRozan for pending free agent Kawhi Leonard in 2018. Continue reading...

Tours of the Forbidden City, state dinners and theatrical handshakes. We a look back at previous visits ahead of Donald Trump's trip Continue reading...

Chinese government appears to be using the workaround of a different character to represent part of the secretary of state's name, to allow him to visit the country for the upcoming Trump summitUS secretary of state Marco Rubio is heading to Beijing with president Donald Trump despite being under Chinese sanctions - a breakthrough that might have been made possible after China changed his name's transliteration.As a US senator, Rubio, who is visiting China for the first time, fiercely championed human rights in China, which retaliated by imposing sanctions on him twice - adopting a tactic more often used by the US against adversaries. Continue reading...

Five Republicans joined all Democrats in the state senate to reject a redistricting proposal that Trump is pushing for - key US politics stories from Tuesday 12 May at a glanceAs Republicans scramble to redraw congressional maps after the US supreme court rendered ineffective a major section of the civil rights law that prevented racial discrimination, South Carolina state senators have so far defied pressure to do the same.On Tuesday afternoon, legislators in South Carolina rejected plans to follow the playbook of other Republican-controlled states, with the state's senate voting 29-17 - two votes short of the two-thirds needed - on the proposal. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in the chamber to reject the proposal. Continue reading...

Kouri Richins, 35, faces up to life in prison for killing her husband, and her three sons say they are afraid' of herThe young sons of Kouri Richins, a Utah author, said ahead of her sentencing hearing Wednesday that they would feel unsafe if their mother was ever released from prison after she was found guilty in March of killing their father.Richins, 35, faces several decades to life in prison on five felony convictions, including aggravated murder. Continue reading...

Police and sheriff's office agree to settlement after Ronald Greene was fatally shocked and punched during 2019 arrestLouisiana's state police and a local sheriff's office have agreed to pay $4.85m to the daughter of Ronald Greene, a Black motorist who was fatally shocked with a stun gun, punched and dragged during a 2019 arrest.The settlement agreement was reached during a mediation that concluded on Tuesday evening, according to a source with direct knowledge of the talks. It is one of the more substantial legal outcomes for a death that otherwise yielded only misdemeanor convictions for two of the officers involved. Continue reading...

FBI director also dismisses allegations of unexplained absences as Democrats challenge him over Atlantic report

Collins, a pioneer for inclusion and an ambassador for the NBA, died after eight-month battle with glioblastomaJason Collins, the retired NBA player who made history as the league's first openly gay athlete, has died after a short battle with stage 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, his family announced on Tuesday. He was 47.Jason changed lives in unexpected ways and was an inspiration to all who knew him and to those who admired him from afar," Collins' family said in a statement released through the NBA. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and prayers over the past eight months and for the exceptional medical care Jason received from his doctors and nurses. Our family will miss him dearly." Continue reading...

Michael Mott, 41, jumped the fence at Denver international airport and had reached the runway when he was struckThe man who was fatally struck on Friday by a departing Frontier Airlines flight on the runway of Denver international airport died by suicide, the city's medical examiner said on Tuesday at a news conference.On Friday evening, the man, identified as 41-year-old Michael Mott, jumped an 8ft fence with barbed wire on to the runway, according to Phillip Washington, the airport's chief executive. Roughly two minutes lapsed between Mott's breach of the runway and when he was hit by the Frontier aircraft. Continue reading...

The Inter Miami and LAFC stars are the highest-paid players in the league by a distance, while other new arrivals' numbers are revealed for the first timeLionel Messi is earning even more on his second MLS contract, as unveiled in the MLS Players Association's latest drop of player salary information. The union drops offer a fascinating lens into MLS squad construction, a chance to play sporting director and give pass/fail verdicts on roster construction across the 30-team circuit.The Argentine - whose take-home figure does not include additional amounts earned via Apple streaming subscriptions or jersey sales through Adidas and Fanatics - remains far and away MLS's top earner, earning $28.3m in his fourth season with Inter Miami. Son Heung-min ranks second, with Los Angeles FC paying the Tottenham icon $11.2m, while Rodrigo De Paul joins Messi on the podium not as his bodyguard, but as the proud earner of a $9.7m income. Continue reading...

Oversight panel Democrats hold event at the scene of the crime' in Florida and ask Trump to not pardon MaxwellDemocrats tore into government's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein abuse scandal on Tuesday - revealing new details of the scale of his international sex trafficking ring, and warning Donald Trump not to grant a presidential pardon to the late sex offender's sidekick Ghislaine Maxwell.Several survivors of Epstein's abuse also gave tearful testimony at a congressional field hearing in Florida of their experiences as teenagers in s orbit. Some spoke of being retraumatized after they were outed" by the justice department's failure to redact their names from the so-called Epstein files. Continue reading...

President posted more than 50 times in three hours, attacking on Obama, NY Times and supreme courtDonald Trump unleashed a late-night social media tirade against his political enemies, attacking predecessors including Barack Obama with false accusations and amplifying calls for his Democratic rivals to be prosecuted.Just hours before a high-stakes trip to China for talks with Xi Jinping, the US president posted more than 50 times in a three-hour spree from Monday evening into the early hours of Tuesday. Posts included doctored images of himself on the $100 bill and demands that political opponents be arrested. Continue reading...

Anil Kochhar hopes textile graduates of North Carolina State can leave with greater freedom to pursue goals'Anil Kochhar, a North Carolina State University donor, gave graduates of the school's Wilson College of Textiles a lot more than just words of wisdom when he delivered their keynote commencement address recently.The Indian American entrepreneur also announced that he would pay off any student loans taken out by the college's graduating pupils during their senior year. Continue reading...

The meme stock' company is remembered for Reddit traders sending its share price into orbit but its move on the auction site looks less likely to take off

Candidates jostle to represent the second congressional district, and a Republican's Senate seat looks ripe to flip

James Shirah struck groomsman Terry Taylor Jr with SUV after they had an argument at wedding afterparty in 2024

Prices rose 3.8% over the last year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, highest jump since 2023

No wonder they are upset by the slogan tax the rich'. Despite their wealth increasing 81% since 2020, they need our emotional support now more than everWon't anyone think of the poor, poor, billionaires? Their endless money can buy them political power, but it can't buy them love. Instead of being worshipped by the hoi polloi, titans of industry are denounced! Despised! Disrespected! Insert another D-word of your own!Thankfully, class solidarity is strong among the super-rich. Steve Roth bravely brought attention to the plight of his fellow billionaires during a recent earnings call. I consider the phrase tax the rich' ... spit out with anger and contempt by politicians ... to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs," the Vornado Realty Trust CEO said. Continue reading...

The former TV anchor's tenure leading US global media agency ends after court ruled appointment unlawful

Tim Miller's teen daughter disappeared in 1984, tied to a series of deaths in the Texas killing fields'. After decades, he received a tip that unlocked everythingTim Miller is good at finding missing people - or rather, their bodies. Four years ago, a stranger called him and left a rambling message claiming that he had important information about an unsolved murder case.Miller, who lives in Texas and runs a non-profit search-and-recovery organization called EquuSearch, did not treat the message as a high priority. The caller sounded as if he might have been drunk or on drugs. Although tips are vital to EquuSearch's work, the tip line brings a certain number of hoaxes, cranks and innuendo. Some of the people who leave messages, Miller told me, probably ought to get their medication checked". Continue reading...

Ceasefire on life support', Trump says as he considers restarting US navy military escorts of ships through the strait of Hormuz - key US politics stories from 11 May 2026 at a glanceDonald Trump has dismissed Iran's latest peace proposals as stupid and denied he was under any domestic pressure to reach a deal.Referring to the ceasefire in force since 7 April, Trump said: I would call it the weakest, right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us - I didn't even finish reading it. Continue reading...

The British political strategist drew swift criticism in a state where tacos are practically the official dish

The trial has exposed even more details about OpenAI's fractious corporate past than previously documentedOpenAI, despite its name, is usually extremely secretive about its operations. It promotes a carefully crafted image to the world. Over the course of Elon Musk's case against the startup and its CEO Sam Altman, however, the artificial intelligence firm has been forced to publicly contend with some of the messiest parts of its rise to power in public.The Musk v OpenAI trial, which on Monday entered its third week, has featured a who's who of Silicon Valley testifying about OpenAI's past and its CEO's contentious leadership. Musk's attorneys have used former executives, private text messages, diary entries and internal email exchanges to portray Altman as untrustworthy. Altman, who denies Musk's allegations, will take the stand in the coming days. OpenAI has likewise issued denials. Continue reading...

Hamilton was fired as acting administrator last year after he opposed plans to abolish the agency at a House hearingDonald Trump has once again nominated Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) after Hamilton was previously fired for publicly opposing plans to abolish the agency.Hamilton was dismissed last year from his role as acting administrator of the disaster relief agency after testifying before a House appropriations subcommittee. During the hearing, he said: I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency." Continue reading...

New voting maps flipped four Republican-held seats to give Democrats an edge in redistricting race sparked by TrumpVirginia Democrats asked the US supreme court on Monday to revive a congressional map designed to boost their party's chances in November's midterm elections, turning to the court as Republicans - including allies of Donald Trump - seek to preserve narrow control of Congress.The case thrusts Virginia into an unusual, mid-decade redistricting showdown, as courts weigh whether lawmakers can remake House districts outside the normal post-census cycle - with control of a narrowly divided Congress potentially hanging in the balance. Continue reading...

Recent consumer alert on ebike safety laws says some vehicles should be classified as mopeds or motorcyclesAmazon said it plans to stop selling certain high-speed electric bicycles in California after a string of high-profile incidents and a consumer alert that the state attorney general issued last month.In April an 81-year-old man in Orange county died after a teenager illegally riding an e-motorcycle struck him. The teen's mother, Tommi Jo Mejer, has since been charged with involuntary manslaughter in Ed Ashman's death as officials say she was warned it was illegal for her son to operate the vehicle. Continue reading...

Palestinian activist is awaiting another legal decision on a separate track in a narrowing effort to stay in the US