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Ex-New Mexico governor, energy secretary, congressman and UN ambassador spent his later years helping Americans held abroadBill Richardson, a 2008 presidential candidate, former New Mexico governor, congressman, secretary of energy and UN ambassador under the Clinton administration who later found a role as an international hostage negotiator, has died. He was 75 years old.Richardson was reported to have died on Friday at his summer home in Chatham, Massachusetts. Governor Richardson passed away peacefully in his sleep last night," said Mickey Bergman, vice-president of the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which Richardson founded to promote international peace and dialogue. Continue reading...

Schooner Trinidad hailed as significant shipwreck' after successful sonar search reveals well preserved vesselA long-lost shipwreck dating back to the late 1800s has been discovered in Lake Michigan.The Wisconsin Historical Society announced that the shipwreck hunters and historians Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck located the wreck of the schooner Trinidad in 270ft of water off Algoma, Wisconsin, earlier this year. Continue reading...

The Jacksonville shooting is a reminder of the long history of terrorism against Black people, their colleges and their communitiesJust nine years after Augusta Institute's founding in Georgia, a bloody massacre took place directly across the Savannah River in Hamburg, South Carolina. Since 1867, the leaders of the institute - a small, all-Black seminary - had endured various attacks by local white citizens for educating Black students following the civil war. But the Hamburg massacre, which resulted in the execution of six Black men ahead of one of the most contentious presidential elections in US history, epitomized the extent of post-emancipation violence against Black advancement. Designed to terrorize newly freed citizens, the massacre set the standard for how Black communities could be punished for amassing political and institutional power.After learning firsthand that Black political mobility and Black education stoked white resentment and violence, the seminary men fled to Atlanta. They strategically broke new ground for their institution on former Union army barracks; its location on a hill at the city's highest elevation point gave them a vantage of any attempts upon it. Two decades later, the school was renamed Morehouse College, at the time one of the nation's only colleges for Black men. A few years after that, Spelman College, a college for Black women, relocated less than a mile away from Morehouse, to achieve safety in numbers. Continue reading...

Florida governor has no plans to meet Biden, claiming security preparations would impair recovery effortsRon DeSantis will not meet Joe Biden on the president's tour of Hurricane Idalia damage on Saturday, the Florida governor's office has said, adding that he thought Biden's visit would disrupt recovery efforts.We don't have any plans for the governor to meet with the president" DeSantis's spokesperson, Jeremy Redfern, told CNN in a statement. Continue reading...

The Starlink system has been vital to Zelenskiy's forces, but it can't be good to have a volatile billionaire playing a crucial role in a major European warIn February 2022, as Russian tanks rumbled into Ukraine, a cyber-attack took down the satellite system run by Viasat that was providing high-speed communications for Ukrainian military forces, rendering them instantly blind, deaf and dumb. With his forces knocked offline, the Ukrainian digital minister sent a plea to an American billionaire, one Elon Musk, for help. Within hours, Musk responded that his Starlink system had been activated in Ukraine. Days later Starlink terminals began to arrive.Pause for context update. Musk is the founder and Supreme Leader of SpaceX, an innovative firm that has found a way of building reusable heavy rockets that can launch cargo into Earth orbit and safely return ready to be used again, which is a very big deal, and probably why Nasa has become one of its regular customers. In 2019, SpaceX started launching smallish - sofa-sized", according to the New York Times - communications satellites into low-Earth orbit with the aim of eventually providing a global mobile phone system called Starlink. Thus far, it has mostly been providing internet connectivity to 60 countries via about 4,500 satellites, but it's said that Musk plans to have 42,000 of them up there eventually, which is an awful lot of flying sofas. Continue reading...

Moscow won't stop short of subjugation of Kyiv. That's why the Nato allies must ignore talk of talks and start fighting to winThey still don't get it. Even after 18 months of horror in Ukraine, too many prominent politicians in the US and Europe appear unable or unwilling to grasp the existential threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia poses to all.They continue to assume this war, like other conflicts, will eventually end in negotiations. Yet the Kremlin demands nothing less than Kyiv's total capitulation - and that is not going to happen.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Former president's social media platform is asking shareholders in Digital World for another year to complete mergerA complex deal to take Donald Trump's social-media platform Truth Social public faces a crucial test next week that could determine whether it becomes a multibillion-dollar company that the former US president once vowed would stand up to big tech" or instead languish in financial limbo.Under the terms of the deal, announced in October 2021, Trump's Trump Media & Technology Group was destined to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company, or Spac. Continue reading...

All the old arguments for hanging on to looted treasures like the Benin bronzes have crumbledThat belongs in a museum." So do you!" Indiana Jones (youthful, anti-establishment, recent thief of priceless treasure) is the first speaker; Panama Hat (fusty remnant of colonial Britain) the second. The scene is famous. But it also strikes the modern viewer as rather out of date: those fighting over what belongs in a museum now split, politically and demographically, in precisely the opposite direction.Western museums still tend to think of themselves as culturally open, their purpose to celebrate diversity and international understanding. But in recent years young progressives have been turning against them, arguing that a number of their displayed items - particularly looted ones - should be returned to their countries of origin. The rightwing establishment, meanwhile, generally believes these objects should stay put. Continue reading...

The Spanish FA chief Luis Rubiales - arrogant and cowardly', according to his uncle - is living the mantra of never apologize, never explainSorry. Five letters, two syllables: it's a fairly straightforward word. Its Spanish equivalent, lo siento, has an extra couple of syllables but it's not exactly difficult to say. Continue reading...

Mayor denounces cowardly act' targeting US soldier involved in death of hundreds of Native Americans in 19th centuryPolice in New Mexico's capital city are investigating the partial destruction of a public monument to a 19th-century frontiersman and US soldier who had a leading role in the death of hundreds of Native Americans during Anglo-American settlement of the American West.The monument to Christopher Kit" Carson has been encircled by a plywood barrier for its own protection since 2020, when Santa Fe was swept by the movement to remove depictions of historical figures who mistreated Native Americans amid a national reckoning over racial injustice. Continue reading...

Democratic congresswoman calls for acknowledgment of past intrusion in effort to restore trust in US leadership in the regionAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a prominent member of Congress and leading voice of the American left, has called on the US government to issue an apology to Latin American countries for decades of meddling in their affairs and causing instability in the region.The Democratic congresswoman from New York was speaking after a visit to Chile in advance of the 50th anniversary of the coup against Salvador Allende, a democratically elected socialist president actively opposed by Washington. Continue reading...

The president promised federal government would support the island after deadly wildfires, but residents say the response is scattershot and insufficientAs Joe Biden toured the devastated town of Lahaina and met with survivors of the deadly wildfires that swept through Maui last month, he vowed that the federal government would support the island throughout the long and arduous recovery process ahead.The country grieves with you, stands with you, and we'll do everything possible to help you recover, rebuild, and respect culture and traditions when the rebuilding takes place," the president said. To the people of Hawaii, we're with you for as long as it takes, I promise you." Continue reading...

Advocates say proposals that cut debt to zero for some borrowers and reduce monthly interest payments are good newsJoe Biden's new student-loan plan is an important and large step forward on student debt forgiveness in the US even after a previous debt reduction program was controversially struck down by the supreme court, advocates say.When the justices ruled against Biden's plan to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans per borrower in June, 40 million debt-burdened Americans were left with questions - especially as monthly payments would resume in October after being paused for over three years because of the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

NLRB framework means companies committing illegal acts during unionization efforts will be forced to bargain immediatelyAmerica's resurgent labor movement has won a useful victory with a decision by the National Labor Relations Board that will make unionization easier at firms that break the law while resisting organizing campaigns.The new framework means companies that are found to have committed illegal acts during unionization-election efforts will be forced to immediately bargain with the union rather than just have to run the election again - which is what happened previously. Continue reading...

Singer best known for his hit Margaritaville died in his sleep, according to a statement on XThe American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett has died aged 76.The musician, who was best known for his hit Margaritaville, died in his sleep, a statement said. Continue reading...

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The former Trump lawyer also waived his right to appear at an arraignment set for 6 SeptemberRudy Giuliani on Friday pleaded not guilty to Georgia charges that accuse him of trying, along with former president Donald Trump and others, to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state.In filing his not guilty plea with the court, the former New York mayor and Trump attorney also waived his right to appear at an arraignment hearing set for 6 September. He joins the former president and at least 10 others in forgoing a trip to Atlanta to appear before a judge in a packed courtroom with a news camera rolling. Continue reading...

Swiatek cruises through, Tiafoe made to sweat and Wozniacki's comeback storie continues.Townsend takes it to deuce with a wonderful return. She has an interesting approach to returning serves, starting in an almost exaggerated batting stance seen in cricket. One foot in front of the other staring down the line. It's working, she has a break point.Townsend aces to take the first game. 1-0 up against Muchova. Continue reading...

Dominic Pezzola sentenced to 10 years, Ethan Nordean sentenced to 18 for roles in 2021 insurrectionTwo members of the far-right Proud Boys militia group who took part in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol with the intention of keeping Donald Trump in the White House were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on Friday.Ethan Nordean, described by prosecutors as a leader of the extremist group, received an 18-year sentence for crimes that included seditious conspiracy, committed when thousands of Trump supporters overran the Capitol building. Continue reading...

Zunyu Zhao and Xionwei Xiao made the plea in a California federal court for smuggling the marine life from MexicoWildlife traffickers pleaded guilty this week in federal court in California to illegally importing endangered sea cucumbers - which are prized in China for food and medicine and as a reputed aphrodisiac - from Mexico.Zunyu Zhao and Xionwei Xiao were charged with conspiracy and illegal importing of brown sea cucumbers worth over $10,000 from 2017 to 2019 and are scheduled to be sentenced in September and November, respectively. Continue reading...

President to recognize Larry Taylor, who risked his life to rescue a reconnaissance team that was about to be overrunThe White House says Joe Biden will award the Medal of Honor to a US army pilot who risked his life to rescue a reconnaissance team in Vietnam that was about to be overrun.The president will recognize Larry Taylor of Signal Mountain, Tennessee, at a ceremony on 5 September. The Medal of Honor is the US military's highest decoration given to service members who go above and beyond the call of duty, often risking their lives through selfless acts of valor. Continue reading...

Dominic Pezzola's sentence is less than 20-year term prosecutors proposed while Ethan Nordean will also be sentenced. This blog is now closedWe're expecting Joe Biden to soon speak about the government's August employment report that came out a few hours ago, which shows employment growth remaining steady in the world's largest economy, despite the sting of high interest rates, as the Guardian's Lauren Aratani reports:The US jobs market is holding steady as interest rates sit at a 22-year high, with US employers adding 187,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Continue reading...

Mayor Eric Adams pushes for ban but animal rights activists say Governor Kathy Hochul is in the pocket' of the industryDucks are back on New York's political minds, close to four years after the city under former mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill banning the sale and serving of foie gras in New York City, part of what he and his successor, Mayor Eric Adams, portrayed as an animal rights issue.The days of foie gras are gone and foie-gotten in New York City," Adams tweeted in 2019 after the law was passed. Continue reading...

Residents of Perry pick up the pieces after powerful hurricane destroyed buildings, felled trees and took out power linesHurricane Idalia left behind a trail of debris and floodwaters across Florida, but - as power cut out in its wake - it also left behind true darkness as night fell and electric lights remained out.It's been a long time since I've seen it this dark," said Lashawn Poitier of Perry, Florida, which was right in the path of the storm. This is what night really looks like." Continue reading...

Hardline Aipac - condemned for unquestioning support of PM - calls liberal rival J Street grave threat' to Israel's securityA public feud has broken out between the US's leading pro-Israel lobby groups over who represents the true interests of the Jewish state in Washington under the most rightwing government in its history.The hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has called its smaller and more liberal rival, J Street, a grave threat" to Israel's security and accused it of endorsing the country's most virulent critics" in Congress. Continue reading...

Category 4 storm took last-minute turn away from Florida state capital and weakened slightly just before landfallA clearer picture was beginning to emerge on Friday of devastation caused by Hurricane Idalia across five states, as analysts suggested the effects could have been far worse.The center of the cyclone that struck Florida's Gulf coast as a category 4 hurricane early on Wednesday with 160mph gusts took a last-minute turn away from the state capital, Tallahassee, and into sparsely populated coastal communities in the Big Bend region. Continue reading...

Georgia Republican demands Biden impeachment inquiry as government funding due to run out on 30 SeptemberThe White House condemned the extreme" and hardcore fringe" of the Republican party after one high-profile, hardcore extremist, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, said she would not vote to fund the government this month without an impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden.Without a new spending measure, government funding will run out on 30 September, with federal workers furloughed and agencies shuttered. Continue reading...

After coming out of the closet two decades ago, I never thought I'd go back in. But homophobia seems to be acceptable againWhen I came out of the closet in rural, upstate New York almost two decades ago, I never thought I'd go back in. I was wrong.In the last few months, I've started to change my appearance to accommodate a growing hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community in the US - even in New York, a state often touted as a beacon for queer communities.Dan Clark is a broadcast journalist in New York, where he produces and hosts a weekly, statewide public affairs program and podcast for the state's PBS member stations Continue reading...

Ruby Franke and another woman arrested for aggravated child abuse after malnourished son, 12, escapes to ask neighbor for helpA Utah woman who gave online parenting advice via a popular YouTube channel has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated child abuse after her malnourished son escaped out of a window and ran to a nearby house for help, authorities said.Ruby Franke, whose now defunct channel 8 Passengers" followed her family, was arrested on Wednesday night in the southern Utah city of Ivins. She was taken into custody at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt, who owns a counseling business she says teaches people to improve their lives by being honest, responsible and humble. Continue reading...

School buildings closed at the 11th hour, banned knives banned again and a new job for Shapps? Clearly it's time for an interventionThis week the government announced it would be banning zombie-style knives". Could they not ban zombie-style governments? You see, zombie knives have already been banned. As far back as 15 August 2016, news outlets including this one were reporting on the ban on zombie knives coming into force that week, with regular surplus banning announcements occurring with strange frequency ever since.Zombie knife ban announcements simply refuse to die. As I understand it from the movies, the only way to be really sure you have finished off a zombie knife ban announcement is to destroy its brain. In the meantime, maybe the Conservatives could announce plans to ban other unpopular bad things, such as international drug trafficking or murder. Continue reading...

Former South Carolina governor says of Mitch McConnell, who has twice frozen in public, you have to know when to leave'The US Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country", the Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said.The former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations, 51, was speaking to Fox News a day after the Republican leader in the Senate, 81-year-old Mitch McConnell, suffered a second freeze in a month, this time while speaking to reporters in Kentucky. Continue reading...

In June, the US supreme court upheld a decision ordering Alabama to redraw its congressional map - but state Republicans ignored the mandateJust a few months ago, the US supreme court issued one of its most surprising rulings in recent memory.In a 5-4 decision in Allen v Milligan, the court said Alabama's congressional map violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act because it diluted the influence of Black voters, who make up about a quarter of the state's population, but comprise a majority in just one of Alabama's congressional districts. The justices upheld a lower court's decision ordering Alabama to redraw its map to include two districts in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it". Continue reading...

With no military breakthroughs and a US election looming, the west needs to unite around an achievable goal for the conflict

New law says prosecutors who adopt policy of refusing to go after people for violating abortion bans constitutes official misconduct'After the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, district attorneys from major counties in Texas vowed not to vigorously prosecute people under the state's anti-abortion laws.Now, Texas has a plan to punish them if they don't fall in line. Continue reading...

Hundreds of new state laws come into effect on 1 September, including attacking trans rights, further limiting abortion and pushing back climate effortsOn Friday, the Republican-controlled legislature in Texas will dump an avalanche of virulent new laws on the state's 30 million residents, cementing its reputation as a hotbed of the far-right turmoil that is sweeping America.Hundreds of laws will come into effect as the product of the legislative session that Texas holds every two years. Among them are a number of highly controversial targeted bills that will have a seismic impact on some of the most vulnerable Texan communities. Continue reading...

The former MP's quest to break the public link with her ancestors is misguided. Better to accept our legacy and work for changeThe sins of the fathers," according to a stinging verse in the Bible's Book of Exodus, shall be visited upon the children, even unto the third or fourth generation." Is that remotely fair? Can we - should we - be held responsible for crimes committed by our ancestors? The question underpins Antoinette Sandbach's protest at her outing as a descendant of Samuel Sandbach, a 19th-century mayor of Liverpool who amassed a fortune through enslavement of African people, and from compensation payments at the end of British slavery in the 1830s.Sandbach, a former Tory MP, has threatened to sue Cambridge University over the work of the historian Malik Al Nasir, who has named her in his research on British enslavement in what is now Guyana, where he has heritage. Sandbach has said she is appalled by the actions of her ancestors, and that she is supportive of Al Nasir's work - but there is no public interest in identifying her as a descendent of Samuel Sandbach, who died in 1851. This is about a right to privacy, she contends - the right not to be held publicly accountable for acts in which she played no part.Alex Renton is author of Blood Legacy: Reckoning with a Family's Story of Slavery (Canongate)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...

How did a volleyball team representing a public research university in a prairie state attract 92,003 fans to set the global attendance record for women's sports? It's a long storyMemorial Stadium went dark, the hum and strum of Sirius by the Alan Parsons Project started and the capacity crowd turned to the stadium's north end. Every University of Nebraska football home game starts this way. Fans clap as the stadium's huge videoboard shows the team's approach from the locker room and their entrance on to the field. The Tunnel Walk is one of college football's signature traditions. And Nebraska junior Lexi Rodriguez wanted to soak in the moment.Rodriguez, a libero on the Nebraska women's volleyball team, walked alongside head coach John Cook and teammate Merritt Beason. They were enveloped by the crowd's roar. Beason continued her steely gaze. A smirk emerged on Cook's face. Rodriguez grinned from ear to ear. She and the Cornhuskers knew they'd make history on Wednesday night. She just wanted to take a moment to enjoy it. The gates finally opened and she led the Huskers on to the court. Continue reading...

As the new season approaches we look at the first-year players who could make a significant impact for their teamsAre you ready? The Colts are. We haven't seen a quarterback this dynamic enter the league since Cam Newton. Richardson can run past players, through them, or hurl the ball 60 yards downfield. Continue reading...

Joseph Biggs, who played leading role on January 6, gets 17 years in prison and former chapter leader Zachary Rehl 15 yearsTwo former leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group have each been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for spearheading an attack on the US Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.The 17-year prison term for Joseph Biggs, a Proud Boys organizer, and 15-year sentence for Zachary Rehl, a leader of the group, were the second and third longest sentences handed down yet over the 6 January 2021 attack. Continue reading...

Inter Miami are unbeaten since the Argentinian joined them in July. Does that say more about the World Cup winner or the league he now plays in?Among the rank outsiders to win MLS Cup as the season dawned, Inter Miami justified the doubts with six wins and a league-worst 14 losses in their first 23 games.After Wednesday's goalless draw with Nashville, Miami are 10 points adrift of the Eastern Conference playoff places with 10 games to play. Yet some bookmakers now rate Gerardo Martino's side among the favorites to take the title in December. Continue reading...

Billionaire Leon Cooperman, who backed Giuliani's 2008 White House bid, says he won't help with legal fees - and he's not aloneAs he attempts to meet mounting legal fees incurred in large part through his work for Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani will reportedly not get a nickel" from one billionaire who backed his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination - or, apparently, much from many others previously big donors.I wouldn't give him a nickel," the investor Leon Cooperman told CNBC. I'm very negative on Donald Trump. It's an American tragedy. [Rudy] was America's mayor'. He did a great job. And like everybody else who gets involved with Trump, it turns to shit." Continue reading...

Tami Manis wins Guinness world record for her 5ft 8in mullet after going 33 years without a haircutWhat does one get by going 33 years without a haircut? Tennessee's Tami Manis knows - the world record for longest mullet on a female.Manis, 58, spoke on Thursday about her path to clinching what is arguably one of the most unusual marks maintained by Guinness world records. In an interview published by the organization known for curating a database of more than 40,000 world records, she revealed how the music video for the 1985 song Voices Carry by the rock band Til Tuesday inspired her to begin growing her hair particularly long in the back. Continue reading...

The mayor wants to build a new international home for the sport. But local players and Bronx residents aren't happy with the planIn Bangalore, Ajith Shetty's life revolved around cricket. Playing since childhood, he'd captained his college squad, then company teams after starting a career in IT. But in suburban Long Island, where he moved for a job 17 years ago, mentioning the sport only drew blank stares. To cope with the isolation, he and a handful of other immigrants would play makeshift games in the dirt of baseball diamonds.Then he discovered New York City's sprawling Van Cortlandt Park. Amid the cacophony of the Bronx, it was a tree-ringed oasis, blessed with rare cricket fields. But the grounds were cramped and uneven, sending the ball bouncing awry. To create a proper surface, Shetty and other players had to roll out massive mats, which required six men to lug to and from a distant parking lot every game - a brutal hour-long round trip. Continue reading...

Lawyers for US Virgin Islands claimed the bank reported the transactions as suspicious to the treasury following his deathA lawyer for the US Virgin Islands said on Thursday that JPMorgan Chase told US authorities it processed more than $1bn for Jeffrey Epstein over 16 years.JPMorgan reported the transactions as suspicious to the US treasury department following Epstein's suicide in 2019, Mimi Liu, a lawyer for the territory, said at a hearing concerning its lawsuit against the largest US bank. Continue reading...