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Banking group settles US government lawsuit alleging fraud related to residential mortgage-backed securities in 2006 and 2007Banking group UBS has agreed to pay $1.43bn in penalties to settle a civil action alleging fraud in the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities ahead of the 2008-09 financial crisis, the company and the US justice department said on Monday.The civil action was filed in November 2018 alleging misconduct related to UBS's underwriting and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) issued in 2006 and 2007, according to the justice department. Continue reading...

Residents returned to Lahaina this weekend, just days after Maui's devastating fires all but levelled the historical town. The death toll from the Maui wildfires was 96 on Monday, the worst recorded in the US in more than 100 years. With hundreds still missing, officials said the number of dead could rise Continue reading...

Josh Green says it's impossible to guess' final death toll as rescue teams search destroyed LahainaHawaii's governor warned that many more people could be found dead, nearly a week after a ferocious wildfire raged through parts of Maui.The death toll from last Tuesday's inferno has reached 96, making it the US's deadliest wildfire in the past 100 years. Continue reading...

I remember you humming like a bulbul in our back yard in Kabul. When you are finally given a visa you will see there are all sorts of colourful birds here in Melbourne

The four men were reported missing on Sunday after they did not resurface 50 miles off the coastThe US Coast Guard and Navy rescued four divers who were reported missing on Sunday off the Carolinas, officials said on Monday.The coast guard's mid-Atlantic division announced the rescue on social media. It said the divers were rescued about 46 miles (74km) south-east of North Carolina's Cape Fear River. Continue reading...

Whether it's one of the many stars in this summer's blockbuster, or the bratty bully in Talk to Me, trans stars are showing up on cinema screens. And the big deal is that it's no big dealThe last few weeks have quietly seen a significant and mostly unremarked flowering of on-screen trans visibility, to the extent we might consider cinema is at a tipping point for trans acting. In Barbie, Talk to Me and Red, White and Royal Blue, three films on worldwide release at the same time offer vastly different declensions of trans representation at a time when trans rights are being rolled back around the world. This variety of depictions, from billion-banking blockbusters to breakout hits and cult concerns, has raised few eyebrows from audiences, giving a few clues as to cinema's ability to provide hope as to public views on trans people.That hope is needed. Just last week it was reported that the A24 horror film Talk to Me, in which a crucial supporting role is taken - and brilliantly performed - by transmasculine actor Zoe Terakes, had been banned in Kuwait because of Terakes' gender identity. In an Instagram post, the actor hit out at the decision, saying: Our film doesn't actually ever mention my transness, or my queerness. I am a trans actor who happened to get the role. I'm not a theme. I am a person." Continue reading...

The England captain is coming from a team known for its ability to mess things up - that experience should change in his career with the German champions

Laura Loomer, banned from social media after describing herself as proud Islamophobe', draws approval from former presidentIn an online video, Donald Trump praised the white nationalist conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer as terrific" and very special" and said: You are a very opinionated lady, I have to tell you. And in my opinion, I like that."Loomer, 30, is a Floridian activist and failed political candidate who once described herself as a proud Islamophobe", earning bans from major social media platforms. Continue reading...

Frustration at government response to deadliest wildfire in recent US history is mounting but community groups mobilized to helpNearly a week after Hawaii's devastating wildfires destroyed the historic town of Lahaina and killed at least 96 people, the need in Maui is still so great that when boats approach the western side of the island with donations, people run across the beach to welcome them.It's a sight Edgar Rodriguez appreciates - and understands. Rodriguez and his family lost their Lahaina home to the flames. In the days since, he has shepherded supplies to those who stayed behind in the closed portion of the island with the Pacific Whale Foundation, a marine conservation nonprofit. Continue reading...

A vintage MiG-23 fighter jet crashed during the Thunder Over Michigan airshow, as the pilot and crew member ejected to narrowly avoid serious injury. The Soviet-era plane went down in Belleville, on Detroit's outskirts, striking unoccupied vehicles in the car park of an apartment complex. No ground injuries were reported at the apartments or the airshow, hosted by the Yankee Air Museum

Words that criminal defendants have written or spoken are used against them all the time. Perhaps you've heard of a confession?If Donald Trump stood in the middle of Fifth Avenue after robbing the Chase Bank branch by passing a note to the teller saying, Your money or your life," he'd likely plead the first amendment as his defense: I was just exercising my rights to free speech!"Of course, he'd be wrong. Words that criminal defendants have written or spoken are used against them all the time. Perhaps you've heard of a confession.Laurence H Tribe is the Carl M Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard University. Follow him on @tribelawDennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy Continue reading...

The death toll in Lahaina is expected to rise in what the deadliest US blaze in a century. Plus: press freedom outcry over police raid of small Kansas newspaper

Many see climate breakdown as a problem of the future, but it's here now. To move forward, we must understand our part in itDuring the summer of 2021, I flew to Greece to learn more about the wildfires there. I wanted to hear people's stories, to understand what it meant to be displaced by environmental disaster. I have family in Greece and Cyprus and the approach of each summer causes a lot of anxiety. That year, fires were raging in Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Cyprus, and I was three months pregnant. Feeling Evie growing inside me made me wonder what kind of world she would live in - and made me all the more determined to learn as much as I could about what people had experienced.I spent a lot of time in Mati, a small town on the east coast of Greece, less than 20 miles from Athens. There, I talked to local people, and their experiences profoundly moved me. In a cafe that had survived the fire, a hub of safety and community for survivors, I met brave children who now have to live with terrible scars, physical and emotional. I met a man who could not even speak to me, his eyes filling with tears, and he told me that he had no words in a way that has stayed with me ever since. Continue reading...

Academics are boycotting their annual meeting after they say leadership spurned a union request to move online or cancelThe union representing thousands of hotel workers on strike in Los Angeles is clashing with a group of political scientists over a request to move its gathering out of the city. It has sparked tensions within the professional group, as members - experts in power and politics - are dissenting over how they ought to respond.About 6,000 political scientists were to descend on downtown Los Angeles for days of paper reviews, networking events and off-site happy hours at their flagship annual convention by the American Political Science Association (APSA) in late August. It would be the largest conference happening in the city over Labor Day weekend, according to the union. Continue reading...

Witness summonses give clear indication prosecution is about to start, with indictments also expected against more than a dozen othersThe Fulton county district attorney investigating Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia is expected early this week to seek multiple charges against more than a dozen defendants including the former president, according to two people briefed on the matter.The timeline for when the district attorney, Fani Willis, would present evidence to a grand jury came into sharper relief over the weekend after prosecutors summoned the former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan and reporter George Chidi to testify on Tuesday. Continue reading...

A friend persuaded me that everyone does it'. That may be true, but maybe honesty - and self-worth - are better policiesI lied about my age on Tinder and now I'm menopausal, spooning an unsuspecting millennial while he sleeps.Everyone over 50 lies about their age on dating apps, plus you don't look 53." I never should have listened to Helen. We're best friends and I love her, but we're polar opposites. Continue reading...

The former Ajax midfielder was always attuned to the feelings of his teammates. A move into the world of psychology seemed like a natural stepWhen people recall the 2002 US men's national team and their run to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, they may remember the quintessential Dos a Cero match. Or Clint Mathis' surprise mohawk. Or their first game, in which they upset a golden-generation Portugal team 3-2.One of the crucial elements to that US team - indeed, the guy who scored their opening goal of the tournament - was John O'Brien, a skillful and cerebral midfielder from Los Angeles. O'Brien also assisted Mathis' goal against South Korea with a ridiculously accurate chip, and played a beautiful, Pirlo-esque pass to set up Landon Donovan's insurance goal that buried Mexico in the round of 16. Continue reading...

In some districts, the law has brought parents and teachers in closer alignment. In others, it's poised to harden divisionsWhen JD Davis, the department chair of English at a high school in Twin Falls, Idaho, was told last year that half of the committee he was leading to pick new texts and materials for the district's English language arts classrooms would be parents and community members, he objected.I said, I'm not going to have parents involved! They don't know what we're doing. They don't know what we need in a textbook," recalled Davis, who also teaches journalism, leads the school newspaper and advises the Gay-Straight Alliance. Continue reading...

The assumption is that Moscow and Washington will dictate events. Regional leaders don't accept that, and therein lies hopeA coup belt" now extends across the African continent, running along the Sahel region that bisects north and sub-Saharan Africa. On 10 August, Niger, where the democratically elected president was deposed by a military junta, became the last link that completed the corridor of countries run by coupsters. It is the ninth coup or attempted power grab in west and central Africa since 2020. This might appear at first glance as a retrenchment, the thrusting of African countries back into military rule and weak democratic cultures, with a dash of Russian mischief to complete the picture of a fragile region at the whim of local strongmen and meddling. The reality is much more complicated, and perhaps even oddly hopeful.

If altered charges come back, lawyer says the question is: What infected the process?'After five years, the US attorney pursuing Hunter Biden has only been able to file tax and unlawful gun possession charges - and that shouldn't change just because the prosecutor has been named special counsel in the case, the lawyer for the president's son has said.If anything changes from his conclusion ... the question [that] should be asked [is] what infected the process that was not the facts and the law?" Hunter Biden's attorney, Abbe Lowell, said on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday. Lowell also said: There's no new evidence to be found. Continue reading...

Press freedom outcry after police serve search warrant to the Marion County Record's Joan Meyer, 98, over its investigation into local restaurateur

Officials say hotel rooms needed to house thousands of displaced residentsOfficials in Hawaii have urged tourists to avoid traveling to Maui, as many hotels prepared to house evacuees and first responders on the island after wildfires killed more than 90 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.About 46,000 residents and visitors have flown out of Kahului Airport in West Maui since the scale of the devastation in the historic town of Lahaina became clear on Wednesday, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Continue reading...

Three people taken to hospital - one in critical condition - as authorities investigate cause of explosion in community of PlumFive people were found dead after a house explosion in western Pennsylvania destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others, authorities said on Sunday.The police chief of the community of Plum, Lanny Conley, said the bodies of four adults and one adolescent were recovered after the blast shortly before 10.30am on Saturday. Continue reading...

Governor says death toll in Lahaina is expected to rise after worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced'

Both teams are desperately lacking a holding midfielder with discipline and this encounter was fun but worryingly openIf, as free-market orthodoxy tells us, price is dependent on the interaction between demand and supply, Brighton and Southampton should probably be thinking of adding a few million to the fees of both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia. There is only one of each and both Liverpool and Chelsea are in desperate need of players who can add discipline and muscularity to their midfields.There were stories during the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe of golfers who would pay for their drinks before a round because by the time they got to the bar the price would have gone up. Having signed Jude Bellingham for an initial 88.5m two months ago, Real Madrid find themselves in a similar position, as the market for central midfielders becomes seriously overheated. Continue reading...

Wyatt Kauffman slipped on a cliff and fell after moving out of the way so other people could take a picture'A 13-year-old North Dakota boy has survived falling 100ft from a ledge at the Grand Canyon's north rim during a family trip.Emergency crews needed two hours to rescue Wyatt Kauffman after he slipped on a cliff Tuesday and plunged nearly 100 ft (30 meters) at the Bright Angel Point trail, authorities said.The Associated Press contributed to this report Continue reading...

Darell T Caldwell of Maryland was finally apprehended after the multi-highway chase and vehicular theft spree injured fiveA Maryland man stole an ambulance and left a wake of more than a dozen hit-and-run crashes in Virginia this weekend before being arrested in Washington DC, authorities said.Virginia state police said there were no reports of serious injuries in Saturday's crashes on portions of Interstate 66, Interstate 395 and the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Continue reading...

Will Hurd offers sharp rebuke of Trump's conduct: This is about a president trying to overturn an election and creating a conspiracy'Donald Trump is running for election in 2024 because he's trying to stay out of jail", one of his rivals for the Republican White House nomination said, as legal woes continue to surround the former president.Will Hurd, a former Republican congressman for Texas, offered the sharp rebuke of Trump's conduct in an interview with CNN, as Chris Christie questioned whether the guy under indictment in four different cases" can beat the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden. Continue reading...

A white police officer investigating car thefts handcuffed a 12-year-old boy who was taking out the trash from his home in LansingThe police department of Lansing, Michigan, has apologized after a white police officer handcuffed a Black child outside his home in what the agency called an unfortunate case of wrong place, wrong time'".The department posted the apology on Facebook after cellphone video circulated on social media showing the officer leading the boy - whose hands were cuffed behind his back - through the parking lot of an apartment complex on Thursday. The officer had been searching for a suspect in a string of car thefts when he spotted the child. Continue reading...

Americans holidaying in Europe are stressed about being able to drink enough H20 on the continent. Despite its obvious abundance, they may have a pointAccording to the New York Times, Europe is the top destination for holidaying Americans this summer. This has prompted some anxiety - Jennifer from Seattle wrote to ask for advice on a closed shoe that wouldn't out me as l'americaine" - but also a drawing of cultural battle lines between the US and Europe. Classic summer fun: it was at this time in 2018 that the New York Times also published its classic claim that porridge and boiled mutton" were staples of British cuisine, as if we eat like Dr Johnson tackling a fit of gout.This year it's Watergate. Not that one; the TikTok one, which kicked off when an American woman working in Albania with organs turning into beef jerky" asked the entire continent the provocative question: Why are y'all not more thirsty?" Apparently, Europeans hate water, and Americans have been remarking on it for months, mocking our tragic Sylvanian-sized glasses and filming themselves joyfully glugging when they finally find a (bottled) source. Reactions included many pointing out our supply of free, drinkable tap water and querying the notion of Europe" as one homogenous, crumbling, dark and dehydrated entity. Some were funnier: Never in my life have my lips touched water - all I do is drink wine and olive oil," one TikTok commenter said. We probably get our hydration from porridge and pea-souper fogs. Maybe our skin is water-permeable when we don't use our Mary Poppins umbrellas?Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

From unsolicited offers of sperm to procreation freaks', our quest for someone just right has certainly been an eye-openerHi, do you need sperm? I have a supply ;) When do you want to meet?" This isn't a message from somewhere deep within my hidden requests folder on Instagram. This seedy correspondence - in the most literal sense - is just one example of the kinds of messages my partner and I have been receiving over the past year in our search to find a couple or single person to co-parent with.For us, the ideal parenting setup would consist of three or four of us sharing responsibility for a child (the others involved would also be responsible for providing the sperm). The way we see it, why not use the implicit obstacles we face as a same-sex couple to become parents in a way that works for us and redefines the family unit completely?Eleanor Margolis is a columnist for the i newspaper and DivaDo 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...

Mutter Museum in Philadelphia at centre of ethics dispute over provenance of its collection of skulls, fetuses and body partsThe Mutter Museum in Philadelphia looks like any other respectable establishment in the United States: a trim brick building with an American flag outside.But behind its doors lies a remarkable medical collection of the dead, diseased and disfigured that has attracted visitors and tourists for decades but is now at the center of a roiling dispute over the ethics of such exhibits in the 21st century. Continue reading...

No one is ordinary when you get to know themThis summer I became a teacher, which would have sat badly with all the teachers who told me I'd never amount to anything. I've been teaching life writing all over the place: bouji retreats, online classes, university courses and festivals. A lesser mind would buckle under the responsibility of the job, the fear of having nothing to say. But as I remind the sallow face in the mirror every morning as I slip a Berocca under each eyelid: baby's gotta make that cheddar. Also baby's gotta get significantly better at paperwork.I love my subject, which helps. The confessional form is the genre de nos jours. It's elastic, taking in literary memoir, journalling, personal essays, even autofiction and Instagram captions. Of course, any life in writing is lucrative and glamorous. As I upcycle a heap of final-demand energy bills into makeshift toilet paper, I rally. Continue reading...

Georgia pilot gives 650 predominantly Black women $850 a month for two years, no strings attached - and it seems to be workingLa-Kingya Singleton almost didn't answer the call. It was after 5 pm and from an 800- phone number. I thought it was a robocall," she said.But it wasn't. It was someone from the In Her Hands initiative - the largest guaranteed-income pilot program in the southern US, and which focuses on Black women. The caller told her she had been selected, by lottery, as one of 650 women to receive an average of $850 a month, for two years, no strings attached - a concept known as guaranteed income. Continue reading...

Lawsuit seeks to stop state from sponsoring catholic virtual school amid a fierce debate surrounding religious libertiesThe American Civil Liberties Union and a handful of civil organizations have filed a lawsuit to stop the Oklahoma state government from funding the US's first religious public charter school, in turn setting up a fierce debate surrounding religious liberties.On Monday, the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Education Law Center and Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit on behalf of nearly a dozen plaintiffs including parents, education activists and faith leaders seeking to stop Oklahoma from sponsoring and funding St Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. Continue reading...

It's not the generation gap that counts: setting boomers against the younger cohorts just masks inequalityWhen did we start to think of society primarily as a collection of age cohorts? Take any recent attempt to capture the people of Britain and we tend to be shown a block strafed with three great horizontal divides: one canyon between 58- and 59-year-olds (generation X and boomers), a second great rift between the ages of 42 and 43 (millennials and gen X), and yet another unbreachable gap between 26 and 27 (gen Z and millennials).Within each block, by contrast, you will be told that a group encompassing some 15 years and all levels of society is practically homogenous. Members of generations are accorded the same agenda, the same set of advantages and disadvantages, and even - like a new branch of astrology - the same personality. I'm not a millennial," a friend told me recently, though his date of birth put him smack within that cohort. What he meant, it turned out, was that he thought of himself as a stoic. Continue reading...

Sales are falling, partly because the ethics of meat-free food have been overlooked in the hunt for the next trendy lifestyleAt the risk of seeming unreasonable, may curses rain down on the fair-weather vegan. Vegan food sales are slipping. The US brand Beyond Meat (home of the bleeding" burger) has reported a drop in sales of almost a third. Elsewhere, fake-meat producers are struggling, vegan restaurants are closing, vegan ranges are being trimmed or dropped... well, you get the picture.Is that it, then? Was the vegan revolution" a false dawn? Continue reading...

China's paramount leader, like his Russian counterpart, is making a fine mess of his country's economy and world standingIt must be tough, being a dictator, when your diktats are ignored, thwarted and scorned. Vladimir Putin is a sad case in point. He ordered the glorious reintegration of Ukraine into his imaginary Russian empire. What he got was an existential crisis that he couldn't control.China's president, Xi Jinping, is another paramount leader with dictatorship issues. Xi presumes to exercise supreme control, channelling Mao Zedong like a card-carrying Communist party Zeus - yet repeatedly messes up. Xi's signature tune could be the chorus to Moby's Extreme Ways: Then it fell apart ... Like it always does." Continue reading...

It's not only creatives whose work can be fuelled by a bit of downtimeAs a freelancer, I often have days when I just work for my employer. A story is assigned to me, I write professionally, impersonally, efficiently - and then I have days when I write for myself; I choose what I want to say and how, and who to send it to for publication.One is productive. It consistently results in published work and payment. The other is hit and miss. Rejection and self-doubt abound. On those days, it's tempting to procrastinate - take walks, do chores, text friends, read books ... Even when I write a story that I'm happy with, I can't always give it an ideal home. But sometimes - just often enough to make this crazy caper feel worthwhile - I can.Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Fani Willis's office will have former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan and journalist George Chidi testify before a grand juryThe office of the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, has issued summonses to former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan and journalist George Chidi to testify before a grand jury on Tuesday regarding Donald Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state.The announcement of the summonses confirmed previous reporting by the Guardian that Willis's office in Atlanta on Tuesday would present evidence to a grand jury weighing charges against the former president. Prosecutors could ask the grand jury to hand up charges on Tuesday as well, having completed an internal review of evidence in the case weeks ago. Continue reading...

At least 1,000 people reported missing following fires, as a new fire burns in Kaanapali in West MauiHawaii resident Ella Tacderan spoke to the Guardian about her experience of the devastation in Maui where her family home once stood.A nightmare" scene, Tacderan said: Continue reading...

Rangers say Joy Cho fell off Teewinot mountain before dawn on Friday during a hike and seven companions rescuedA woman has died after falling off a mountain during a hike in Wyoming's Grand Teton national park.According to a National Park Service press release reviewed by CNN, Joy Cho of Simi Valley, California, fell off the west side of Teewinot mountain before dawn on Friday. Continue reading...

The Sofronoff inquiry shows that our legal system still needs drastic reform when it comes to matters of sexual violenceThis week the public was finally provided with a copy of Walter Sofronoff's inquiry into the conduct of Bruce Lehrmann's rape trial. Its release, however, has brought with it more misreporting around sexual violence, including the perpetuation of rape myths".A central finding of the inquiry - that the prosecution against Lehrmann was properly brought by the director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold SC, who moved to charge Lehrmann after ACT police declined to - has been overlooked in much of the reporting. The inquiry's findings do not establish Lehrmann's guilt or innocence, just that the police and the DPP acted appropriately in bringing charges. Brittany Higgins alleged Lehrmann, a former colleague, raped her in Parliament House in 2019. Lehrmann, who pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent, has always denied the allegation of rape and no findings have been made against him. He was tried by the ACT supreme court in October but a mistrial was declared due to juror misconduct.Dr Rachael Burgin is a senior lecturer in criminal justice at Swinburne Law School and the CEO of Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy (RASARA)In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000. International helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

Isaiah Wartman and two others ordered to pay restitution over role in fraudulent fund claiming to help East Palestine victimsThe manager of the 2020 campaign that launched the far-right politician Marjorie Taylor Greene to Congress has been ordered to pay $25,000 for his role in a charity scam aimed at capitalizing on the East Palestine train crash.Isaiah Wartman and his business partner Luke Mahoney must each pay $22,000 in restitution as well as $3,000 in investigative costs and fees as part of a settlement with the Ohio attorney general's office, which prosecuted the case. Meanwhile, the settlement calls for a co-founder of the fake charity, Michael Peppel, to pay a $25,000 civil penalty and be banned from starting, running or soliciting for any charitable organization in the state. Continue reading...

At least 80 people killed in deadliest disaster in the state's history, as questions asked about the local warning systemThe death toll from the Maui wildfires in Hawaii has risen to 80 as search teams comb through the smouldering ruins of Lahaina and a new fire triggered the evacuation of another community on Friday night.The Maui police department said the new fire was burning in Kaanapali in West Maui, to the north-east of the area that burned earlier this week. Continue reading...

Key legal principles are threatened by the growing rightwing attacks on our judiciaryOn 4 November 2016, the Daily Mail's front page was wholly devoted to a screaming attack on the three judges who had ruled that parliament had to pass an act of parliament before the UK could lawfully leave the European Union. The enemies of the people", who included, the Mail yelled, an openly gay ex-Olympic fencer", were accused of defying 17.4 million Brexit voters.That was the beginning. Continue reading...