US news | The Guardian

Veselka, a restaurant raved about by celebrities and food critics alike, has become a meeting place and fundraising operationIn New York’s East Village neighborhood, home to a wide array of popular restaurants and bars, is a decades-old staple in the city’s famous food scene. Veselka, located in a smaller pocket of the area once known as “Little Ukraine”, now sits at the corner of food and international politics.The Russian invasion of Ukraine has displaced millions and forced ordinary citizens to take up arms, or flee across borders to safety. Those problems aren’t just affecting the people of Ukraine, but thousands of their loved ones abroad – including some at this beloved New York restaurant. Continue reading...

US has no troops in Ukraine but it and Nato allies in Europe are worried about potential spillover from Russian invasion• Ukraine latest – follow liveThe Pentagon has established a new hotline with Russia’s ministry of defense to prevent “miscalculation, military incidents and escalation” in the region as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine advances, a US official told Reuters on Thursday.The US says it has no troops in Ukraine but it and Nato allies in Europe are worried about potential spillover, including accidents, as Russia stages the largest assault on a European state since the second world war. Continue reading...

Bill in state senate would give more power to nurse practitioners to address looming staff shortages and potential increase in demandCalifornia has introduced a bill that would allow nurse practitioners to provide abortion care without the supervision of a physician.The San Diego senator Toni Atkins, who introduced the bill, said the expansion of nurses’ roles would address both a looming shortage of healthcare professionals in the state, and help California prepare for a potential influx of patients driven by increasingly stringent abortion laws elsewhere. Continue reading...

The 100,000 sq foot property features 21 bedrooms, 42 full bathrooms, a nightclub, private movie theater … and a host of issuesA Bel Air mega mansion marketed as “America’s most expensive residence” sold in an bankruptcy auction on Thursday with a winning bid of $126m, a fraction of its reported original asking price of half a billion dollars.The 21-bedroom home – described as “twice as big as the White House” – has been derided as much as praised, making its sale a hotly anticipated event. The elite team of realtors behind the auction touted it as the ultimate dream estate but others called it a “giant white elephant” and “one of the ugliest homes I’ve ever seen”. The New York Post labeled it “the latest example of a hyped Los Angeles mega mansion that failed to perform”, and suggested its failure to meet the listing price meant that the city’s “cheeseball” taste in real estate might be starting to improve. Continue reading...

I returned from London to help my country – now we watch with horror as Russian forces attack a nuclear plant near my hometownI started writing this piece in an underground garageturned bomb shelter in the western Ukraine city of Lviv. Situated about 80km from the Polish border, it has not yet been shelled by the Russian military. While the air-aid sirens were going off every day during the first week of the full-scale invasion of my country, Tuesday night was the first time I bothered to take cover. I was trying to score responsibility points with my parents: they were about to go over the border to Poland and needed to see that their daughter, bent on remaining in Ukraine, was not putting herself in harm’s way.Yet the harm is all over my country. Vladimir Putin, better known in Ukraine as khuilo (“dickhead” – my people have never been known for their deference), planned to conquer this land in two days. His delusion has been exposed by a pre-written article, Offensive of Russia and the New World, which was mistakenly published by one of the main Russian news outlets on 26 February. Having failed to crush the armed forces of Ukraine with his murderous blitzkrieg, Putin is terrorising its civilian population.Sasha Dovzhyk is special projects curator at the Ukrainian Institute London. She is currently based in Lviv

A number of charities are addressing humanitarian needs and US people can support Ukrainian journalism or get active politicallyAs the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, Americans have offered an outpouring of support for the Ukrainian people. Here are a few ways you can join the effort.DonationsGlobalGiving supports non-profits around the world through crowdfunding. Its Ukrainian crisis relief fund is working toward a goal of $7m to provide food, water, shelter and other assistance to refugees.Direct Relief is working to fulfill a list of medical needs provided to the organization by Ukraine’s health ministry.Care, a 75-year-old organization operating in 100 countries, is working to provide food, water and hygiene kits to those suffering in Ukraine. Donate here as Care seeks to support 4 million people.Doctors Without Borders, a 50-year-old Nobel-winning organization, has teams in Ukraine as well as surrounding countries as it works to send staff and medical supplies to the hardest-hit areas. Donate here to support its efforts in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world.Save the Children, a century-old organization that has worked in 100 countries, has a Ukraine crisis relief fund aimed at furnishing children and families with food, hygiene kits, funding and more.The International Rescue Committee has teams working in Poland aiding displaced families. The organization, founded in 1933, operates in 40 countries and donations go to food, medical treatment, and other emergency care in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere. Donate here to the IRC’s work around the world.Razom, a Ukrainian-focused charity founded in 2014, is furnishing medical supplies to the country and working to “amplify the voices of Ukrainians”. It has not been evaluated by Charity Navigator but has received wide coverage in the US media. Donate here. Continue reading...

To US conservatives, the real enemy is the ‘militant left wing’ in the United States. How did it come to this?America is divided. That’s not news. But the authoritarian ruler in the Kremlin deciding to invade a democratic neighbor – that’s the type of international crisis that traditionally might have inspired some closing of the ranks: set differences aside, let domestic quarrels rest. But conservatives are evidently out on the idea of patriotic unity. The right’s reactions to Russia’s attack on Ukraine have ranged from blatant admiration for Putin to anti-Russian saber-rattling combined with a shrill critique of President Joe Biden. Donald Trump initially called the invasion “genius”; he then defended his position at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over the weekend, adding that Nato was “not so smart” and “our leaders are dumb.” Meanwhile, America’s most successful cable news host Tucker Carlson ridiculed American solidarity with Ukraine, a country he derided as “a tyranny”, led by “the people who paid off Joe Biden’s family”.Donald Trump is the political leader of the Republican party and probably its next presidential candidate. Tucker Carlson is one of the premier rightwing culture warriors in the country. Trump and Carlson are not fringe voices, and they aren’t outliers either: a last week’s CPAC, conservative speakers focused their ire on Joe Biden’s supposed weakness as the real cause for Putin’s aggression; and they left no doubt who they considered the biggest threat – the “enemy within”, as Senator Rick Scott put it, the “militant left – wing in our country”.Thomas Zimmer is a visiting professor at Georgetown University, focused on the history of democracy and its discontents in the United States, and a Guardian US contributing opinion writer Continue reading...

An upcoming decision by the conservative-leaning court could overturn Roe v Wade and imperil abortion rights nationwideIn the face of imminent threats to legal abortion in the US, lawmakers and activists in left-leaning “blue” states are working to expand rights and access to the procedure.State-level efforts to protect the right to abortion and reduce the cost of obtaining the procedure in states such as California, Rhode Island and Vermont are, in large part, a response to a forthcoming supreme court decision which could gut abortion rights nationally. Continue reading...

Russian bombardment sparks fire at nuclear plant but radiation is stable. Plus, Trump avoids New York deposition for nowHello and good morning.Russia has resorted to “nuclear terror” according to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after bombing resulted in fires at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.What’s the situation with radiation? The International Atomic Energy Agency said, shortly before 4am Ukraine time, that it had been informed by the Ukrainian nuclear regulator there was no change in radiation levels at the plant.How did world leaders react? US president, Joe Biden, called Zelenskiy at 3.40am Kyiv time, urging Russia to “cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site”. The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, called it “reckless” and echoed ceasefire calls.What is Putin thinking? The “worst is yet to come”, France said on Thursday, after Russia’s Vladimir Putin and France’s Emmanuel Macron spoke for 90 minutes – as Putin said Kyiv’s “refusal to accept Russia’s conditions” means he will continue to pursue his war in Ukraine.What about talks? Ukraine and Russia agreed on Thursday to temporary, local ceasefires to allow the evacuation of civilians as well as aid deliveries via safe corridors. Zelenskiy asked Putin for face-to-face talks. Continue reading...

The endangerment of collegiate track and field programs across the United States disproportionately harms Black men and closes doors to educational opportunitiesMany universities across the US have cut men’s sports in recent years, including track and field teams. It’s a painful reality for many athletes. But the problem is not just that these athletes lose opportunities to compete. Their supporters say that cutting these sports such as track disproportionately harms Black men and closes doors to educational opportunities. It also has some broader consequences.In the last couple of years, five universities announced they would cut their men’s track and field (and sometimes men’s cross-country) teams: Brown, Clemson, Central Michigan, the College of William & Mary and the University of Minnesota. They have cited various reasons for doing so, including Covid-19-related budget cuts, Title IX compliance, and redirecting resources to make their athletic programs more competitive overall. Most of these teams have since been reinstated. Continue reading...

In Ukraine, horror is mingled with stories of inspiration – and every night that Kyiv holds out feels like a miracleWake up, roll over, check the phone for news from Kyiv. It’s becoming a habit now, a strange new morning routine, and not just for journalists whose working days have long dawned like this. Millions are now following this war in real time on social media, immersed in it more intimately and personally than ever before. If the advent of 24-hour rolling TV news brought audiences at home closer to faraway conflicts, subtly changing our understanding of them, then smartphones have put war right into the palms of our hands. Doomscrolling is becoming an addiction, although doom seems the wrong word for a conflict where horror mingles with so many stories of hope and inspiration; stories with the shimmering qualities of modern myths, viral and unforgettable, if not always instantly verifiable, and often helpfully translated into English.The young Ukrainian sapper said to have heroically blown himself up along with the bridge he was charged with destroying in order to slow the Russian advance. The villagers filmed courageously standing in front of tanks. The female MPs posting pictures of themselves training to use rifles, and the soldiers of Snake Island greeting demands for their surrender with the now famous response: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.” (Like a new No pasarán, that slogan is everywhere; splashed on T-shirts sold in aid of Ukrainian charities, even iced on cookies sold by a Texas bakery.) And then there is the tale of how President Volodymyr Zelenskiy supposedly rebuffed an American offer to whisk him to safety with the words “I need ammunition, not a ride.” War has transformed a former comic actor once mocked for his hamminess into an iconic leader for the times whose powerfully emotive short videos posted from beneath his bombed capital seem made for sharing: a real-life Scheherazade, telling captivating tales to the world in the hope of keeping his countrymen alive for one more night.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

With Ukraine coverage displacing Covid, there’s a strong feeling that the caravan of history has abruptly moved onMy children can’t remember a time when they didn’t go to school in masks. The first lockdown, in March 2020, happened halfway through kindergarten, and as far as they’re concerned they’ve never seen their teachers’ faces unmasked, or enjoyed an unmuffled exchange with them. They are masked in the playground and the gym and at their after-school programme, for up to nine hours at a stretch. They are so accustomed to masks at this point that they ask to wear them when it isn’t required.All of this is about to change, when New York, which still has some of the strictest Covid regulations in the US, prepares to relax its school mask mandate next week. Barring an “unforeseen spike”, Eric Adams, the city’s mayor, announced that, on Monday 7 March, he was willing to allow New York’s one million public schoolchildren to return to unmasked learning. Elsewhere, mask use is visibly waning, even among the vulnerable elderly. It was noted on Tuesday night that, prior to President Biden’s State of the Union address, the 79-year-old moved through the chamber unmasked, dispensing hugs.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Joe Biden has nominated the first Black female justice on the supreme court, Carlson is questioning her LSAT scoresWhat does it mean to live in a democracy? Well, according to the Fox News host Tucker Carlson, it means having the right to harangue Black women and force them to show their papers.On Wednesday Carlson went on a tirade about the District of Columbia circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who Joe Biden has nominated to replace supreme courtJustice Stephen Breyer. Jackson’s confirmation, if it happens, would fulfil Biden’s campaign promise to nominate a Black female justice. Continue reading...

Agreement with attorney general Letitia James covers two eldest children but seeks to speed up civil legal proceedingsDonald Trump has reached an agreement with the the New York attorney general’s office that will temporarily spare him from having to answer questions under oath as part of an investigation into his business, as the former president’s appeal process in the case continues.In February, a New York judge ordered that Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Jr and Ivanka, must appear for a deposition as part of New York state’s civil investigation into Trump Organization’s business practices, including allegations the family company fraudulently inflated the value of its assets. Continue reading...

House select committee issues subpoena after Guilfoyle abruptly cut short interview with panel last weekThe House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack has subpoenaed Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of Donald Trump’s eldest son. House investigators issued the subpoena Thursday, after she had abruptly ended a voluntary interview with the panel last week.The committee is investigating the events surrounding the insurrection at the Capitol last year, when a mob of Trump supporters violently attacked the building in a failed attempt to halt the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Continue reading...

Republican leaders made the bill effective immediately, so any trans students playing sports may be required to stop at onceThe Iowa governor, Kim Reynolds, signed into law Thursday a bill that prohibits transgender females from participating in girls high school sports and women’s college athletics, rejecting opponents’ argument that she would harm vulnerable children to solve a non-existent problem.Reynolds signed the bill at a ceremony in the capitol just a day after lawmakers sent it to her desk. It passed the house and senate with only Republican support. Continue reading...

Republicans and Democrats call on Joe Biden and federal agencies to support hosting men’s and women’s eventsUS hopes of hosting men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups in 2029 and 2031 got a boost from Capitol Hill on Thursday, with the introduction of a bipartisan congressional resolution expressing support for the bid.The resolution was introduced by the co-chairs of the Congressional Rugby Caucus, Alex Mooney, a West Virginia Republican, and Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat from Washington DC. Continue reading...

Brett Hankinson found not guilty of wanton endangerment for firing shots that ripped into a neighboring apartmentA Kentucky jury has cleared a former police officer who fired shots during the 2020 drug raid that ended in Breonna Taylor’s death.The jury on Thursday found Brett Hankison not guilty of three counts of wanton endangerment for firing shots that ripped into a neighboring apartment. Hankison was the only police officer charged in the raid that ended with Taylor’s death. Continue reading...

Biden says sanctions will target those who ‘line their pockets with the Russian people’s money’

Billionaire says she gave ‘every single piece of myself’ to marriage to Microsoft co-founder and says many factors led to divorceMelinda French Gates has addressed her divorce from Bill Gates publicly, saying that although she and the Microsoft co-founder are “friendly at this point”, she is not ready to label her relationship with Gates as “friends”.In a recent interview with CBS’s Gayle King, French Gates said multiple factors resulted in the couple’s high-profile divorce last May after 27 years of marriage. Continue reading...

The pilot reportedly downed seven to eight drinks before boarding the planeA JetBlue pilot was removed from the cockpit of a flight and taken into custody in the US after having a blood-alcohol level more than four times the federal limit for pilots.The pilot, a 52-year-old man from Orlando, Florida, was first removed from the cockpit after a Transportation Security Administration agent told authorities Clifton looked “impaired” while passing through security, reported the Buffalo News. Continue reading...

Sackler family members who own the company boost cash contribution to as much as $6bnPurdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, have reached a settlement over its role in the US’s deadly opioid crisis that includes US states and thousands of local governments, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6bn.The deal follows an earlier settlement that had been appealed by eight states and the District of Columbia. They agreed to sign on after the Sacklers kicked in more cash and accepted other terms, including apologizing. In exchange, the family would be protected from civil lawsuits. Continue reading...

Court filing says public hearings will address ‘in detail’ Trump’s legal culpability for obstructing Congress and defrauding the USThe House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is hoping to show through public hearings in April how it believes Donald Trump came to violate federal laws in his efforts to overturn the 2020 US election results, the panel has indicated in court documents.The hearings are set to be a major and historical political event in America as the panel seeks to publicly show the extent of its investigations so far into the shocking events that saw a pro-Trump mob invade the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the election of Joe Biden by Congress. Continue reading...

David Mora, who shot dead his young daughters and then himself, was subject to restraining order that barred him from having gunsThe father who fatally shot his three daughters and a man at a California church this week repeatedly threatened to kill his estranged girlfriend and scared their girls so much they cried and one bit off her fingernails, according to a restraining order that was supposed to keep him away from guns and bullets.But 39-year-old David Mora had both when he showed up Monday for a supervised visit with his daughters, ages 13, 10 and nine. He shot them, the chaperone he and his ex-girlfriend had agreed could oversee the weekly visits, and then himself. Continue reading...

His regime and all those complicit in war crimes must be held accountable – starting now. Ukrainians are fighting for their livesWhen Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, criminal invasion of Ukraine, he shot himself in one foot. When he threatened to use nuclear weapons, he blew off the other. His regime has chosen a path of self-liquidation. The only question is how much damage it will do before its demise.Ukraine, of course, is now the main target of Putin’s barbarism. I salute the bravery of the Ukrainian people and their leadership. Ukraine, an independent sovereign democracy, is not a part of Russia; but, as is the case for many Russians, Ukraine is a part of me. My grandfather, killed defending Moscow from fascist invaders in 1941, was from Zhytomyr in Ukraine. Today the invaders attacking his homeland are Russian. My grandmother was from Kharkiv. When I see the bombing of her city, it rips my heart in two – my motherland bombing the land of my grandmother.Mikhail Khodorkovsky is founder of the Open Russia movement, former Yukos CEO and Amnesty prisoner of conscience Continue reading...

The barrier Trump touted as ‘impenetrable’ can be breached with common power tools, the Washington Post reportsSmugglers have breached the Trump administration’s border wall along the US-Mexico frontier more than 3,000 times, government maintenance records obtained by the Washington Post reveal.Nearly 500 miles of barrier was constructed by the Trump administration beginning in 2019, mostly in rural New Mexico and Arizona. Former president Trump touted the “big, beautiful wall” as the “Rolls-Royce” of barriers, but smugglers have breached the wall at least 3,272 times, mostly with common power tools found at hardware stores. Continue reading...

Pamela Moses was sentenced to six years for trying to vote while white people who committed more intentional acts of fraud merely received probationHello and Happy Thursday,In an unexpected move last Friday, a Memphis judge ordered a new trial for Pamela Moses, the Black Lives Matter activist who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote.A long-anticipated Republican review of the 2020 election in Wisconsin argued that lawmakers could “decertify” Joe Biden’s victory in the state – something that is not legally possible.New voting restrictions loomed over the Texas primary, where progressive notched key wins and a Donald Trump ally suffered a major blow.A federal judge in Georgia declined to impose new electoral maps in the state, even though he found evidence that the ones Republicans passed last year were illegal. Continue reading...

FDA and CDC urge parents to avoid feeding babies formula produced at Michigan facility operated by Abbott NutritionUS authorities are investigating reports of illness among infants who consumed powdered baby formula produced at Michigan facility operated by Abbott Nutrition, following a widespread recall and the deaths of at least two children.On 17 February Abbott Nutrition voluntarily recalled three of its formula products: Similac, Alimentum and EleCare. Continue reading...

This powerful competition has a more important job than the Olympics in opening doors and lifting the oppressed in societyI was taught to ski by a guy called Bill Bowness. He has sadly passed away now, but he was an American Paralympian with this big beard and a proper chilled vibe. He took me up a slope at Lake Tahoe once in one of the early sit skis and I remember it to this day: a fibreglass bucket seat bolted to a frame on top of a ski. Even balancing on one of these things was hard enough. I was horror-struck, but there was Bill teaching me, cool as you like, and he was literally skiing down the mountain backwards as he did it.Skiing is one of the most liberating sensations you can feel and that’s especially true for people with disabilities. You’re thinking if I do something wrong here then I’m toppling down a mountain at 50mph, but if I get down safely then I’ve played with death (or broken bones) and I’ve won the game. As humans we like to feel like we’re in control and if you feel like you’re in control of danger, that’s really exhilarating. I almost feel like a psychopath talking about it in those terms, but that’s what I think of when the Winter Paralympics come around. Continue reading...

Just because we live in a post-industrial era doesn’t mean industrial action has suddenly become obsoleteThis week the tube workers went on strike, and the Telegraph called them “the enemy underground” and complained that “Putin apologists” had “brought London to a standstill”. It was the silliness, more than the vulgar opportunism, that caught the eye.The tube was actually down because of a row over pensions and staffing levels. Two weeks ago, university lecturers were striking on the same principle, though more recently their actions have also been centred on the whole spectrum of declining pay and conditions – a pension raid is often just the most visible edge of a wider erosion of rights. Building a casuistic case linking union action to a brutal kleptocrat’s war, via a Morning Star subscription, is essentially an attempt to delegitimise unions altogether – and not even a serious attempt: more of a festive sidebar to the more sober main narrative.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Conservatives have taken cash without asking tough questions. Even now they have no credible plan to clean up ‘Londongrad’In 2010 I was approached on behalf of a Russian multimillionaire offering £30m. I’d recently launched a philanthropic foundation to help grassroots charities cope with the aftermath of the financial crisis.We attracted a lot of support from individuals with genuine motives, but soon we were being approached by professional philanthropy advisers – a recently established money-making trade created by wealth managers and “private offices”. But on this occasion an adviser from a luxury concierge firm told us it had a Russian client willing to give us a huge sum to help us start up.Gina Miller is a transparency campaigner and leader of the True and Fair party Continue reading...

At first glance, Golden State are telling a straightforward story this season: the club that rewired the NBA is back. But the truth goes deeperIt’s no less pretty the thousandth time you see it. On an early-February evening in San Francisco, Stephen Curry threads into the heart of the Sacramento defense, spins in place, then whips a one-handed pass the length of the baseline through a tangle of turned heads. By the time it reaches Klay Thompson, the crowd builds to a murmur. A rhythm dribble, a three from the corner, a little blood-pumping bounce on his surgically restored left leg. The shot drops and the noise roars forth: same as it ever was.At first glance, the Golden State Warriors are telling a straightforward story this season: the club that rewired the NBA is back. After Curry and co ripped off three championships in four years from 2015 to 2018, their good fortune soured as quickly. In the 2019 finals, Kevin Durant ruptured his achilles tendon and Thompson tore his ACL; Durant left the club in free agency that summer. In the fourth game of the next season, Curry landed hard on his hand – not the record-setting right, small miracles – and missed nearly the entire year with broken bones and nerve damage. After spending a year rebuilding his knee, Thompson tore his own Achilles in November 2020: another full season lost. Now the team is mostly whole (Draymond Green, Golden State’s canniest passer and firiest defender, has started practicing again as he heals from a back injury, and Thompson has missed the last couple games with illness) and perched near its accustomed spot, second in the Western Conference with a 43-19 record. Continue reading...

As the Winter Paralympics open, a swimmer born with no arms calls for a global commitment to the millions with disabilitiesIn most cases, the birth of a child is a celebration. It is an opportunity to rejoice in the excitement of what that child will be or could become – that child is a gift. But when I was born, my family cried. They cried with sorrow and they cried with fear. Because those, like me, born with a disability, are not perceived as a gift or as special, they are considered different. In many parts of the world, different is not considered a good thing: it can even be perilous.I was born in Afghanistan with no arms. As a child, while my family supported me, the world around me did not. I was seven when this realisation hit me – my life was going to be different. I was bullied at school and made to feel inferior. It was only when I discovered swimming that I finally felt accepted. The water made me feel safe, and it was swimming that made me feel alive; it also made me realise that even with my disability, I had a gift. That’s when I set out on a journey that would break down barriers and show others that people with disabilities can be active and can fulfil their potential. Continue reading...

Getting a place right shouldn’t be hard, so why does TV show Somebody Somewhere’s accurate depiction of the midwest feel like a miracle?One Saturday last fall, my husband and I bought an antique clawfoot bathtub in Manhattan, Kansas. After loading it from a stranger’s backyard into the bed of our truck, we walked to The Chef, a downtown diner, figuring we might be seated quickly with half the town tailgating at the Kansas State University football game.We drank bloody Marys on the patio among white, Black and brown diners while purple school flags waved in the autumn breeze. Our server pointed to a pile of blankets in case I got chilly. Continue reading...

The Washington Spirit forward on a new era for the US as well as her team’s NWSL triumph after the league was soaked in scandalAshley Hatch came on as a sub during USA’s SheBelieves Cup match against New Zealand last month. Just six minutes later, she found the back of the net. It was her third goal in three appearances and, strikingly, it was the longest she had taken to score.The other two goals, both in games against Australia, came in the first and fourth minutes. Hatch says she is always keen to make an impact as quickly as possible. Continue reading...

In several prominent cases, Black people got harsher sentences for unintentional voting errors than whites who committed fraudIn the late summer of 2020, Bruce Bartman went to Pennsylvania’s voter registration website and signed up his mother and mother-in-law to vote. Both women were dead.A few months later, Bartman, who is white, requested a mail-in ballot for his late mother and cast her vote for Donald Trump. Bartman was arrested that December and charged with perjury and unlawful voting. Months later, he pleaded guilty, admitted he made a “stupid mistake,” was sentenced to five years of probation and barred from serving on a jury or voting for four years. Continue reading...

The port city’s mayor tells residents to obey a curfew imposed by ‘armed visitors’. Plus, House committee says Trump violated federal laws over electionHello and good morning.Russia has captured the city of Kherson. The Black Sea port has become the first major Ukrainian target to fall under the de facto control of Russia forces.How high could refugee numbers climb? The UN estimates there could be as many as 4 million refugees from the invasion, crossing the borders into neighbouring countries.How many Russian soldiers have been sent to their deaths by president Vladimir Putin so far? Ukraine’s government said yesterday nearly 6,000 Russian troops had been killed. Moscow said the figure was 498.How many international allies does Russia have over the invasion? Four. At yesterday’s emergency UN general assembly session, only Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria voted with Putin. 141 opposed and 35 abstained. Continue reading...

Ron DeSantis had strong words for a group of students at the University of South Florida who were wearing face masks before a press conference. The Republican governor for Florida asked them to take their masks off, saying it was 'Covid theater'

The state’s near-total ban has had ‘devastating’ effects, providers say, and offers a glimpse of the future if Roe v Wade is overturnedThe most restrictive abortion law in the US has inflicted “devastating” consequences in Texas since it was introduced six months ago, according to healthcare providers and pro-choice groups.Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) bars the procedure once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, typically at six weeks of pregnancy or earlier, with no exception for rape or incest. As most people are not aware they are pregnant this early on, the unprecedented law amounts to a near-total ban. Continue reading...

In a major filing, the House committee says it believes the former president was obstructing Congress and defrauding the United StatesThe House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack said in a major filing on Wednesday that it believed that Donald Trump violated multiple federal laws to overturn the 2020 election, including obstructing Congress and defrauding the United States.The revelations came as part of a filing that intended to force John Eastman, Trump’s former lawyer, to turn over thousands of emails and records since his participation in potential crimes destroyed his arguments for attorney-client privilege protections. Continue reading...

Amy Clark Meachum has issued an order blocking governor Greg Abbott’s directive examining gender-affirming care as child abuseA Texas judge on Wednesday blocked the state from investigating the parents of a transgender teenager over gender-confirmation treatments, but stopped short of preventing the state from looking into other reports about children receiving similar care.District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary order halting the investigation by the Department of Family and Protective Services into the parents of the 16-year-old girl. The parents sued over the investigation and Republican governor Greg Abbott’s order last week that officials look into reports of such treatments as abuse. Continue reading...

Van Taylor acknowledges ‘horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain’ and abruptly halts bid for third congressional termA Texas Republican congressman apologized and dropped his bid for re-election on Wednesday, after revelations of an affair with a British woman who was once married to an Islamic State leader.Van Taylor, who was bidding for a third term in the US House of Representatives, said: “About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world. I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life.” Continue reading...

The 2024 presidential nominee contender also angrily chastised students on stage with him for wearing masks as ‘Covid theatre’