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Sources say Giuliani called Department of Homeland Security six weeks after Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden, New York Times reportsDonald Trump directed Rudy Giuliani to ask the Department of Homeland Security if it could seize voting machines in three key states, the New York Times reported.Citing three anonymous sources, the paper said Giuliani made the call six weeks after Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden but before the January 6 Capitol riot, by supporters trying to stop the certification of electoral college results. Continue reading...

Rare megaflash, also known as a low-rate horizontal discharge, leapt between clouds in Texas and Mississippi in April 2020A single lightning bolt that leapt across three US states has been identified as the longest ever, the UN weather agency has said.The rare low-rate horizontal discharge, or megaflash, covered 477 miles (768km) between clouds in Texas and Mississippi in April 2020. Continue reading...

Single flash extended 477.2 miles across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in April 2020, beating record set in 2018A bolt of lightning that stretched nearly 500 miles across three US states is the new world record holder for longest flash.The single flash extended 477.2 miles across Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in April 2020, the World Meteorological Organization said. That beat the old record set in 2018 in Brazil of 440.6 miles. Continue reading...

Past trauma means we worry about Russia reclaiming its cold war sphere of influence and that the west will again abandon usTwo points about the Ukraine crisis are crystal clear. First, Vladimir Putin wishes to reimpose Russian control over Ukraine, whatever the price. His political dream of restoring the Soviet sphere of influence is echoed in a wishlist of “security guarantees” presented to western governments by Russia in December 2021. Nato, he maintains, should return to the pre-1997 state of affairs; Russia, apparently, need not.Second, whatever Putin decides in the current crisis, there are real fears in central and eastern Europe that settled borders are now under threat. These fears are grounded in reason. What seemed unrealistic in the immediate post-cold war years is now again a real possibility. Questions about our collective safety and security have returned, along with memories of a traumatic and not so remote past.Karolina Wigura is a historian of ideas, board member of the Kultura Liberalna Foundation in Warsaw and a fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in BerlinJarosław Kuisz is a political analyst and essayist, editor-in-chief of the Polish weekly Kultura Liberalna and a policy fellow at the University of Cambridge

The No 10 party scandal has debased the values that civil servants hold dear. Integrity has to come from the top

Russian diplomat claims Ukraine’s violation of Minsk pact could end in the ‘worst way’. Plus, Mattel takes over HollywoodGood morning.Ukraine will be responsible for its own destruction if it undermines existing peace agreements, a senior Russian diplomat has warned at a combative UN security council debate on the crisis.What did Nebenzya say about Ukraine? “If our western partners push Kyiv to sabotage the Minsk agreements, something that Ukraine is … willingly doing, then that might end in the absolute worst way for Ukraine. And not because somebody has destroyed it, but because it would have destroyed itself and Russia has absolutely nothing to do with this.”What happens next? The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, are due to talk on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, may meet in person soon.In a dramatic moment in the Commons where the report was being discussed, Johnson was challenged by Theresa May, his predecessor as prime minister, who said either he “had not read the rules, didn’t understand the rules or didn’t think they applied to No 10”.The police have obtained more than 300 photographs and 500 pages of documents in their investigation. The images include pictures taken at alleged parties and from security-system cameras. Continue reading...

The US talkshow host and actor Whoopi Goldberg has offered her 'sincerest apologies' after saying the Holocaust 'isn’t about race'. After her remarks led to a backlash online, she said in a statement that Jewish people around the world had 'always had my support'

The fight over Covid misinformation has put Spotify’s Joe Rogan Experience in the crosshairs. So what should be done?Joe Rogan isn’t a far-right ideologue, pushing a consistent political agenda. Rather, he is a grifter, who hides behind excuses like curiosity, entertainment, freedom and neutrality to push whatever controversy that sells. Now, that controversy is hurting Spotify’s bottom line, which is why they have pushed him to publicly apologize and pledge to “try harder”.Cas Mudde is a Guardian US columnist and the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor in the school of public and international affairs at the University of GeorgiaFrancine Prose is the author, most recently, of The Vixen. She was also the president of PEN AmericaBhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor of Jacobin magazine and a Guardian US columnist. He is the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme InequalityImran Ahmed is Chief Executive of the Center for Countering Digital HateJoshua Citarella is an artist and internet culture researcher based in New York City. He is the author of Politigram & the Post-left Continue reading...

Despite a flurry of legal action and very public disputes between members, Michigan has produced some of the fairest voting maps in the USIn recent months, Michigan should have been a hotbed for attempts to rig elections, like it was in 2011. That year, the Republican-led legislature distorted the voting maps so that the GOP was able to win nine of Michigan’s 14 congressional seats despite never earning more than 50.5% of the vote statewide.A decade later, as the redistricting cycle has come around again, the dynamics are just as toxic. The battleground state broke for Joe Biden by fewer than 155,000 votes, and the Republican-controlled legislature has fought endlessly with the Democratic governor about election “audits”, voter IDs and absentee ballots. Continue reading...

Houston fundraiser reveals Democrat’s aggressive efforts to capitalize on her Senate power on matters ranging from climate to taxesWith a crucial vote pending over filibuster rules that would have made strong voting rights legislation feasible, Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema flew into Houston, Texas, for a fundraiser that drew dozens of fossil fuel chieftains, including Continental Resources chairman Harold Hamm and ConocoPhillips chief executive Ryan Lance.The event was held on 18 January at the upmarket River Oaks Country Club. One executive told the Guardian that Sinema spoke for about half an hour and informed a mostly Republican crowd that they could “rest assured” she would not back any changes with filibuster rules, reiterating a stance she took several days before during a Senate speech. Continue reading...

Mount Vernon, New York has a long history of sewage problems, but $10m in grant funding and Biden’s infrastructure package may bring reliefDacia Torchia tries to avoid her basement. Especially when the foul, familiar smell creeps under the door just off the kitchen. She knows what’s waiting for her at the bottom of the dark stairway.“I’m in a state of denial. Like if I don’t go downstairs, I don’t have to deal with it,” said Torchia, 55, a single mother who owns a century-old house at the bottom of a hill in Mount Vernon, New York. After heavy rains, her basement sometimes floods with dark, sludgy wastewater – eight inches on bad days. Continue reading...

In the shadow of New York City, one of the world’s richest cities, the people of Mount Vernon, New York face an unpleasant problem inside their homes: sewage. The city’s under-resourced sanitation crew struggles to keep up with complications stemming from its crumbling, 100-year old sewer system — a system strained even further by the extreme rain brought on by climate change. Meanwhile, residents must shoulder the financial, emotional and health burdens when sewage backs up into their basements and homes Continue reading...

The YouTuber says he is defending the rights of fighters against the abusive power structure of the UFC. But he may have an additional agendaLast Friday, Jake Paul – the controversial YouTuber turned professional boxer – released a rap video targeting Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.Aptly named the Dana White Diss Track, the song opens with a cameo from former UFC champion Cris Cyborg, who is pressured by an actor playing White into signing an exploitative contract that doesn’t even guarantee health care. Paul – who modestly portrays himself as a crusading hero – then launches into the track, which takes aim at White and his business partners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, as well as notable fighters such as Conor McGregor, Jorge Masvidal, Nate Diaz, and even retired champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Continue reading...

My heart goes out to Charlotte Bellis but the treatment of women in Afghanistan is not comparable to the situation in New ZealandMy name is Muzhgan Samarqandi and I am from Baghlan, Afghanistan, but living in New Zealand with my Kiwi husband and our son. Like Charlotte Bellis, I too was a broadcaster in Afghanistan, back when this was possible for a woman without being a foreigner.Bellis says that she was forced to leave her previous home in Qatar, where she was a journalist with Al Jazeera, after becoming pregnant, since it’s illegal for unmarried women to become pregnant there. Continue reading...

State will move those in San Quentin’s death row section to other prisons within two years, officials sayCalifornia is moving to dismantle the second-largest death row in the US, three years after the governor placed a moratorium on executions.The state will move all incarcerated people in the death row section of San Quentin state prison to other prisons within two years, officials said. Continue reading...

Reading Sue Gray’s interim report, it’s hard to believe that the people who made the law had obeyed the lawThe interim findings of a report by the civil servant Sue Gray are damning of the culture at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government. Ms Gray cited “failures of leadership and judgment”; “excessive” consumption of alcohol in the workplace; and officials cowed into silence about Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street. Ms Gray said she has been “extremely limited” by a police investigation and was unable to make firm conclusions about what she had discovered. However, Ms Gray’s report suggests that some of the events she examined didn’t comply with lockdown rules, saying that “a number of these gatherings should not have been allowed to take place or to develop in the way that they did”. Reading this, it’s hard to believe that the people who made the law had obeyed the law.Mr Johnson’s argument to MPs had been that the Downing Street parties were not parties because lockdown guidance had been heeded. The Johnson logic was that since the rules said there could be no party, whatever happened wasn’t a party. The trouble with this reasoning is that Ms Gray has amassed enough evidence for the police to investigate a dozen potential criminal breaches of Covid rules in Mr Johnson’s home and office. The Met has 300 photographs and 500 pieces of paper from Ms Gray, which only raise the stakes for Tory MPs. This feels more like the vapour trail from a cruise missile than the wispy smoke coming off a warm gun. Continue reading...

With some of Sue Gray’s findings published, what will the implications be for Boris Johnson? Our experts give their viewIn any normal political climate, the Sue Gray report should be a final word. It is not short on statements that should condemn the prime minister, confirming the facts that have been out in the public domain for weeks now. Twelve parties – all but four of those that took place – are under criminal investigation. One of those, and this is not a passing detail, took place in the prime minister’s own flat. While the rest of the country was negotiating the fine technicalities of what constitutes a breach of the rules, in some instances pondering whether to sit on a bench in the park or not, these parties seem to suggest that No 10 and civil service staff, under the eye of the prime minister, believed they were exempt.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Congressman Thomas Massie quoted phrase coined by white supremacist convicted of possessing child abuse imagesThe Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie was under familiar fire on Monday, after criticising Anthony Fauci with a quote attributed to Voltaire but actually coined by a white supremacist convicted on charges related to child abuse images.“To learn who rules over you,” the quote says, “simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise.” Continue reading...

The party’s dysfunctionality comes from the top – and those waiting for the right moment to unseat the PM risk being dragged into the mireWhen Aaron Bell attended his grandmother’s funeral, he could not allow himself to hug his grieving parents and siblings.After she was laid to rest with only 10 mourners present, in accordance with Covid regulations, he turned around and drove the three hours home without stopping for a cup of tea, because those were the rules and in a pandemic they were to be obeyed. His question to Boris Johnson on Monday afternoon was couched in tones of barely suppressed fury: “Does the prime minister think I’m a fool?”Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Author Art Spiegelman says decision to ban Pulitzer-winning novel that depicts Jewish people as mice is ‘demented’The Pulitzer prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel Maus: A Survivor’s Tale has become a bestseller on Amazon, after a Tennessee school board banned it.Last week, according to meeting minutes, 10 school board members in McMinn county agreed to remove Maus from the eighth-grade curriculum, citing “rough, objectionable language” and sketches of naked women they deemed unsuitable for 13-year-old students. Continue reading...

Officers did not investigate the deaths of Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls in a timely manner or notify relativesA Connecticut mayor has ordered two police officers placed on administrative leave amid scrutiny over the alleged mishandling of investigations of the deaths of two Black women.According to family members, investigations into the deaths of Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, and Brenda Lee Rawls, 53, both on 21 December, were mishandled by officers who did not investigate in a timely manner or notify relatives. Continue reading...

As many people return to the office, what about those of us left behind who have got used to the company during the pandemic?As the world returns to the office, doggy daycare is booming. You hear of kingpins who never even have to meet the dogs, but run establishments packed with canines, whose owners are each paying more for the day than the dog-loving apprentices are receiving. They offer “enrichment activities” – AKA other dogs with buttholes – and nap time, which is to say, all day.Sorry, that is unfair. There are also many fine and upstanding dog lovers providing these services, and right across the spectrum, everyone reports a surge in demand as people who got a lockdown puppy now have a regular, grownup dog. But it’s a dog with a difference. It can’t be left alone for one second. Dog behaviourists report weird, amazingly strategic new methods to stop owners going out: dogs that will hide shoes, lie down across front doors, or – in the case of one high-risk fellow – across the rear wheels of a car. Realistically, what’s the upside, for a dog, of anyone leaving the house? You can hardly blame them, but you have now created an animal that needs £40 a day spent on it just to stay sane. You might as well have bought a lockdown racehorse. Continue reading...

There has been a subtle campaign to redefine racism by the intent and not the effects of discriminatory actions, even as gerrymandered maps diminish the power of Black votersAlthough the phrase “All politics is local” is usually attributed to Tip O’Neill Jr, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives, the aphorism probably originated in the February 1932 Associated Press column “Politics at Random”, when the Washington bureau chief, Byron Price, wrote: “All politics is local politics.” As valid as Price’s summarization of inside-the-Beltway politics may be, there is probably a more accurate way to describe the All American sport of civic power-brokering:All politics is racial.Michael Harriot is a writer and author of the upcoming book Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America

In statement protesting against reform of Electoral Count Act, ex-president appears to admit Joe Biden wonDonald Trump was accused of “saying the quiet part loud” on Sunday night, when he protested that Mike Pence, his former vice-president, could have overturned his election defeat by Joe Biden.Though he has appeared to admit Biden won before, Trump usually insists he won and his opponent stole the election through voter fraud – the “big lie” which animates rallies like one in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday. Continue reading...

Then vice-president elect remained inside DNC for nearly two hours before bomb was found, new details by CNN revealKamala Harris, then vice-president-elect, drove within yards of a pipe bomb left outside the Democratic National Committee on January 6 2021 and remained inside for nearly two hours before the bomb was found, it was reported on Monday.Harris’s proximity to the bomb was known previously, but not how close or for how long. CNN reported the new details in the case, part of alarming events in Washington on the day Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump. Continue reading...

The prime minister’s response to ‘partygate’ is a wild orgy of populist policies to keep up the pretence he’s still in chargeFor the past fortnight Sue Gray’s report on “partygate” has been hovering over Downing Street like a huge vulture, seeking only somewhere to land. A redacted version is expected imminently. In the meantime, Boris Johnson is panicking. For partygate he has substituted policygate, a wild orgy of populist pronouncements designed to show he is still in charge. If Johnson cannot lie himself out of trouble, perhaps he can bribe himself out of it.What do you want, everyone? I would get the Treasury to let you off extra taxes, if only that mean Rishi Sunak would let me. I can promise help with gas bills and heating allowances. I can shower the north of England with money and mayors. I can let you visit your loved ones in care homes, perhaps. I can even get on a plane, fly east and pretend to threaten Vladimir Putin with war.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Police say Extra entertainment correspondent was found dead in Manhattan on SundayCheslie Kryst, the 2019 winner of the Miss USA pageant and a correspondent for the entertainment news program Extra, has died at age 30.Police said Kryst was found dead in Manhattan, New York, on Sunday morning. Her family confirmed her death in a statement. Continue reading...

Joe Rogan has addressed controversy over his Spotify podcast, hours after the streaming service announced a plan to tackle the spread of Covid-19 misinformation. In a video posted to Instagram on Sunday night, the comedian and host pledged to 'try harder to get people with differing opinions on' and 'do my best to make sure I’ve researched these topics'. Rogan framed his podcast – which reaches an estimated 11 million listeners per episode – as 'just conversations'

New Covid commission would inform US response to future outbreaks as well as current impact of the virus. Plus, the intimacy famineGood morning.A sweeping new bill with powerful bipartisan support in the US Senate would establish an inquiry into the country’s Covid-19 response similar to the 9/11 Commission, among other provisions aimed at preventing the next pandemic.In November 2019, the US was ranked first of 195 countries for pandemic preparedness in a report co-produced by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, but it has consistently had one of the worst responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, said John Farmer Jr, the senior counsel for the 9/11 Commission.What’s going to happen next? There is expected to be a UN security council meeting today, at the request of the US, to give Russia the opportunity to explain its actions. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said the US was “prepared to listen” but was “not going to be distracted by their propaganda”.What’s happening on the ground? Tensions on the Ukraine border have continued to escalate, with Reuters reporting the Russian military build-up included supplies of blood in anticipation of casualties. Continue reading...

An FBI raid could give Henry Cuellar’s progressive challenger a primary boost – but a Cuellar loss could open the door for RepublicansFew people outside of south Texas, and even fewer outside the state, have heard of US representative Henry Cuellar, though he is one of the state’s most fascinating elected officials. But now the nation may know him as yet another member of Congress tied to a federal investigation. A recent FBI raid at this nine-term Democratic congressman’s home and campaign headquarters in Laredo, on the US-Mexico border, has potentially significant implications for Washington politics: it deals another blow to the art of compromise, a once-essential legislative tool, and one that Cuellar has mastered in his long political career.The FBI raid on January 19 is part of an investigation of several people with ties to the former Soviet nation of Azerbaijan. I have no direct knowledge of the nature of the federal investigation – and Cuellar has not been charged with anything – but allowing an FBI raid weeks before his hotly contested 1 March primary suggests the highest levels of the justice department signed off on this action. Continue reading...

When the quarterback joined the Cincinnati Bengals the franchise was a punchline. Less than two years later they’re going to the Super BowlThe Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Super Bowl.Repeat: The Cincinnati Bengals are going to the Super Bowl. Continue reading...

Proposals banning abortion, discussions of sexuality, and white racial ‘discomfort’ aim to establish Florida as capital of TrumpistanIt has been a long and painful month in the Florida legislature for opponents of the state’s Trumpist governor Ron DeSantis and his loyal band of rightwing Republicans. A slew of bills has advanced attacking everything from diversity rights, abortion protections and free speech in schools, in addition to a proposal that would legally shield white people from feeling “discomfort” over the state’s racist past.And last Wednesday, an anti-masker physician, hand picked by the governor and apathetic about the value of Covid-19 vaccines, was backed unanimously by a Republican senate panel as the next surgeon-general following a walk-out by Democratic politicians frustrated by Joseph Ladapo’s evasiveness. Continue reading...

New Covid commission would inform the US response to future outbreaks as well as the current impact of the virusA sweeping new bill with powerful bipartisan support in the US Senate would establish an inquiry into the country’s Covid-19 response similar to the 9/11 Commission, among other provisions aimed at preventing the next pandemic.The new Covid commission would inform the US response to future outbreaks as well as the current impact of the disease. The bill will be co-sponsored by Senator Patty Murray of Washington and Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, who plan to mark it up in committee in coming weeks. Continue reading...

The lizards aren’t dead but merely immobilised when temperatures go under 10C, weather bureau saysThe US weather service has warned Florida residents that immobilised iguanas could fall out of trees due to unusually cold temperatures across the region.“Iguanas are cold-blooded. They slow down or become immobile when temps drop into the 40s [4-9 Celsius],” the US National Weather Service Miami-South Florida said on Twitter on Sunday. “They may fall from trees, but they are not dead.” Continue reading...

Massachusetts sees power outages in worst of storm, with dangerous wind chills following in its wakeThe US east coast fell into a deep freeze on Sunday, after a powerful nor’easter dumped mounds of snow, flooded coastlines and knocked out power to tens of thousands.Dangerous wind chills were expected after the storm dumped snow from Virginia to Maine. The weather may have contributed to at least four deaths in New York, all on Long Island. Continue reading...

Nine people taken to hospital from Hampton Inn in Marysville as police say all affected had been in pool areaSeven people were hospitalized in critical condition after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning at a Hampton Inn in Ohio, officials said. A total of 11 people were taken to a local hospital.The Marysville fire chief, Jay Riley, said the source of the carbon monoxide was unclear but everyone who was hospitalized had been in the hotel pool area. Continue reading...

Negotiations for package of sanctions against Putin ‘on the one-yard line’, says Bob Menendez of foreign relations committee

One person also in critical condition in wreck caused by driver who was speeding, police sayA six-vehicle crash killed nine people and left one in critical condition in Nevada on Saturday. Police were trying to determine if a driver was impaired before running a red light, causing the collision.A local councilwoman lamented a “tremendous and unnecessary loss due to a careless and senseless act”. Continue reading...