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Thousands of people have arrived, yet hostile Italian and hypocritical EU leaders offer no help - to them or to the 6,000 islandersIt is nothing new for Lampedusa to be waved about politically as the symbol of a supposed European migrant invasion. Yet the latest operational emergency, in which up to 15,000 people arrived on the island in a few days, could have been foreseen and properly responded to by a country of Italy's size. The situation here is a crisis only because we have a population of just 6,000.Lampedusa experienced a similar wave of boat landings in 2011 after the Tunisian revolution. Then, large numbers of people crossed the Mediterranean to flee the political unrest after the regime's collapse - and the population of the island doubled in a matter of weeks, causing a political outcry. Continue reading...

In Ukraine, the second summer of the invasion has been a season of unbearable goodbyes: to our teachers, our artists and our loved onesDay 563 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ninth year of the war. Kyiv is saying goodbye to Ihor Kozlovsky, philosopher, religious scholar and lecturer. A Teacher. A man whose reputation was crystal clear.In the winter of 2016, 62-year-old Kozlovsky was seized in his apartment in Donetsk by terrorists of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic. He was accused of being pro-Ukrainian and of having educated many students who took a pro-Ukrainian patriotic stance when Russia began its aggression against Ukraine. Kozlovsky found himself in Russian captivity, which did not comply with any norms of international humanitarian law: humiliation, beatings, limbs broken while handcuffed, electric shocks, strangulation, hangings. Continue reading...

Robert Menendez urged to step down after being charged with accepting bribes, including gold bars, in exchange for favorsSeveral Democrats including his own state governor are calling on their fellow party member Robert Menendez to resign after federal authorities charged the New Jersey US senator and his wife with accepting bribes. However, the defiant senator has rejected those claims and is refusing to step down.Authorities on Friday revealed charges alleging that Robert and Nadine Menendez illegally accepted gold bars, cash, a luxurious Mercedes-Benz car and other gifts in exchange for favors benefiting three businessmen as well as influencing the Egyptian government. Continue reading...

An obscure warehouse known as the Brave Cave' was used by officers to detain and torture suspects, recent lawsuits claimThe FBI said Friday it has opened a civil rights investigation into allegations in recent lawsuits that police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, assaulted drug suspects they detained in an obscure warehouse known as the Brave Cave."In one case, a man says he was taken to the warehouse and beaten so severely he needed hospital care before being booked into jail. In another, a woman claims she was strip-searched, with an officer using a flashlight to scan her body. Continue reading...

Vice-president to lead office tasked with coordinating mental and physical health services and exploring executive actionsJoe Biden and Kamala Harris announced Friday the creation of a first-of-its-kind federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention, aimed at reducing the US's epidemic of gun violence, which claimed the lives of more than 48,000 people last year.None of these steps alone is going to solve the entirety of the gun violence epidemic," Biden said during a White House event. But together they will save lives and it's going to help rally the nation to a sense of urgency and seriousness and purpose." Continue reading...

North Carolina and Virginia governors declare states of emergency ahead of expected landfall on Saturday morningTropical Storm Ophelia formed off the mid-Atlantic coast and was expected to bring heavy rain, storm surge and windy conditions over the weekend, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Friday.Ophelia had maximum sustained winds of 60mph (95km/h), according to a 2pm advisory from the Miami-based center. The storm was centered 150 miles (240km) south-east of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and was forecast to make landfall on Saturday morning. Continue reading...

House leaves for weekend without solution to shutdown threat in sight amid hard-right Republican opposition to McCarthy plansThe Republican-led US House of Representatives has all but disappeared for the long weekend after abruptly wrapping up its work on Thursday when the embattled speaker, Kevin McCarthy, failed to advance a stopgap government spending bill, as members continued to clash with just days left to avert a federal shutdown.The White House on Friday planned to begin telling federal agencies to prepare for a shutdown, AP reported, citing a government official. Continue reading...

Greg Lawson disappeared in 1991 during his trial for murder of Seth Garlington in Bienville parish, LouisianaFor more than 30 years, Greg Lawson had been eluding authorities after shooting another man and being convicted of attempted murder. So he couldn't help but laugh bitterly as an official handcuffed him to bring him to jail after his capture in southern Mexico this week, according to authorities.The FBI on Thursday published video on X, the social media platform, showing the final moments of Lawson's unusually long run from the law. Lawson chuckled as a law enforcement officer waiting for him to step off at an airport gate put handcuffs on his wrist. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. See all of our politics coverage here.Faced with the House stalemate over a government stopgap funding bill, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday set up a path for the Senate to move first on a bill to fund the government beyond 30 September.Senate aides told the Hill the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bill could serve as a legislative vehicle to pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government for a few weeks - but that it will likely not include money for the war in Ukraine or disaster relief.This is painful. It gives me a headache. This is a very difficult series of missteps by our conference. If you can't do [the defense bill], what can you do?At this point, it seems like there are some people playing policy warfare, and I think we need to move our country forward.For my colleagues, they have to come to a realization: If they are unable or unwilling to govern, others will. And in a divided government where you have Democrats controlling the Senate, a Democrat controlling the White House, there needs to be a realization that you're not going to get everything you want. Continue reading...

Senate judiciary panel member Whitehouse says Oh, my' after report links justice to hard-right Koch networkA report detailing how Clarence Thomas secretly participated in donor events staged by the hard-right Koch network drew more fierce protests and outrage over the conservative supreme court justice's proliferating ethics scandals.Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee who has advanced ethics reform amid reports about Thomas and other justices, said: Oh, my. Continue reading...

Ramzi bin al-Shibh was one of five defendants facing trial in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the 9/11 attacks by al-QaidaA military judge at Guantanamo Bay has ruled a 9/11 defendant incompetent to stand trial after a military medical panel found that the man's sustained abuse in CIA custody years earlier had rendered him lastingly psychotic.A Guantanamo military commission spokesperson, Ronald Flesvig, confirmed on Friday the ruling by Judge Col Matthew McCall. The ruling means Ramzi bin al-Shibh will not be tried together with his four 9/11 co-defendants, whose case will now proceed without him. Continue reading...

A wild to-and-fro opening day included a session whitewash, a hole-in-one, a dramatic shank, and a determined afternoon fightback by the hostsFor the benefit of folk who fancy getting up on the downswing this weekend but don't always follow the greatest sport in the world, we usually cut and paste the following explainer. Hey, if it's worth reading once, it's worth reading a dozen times. Here we go ...The Solheim Cup is a matchplay event. Each match is worth a point. There are 28 points available over the three days, so the first team to get to 14.5 points will win the Cup. Should the scores be tied at 14 points apiece, Europe will retain the trophy as current holders. Continue reading...

Thousands demonstrate against what they see as attack on Israel's institutions but New York protest lacks Palestinian presenceThousands of Israelis and American Jews have protested outside the United Nations in New York, as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke before the UN general assembly in an address railing against Iran and making a case for Israeli-Saudi peace.About 3,000 people attended the protest against the Netanyahu government's efforts to overhaul Israel's judiciary, a plan that critics say will decimate Israel's democratic institutions. Organizers say it was the largest anti-government action held outside Israel since the start of the wave of protests that have rocked the country since Netanyahu's government took office at the start of this year. Continue reading...

Rodney Milstreed prepared himself for battle' with steroids and a wooden club disguised as flagpole, prosecutors sayA man who attacked an Associated Press photographer and threw a flagpole and smoke grenade at police officers guarding the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, was sentenced in a federal court on Friday to five years in prison.Rodney Milstreed, 56, of Finksburg, Maryland, prepared himself for battle" on January 6 by injecting steroids and arming himself with a four-foot wooden club disguised as a flagpole, prosecutors said. Continue reading...

Posing as a truth-telling outsider, the Fox mogul paved the way for the rhetoric of Trump, the alt right' and even Russell BrandIt's too soon to write the obituary. Rupert Murdoch's announcement that he is transitioning - an unlikely combination of words, I grant you - to the role of chairman emeritus" of Fox and News Corp, handing control to his eldest son, should not be the cue to speak of him in the past tense. As former employee and onetime Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie put it: He's going to be sitting in the back seat of the car while Lachlan drives the damn thing, and I should think it'll be a pain in the backside."Indeed, in his letter to staff, Murdoch Sr sought to dry the tears of any premature mourners with a reassuring promise: When I visit your countries and companies, you can expect to see me in the office late on a Friday afternoon" - a pledge that carried no hint of menace at all.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistJonathan Freedland will host a Guardian Live event with Gordon Brown on Tuesday 26 September at 7pm BST. The event will be live in London and livestreamed - book tickets here Continue reading...

Jessica Burgess pleaded guilty in July to providing an abortion after 20 weeks and tampering with human remainsJessica Burgess, a Nebraska mother accused of helping her teenage daughter use pills to end her pregnancy, was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison.Burgess and her daughter, Celeste Burgess, stand accused of working together to end Celeste Burgess's pregnancy in April 2022. Continue reading...

Prosecutors charge New Jersey Democrat with accepting bribes to use influence to benefit three businessmen and Egypt government

Shawn Fain announces additional strikes as contract talks remain far apart on economic issues, and invites Biden to join picket lineThe historic US autoworkers' strike escalated on Friday as the United Auto Workers president, Shawn Fain, called on 38 additional plants across 20 states to join the strike.During a live stream update on Friday morning, Fain announced the additional strikes at automaker plants as contract negotiations with the big three automakers remain far apart on economic issues. Continue reading...

Miguel Cardona says legacy admissions must be revisited for sake of diversity following supreme court's affirmative action rulingJoe Biden's education chief has said he is open to using whatever levers" are available - including federal money - to discourage colleges from giving admissions preference to the children of alumni and donors.In an interview with the Associated Press, Miguel Cardona said legacy admissions must be revisited for the sake of diversity on campuses following the recent supreme court ruling against affirmative action. In a step beyond his previous comments, the education secretary said he would consider taking stronger action to deter the practice. Continue reading...

Reports that an officer allegedly impregnated an 18-year-old and another had sexual contact with an underage female migrant'The Chicago police department is under investigation for allegations of sexual misconduct with recently arrived asylum seekers who are living in several police precincts across the city.One case features an officer who allegedly impregnated an 18-year-old. Continue reading...

Such a warm and touchy-feely state visit should remind both nations of the closeness they once shared - and could do againThis is what you call taking a country by storm. King Charles and Queen Camilla's state visit to Paris and then Bordeaux was always going to be a feast of bons mots and cordiality. Such is the rule of this diplomatic game. However, on a Richter scale of affability, Britain and France's heads of state scored high. After all, France was one of the countries Queen Elizabeth II most visited during her long reign, and where she enjoyed five state visits. The affection runs deep.If there ever was a rule that said one should not touch the monarch, that rule died in the streets of Paris on Wednesday afternoon. Or perhaps, a new rule was born: only a French president can touch the British sovereign. They didn't go as far as their wives, who were on cheek-kissing terms at first sight, but Emmanuel Macron and the king were very often seen touching each other's backs and arms during the couple of days they spent together. This didn't feel like misplaced familiarity, but rather warm affinity between the two men. A most welcome change after the disastrous Boris Johnson and Liz Truss episodes, which saw the bilateral relationship between our governments sink deeper and deeper.Agnes Poirier is a political commentator, writer and critic for the British, American and European press Continue reading...

Council on American Islamic Relations (Cair) argues watchlist is used for humiliation and harassment' and should be withdrawnA federal terrorist watchlist, mostly comprised of Muslim Americans, is Islamophobic and being used for harassment and humiliation" and should be withdrawn, civil rights advocates argue.Formally known as the Terrorist Screening Dataset, or TSDS," the watchlist is made up of more than 1.5 million people, most of whom are Muslim, according to attorneys from Muslim rights organization the Council on American Islamic Relations (Cair). Although the FBI says no one can be added to the watchlist due to their race, ethnicity or religion, Cair found about 98% of people on the list are Muslim. Continue reading...

Ukraine president delivers upbeat message on war progress. Plus, how Murdoch drove the UK, US and Australia to the right

I was paid 10 cents an hour to do menial work that taught no skills or life lessons. Without a college-in-prison degree, I'd probably be back in prison todayAlmost immediately after I was sent to prison, I was assigned to a program", the term American prison officials use for a job. I was to sweep the prison hallways, alongside roughly 30 other men. Together we pushed brooms across gray corridors hour after hour, day after day.No matter how many hours I worked, I couldn't afford toilet paper, soap or toothpaste. We had to pay for basic hygiene products at exploitative markups, way more than they cost in free society, and I was paid 10 cents an hour. To survive in prison, even with a full-time job, I was forced to rely on family, who struggled to support me financially. Continue reading...

Hard-right Republicans have made clear that if Kevin McCarthy cuts a deal with the Democrats to fund the government, he may be oustedKevin McCarthy ended the week in the same predicament that he started it with: teetering on the edge of a government shutdown as his House speakership hangs by a thread.The House wrapped up its work on Thursday with no clear path forward on advancing a stopgap government spending bill - a grim sign with just nine days left to avert a federal shutdown. In an advisory to members, House Republican whip Tom Emmer said spending negotiations were ongoing", but he did not specify any plans for a vote on Friday. Continue reading...

A lifeline for many in states with abortion restrictions, abortion funds are being pushed to the brink due to rising costs and a drop in donationsLaurie Bertram Roberts never expected Americans to keep forking over money to pay for other people's abortions. But the abortion fund director didn't think it would get this dire.When the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, people donated tens of thousands of dollars to Roberts' organization, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund, which is dedicated to helping people afford abortions and the many costs that come with it. But, in August, Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund had to stop funding abortions. It's now closed until January 2024. Continue reading...

Glenn Youngkin sees matching Democratic push to get ballots in early as key to gaining full control of senate and house of delegatesEarly voting begins on Friday in Virginia, where every seat in the state senate and house of delegates will be up for grabs in some of the most consequential US elections of 2023. The process has found a somewhat surprising champion in Virginia: the Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin.In previous years, the idea of a sitting governor rallying fellow members of his party to vote early would have been considered routine. But Donald Trump's baseless claims about widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which the former president often blamed on early and absentee voting, have upended the Republican party's conventional campaign strategy. As Republicans seek to take full control of the Virginia legislature in November, Youngkin must strike a fine balance between maximizing his party's turnout without alienating the voters who remain deeply skeptical of early and absentee voting because of Trump's lies. Continue reading...

The US president, Joe Biden, in a bilateral meeting at the White House with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, announced further support for its fight against Russia's invasion in the shape of military equipment and advanced air defence systems. Biden said he was counting on Congress to make a 'good judgment' when it came to more funding for Ukraine. The administration announced a further $325m in what is known as presidential drawdown assistance

Randy Roedema and Jason Rosenblatt have pleaded not guilty to charges of criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and assaultColorado prosecutors will focus on police body camera footage - both raw and digitally enhanced - as they began building their case against two officers charged in the death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who was stopped, put in a neck hold and sedated with ketamine four years ago.McClain's death, alongside the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, was among those highlighted during the Black Lives Matters protests of 2020. . Continue reading...

Four-minute recording involves a South Carolina resident trying to explain to a puzzled dispatcher how we got a pilot in the house'A military pilot whose advanced fighter jet went temporarily missing over the weekend is heard repeatedly requesting an ambulance in a perplexing 911 call from the South Carolina home where he had parachuted to safety, according to an audio recording released Thursday to the Associated Press.The four-minute recording captures the bizarre circumstances for the three unidentified people involved: a North Charleston resident calmly explaining that a pilot just parachuted into his backyard, the pilot who doesn't know what became of his F-35 jet and a puzzled dispatcher trying to make sense of it all. Continue reading...

Effort continues administration's work to prevent mass shootings and homicides that primarily affect Black and Latino communitiesThe Biden administration has announced the nation's first federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention. In a statement released Thursday, the White House said the office will be overseen by Kamala Harris's office, directed by Stefanie Feldman, a longtime Biden gun policy adviser, and deputy-directed by Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox, who have led national prevention efforts through the Community Justice Action Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety respectively.The creation of this office is a continuation of the administration's work on preventing high-profile mass shootings and local homicides that primarily affect lower-income Black and Latino communities. Continue reading...

Police make discovery in investigation after child dies and three others hospitalized after appearing to have been exposed to drugPolice investigating a New York City daycare where a one-year-old boy died of alleged fentanyl exposure have discovered additional fentanyl hidden in a space underneath the center's floor.Following a tip about a trapdoor in the floor, authorities on Wednesday night and Thursday searched the Divino Nino daycare center in the Bronx again after fentanyl residue was found underneath a mat earlier this month where children had napped, ABC reports. Continue reading...

One dog provided support and another kept watch as two-year-old girl was found three miles from Upper Peninsula home in slumberA two-year-old girl who walked away from her home in Michigan's Upper Peninsula alongside two family dogs was found in the woods hours later sleeping on the smaller dog like a furry pillow, state police said.She laid down and used one of the dogs as a pillow, and the other dog laid right next to her and kept her safe," Lt Mark Giannunzio said on Thursday. It's a really remarkable story." Continue reading...

Conference fails to approve procedural motion to take up defense spending bill as government shutdown loomsThe House Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was dealt his second humiliating defeat of the week on Thursday, when his conference again failed to approve a procedural motion as members continued to clash over government spending levels with just days left to avert a federal shutdown.With no clear path forward in Republicans' negotiations, the House concluded its work on Thursday without any stated plan to reconvene on Friday. Continue reading...

Dozens hurt, at least five of them badly, after vehicle carrying students from Long Island to a band camp in Pennsylvania collidedA charter bus carrying schoolchildren to a band camp crashed on a New York highway on Thursday, killing one person and hurting dozens of others, police said.The wreck happened on Interstate 84 in the town of Wawayanda, about 45 miles (72km) north-west of New York City, state police said. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For our latest reporting on the looming government shutdown, you can read our latest report:

Report says Euphoria actor's death was due to combined effects of methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl and benzodiazepines'The actor Angus Cloud died in July of an accidental overdose of cocaine, fentanyl and other substances, a northern California coroner's office said on Thursday.Cloud's cause of death was acute intoxication" due to the combined effects of methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl and benzodiazepines", the Alameda county coroner's bureau said. The office confirmed the overdose was an accident. Continue reading...

Journalist fears for safety amid misleading firestorm over ex-police chief's alleged murder, fueled by Elon Musk postA Las Vegas newspaper is being viciously attacked online for its coverage of an alleged murder of a retired police chief, either because of a misunderstanding or a deliberate attempt to mislead on social media.A firehose of hatred" has led the Las Vegas Review-Journal to sift email directed at one of its reporters to protect her, the paper's executive editor, Glenn Cook, said. Continue reading...

Captain bullish on hosts' chances of winning third successive transatlantic joust for the first time with US keen to spoil partySuzann Pettersen's Solheim Cup experiences suggest her captaincy is unlikely to prove dull. At Finca Cortesin, Pettersen leads a European side who are seeking to create history by winning the transatlantic joust three times in a row for the first time. The Norwegian exudes a level of confidence that will come back to bite her should those in stars and stripes turn tables. Interestingly, this bullish approach from the hosts is largely fuelled by the success of their players on the United States-based LPGA Tour. Legitimate questions remain over the strength of the Ladies European Tour, which has recently been quietly enhanced by Saudi Arabian riches.Onlookers should prepare for theatre. Pettersen spent the Sunday evening of the 2015 Solheim Cup crying in her hotel room after involvement in a rules debacle. At Gleneagles four years later, Pettersen slammed home the winning putt for Europe immediately before declaring she was retiring from professional golf. She has been true to her word; Pettersen assisted Catriona Matthew in 2021 but otherwise has kept her distance from the front line of this sport. Her status is such that nobody begrudged her that. Continue reading...

The media tycoon wreaked untold havoc on American democracy and beyondIn a chilling scene at the end of James Graham's play Ink, Rupert Murdoch - having made his indelible mark on British media and society - slows his frenetic pace to ponder the future.He's thinking, he says almost dreamily, of a venture across the pond - yes, perhaps something in television news.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

A judicial council said Pauline Newman of the US court of appeals cannot effectively discharge her duties due to disabilityA 96-year-old federal appeals court judge has been barred from hearing cases for a year, after a panel said she refused to undergo medical testing amid concerns she is no longer mentally fit.It was the latest development in an unusually public and bitter fight over whether Judge Pauline Newman should continue to sit on the Washington-based US court of appeals for the federal circuit that has sparked a lawsuit and turned judges against one another. Continue reading...

This is a media and political age that he himself has shaped. It's hardly a legacy to be proud ofIt should come as no surprise that Rupert Murdoch has decided to step down from the top of his media empire. Yet the news that the 92-year-old, no longer in the best of health, will not die in the job, as he always suggested he would, came as a huge shock.After a lifetime spent transforming the relatively small Australian print newspaper business he inherited from his father into a global corporation, which spans one of the biggest newspaper businesses in the UK and one of the most controversial television channels in the US, he stands down ahead of two hugely important elections in both his adopted homelands, Britain and the US.Jane Martinson is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Until now, women here have struggled to be heard on harassment and abuse. But two controversies in popular culture are changing thatHave you ever dated a German man who happened to be a writer? No? Good for you. Not that I would recommend dating writers in general, who have a tendency to justify their worst behaviour as art. And honestly, why wouldn't they? The canon is full of men who poured their raw misogyny into beautiful sentences and well-crafted compositions. In return some of these men had genius status conferred on them because, well, they wrote fiction and the misogyny was the fictional character's, not theirs.In German writing there is another unfortunate tradition: a hyperfixation on the inner world of the perpetrator. This focus goes beyond narrative perspective. It finds its way into essays and nonfiction writing. It finds its way into so many forms of writing that the perpetrator is sometimes transformed into the real victim of his own violence. That's exactly what the Nobel prize winner Peter Handke did (OK, Handke is Austrian), in his revisionist account of the Bosnian genocide committed by the Serbs. And it's what the recently deceased author Martin Walser did when he complained that not a day went by without Germans being hit with the ultimate moral cudgel", namely Auschwitz.Fatma Aydemir is a Berlin-based author, novelist, playwright and a Guardian columnist Continue reading...