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Applause and approval as Hamilton actor Denée Benton makes comparison at Tony awards in New York on Sunday nightProminent Broadway actor Denée Benton likened Florida’s rightwing governor Ron DeSantis to a Ku Klux Klan grand wizard at Sunday night’s Tony awards ceremony, drawing applause and roars of approval from the audience.Benton, known for her stage roles in Hamilton as well as Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, took aim at the Republican presidential hopeful and his policies attacking minority groups as she announced an award for theatrical excellence for a Florida high school teacher from the town of Plantation. Continue reading...

After his resignation as an MP, I’m struck by a new consensus, decades in the making – that the former prime minister is an unlikable man, without friends or alliesThe interesting thing about Boris Johnson’s exit from parliament is not his statement, a thousand words from a psychedelic upside-down world in which everyone else is a liar and he alone tells the truth. Perhaps that’ll come back to bite me: it could be important for the historical record. Right now, though, I’m struck by the new consensus that Johnson is an unlikable man, without friends or allies, whose only discernible mark on the universe is a trail of the betrayed and disillusioned. This is now apparently an obvious thing, completely common knowledge among the Boris-watchers who five seconds ago were telling us that he was the most genial man in British politics.A little bit of consistency would be nice, or at the very least some acknowledgment that they’re now saying something different from what they said before. But never mind that, because it’s also a relief. It’s quite discombobulating when opinion is united on the amiability of a man who you can see, from a distance and close up, and at every proximity in between, is not amiable.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Poll shows 80% of likely GOP voters think ex-president should be eligible for re-election even if convicted but senators are less keen

Nations go to war over the ideologies, religions, racism, social classes or economic policies. Trump represents nothing other than his own grievanceThe former president of the United States, now running for re-election, assails “the ‘thugs’ from the Department of Injustice”, calls Special Counsel Jack Smith a “deranged lunatic” and casts his prosecutions and his bid for the White House as part of a “final battle” for America.In a Saturday speech to the Georgia Republican party, Trump characterized the entire American justice system as deployed to prevent him from winning the 2024 election.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

The California congresswoman speaks about the legacy of slavery and the need for reparations for African AmericansWhen the California congresswoman Barbara Lee first introduced a bill proposing a national commission on racial healing, the US had erupted in grief and rage over the murder of George Floyd.Since then, the movement to provide restitution and reparations to Black Americans has gained momentum. As has the backlash. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 delegates at the North Carolina Republican party’s annual convention voted to censure TillisRepublican US senator Thom Tillis has been reprimanded by party officials in his home state of North Carolina after his support of gun control and same-sex marriage.More than 1,000 delegates at the North Carolina Republican party’s annual convention voted behind closed doors Saturday to censure Tillis, a move that doesn’t affect his elected position but signals strong dissatisfaction with him. Continue reading...

Ruben Gallego, running for US Senate next year, says Arizona Republican’s response to Trump’s federal indictment is dangerousThe Arizona Republican Kari Lake’s vow of armed resistance over Donald Trump’s indictment for retaining classified records “threatens the very core of our democracy”, an Arizonan Democratic congressman said.Ruben Gallego is running to replace the former Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the US Senate next year. Continue reading...

The men’s team’s 1,000th international game comes on Monday against a nation that is fighting for its freedomI played six major tournaments from 2004 to 2014: three World Cups and three European Championships. Euro 2012 took place in Poland and Ukraine. We played the group stage in Kharkiv and Lviv. Ukraine has a great football culture – that was noticeable.It has also had great footballers. Andriy Shevchenko, Igor Belanov and Oleg Blokhin were Europe’s footballers of the year. Valeriy Lobanovskyi, the legend of the Dynamo Kyiv bench, continues to influence European football; many system coaches refer to him. In 2001, when I was making my way towards the professional team at Bayern Munich, Germany had a difficult task against Ukraine in the World Cup playoffs. Michael Ballack and Oliver Kahn had cause to fear for their participation in the tournament because Ukraine were strong opponents. Continue reading...

Today the ITV show primarily attracts contestants seeking followers, not friendship – no wonder viewers are switching offLove Island is back, which means a new squad of impeccably preened future spokespeople for the fast-fashion industry has entered TV’s most famous villa looking for love – and Instagram followers.Once again, audiences have tuned in with the hope of becoming completely obsessed with the minutiae of the Islanders’ lives in the villa, only to forget most of their names once they leave. But according to overnight figures, Love Island lost 1 million viewers on its summer 2022 series. Even with the 300,000 that have since been added to incorporate catch-up, the overall figure was still a significant drop on 2022 and around half the number who watched 2019’s series launch.Louis Staples writes about the internet, culture and society Continue reading...

The former Italian PM, who combined celebrity antics with rightwing populism, laid the groundwork for TrumpismWhen he hurriedly left the prime minister’s official residence, Palazzo Chigi, for the last time on 16 November 2011, Silvio Berlusconi looked like a humiliated man. Italy’s finances were in trouble, with international investors betting against the country’s treasury bonds; prosecutors were on his heels due to the infamous “bunga bunga” scandal, which involved an underage sex worker; European allies Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel had made their displeasure with him public. Few would have guessed at the time how much future politics would follow Berlusconi’s populist template.Berlusconi has died at 86 – he had been in hospital in Milan, undergoing treatment for a lung infection. Yet look around, and you can see his legacy everywhere. In fact, the years that followed Berlusconi’s exit from office vindicated his political style, which combined extreme personality politics, a skilful use of visual media and an unashamed demagogy – all to tap into voters’ disillusionment and cynicism about the status quo. It is hard to think of another politician more prefigurative of politics to come.Paolo Gerbaudo is a sociologist at Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Italy, and King’s College London, and the author of The Great Recoil Continue reading...

The actors’ production company Artists Equity ‘had no foreknowledge and did not consent’ to any involvementBen Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company Artists Equity has condemned the use of an audio voiceover from its recent film Air, which tells the story of the creation of the Michael Jordan-endorsed Nike Air Jordan sports shoe, in a Donald Trump campaign video.In a statement posted to social media, Artists Equity stated it had not been consulted or given consent for the voiceover to be used. “We had no foreknowledge of, did not consent to and do not endorse or approve any footage or audio from Air being repurposed by the Trump campaign as a political advertisement or for any other use.” It added: “We hereby, expressly give notice that in the case of any use of material from Air by the Trump campaign where approval or consent is required, we do not grant such consent.” Continue reading...

Media tycoon was one of Italy’s most flamboyant politicians whose career was tainted by sex scandals. Plus, fears over Republicans’ pro-Trump rhetoric

A poisonous haze made the air over New York temporarily more hazardous than any other place on Earth. Thank fossil fuel billionairesWho’s responsible for the poisonous haze that blanketed the north-east this week, that turned the sky eerie shades of yellow and orange and made the air over New York City more hazardous – for a time – than in any other place on Earth?The smoke is from the unprecedented wildfires that, first sparked by lightning, have been raging for weeks in Nova Scotia and Quebec; more than 450 are now burning across Canada. More than half of those are considered “out of control”. That ferocity is thanks in large part to the kinds of unusually warm and dry conditions that rising temperatures are making more common. Winds from a low pressure system then fanned the flames and sent them southward. Continue reading...

Leopoldstadt and Kimberly Akimbo won big at this year’s history-making Tony awards, with the writers' strike affecting the format and content of the ceremony.History was made with two actors becoming the first non-binary winners of acting Tonys. J Harrison Ghee was named best actor in a leading role in a musical for Some Like It Hot, and Alex Newell won best featured actor in a musical for their role in Shucked.Jodie Comer picked up the Tony for best actress in a leading role in a play for one-woman show Prima Facie. Comer won in a competitive category that included Jessica Chastain and Audra McDonald

The league has made efforts to welcome LGBTQ+ people into ballparks but recent pushback has shown that large parts of the sport remain conservativeWhen the Los Angeles Dodgers arranged their latest annual Pride Night the team probably did not envision facing opponents from the Catholic League as well as the National League.Gamedays that celebrate LGBTQ+ communities through initiatives such as rainbow-themed uniforms and drag queens throwing out the ceremonial first pitch are commonplace, and until recently they typically occurred with little fuss. Now they are a battlefield in the culture wars, with Dodger Stadium at the centre of the fiercest conflict. Continue reading...

Employees complain about pay and conditions, travelers say prices are too high and service is poor – why is airline travel so bad?The world is traveling again. Summer air travel is expected to surpass pre-pandemic levels in 2023, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and airline revenues are back to near record levels.But for airline workers – who suffered the brunt of pandemic shutdowns and then the spike in air rage that followed – unresolved labor issues remain and many are warning that for passengers those issues, which have led to a surge in operational problems, remain and are likely to cause more concerns this holiday season. Continue reading...

If there is any meaningful sense in which we can ask who is the greatest of all time, the answer can not simply be given by crudely adding up slamsNow that Novak Djokovic has won his 23rd grand slam tennis tournament (and there is little prospect of Nadal equalling him), many people are saying Djokovic is the greatest of all time. But many of these people also feel a certain reluctance in saying this. Federer seems at least as great.But can the numbers lie? Yes! Continue reading...

A black bear was sighted in the Gulf of Mexico before it decamped into the nearby dunes to the astonishment of beachgoersFlorida beachgoers have long been accustomed to the threats from sharks in their warm waters, but bathers at Destin recently got a surreal shock when they saw a black bear emerge from the surf and amble on to the beach.Local TV station WMBB reported that stunned onlookers saw the bear, which appeared to be a youngster, swimming in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and heading to shore. Continue reading...

‘An eye for an eye’, said Arizona congressman, while another representative from Louisiana gave militaristic instructionsBelligerent and conspiracy-laden rhetoric from high-profile Republican backers of Donald Trump has heightened fears that the former US president’s campaign against his legal troubles could trigger political violence.Fewer than 24 hours after Donald Trump was indicted, Arizona congressman Andy Biggs went on Twitter and used violent language to call for retribution. “We have now reached a war phase,” he said. “An eye for an eye.” Continue reading...

Harvard-educated mathematician carried out a 17-year solitary bombing spree that killed three people and injured 23 othersTed Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber”, who carried out a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died by suicide, four people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.Kaczynski, who was 81 and suffering from late-stage cancer, was found unresponsive in his cell at the federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina, around 12.30am on Saturday. Emergency responders performed CPR and revived him before he was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead later on Saturday morning, the people told the AP. Continue reading...

Geopolitical fallout from the conflict in Ukraine is threatening an environmentally crucial regionAs the cold war thawed in the 1980s, the frozen high north of the planet was a leading beneficiary of more conciliatory times. Speaking in Murmansk in 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev called for an end to military competition in the Arctic, and a new focus on preserving its unique ecosystem. “The community and interrelationship of the interests of our entire world,” said the Soviet leader, “is felt in the northern part of the globe, in the Arctic, perhaps more than anywhere else.”Mr Gorbachev’s words paved the way for a cross-state consensus around the idea of “Arctic exceptionalism” – an agreement that in an environmentally crucial region, where Europe, North America and Asia meet, geopolitical rivalries should be put to one side. Since 1996, the Arctic Council, comprising the eight Arctic states including Russia, has embodied that spirit of cooperation. It is yet another disastrous consequence of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine that it is now at risk. Continue reading...

George Soros, 92, hands over reins of Open Society Foundations to ‘more political’ 37-year-oldThe financier George Soros, the billionaire investor and liberal donor, has handed control of his multi-billion-dollar foundation to his son, Alexander.The 92-year-old, who memorably made $1bn betting against the British pound and “breaking the Bank of England” in a catastrophic financial event in 1992 that became known as Black Wednesday, had said previously that he did not want his Open Society Foundations (OSF) to be taken over by any of his five children. Continue reading...

Officers didn’t secure Randy Cox when transporting him, and when vehicle braked suddenly he hit his head and fractured his spineA Connecticut man who was left partially paralyzed while in police custody last year has reached a $45m settlement with the city of New Haven.Last June, 36-year-old Randy Cox was arrested on charges of illegal handgun possession and was put into a police transport van without any seatbelts. Continue reading...

Half of an elevated portion of highway gave way while remaining lanes were ‘compromised’ by blazeAn elevated section of Interstate 95 collapsed early on Sunday in Philadelphia after a vehicle caught fire, closing the main north-south highway on the east coast and threatening to upend travel in parts of the densely populated north-east, authorities said.Transportation officials warned of extensive delays and street closures and urged drivers to avoid the area. Early reports indicated that the vehicle may have been a tanker truck, but officials could not immediately confirm that. The fire was reported to be under control. Continue reading...

Former attorney general who has largely broken with Trump ‘shocked by the degree of sensitivity’ of documentsDonald Trump’s former attorney general William Barr believes that the former president may be “toast” as he faces a sweeping indictment of 37 federal criminal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.Speaking to Fox News on Sunday following the release of the indictment, Barr, who served as the US attorney general under Trump from 2019 to 2020, said that he was “shocked by the degree of sensitivity at these documents and how many there were”. Continue reading...

Cancellation came at request of the diocese after irate emails and calls, some of them threatening, officials sayA Roman Catholic mass to be held in western Pennsylvania this weekend in solidarity with LGBTQ Catholics has been canceled after flyers for the service switched the designation to a “Pride mass”.The cancellation of Sunday mass at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh came at the request of the diocese after protesting emails and calls, some of them threatening, officials said. While the exact nature of the protest messages is unclear, they come at a time when major brands like Target, Bud Light and Starbucks have faced rightwing backlash for using the Pride labeling. Continue reading...

The embattled former president – still the Republican frontrunner for the nomination – remains defiant even as legal charges pile upDonald Trump has pledged to continue his 2024 presidential campaign even if he is convicted of a felony, saying he would campaign from prison if necessary.“I’ll never leave,” the former US president told Politico in an interview carried out on his plane between two campaign events. He also dismissed the possibility of pardoning himself, telling the outlet: “I didn’t do anything wrong.” Continue reading...

His era in power was marked by squalor and self-promotion. In the end, he proved himself afraid of parliament – and democracyHe’s gone. Again. Ducking and swerving, crashing and picking himself up, Boris Johnson is a political wrecker. He smashed David Cameron’s leadership with his mendacious Brexit campaign, and then retuned it to smash Theresa May. When he won and reached Downing Street, he made it a music-hall turn. The government was reduced to a shambles over Partygate, and was found to have broken the law during lockdown.Like any talented comedian, Johnson can well command a public stage. His is a likable personality whose performances are amusing to those who find most politicians tedious and the spectacle of politics dull. But out of sight, Johnson is a mess quite unsuited to high office. He brought discredit to Downing Street in the eyes of the world, and those who worked with him and knew him best told him a year ago that he had to stand down. Continue reading...

Shooting victims were three women and a man, while five women and one man had been stabbed, after gunfire erupts at gatheringA serious violent incident in Syracuse, New York, has left 13 people either shot, stabbed or hit by vehicles, police have said.Local TV station WSYR-TV said that police responded to emergency calls about a gathering in the street along a block on Davis Street in the city after reports of shots being fired. Continue reading...

Brad Bitar who returned copy of The Bounty Trilogy believes it may have been left by someone while visiting his family’s storeMost library users dread the idea of late fees, but one fearless Washington state man has really risked the wrath of librarians by returning a book some 81 years after it was taken out.Brad Bitar returned a copy of The Bounty Trilogy by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall – published in 1932 – to the Aberdeen Timberland Library last week, CNN reported. Continue reading...

The president’s cognitive ability, a conservative media concern, has increasingly become more mainstreamIn 2019, a manipulated video spread through social media platforms showing Joe Biden on stage telling an audience that he “shouldn’t be president”. Biden’s voice had been slowed down, giving the impression he was slurring his words, while footage from a real speech he gave at an Iowa university was edited to cut out context, splice together clips and make it seem like he was calling himself “Slow Joe Biden”.It was a full year before Biden formally became the Democratic nominee for president, but already the narrative that he was in serious cognitive decline was beginning to take shape. Over the course of the 2020 presidential race, a procession of far-right meme-makers, Republican party operatives and Trump campaign officials would suggest Biden was losing it. More deceptively edited videos circulated, Fox News hosts claimed Biden was senile, attack ads ran suggesting he was mentally unfit and Donald Trump tweeted that his opponent had “dementia”. Continue reading...

From Covid to crime, from immigration to cultural issues, the Florida governor is aiming to paint Trump as too liberalDonald Trump is not the most rightwing candidate running for the White House. That is a statement few would have thought possible after the former president’s brand of nativist-populism reshaped the Republican party’But as the Republican primary election for 2024 gathers pace, Trump finds himself eclipsed on the right by Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who is betting that the party’s voters are spoiling for an even more extreme agenda. Continue reading...

The decision to observe Pride did not spark street brawls last year. This time, things were very differentHundreds of furious demonstrators. Police in riot gear. Barricades on the street and helicopters overhead. This was the scene outside a suburban California school board meeting this week, as the board planned to vote on whether the district should officially recognize June as LGBTQ+ pride month.A year ago, the decision to observe Pride at schools in Glendale, a suburb about 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, did not spark street brawls or result in multiple arrests. But this year things were different. Continue reading...

Prejudice abounds in spate of Puerto Ricans being denied services in contiguous US despite being American citizensThey were denied prepaid car rentals, blocked from buying drinks at a grocery, and prohibited from boarding their flight in different parts of the US.All were from Puerto Rico, whose residents have been American citizens since 1917. But all were recently mistaken for international travelers lacking proper identification and denied services for which they had already paid, highlighting the prejudice that people from the largely Spanish-speaking island – and Spanish speakers in general – face in the US. Continue reading...

The blowing up of a Ukrainian dam echoes a traditional cycle of destruction and self-destruction marking the country’s historyBeneath the veneer of Russian military “tactics”, you see the stupid leer of destruction for the sake of it. The Kremlin can’t create, so all that is left is to destroy. Not in some pseudo-glorious self-immolation, the people behind atrocities are petty cowards, but more like a loser smearing their faeces over life. In Russia’s wars the very senselessness seems to be the sense.After the casual mass executions at Bucha; after the bombing of maternity wards in Mariupol; after the laying to waste of whole cities in Donbas; after the children’s torture chambers, the missiles aimed at freezing civilians to death in the dead of winter, we now have the apocalyptic sight of the waters of the vast Dnipro, a river that when you are on it can feel as wide as a sea, bursting through the destroyed dam at Kakhovka. The reservoir held as much water as the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Its destruction has already submerged settlements where more than 40,000 people live. It has already wiped out animal sanctuaries and nature reserves. It will decimate agriculture in the bread basket of Ukraine that feeds so much of the world, most notably in the Middle East and Africa. To Russian genocide add ecocide. Continue reading...

Joseph Dituri, 55, spent a record-breaking time in structure 30ft below surface of Key Largo lagoon to study medical effectsA professor who spent 100 days living and researching underwater has finally resurfaced this weekend.On Friday, Joseph Dituri, a University of South Florida professor and a retired US naval officer, emerged from the depths of a Florida Keys scuba divers’ lodge after he went underwater three months ago. Continue reading...

The former PM’s insistence to ‘Get Brexit Done’ is the biggest historic mistake this country has made in peacetimeAs a master of public manipulation, Boris Johnson has few equals. His resignation has all the characteristics of a disaster turned into an opportunity. For weeks now, an all-party committee of the House of Commons has been crawling over the evidence of his behaviour behind closed doors when the rest of us were locked down. This report appears to have confirmed his worst fears. A suspension from the House of Commons, a recall petition from constituents, a difficult byelection and political humiliation.Most of us would have cowered at the prospect. But with one spectacular coup de théâtre, he was free. The Commons report could hardly recommend a 10-day suspension for an MP who had already gone. The debate would no longer focus on whether he did or did not lie to the Commons. It would become centred on Boris and his future. Continue reading...

Northern Irishman deserved better treatment from PGA Tour but has a tendency to prevail against a backdrop of tumultRory McIlroy could spend half of his life battling misconceptions had he the inclination or the energy. The latest surround the supposed fury the 34-year-old should have over the extraordinary events of recent days, where aghast onlookers have witnessed the PGA and DP World Tours combine with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to ensure – in theory at least – peace in our golfing time. A lesson in recent history would be apposite before McIlroy’s position is considered.The Northern Irishman has cause to be conflicted. He was as stunned by Tuesday’s announcement as everyone bar the handful of individuals who have changed the shape of elite golf for ever. The rest of us required smelling salts. Yet the sense McIlroy was embattled or insistent on continuing war is inaccurate. Continue reading...

Former president, who faces 37 charges related to retention of secret documents, addresses Republican conventions in Georgia and North CarolinaDonald Trump delivered his first public address following the announcement of his federal indictment this week in Columbus, Georgia, on Saturday.The former president took the stage at state Republican conventions in Georgia and North Carolina where he lashed out against the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Biden administration, called his recent indictment “a travesty of justice” and repeated unsupported conspiratorial claims that Joe Biden had stashed secret documents in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington DC. Continue reading...

What if men aren’t lonely in defiance of their status as oppressors – what if they’re lonely because of that status?Last month I travelled to England, a country I had not visited for 13 years, to attend a funeral. When it came time to choose what to read on the long flight, I threw Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice into my bag, mostly on a whim. I’d read it and loved it many years before but why it came with me, I can’t entirely say.The trip was bleak. I sat in galleries by myself. I ate lunch by myself. And I attended the funeral by myself, where the men from my family assembled in awkward clusters, surrounded by each other, but, in an immediately recognisable way, standing alone. Continue reading...

Harvard-educated mathematician waged 17-year bombing campaign from isolated shack in Montana wildernessTheodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died on Saturday. He was 81.Branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI, Kaczynski died at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina, Kristie Breshears, a spokesperson for the federal Bureau of Prisons, told the Associated Press. He was found unresponsive in his cell early on Saturday morning and was pronounced dead around 8am, she said. A cause of death was not immediately known. Continue reading...

Golfer put his career on hold to help his girlfriend cope with cancer and will tee up at the major on Thursday with renewed hope“Dude, it has been crazy.” At this point in 2022, Corey Pereira had no clue of the battles that lay ahead. His key concern surrounded poor form, which would ultimately lead to him losing status on the Korn Ferry Tour, the understudy to the PGA Tour. Golfing dreams lay shattered.“I was struggling with my game,” he says. “I was upset, frustrated. It’s not a good place to be. My first year out there, I got injured and lost my card that way. Last year, I didn’t have an excuse. Golf is about fine lines. I was on one side of that as an amateur, unfortunately the last couple of years I’ve been on the other. I knew I had to get better, step up my work and improve.” Continue reading...