US news | The Guardian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

From unsolicited offers of sperm to procreation freaks', our quest for someone just right has certainly been an eye-openerHi, do you need sperm? I have a supply ;) When do you want to meet?" This isn't a message from somewhere deep within my hidden requests folder on Instagram. This seedy correspondence - in the most literal sense - is just one example of the kinds of messages my partner and I have been receiving over the past year in our search to find a couple or single person to co-parent with.For us, the ideal parenting setup would consist of three or four of us sharing responsibility for a child (the others involved would also be responsible for providing the sperm). The way we see it, why not use the implicit obstacles we face as a same-sex couple to become parents in a way that works for us and redefines the family unit completely?Eleanor Margolis is a columnist for the i newspaper and DivaDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fleeing violence at home, Aura surrendered to US authorities. She aims to fulfill a promise to her daughterAura pointed at the corner of her left eye, where a scar, she said, reminded her of why she had left the Colombian coastal region of Cordoba seven months ago. Her ex-boyfriend, a local police officer, had beaten her and threatened to kill her if she reported him to the authorities, she said. Fearing for her life, the 31-year-old decided to embark on a more than 2,000-mile-long journey north to a country she considered to be the safest in the world.I told my eldest daughter I was leaving for the US," said Aura, whose last name the Guardian is withholding due to concerns for the safety of her family in Colombia. But I promised her that I will find a job and provide her an education." Continue reading...

City's entire five-officer police force seize computers, cellphones and reporting materials from Marion County RecordLocal police in Marion, Kansas, conducted a raid on the offices of a local newspaper on Friday as well as the homes of the publication's publishers and reporters.Eric Meyer, the owner and publisher of the Marion County Record, told the Kansas Reflector that the city's entire five-officer police force and two sheriff's deputies conducted the raid, which included the seizure of computers, cellphones and reporting materials. Continue reading...

Residents of the Hawaiian island of Maui made desperate escapes from oncoming flames, some on foot, as wildfires raced toward their homes on Tuesday. Ella Tacderan, whose family home was in Lahaina, a town in the west of the island that was almost entirely wiped out, describes her experience of the devastation

Fast & Furious actor claims staffers at hardware store discriminated against him and two of his workersThe US actor and singer Tyrese Gibson is demanding more than $1m from Home Depot after he says staffers at one of the American hardware giant's stores racially discriminated against him and two of his workers.Gibson's lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, recounts how he and two men who regularly provide construction services for the Fast & Furious actor went to a Home Depot in West Hills, California, on 11 February to buy some materials for a building project at the entertainer's home. Continue reading...

Damien Pickett, who is Black, describes being attacked by white boaters after attempting to move their pontoon boatAn Alabama boat co-captain was hanging on for dear life" as men punched and tackled him on the riverfront of the state's capital city, he told police after video of the brawl circulated widely online.Damein Pickett, a crew member of the Harriott II in Montgomery, described the brawl in a handwritten statement to authorities included in court documents, saying he was attacked after moving a pontoon boat a few feet so the city-owned riverboat could dock. Continue reading...

Teen rapper Lil Tay returned to the spotlight after five years with a false death announcement - did she really want to be famous at such a young age?As it turns out, Lil Tay is not dead. Which is great, anyone who isn't extremely young or Extremely Online, might respond, but I had no idea this person was alive in the first place. What on earth is a Lil Tay? Continue reading...

As California became the frontier of leisure" in the early 1900s, Black Americans established recreational sites along the oceanfront, building thriving communities that helped shape the culture of the Golden State. Historian Dr Alison Rose Jefferson has collected archival photos from the Jim Crow era that bring to life the stories of African Americans who settled by the beach, creating popular gathering places that challenged white supremacy.

Few think the former VP can win the Republican nomination. One analyst says he may only want to rehabilitate his imageMike Pence and wife Karen strolled through the Iowa state fair, their little fingers locked together, as soap bubbles drifted by and chairlifts trundled overhead. The couple donned red aprons - his said Vice President Mike Pence" - and flipped pork chops on a giant grill while smiling for photographers.Then, with a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead and settling on his cheek on a hot August day, Pence told reporters that he was the most qualified candidate" and most consistent conservative in the field" for the Republican nomination for US president in 2024. Continue reading...

Case of Zi Alan Cheng, accused of sexual abuse and rape, one of many that speak to institutional failures, advocates sayWhen prosecutors last week announced a litany of sexual crime charges against the New York City doctor Zhi Alan Cheng, their allegations presented a shocking description of apparent serial predation.Cheng, a gastroenterologist at New York-Presbyterian-Queens hospital, stands accused of sexually abusing three patients at the medical center - and raping three other women in his apartment. Continue reading...

Sackler family members had been granted immunity from civil claims via $6bn settlement but activists hope that could changeActivists are celebrating a US supreme court decision to review Purdue Pharma's controversial $6bn settlement of opioid lawsuits for bringing a sense of optimism to an otherwise bleak situation".We've been saying that this is a misuse of the bankruptcy court, and [that] the Sacklers have been using it as defense because they were the ones that put Purdue into bankruptcy," says Mike Quinn, a New York lawyer who represents Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (Pain), an organization that has questioned if some members of the Sackler family could be liable for the prescription opioid crisis that ramped up in the US in the early 2000s. Continue reading...

US footballers have slowly but surely broken down barriers in Europe - gaining places in top leagues, becoming fan favorites, even winning the Champions League. Here are 10 of the bestIn the early 1990s, two phenomena coincided. US soccer players, having emerged from 40 years in the World Cup wilderness, started to find steady work in Europe. There was also this new-fangled thing called the World Wide Web, which allowed the scattered pockets of soccer supporters in the US to find each other and share information about the exploits of the latest American soccer saviors lurking somewhere in the Luxembourg fifth division or perhaps in Germany's Oberliga.Since then, US soccer players have slowly but surely broken down barriers in Europe -- gaining places in top leagues, becoming supporters' favorites, and even winning the Champions League. From Fulham to ... well, mostly Fulham, but also Borussia Dortmund, Everton, Tottenham, Rangers, Hannover and Chelsea ... it's where a handful of players have made indelible impressions. Continue reading...

The towering Spaniard won titles with Kobe Bryant and helped pave the way for today's glut of international stars. But he'll be remembered just as much for his healthy perspectivePeople are complex, multi-layered and nuanced. It's why the longstanding cliche that likens human beings to onions holds up so well. But, occasionally, an anecdote can succinctly capture the essence of a person. I found this to be the case for one such story about basketball legend Pau Gasol. Barcelona, Spain, in the year 1991: an 11-year-old Gasol, the son of a doctor mother and nurse father, and an avid NBA fan from afar, watches with the rest of the world as his hero Magic Johnson announces that he is HIV-positive - a diagnosis which, at the time, is perceived as a death sentence. In that moment, a moved Gasol makes up his mind to follow his parents into the medical profession and seek out a cure for Aids.Gasol, the eventual two-time NBA champion, six-time All Star and three-time Olympic medalist who is set to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday night, clearly ended up on a path that led him away from professional healthcare (although he did complete a year of medical school before he was forced to choose between the two). But that glimpse into a moment from his childhood tells you everything about who Gasol is, at his core. Continue reading...

Lacking policies or ideas, today's Tories sow division and spread hopelessness in a bid to disrupt the unity of progressive votersAs Rishi Sunak transforms himself into the driver's champion and rightwingers savage net zero targets as a fascist plot of the wokerati, get ready for the thing you thought impossible: a general election even stupider than the last. Essentially, it's looking as if it will be a referendum on whether climate change exists. What better time for such a dumb question, than right when we can all see it?It won't always be expressed so simply. Sometimes it will be: Who will stand up for the humble driver of diesel cars, already squeezed in so many directions, in ways that I, not even quite a billionaire, can totally understand?" Other times it will be: What can we do about Just Stop Oil protesters, who pose an existential threat to society with their vile and undemocratic tactics?" Probably only at the Faragist fringes will people openly repudiate the goal of net zero, while the Conservative core picks more contestable battles on low-traffic neighbourhoods, oil and gas licences, heat pumps.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Democrats make demand in letter to attorney general Merrick Garland and condemn judge's blatant disregard for judicial ethics'Five House Democrats led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York wrote to the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, to demand a federal investigation of the conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, over his acceptance of undeclared gifts from billionaire rightwing donors.We write to urge the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into ... Clarence Thomas for consistently failing to report significant gifts he received from Harlan Crow and other billionaires for nearly two decades in defiance of his duty under federal law," the Democrats said. Continue reading...

Three days later, Maui is mourning loss of life and land, with governor Josh Green warning there will be more fatalitiesThe loss of life from the wildfires that have ravaged Maui rose to 67 on Friday as firefighting crews continue to fight the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii's history.Authorities confirmed 12 more fatalities as of Friday afternoon, bringing the total above the 61 confirmed deaths from a tsunami in Hilo in 1960. Continue reading...

From Venezuela, the child died at a local Illinois hospital on Thursday evening after showing signs of illnessA three-year-old girl from Venezuela being transported to Chicago from Texas by bus with other migrants died at a local Illinois hospital after showing signs of illness, the Texas department of emergency management said on Friday.Once the child presented with health concerns, the bus pulled over and security personnel on board called 9-1-1 for emergency attention," the TDEM said in a written statement. Continue reading...