A woman's body has been retrieved from a car that was washed close to the brink of Niagara Falls on the US-Canada border. A coast guard rescuer was lowered from a helicopter to the car and found the body. An investigation has been launched into how the car and its occupant ended up in the Niagara River.
by Joan E Greve in Washington and agency on (#5STJN)
News comes one day after Trump’s former chief of staff indicated he would no longer cooperate with investigatorsThe leaders of the House committee investigating the 6 January Capitol attack have said they have “no choice” but to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress after his lawyer said Tuesday that his client will cease cooperating with the panel.The Democratic chair of the committee, Mississippi congressman Bennie Thompson, released a letter to Meadows’s attorney, George Terwilliger, notifying him of the panel’s plans. Continue reading...
The Empire actor denies he falsified police reports about the alleged racist and homophobic attack in 2019Lawyers delivered their closing arguments on Wednesday in Jussie Smollett’s criminal trial where the former Empire actor is facing charges that he lied to Chicago police about an attack in 2019.Smollett denies the charges. Continue reading...
US will ‘lead by example in tackling the climate crisis,’ says White House, by eliminating greenhouse gases from its activitiesThe US government will be a net zero contributor to the climate crisis by 2050 by slashing the planet-heating emissions from its operations and transitioning to an all-electric fleet of cars and trucks, according to a new executive order signed by Joe Biden.The federal government is the largest land owner, energy consumer and employer in the US and it will “lead by example in tackling the climate crisis”, the White House said, by eliminating greenhouse gases from its activities. Continue reading...
Officers think a man died by suicide using his homemade contraption but his body went undiscovered for two yearsA California man killed himself with a makeshift guillotine in an unusual and macabre case that resulted in the arrest of an alleged squatter who police say tampered with human remains.Police believe Robert Enger built the contraption, which was 20ft in length and dropped a large metal spike down rather than a blade, at his Santa Rosa home as early as 2019, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported. Neighbors told the newspaper that Enger was friendly and an “unbelievable craftsman”, who also struggled with mental health problems for many years.In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org Continue reading...
Prosecutors cast doubt on Kim Potter’s claims she thought she held a Taser: she had years of training but got it ‘dead wrong’The suburban Minneapolis police officer who killed Daunte Wright violated her training and “betrayed a 20-year-old kid” when she shot him with a handgun instead of a Taser during a traffic stop, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.Prosecutor Erin Eldridge began her opening statement at former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter’s manslaughter trial by telling jurors that a police officer’s fundamental duty is to protect the sanctity of life. She also said Potter had received extensive training, including in risks of firing the wrong weapon. Continue reading...
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls out Lauren Boebert on Twitter for posting a picture of her family holding rifles in front of a treeLeftwing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has spoken out about the hypocrisy of gun-wielding Christmas card photos, an emerging trend among several Republic lawmakers who have posted holiday photos showing themselves and their family holding military-style rifles.In a tweet on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez called out far-right congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who had posted a picture of her family, including her small children, holding rifles in front of a Christmas tree. Continue reading...
Vishal Garg admits he failed to show adequate ‘respect and appreciation’ for employees he sackedThe chief executive of a US mortgage company who fired 900 employees on a Zoom call has apologised for failing to show “respect and appreciation” for the staff he sacked.The founder and chief executive of better.com, Vishal Garg, expressed contrition in a message (pdf) posted on his company’s website. Continue reading...
White House says US president voiced ‘deep concerns’ about Ukraine; plus, Steven Spielberg on reimagining West Side StoryGood morning.Yesterday’s virtual summit between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin made little apparent headway in defusing the crisis over Ukraine in the wake of a Russian troop buildup, and instead delegated officials from each country to stay in contact.What did the US say about the meeting? The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said: “The discussion between President Biden and President Putin was direct and straightforward. There was a lot of give and take, there was no finger-wagging. But the president was crystal clear about where the United States stands on all of these issues.”Was Merkel there? Yes, she was watching proceedings from the visitors’ gallery. The outgoing chancellor received a standing ovation from almost all delegates in the last minutes of her tenure.When will the new government take over? The new government is to be announced in parliament at 1.30pm CET today, after which Scholz and the ministers in his cabinet will swear their oaths. Continue reading...
In the United States, testing varies widely by city, county and state. In the UK, tests are free and sent to your home, as it should beOn Monday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, boasted about the Biden administration’s coronavirus testing apparatus. “We’ve quadrupled the size of our testing plan. We’ve cut the cost significantly over the last few months,” Psaki told reporters, noting Americans will now be able to get the costs of tests reimbursed by their private insurers.“Why not make them free and give them out everywhere?” a reporter asked. Continue reading...
My true objective is not to hate my body and not to worship it either. The less we speak about bodies, the betterThe holidays are coming, and I am ready. I finally know what to say when somebody tells me I look great, that I look like I’ve lost weight, that my skin looks good. I will quote Jonah Hill, the actor and producer, who wrote on Instagram, “I know you mean well but I kindly ask that you not comment on my body. Good or bad I want to politely let you know it’s not helpful and doesn’t feel good. Much respect.”Do you think that will work? I’m not sure. This new policy may upset people. They could feel defensive because their intentions are pure. They don’t realize what happens in my head when the subject of my body comes up; the shock of remembering that I have or perhaps simply am a body.Maeve Higgins is a Guardian US columnist and the author of the forthcoming book Tell Everyone on This Train I Love Them Continue reading...
by Nathan Kalman-Lamb, Derek Silva and Johanna Mellis on (#5ST1S)
The NCAA crafted a phrase to describe the unpaid workers who generate billions in revenue every year. But now many of them are fighting backAs the world of college sports finds itself in uncertain times, Danté Stewart is clear about one thing.“Nothing about college athletics suggests that being a student comes first. So, that language needs to be changed,” says Stewart, a former Clemson football player. “The ‘student-athlete’ is always being limited to being a student rather than a worker.” Continue reading...
Overdose crisis that killed over 100,000 Americans in one year is ‘all about fentanyl’, says Roger Crystal of Opiant PharmaceuticalsDeaths from fentanyl will continue to rise and overdoses may be increasingly difficult to battle in the US, said Roger Crystal, who helped develop Narcan nasal spray, an easy-to-use medication that reverses overdoses.The overdose crisis that killed more than 100,000 Americans in one year is “all about fentanyl”, Crystal said – and it’s only going to get worse. Continue reading...
The SpaceX billionaire has found himself immortalised in song by his ex, Grimes. It may be unflattering, but given the kind of insults he often doles out, he’s getting off lightlyElon Musk, it seems, prioritises building spaceships over maintaining relationships. In September, the thrice-divorced billionaire told reporters that his work at SpaceX and Tesla was a big reason why he had split from Grimes, his musician girlfriend. In her latest single, Player of Games, Grimes appears to have confirmed this. “I’m in love with the greatest gamer,” she sings, “but he’ll always love the game more than he loves me … Sail away to the cold expanse of space, even love couldn’t keep you in your place.”The lyrics have prompted headlines about her “shading” Musk with a “spicy dig”, but I reckon the guy got off lightly. She could have been far ruder, particularly considering Musk’s record with dishing out insults. Continue reading...
Strike, which began in October, expected to continue as workers seek significant raises, saying they work 80-hour weeksKellogg has said it is permanently replacing 1,400 workers who have been on strike since October, a decision that comes as the majority of its cereal plant workforce rejected a deal that would have provided 3% raises.The Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) International Union said an overwhelming majority of workers had voted down the five-year offer. Continue reading...
by Alexandra Villarreal in Austin and Joanna Walters on (#5SRQN)
Settlement comes after judges accused president of ‘doubling down’ on Trump’s positionIn a stunning victory, US immigration judges have settled a tense dispute with Joe Biden’s administration over their effort to restore union rights taken away from them under Donald Trump.Biden’s Department of Justice agreed on Tuesday to recognize the union as the exclusive representative for the nation’s immigration judges and follow the terms of their collective bargaining agreement, at least for the time being. Continue reading...
Empire actor grew increasingly irritated during exchange with prosecutor during cross-examination on witness standJussie Smollett returned to the witness stand on Tuesday at his trial in Chicago, where the former Empire actor said that claims he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself were “100% false”.Prosecutors continued cross-examining the 39-year-old, who despite appearing calm through several hours of testimony on Monday, grew increasingly irritated during his exchanges with special prosecutor Dan Webb on Tuesday. Continue reading...
City council votes to donate statue at center of Unite the Right rally to African American heritage centerThe statue of the Confederate general Robert E Lee that drew deadly protests to Charlottesville, Virginia, will be melted down and turned into a new piece of public art by an African American heritage center.The city council decided how to dispose of the now removed statue at the center of the Unite the Right rally in 2017 during a meeting that stretched into Tuesday morning, the Daily Progress reported. Continue reading...
We got out a ruler and visited New York City bagel establishments to see whether they are overdoing the amount of cream cheese on each bagelIn terms of quintessential New York experiences, ordering a bagel with cream cheese (not toasted, particularly if the bagel is fresh out of the oven) tops the list. But now, bagel shop patrons are beginning to have problems securing one half of their orders.A cream cheese shortage is throwing New York City’s bagel shops across all five boroughs into a frenzy, leaving some of the city’s top bagel spots, including Tompkins Square Bagels in the East Village and Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side, with only enough schmear in stock to last a few days, the New York Times reports. The Upper West Side’s Zabar’s has enough cream cheese to last only the next 10 days. Continue reading...
How many on this list have you been butchering?“Cheugy” is apparently a lot to chew on, while the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce have something in common – broadcasters butcher their names.Virtually everyone, meanwhile, is having trouble with “Omicron”.Cheugy (CHOO-gee): A trendy term popularized by Gen Z and used to mock an outdated and unfashionable aesthetic typically associated with millennials, such as “Live, Laugh, Love” signs.Dalgona (tal-goh-NAH): A Korean treat made with melted sugar and baking soda, popularized in Netflix’s Squid Game. (Touma notes that some speakers seem to produce a “K” instead of the “G” in the middle syllable.)Dogecoin (DOHJ-coin): A divisive cryptocurrency that began somewhat ironically before being popularized by Elon Musk, causing its value to dramatically increase.Eilish (EYE-lish): The singer Billie Eilish, whose album Happier Than Ever was released this year to critical acclaim and nominated for the Grammy Awards’ Album of the Year.Ethereum (ih-THEE-ree-um): Another cryptocurrency that skyrocketed in value this year amid the decentralized-currency boom.Glasgow (GLAHZ-go): The host city of November’s United Nations Climate Conference was mispronounced by both President Joe Biden and former president Barack Obama.Kelce (KELs): The Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce revealed on radio this year that his teammates and the media had been mispronouncing his name for years.Omicron (AH-muh-kraan / OH-mee-kraan): A new variant of Covid-19 first identified in November, named in keeping with the World Health Organization’s system of identifying variants with Greek letters. (Touma notes it’s pronounced differently in the US and the UK.) Continue reading...
‘Truth Social’ purportedly plans to challenge Twitter and Facebook, platforms that have banned or curbed the ex-presidentDonald Trump’s plan to launch “Truth Social”, a special purpose acquisitions backed social media company, early next year may have hit a roadblock after US regulators issued a request for information on the deal on Monday.The request from the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for information from Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), a blank-check SPAC that is set to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group, comes as a powerful Republican congressman, Devin Nunes, announced he was stepping out of politics to join the Trump media venture as CEO. Continue reading...
A wave of shoplifting crimes are attracting front-page news, while the $15bn stolen by corporations from workers receives no coverage at allIn the United States, only certain types of theft are newsworthy.For example, on 14 June 2021, a reporter for KGO-TV in San Francisco tweeted a cellphone video of a man in Walgreens filling a garbage bag with stolen items and riding his bicycle out of the store. According to San Francisco’s crime database, the value of the merchandise stolen in the incident was between $200 and $950.Judd Legum is the founder and author of Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism, where this post originally appeared Continue reading...
This is not simply a rich versus poor countries divide: there are huge emitters in poor countries, and low emitters in rich countriesLet’s face it: our chances of staying under a 2C increase in global temperature are not looking good. If we continue business as usual, the world is on track to heat up by 3C at least by the end of this century. At current global emissions rates, the carbon budget that we have left if we are to stay under 1.5C will be depleted in six years. The paradox is that, globally, popular support for climate action has never been so strong. According to a recent United Nations poll, the vast majority of people around the world sees climate change as a global emergency. So, what have we got wrong so far?There is a fundamental problem in contemporary discussion of climate policy: it rarely acknowledges inequality. Poorer households, which are low CO2 emitters, rightly anticipate that climate policies will limit their purchasing power. In return, policymakers fear a political backlash should they demand faster climate action. The problem with this vicious circle is that it has lost us a lot of time. The good news is that we can end it.Lucas Chancel is co-director of the World Inequality Lab, an affiliate professor at Sciences Po, and the author of Unsustainable Inequalities: Social Justice and the Environment Continue reading...
Michael Steinhardt ‘displayed rapacious appetite for plundered artefacts’, says district attorneyAn American hedge-fund billionaire has surrendered 180 looted and illegally smuggled antiquities valued at $70m and been handed an unprecedented lifetime ban on acquiring other relics as part of an agreement with the Manhattan district attorney’s office.Michael Steinhardt, one of the world’s largest collectors of ancient art, “displayed a rapacious appetite for plundered artefacts”, the district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr said on Monday. Continue reading...
Walter ‘Blackie’ Wetzel created the famous symbol 50 years ago. His son is on a quest to use it to help his communityDon Wetzel traveled all the way to the US capital from Montana last month to meet with politicians and to take in a Washington Football Team home game. As he moved through the crowd outside FedEx Field, he could not help but notice that more than half the fans were wearing something with the team’s former logo.That logo, the profile of a Native American trimmed with a circle of life and two eagle feathers, was especially familiar to Don Wetzel because his late father, Walter S “Blackie” Wetzel, had designed it 50 years ago, then gave it to Jack Kent Cooke, the team’s owner. The logo stayed on Washington’s helmets until last year, when the team’s racist nickname was ditched.The Washington Football Team declined to comment for this article. Continue reading...
The chief executive of a US mortgage company has drawn criticism after he reportedly fired 900 employees on a Zoom call. 'I come to you with not great news,' Vishal Garg, CEO of Better.com, is heard saying at the beginning of the video call made on Wednesday. Footage of the call was widely circulated on social media Continue reading...
Biden enters talks with Putin armed with a wide range of economic measures at his disposal – what are those options?Joe Biden goes into Tuesday’s virtual summit with Vladimir Putin, after days of close consultation with European allies on a joint response to an invasion of Ukraine, armed with a wide range of punitive measures at his disposal.There would be increased military support for Kyiv and a bolstering of Nato’s eastern flank, but the primary focus would be on sanctions. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said they would include “high-impact economic measures that we’ve refrained from taking in the past”. Continue reading...
Areas that voted for Trump by at least 60% in November 2020 had 2.7 times the death rate than counties that voted heavily for BidenPeople in counties that voted for Donald Trump are nearly three times more likely to die from Covid-19 than those who live in counties that voted for Joe Biden, according to a new study by National Public Radio.NPR examined deaths per 100,000 people in about 3,000 counties across the US since May 2021. According to NPR, 1 May was chosen as the start date as it is roughly the time when vaccines became universally available to adults. Continue reading...
Vishal Garg told the Better.com staff they were ‘part of the unlucky group’ that would be terminated ‘immediately’The chief executive of a US mortgage company has drawn criticism after he reportedly fired 900 employees on a Zoom call.“I come to you with not great news,” Vishal Garg, CEO of Better.com, is heard saying at the beginning of the video call made on Wednesday last week. Footage of the call was widely circulated on social media. Continue reading...
Owners of Hilda and Jesse Restaurant say they ‘made a mistake’ after saying weapons made people uncomfortableThe owners of a San Francisco restaurant have apologized for denying service to three police officers over the weekend because their weapons made their staff “uncomfortable”.The owners of Hilda and Jesse Restaurant apologized in a social media post published on Sunday following an outcry and calls to boycott the eatery because the officers were asked to leave shortly after they sat down Friday. Continue reading...
California congressman has claimed without evidence that social media companies seek to censor RepublicansDevin Nunes, the California congressman and close ally of Donald Trump, will be retiring from the US House of Representatives next year to join Trump’s new social media venture.The Republican congressman, who represents a rural California district, announced his retirement from the House on Monday, writing in a letter to constituents that he was leaving his position to pursue a “new opportunity to fight for the most important issues I believe in”. Continue reading...
Ex-Empire actor testifies over charges, which he denies, that he lied to Chicago police about a racist, anti-gay attack in 2019Jussie Smollett took the witness stand at his trial on Monday and told the jury that he wrote a $3,500 check to a friend for nutrition and training advice, not as payment for the man and his brother to help him stage a racist, anti-gay attack on himself.The former Empire TV show actor testified over charges, which he denies, that he lied to Chicago police about an attack in 2019. Continue reading...
Redistricting proposals violate section 2 by denying rights to Latino and Black voters, attorney general Merrick Garland sayslThe US Department of Justice is suing Texas over its new electoral maps, saying the plans violate the Voting Rights Act by making it more difficult for Black and Latino voters to elect their preferred candidates.Minority voters accounted for 95% of population growth in Texas over the last decade but there are no new majority-minority districts in the new plans. Texas gained two new seats in Congress because of its high population growth over the last decade. Continue reading...
Top financial regulators are investigating $1.25bn deal to float his new social media venture on the stock marketWall Street’s top financial regulators are investigating Donald Trump’s $1.25bn deal to float his new social media venture on the stock market, a filing showed on Monday.Digital World Acquisition Corporation, the blank-check acquisition firm that agreed to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (TMTG), disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) were looking at the deal. Continue reading...
Thomas Massie’s incendiary picture, days after a deadly school shooting in Michigan, seemed carefully calibrated to provokeIt is a festive family photo with seven broad smiles and a Christmas tree. But one other detail sets it apart: each member of the Massie family is brandishing a machine gun or military-style rifle.The photo was tweeted last week by Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, with the caption: “Merry Christmas! PS: Santa, please bring ammo.” Continue reading...
Analysis: furore continues over ‘Christmas card’ by US Congressman of group holding military weaponsIt is the Christmas card that has sent shockwaves across the world – and provided a chilling reminder of the size and type of weapons that are perfectly legal to own and carry in large parts of the US.An analysis by the Guardian indicates the guns in the photograph published by the Republican congressman Thomas Massie are military grade and – in some cases – similar to those used in recent notorious deadly incidents. Continue reading...
El Paso sheriff’s office condemned for posting image so soon after the deadliest US high school shooting this yearA sheriff’s office in Colorado faced outrage after it posted a picture of a man dressed as Santa Claus applying for permit to carry a concealed handgun.“Guess who came in to receive his concealed handgun permit today?” the El Paso county sheriff’s office tweeted on Friday, adding a Santa Claus emoji. Continue reading...
New rules will take effect on 27 December while vaccinations are already required for city employeesAll private employers in New York City will have to require workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, the mayor announced on Monday, imposing one of the most aggressive vaccine rules in the nation.The move by Bill de Blasio comes as cases are climbing again in the US and the worrisome Omicron variant is gaining a toehold in New York and elsewhere. Continue reading...
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