In June, the US supreme court upheld a decision ordering Alabama to redraw its congressional map - but state Republicans ignored the mandateJust a few months ago, the US supreme court issued one of its most surprising rulings in recent memory.In a 5-4 decision in Allen v Milligan, the court said Alabama's congressional map violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act because it diluted the influence of Black voters, who make up about a quarter of the state's population, but comprise a majority in just one of Alabama's congressional districts. The justices upheld a lower court's decision ordering Alabama to redraw its map to include two districts in which Black voters either comprise a voting-age majority or something quite close to it". Continue reading...

With no military breakthroughs and a US election looming, the west needs to unite around an achievable goal for the conflict

New law says prosecutors who adopt policy of refusing to go after people for violating abortion bans constitutes official misconduct'After the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, district attorneys from major counties in Texas vowed not to vigorously prosecute people under the state's anti-abortion laws.Now, Texas has a plan to punish them if they don't fall in line. Continue reading...

Hundreds of new state laws come into effect on 1 September, including attacking trans rights, further limiting abortion and pushing back climate effortsOn Friday, the Republican-controlled legislature in Texas will dump an avalanche of virulent new laws on the state's 30 million residents, cementing its reputation as a hotbed of the far-right turmoil that is sweeping America.Hundreds of laws will come into effect as the product of the legislative session that Texas holds every two years. Among them are a number of highly controversial targeted bills that will have a seismic impact on some of the most vulnerable Texan communities. Continue reading...

The former MP's quest to break the public link with her ancestors is misguided. Better to accept our legacy and work for changeThe sins of the fathers," according to a stinging verse in the Bible's Book of Exodus, shall be visited upon the children, even unto the third or fourth generation." Is that remotely fair? Can we - should we - be held responsible for crimes committed by our ancestors? The question underpins Antoinette Sandbach's protest at her outing as a descendant of Samuel Sandbach, a 19th-century mayor of Liverpool who amassed a fortune through enslavement of African people, and from compensation payments at the end of British slavery in the 1830s.Sandbach, a former Tory MP, has threatened to sue Cambridge University over the work of the historian Malik Al Nasir, who has named her in his research on British enslavement in what is now Guyana, where he has heritage. Sandbach has said she is appalled by the actions of her ancestors, and that she is supportive of Al Nasir's work - but there is no public interest in identifying her as a descendent of Samuel Sandbach, who died in 1851. This is about a right to privacy, she contends - the right not to be held publicly accountable for acts in which she played no part.Alex Renton is author of Blood Legacy: Reckoning with a Family's Story of Slavery (Canongate)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...

How did a volleyball team representing a public research university in a prairie state attract 92,003 fans to set the global attendance record for women's sports? It's a long storyMemorial Stadium went dark, the hum and strum of Sirius by the Alan Parsons Project started and the capacity crowd turned to the stadium's north end. Every University of Nebraska football home game starts this way. Fans clap as the stadium's huge videoboard shows the team's approach from the locker room and their entrance on to the field. The Tunnel Walk is one of college football's signature traditions. And Nebraska junior Lexi Rodriguez wanted to soak in the moment.Rodriguez, a libero on the Nebraska women's volleyball team, walked alongside head coach John Cook and teammate Merritt Beason. They were enveloped by the crowd's roar. Beason continued her steely gaze. A smirk emerged on Cook's face. Rodriguez grinned from ear to ear. She and the Cornhuskers knew they'd make history on Wednesday night. She just wanted to take a moment to enjoy it. The gates finally opened and she led the Huskers on to the court. Continue reading...

As the new season approaches we look at the first-year players who could make a significant impact for their teamsAre you ready? The Colts are. We haven't seen a quarterback this dynamic enter the league since Cam Newton. Richardson can run past players, through them, or hurl the ball 60 yards downfield. Continue reading...

Joseph Biggs, who played leading role on January 6, gets 17 years in prison and former chapter leader Zachary Rehl 15 yearsTwo former leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group have each been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for spearheading an attack on the US Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.The 17-year prison term for Joseph Biggs, a Proud Boys organizer, and 15-year sentence for Zachary Rehl, a leader of the group, were the second and third longest sentences handed down yet over the 6 January 2021 attack. Continue reading...

Inter Miami are unbeaten since the Argentinian joined them in July. Does that say more about the World Cup winner or the league he now plays in?Among the rank outsiders to win MLS Cup as the season dawned, Inter Miami justified the doubts with six wins and a league-worst 14 losses in their first 23 games.After Wednesday's goalless draw with Nashville, Miami are 10 points adrift of the Eastern Conference playoff places with 10 games to play. Yet some bookmakers now rate Gerardo Martino's side among the favorites to take the title in December. Continue reading...

Billionaire Leon Cooperman, who backed Giuliani's 2008 White House bid, says he won't help with legal fees - and he's not aloneAs he attempts to meet mounting legal fees incurred in large part through his work for Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani will reportedly not get a nickel" from one billionaire who backed his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination - or, apparently, much from many others previously big donors.I wouldn't give him a nickel," the investor Leon Cooperman told CNBC. I'm very negative on Donald Trump. It's an American tragedy. [Rudy] was America's mayor'. He did a great job. And like everybody else who gets involved with Trump, it turns to shit." Continue reading...

Tami Manis wins Guinness world record for her 5ft 8in mullet after going 33 years without a haircutWhat does one get by going 33 years without a haircut? Tennessee's Tami Manis knows - the world record for longest mullet on a female.Manis, 58, spoke on Thursday about her path to clinching what is arguably one of the most unusual marks maintained by Guinness world records. In an interview published by the organization known for curating a database of more than 40,000 world records, she revealed how the music video for the 1985 song Voices Carry by the rock band Til Tuesday inspired her to begin growing her hair particularly long in the back. Continue reading...

The mayor wants to build a new international home for the sport. But local players and Bronx residents aren't happy with the planIn Bangalore, Ajith Shetty's life revolved around cricket. Playing since childhood, he'd captained his college squad, then company teams after starting a career in IT. But in suburban Long Island, where he moved for a job 17 years ago, mentioning the sport only drew blank stares. To cope with the isolation, he and a handful of other immigrants would play makeshift games in the dirt of baseball diamonds.Then he discovered New York City's sprawling Van Cortlandt Park. Amid the cacophony of the Bronx, it was a tree-ringed oasis, blessed with rare cricket fields. But the grounds were cramped and uneven, sending the ball bouncing awry. To create a proper surface, Shetty and other players had to roll out massive mats, which required six men to lug to and from a distant parking lot every game - a brutal hour-long round trip. Continue reading...

Lawyers for US Virgin Islands claimed the bank reported the transactions as suspicious to the treasury following his deathA lawyer for the US Virgin Islands said on Thursday that JPMorgan Chase told US authorities it processed more than $1bn for Jeffrey Epstein over 16 years.JPMorgan reported the transactions as suspicious to the US treasury department following Epstein's suicide in 2019, Mimi Liu, a lawyer for the territory, said at a hearing concerning its lawsuit against the largest US bank. Continue reading...

Meanwhile, a federal judge temporarily blocks law that drag show artists fear will be used to shut them down or put them in jailThe Texas supreme court allowed a new state law banning gender-affirming care for minors to take effect on Friday, setting up Texas to be the most populous state with such restrictions on transgender children.Legal advocates who sued on behalf of the families and doctors, including the American Civil Liberties Union, called the law and the high court's decision Thursday cruel". Continue reading...

Tropical storm moves into Atlantic but torrential rain and inland flooding still likely in North Carolina, officials warnResidents across the south-eastern US were beginning the clean-up from Hurricane Idalia on Thursday as Joe Biden signed a major disaster declaration for Florida and the weakened but still powerful tropical storm dumped torrents of rain in North Carolina and Virginia.The worst of the devastation was evident along Florida's Gulf coast, where Idalia tore ashore on Wednesday as a category 3 hurricane with gusts of 160mph and sent a surge of seawater of up to 16ft far inland through vulnerable low-lying communities. Continue reading...

Andy Murray was comfortably beaten by Grigor Dimitrov, while Jack Draper, Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie kept British hopes aliveA fine backhand cross-court gives Draper a point for a double-break; Hurkacz responds with a service winner then closes out to get on the board at 1-2 down.Draper consolidates for 2-0 and Zverev breaks Altmaier off the bat. Wang, meanwhile, breaks Boulter for 2-1 and looks to have the greater ability to hit winners. Continue reading...

Over 50,000 customers in Carolinas still without power while disaster declaration provides Florida with federal resourcesCleanup is happening in several counties across Georgia following destruction after Hurricane Idalia.Here's a video from Weather Nation showing debris after Hurricane Idalia in Coffee County, Georgia:For Evelyn and Thomas Rhodes, the sign they had to flee their home was when a bed started to float off the floor.Ashley Nicole Nguyen of Pasco county, Florida has now started a GoFundMe to try to support the Rhodeses - her grandmother and uncle - who escaped the rising waters from Hurricane Idalia unharmed but have lost many of their possessions. Continue reading...

Police in Norfolk, Nebraska were surprised when they began receiving calls saying that a bull had been seen riding shotgun in a car. Lee Meyer, the driver, was then stopped and police questioned him about the large animal alongside him. The bull is a watusi, an African breed, famous for having large horns. 'The officer wrote him some warnings,' Capt Chad Reiman told News Channel North-East Nebraska, a local TV station. 'There were some citable issues with that situation. The officer chose to write him a warning and asked him to take the animal back home and leave the city'

Disclosures detail flights and stays with Harlan Crow as Democrats vow to investigate scandal in which this court is enmired'The conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas faced further controversy on Thursday after the release of his financial disclosure form for 2022 provided evidence of more flights and stays with Harlan Crow, a Republican mega-donor.Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island and judiciary committee member, called the form a late-come effort at clean-up on aisle three'" which would not deter us from fully investigating the massive, secret, rightwing billionaire influence in which this court is enmired". Continue reading...

As the city's increasing homeless community battles debilitating heat-related illnesses and inhospitable streets, outreach workers sound the alarmOn a scorching July day, Athena Sims lay down for a nap on the ground near the tent where she lives, by an overpass in downtown New Orleans. Sims, 46, fell asleep in the shade. When she woke up hours later, she was in the blazing sun, with a splitting headache and a social service worker standing over her, shaking her, telling her she needed to go to the emergency room.You're going to possibly die of heatstroke," she recalls the man telling her. Continue reading...

Trump and his allies made an aggressive push to invalidate the election results in Georgia as part of an effort to overturn results

Some residents say they will have nothing to go back to' after hurricane caused extensive damageFor Evelyn and Thomas Rhodes, the sign they had to flee their home was when a bed started to float off the floor.Ashley Nicole Nguyen of Pasco county, Florida has now started a GoFundMe to try to support the Rhodeses - her grandmother and uncle - who escaped the rising waters from Hurricane Idalia unharmed but have lost many of their possessions. Continue reading...

Voters won a huge battle with the oil industry - proving that we can't save the planet without robust democracyDays ago, voters in Ecuador approved a total ban on oil drilling in protected land in the Amazon, a 2.5m-acre tract in the Yasuni national park that might be the world's most important biodiversity hotspot. The area is a Unesco-designated biosphere reserve and home to two non-contacted Indigenous groups. This could be a major step forward for the entire global climate justice movement in ways that are not yet apparent.This vote is important not only for Ecuador and for the Indigenous peoples in the Yasuni, who now have hope of living in peace in perpetuity. It is also a potential model for how we can use the democratic process around the world to help slow or even stop the expansion of fossil fuels to the benefit of billions of people. Continue reading...

James Cleverly's barely there pressure on China is hardly surprising, given the companies and even universities playing a role in human rights abusesThis week, yet another foreign secretary has justified engaging with the perpetrators of genocide, on the basis that going to Beijing would allow them to raise concerns in private. According to an official statement, James Cleverly made clear the UK's strength of feeling about the mass incarceration of the Uyghur people" in his bilateral meetings with senior Chinese government figures. Once again, this has shown China that when it comes to the mass contravention of human rights, the UK government has nothing but words in response and fails to stand up for its values.Shocking as this is, it is hardly surprising, given not just the failure to protect the Uyghur people from genocide but the concerted efforts to deny the facts and a wilful ignorance across politics, business and civil society in the UK.Rahima Mahmut is executive director of Stop Uyghur Genocide and UK director of the World Uyghur Congress Continue reading...

Nebraska University's volleyball team laid claim to the world record for largest attendance at a women's sporting event, with 92,003 filling Memorial Stadium for their volleyball match against Omaha in Lincoln. The previous attendance record was 91,648, set for a Women's Champions League football match when Barcelona defeated rivals Real Madrid 5-2 at the Camp Nou in 2022. Memorial Stadium's official capacity is just over 85,000 for football, but that number was higher for this event because there were seats and standing room on the field.

South Carolina lawyer, 55, disciplined by prison after giving interviews for new TV documentary on his caseThe convicted double murderer Alex Murdaugh has lost his phone privileges and his prison tablet computer after his lawyer recorded him reading his journal entries on a call for a documentary about his case, South Carolina corrections department officials said.Prison policy prohibits inmates from talking to the media, a state prisons spokeswoman, Chrysti Shain, said in a statement. The call was for a Fox Nation documentary series called The Fall of the House of Murdaugh that is set to air on Thursday. Continue reading...

Converted vehicle stopped in Nebraska with gigantic-horned Watusi bovine called Howdy Doody as passengerPolice in Norfolk, Nebraska, responding to calls of a man driving with a cow" in his car were stunned to discover a local man with a huge Watusi bull riding shotgun in his vehicle.The officers received a call referencing a car driving into town that had a cow in it," Capt Chad Reiman told News Channel North-East Nebraska. They thought that it was going to be a calf, something small or something that would actually fit inside the vehicle." Continue reading...

Lawyers for Letitia James, the New York attorney general, claim he then used that blown-up value for business deals. Plus, how athletes manage to train during scorching heatGood morning.In 2014, a year before entering politics and two years before winning the White House, Donald Trump inflated his net worth by as much as $2.2bn, lawyers for the attorney general of New York state alleged in court filings recently made public.When is the trial due to start? The trial is set for October. James's lawyers argued no trial was needed to determine that defendants presented grossly and materially inflated asset values ... and then used those ... repeatedly in business transactions to defraud banks and insurers". James is seeking $250m and for Trump and his sons to be disqualified from running businesses in New York.How has Trump responded? He did not immediately comment on the New York estimation of how much he inflated his net worth. But he has regularly accused James of being motivated by politics, including in a failed countersuit. Lawyers for Trump were due to file a response.Has anyone died? Yes. The hurricane turned deadly, officials said, when a 40-year-old motorist in Pasco county, north of Tampa, lost control of his vehicle and collided with a tree. Another 59-year-old man died further north in Gainesville, also while driving. Continue reading...

The descendants of Ann Joice, separated as part of the sale, are at the center of a vital new work of history and journalismIn 1676, a Black teenager named Ann Joice arrived on the shores of Maryland with hopes of a new life.She had traveled to the recently founded colony from England, destined for indentured servitude, and worked as a maid for the ruling Calvert family, who for three generations had presided over Maryland as a religious haven for Catholics fleeing persecution in England. Continue reading...

The foreign minister set off with the aim of both standing up for our values' and securing profitable trade. He failed at bothLike a proselytising lay minister naively intent on calming troubled waters, foreign secretary James Cleverly flew into Beijing this week on a whinge and a prayer. The whinge comprised a long list of British grievances, ranging from China's attitude to Ukraine and Hong Kong to its spying on UK officials and sanctions on MPs.Cleverly's prayer was that his hosts would not realise that, when it comes to pursuing a coherent China policy based on deliberate, principled choices backed by political will and economic muscle, rudderless Britain is all at sea - but that Chinese leaders would kindly take notice of what he had to say anyway.Simon Tisdall is a foreign affairs commentator. He has been a foreign leader writer, foreign editor and US editor for the Guardian Continue reading...

The New England coach is the greatest football mind of the 21st-century. But his fortunes have been on the decline since Tom Brady left FoxboroughAs he lifted the Vince Lombardi trophy after his New England Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams at Super Bowl LIII in 2019, it seemed unthinkable that Bill Belichick, the most successful coach in NFL history, could ever enter a season with his job on the line.It was the culmination of a campaign in which he had led the Patriots to a top-place finish in the AFC East for the 16th time in 19 seasons, and for the 10th year in succession, as well as claiming the AFC championship for the ninth time. His sixth Super Bowl triumph confirmed his status as professional football's most decorated coach. Continue reading...

As New York Times public editor, I worried about his time running the BBCIn late 2012, I was the newly minted public editor (or newsroom watchdog) at the New York Times, when the news hit that Mark Thompson was likely to be the newspaper's next CEO. I looked into his background at the BBC where he was director-general during a tumultuous period, and wrote a post questioning the Times hire. Slow down and investigate, I urged.I was probably overstepping my bounds, since Thompson would be on the business side and not be directly involved in the journalism that I was supposed to be keeping an eye on.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture

The University of Nebraska laid claim to the world record for largest attendance at a women's sporting event with 92,003 spectators filling Memorial Stadium on Wednesday for their volleyball match against Omaha Continue reading...

Republican Senate minority leader, 81, had a similar but shorter incident several weeks agoThe Republican leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, experienced another public health scare on Wednesday when he appeared to freeze for more than 30 seconds while speaking to reporters in his home state, Kentucky.McConnell, 81, was eventually escorted away by staff, footage from an NBC News affiliate showed. Continue reading...

Storm surges often pose the greatest threat to life and property when powerful storms like Idalia hit - here's what you need to know about what it means

Trump's former attorney ordered to pay attorneys' fees of $89,172.50 for Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss

Chabot elementary in Oakland received racist and threatening emails, forcing 50 students and staff to vacate the premisesA California elementary school was evacuated on Tuesday in response to a bomb threat, days after the school was targeted online by rightwing extremists over a playdate event.Chabot elementary in Oakland received the threat over email before school started on Tuesday, forcing roughly 50 students and staff members to evacuate, authorities said. Police found no explosives after searching the school using dogs from the bomb detection team. Continue reading...

Republican senator Mitch McConnell appeared to have another freezing moment on Wednesday at a Kentucky event, prompting further concerns about the minority leader's health. He fell silent for more than 30 seconds after he was asked if he would run for re-election. McConnell, 81, froze at a news conference in Washington in July, going silent for 19 seconds before being taken away from cameras

Republicans' Death Star' law would have hurt many local labor laws, including paid sick leave and mandated water breaksA Texas judge has ruled that a controversial bill dubbed the Death Star law" is unconstitutional, just days before the law was set to take effect when it would have hurt many local labor laws, including paid sick leave and mandated water breaks for some employees toiling outside in a brutal heatwave.The state district judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued her decision in response to a lawsuit against Texas filed by the cities of Houston, San Antonio and El Paso. Gamble agreed with arguments made by the cities that the bill is vague and unclear on which ordinances the municipalities must cancel before it was set to take effect. Continue reading...

Fear and confusion reigns in Perry, where even emergency shelters were forced to close because of hurricane's strengthDriving into Perry, a small, historic city with a population of just more than 7,000 on Wednesday morning, about 15 miles inland from the coast where Hurricane Idalia made landfall, the scene of destruction was jaw-dropping.Many residents had evacuated, especially after it was announced that some emergency shelters in the region would need to close because even they may not be able to withstand the impact of the storm. Continue reading...

After Hurricane Idalia's landfall in Florida with winds reaching 125mph, federal authorities issued alerts on Wednesday about the potential for 'catastrophic and life-threatening' flooding throughout the south-eastern US. The storm brought torrential rains, heavy floods and surging seawater across Florida's Big Bend region as it continued its passage north-east into Georgia. The storm weakened through its passage over inland Florida

Massachusetts judge finds Theodore McCarrick, charged with molesting boy, 16, in 1974, not competent to stand due to dementiaA Massachusetts judge has dismissed a criminal case charging the former Roman Catholic cardinal Theodore McCarrick with molesting a 16-year-old boy in 1974, saying the 93-year-old was not competent to stand trial due to dementia.McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington DC, is the only current or former US Catholic cardinal to ever face child sexual abuse charges, with prosecutors in Massachusetts and Wisconsin filing separate cases against him. Continue reading...