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Patrick Wattigny, a former school chaplain outside New Orleans, is considering a guilty plea but could be out of prison in three yearsA Louisiana man accusing a Roman Catholic priest of molesting him as a child has spoken out against what he says is an overly lenient sentence being offered to the defendant in exchange for a guilty plea.The accuser, 24, is pressing a criminal case against Patrick Wattigny, who worked as a chaplain at the alleged victim’s high school and was charged with abuse against him in 2013. Continue reading...

Healy has a history of making problematic statements, upsetting Swift’s fans. She has the right to be silent on Healy – but her fans also have the right to judge her for itWeird coincidence alert! Taylor Swift recently released a collaboration with rapper Ice Spice on a remix of her Midnights track Karma. That’s a big deal for two reasons: 1) Ice Spice is going to be the first Black woman to feature on a Swift song; 2) Matty Healy, the frontman of the band the 1975 and the man that Swift is rumoured to be dating, laughed at some racist jokes about the Bronx rapper on a recent podcast. It’s leading a lot of people to ask: is the Swift/Ice Spice collaboration a calculated attempt at damage control? Is this a cynical PR move? Or is the convenient timing just a fluke? Continue reading...

Suwannee county sheriff seeks to capture ferocious feral feline after two people need hospital treatmentAlerts for dangerous animals on the loose are commonplace in Florida, a state that leads the nation for escapes of wild creatures ranging from bears, lions and monkeys to snakes and tigers.But a stalking “beast” currently terrifying residents of Suwannee county after sending two people to the emergency room in separate attacks turns out to be a domestic cat with attitude that has evaded capture for almost a week, officials have said. Continue reading...

Part cosplay, part athletic endeavor, it’s a diverse and encouraging community where magical merfolk lift each other with shouts of ‘Yes, fish!’Last weekend, around a community pool near Sacramento, flippers were being unpacked, glowing bubble crowns secured to wigs, and glittery eye makeup donned: the annual US meeting of mermaids was underway.Hundreds gathered for the California Mermaid Convention: a three-day celebration of the increasingly popular practice of “mermaiding”. Part cosplay, part athletic endeavor, the hobby ranges from casual dress up to certified divers who strap on “monofins” and swim together in a pool or the open ocean. Continue reading...

Campaigners take legal route after success against big tobacco and other industries led to changeAs America’s gun crisis shows no sign of abating, there is some hope for reducing the number of mass shootings and killings. The emerging wave of lawsuits against gun makers echoes previous successes against the car industry, opioid companies and big tobacco.In New York, California, Delaware and other states, new laws aim to provide ways around a near 20-year immunity provided to gun manufacturers and distributors. In Indiana, a lawsuit brought by victims of the 2021 mass shooting at a FedEx facility aims to hold a gun manufacturer accountable for the horror wrought by one of its weapons. Continue reading...

Florida governor enters the primary weakened after Twitter ‘DeSaster’ as wide field of candidates try to scrape aheadNever work with animals, children or egotistical space billionaires. There’s a lesson in there that Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida learned the hard way when he used Elon Musk’s Twitter Spaces social media platform to announce his run for US president.Thousands of listeners were greeted with long silences, odd snatches of music and the sound of Musk, would-be kingmaker of the American right, muttering that the “the servers are straining somewhat”. The glitch was soon being described as a “DeSaster”, one of the most embarrassing campaign fiascos in memory. Continue reading...

The Texas attorney general has called for his supporters to protest at the state capitol when Republicans in the House of Representatives take up historical impeachment proceedings against him. The state house has set a Saturday vote to consider impeaching Republican Ken Paxton and suspending him from office over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust. 'I want to invite my fellow citizens and friends to peacefully come let their voices be heard at the capitol tomorrow,' Paxton said at a news conference on Friday. The request echoes that of the former president Donald Trump for people to protest against his electoral defeat on 6 January 2021, when a mob violently stormed the US Capitol in Washington.

Objects from the front line bear bloodstained witness – not just to what happened, but to Ukraine’s very existenceThe violence of war, and all its horror, has a clarifying effect on what really matters in every aspect of life. In the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, those caught up in the terrifying events found that language was reduced to its most fundamental function: telling loved ones they were alive.The work of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in Kyiv was, similarly, refined to its most basic essentials: safeguarding the objects. Keeping them from destruction. Making sure that they would be there to tell their stories for the next generation.Charlotte Higgins is the Guardian’s chief culture writer. She will be speaking about the future of museums at the Hay festival on Saturday 3 June Continue reading...

Much of the world views Kissinger as a war criminal – yet in the US, surrounded by powerful friends, he is feted as a celebrity intellectualHenry Kissinger turns 100 on Saturday, but his legacy has never been in worse shape. Though many commentators now speak of a “tortured and deadly legacy”, for decades Kissinger was lauded by all quarters of the political and media establishment.A teenage Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany, Kissinger charted an unlikely path to some of the most powerful positions on Earth. Even more strangely, as national security adviser and secretary of state under Nixon and Ford, he became something of a pop icon.Bhaskar Sunkara is the president of the Nation, the founding editor of Jacobin, and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in An Era of Extreme InequalitiesJonah Walters is a freelance writer and postdoctoral fellow at the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics Continue reading...

Ken Paxton’s call for protesters to be ‘peacefully’ heard at the state capitol echoes similar request from Donald Trump before 6 January 2021The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, has urged his supporters to protest at the state capitol when Republicans in the House of Representatives take up historic impeachment proceedings against him.The state House has set a Saturday vote to consider impeaching Paxton and suspending him from office over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust – just some of the accusations that have trailed him for most of his three terms. Continue reading...

Animal charged at one worker before dragging container into parking lot amid a series of human encounters with bears in ConnecticutA hungry black bear barged into the garage of a Connecticut bakery, scared several employees and helped itself to 60 cupcakes before ambling away.Workers at Taste by Spellbound in the town of Avon were loading cakes into a van for delivery on Wednesday when the bear showed up. There are 1,000 to 1,200 black bears living in Connecticut, the state environmental agency says, with sightings last year in 158 of the state’s 169 towns and cities. Continue reading...

Lawmakers on call over Memorial Day weekend as treasury secretary revises estimate of when US will run out of moneyUnless Congress raises the debt ceiling, the US will run out of money to pay its bills by 5 June, the treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, said on Friday as Democratic and Republican negotiators struggled to reach a deal.Failure to raise the debt celling could trigger a default that could wreak havoc on the economy and global markets. Yellen’s announcement gives negotiators a little more time to come to an agreement. Continue reading...

Former PM has also been in Dallas, where he met the Republican governor of Texas and Las Vegas and made a lucrative speechBoris Johnson has held discussions with Donald Trump about Ukraine during his tour of the US, in an apparent attempt to make the Ukrainian case to the sceptical former US president.Johnson met Trump “to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the vital importance of Ukrainian victory”, his spokesperson said. It is understood that they held the talks on Thursday. Continue reading...

Temporary block on restrictions until state supreme court can review; Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy reportedly closing in on a dealA judge has blocked a South Carolina law enacted this week that bans most abortions past the six-week mark, a point at which most women are not yet aware they are pregnant, the Associated Press reports.The ruling by judge Clifton Newman is the latest complication conservative state lawmakers have faced as they move to cut off abortion access following the supreme court’s decision last year overturning Roe v Wade and allowing states to restrict the procedure entirely. Newman ordered the law put on hold until the state supreme court can review it, in a ruling that came 24 hours after the law was signed by governor Henry McMaster, the AP reports. Continue reading...

Kyle Mullen, 24, died of acute pneumonia after completing grueling ‘Hell Week’ portion of Navy Seal trainingA new US navy investigation following the death of a sailor last year has found a “near perfect storm” of issues within its elite Seal training system.In a report released earlier this week and cited by the New York Times, the navy revealed that a slew of problems including poorly organized medical structures, inadequate leadership and undetected drug use had plagued its elite Basic Underwater Demolition/Seal course, leaving many candidates injured and one dead. Continue reading...

Jessica Watkins’s prison sentence comes one day after founder of far-right group sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracyA member of the far-right Oath Keepers on Friday was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for her role in the deadly 6 January 2021 assault on the US Capitol by extremist supporters of Donald Trump who tried to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election victory over the Republican.Jessica Watkins was convicted in November by a federal jury in Washington of obstruction of an official proceeding for her role in the storming of the Capitol, which saw rioters battle police, smash windows and send lawmakers running for their lives. Continue reading...

As drought beacomes the norm, creative solutions must be found to deal with a new, parched realityIn April, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, suggested that severe drought would become “one of the central political and territorial debates of our country in the coming years”. That stark warning surely applies to southern Europe as a whole, as the prospect of another summer crisis looms, following a disastrously dry winter.An absence of melting snow from the Alps has left Italy’s Po River as shallow as during last year’s searingly hot summer. In January and February, France recorded the highest number of rain-free days since records began, and water restrictions are in place in the Pyrénées-Orientales region. About 90% of mainland Portugal is suffering from drought, judged to be severe in one-fifth of the country. In Spain, from Catalonia to Andalucía, unseasonable heat has contributed to reservoirs drying up and a disastrous drop in olive oil production. By the middle of this month, southern Spain had received barely 30% of expected rainfall. As temperatures continue to rise, and Europe warms faster than the global average, drought across vast swathes of territory is simply becoming the norm. Continue reading...

Rehan Staton became a viral media sensation on his admission, and film-maker Tyler Perry covered his tuition feesThe man who worked as a trash hauler in Maryland before earning international news headlines by gaining admission into the prestigious Harvard Law School has graduated.Rehan Staton received his juris doctorate from Harvard after walking across the stage in his cap and gown during a commencement ceremony on Thursday afternoon at the school’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Continue reading...

Development could raise stakes as investigation into former presidents handling of national security materials nears endFederal prosecutors have evidence Donald Trump showed classified documents to people, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources, as the investigation into his handling of national security materials and obstruction of justice approaches its conclusion.The development could raise the stakes for the former president as it exposes him to serious action under the Espionage Act, of wilfully communicating national security materials rather than simply retaining them, which is rarely charged. Continue reading...

Florida governor accuses media of creating ‘ridiculous poem hoax’ after complaint targeted verse recited at Biden inaugurationRon DeSantis on Friday appeared to defend a woman who got Amanda Gorman’s inauguration poem The Hill We Climb removed from a Miami school, even though she has attended events alongside white supremacist and far-right groups.The Republican Florida governor, who entered the race for his party’s 2024 presidential nomination with a botched launch on Twitter on Wednesday, said parents such as Daily Salinas were saving children from political ideology “the left [is] trying to jam in” to schools. Continue reading...

Ruling, which came just about 24 hours after the governor signed the bill, means state can revert back to a ban at about 20 weeksA judge on Friday put a temporary halt to South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy until the state supreme court can review the measure.The ruling by the judge, Clifton Newman, came just about 24 hours after Governor Henry McMaster signed the bill. The decision means South Carolina reverts back to a ban at about 20 weeks after fertilization. Continue reading...

Aderrien Murry called Mississippi police after his mother was threatened by a man, and an officer seriously wounded himA Mississippi family has demanded a police officer be dismissed and charged with aggravated assault for shooting an 11-year-old boy when police responded to the child’s own domestic disturbance call at his home.Aderrien Murry, who called police at the request of his mother, was unarmed and following instructions from Indianola officer Greg Capers. Then Capers shot him in the chest early last Saturday morning, seriously wounding him, family attorney Carlos Moore said. Continue reading...

Your feelings are valid, says Sisonke Msimang, but the burden shouldn’t be on you to create a professional workplace

Giving money away is hard, says Lauren Sanchez, who is currently touring Europe with Bezos on his 417ft yachtOne-click on a fascinator, readers, because there’s a mega-wedding in the offing. Congratulations to Mr Jeff Bezos, Amazon kajillionaire, and Ms Lauren Sanchez, bralette-wearing philanthropist/immense force of nature. Although news of the couple’s engagement seeped out this week after Lauren was spotted wearing a diamond ring in the south of France, Jeff has yet to release a formal announcement. So let’s just draft one for him: “Ladies and gents, she said Proceed to Checkout.”Now look, you already know Jeff. World’s third-richest man. Went to space. Looks like he should be appearing above a daytime TV caption reading “I make £40 a month as a Vin Diesel escort and my fiancee loves it!” But are you fully across Lauren? I’ll be honest: we haven’t met. But from the outside looking in, my nose pressed against the glass of Google Images, I simply cannot get enough of this Nietzschean superwoman, the final form of the East German silicon-doping programme, who has missile-titted her way into my consciousness and now captivates me twice weekly with her insouciance, her outfits, and her observations on just how difficult philanthropy is to do. Seriously: no one has ever thought harder about how to help poors while mooching round a Grand Prix enclosure with some kind of You Could Never Access All My Areas lanyard dangling from her belt loop. In some ways I don’t think I’ve felt this amused by a picaresque heroine since I saw a photo of Jennifer Arcuri biting the head off a fondant-icing Boris Johnson figurine, from a Boris Johnson cake she’d had made. Yes, customers who liked Jennifer also liked Lauren. Not so much a gal-about-town as a gal-about-planet.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnistThis June, Marina Hyde will join fellow columnists at three Guardian Live events in Leeds, Brighton and London. Readers can join these events in person and the London event will be livestreamed Continue reading...

Medical board rules Dr Caitlin Bernard can continue practicing after discussing case of 10-year-old who travelled for abortionThe Indiana state medical board has ruled that it will allow Dr Caitlin Bernard to continue practicing in Indiana after she spoke out about a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to Indiana for abortion care due to restrictions in the girl’s own state of Ohio.The doctor will not lose her license, although the seven-person board ruled that Bernard violated patient privacy laws in discussing the 10-year-old’s case with media. Bernard was not found to have violated reporting requirements about child abuse in the case – another charge against her. Continue reading...

Program aims to preserve the properties, most of which are more than a century old, to anyone willing to preserve themTen lighthouses that for generations have stood like sentinels along America’s shorelines protecting mariners from peril and guiding them to safety are being given away at no cost or sold at auction by the federal government.The aim of the program run by the General Services Administration is to preserve the properties, most of which are more than a century old. Continue reading...

In online show, former president’s son also accidentally says father’s energy ‘makes Jeb Bush look like an Olympian’Donald Trump Jr accidentally insulted his father on Thursday night, mixing up his words while trying to condemn Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump’s closest rival for the Republican presidential nomination.“Trump has the charisma of a mortician and the energy that makes Jeb Bush look like an Olympian,” Trump Jr said on his online show, Triggered With Don Jr, on the Rumble video platform on Thursday night. Continue reading...

The proposal has residents concerned that the development company will turn Homewood Mountain into a members-only clubWith its creaky, two-seater chair lifts, ramshackle lodge buildings and awe-inspiring Lake Tahoe views, Homewood Mountain is one of the last of an old breed of rustic, family-friendly ski resorts in California’s Tahoe region.But developers have introduced a plan that some residents fear will shut down much of the public access to the mountain and turn it into a members-only luxury resort for the super-rich. Continue reading...

Plus, reflections on Martin Amis’s later years, and Jude Law’s disgusting new cologneThe death of Martin Amis at the weekend triggers a slew of coverage more affectionate than can be imagined for that of many other writers. In America, the obituaries are sober, respectful. In Britain, where the news is much bigger, the pitch is slightly different, not just fond but shocked – hard to imagine this country’s literary life without some kind of Amis at the helm – and also, to my eye, slightly stricken. For many years, Amis-baiting was a minor national pastime and it seemed to me on Monday that along with the sadness was a detectable unease, the sick feeling of: “Oh god we didn’t mean it and now it’s too late.” Continue reading...

‘We are at a cocktail party pretending we know what we’re talking about,’ an editor said. But it’s clear the role of AI in cinema is dividing the industryOn the picket lines outside Los Angeles film studios, artificial intelligence has become a central antagonist of the Hollywood writers’ strike, with signs warning studio executives that writers will not let themselves be replaced by ChatGPTThat hasn’t stopped tech industry players from selling the promise of a future in which AI is an essential tool for every part of Hollywood production, from budgeting and concept art, to script development, to producing a first cut of a feature film with a single press of a button. Continue reading...

Political dysfunction and economic calamity are pushing people from many nations in the western hemisphere in what Biden has called the ‘largest migration in human history’US homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has a message for migrants that he has been repeating loudly and frequently: “Our border is not open … don’t risk your life and your life savings” to come to the US seeking refuge without invitation.But for millions, hunger, violence and fear ring out louder. Political dysfunction and economic calamity are pushing people from many nations in the western hemisphere in what US president Joe Biden has called the “largest migration in human history”, exacerbated in Latin America and beyond by the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

It’s a battle that is, conversely, an essential ingredient and a headache in his attempt to prove he is a responsible conservativeIt has become one of the most compelling Disney stories ever told, but so far without a happily ever after. In fact, the entrance this week of Florida’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis into the race for his party’s presidential nomination only adds gasoline to his raging feud with the theme park giant over diversity and transgender rights.It’s a battle that is, conversely, both an essential ingredient to the culture war agenda DeSantis believes will win him the White House in 2024; and a headache he could well do without as he attempts to prove his credentials as a fiscally responsible conservative. Continue reading...

As the liberal city’s hands-off policy is swept away in favor of clearing street camps and a push to centralized shelters, unhoused people feel the pressure

Understaffing, overcrowding and a lack of healthcare fueled a crisis in a state with the world’s highest incarceration rateLast year 270 people in Alabama’s prisons died, the most of any calendar year on record. The deaths included 19 homicides. Those in prison, their family members and prison advocates have used TikTok to highlight the degrading conditions in Alabama’s prisons, even as the Department of Justice is preparing an unprecedented legal action against the state.Severe understaffing, overcrowding, violence, drug use and a lack of adequate medical and mental healthcare and basic necessities have fueled a crisis in the state’s prisons for years. But the horrific state of Alabama’s prisons has begun to attract new attention as those affected have posted videos using the #prisontoks and #alabama hashtags to highlight the parlous state of affairs. Continue reading...

First as US national security adviser, then as secretary of state, Henry Kissinger intervened around the world during the 1970s, shaping events in China, Africa and the Middle East, with consequences that reverberate today• How Kissinger’s ‘sordid’ diplomacy in Africa fuelled war in Angola and prolonged apartheid Continue reading...

A collegiate summer league team from Georgia has become a TikTok sensation by leaning into fast-paced entertainment and leaving baseball as you know it in the dustIf you like baseball and use social media, you’ve likely already encountered the Savannah Bananas. The team is something of a social-media darling, especially on TikTok – the Bananas’ more than 6m million followers on the app significantly outnumber those of every franchise in Major League Baseball (as well as every team in the NFL, NBA and NHL).The factors driving the Bananas’ online success are obvious. In-game clips of players swinging flaming baseball bats, pitching from atop stilts, and performing choreographed dance routines are tailor-made for social media. To reduce the team’s popularity solely to its viral antics, however, is dishonest. Even to this initially skeptical observer, the fun-loving atmosphere surrounding a Bananas game is inarguably infectious. Continue reading...

In a TV landscape offering only the worst of humanity or the syrupy best of it, I know which I’d chooseIn debates over who is the least competent sibling, arguments for which actor’s performance is best and theories around how it’s all going to end, one question dogs social media discussion about Succession: which character are you rooting for? The HBO drama surrounding the Murdoch-esque family the Roys, fighting among themselves over who will become CEO of their media empire, has become a weekly lightning rod for debate in its final season (which ends on Monday). It’s normal to wake up on a Monday to a viral Twitter thread, Reddit or TikTok post putting forward a case for the morality of one of Succession’s main characters.The problem with these competing theories should be obvious to anyone who’s watched the show: every character on Succession is an irredeemably bad person. Continue reading...

The solution is not more fields but better, more compact, cruelty-free and pollution-free factoriesNo issue is more important, and none so shrouded in myth and wishful thinking. The way we feed ourselves is the key determinant of whether we survive this century, as no other sector is as damaging . Yet we can scarcely begin to discuss it objectively, thanks to the power of comforting illusions.Food has the extraordinary property of turning even the most progressive people into reactionaries. People who might accept any number of social and political changes can respond with fury if you propose our diets should shift. Stranger still, there’s a gulf between ultraconservative beliefs about how we should eat and the behaviour of people who hold such beliefs. I have heard people cite a rule formulated by the food writer Michael Pollan – “Don’t eat anything your great-great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food” – while eating a diet (Thai one day, Mexican the next, Mediterranean the day after) whose range of ingredients no one’s great-great-great-grandmother would recognise, and living much the better for it. Continue reading...

Senior White House official says president hears region’s concerns and ‘does not want conflict’ with ChinaJoe Biden’s senior advisers have acknowledged countries in the Indo-Pacific don’t want to be “trampled by a headlong clash” between the US and China.In a webinar with an Australian audience on Friday, senior White House national security council (NSC) officials said the US president wanted to give allies and other close partners “breathing space” to engage with China constructively. Continue reading...

Republican-led house unanimously recommended impeaching state’s top lawyer on 20 articles including bribery and abuse of public trustThe Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, teetered on the brink of impeachment Thursday after years of scandal, criminal charges and corruption accusations.In an unanimous decision, a Republican-led House investigative committee recommended impeaching the state’s top lawyer on 20 articles, including bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust. Continue reading...

House adjourned for holiday weekend, but lawmakers could be recalled to vote on deal if agreement is reachedJoe Biden and Republican lawmakers on Thursday appeared to be nearing a deal to cut spending and raise the debt ceiling, with little time to spare to avoid a potential default that could wreak havoc on the economy and global markets.The deal under consideration by negotiators would raise the government’s $31.4tn debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on most items, a US official told Reuters. It would also increase funding for discretionary spending on military and veterans while essentially holding non-defense discretionary spending at current year levels, the official said. Continue reading...

Social media posts picture Daily Salinas at Proud Boys events and show she posted antisemitic content onlineThe parent behind Amanda Gorman’s poem ban in a Florida school appears to have attended Proud Boys rallies and has previously posted antisemitic memes online.The parent, first identified by the Miami Herald as Daily Salinas, made headlines this week after reports emerged of her effort to ban a series of books at the elementary Bob Graham education center in Miami Lakes where her two children attend. Continue reading...

President says bipartisan agreement is only way forward to avoid catastrophic defaultThe House has finished its legislative work for the week, and members are preparing to go home for Memorial Day weekend without a deal reached on raising the debt ceiling.The House speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, told reporters this morning that debt ceiling talks continued well past midnight last night, and negotiators are working around the clock until a deal is reached. Continue reading...

Gregory Rodriguez accused of abusing 13 people over a decade, as advocate say case highlights systemic sexual violence in prisonsA former correctional officer at California’s largest women’s prison has been arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting at least 13 incarcerated people over nearly a decade, prosecutors said on Wednesday.Gregory Rodriguez, who worked at the Central California Women’s Facility before he retired last year while under investigation, has been charged with 95 counts of sexual abuse, including rape, sodomy, sexual battery and rape under color of authority, the Madera county district attorney’s office said, as well as one drug-related charge. The assaults date back to 2014, but mostly occurred in the last two years, prosecutors said. Continue reading...

Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in Capitol insurrectionStewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, was sentenced on Thursday to 18 years in prison, after being convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6 attack on Congress.Prosecutors sought a 25-year term. Lawyers for Rhodes said he should be sentenced to time served, since his arrest in January 2022. Continue reading...