Canada claimed a 4-3 penalty shootout win over Venezuela on Friday to reach the Copa America semi-finals for the first time after an absorbing contest finished 1-1.With the teams all square after five attempts each, Wilker Angel had his spot-kick saved by Maxime Crepeau in the shootout and Ismael Kone buried the winning penalty to send Canada through. Continue reading...
Trump lawyer Will Scharf's claims of prosecuting violent criminals conflicts with his record of mundane actionsA lawyer on the legal team that argued in favor of a US supreme court ruling granting Donald Trump broad criminal immunity has inflated his credentials as a violent crime prosecutor in a political beauty contest aimed at wooing the former president's Maga supporters and becoming Missouri's attorney general.Will Scharf, who sat on the former's president's appellate team fighting charges of subversion brought by the special prosecutor Jack Smith, has burnished his crime-fighting credentials on his campaign literature as he seeks to unseat Missouri's sitting attorney general, Andrew Bailey, in a GOP primary next month. Continue reading...
Signs were hiding in plain sight well before the US presidential debate against Donald TrumpWarning signs of Joe Biden's decline were hiding in plain sight well before last month's calamitous US presidential debate performance against Donald Trump.But Biden had the perfect cover: a long history of verbal slips and other blunders that made it hard to blame his age alone. I am a gaffe machine," he admitted in December 2018 when asked about potential liabilities of his election campaign. Continue reading...
Filing asks Aileen Cannon to take scalpel to any charges considered official' acts that could not be prosecutedDonald Trump moved on Friday to capitalize on the US supreme court's decision to confer broad immunity to former presidents, asking the federal judge overseeing his criminal case for retaining classified documents to take a scalpel to any charges that were official" acts that could not be prosecuted.The supreme court this week held that former presidents enjoyed some immunity from criminal prosecution for certain conduct they undertook in office, which also meant evidence of immune acts could not be introduced as evidence at any trial even if they did not form part of the charges. Continue reading...
A single shark is believed to be responsible for biting two people and making contact with two others during Fourth of July celebrations at South Padre Island in Texas. Two people were taken to the hospital with bites, at least one of them severe, authorities said. The last reported shark attack in the area was five years ago, according to authorities
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Raducanu powered past Sakkari to reach the last 16, while Alcaraz saw off Tiafoe in five sets, Gauff defeated Britain's Kartal and Sinner also wonSome lovely stuff around the net from Paolini. She anticipates the drop-shot well and then shows a delicate touch with the volley to see out the point. And then, in the next point, she unfurls a fantastic volley on the stretch.Andreescu's early momentum seems to have already been halted. Ah, but at 15-40 and under pressure, goes bang, bang - successive aces. Continue reading...
Days after saying I am who I am' in response to sexual assault allegation, long-shot independent presidential candidate revives his 9/11 skepticismRobert F Kennedy Jr has made a startling pledge to not take sides" with respect to the September 11 terrorist attacks if his long-shot presidential campaign vaults him to the White House.My take on 9/11: It's hard to tell what is a conspiracy theory and what isn't. But conspiracy theories flourish when the government routinely lies to the public," Kennedy wrote on Friday in a post on X in reference to the deadliest terrorist attack ever aimed at the US. As president I won't take sides on 9/11 or any of the other debates. Continue reading...
Joe Biden accidentally said he is the 'first Black woman' to serve as vice-president 'with a Black president', during an interview with Philadelphia's WURD radio station. The US president was referring to his vice-president, Kamala Harris, and former president Barack Obama when he made the comments. The slip-up came amid a political fallout following a disappointing debate performance last week that sent Democrats scrambling
Sir Keir Starmer has the Commons strength to be daring. That means fulfilling hopes he did little to exciteWe ran as a changed Labour party," declared Sir Keir Starmer on Friday morning, shortly after Rishi Sunak publicly conceded defeat, and we will govern as a changed Labour party." He has yet to elucidate what this change might be. But Labour's leader presented himself as a prime minister ready and able to alter the current alarming state of affairs. Sir Keir did not sweep his party - or the nation - off its feet. But voters handed him a resounding electoral victory. By presenting itself as an improvement without upheaval, Labour was preferred to the alternative of a chaotic and ruinous Conservative administration.Sir Keir now towers over the British parliament like no politician since Tony Blair. Labour governments only come once in a generation. The party won a landslide, with a 170-plus majority. The victory was built on a collapse in Conservative support. Gone from parliament are some of the biggest Tory names, including 12 cabinet-attending ministers and the former prime minister Liz Truss. Labour deserves the nation's gratitude for ending a dalliance with cronyism and charlatanry. Continue reading...
by Gloria Oladipo in New York and agency on (#6P0HE)
Ford F-150 came down a street at a high rate of speed', went past a stop sign, on to the sidewalk and into a parkThree people were killed and at least nine others injured, four critically, when a pickup truck drove into a group celebrating the Fourth of July holiday in New York City, authorities said.Police have identified 44-year-old Daniel Hyden, of New Jersey, as the driver behind the deadly collision. Hyden was allegedly driving a gray Ford F-150 that came down a street at a high rate of speed" shortly before 9pm on Thursday. The truck went through an intersection and past a stop sign, drove on to the sidewalk and into Corlears Hook Park on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Jeffrey Maddrey, the New York police department chief, said during a news conference. Continue reading...
Encounters disrupted Fourth of July at South Padre Island, as two were taken to the hospitalA single shark is believed to be terrorizing swimmers near a Texas beach, responsible for biting two people and making contact with two others during Fourth of July celebrations, including injuring one who went to help.The encounters disrupted locals and vacationers relaxing on Thursday at South Padre Island, as two people were taken to the hospital with bites, at least one of them severe, authorities said. Continue reading...
It was worthy of a TV special. Truss, Rees-Mogg, Shapps, Liam Fox: so many erased after 14 years of dystopian soap opera. And not a moist eye in the houseWell, if you're just joining us, the nation has delivered an all-night victim impact statement. Labour has won a landslide and the Conservatives have suffered their worst ever general election result. Keir Starmer - the prime minister - has promised national renewal ... to fight until you believe again". Liz Truss has failed to save South West Norfolk, let alone the west". That is the big picture (if not the whole picture, with turnout and Labour's vote share notably low). Meanwhile, it's incredible to think that only a short while ago we thought we'd eradicated measles and Nigel Farage. Both have now been brought back, largely by the same people.But look, after the 3am to 7am shift, no one will be able to say the right doesn't do comedy. There were moments worthy of entire Netflix specials as in sports halls and community centres various Dickensian grotesques were ushered into their Christmas future, live on stage. Alas, it was going to take more than buying the Cratchits a turkey to get out of this one. Jacob Rees-Mogg heard his fate standing next to a candidate wearing a baked bean balaclava. He'll be crying into Nanny's starched bosom today. Committed sewage apologist Therese Coffey was pumped into the sea in Suffolk Coastal. Andrea Jenkyns had the middle finger given to her by the voters of Morley and Outwood. In Welwyn Hatfield, Grant Shapps chanted supermajority" five times into the mirror, and then it came for him.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnistGuardian Newsroom: Election results special
He must do everything he can to make sure it is MPs, and not party members, who choose his successorYou can grieve over the bodies, the coffins, the funeral rites, but the worst aftermath of death is the autopsy. Who, or what, was to blame?Focus groups at the start of the campaign were clear. The electorate wanted to blame the sufferings of the country on one thing: 14 years of Tory rule. In Scotland it passed a similar judgment on nationalist rule. Polls showed that Labour's leader, Keir Starmer, was not especially popular, and his policies did not diverge widely from those of the government. That is why his lectern was decked with one message: Change". With that, at least, the electors agreed.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnistGuardian Newsroom: Election results special
Conservative party records worst general election performance to date. Plus, Democratic backers pause donationsGood morning.Labour has won a landslide UK election victory, bringing a crushing end to 14 years of rule by the Conservatives, who recorded the worst general election result in their near 200-year history. The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, will officially become prime minister later today after Rishi Sunak conceded.A vote for Palestine. There were shock victories for several pro-Palestine independent candidates, with Jonathan Ashworth, one of Labour's election chiefs, voted out in Leicester South, while the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn won in Islington North.Will we get our money back?' According to Reuters and the Associated Press, a call with about 40 top donors over the weekend turned tense after Biden's campaign manager was asked whether the campaign would offer a refund if Biden does not run.Don't blame me, its just my brain. Hawaii's governor, Josh Green, is reported to have asked Biden about his health yesterday. It's just my brain," Biden said, in what some heard as a joke but at least one person found odd. Continue reading...
Jan Brewer has had it with election denialism - and she's speaking out to defend poll workers across the political divideThe former governor of Arizona, once a Trump surrogate in the swing state, is now speaking up to defend the state's elections as election denialism continues to grip Republican politics.Jan Brewer, the Republican governor from 2009 to 2015, signed an infamous anti-immigration law, which reverberated in state politics and affected the state's reputation for years. She was secretary of state, which oversees elections, before becoming governor. Continue reading...
Cassidy Grady's Sunday reading series Confessions' seeks fresh avenues for creative expression in wake of pandemicReading nights and avant-garde literary groups are rapidly emerging as platforms for younger generations to foster community and creatively share personal narratives - and one new series is making waves in New York.Literary events are on the rise across the US, with CNN citing that book club listings have grown 24% in 2023 from the previous year. Continue reading...
Hospitality union Unite Here hopes to do the same again in 2024 election - and this time the stakes may be even higherAmerica's hospitality workers had it tough in 2020. Covid triggered mass layoffs and many wondered when - and even if - the industry would recover. But the turmoil didn't stop the industry's largest union from pulling off one of the most successful voter drives of the election.As the 2024 election cycle gets into full swing, Unite Here is hoping to do the same again, and this time the stakes may be even higher. Continue reading...
It's a month-long feast of international football in the US, and Fox is still at the buffet, dribbling into the cheese platterThere was a time, about a week in to Fox Sports's coverage of this super-sized double scoop of an international footballing summer, when a strange and bewildering thought occurred to me. Jules Breach was conducting proceedings with chirpy efficiency. Alexi Lalas had consistently been man-marked out of half-time proceedings by the resolute German defensive screen presence of Ari Hingst. The easy and genial contempt of the European headliners like Giorgio Chiellini and Peter Schmeichel kept the yee-ha Americanness of Fox's coverage in check. And Landon Donovan's ongoing struggle to maintain his hairline had somehow managed to sympathize America's most boring man, a commentator so aggressively dull he could have made the storming of the Bastille sound like a trip to the grocery store. Had Fox turned the corner? Was the network that, just two years ago, tried to turn Chad Ochocinco, a man with seemingly no knowledge of or interest in the sport of association football, into a soccer identity", getting better at covering international football?And then it happened. Clint Dempsey popped up on screen with a series of squawks and garbles that failed to cohere into a sentence. Carli Lloyd went public with the heroic take that Christian Pulisic could one day claim Lionel Messi's mantle as the greatest player of all time. Rob Stone called the World Cup the big dance", helpfully bringing it into scale with the NCAA Division I basketball tournament. Intuit Quickbooks, Allstate, and T-Mobile - the main on-air sponsors - started to take on the allure of old friends. The feed of Hungary v Switzerland cut out 40 minutes into the first half so Fox could show a smallmouth bass fishing tournament instead. Lalas eased into his 200th reference to the Copa America as a bar fight". I breathed a sigh of relief. The old stalwarts had come to the party. Magic was still in the air. Those of us who imagined a summer free of the hockey commentators, aggressive sponsor promotions, and college basketball analogies on which Fox has staked its reputation as America's Home of Soccer have been rescued from the tyranny of hope. We're back, baby: it's a month-long feast of international football, and Fox is still at the buffet, dribbling into the cheese platter. Continue reading...
Out with the scoundrels. There will be time to think about the massive tasks ahead for Labour, but - for now - marvel at what they have doneHallelujah and hosanna! (If not now, when?) At the stroke of 10, the country knew it had liberated itself from the most contemptible government in living memory. The wreckers, destroyers, bullies, incompetents, cronies and crass self-servers are gone. The Tory reign of error is over; they have no God-given right to rule after all. Torn down by the people's revenge, they were felled by their own hubris. Since the days of tumbrils and defenestrations are over, the loss of seats and ministerial car are small punishment for the suffering they deliberately inflicted on millions. The rise in infant mortality is only the most measurable indicator of the large numbers who have died needlessly during their great austerity.They will skip away to City and company boardrooms unpunished; some prime architects of the worst cruelties had already escaped today's final humiliation. George Osborne, chief villain, lives high on investment banking and podcasting - the axeman of the arts is now chair of trustees at the British Museum. Before the 2010 election he called accusations that he would cut public spending a pack of lies", then made an abattoir of health and education, bankrupted cities, denuded councils, stripped the courts, skinned defence and ripped benefits until food banks became the nation's social security safety net. For the next 14 years the only growth was in public service decrepitude. That can be repaired in time, but Brexit caused irreparable harm, David Cameron putting the country at risk with a referendum to appease his party's Europhobes.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnistThe Only Way is Up, by Polly Toynbee and David Walker audits Labour's inheritance and the benchmarks for building a fairer, greener, healthier, more productive and contented Britain. Published this week, order from Guardian bookshop https://guardianbookshop.com/The-Only-Way-Is-Up-9781805462668 Continue reading...
by Frances Ryan, Aditya Chakrabortty, Katy Balls, Tom on (#6P0E0)
Our writers weigh in on Labour's first 100 days, the surging smaller parties and a bruising night for the ToriesAnd just like that, Britain kicked the Conservative party into touch.Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Time is running out, and only putting aside petty party squabbles will stop the disaster of the National Rally taking powerThe far right's historically high score in the first round of the French legislative elections was reflected in the alarmed headlines of major international media outlets. An earthquake", a staggering collapse" authored by Emmanuel Macron's arrogance and disdain for his fellow citizens" were among the reactions. But despite the imminence of the potential catastrophe now facing France - the far right has never been as close to power since the collaborationist Vichy regime - many in the political centre still struggle with the idea of uniting to keep National Rally (RN) out.Macron irresponsibly conflated the far right and the left during the campaign, claiming that the two extremes" (right and left) would lead to civil war". His rhetoric falsely equated the hateful far right with a coalition of parties on the left (the New Popular Front, NFP) that aspires to equality and social justice. He even adopted the talking points of the far right to attack the left's immigrationist" programme.Rokhaya Diallo is a Guardian Europe columnistDo 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...
Emi Martinez was the hero in another penalty shoot-out as Argentina survived a big scare in Texas3 min Fernandez stabs a promising pass towards Lautaro Martinez, forcing Preciado to come across and sweep up on the edge of the area. Argentina have had all of the ball in the first few minutes.3 min There hasn't been a goal at either end in the first half of Argentina's games, so don't be surprised if this takes a little while to get going. Continue reading...
Punishment seems to come from all sides, with a landslide for Keir Starmer and sizeable gains for the Lib Dems and ReformGradually, then suddenly. That is how Ernest Hemingway famously described a character's bankruptcy. That was how the 14-year Tory hegemony of Britain came to a brutal end.If the exit poll released on the stroke of 10pm is even half right, this is less a changing of the executive, more a punishment beating - and one that is well deserved. A 170-seat majority for Keir Starmer and his refashioned Labour party, which is projected to land 410 seats. A drubbing for the Tories, pegged back to 131.Hugh Muir is the Guardian's executive editor, OpinionGuardian Newsroom: Election results special. On Friday 5 July, 7.30pm-9pm BST, join Gaby Hinsliff, Hugh Muir, John Crace, Jonathan Freedland and Zoe Williams for unrivalled analysis of the general election results. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live Continue reading...
President gives interviews with stations in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as report says he plans to cut back on events after 8pmJoe Biden has told a radio show he screwed up" and made a mistake" in last week's debate against Donald Trump, but vowed to stay in the election race, even as a series of polls show him now trailing the ex-president by about six points.In two interviews conducted Wednesday and aired Thursday with local radio stations in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where he will also hold events this weekend, the president urged voters to judge him on his time in the White House. Continue reading...
Tomorrow we'll see politicians engaged in joy and recriminations, but they should worry about the cynicism and disappointment around usIt started with dark comedy. The sight of Rishi Sunak, behind the podium at No 10, drenched by the rain - a drowned rat in a sharp suit, drowned out by a hostile loudspeaker, bellowing out the fact of his sudden-death election - belonged to vaudeville.The race itself belonged to Hobbes: poor, nasty, brutish and short".Hugh Muir is the Guardian's executive editor, OpinionGuardian Newsroom: Election results special
by Stephen Starr in Evansville, Indiana on (#6P00C)
After empty streets and ruined economies, cities try to write a new chapter with new apartments, breweries and thriving arts scenesLife in Evansville, Indiana, during the 20th century mirrored much of the rest of the US's industrial midwest: booming growth powered by manufacturing in the early decades - then a steep decline that left its streets empty and economy in practical ruins.Since its heyday as an industrial powerhouse in the 1960s, Evansville's population has fallen by 18%. Continue reading...
Severe' and potentially record-breaking' heatwave sends temperatures soaring across USMore than 134 million people were under heat alerts on Thursday morning, as a brutal and potentially historic heatwave sent temperatures soaring across the US on Independence Day with little chance of relief over the next week, even after dark.Forecasters warned that high overnight temperatures and the long-lasting duration of the extreme event will increase the danger, posing additional risks to human health and the rapid spread of wildfires. Continue reading...
Clip obtained by Daily Beast shows ex-president sitting in golf cart, holding cash, as he discusses presidential debateA broken-down pile of crap" on the verge of quitting the race" was Donald Trump's summation of Joe Biden in a surreptitiously filmed video leaked on Wednesday.The clip, obtained by the Daily Beast, shows the 78-year-old former president sitting in a golf cart, holding a pile of cash, and with son Barron alongside, as he offers an analysis of the 2024 presidential campaign. Continue reading...
For most of my adult life, politics has meant disappointment. On 5 July, I want my son to see me happy and hopefulIt's the hope that kills you - that's how I have felt about every election for the past 14 years. That small swell of optimism almost instantly gives way to the embittered feeling that you have been a dreamer, a prize fool. So habitual has that emotion become that I'm not sure I, or many of my contemporaries, really know how to feel positive about politics any more. Tory governments comprising bigots, landlords and shysters have dominated most of my 20s and all of my 30s. Like cats that have been mistreated by their owners, we shrink from any kind entreaties with fear and suspicion. We have forgotten what it is like to be cared for.I don't want to be that way. So I have been thinking a lot about 1997: that bright May morning when I was nine years old. How happy my parents were. That's all any child wants, really: smiling parents. (Last week, I saw a clip of a toddler who had been asked to video her parents dancing with each other. She had accidentally filmed it in selfie mode, so instead of seeing them dance, we see her big, beatific grin, her happiness at their happiness.) The feeling of jubilation in our house: I have never forgotten it, nor the sunny walk to school, the sense that something better was on its way. Continue reading...
The note, valued at $40,000, is for sale in honor of Fourth of July, also the 198th anniversary of the president's deathHe came from one of America's wealthiest landowning families, and was ranked the fourth richest US president in a recent study. But Thomas Jefferson, the nation's third president, harbored a secret during his time in the White House: he was almost constantly in penury, and struggled to pay his food bills, servants and other household expenses.The revelation comes in a previously unpublished letter that Jefferson, who was president from 1801 to 1809, wrote to a friend who acted as his financial agent in October 1802. Continue reading...
Let's remember that we've come a long way - and the journey isn't yet completeIf you've been paying even the slightest bit of attention, you know that the American Experiment took some gut punches over the last week.Joe Biden - long considered the best hope for preventing another disastrous Donald Trump term - had a shockingly bad debate performance, looking and sounding every minute of his 81 years. Continue reading...
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