The country can overcome multiple urgent challenges to achieve sustainable development for and with the peopleDevelopment is complex, but in complexity there is an opportunity for innovation if the right partnerships are formed.In Somalia, where the needs are extreme, multiple and urgent, there is no shortage of development projects, but more often than not, this dominates the global view of Somalia. However, this is not the full story. Continue reading...

Global head of News Corp among Murdoch’s guests. Plus: Toni Collette reveals split with husband after Daily Mail photosLachlan Murdoch’s week began with a deposition on Monday in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox News and ended with the News Corp co-chair hosting an exclusive party for media and political leaders at his Bellevue Hill mansion in Sydney’s east.The whirlwind life of the media scion and his ex-model wife, Sarah, we assume is made possible by owning a private jet. Continue reading...

I know what it is like to live in a country where there is no way to voice oppositionThe case of climate protester Violet Coco, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for briefly blocking a lane of traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, is a frightening development. This was a peaceful protest, but the court refusing her bail until March is a condition usually imposed on violent criminals, according to her lawyer. A researcher from Human Rights Watch has called the sentence “outrageous”.The escalation of this case to such a completely disproportionate punishment is a part of a trend of shrinking civic space that is being mirrored in other democratic societies. In the UK, new legislation is set to give the police unprecedented powers to shut down protests and punish protesters. New laws in New South Wales that Violet was convicted under were supported by both the Liberal government and Labor opposition, both of which take donations from the fossil fuel companies. These new laws mean that peaceful climate activists face far higher jail terms than serious criminals. Continue reading...

Los Angeles county granted a girl named Madeline permission to own the mythical animal – if she can find oneA girl named Madeline, with a vivid imagination and remarkable awareness of how bureaucracy can dash dreams, got her wish when she asked Los Angeles animal control authorities for a license to own a unicorn – if she’s able to find one.The first-of-its-kind permit came with strings attached, however: the mythical creature must be provided ample exposure to sunlight, moonbeams and rainbows and have its horn polished at least once a month with a soft cloth. Continue reading...

Ray J Garcia, the retired warden of a prison nicknamed the ‘rape club’, faces lengthy prison stintThe retired warden of a federal California prison derisively nicknamed the “rape club” has been convicted of charges that he sexually abused incarcerated women under his charge.Ray J Garcia, 55, faces a lengthy stint in prison when he is eventually sentenced after a jury in Oakland’s federal courthouse on Thursday afternoon found him guilty of breaking laws that prohibit sexual contact between prison workers and inmates.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Trump office did not comply with subpoena issued in May demanding the return of all classified documents, a source saysThe US justice department is seeking a top federal judge to hold Donald Trump’s political office in contempt of court for not fully complying with a grand jury subpoena issued in May demanding the return of all classified documents in its possession, according to a source familiar with the matter.The department in recent weeks asked the chief US district court judge for the District of Columbia, Beryl Howell, to hold Trump’s office in contempt after prosecutors were unable to get the former president’s lawyers to designate a custodian of records to certify all records were returned. Continue reading...

Florida Democrat Maxwell Frost says he incurred debt from his campaign and was recently denied an apartment for poor creditMaxwell Frost, the Florida Democrat who made history last month as the first Gen Z congressman-elect, made waves on social media Thursday morning with a tweet in which he said he was struggling to find somewhere to live in Washington.Frost wrote: “Just applied to an apartment in DC where I told the guy that my credit was really bad. He said I’d be fine. Got denied, lost the apartment and the application fee. This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money.” Continue reading...

Regulators voted 3-1 to stop the biggest acquisition in video game history, citing concerns over thwarting of competitionThe US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has moved to block Microsoft’s takeover of video game company Activision Blizzard, citing concerns that the deal would thwart competition by denying rivals access to popular gaming content.Microsoft, which owns the Xbox video game console system, said in January 2022 that it would buy Activision for $68.7bn, which would make it the biggest gaming industry deal in history. Activision is the maker of popular games including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Continue reading...

Final vote was 258 to 169, with 39 Republican members joining every House DemocratThe House gave final passage on Thursday to landmark legislation protecting same-sex marriage, in a bipartisan vote that reflects a remarkable shift in public opinion just over a quarter-century after Congress defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.The final vote was 258 to 169, with 39 Republican members joining every House Democrat in supporting the bill. One Republican, Burgess Owens of Utah, voted present. Continue reading...

The mother of the British teenager killed by Anne Sacoolas said her sentencing was 'job done', adding that the promise to her late son was now complete.Sacoolas, a US citizen, has been handed an eight-month suspended sentence by a judge, who also disqualified her from driving for 12 months.

Critics label Biden’s decision to release Russian arms dealer ‘deeply disturbing’ – even if Brittney Griner’s freedom is excellent newsLast month, the Russian parliament mounted an unusual art exhibition with subjects ranging from the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to a sentimental image of a kitten. They had been produced in prison by Viktor Bout, serving 25 years in America.History has shown that a sideline as an amateur artist is not much guarantee of moral integrity. Bout, known as “the merchant of death”, was the world’s most notorious arms dealer, selling weapons to rogue states, rebel groups and murderous warlords in Africa, Asia and South America. Continue reading...

Cougar dubbed P-99 gave birth to the litter over the summer in the western Santa Monica mountainsA mountain lion tracked by biologists in mountains near Los Angeles gave birth over the summer to four healthy kittens, officials said this week.The National Park Service said on Tuesday that the cougar dubbed P-99 delivered the litter in July in the western Santa Monica mountains. Continue reading...

Accused gunman in Club Q shooting that left five dead was arrested in 2021 for making bomb threat yet case was droppedA judge has ordered the unsealing of documents from the 2021 arrest of the Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ bar shooter, following a bomb threat and standoff with authorities.Judge Robin Chittum said the public interest in the case outweighed the privacy rights of the defendant, Anderson Lee Aldrich. Continue reading...

The US basketball star Brittney Griner has been released from a Russian jail and is on her way back to the US, President Joe Biden said on Thursday. The Russian foreign ministry said it had traded Griner for Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer who had been held in a US prison for 12 years.The swap took place at an airport in Abu Dhabi, Russian news agencies reported. Griner, 32, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was arrested on 17 February. Talks to secure her release were complicated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February and the subsequent souring of ties between Washington and Moscow

The USA star is one of the world’s best players. Her talent led her to Russia, where she found herself in a diplomatic incidentBrittney Griner, who was released from a Russian jail in a high-profile prisoner swap on Thursday, seemed destined for basketball stardom as a high school student when an extraordinary growth spurt gave her a physical advantage. She later finessed her skills to become one of America’s top young players.Born in 1990 and raised in Houston, where her Vietnam veteran father was a sheriff’s deputy, she was bullied at school because of her appearance and looked to sport as a release, turning her unusual physique into an asset. At high school she grew to 6ft 8in – one inch below her current height – and her ability to dunk a basketball inspired a viral video and predictions that her athleticism and talent would make her an all-time great. Continue reading...

Anne Sacoolas, the killer of British teenager Harry Dunn, has been handed an eight-month suspended sentence by a judge, who also disqualified the US citizen from driving for 12 months.

Police name victim found in 1957 and never identified as Joseph Zarelli, in city’s oldest unsolved homicideNearly 66 years after the battered body of a young boy was found stuffed inside a cardboard box in Philadelphia, police in the city finally revealed the identity of the victim in their most notorious cold case.Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the Philadelphia police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, named the victim as Joseph Augustus Zarelli, who was born on 13 January 1953. Continue reading...

Jaylen Smith, who lives at home with his parents, will be next leader of Earle, population 1,785It is not even a year since Jaylen Smith was learning the power of the youth vote as a student government leader at his high school in Arkansas. Now the pioneering teenager is about to put his knowledge into practice as the youngest elected Black mayor anywhere in the US.On Tuesday, as the Georgia Senate runoff was capturing the attention of the nation, Smith, 18, was steadily amassing the votes he needed to become the next leader of the small city of Earle, population 1,785. Continue reading...

Biden says US still unable to broker release of marine veteran Paul Whelan, accused of espionage by MoscowThe family of Paul Whelan, an American held in Russia, welcomed the release of the basketball star Brittney Griner but lamented “a disappointment for us and a catastrophe for Paul”.“It’s clear the US government has no concessions the Russian government will take for Paul Whelan,” his brother David Whelan said. Continue reading...

Before seeing the Netflix series I thought all sides were a bit silly. But the case that the duchess endured a wave of intolerance is hard to denyWhy did Harry and Meghan make their Netflix documentary? The seismic event that was “Megxit” – when the couple stepped back from royal duties, moved mainly to the US and became financially independent – was almost three years ago.The Oprah interview, in which they addressed the explicit public and private racism that made their position untenable, was transmitted in 2021. They’re out. They’ve left the firm. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to just move on? It’s a question an off-screen interviewer asks outright in Harry & Meghan. Meghan says: “Books were written about our story by people I don’t know. Doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?” Harry is more indignant, and to the casual bystander, the royal not-watcher, sounds whiny: “We’ve never been allowed to tell our story.”Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Spokesperson for New York Democrat ‘confident’ undisclosed matter ‘will be dismissed’The New York Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is under investigation by the House of Representatives’ ethics committee, the leaders of the panel said.The Democratic acting chair, Susan Wild of Pennsylvania, and acting ranking member, Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican, released a statement on Wednesday. Continue reading...

The ‘independent state legislature’ theory has rarely been put forward, and then only by blatant partisans acting in bad faithGoing into the oral arguments for Moore v Harper on Wednesday, it was easy to forget just how radical and strange it was that the US supreme court was hearing the case in the first place.Moore v Harper is a challenge by North Carolina’s Republican-controlled state legislature to a decision by the state’s Democratic-controlled supreme court, which threw out what the court called an excessively gerrymandered congressional district map that the legislature put forward, saying the map violated a state constitutional law guaranteeing free elections. Unhappy, the legislature adopted what used to be a fringe theory: that state courts don’t have much jurisdiction over election matters at all. Continue reading...

Employees at Florida’s Magic Kingdom say paychecks have not kept up even as company records $3.6bn operational profitEarl Penson has worked for 11 years as a food handler, managing and distributing deliveries for the Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida, but makes just 50 cents more an hour than a new employee starting at Disney’s current minimum wage set at $15 an hour.He works over 40 hours a week at the so-called “Magic Kingdom”, starting work around 2am, working anywhere from eight to 10 hours or more, and takes side gigs as an electrician to make extra money. Continue reading...

Across the US, communities are relying on mutual aid as a safeguard against extreme weatherWhen winter storm Uri hit Texas in February 2021, bringing single-digit temperatures and sheets of snow to Dallas, Susana Edith and a group of volunteers distributed lentil soup and winter gear to unhoused people in their community.“A lot of us had a sense of urgency and were called to action at that moment,” Edith said. “We were out in the streets while the storm was happening.” Continue reading...

Discovery in storage unit appears to confirm DoJ’s suspicions that former president possessed additional government records, sources say. Plus, Australia’s worst Christmas treesGood morning.Two more documents bearing classification markings have been found by Donald Trump’s lawyers inside boxes at a storage unit in Florida, one source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.Where else did the firm search? The outside firm ended up searching a number of Trump’s properties, according to another source, including Trump Tower in New York, Trump Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, the Mar-a-Lago resort and the external storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida, which is understood to have been controlled by a federal agency.How has the New York Times responded? Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for the newspaper, said bosses were still in negotiations when they were told the strike was happening. “It is disappointing that they are taking such an extreme action when we are not at an impasse,” she said. Continue reading...

There will be a race to the bottom for a chance at selecting the brilliant French teenager. Maybe it’s time to rethink a system that rewards failureVictor Wembanyama is the type of guy you dream up in NBA 2K’s “create a player” mode. Only less realistic.The 7ft 4in forward with an 8ft wingspan is as coordinated as he is large; as fluid as he is dynamic; and as skilled as he is smart. Wembanyama can do everything, from acrobatically blocking shots to hitting movement threes to dunking over everybody.Once the regular season ends, have a tournament between all or some non-playoff teams to compete for draft position, with the winner getting the No 1 overall pick.Once a team has been mathematically eliminated from making the playoffs, place them in a different standings table in which they compete for draft position, with the best record following playoff elimination winning the No 1 pick.Create a simple rule that disincentivizes long-term tanking, such as disallowing a team from drafting in the top-three or top-five of the lottery three years in a row, or prohibiting a team from winning the lottery two years in a row.Relegation. Keep the lottery format as is, but have the worst team demoted to the G League, with a chance to play their way back into the NBA. The worst team would still get the highest pick, but would have to bear the financial losses of a season in the G League, while a G League team would move up to the NBA. Continue reading...

Nearly 4 million more children in poverty in January 2022 compared with December 2021, say expertsAndrea Knauber used the money to pay for more nutritious food and cover the fees for her daughter’s dance classes. Melissa Lester spent the checks on birthday and Christmas gifts for her daughter, and to take the first holiday of her life.“My family never went on family vacations or anything, and 2021 was the first time that I had done anything like that. And we got to go to the beach,” said Lester, a 38-year-old social worker in Ohio. Continue reading...

Kansas manager’s missive – which claimed workers were calling out ‘at a staggering rate’ – caused an uproar onlineA manager of an Olive Garden restaurant in Kansas was out of a job after warning subordinates to look for other work if they requested time off.In an unusually harsh message that went viral online, the manager – whose name was not publicly released – complained that staffers at her eatery in Overland Park were staying off work “at a staggering rate”. Continue reading...

Eric Adams issued summons by health department in May after inspector spotted ‘fresh rat droppings’ at his Brooklyn townhouseNew York City mayor Eric Adams is such an enemy of rats that he once called a press conference to demonstrate a contraption for drowning them in poison. Now Adams finds himself contesting a $300 fine issued by his own administration over a rat infestation at a building he owns in Brooklyn.Adams was issued a summons by the city health department on 10 May after a health inspector spotted “fresh rat droppings” at his townhouse on Lafayette Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Continue reading...

Federal grand jury also charged Republican lawmaker Joe Harding with ‘fraudulently obtaining’ $150,000 in Covid relief fundsA federal grand jury has indicted Florida state representative Joe Harding, the Republican lawmaker who authored the “don’t say gay” bill, for Covid business relief fraud and money laundering, the justice department announced on Wednesday.Between December 2020 and March 2021, Harding, 35, committed wire fraud when he took part in a “scheme to defraud” the Small Business Administration and obtained Covid-related relief funds for small businesses under false pretenses, according to a federal indictment. Continue reading...

The more I scroll, the more a pang of longing blooms within me for the unbridled insanity of TwitterOne thing about me is that I am an avowed hater of change, by which I mean I am a baby, and that my phone – which has not seen a software update since 2017, thanks for asking – regularly carks it when I try to do things like send an email or message a friend or press any button. My feelings towards downloading a new app are the same that others might have towards skydiving: a fear of leaping into the unknown, and also death.Unfortunately, the other thing about me is that I am masochistic, which is how I find myself downloading Mastodon – the platform that has been touted, to varying degrees of certainty, as the replacement for a slowly crumbling Twitter now owned and micromanaged by the world’s neediest billionaire. Continue reading...

Queenslanders Christian and Misty Kath and their eldest daughter Lily killed when rented Piper Cherokee crashed off coast of Florida on the weekend

Discovery appears to confirm DoJ’s suspicions that former president possessed additional government records, sources sayDonald Trump’s lawyers found at least two more documents bearing classification markings inside boxes at a storage unit in Florida when they searched through items that were brought from the White House at the end of his administration, one source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.The new discovery could exacerbate the former president’s legal exposure after the FBI seized 103 documents marked classified at his Mar-a-Lago resort in August as part of the justice department’s criminal investigation into the possible unauthorized retention of national security information and obstruction of justice. Continue reading...

Case brought by North Carolina would give partisan state legislatures near total control over elections with no role for courtsThe US supreme court heard arguments on Wednesday in Moore v Harper, one of this term’s highest profile and most contentious cases which has the potential to fundamentally reshape elections for Congress and the presidency.The justices appeared to be starkly divided along predictable ideological lines as they mulled over the power of state courts to strike down congressional districts drawn by state legislatures because they violate state constitutions. Continue reading...

City’s police department prohibited from using the 17 robots in its arsenal for lethal force after board of supervisors voteSan Francisco lawmakers voted to ban police robots from using deadly force on Tuesday, reversing course one week after officials had approved the practice and sparked national outrage.The city’s board of supervisors voted to explicitly prohibit the San Francisco police department (SFPD) from using the 17 robots in its arsenal to kill people. The board, however, also sent the issue back to a committee for further review, which means it could later decide to allow lethal force in some circumstances. Continue reading...

Herschel Walker’s failure to win Georgia runoff is latest in long list of midterm misfires for extremist candidates endorsed by TrumpDeflated Republicans were embarking on a period of introspection and blame on Wednesday after Herschel Walker, Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate, fell well short in his effort to capture Georgia’s Senate seat.Walker’s failure in the runoff against the incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock was the most recent of a long list of misfires in the midterm elections for extremist candidates endorsed by the former president, who announced his latest run for the White House last month. Continue reading...

Trump’s former press secretary apologized for his error, after criticizing Biden for not acknowledging D-day last yearSean Spicer, Donald Trump’s first White House press secretary and a Harvard politics fellow, came under fire on Wednesday for a tweet in which he appeared to confuse one major second world war anniversary for another.Spicer wrote: “Today is Dday [sic]. It only lives in infamy if we remember and share the story of sacrifice with the next generation. #DDay.”Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Self-styled prophet Samuel Bateman allegedly engaged in child sex trafficking and had at least 20 ‘wives’, most of them childrenFederal investigators in Arizona discovered that a man arrested in August for kidnapping was head of a polygamous religious cult and had at least 20 “wives”, most of them children.Samuel Rappylee Bateman, an erstwhile member of the Mormon Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, set up an offshoot sect and persuaded male followers to surrender their wives and daughters, court papers filed in Flagstaff said. Continue reading...

Metzger Bar and Butchery cancels event booking for the Family Foundation, citing the conservative group’s beliefsA Virginia restaurant canceled a reservation for an event hosted by a conservative organization, citing the non-profit’s condemnation of same-sex marriage and abortion rights.Metzger Bar and Butchery, a German-inspired eatery in Richmond, canceled the booking made by the Family Foundation. Continue reading...

About 50,000 federal lawsuits claimed that the bestselling heartburn drug had led to cancerShares in drug firms GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi surged after a US judge dismissed thousands of lawsuits claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer.GSK’s shares jumped as much as 14% in early trading, while Sanofi’s stock jumped nearly 6% in mid-morning trading. Continue reading...

The Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock, won the Georgia Senate runoff on Tuesday, securing his first full term and delivering a 51st seat to bolster his party’s majority in the chamber. Here is a look at what the pastor and politician stands for – from abortion to policing and voting rights – in his own words

Christian Walker sent a series of celebratory tweets that recalled the candidate’s alleged history of mistreatment of his familyAmong the many detractors celebrating Herschel Walker’s defeat in the Georgia Senate runoff was one closer to home: son Christian, who expressed his delight on Twitter that the state had rejected his controversial father.“Don’t beat women, hold guns to peoples [sic] heads, fund abortions then pretend your [sic] pro-life, stalk cheerleaders, leave your multiple minor children alone to chase more fame, lie, lie, lie, say stupid crap, and make a fool of your family,” the younger Walker said in the first of a flurry of tweets posted on Tuesday night as the Democrat Raphael Warnock was projected to be the winner. Continue reading...

Storms uncover what appears to be wooden ship dating from 1800s poking from sand at Dayton Beach ShoresSevere beach erosion from two late-season hurricanes has helped uncover what appears to be a wooden ship dating from the 1800s which had been buried under the sand on Florida’s east coast for up to two centuries, impervious to cars that drove daily on the beach or sand castles built by generations of tourists.Beachgoers and lifeguards discovered the wooden structure, between 80ft and 100ft (24-31 meters), poking out of the sand over Thanksgiving weekend in front of homes which collapsed into rubble on Daytona Beach Shores last month from Hurricane Nicole. Continue reading...