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His attempts to bully and exploit the weak hark back to an era when the US emulated the worst aspects of the British empireDonald Trump's imperial presidency is a tawdry, threadbare affair. The emperor has no clothes to cloak his counterfeit rule. Lacking crown and robes, he resorts to vulgar ties and baseball caps. His throne is but a bully pulpit, his palace a pokey, whitewashed house, his courtiers mere common hacks. His royal edicts - executive orders - are judicially contested. And while he rages like Lear, his critics are publicly crucified or thrown to the lions at Fox News.Yet for all his crudely plebeian ordinariness, a parvenu imperialism is Trump's global offer, his trademark deal and most heinous crime. He peddles it against the tide of history and all human experience, as if invasion, genocide, racial inequality, economic exploitation and cultural conquest had never been tried before. If it wasn't clear already, it is now. He wants to rule the world. Continue reading...

The film star is among those undermining a role that was created out of the #MeToo movement to protect the powerlessHow instructive to hear Gwyneth Paltrow's views on intimacy coordinators, the people hired to supervise intimate scenes infilm and television. Talking to Vanity Fair magazine about her big screen comeback, in Josh Safdie's ping pong film, Marty Supreme, the actor, 52, joked of her sex scenes with 29-year-old Timothee Chalamet: I was like, I'm 109 years old. You're 14'."Paltrow also said: There's now something called an intimacy coordinator (IC), which I did not know existed." When the IC spoke to her: I'm like, Girl, I'm from the era where you get naked, you get in bed, the camera's on'... We said, I think we're good. You can step a little bit back'." She added: I don't know how it is for the kids who are starting out, but... if someone is like OK, then he puts his hand here'... I would feel as an artist very stifled by that." Continue reading...

International trade boomed with the city's early adoption of technological and economic changes, but Black neighborhoods became sacrifice zones'Oakland, California, is often treated as a city on the margins, best known for its struggles with poverty and gun violence, as well as for its history of radical Black activism. But a new book, The Pacific Circuit, argues that Oakland should be viewed as one of the centers of global change in the past century, serving both as a key node in the new global economy built around trans-Pacific trade, and as one of the sacrifice zones" this economy requires.Far from being an outlier, US journalist Alexis Madrigal argues, Oakland is in fact an early adopter of the technological and economic changes now tearing through cities across the US, and around the world. Oakland has long been the canary in Silicon Valley's coalmine of disruption, the book suggests. But its residents don't suffer passively: they organize and learn how to fight back. Continue reading...

Paul, Weiss's chair hung former partner out to dry after a series of attacks on US legal community by presidentInside the White House, advisers to Donald Trump reveled in their ability to bully Paul, Weiss - one of the largest law firms in the US - and see its chair criticize a former partner as he tried to appease the US president to rescind an executive order that threatened the firm's ability to function.Trump last week issued an executive order that suspended the firm's lawyers from holding security clearances, terminated any of its federal government contracts and prevented its employees from entering federal government buildings on national security grounds. Continue reading...

In a memo on Friday, president also revoked clearances for Antony Blinken, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Letitia JamesDonald Trump moved to revoke security clearances for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and a string of other top Democrats and political enemies in a presidential memo issued late on Friday.The security clearance revocations include former secretary of state Antony Blinken, former Wyoming representative Liz Cheney, former Illinois representative Adam Kinzinger and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, who prosecuted Trump for fraud, as well as Biden's entire family. They will no longer have access to classified information - a courtesy typically offered to former presidents and some officials after they have left public service. Continue reading...

The state with the most radical abortion law is seeking to make an example of Maria Margarita RojasTexas is a fairly decent place to be an armadillo (they're the official state small mammal) and an increasingly dire place to be a woman. In 2021, it implemented a near-total abortion ban: the most radical abortion law in the US. Now it's going even further in its crusade to outlaw abortion. On Monday, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, announced the first criminal charges under Texas's abortion ban. Maria Margarita Rojas, a licensed midwife, was charged with the illegal performance of an abortion and with practicing medicine without a license, according to a press release from Paxton's office. Her employee Jose Ley was also charged. Continue reading...

President ordered attorney general to refer partisan lawsuits to White House and recommend sanctions against firmsDonald Trump expanded his retribution campaign against law firms on Friday night as he ordered his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to refer what she determined to be partisan lawsuits to the White House and recommend punitive actions that could cripple the firms involved.The directives were outlined in a sweeping memo in which Trump alleged that too many law firms were filing frivolous claims designed to cause delays. It came after a week of setbacks, in which a slew of judges issued temporary injunctions blocking the implementation of Trump's agenda. Continue reading...

Ten years ago she was finally cleared of the brutal murder of her housemate Meredith Kercher in Perugia. But is Knox really free? I call us the Sisterhood of Ill Repute': read an exclusive extract from her new memoirAmanda Knox says she is one of the lucky ones. She and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito had their convictions for the murder of Meredith Kercher overturned for the second and final time in 2015. She now presents a successful podcast called Labyrinths, is a TV producer and bestselling author, does standup comedy and campaigns against miscarriages of justice. She is married to Christopher Robinson, a writer, whom she adores, and they have two gorgeous toddlers. Life could not be much better or fuller. Her new book is called Free. But it could just as easily be called Still Not Free.Knox's search for freedom has led her down surprising paths. Most surprising was her decision to write to and then befriend Giuliano Mignini, the conspiracy-theorist prosecutor who created the shocking narrative that Kercher, a 21-year-old Londoner on a student exchange in Perugia, was killed in 2007 by Knox, Sollecito and Rudy Guede after a drug-fuelled sex game got out of hand. Shocking in itself. But even more shocking because Knox, then aged 20, and Sollecito, 23, had only been going out with each other for six days and neither had previous convictions. And most shocking of all because there was DNA evidence at the murder scene suggesting that Guede (who had been arrested the previous week in Milan for breaking into a nursery school armed with a knife) was the killer, and none implicating Knox and Sollecito. Continue reading...

Bronze tribute in actor's hometown to celebrate civil rights advocacy amid rise in violence against Asian AmericansFor many, Bruce Lee is the first name that comes to mind when thinking of San Francisco's most iconic figures. Now, the city's Chinatown is honoring that legacy with a statue.A bronze Bruce Lee statue will be erected in San Francisco's Chinatown, his 1940 birthplace, following a proposal by memorabilia collector Jeff Chinn to the Chinese Historical Society of America. Continue reading...

The trial of two Russian mobsters for a murder-for-hire scheme targeting the women's rights activist Masih Alinejad revealed incongruous, and chilling, detailsMasih Alinejad had just finished gathering tomatoes and cucumbers from the backyard garden of her Brooklyn home when she spotted a gigantic" man mulling about.At first, he seemed like a normal guy", the Iranian-American dissident writer recalled in court this week of a fateful day in late July 2022. He was walking and then he had a phone in his hand." Continue reading...

In this exclusive extract from her new memoir, she reveals how she joined a club of women who have also lived in the crosshairs of public shaming' It's a new kind of prison': read an interview with Amanda KnoxBefore Italy, I was only vaguely aware ofthat ancient stereotype that all women secretly hate one another, that we are incapable of true friendship. Some call it venimism"; others refer to mean girls". In 1893, the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso wrote: Due to women's latent antipathy for one another, trivial events give rise to fierce hatreds; and due to women's irascibility, these occasions lead quickly to insolence and assaults." The source of our latent antipathy? Sexual jealousy, of course. We hate one another because we are ever competing for male attention.I always thought this misogynistic myth was obviously false. I had lots of girlfriends, from school and soccer; so did my sisters, my mom, pretty much every girl I knew. But, then again, I also thought my innocence was obvious ... And, clearly, the stereotype found its way into my courtroom, where a cross hung on the wall and my devoutly Catholic prosecutor accused me not merely of being a murderer, but of being a dirty, drug-addled, woman-hating slut. Continue reading...

Egg prices are up 310% since 2005. But it's not the only staple with soaring pricesEgg prices have got a lot of attention in recent months as avian flu made this staple a luxury for US households. But the trend of food inflation in the US is a longstanding one.Since January 2005, egg prices have grown 310%, from $1.21 a dozen to nearly $5 a dozen, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But it's not the only household item to see a dramatic rise. Beef prices increased 125% and electricity prices have doubled. Inflation doesn't happen consistently across all household items in part because the costs of production vary so much - producing a pound of oranges for supermarket shelves (about two medium-sized fruits) requires different amounts of water, labor and fertilizer than, say, a pound of milk (about 2 cups). Continue reading...

New poll also shows that a significant share of Americans will avoid companies that drop social-inclusion policiesOne in five Americans plan to turn their backs for good on companies that have shifted their policies to align with Donald Trump's agenda, according to a new poll for the Guardian.As high-profile brands including Amazon, Target and Tesla grapple with economic boycotts, research by the Harris Poll indicated the backlash could have a lasting impact. Continue reading...

More crucible than race, the Barkley Marathons in the hostile backwoods of Tennessee remains the world's toughest footrace, where change, adaptation and the struggle to survive play outA month before the 2025 Barkley Marathons, Lazarus Lake is out on his daily eight-mile stroll along the rural roads near his Bell Buckle, Tennessee home. Pausing mid-step, he fixes his gaze on a vine creeping onto the asphalt - kudzu, the invasive scourge of the American South. Laz pins it with the toe of his worn-out shoe, then crushes it with a sharp twist. Pop. Nature isn't about balance," he says, kicking the remains aside. That's a common misconception - it's war."Frozen Head State Park, where he's held the Barkley since 1986, has managed to fight off this botanical kraken - so far. Introduced from Japan in the 1930s to combat soil erosion, kudzu earned its reputation as the plant that ate the South" by swallowing entire forests, abandoned houses, and telephone poles at a pace of up to a foot per day. The government once paid farmers to plant it; now they pay them even more to destroy it. Continue reading...

The two-time heavyweight champion, Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Fame boxer died Friday at age 76. He leaves behind a towering legacy

530,000 to lose legal immigration status; teachers sue over Department of Education shutdown - key US politics stories from Friday at a glance Continue reading...

Changes include allowing security officers to arrest students and a new official for Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department. This blog is now closed.In Tempe on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez praised Arizona voters for electing two Democratic senators. She then swiped at the state's former one-term senator, Kyrsten Sinema, who left the Democratic party to become an independent while in office and declined to seek re-election.

Offices investigated rights violations and oversaw citizenship, immigration and detention servicesThe US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday gutted three oversight offices by placing more than 100 workers on paid leave, a Trump administration official and two former officials said.The workers, including those in the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, were given layoff notices as part of a large-scale government reduction by the Trump administration, one of the affected staffers said, requesting anonymity to discuss the matter. Continue reading...

Congressman says unwavering' support remains for Aukus from US Congress, administration and navy

Momodou Taal, dual citizen of the UK and Gambia, received email from homeland security days after filing lawsuitA Cornell University PhD student earlier this month sued the Trump administration seeking to stop the president's order aimed at foreign students accused of antisemitism". Days later, lawyers at the justice department emailed to request that the student surrender" to immigration officials.Momodou Taal, a dual citizen of the UK and Gambia, is one of three Cornell students who are plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to block the enforcement of Trump executive orders aimed at deporting foreign university students and staff involved in pro-Palestinian protests. Continue reading...

James Boasberg considers whether to maintain block on deportation of accused Venezuelan gang membersA federal judge who temporarily blocked Donald Trump's administration from deporting accused Venezuelan gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act law condemned the lawyers for being intemperate and disrespectful" in court.The Washington DC-based judge, James Boasberg, continues considering whether to maintain his ban - and whether officials violated it, which would expose them to sanctions. Continue reading...

Alison Lawrence allegedly killed her miniature schnauzer after being told the pet could not fly with her to ColombiaA woman who was told she could not bring her dog aboard her international flight drowned the animal in the bathroom of a Florida airport, according to authorities.Alison Lawrence, 57, of Kenner, Louisiana, faces a felony charge for what police described as the cruel and unnecessary death" of her white miniature schnauzer, Tywinn. Continue reading...

Measures include empowering security officers to arrest people, and reassigning control of Middle East departmentColumbia University has yielded to a series of changes demanded by the Trump administration as a pre-condition for restoring $400m in federal funding the government pulled this month amid allegations that the school tolerated antisemitism on campus.The university released a memo outlining its agreement with Donald Trump's administration hours before an extended deadline set by the government was to expire. Continue reading...

Move takes effect on 24 April as president weighs also stripping parole status from some 240,000 Ukrainians in USDonald Trump's administration will revoke the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans in the United States, according to a Federal Register notice on Friday, in the latest expansion of his crackdown on immigration.It will be effective on 24 April. Continue reading...

The US president Donald Trump told journalists that Elon Musk would not be shown plan for a potential war with China because of his business interests in the country. It marks an unusual acknowledgment of concerns about the billionaire balancing his corporate and government responsibilities as a senior adviser to the president. During the briefing, secretary of defence Pete Hegseth added that Musk had solely visited the Pentagon that day to 'talk about efficiencies, to talk about innovations'

NTSB says there was no excuse' for missed safety check and calls for urgent assessment of 68 bridges across USThe top US transportation safety agency said this week that the deadly Baltimore bridge collapse last March, after a cargo ship hit a support pillar, had been 30 times above the acceptable risk of breaking up if a vessel struck it and there was no excuse" for a vital safety check having been missed years before.In its investigation of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge across a vital shipping channel in Baltimore, which killed six construction workers, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said that the Maryland transportation authority failed to complete a recommended structural vulnerability assessment that would have shown the bridge was extremely prone to a collapse. Continue reading...

Whether it's sweeping up disgruntled US scientists or rejoining the EU, a bold Starmer must capitalise on Trump's extremismThanks to Donald Trump, a vacancy is opening up in the international jobs market. For decades, if not centuries, and always imperfectly, the US offered itself to the world as the guarantor of democracy and the land of the free. Now that it's pivoting away from that job description, there's an opportunity for someone else to step in.The evidence that the US is moving, even galloping, away from basic notions of democracy and freedom is piling up. Just because the changes have happened so fast doesn't make them any less fundamental. We now have a US administration that blithely ignores court rulings, whose officials say out loud I don't care what the judges think". In a matter of weeks, it has become an open question whether the US remains a society governed by the rule of law.On 30 April, join Jonathan Freedland, Kim Darroch, Devika Bhat and Leslie Vinjamuri as they discuss Trump's presidency on his 100th day in office, live at Conway Hall London, and live streamed globally. You can book tickets hereJonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Community impact hearings offer outlet for grievances and gather evidence for ongoing lawsuits, totaling 10 so far

Donald Trump has announced the F-47 fighter jet programme, which he promises will produce a 'state-of-the-art' stealth jet. 'The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built,' the US president said. 'An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost five years, and we're confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation'

As war resumes, so does the death sentence for Gaza's children. The UK must not be an ally to further atrocities

New aircraft, to be called F-47, is intended to operate alongside dronesDonald Trump on Friday awarded Boeing the contract to build the US air force's most sophisticated fighter jet, handing the company a much-needed win.The Next Generation Air Dominance program will replace Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor with a crewed aircraft built to enter combat alongside drones. The plane's design remains a closely held secret, but would probably include stealth, advanced sensors and cutting-edge engines. Continue reading...

Three members of the pioneering band were detained and returned to the UK after flying to Los Angeles for a gig

The Zimbabwean has global sport's top job but Britain's Sebastian Coe was snubbed, and with good reason: he might have changed thingsCongratulations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the surprise election of its new president, Kirsty Coventry, confirming its status as one of the few electorates on Earth never to have had a change election. Another one is Fifa, with those two organisations' eternal contest to be the worst-run governing body remaining easily the hardest-fought rivalry in world sport.Yes, the IOC has been in its 144th special session to elect a new leader. Don't worry - it hasn't been all hard beds, spartan canteens and bad lighting, as is inflicted on the poor old cardinals in Conclave. The three-day event inevitably took place at a five-star luxury Greek resort.Marina Hyde is a Guardian 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...

US president's war on information has wide-ranging ramifications beyond the media and must be called outDonald Trump, the big thinker" as Peter Dutton has described him, is day by day demonstrating the reverse, showing just how shortsighted he is.Or is he? Continue reading...

The president wants to eliminate the agency backing libraries and museums. But the institutions do far more than lend booksWhen President Trump recently proposed eliminating the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), librarians and educators voiced outrage, confusion and fear. Soon afterward, the appointment of Keith E Sonderling as acting director of IMLS highlighted the administration's intention to reshape the agency's priorities toward promoting American exceptionalism" and cultivating patriotism".As someone deeply involved in the library world, I wasn't surprised by Trump's move. Continue reading...

Progressive political stars say president and billionaire Elon Musk are turning US into oligarchy at rally in ArizonaBernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk at a huge rally in Arizona on Thursday, accusing them of screwing over" working- and middle-class Americans as they turn the country into an oligarchy.Speaking to an overflowing arena as part of his Stop Oligarchy tour - a series of events with the progressive New York congresswoman that has attracted huge attention among Democratic supporters disillusioned with what they feel is the party's otherwise tepid reaction to Trump's radical agenda - Sanders, the senator from Vermont, warned the president: Continue reading...

Lawsuit alleges US plane maker's treatment of John Barnett caused his death after he raised safety concernsThe family of a whistleblower at Boeing who killed himself last year is suing the US plane manufacturer, alleging the company's conduct caused his death.Boeing pushed John Barnett to his death by harassing and intimidating him after he raised safety concerns about the company's plant building the 787 Dreamliner in Charleston, South Carolina, a wrongful death lawsuit filed in federal court in the state alleges. Continue reading...

Leading Democrats vainly hope for a return to the politics of the past - they must engage with the realities of the presentIs this the way the Democratic party ends - not with a bang, but with a whimper? Last week, the party's Senate caucus seemed poised to do something that they had never done before: block the Trump administration's proposed continuing resolution, and shut down the government. It would have been a largely symbolic move, one that signaled opposition to the Trump administration's usurpation of Congress's spending authority and a willingness to play procedural hardball in order to slow Elon Musk's radical anti-government agenda. It would have signaled, too, a party willing to take itself seriously as the opposition to a president with authoritarian ambitions.Government shutdowns are unpopular, but so, right now, is the Democratic party: several senators from swing states seemed ready to stick their necks out, ready to bet that it would be better to be seen doing something - anything - to oppose the Trump agenda than to roll over yet again. And for a few days, at least, it looked like Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, would back them up. Continue reading...

Executive order denounced as unconstitutional. Plus, Musk's daughter says his gesture definitely Nazi salute'

Authorities' heavily armed perp walk' of alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter may have aided in raising more than $700,000The organizer of an online campaign that has raised more than $700,000 for Luigi Mangione's legal defense in connection with the fatal shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, believes the accused killer's infamous, post-arrest perp walk" may have backfired" on New York authorities and spurred some of the financial support effort.In remarks on an upcoming podcast exploring Mangione's case, Sam Beard says the campaign eclipsed its goal by more than double after the public saw authorities treating him like Hannibal Lecter", referring to the fictional serial killer protagonist in The Silence of the Lambs film. Continue reading...

The discrepancies between how the US and others are interpreting Trump's calls are adding upDonald Trump's shuttle diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine has at times resembled a game of broken telephone, and the US president's disregard for the details suggest the ceasefire he seeks is further off than his bullish statements may suggest.Consider the events of just the last week. After his call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Trump said that the two men had agreed to a partial ceasefire on energy and infrastructure" targets, indicating that Russia would not target bridges, hospitals, railways or other civilian structures. Continue reading...

A new 7 October 2023 taskforce says it'll investigate support for Hamas, paving the way for a legal strategy targeting free speechOn Monday, the Department of Justice announced the launch of Joint Task Force October 7 (JTF 10-7)". In an accompanying press release, the DoJ said it would bring to justice Hamas leaders who murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians in the deadly attack on Israel of 7 October 2023. Few would quarrel with this ambition. In the same breath, however, the press release claimed that the task force would also investigate acts of terrorism and civil rights violations by individuals and entities providing support and financing to Hamas, related Iran proxies, and their affiliates, as well as acts of antisemitism by these groups".In plain English, this means the student protesters. It could also include universities and colleges that have entered the government's crosshairs. Continue reading...

Egg interceptions' are up more than 150% at some ports of entry as a US avian flu outbreak fuels shortagesIn grocery stores across the US, egg shelves sitting empty and desolate have become a sign of the times. A surging bird flu affected nearly 19m birds in January alone, wiping out supply and sending prices soaring.Officials forecast a 41% increase in egg prices this year in what some are calling eggflation". Where eggs are available, consumers are often limited in the number they can purchase at a time. Breakfast chains from Waffle House to Denny's have added a surcharge of $0.50 per egg on their iconic dishes. Continue reading...