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Biden releases national hunger and nutrition strategy, which includes a slate of goals to help end food insecurity

As parts of the island languish without electricity, people worry about the worsening after-effects of the storm“Hurricane” is an Indigenous word, used by Cubans long before the Spanish conquistadores arrived. So when Hurricane Ian – with sustained wind speeds of more than 200km/h (124mph) – made a direct hit on the provincial capital of Pinar del Río on Tuesday, people were ready.Just hours after the worst of the storm passed, amid broken glass and lashing winds, hotel worker Nieves Oliva, 60, was even dancing to reggaeton on a battery-powered speaker after a long, wet night guarding the city’s main hotel. Continue reading...

Nelson, 49, fell down narrow slope on ski back to camp after scaling Nepali peak of Manaslu with partnerThe body of the renowned US big-mountain skier Hilaree Nelson was found on Wednesday morning after she fell down a narrow 5,000ft slope during a trek in the Himalayas two days earlier.Nelson and her partner, Jim Morrison, had scaled the 26,781ft peak of Manaslu on Monday morning. They reached the summit at 10.42am “in tough conditions”, Morrison wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday. The pair transitioned from climbing to skiing down to regroup with their sherpa team. Continue reading...

Phones reportedly confiscated amid criminal investigation about missing text messages from January 5 and 6US Secret Service leaders confiscated cellphones from 24 agents involved in the response to the Capitol attack amid a criminal investigation about missing text messages from 5 and 6 January 2021, according to a new report.Citing “two sources with knowledge of the action”, NBC News said the phones were handed to Joseph Cuffari, the Department of Homeland Security inspector general, in late July or early August, shortly after Cuffari launched an investigation requested by the National Archives. Continue reading...

New guidelines put forward by Republican Glenn Youngkin would restrict protections for transgender studentsThousands of Virginia high school students walked out of school on Tuesday to protest proposed guidelines put forward by Governor Glenn Youngkin that would restrict protections for transgender students.Students from nearly 100 high schools staged walkouts across the state to protest against the new policies, holding signs criticizing the guidelines and waving pride flags in support of their LGBTQ+ peers. Continue reading...

The Labour leader has finally hitched himself to some bold policies. But can he be trusted to come good on them?When Keir Starmer assumed the Labour leadership two years ago, both the party’s left and right flanks feared that they were heading for a repeat of the Ed Miliband era. For the left, this meant a lack of a radical alternative to Tory rule; the right, meanwhile, was worried he would engage in a heretical repudiation of Blairite nostrums. Miliband’s tortured tenure as leader of the opposition reflected his own internal conflict between the radicalism of his Marxist father and his background as a New Labour adviser: his flirtation with an analysis of a broken economic system was not matched by the transformative policies required to fix it.How appropriate, then, that it is Miliband himself – who concluded that his lack of boldness fatally undermined his own leadership – who has played a pivotal role in arming Starmer’s Labour with substantial policies. His influence could be seen in the party’s commitment to invest £28bn a year in a transition to a green economy, and to slash energy bills through the introduction of a windfall tax on fossil fuel profits. In Starmer’s conference speech, it manifested itself again: in the creation of a publicly run energy company that will own and operate renewable energy assets, and a sovereign wealth fund. Thanks to the determination of Labour’s transport secretary Louise Haigh, the party is officially committed to rail nationalisation, while her colleague Lisa Nandy has adopted a mantra of “council housing, council housing, council housing”. Continue reading...

Electricity grid collapses in Cuba after hurricane passes through, as 2.5 million people in Florida ordered to evacuateResidents in Florida were bracing on Wednesday morning for the landfall of a storm that had strengthened overnight into a category 4 hurricane and left Cuba without power after the entire country’s electricity grid collapsed in its wake.Many businesses in Florida have shuttered and officials ordered 2.5 million people to evacuate. The National Weather Service forecasts the center of Hurricane Ian to move over central Florida by Wednesday evening. It has already picked up wind strength close to 155mph (250km/h), though it is expected to slowly weaken as it makes landfall. Continue reading...

There’s nothing nostalgic about the far-right political space that the country’s new leader is trying to carve out in EuropeItaly, wrote the situationist philosopher Guy Debord in 1968, “sums up the social contradictions of the entire world”. As such, it was a “laboratory for international counter-revolution”.Political analysts the world over are now busy parsing Giorgia Meloni’s statements to determine if she is a fascist, a neofascist or a post-fascist. Why, they ask, are Italians seemingly willing to consider a return to the politics of their country’s darkest hour?Lorenzo Marsili is a philosopher, activist and founder of European Alternatives and Fondazione Studio Rizoma. He is the author of Planetary Politics: a Manifesto Continue reading...

Gregg Berhalter is executing a masterclass in managing expectations downwards as the World Cup approaches. But that doesn’t mean all is lostThe US men’s national team drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia in Spain on Tuesday in their final game before their opening World Cup clash against Wales on 21 November. Following on from Friday’s tame 2-0 loss to Japan in Germany, these were two tune-ups that served to underline the team’s shortcomings rather than solve them, played in low-key atmospheres that felt more like pre-season friendlies than the last international fixtures before a World Cup. Continue reading...

The Biden administration is hosting a conference to coincide with a new hunger and nutrition plan – what can it achieve?The Biden administration is hosting a one-day conference on Wednesday on hunger, nutrition and health, bringing together advocates, researchers and activists and leaders in business and philanthropy, faith groups and communities around the US. Continue reading...

Kate Brown has granted more commutations or pardons than all of Oregon’s governor from the last 50 years combinedLast October, Kate Brown, the governor of Oregon, signed an executive order granting clemency to 73 people who had committed crimes as juveniles, clearing a path for them to apply for parole.The move marked the high point in a remarkable arc: as Brown approaches the end of her second term in January, she has granted commutations or pardons to 1,147 people – more than all of Oregon’s governors from the last 50 years combined. Continue reading...

Climate crisis has upped the ante in the state where progress has been hampered despite a considerable budget allocationIt was already approaching 100F on an early summer afternoon in Calaveras county, California, as six firefighters clad in heavy gear fed bushes and branches into the remote-controlled wood chipper following in their steps.The men were clearing drying and dying plants from the rustic terrain in this rural area near the Stanislaus national forest, that could otherwise serve as fuel for the next big wildfire. Continue reading...

Island’s electricity grid collapses after hurricane hits, as people in Florida told to evacuate. Plus, Bowie’s Starman lyrics fly at auctionGood morning.Hurricane Ian has caused Cuba’s electricity grid to collapse, leaving the entire country without power, as residents in Florida braced for the arrival of an expected catastrophic category 4 storm.Where is Hurricane Ian heading? The powerful storm is heading directly for Florida’s south-western coast, after striking Cuba with winds of 125mph (205km/h). The storm is expected to intensify in strength as it moves over the Gulf of Mexico and west of Florida’s southern tip on Tuesday night, before heading toward the Tampa Bay region.How is Florida getting ready? Officials put the region under a hurricane warning, alerting people of catastrophic storm surges, high winds and flooding. Businesses in Florida were shuttering and officials ordered 2.5 million people to evacuate before it crashes ashore today.What did he say? “Congress’s process for counting the presidential electors’ votes was written 135 years ago,” McConnell said. “The chaos that came to a head on January 6 of last year certainly underscored the need for an update.” Continue reading...

White House officials announced the donations came from private corporations and non-profits alikeMore than $8bn has been pledged by private corporations and non-profit groups to help Joe Biden achieve his goal to end hunger and cut diet-related diseases, White House officials announced on Wednesday.Donors include food industry lobby groups, pharmaceutical companies, the world’s second largest meat packing company, medical associations, a film studio, as well as philanthropic foundations and universities.The National Restaurant Association (NRA) will help 45,000 restaurants including fast food chains Subway, Burger King, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Chipotle to create healthier meals for children. The NRA has repeatedly lobbied against increases to the federal minimum wage, which experts say would help tackle poverty and hunger.Tyson Foods will invest $255m in providing food banks with “nutritious protein products” and reduce salt in their processed foods. Tyson has been fined at least $158m since 2000 for employment, antitrust and environmental violations.Google will launch a new search feature that should make it easier for people to check their eligibility and apply for food stamps.Food delivery app Instacart will work with USDA to allow customers to use food stamps and other benefits; launch a feature that allows healthcare providers and nutritionists to create shoppable lists for disease-specific diets; and new stipend technology that permits employers and health providers to allot stipends to buy designated fresh foods. Continue reading...

A selection of photographs and documents signed by their subjects are to be offered at auction this week. The sale includes Neil Armstrong’s photo of Buzz Aldrin on the moon, a portrait of Rosa Parks on a bus and Nick Ut’s image of Kim Phuc fleeing napalm in Vietnam Continue reading...

I tried to fit in with my white friends by smothering my hair with painful chemicals – until I decided to have the Big ChopIt was a hot, humid day when I decided it was time for the Big Chop. My body wanted to go home, but my heart guided me to the Dominican barbershop in my neighbourhood in New York instead. The man sitting in a blue folding chair out front eyed me curiously as I approached.I’d walked by the man countless times before, but we’d never spoken. Not until now, as I asked if he would cut off my hair. He frowned, unsure of what I was asking. But when I pointed at my relaxed, or chemically straightened, hair and made sweeping snip-snips with my fingers, he gestured for me to follow him. Little did he know that his agreement would change my entire life.Zakiya Dalila Harris is an American writer based in New York and the author of the novel The Other Black GirlDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...

Pennsylvania governor hopeful Doug Mastriano made comments in 2019 while discussing abortion bill he proposed as state senatorAsked in 2019 if he was saying women should be charged with murder for violating an abortion ban he proposed, Doug Mastriano, now the Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, said: “Yes, I am.”Mastriano was talking to WITF, a radio station, about a bill he sponsored as a state senator. Continue reading...

Republican governors have sent thousands of people to the city this summer, maxing out its shelter systemIn the summertime, Orchard Beach is one of the Bronx’s most popular places to party. Here on the edge of a woody peninsula about an hour’s drive from midtown Manhattan, barbecue smoke floats over a backdrop of reggaeton; crowds gather on the boardwalk for Salsa Sundays.But now, the beach is transforming into an unprecedented shelter for a new group of people. Within weeks, as many as 1,000 recently arrived migrants will be placed under huge tents in the beach’s parking lot. And while officials say they won’t stay more than a few days, advocates worry the migrants could end up languishing in the tents as winter arrives, in an area that’s also known for dramatic floods. Continue reading...

With the macho incumbent cornered by a centre-left coalition, he may try to attempt a US Capitol-style coupAs Brazil prepares to head to the polls in early October, the country is bracing for a change of course. Its far-right incumbent president, Jair Bolsonaro, will have to pull off the seemingly impossible to defeat his centre-left rival. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the two-term former president, is consistently polling between 45% and 47%. Currently, Bolsonaro trails Lula’s 10-party coalition by 12 points. A run-off election on 30 October seems likely.But, on the defensive, Bolsonaro has borrowed a page from Donald Trump’s playbook. If you lose, simply blame the press, the polls and the voting machines. If you can get the armed forces or militias to intervene, all the better. After all, Brazil has experienced four successful military takeovers since the country became a republic in 1889, one of which lasted 21 years. Although in the United States generals refused to aid Trump in overturning the election results, it is still not clear if their Brazilian counterparts will do the same. So far, the electoral campaign has been marred by violence from Bolsonaro’s supporters towards Lula’s Workers’ party, which has led to at least two deaths.James N Green is professor of Brazilian history and culture at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and president of the board of directors of the Washington Brazil Office Continue reading...

Storm bearing down on Florida nixes session that had been expected to feature footage of Trump ally Roger StoneThe House January 6 select committee announced that it would postpone what was expected to be its final investigative hearing scheduled for Wednesday over concerns about a hurricane and as it considers how best to present a number of unresolved questions surrounding the US Capitol attack.“In light of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, we have decided to postpone tomorrow’s proceedings,” the panel’s chairman Bennie Thompson and the vice-chair Liz Cheney said in a joint statement. “We’re praying for the safety of all those in the storm’s path.” Continue reading...

Legislation would clarify and expand parts of 1887 Electoral Count Act and aim to avoid repeat of January 6 insurrectionThe Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said on Tuesday he would “proudly support” legislation to overhaul rules for certifying presidential elections, bolstering a bipartisan effort to revise a 19th-century law and avoid any repeat of the January 6 insurrection.The legislation would clarify and expand parts of the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which, along with the constitution, governs how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential winners. Continue reading...

Mirage Secret Garden and Habitat temporarily shut after third dolphin fatality in five monthsA dolphin habitat at a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip has been temporarily closed after the third mammal death at the attraction in five months.Officials at the Mirage Secret Garden and Habitat said an 11-year-old bottlenose dolphin named K2 died on Saturday. Continue reading...

Panel cites threat of Hurricane Ian bearing down on parts of Florida, and says the ‘investigation goes forward’

Roughly 10% of the force had their guns and arrest powers stripped after an internal audit of psychological examsA northern California sheriff’s department stripped 47 deputies – 10% of the force – of their guns and arrest powers because they failed psychological exams, it was reported on Monday.It was “horrible″ to have to relieve the deputies of their duties, said Lt Ray Kelly, spokesperson for the Alameda county sheriff’s office, to KTVU-TV. Continue reading...

Republican Ken Paxton allegedly ran out of his house and jumped into truck driven by his wife to avoid person serving subpoenaThe Texas attorney general Ken Paxton ran out of his house and jumped into a truck driven by his wife, a state senator, to avoid being served a subpoena to testify Tuesday in an abortion access case, according to court documents.A process server wrote in an affidavit that he was attempting to deliver the federal court subpoena Monday at Paxton’s home and ultimately had to leave the document on the ground. He said the Republican avoided him for more than an hour from inside his house, then dashed toward the truck and the couple drove off. Continue reading...

Plan includes multiple ambitious proposals, such as expanding benefits like free school meals and food stampsThe Biden government has launched a new strategy to end hunger in the US by 2030 through the expansion of benefits such as free school meals and food stamps.One in 10 households struggled to feed their families in 2021 due to poverty – an extraordinary level of food insecurity in the richest country in the world which has barely budged in the past two decades amid deepening economic inequalities and welfare cuts. Of those, children in 274,000 households went hungry, skipped meals or did not eat for entire days because there was not enough money to buy food. Continue reading...

Memo warns employees they should not speak in support of abortion following state ban on procedureCondoms should only be provided to students to prevent sexually transmitted infections, not as birth control, according to a memo sent by the University of Idaho to staff last week.The memo, first obtained by the Idaho Press and issued to all employees on Friday, laid out the university’s reproductive policies following the enactment of Idaho’s abortion law, which bans the procedure in nearly all cases. Continue reading...

Amber Rones Barnes, 36, condemned for posting picture of dead Siberian husky – not the ‘predator wolf pup’ she believed she killedIn a horrifying and tragic turn of events, a Montana hunter has shot and killed a Siberian husky she believed was a wolf and sparked an online tirade of outrage after posing with a photo of the skinned dog.Thousands of people condemned Amber Rose Barnes, 36, after she proudly posted about the kill on Facebook, along with graphic photos of the deceased husky which she at the time thought was a wolf pup. Continue reading...

Agency files slightly amended list of seized materials and an affidavit that the list reflects what was taken during searchThe Department of Justice has pushed back on the unsubstantiated claims from Donald Trump that the agency planted evidence during its search of Mar-a-Lago, submitting a slightly amended list of seized materials and an affidavit that the list reflects what was taken during the 8 August search.The FBI submitted a first version of the inventory list several weeks ago. It only had one business day to compile the first list but had more time to submit the most recent version, reported CNN. Continue reading...

Britain has its third female prime minister and Italy is likely to get its first. That’s progress, right? Well, only if you can ignore their policiesWhat a fine few weeks for feminism it has been! First Liz Truss became Britain’s third female prime minister and now Giorgia Meloni is expected to be Italy’s first ever female prime minister. The former is a deeply unserious person who used to be most famous for a viral rant about cheese before gaining global recognition for helping to crash Britain’s economy in record time. The latter is the most right-wing Italian leader since 1945: a bigot with a history of homophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-choice views who represents a post-fascist party and hasn’t definitively distanced herself from fascism.Scrap all those inconvenient facts, though. It’s not their policies or their moral compasses that matter: the most important thing about Truss and Meloni is that they are women. Sisters are doing it for themselves, and all that. (“It” being far-right politics and crashing the economy.) Like it or not, representation matters: you can’t be what you can’t see. I might not agree with Truss and Meloni’s policies but I can put my lefty political leanings aside for a moment and admit that they are both inspirational trailblazers. Little girls can finally grow up secure in the knowledge that they have what it takes to help drive the pound to record lows. They can go to sleep at night knowing that authoritarianism isn’t just for the boys. That’s progress, isn’t it? That’s worth celebrating, right?Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

With Putin mired in the Ukraine war and facing unrest at home, it’s time the west tried to negotiate a way back from the brinkPresident Putin’s declaration of partial mobilisation is a sign of the utter failure of Russia’s Ukraine strategy since February’s invasion. That Putin waited so long before declaring mobilisation is partly because it involves an implicit recognition of this failure, and of the fact that the “special military operation” is in fact a full-scale war, which Russia seems to be losing. It is also because he feared – rightly – a backlash from the Russian public. His regime is now in serious danger. Another major defeat would most probably bring it down.What could be much more dangerous than the mobilisation itself is the combination of this announcement with the decision to hold referendums in the eastern Donbas (recognised as independent by Russia in February), and the other territories occupied by Russian forces during the invasion.Anatol Lieven is director of the Eurasia programme at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft Continue reading...

UK Ministry of Defence says Putin may unveil ‘accession of occupied regions’ after referendums. Plus, welcome to pumpkin spice season

Whether or not the assault on the Capitol actually failed is yet to be determinedAs the January 6 hearings are about to resume, it is unlikely that our basic understanding of what happened between the 2020 presidential election and the attack on the Capitol will significantly change. That is a testament to the crucial work the Committee has already done and to which we owe much of our detailed knowledge of the weeks long, multi-level coup attempt and the evolving strategies of those involved in this deliberate campaign to nullify the election results, prevent the transfer of power and end constitutional government in America.And yet, the Committee’ job is far from done. It still has an important role to play in determining the meaning and role of January 6 in US history. Was the attack on the US Capitol a failed, desperate, last-ditch effort by delusional extremists? Or will it be remembered as a milestone in America’s accelerating descent into authoritarianism – an assault on the system that didn’t succeed initially but played a key role in democracy’s demise? The answer to these questions is not decided by facts and past events. In a very real sense, January 6 isn’t over yet, and the success or failure of the Trumpian coup attempt will be decided by what happens next.Thomas Zimmer is a visiting professor at Georgetown University, focused on the history of democracy and its discontents in the United States, and a Guardian US contributing opinion writer Continue reading...

Since 2002, eligible households have been shielded from price fluctuations in the energy market. People don’t have to struggleBritain is facing a cost of living crisis on multiple fronts – and has been for some time. Research conducted a year ago showed households were already feeling the pinch as the cost of everyday essentials steadily climbed alongside their energy bills, with the poorest households disproportionately affected.Twelve months on, and we are still waiting for a long-term, sustainable solution to tackle this poverty premium – the extra cost of being poor. Millions of the poorest households have since slipped into fuel poverty, meaning they sacrifice more than 10% of their income to energy costs. In a cruel irony, those on universal credit are four times as likely to be using a prepayment meter to pay for energy – among the most expensive ways to pay for fuel.Carl Packman is head of corporate engagement for the Fair by Design campaign Continue reading...

Mona Rodriguez’s killing fueled a movement to transform Long Beach’s approach to student safety: “Fund schools, not officers”On 27 September 2021, a school officer in Long Beach, California, tried to intervene in an altercation between teenagers down the street from a high school where he worked.As a group of the youth drove off in a car, the officer fired two shots at the vehicle, striking 18-year-old Mona Rodriguez, who was a passenger and unarmed. Eight days later, she was taken off life support and died. She left behind a five-month-old baby. Continue reading...

A nationwide movement hopes to close the ‘slavery loophole’ that enables the exploitation of 800,000 prisoners in the USWhen prison reformer Johnny Perez was incarcerated he made sheets, underwear and pillowcases working for Corcraft, a manufacturing division of New York State Correctional Services that uses prisoners to manufacture products for state and local agencies. His pay ranged between 17 cents and 36 cents an hour.“We have a system that forces people to work and not only forces them to work but does not give them an adequate living wage,” said Perez. “Slavery by any name is wrong. Slavery in any shape or form is wrong.” Continue reading...

The quarterback and kicker was judged too old by the Bears when he was in his early 30s. He was approaching his sixth decade when his career finally endedTom Brady, the 45-year-old Tampa Bay quarterback who is often said to be ageless, has smashed nearly every NFL record that he can – one notable exception is held by an ageless predecessor, a grizzled quarterback and kicker who finally stopped playing because his team cut him.George Frederick Blanda was of Slovak heritage, and his dad was a Pittsburgh coal miner. He played his final NFL game on 4 January 1976, at the age of 48 years, 109 days, a record that still stands. Blanda intended to keep playing, but he was not in the Oakland Raiders’ plans. Continue reading...

Paul Gosar and Louie Gohmert were eager to believe ‘wild, dramatic fantasies’, claims Denver Riggleman in new bookThe Republican congressmen Louis Gohmert and Paul Gosar adopted such extreme, conspiracy-tinged positions, even before the US Capitol attack, that a fellow member of the rightwing Freedom Caucus thought they “may have had serious cognitive issues”.Denver Riggleman, once a US representative from Virginia, reports his impression of his former colleagues from Texas and Arizona in a new book. Continue reading...

I wouldn’t vote for her if I were on fire, but I’m in nauseated awe of what it must take for a woman to succeed among hard-right conservativesAustralia’s Sky News opened its report of far-right Giorgia Meloni’s imminent election victory as Italy’s first female prime minister with the statement: “Giorgia Meloni is not a fascist.”Seems a helluva disclaimer to feel obliged to make, really, but then even Sky admits Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party is not without ideological baggage. Continue reading...

US pro-wrestler fulfilled 650 wishes through non-profit that helps children who are gravely sick or dyingAfter vanquishing seemingly countless foes in the ring as well as on the screen, the US pro-wrestler and actor John Cena has notched one more mark on his body count.He has set the new record for the most wishes granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the non-profit that helps fulfil the wishes of children who are gravely sick or dying, according to a recent press release from Guinness World Records. Continue reading...

Messages include group chat among cabinet officials and plans by lawmakers to object to election certificationMark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff, was at the center of hundreds of incoming messages about ways to aid Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to texts he turned over to the House January 6 select committee that have been published in a new book.The texts included previously unreported messages, including a group chat with Trump administration cabinet officials and plans to object to Joe Biden’s election certification on January 6 by Republican members of Congress and one former US attorney, as well as other Trump allies. Continue reading...

Storm prompted Nasa to shelter its lunar rocket as it approached the Cayman Islands on a track to hit Florida as a major hurricaneFlorida officials issued a mandatory evacuation order to residents of Tampa in anticipation of Hurricane Ian, and leaders in other parts of the state are warning residents that similar orders could come within the next day as they brace for a storm that forecasters fear will be potent.Ian moved near the Cayman Islands and closer to western Cuba early on Monday on a track to hit Florida as a major hurricane this week. Continue reading...

Claim of call at 4.34pm made in book by former Republican congressman and adviser to House select committeeThe White House switchboard dialled a phone associated with a January 6 rioter after it was clear the deadly Capitol attack had failed to prevent the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, according to a new book.The book from the former Republican congressman and House January 6 select committee adviser Denver Riggleman says the connection was an outgoing call routed through the switchboard at 4.34pm, and it was answered by an unnamed rioter who allegedly has since been charged by the justice department with a role in the storming of the Capitol. Continue reading...