The bean-counters have axed Batgirl and some other favourite TV shows are disappearing tooThere’s a wonderful novel by the Japanese writer Yōko Ogawa called The Memory Police, which portrays an island community living under a strange form of repression: every now and again, something is taken from them – it might be photographs, or rose petals, or hats – and not only do the objects disappear but all references, memories and language associated with them.I remembered it last week, as reports circulated that the streaming platform HBO Max had been removing titles from its catalogue following a merger with Discovery+. Were we in a beautifully suggestive allegory of cultural authoritarianism, the anguished howls that have greeted the disappearance of shows such as Vinyl, An American Pickle and The Witches would have themselves been silenced; as it is, this is just business and some of them are even now popping up elsewhere. Continue reading...

School surveillance software is marketed as a way to keep kids safe, but experts are concerned it’s used to punish students rather than protect themGetting your kid ready to go back to school in the US? Well, you’re going to need all the essentials then: a bulletproof backpack and a school-issued tablet or laptop, pre-programmed with creepy spyware. During the pandemic, remote schooling led to a boom in surveillance software which let teachers monitor everything kids were doing on school-issued devices. Now that in-person teaching has resumed, however, the electronic monitoring hasn’t stopped. Rather, it has increased. According to a new report from the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), 89% of teachers have said that their schools will continue using student-monitoring software, up 5% from last year.Arwa Mahdawi’s new book, Strong Female Lead, is available for order Continue reading...

Those whose lived through the formation of India and Pakistan are telling their stories – and their grandchildren are asking questionsTwo sisters handed me a piece of paper that was faded and yellow. On it were typewritten words from their father. He had died in the 1990s and his final request had been for his ashes to be divided up and scattered in three different places: the Punjabi village in modern-day Pakistan where he’d been born, the River Ganges at Haridwar in India, and by the Severn Bridge in England. These three places made up his life, from displacement to India from Pakistan during partition, and then his migration to Britain. He felt he belonged in each one of them, wanting some part of him to remain, in death as in life.Five years ago, I started collecting testimonies of the people in Britain who lived through the tumultuous events of partition. I quickly realised it was not a story from far away, but one that was all around us in Britain, with a continuing legacy. Continue reading...

Collision near the home of actor known for films including Donnie Brasco left her vehicle ‘engulfed in flames’The US actor Anne Heche has reportedly been taken to hospital in a critical condition after a collision that left her vehicle “engulfed in flames”.The incident occurred on Friday morning in the Mar Vista area of Los Angeles, near to Heche’s home. Continue reading...

The authoritarian Hungarian leader was embraced as a kindred spirit by Trump fans at the CPAC event in Dallas“The globalists can all go to hell,” declared Viktor Orbán. “I have come to Texas!”The crowd roared, whooped and gave a standing ovation as if at a campaign rally for former US president Donald Trump. It was evident they saw in Orbán a kindred spirit – a blunt weapon to wield against liberal foes. Continue reading...

Morale-boosting victories were tempered by bruising defeats but US leftwingers feel the party’s center of gravity is shiftingProgressives watching the latest US primary results last Tuesday night might have felt understandably torn.While two of the most leftwing members of the House, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri, easily fended off their challengers, Andy Levin lost in his Michigan primary to a much more centrist colleague, Haley Stevens. Continue reading...

In South Dakota, the Oyate Court – made up of Lakota elders – uses traditional peacemaking principles to stress healing over punishmentRobert Jones was on edge, a Native American teen in a reservation border town courtroom.He faced felony assault charges in Rapid City, South Dakota, home to a criminal justice system stubbornly plagued by racial disparities. Nearly all of the police, prosecutors, judges and jailers are white and more than half of the accused and incarcerated are Native American – despite comprising a fraction of the city’s population. Continue reading...

The 1992 ‘Dream Team’ that won gold in Barcelona contained a plethora of star names and won new fans around the world“I don’t know anything about Angola. But Angola’s in trouble.” The words of Charles Barkley at the Palau Municipal d’Esports the day before the US basketball team kicked off its run at the 1992 Olympic Games turned out to be true on several levels, some more uplifting than others.Barkley himself would go on to score 24 points against Angola in an overwhelming victory, in the process elbowing an opponent in the neck to “show him what the NBA is like”. He would also end up leading scorer in that Dream Team, a man having the time of his life, carousing with the locals, playing cards all night with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, providing the razor edge in a team playing with a kind of light around it. And in the process becoming a part of another kind of history. Continue reading...

Combined amount of $49.3m is still below the $150m Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis sought after his Sandy Hook shooting liesAfter already ordering him to pay $4.1m to the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, the jury hearing the defamation case against far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones over his falsehoods about the massacre told him to surrender another $45.2m to the grieving family who sued him.The combined amount of $49.3m is hefty but still below the $150m Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis – the mother and father of slain six-year-old Jesse Lewis – had demanded over Jones’s repeated lies that the Sandy Hook elementary school murders in Newtown, Connecticut, were an elaborate ruse carried out by “crisis actors” hellbent on forcing gun control reform. Continue reading...

Victims included a husband and wife from Wisconsin after the lightning strike in Lafayette ParkThree people have died and one remains critically injured after being struck by lightning near the White House on Thursday night, including a husband and wife from Wisconsin celebrating more than five decades of marriage.Dramatic images showed bolts streaking through the air on Thursday as a severe thunderstorm swept through the US capital. Scientists say that the climate crisis is increasing the likelihood of lightning strikes across the country. Continue reading...

Criminal investigation is under way, authorities say, and one of the firefighters discovered the house belonged to relativesSeven adults and three children are confirmed dead after a house fire early on Friday, Pennsylvania state police said in a news release. In a shocking and tragic twist one of the firefighters responding to the blaze discovered the house belonged to his relatives, many of whom are now among the dead.A criminal investigation is under way, authorities said. The children who died in the fire were aged five, six and seven. Continue reading...

Vehicle drove against direction of parade in Gallup, to celebrate the town’s 100th annual inter-tribal ceremonyPolice have arrested several people who were in a large SUV that drove through a Native American celebration in New Mexico, causing multiple injuries along a parade route crowded with families. Two local police officers were among those hurt.The Navajo Nation president, Jonathan Nez, and his family were among those almost hit as a large car drove barreled through. Continue reading...

Jones ordered to pay $4.1m for defaming Sandy Hook parents by claiming shooting was a hoax, but could be forced to pay moreA financial expert testifying for the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting has estimated that Alex Jones and his media company are worth between $135m and $270m as they seek punitive damages beyond the $4.1m they secured a day ago for the US conspiracy theorist’s falsehoods about the massacre.The expert, Bernard Pettingill, said from the witness stand in an Austin courtroom that Jones and his Free Speech Systems company earned more than $50m annually between 2016 to 2021 – even as popular social media companies banned him from promoting himself through them – due to his “rabid following” of millions. Continue reading...

Thomas Connally, 56, of West Virginia pleaded guilty to making threats over Fauci’s handling of Covid pandemicA federal judge sentenced a West Virginia man to three years in prison by for sending intimidating emails to public health chief Anthony Fauci, including threats to kill the US’s top infectious disease official over his handling of the Covid pandemic.US district judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland, on Thursday sentenced Thomas Connally, 56, of Snowshoe, West Virginia, to 37 months in federal prison and another three years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty in May to a federal charge of making threats against a federal official. Continue reading...

Basketball player who won a record 11 championships and was the first black star player and first black head coach in the NBAIn his 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Boston Celtics, Bill Russell, who has died aged 88, won 11 championships, a record unmatched in team sports. But his place as one of the most influential American athletes of the 20th century, behind only Muhammad Ali and perhaps the baseball player Jackie Robinson, is based on more than his implacable will to win, and his intelligence in allying his skills to his teammates’ to facilitate that process.He was the NBA’s first black star, five times the league’s most valuable player. His defensive leaping ability transformed basketball from a horizontal to a vertical game. And in 1966, when the Celtics coach Red Auerbach stepped down and named Russell his successor, he became the first black head coach in modern America’s four major sports leagues. Continue reading...

Vice-president under George W Bush denounces, in campaign ad for daughter Liz, ‘coward … who lost his election, and lost big’Dick Cheney has branded Donald Trump the greatest “threat to our republic”, in a new campaign ad for his daughter, Liz Cheney, who is running for re-election in Wyoming.“In our nation’s 236-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” said Cheney, who served as vice-president for two terms under George W Bush. Continue reading...

Footage shows an SUV being driven through a Native American celebration in Gallup, New Mexico. Multiple people were injured including two police officers. People can be seen enjoying the celebration from the pavement as the cream-coloured vehicle crashes through, causing panic. State police arrested several people and have said no one was killed in the incident. The celebration to honour the culture and traditions of Native Americans dates back more than a century

Former news anchor campaigned on proposed election measures, including bans on vote-counting machines and voting by mailKari Lake, a former news anchor who has embraced Donald Trump’s false claims that voter fraud cost him the 2020 election, has been projected to win the Republican nomination for governor of Arizona.Lake campaigned on enacting many new election measures, including getting rid of vote-counting machines and banning voting by mail. Continue reading...

Amy Weirich stirred outrage for bringing criminal charges against Pamela Moses, whose conviction was subsequently overturnedAmy Weirich, the Memphis prosecutor who stirred national outrage for bringing criminal charges against a Black woman for trying to register to vote, has lost her re-election bid.Weirich, a Republican who has been the district attorney general in Shelby county since 2011, lost to Democrat Steve Mulroy, a law professor at the University of Memphis and a former county commissioner. Continue reading...

The Arizona senator said she had agreed to last-minute changes on the measure’s tax and energy provisionsSenate Democratic leaders say they have reached an agreement on the party’s major $739bn climate and economic bill with Kyrsten Sinema – the centrist Democrat whose opposition remained a major hurdle to passing the most ambitious US climate legislation yet.The support of Sinema, a former member of the Green Party who has evolved into one of Congress’ most conservative Democrats, was crucial to the passage of the bill, which tackles energy, environment, health and tax measures. Its success is seen as the Democratic party’s most substantive chance to deliver domestic policy progress before the midterm elections. Continue reading...

By promoting more diverse farming, we can provide nutritious food without having the same devasting effect on our climate

Phoenix Mercury player Skylar Diggins-Smith reacts after a Russian court sentenced her teammate Brittney Griner to nine years in prison and a 1m rouble fine for a drug offence.'Nobody wanted to even play today,' said Diggins-Smith during an emotional press conference with fellow Phoenix Mercury player Diamond DeShields. Griner, who played in Russia during off-seasons from the Phoenix Mercury team, was arrested for cannabis possession at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February

Kylie Jenner’s 17-minute private jet ride is a reminder that private jets are morally obscene and terrible for the climate. The planet can no longer afford these indulgencesKylie Jenner, Drake and other celebrities have recently faced criticism for carbon emission-heavy private jet rides, with one of Jenner’s flights reportedly lasting an offensively short 17 minutes.It might be less insulting if the flights were taken for reasons vital to the survival of the human race or at least the function of government. But these were entertainers and private individuals who have access to first-class commercial flights and the same conveniences of phone and video calls us humble common folk use.private aircraft still emit more than 33m tonnes of greenhouse gases, more than the country of Denmark … they are five to 14 times more polluting than commercial planes, per passenger, and 50 times more polluting than trains.Akin Olla is a contributing opinion writer at the Guardian Continue reading...

Gun-makers are openly marketing to – and perhaps even creating – the next generation of mass shooters, all in service of their bottom lineFrom 1995 to 2020, I worked for the firearms manufacturer Kimber. As the industry began to embrace extremism and conspiracy, I did what I could to fight back from the inside. When industry marketing celebrated armed vigilantism to sell guns, I left.I’m still a proud gun owner who believes in responsibility. These days I use my platform to advocate for commonsense gun safety measures and call out dangerous and toxic marketing in the industry – which is why I was invited to testify before the US House committee on oversight and reform last week.Ryan Busse is a former executive in the firearms industry who is now a senior policy adviser for Giffords. He is the author of Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America Continue reading...

Infowars owner faced defamation trial for saying the school shooting was a hoax. Plus, how the Astroworld tragedy changed gigs for ever

Jennifer Abruzzo would like to ease the path to forming unions and curb employers’ coercion and intimidationAs the Biden administration lays claim to being the most pro-union in generations, many US labor leaders have hailed Jennifer Abruzzo as the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) most vigorously pro-union general counsel in decades.The top lawyer at the body charged with enforcing US labor law has been hailed as a champion by some and as a “radical” by her opponents. For others involved in the white-hot world of union organizing, she has not gone far enough. Continue reading...

The mercurial Cubs outfielder was one of the most prolific sluggers in National League history and still holds one of baseball’s most impregnable single-season recordsWith more than 40 home runs, nearly a hundred runs batted in and over a third of the season still to play, Aaron Judge is poised to complete the best season of his mighty career.Still, the New York Yankees slugger will have to pick up the pace to match Hack Wilson, one of the greatest and most rambunctious hitters in the history of Major League Baseball and the holder of one of the sport’s most impregnable records. Continue reading...

LA Galaxy’s signing of Riqui Puig, the 23-year-old not so long ago seen as Barca’s next big thing, is the latest stroke in a talent influx that’s included Bale, Bernardeschi and InsigneNot so long ago, Riqui Puig was seen as the face of Barcelona’s future. At a time when the identity of the Catalan club was in question, the young midfielder was the embodiment of what Barca aspired to be again. He ticked all the boxes: diminutive, homegrown and extremely talented. Puig was the next La Masia graduate primed to make it big at Camp Nou, so it’s somewhat surprising to now see the 22-year-old in Major League Soccer.The LA Galaxy announced the signing of Puig on a three-year deal on Thursday with Barcelona so keen to cut their bloated wage bill that they allowed the midfielder to leave for free. “Riqui is a very technical and well-educated player with incredible experiences for his age,” said Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney. “He will fit seamlessly into our group and style of play.” Continue reading...

Firefighters have got their first hold on California’s deadliest and most destructive fire of the year and expect the blaze to remain stalled over the weekend. The McKinney fire, near the Oregon border, was 10% contained as of Wednesday night and bulldozers and hand crews were making progress carving firebreaks around much of the rest of the blaze, fire officials said Continue reading...

Eyvin Hernandez, a Los Angeles public defender, was jailed while on vacation. ‘Please do something,’ his mother saidThe family of a Los Angeles man detained in Venezuela earlier this year is publicly appealing to the US government to help secure his release, fearing he could be held longterm as a political bargaining chip.Eyvin Hernandez, a 44-year-old lawyer and criminal justice advocate in LA, was picked up by Venezuelan security forces on 31 March near the Colombia-Venezuela border and is facing “criminal association” and “conspiracy” charges, his family says. Continue reading...

Democratic leaders need to prepare their citizens for a long struggle over Ukraine – and a hard winterThe Russo-Ukrainian war is coming down to a race between the weakening political will of western democracies and the deteriorating military means of Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship. But this race will be a marathon, not a sprint. Sustaining that political will requires the kind of farsighted leadership which most democracies are missing. It calls for a recognition that our own countries are also, in some important sense, at war – and a corresponding politics of the long haul.Is this what you hear when you turn on your television in the United States (where I am now), Germany, Italy, Britain or France? Is this a leading topic in the Conservative party contest to decide Britain’s next prime minister, or the run-up to the Italian election on 25 September, or the campaign for the US midterm elections on 8 November? No, no and no. “We are at war,” I heard someone say recently on the radio; but he was an energy analyst, not a politician.Timothy Garton Ash is a historian, political writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said China 'will not isolate' Taiwan by preventing US officials from travelling there. Pelosi, who is currently leading a Congressional delegation to the Indo-Pacific region, with her last stop in Tokyo, said her visit was 'not about changing the status quo' but recognised China 'made their strikes probably using our visit as an excuse'. Pelosi said the Chinese have tried to isolate Taiwan, adding, 'we will not allow them to isolate Taiwan ... They are not doing our travel schedule.'

The Biden administration agreed to pause plans that would have destroyed a 51-year-old oceanfront parkThe Biden administration has agreed to pause plans for a double border wall that critics say would effectively destroy a 51-year-old oceanfront park that symbolizes friendship between the United States and Mexico.Chris Magnus, the US Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said he wanted to hear community concerns before settling on a wall design for Friendship Park, which then-first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated 1971. Continue reading...

Twitter rebuts billionaire’s lawsuit and his arguments for abandoning the takeover as legal standoff heats upTwitter has rejected Elon Musk’s claims in court that he had legitimate reasons to back out of a $44bn deal to purchase the social media platform, marking the latest development in a dramatic legal showdown.In a filing made public on Thursday, Twitter called Musk’s arguments for abandoning the deal “a story, imagined in an effort to escape a merger agreement that Musk no longer found attractive once the stock market and along with it, his massive personal wealth, declined in value”. Continue reading...

Florida governor ousted Andrew Warren of Tampa for ‘woke’ agenda including support for abortion and trans rightsRon DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, suspended the elected state prosecutor of Tampa on Thursday, for pledging not to enforce a new 15-week abortion ban and for supporting gender transition treatments for minors.The Republican governor announced the suspension of the Hillsborough county state attorney, Andrew Warren, at a news conference in the county’s sheriff’s office, where DeSantis and law enforcement officers criticized Warren. Continue reading...

Far-right Infowars owner faced defamation trial for repeatedly saying the school shooting was a hoaxThe jury in Alex Jones’s defamation trial on Thursday ordered the far-right conspiracy theorist to pay $4.1m in damages over his repeated claims that the deadly Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.Jurors in Austin, Texas, gave their verdict after deliberating about one hour Wednesday and seven hours Thursday at the end of a nine-days-long trial. The verdict levied against Jones was far below the $150m or more the plaintiffs had requested that jurors award them. Continue reading...

Suspect remains on the loose after a man was seen driving away from city of Laurel, authorities sayFour people were found dead on Thursday in two burning homes in a small town in rural north-eastern Nebraska and a suspect remains on the loose, authorities said.Col John Bolduc of the Nebraska state patrol said at a news conference that a man was seen driving away from the city of Laurel before the bodies were discovered and that investigators would like to speak to him. Continue reading...

A Moscow court has sentenced the WNBA star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison and a 1m rouble fine in a politically charged verdict that could lead to a prisoner swap with the US. Griner, who played in Russia during off-seasons from the Phoenix Mercury team, was arrested for cannabis possession at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February. Griner had pleaded guilty to all charges, but said the cannabis oil was prescribed for medical reasons. Her lawyer said Griner was very upset after the decision and would appeal against it, while the US deputy embassy chief in Moscow described the charges as a 'miscarriage of justice'

Woodfox, member of ‘Angola Three’, was wrongfully convicted of 1972 murder of Louisiana prison guard and released only in 2016Albert Woodfox, who is thought to have been held in solitary confinement longer than any individual in US history, having survived 43 years in a 6ft x 9ft cell in one of America’s most brutal prisons, has died aged 75.Woodfox’s death was made public on Thursday by his long-term lawyers, George Kendall and Carine Williams, and by his brother Michael Mable. They said he had died from complications caused by Covid. Continue reading...

Two years of messages were inadvertently sent by Infowars host’s attorney to lawyer for Sandy Hook victim’s familyThe House January 6 committee has asked the attorney for a family suing Alex Jones for defamation to turn over up to two years’ worth of text messages from the far-right conspiracy theorist’s phone that he inadvertently received from the defense ahead of the trial.The request from the select committee – and another from federal law enforcement – was confirmed in an Austin, Texas, courtroom on Thursday by Mark Bankston, the lawyer for the parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, which Jones has falsely claimed was a hoax. Continue reading...

Civil rights charges brought against current and former officers for role in fatal shooting of Black woman in Kentucky in March 2020The US Department of Justice on Thursday brought civil rights charges against four current and former Louisville police officers for their roles in the 2020 fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was killed in her home, a case that stirred national protests over police brutality.Federal investigators alleged that the members of a Louisville unit called Place-Based Investigations “falsified” the affidavit used to obtain a search warrant, violating Taylor’s civil rights. Continue reading...

I almost bought a $15m mansion just to be polite

Griner sentenced and fined 1m roubles in politically charged verdict that could lead to prisoner swap with the USA Moscow court has convicted the US basketball player Brittney Griner on drug charges, sentencing her to nine years in prison and a 1m rouble fine in a politically charged verdict that could lead to a prisoner swap with the US.Griner, a basketball talent who played in Russia during off-seasons from the Phoenix Mercury team, was arrested for cannabis possession at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport in February. Continue reading...

House report’s findings showed lengths firms went to in order to increase profits from properties: ‘They’re willing to destroy someone’s life’Elizabeth Warren and other lawmakers are looking to secure more tenants’ rights this week after a yearlong House investigation concluded that four corporate landlords aggressively evicted thousands of people, especially in communities of color, despite state and federal eviction moratoriums during the pandemic’s early days. They did so by misleading and deceiving tenants, even going as far as to falsely accuse tenants of neglecting their children.The House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis revealed last week that during the pandemic’s first 16 months, four firms – Siegel Group, Pretium Partners, Ventron Management and Invitation Homes – filed nearly 15,000 eviction notices between March 2020 and July 2021, more than three times more than previously publicly available data showed. Continue reading...

Carolyn Maloney says sorry for broaching the issue in a debate but that she will support Biden if he does seek a second termA senior New York Democrat predicted on Thursday that Joe Biden will not run for re-election in 2024, even as she apologised for saying that previously and also said she would support him if he did stand again.Speaking to CNN, the congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said sorry for broaching the issue in a debate – but then said again she thought Biden would not run. Continue reading...