Dow falls 3.1% a day after the Fed chair announces biggest hike in two decades to combat inflationUS stock markets suffered their worst day of the year on Thursday as investors worried about the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates to tackle soaring inflation.The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 1,000 points (3.1%). The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 3.5% and 4.9% respectively. Tech stocks were particularly hard-hit, with Amazon dropping 7.6% and Tesla falling 8.3%. Continue reading...

Heard continued her counterargument to Depp’s claim of defamation, telling jurors her former husband would become angry if any of her movies were scripted with sex scenes. Heard claimed she compensated for his jealousy by declining more sexually provocative parts or petitioning wardrobe managers to allow her to dress more conservatively. She also said Depp was surrounded by security guards and assistants who enabled him to avoid the consequences of his drug and alcohol issues

Since supreme court draft ruling was published, Democrats have warned of a likely torrent of challenges to established rightsRepublicans in Louisiana have advanced a bill to make abortion a crime of murder, as a draft decision that would end abortion rights continues to spark nationwide protests and police in Washington raised “non-scalable” fences around the supreme court.Supporters admitted the bill, under which a woman terminating a pregnancy or anyone assisting her could be charged, was unconstitutional – as long as Roe v Wade was law. Continue reading...

Kyrgyzstan-born Russian boxer has been reduced to a ghostly figure in Las Vegas but remains quietly confidentThere have been times this week when Dmitry Bivol, the unbeaten and outstanding WBA world light-heavyweight champion, has been reduced to a ghostly figure in Las Vegas. Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez, his challenger on Saturday night, dominates boxing and so the layered and complex life of Bivol has been ignored.The 31-year-old Russian is regarded by many as simply the next opponent for the imperious Mexican. Canelo, the undisputed world super-middleweight champion, is jumping up to light-heavy to presumably dispatch Bivol before returning to his regular weight class in September to face his bitter rival Gennady Golovkin. Continue reading...

Actor tells court that Depp would deny what had taken place when he was drunk, and that she suffered suspected broken nose by himAmber Heard continued her explosive counter-argument to Johnny Depp’s claim of defamation, telling jurors her former husband was surrounded by security guards and assistants who enabled him to avoid the consequences of his drug and alcohol issues.The court was shown photographs of Depp passed out, which Heard said she starting taking in 2013 because he would black out and later deny what had taken place when he was intoxicated. Continue reading...

Hit Netflix documentary has been crucial in sparking American interest in F1, and has announced two new seasonsFormula One will revel in its new found success in the US at this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. The sport is resurgent in the country F1 has long wanted to break and a key factor has been the popularity of the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive. Little wonder then that the streaming service chose Miami as the backdrop to announce the series has been recommissioned for a further two seasons.F1 is holding two races in the US for the first time since 1984, with Miami and the US GP in Austin. Next year it will add Las Vegas to the mix. The sport’s owners, Liberty Media who took over F1 in 2017, have made no secret of their ambition to build F1’s profile in the US, and Drive to Survive has been vital. Continue reading...

Nashville public library patrons can now get limited-edition cards as part of ‘Freedom to Read’ campaignThe Nashville public library has debuted new library cards celebrating banned books amid attempts to censor literature throughout the state.Patrons of the Nashville public library system can now get limited-edition bright yellow library cards that say: “I read banned books.” Continue reading...

Pharmacy giant agrees to pay state government over 18-year period but does not admit to wrongdoing as part of the dealPharmacy giant Walgreens said on Thursday it has reached a $683m settlement with Florida to resolve claims that the chain exacerbated an opioid epidemic in the state.The settlement includes $620m to be paid to Florida over 18 years, plus $63m for legal fees. Florida is the first state to settle its opioid claims against major pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS, collecting more than $1.1bn from the two companies. Continue reading...

The most important primary in the US might be the Georgia secretary of state race, where Brad Raffensperger is in a tough re-election battle after standing up to TrumpHello, and Happy Thursday,I’m writing from Atlanta, where I’m spending this week reporting on the Republican primary for secretary of state.Georgia’s department of driver services quietly eliminated automatic voter registration on its website, but has since restored it.A decision striking down New York’s congressional map is a major blow to Democratic efforts to keep control of the US House this yearMississippi’s governor vetoed a bill that would make it moderately easier for people with felony convictions to get their voting rights back. Continue reading...

Cave in northern Alabama home to carvings that experts say were probably made during the Woodland periodThe largest cave figures in North America have been discovered in Alabama as a result of advanced photography.In a study published on Tuesday in the journal Antiquity, researchers revealed that a cave in the northern Alabama countryside is home to carvings dating back about 1,000 years. Experts estimate that the carvings were made during the Woodland period. Continue reading...

JD Vance once pondered if Trump was the next Hitler. Then he kissed Trump’s ring – and has been rewarded with the Ohio Republican Senate nominationOn Tuesday, JD Vance won Ohio’s Republican nomination for US Senate. After lagging in the polls for months, Vance hit the tape first after garnering Donald Trump’s endorsement. Although Vance received under a third of votes cast, more than half of Buckeye state Republicans voted for a candidate who made his personal devotion to Trump a political cornerstone. The Republican party still belongs to 45th president.By contrast, Matt Dolan, a state senator whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians, the area’s Major League Baseball team, finished third with less than a quarter of the vote. Dolan publicly accepted the outcome of the 2020 election. He is the latest in a series of cautionary tales.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York. He was opposition research counsel to George HW Bush’s 1988 campaign and served in the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

President warns of new Republican party attacks on rights after supreme court abortion leak. Plus, Amber Heard takes witness stand against Johnny Depp

For many unhoused Californians, disabilities make life at a temporary shelter nearly impossible“I just don’t know where to go.”Sarah sighed as she looked past her tent off the I-80 highway, at the edge of the San Francisco Bay. Continue reading...

The Democratic party is encouraging president to be more forward-leaning as he broadened US objectives in the conflictThe visit of the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to Kyiv at the head of a congressional delegation this week was a reminder that in Washington the Ukraine war is not just an issue of national security but is an increasingly important domestic political issue too.In his approach to the conflict, Joe Biden, has the wind at his back in terms of US public opinion and Democratic party sentiment which is encouraging him to be ever more forward-leaning. Continue reading...

Actor tells US court he hit her repeatedly in drug-induced rages and once carried out ‘cavity search’Amber Heard has accused Johnny Depp of being a self-described “monster”, hitting her repeatedly during jealous drug-induced rages, breaking furniture, and at one point sexually assaulting her in what she described as a “cavity search” for cocaine he believed she had hidden from him.Heard took the witness stand in a Virginia court on Wednesday afternoon during Depp’s defamation lawsuit against her – a make-or-break moment for the actors in a four-week trial that had so far largely focused on Depp’s version of events during their turbulent 15-month marriage. Continue reading...

As horse racing returns to the spotlight with the 148th Kentucky Derby, a respectable future for the sport that prioritizes equine welfare remains the longest shot of allMoments after crossing the wire second in a field of 20, the big lanky filly Eight Belles collapsed in the dirt with two shattered front ankles. Bone pierced flesh as she struggled to stand but could not. The lather on her dark coat and the blood on her mangled legs glistened under the late afternoon sun. In the charming grandstand of Churchill Downs, a sea of rainbow costumes and made-up faces froze in horror and disbelief. Fists gripped wagering tickets and sweating cocktails while jaws hung agape beneath garish hats decorated with netting and cheap plastic flowers. Her life, just entering its third year, ended there in the dirt against the backdrop of the antique twin spires, the pain and suffering in her eyes witnessed only by those standing over her as the track vet pushed in the lethal dose to end her suffering.Had Eight Belles survived the 2008 Kentucky Derby she would be 17 now, a horse approaching her golden years. But it was not to be, due the overwhelming stress brought upon her by what she was made to do. Such has also been the fate of countless racehorses since her. A number in the thousands to be sure though, due to a long-running lack of racing industry regulation, record keeping, transparency and willingness, the true statistic can never be known. Continue reading...

The elections bill will deter non-Tory supporters from voting and scrap any oversight. Reform is needed more than ever beforeToday is the last time you will go to the polls before the government’s shameful and shameless new elections bill becomes law. It was squeezed through parliament late at night last week in the final “wash-up” of bad bills before the end of the session.The bill’s Trumpish voter suppression is designed to deter poor and young people from voting. Its passing also makes these the last elections to be monitored and scrutinised by a genuinely independent Electoral Commission. This habitually timid outfit tried to stand up for itself: “The independence of the Electoral Commission is vital to the functioning of a healthy democracy,” it said. But, as of now, Boris Johnson and his allies will set their own terms for the commission, including its scrutiny of finance.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

With this year’s draft in the rearview mirror, we have a chance to look at the most intriguing quarterback situations heading into the new seasonBubbling away in the background this offseason are Lamar Jackson’s protracted contract negotiations with the Ravens. Jackson has still not signed a long-term deal. While the Ravens’ AFC rivals have locked their young quarterbacks into record-shattering extensions, Jackson has continued to run his contract down. Continue reading...

Robert Samuel’s business has put him at the forefront of cultural events – and shines a light on the state of capitalism in 2022At 5am, it’s as dark as it ever gets in Times Square, where massive digital billboards never stop blasting light into the sky, illuminating city blocks across midtown.The square is among the most-visited tourist attractions in New York City, but at this time it’s deserted, save for five people standing outside the Winter Garden Theatre. Continue reading...

The former president was once pro-choice – but the threat he posed to reproductive rights was hiding in plain sight“I’m very pro-choice.” So said Donald Trump in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press in 1999, attributing his views on abortion to “a little bit of a New York background”.Two decades later, the businessman and reality TV star is the unlikeliest of heroes for social conservatives and Christian evangelicals because he delivered the ultimate prize: the end of America’s constitutional right to abortion. Continue reading...

We could all do with a little more solidarity between those entering into parenthood, regardless of their gender“Hey, Mama!” This is how I was greeted by a friendly member of staff every morning during my week-long stay in hospital after my baby’s birth. Theoretically, I had had my whole pregnancy to get used to the idea of being a mother in the eyes of the world, because almost immediately you become, to the professionals you interact with, “Mum”. As in: “could Mum pop herself up on the bed, please?” (Mums seem to do a lot of “popping”). But nonetheless, it was still surreal to feel my identity shift.Meanwhile, the baby’s father wore a name tag that proclaimed: “I am [name]. I am husband.” It made me laugh, recalling as it did “I am woman, hear me roar”, or at least a labour ward version of that: “I am husband, hear me … ask politely once again for pethidine.”Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Despite controlling the White House and Congress, Democrats seem powerless to fight the assault on Roe v Wade but hope it will energise midterm votersVisibly shaking with fury and brandishing megaphones and posters, thousands of women defending reproductive rights in America thronged below the marbled columns of the US supreme court to protest against what appears to be the imminent demise of the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling recognizing abortion as a constitutional right.“Do something, Democrats,” the crowd chanted at one point. Continue reading...

House panel also released text messages in which Donald Trump’s son begged the White House to get his father to condemn the riotDonald Trump’s oldest son has met with the congressional committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, according to two people familiar with the matter.The interview Tuesday with Donald Trump Jr comes as the bipartisan House committee moves closer to the former president’s inner circle of family members and political advisers. Continue reading...

The justice department has alleged that Oath Keepers leadership called the president’s confidant to allow them to use forceStewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers militia group leader charged with seditious conspiracy over the January 6 attack on the Capitol, asked an intermediary to get Donald Trump to allow his group to forcibly stop the transfer of power, the justice department has alleged in court papers.The previously unknown phone call with the unidentified individual appears to indicate the Oath Keepers had contacts with at least one person close enough to Trump that Rhodes believed the individual would be a good person to consult with his request. Continue reading...

Actor Amber Heard took the witness stand for the first time on Wednesday in the defamation case brought by her former husband Johnny Depp, saying it was painful to relive the couple's relationship in the courtroom. Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 36, for $50m, saying she defamed him when she claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse. Heard has counter-sued for $100m, saying Depp smeared her by calling her a liar.

President warns of new attacks by Trump-dominated political party after supreme court ruling draft leak on abortionJoe Biden has warned of new attacks on civil rights as the supreme court prepares to strike down the right to abortion, telling reporters at the White House that LGBTQ+ children could be the next targets of a Trump-dominated Republican party he called “this Maga crowd” and “the most extreme political organisation … in recent American history”.“What happens,” the president asked, if “a state changes the law saying that children who are LGBTQ can’t be in classrooms with other children? Is that legit under the way the decision is written?” Continue reading...

Maxwell Berry, 23, who was restrained in his seat with tape, also was sentenced to a year of supervised release after his jail timeAn Ohio man who had to be restrained in his seat with tape after groping and assaulting flight attendants during a flight from Philadelphia to Miami last year has been sentenced by a federal judge to 60 days in prison.Maxwell Berry, 23, also was sentenced by US district judge Robert Scola Jr to a year of supervised release after his jail time. Continue reading...

In cities across the US, thousands took to the streets to demand abortion rights on Tuesday, a day after the leak of a draft supreme court opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling in 1973 that legalised abortion nationwide. The judgment, which is due by the end of June, would be the court’s biggest since the former president Donald Trump succeeded in naming three conservative justices to the court.

Benchmark interest rate raised 0.5 percentage points, with more rises expectedThe Federal Reserve moved to tamp down soaring inflation in the US on Wednesday, announcing the sharpest rise in interest rates in over 20 years.The Fed’s benchmark interest rate was raised by 0.5 percentage points to a target rate range of between 0.75% and 1%. The hike is the largest since 2000 and follows a 0.25 percentage point increase in March, the first increase since December 2018. Continue reading...

Salem-based group asks to mark Satanic Appreciation Week in July after city’s denial of request by Christian activist ruled illegalA Satanic temple is requesting to fly a flag over Boston City Hall after the US supreme court this week ruled the city violated the free speech rights of a conservative activist seeking to fly a Christian flag outside the downtown complex.The Salem-based group on Tuesday tweeted a copy of its request to raise a flag to mark what it termed Satanic Appreciation Week, from 23 to 29 July. Continue reading...

Chad Wolf, then acting homeland security secretary, demanded changes and delayed report, risking perception of politicisationChad Wolf, Donald Trump’s acting secretary of homeland security, interfered with a report on Russian interference in the 2020 election by demanding changes, delaying its dissemination and creating a risk the report might be seen as politicised, a government watchdog said.Eventually declassified in March 2021, the report was a summary of foreign election interference into the 2020 election. It found that, as one headline put it, “Russia tried to help Trump in 2020, Iran tried to hurt him and China stayed out of it”. Continue reading...

It sounds mundane, but a phone-in on listeners’ favourite spoons showed how much memory can be invested in themI have started getting feelings for my spoons. I blame Tim Hayward, restaurant critic for the Financial Times, for this. He wrote a brilliant piece last week about his search for the perfect spoon. At first glance this was a bit random, even for me. But before long I was with him all the way in his quest for the spoon of his dreams, a spoon of just the right depth, size, shape, length and other variables.I surveyed my spoon drawer and considered my feelings. I was disappointed to see I have no fewer than 17 wooden spoons. Disappointed because this implies a certain shallowness, as if I’m some kind of spoon lothario, collecting notches on my bedpost, focusing on quantity rather than quality. Stirring without love is just exercise, after all. But sorting through them, I realised I do have a favourite. It’s more of a spatula than a spoon, but it suits me very well. I had always looked out for it without knowing I was doing so and felt a twinge of disappointment if it didn’t come to hand. If ever I lost it for good, I now understood, I would miss it for ever. Continue reading...

We would like to how the landmark case Roe v Wade affected youAbortion could potentially be banned in 26 US states if a draft supreme court decision remains substantially unchanged and the issue is returned to the states to decide.We would like to hear how having the right to an abortion has affected you. How would your life have been different if you didn’t have access to care? What difference did Roe v Wade make to you? Perhaps you had an abortion before the 1973 landmark case. Continue reading...

Ex-president found in contempt of the court last month for failing to comply with subpoena from the New York attorney generalA New York court has rejected an attempt by Donald Trump to halt a contempt order and $10,000 in daily fines levied against the former US president for failing to properly comply with an investigation into his company.Trump was found in contempt of the court last month for failing to comply with a subpoena from Letitia James, the New York state attorney general, who is seeking financial records for her civil fraud investigation into the Trump Organization. Continue reading...

US abortion row is dominating headlines, with international concern about ‘terrible regression’ for womenThe prospect of the US supreme court overturning Roe v Wade has dominated front pages across the world, with the global media reporting in detail on one of the most polarising issues in American politics.The Washington Post leads on concerns that overthrowing the legislation represents a threat to abortion rights for women everywhere. The newspaper quotes leaders from across the world in support of the 1973 ruling, including comments from the French senator Julien Bargeton that it would be “a terrible regression for American women” and that “progressives around the world must mobilise”. Continue reading...

Outcry after thieves in Oklahoma chopped statue of Marjorie Tallchief into pieces and sold parts to recycling center for $250Thieves have destroyed a statue of a Native American ballerina and sold the broken parts to a recycling center in Oklahoma for about $250.Last week, thieves chopped the statue of Marjorie Tallchief into pieces, prompting outcry among residents in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tallchief was an American ballerina, primarily in the 1940s and 50s, and a member of the Osage Nation. Continue reading...

A Democratic majority in both houses of Congress could make abortion a right by law, and it’s worth remembering Mexico, Ireland and Argentina are among the countries that recently did soHow do you strip away cherished rights? The best strategy is incrementally and undramatically, a death of a thousand cuts. That’s how Republicans were hacking at voting rights until recently, when the rest of us woke up and began to pay attention to the cumulative impact of voter ID laws, the shuttering of polling places, restrictions on voting by mail, and all the rest. Reproductive rights have been under attack for more than 30 years – by rightwing terrorism against abortion providers all through the 1990s and as recently as 2015 in Colorado Springs, but also by a sort of attrition, narrowing down access by shutting clinics, limiting how many weeks pregnant you can be, and other such measures. Overturning Roe v Wade upends all this stealth and incrementalism. Judging by the reaction, it may be exactly the kind of overstep that leads to a backlash. After all, the great majority of Americans support the right to choose.There are many kinds of actions to take in response to this likely overturning of a fundamental right to bodily self-determination and privacy. (And it’s bitterly amusing that a court that wants to set policies reaching into the uteruses of women across the country apparently feels violated by having its own internal workings exposed with this leaked draft opinion.) Direct support for the poor and unfree women who will be the most affected is already under way – and by unfree I mean those who are under the domination of a hostile partner, family, church or community. People have organized to offer travel to clinics for those far from them, access to abortion pills, and other forms of support. But by backlash I mean and am hoping for the kind of backlash Trump’s election and subsequent outrages provoked, the 2018 election that swept the Squad and many other progressives into office and took back the House of Representatives. A Democratic majority in both houses could make abortion a right by law, and it’s worth remembering that Mexico, Ireland and Argentina are among the countries that recently did so.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses Continue reading...

Trump is framing the midterms as a referendum on his continuing influence over the Republican party – even as polls show most voters want him to go awayThe beginning of May before midterm elections marks the start of primary season and six months of fall campaigning. The conventional view this year is that Democrats will be clobbered in November. Why? Because midterms are usually referendums on a president’s performance, and Biden’s approval ratings are in the cellar.But the conventional view could be wrong because it doesn’t account for the Democrat’s secret sauce, which gives them a fighting chance of keeping one or both chambers: Trump.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

Last year Idaho approved the killing of 90% of its wolves and Wisconsin killed 200 in less than 60 hours. Recently 500 were killed in the northern Rockies. This is a disaster for our ecosystemWill Americans ever stop killing wolves?We stopped commercially hunting whales, and the mass slaughter of bison. We no longer clearcut old-growth redwoods, or use explosives on prairie dog towns, or build massive dams on wild salmon rivers. We no longer kill egrets and herons to adorn women’s hats with their feathers.Kim Heacox writes frequently for The Guardian about the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and threats to US public lands. He is the author of many books, including The Only Kayak, a memoir, and Jimmy Bluefeather, a novel, both winners of the National Outdoor Book Award. He lives in Alaska Continue reading...

Biden condemns abortion opinion that, if handed down, would mean ‘fundamental shift’ in law and imperil many other rightsGood morning.Joe Biden has warned that a leaked draft supreme court ruling overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 case that guaranteed the right to abortion, would represent a huge change in US law and could imperil a wide range of other civil rights.What’s the reaction been like? As news broke, demonstrators gathered in major cities across the US. There were tears and tension as protesters swarmed outside the US supreme court to voice their outrage.How soon could US states outlaw abortions if Roe v Wade is overturned? While the draft could still change, if it is not substantially altered it would result in 26 states immediately or as soon as practicable banning abortion, a sea change in the American legal and political landscape.How significant is a leak of a draft supreme court ruling? The Guardian’s Washington correspondent, David Smith, called the leak “stunning and unprecedented” and said it would be the worst security breach in the court’s history.What else is happening? More than 100 evacuees who managed to leave the besieged city of Mariupol – many trapped under the Azovstal steel plant – reached the relative safety of Ukraine-controlled Zaporizhzhia. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed in his latest national address 156 people, mainly women and children, were successfully evacuated.What else do we know? Here’s a roundup of everything we know on day 70 of the invasion. Continue reading...

Congress’s extraordinary new Lend-Lease plan commits billions of dollars to the war effort, echoing a second world war strategyIn the spring of Russia’s war on Ukraine, Washington DC seems haunted by the ghosts of history. The US Congress has passed the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 to expedite aid to Ukraine – just as Franklin D Roosevelt did, under the Lend-Lease Act, to the British empire, China and Greece in March 1941.The sums of money being contemplated in Washington are enormous – a total of $47bn, the equivalent of one third of Ukraine’s prewar GDP. If it is approved by Congress, on top of other western aid, it will mean that we are financing nothing less than a total war.Adam Tooze is a professor of history at Columbia University Continue reading...