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Tuesday’s special election in New York state was more evidence that voters are furious about Republican attacks on abortion rights – and going to the polls to boost DemocratsAbortion and Donald Trump will both appear on November’s ballot. On Tuesday, Pat Ryan, a Democrat and a decorated Iraq war veteran, upset Republican Marc Molinaro in a special congressional election in New York’s Upper Hudson Valley. Ryan won 52-48 after pre-election polls had painted him as the clear underdog.“This is a huge victory for Dems in a bellwether, Biden +1.5 district,” according to Dave Wasserman, the doyen of congressional-race watchers, with the key words being “huge” and “bellwether”. Said differently, Republican efforts to convert the contest into a referendum on the Democrats and inflation failed.Lloyd Green served in the Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

Separate lawsuits resolved in state court in Boston ‘to the satisfaction of all parties’Celebrity chef Mario Batali has agreed to settle lawsuits by two women alleging he sexually assaulted them in separate encounters in Boston, one of whose accusations were the focus of a #MeToo-era criminal prosecution that ended in his acquittal.Lawyers for Natali Tene, whose claims were at the heart of Batali’s trial in May, and Alexandra Brown confirmed late on Tuesday they had resolved their separate lawsuits in state court in Boston against Batali. Continue reading...

Moonlight’s Trevante Rhodes is the best thing about a patchy new series that attempts to dissect a difficult figureHulu’s new eight-part biographical drama Mike does not shy away from the uglier aspects of the Mike Tyson story. That has to be one reason why the heavyweight champion, American icon, and convicted sex offender has so loudly denounced the project: in covering 40 years of triumphs in the ring and transgressions committed outside of it, this flashy mini-series avoids the flattering hagiography that often characterizes officially authorized accounts. What it doesn’t avoid, however, is Hollywood’s prevailing weakness for conforming eventful, messy lives to a dramatic blueprint. Even at twice the length of the average big-screen biopic, Mike falls into the common trap of playing connect the bullet points of its subject’s Wikipedia page – of reducing a complicated life story to an alternating series of hills and valleys.For as much as Tyson may object to someone else telling his story without his input, Mike leans heavily on his first-hand reflections. The framing device of the series, after all, is his one-man Broadway show, the dubiously titled Undisputed Truth, re-enacted here through scenes of a fortysomething Tyson (Trevante Rhodes) wandering a stage, snippets of his monologue triggering flashbacks. It’s all rather “Dewey Cox has to think about his entire life before he plays”. Continue reading...

Trump-appointed judge says US health department overreached in its guidance, in decision issued just before ‘trigger law’ takes effectA federal judge in Texas has blocked a Biden administration guidance that required hospitals to provide emergency abortions, even in states like Texas, which prohibits the practice following the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.The legal effort by the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, a stalwart Republican, represents the latest attempt to stop the federal government from influencing the reproductive access landscape in the aftermath of the supreme court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned longstanding constitutional protections on abortion. Continue reading...

Former senator and secretary of state says decision to stay with a partner who has had an affair is not ‘right for everybody’Former senator and secretary of state Hillary Clinton has addressed the thorny issue of her husband’s infidelity in a trailer for a new TV show called Gutsy, that profiles her conversations with courageous women.In the clip Clinton is asked about her decision to stay with Bill Clinton in the wake of the exposure of his affair with White House aide Monica Lewinsky. Clinton says that staying with a partner who has had an affair is not “right for everybody”. Continue reading...

After the 2008 crisis, developers adopted a cookie-cutter design style. You can (partly) thank Boris Johnson

Ex-president’s lawyers indicate he unlawfully kept government papers after losing election. Plus, a raw veg row

Brian Stelter’s very popular and commerically successful show was axed. The reason? Follow the moneyFor several years, Brian Stelter’s Sunday show on CNN, Reliable Sources, has been a reliable source of intelligent criticism of Fox News, rightwing media in general, Trumpism, and the increasingly authoritarian lurch of the Republican party.Last week, CNN abruptly canceled the show and effectively fired Stelter and his staff.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, 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...

As a gay Muslim, working in an aquarium gave me a sanctuary. But I could never find what I was searching for among the clownfishI was 13 when my faith in Allah first collapsed. As a child, I had a kind of obsession with God, but after years of conditioning to believe that my burgeoning sexuality was an unredeemable sin, Allah had become a source of fervent terror.Losing my faith left me with a yearning for a new cosmic connection to the world around me. So when I stumbled across a small aquatics shop in a suburban part of west London, its holographic glint seemingly beckoning me inside was utterly irresistible.Amrou Al-Kadhi is a British-Iraqi writer, drag performer and film-maker. Their work focuses on queer identity, cultural representation and race politicsDo 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...

As Rafael Nadal aims for his 23rd major and Serena Williams prepares to bid farewell, comparing players across generations is a futile activityThis September marks the 20 anniversary of Pete Sampras’s 14 and final grand slam victory, when he beat his longtime foe Andre Agassi to claim his fifth US Open title. It was also the last match Sampras ever played on tour, making his victory in New York a glorious capstone to a magnificent career. At the time, it appeared as if Sampras’s extraordinary career stats – namely his then-record slam count for men – would be the benchmark for future generations.Yet as the tennis world makes its annual descent into Gotham, it’s remarkable that not only has Sampras’ grand slam record been eclipsed, it’s been smashed to pieces by a trio of players, the so-called Big Three of Rafael Nadal (22 major titles), Novak Djokovic (21) and Roger Federer (20). For three players to have done this, all in the same era, is almost beyond comprehension. Continue reading...

While Boris Johnson having multiple children with numerous women is dismissed as boys will be boys, a woman having fun at home with her friends is treated like an untrustworthy hedonistSanna Marin, it turns out, wasn’t on any illegal drugs whatsoever. The 36-year-old prime minister of Finland was simply high on life in the leaked video of her dancing exuberantly at a party with some friends. I imagine this comes as a great disappointment to the opposition leader who demanded she undergo a drugs test, and the rightwingers who have been working themselves into a frenzy at the cheek of a woman who thinks she can lead a country and have some fun.You don’t have to squint to see the sexist double standards involved in this “scandal”. Boris Johnson having an unknown number of children with multiple women? Well, that’s just Boris being Boris. Donald Trump paying large sums of money to a pornography star? Boys being boys. A woman dancing with a few of her friends in a living room, though? DRUG TEST THE WITCH! Continue reading...

Former New York mayor’s ex-wife describes breakdown Trump helped hide, years before mutual White House dramaDepressed and drinking to excess after the failure of his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Rudy Giuliani secretly recovered at the Florida home of a close friend and ally – Donald Trump.“We moved into Mar-a-Lago and Donald kept our secret,” Giuliani’s third wife, Judith Giuliani, says in a new book. Continue reading...

Pat Ryan’s victory may boost party’s hopes that voters will support its opposition to Supreme Court ruling in midterm electionsA New York Democrat who campaigned on abortion rights and the future of US democracy has won a special congressional election in a swing district, a victory that Democrats hope could signal a fundamental shift in national voter sentiment ahead of the November midterm elections.Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro 51.3% to 48.7%, with 99% of the vote counted, Edison Research said, after a hard-fought contest for an open seat in New York’s 19th congressional District, which spans part of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains region and is known as a bellwether. Continue reading...

In Kyiv, we are marking the day under the constant threat of Russian attack – and facing a watershed in the course of the warA year ago on 24 August – the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence – a new generation of pilots were leading the Ukrainian air forces flying over Independence Square in Kyiv. The fighter jet column was headed by Anton Lystopad, who was recognised as one of the country’s best pilots. He was 30 years old, born in the year of independence. Almost a year later, in August 2022, Lystopad received the Order for Courage from the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. A few days after the ceremony, he was killed in combat.Lystopad’s story may sound almost too symbolic, but Ukrainians have become used to such tragic symbolism. Six months on from the start of the Russian invasion, with its indiscriminate bombardment of peaceful towns, the atrocities and horrors of Bucha and Mariupol, but also the solidarity, resilience and sacrifices we have experienced, everything feels sharper and deeper. The bitterness of losses and the joy of survival.

South Sudanese diplomat Charles Oliha, 46, released by NYPD after being taken into custody following woman’s assault allegationA diplomat to the UN has evaded a rape charge in New York City because of diplomatic immunity.Despite facing accusations that he raped a neighbor, Charles Oliha, a 46-year-old South Sudan diplomat accredited to the UN, was reportedly released by the New York police department (NYPD) on the grounds of diplomatic immunity, the agency’s intelligence bureau confirmed to the New York Daily News. Continue reading...

House judiciary chair declared the winner over House oversight chair in heavyweight bout as gerrymandered map causes upheavalIn an unpleasant end to a bitter New York Democratic primary on Tuesday, allies of two powerful House committee chairs traded nasty barbs – before one saw a long career in Congress brought to an untimely end.Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House oversight committee, said her opponent in New York’s 12th district, Jerrold Nadler, was “half-dead”, possibly senile and unlikely to finish his next term in Washington, CNN reported. Allies of Nadler, the judiciary chair, called Maloney “kooky” and “not entirely sober”. Continue reading...

Congressman who embraced Donald Trump’s big lie seeks to replace retiring Senator Jim InhofeAn election-denying former mixed martial arts fighter who was widely criticised for an attempted freelance mission last year to rescue Americans trapped in Afghanistan has won a shot at a US Senate seat from Oklahoma.Markwayne Mullin, a sitting congressman, beat another Donald Trump loyalist and election denier for their party’s nomination in a special election on Tuesday and will seek to replace the long-serving senator Jim Inhofe in November. Continue reading...

Former Republican governor who became a Democratic congressman edges out Nikki Fried to face the Donald Trump protégé in NovemberCharlie Crist will challenge Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, in November after trouncing Nikki Fried, the state agriculture commissioner, in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.Crist, a former Republican governor of Florida who switched parties and became a Democratic congressman, fought a campaign touting his experience in office and opposition to the 15-week abortion ban signed by DeSantis. Continue reading...

A four-day search for the 29-year-old ended when she was discovered about 6 miles south from where she was swept awayAn Arizona woman has died after she was swept away during flash flooding at Utah’s Zion national park.Jetal Agnihotri, 29, of Tucson, Arizona, was discovered Monday about 6 miles (9.6km) south of the area where she was swept away by floodwaters, ending a four-day search, park officials said in a news release on Tuesday. Continue reading...

The Republican candidate’s aide said John Fetterman would not have suffered had he ‘ever eaten a vegetable in his life’John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Pennsylvania, might not have had a stroke if he “had ever eaten a vegetable in his life”, an aide to the Republican candidate, Mehmet Oz, said on Tuesday in a strikingly nasty moment in an already bitter contest.The statement, to Business Insider, came in response to Fetterman’s mockery of a video in which Oz complains about the price of crudités while mangling the names of two Pennsylvania grocery stores. Continue reading...

Apart from paying fines, Pelosi will be required to attend a three-month drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock deviceThe husband of Nancy Pelosi, the US House speaker, has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor driving under the influence charges related to a May crash in California’s wine country and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation.Paul Pelosi already served two days in jail and received conduct credit for two other days, according to Judge Joseph Solga of the Napa county superior court. Paul Pelosi will work eight hours in the court’s work program in lieu of the remaining day, Solga said during Paul Pelosi’s sentencing on Tuesday, which he did not attend. Continue reading...

The security assessment will be first of its kind since the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing following far-right chatter onlineThe Internal Revenue Service announced on Tuesday that it will do a security assessment of its facilities following increased threats from alt-right extremists and a burst of funding the agency is set to obtain.The review at the tax collection agency is the first type of assessment for the group since the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, when an explosive device near an Oklahoma City federal building killed 168 people, the Washington Post first reported.

Florida and New York go to the polls as Democrats seek to defend their congressional majority in November

Ex-Louisville detective Kelly Goodlett is first conviction in case of Black woman killed by police in her own home in KentuckyFormer Louisville detective Kelly Goodlett pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy on Tuesday for her role in the infamous police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman killed in her home, offering the first criminal conviction in a case that ignited nationwide protests over racial justice and police brutality.Goodlett, one of four white former police officers charged in the case, admitted to helping another officer to falsify a search warrant of Taylor’s apartment and writing a false report to cover that up. She faces up to five years in prison. Continue reading...

South Sudanese diplomat Charles Oliha, 46, released by NYPD after being taken into custody following woman’s assault allegationA UN diplomat has evaded a rape charge in New York City because of diplomatic immunity.Despite facing accusations that he raped a neighbor, Charles Oliha, a 46-year-old South Sudan diplomat accredited to the UN, was reportedly released by the New York police department (NYPD) on the grounds of diplomatic immunity, the agency’s intelligence bureau confirmed to the New York Daily News. Continue reading...

Records show US government has retrieved highly sensitive materials from former president on three separate occasionsDonald Trump has turned over to the government hundreds of documents marked as classified and improperly retained at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to a review conducted by the National Archives, the custodian of presidential records, and sources familiar with the matter.The government has retrieved highly sensitive materials on three separate occasions: one set of documents facilitated by the National Archives in January, one set went to the justice department in June, and another set was seized by the FBI in a search two weeks ago. Continue reading...

Adam Fox and Barry Croft convicted of conspiracy to kidnap in scheme prosecutors described as rallying cry for US civil warA jury on Tuesday convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer,in 2020, in a plot prosecutors described as a rallying cry for a US civil war by anti-government extremists. Continue reading...

Rightwing Republican viewed as serious 2024 presidential contender accuses reporters of ‘peddling false narratives’Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida on Monday released a campaign advertisement drawing on the movie franchise Top Gun to attack the news media.The ad is the latest stunt by DeSantis to promote far-right talking points before Tuesday’s statewide primary and a possible future run for the Oval Office in 2024. Continue reading...

Muhammad Syed, 51, faces three charges of first-degree murder but grand jurors stopped short of charging him with a fourth killingAuthorities investigating four killings that terrorized the Islamic community in New Mexico’s largest city have charged their prime suspect with three of the murders.An Albuquerque grand jury on Monday indicted Afghan refugee Muhammad Syed, 51, on three charges of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of cafe employee Aftab Hussein, urban planning director Muhammad Hussain, and truck business owner Naeem Hussain, over a 10-day stretch beginning in late July. Continue reading...

Charlie Crist, a former Republican, is campaigning for governor by warning about the dangers of Ron DeSantis and the far rightCharlie Crist exuded a smooth confidence as he bounded into the room, a conference hall at a teachers union building in downtown Tampa, Florida, earlier this month.He may be facing a primary election to be the Democratic candidate in the next gubernatorial election, but Crist’s focus seems already set on the general in November – and the far-right Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, he hopes to unseat. Continue reading...

Detective work by academic revealed supposed letter and notes by astronomer from 1610 were work of a 20th-century Italian forgerFor nearly a century, the University of Michigan library kept what was understood to be a manuscript written by the astronomer Galileo Galilei. But now, after an internal investigation, the school believes that document was a fake.The university announced on Tuesday that the so-called “Galileo manuscript” – a one-page document that includes a letter accompanying the astronomer’s presentation of his telescope and his supposed notes observing Jupiter’s moons through his telescope in 1610 – was crafted by Tobia Nicotra, a well-known forger from Italy who was fined and sentenced to two years in jail for crafting fake Galileo documents in 1934. He also infamously produced fake autographs of Christopher Columbus and Mozart. Continue reading...

Peacock threw his first punch to defend himself against a school bully. Now he is a muay thai champion with his own gymBy Jonathan Drennan for the Guardian Sport NetworkJake Peacock is the reigning Canadian welterweight and North American super welterweight muay thai champion. He has won eight of his nine professional fights and is renowned for his ability to knock out opponents clinically with accurate elbows and kicks. His first fight of real meaning had baying crowds around it, but it was far from the bright lights of the stadiums where he now competes. He was 11 years old at school in England, walking to the school field terrified to take on a physically bigger boy who had bullied him mercilessly. Peacock was born with one arm shorter than the other and was sick of the taunts. His decision to fight back that day defined the rest of his life.“When the last bell rang for the end of school, I knew I had another option. I was walking out of the school and I knew I could keep going straight to the school field or I could turn and walk to my mum’s car 20 yards away and go home. It was a Friday. I could come back in on Monday and see what happens, but that wouldn’t be good. The bullying would just keep going and I knew it would never stop. Continue reading...

Leibovitz’s photographs are what happens when Blackness is seen through a white gaze incapable of capturing its true beauty“A thing that you see in my pictures is that I was not afraid to fall in love with these people,” Annie Leibovitz has said. Yet if you were looking at any of her portraits of Black women, you’d have a hard time seeing that love.Last week, the famed Vogue photographer shared a sneak peek from the magazine’s September issue, which features a profile of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The images were a disaster, and the backlash on social media was just as chaotic, with Twitter users fuming over yet another failed attempt by Leibovitz to photograph Black women properly.Tayo Bero is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Ex-president seeks to prevent bureau from reading seized documents until court official weighs in. Plus, Fauci to step down

15,000-strong Minnesota Nurses Association authorized to call what would be one of the largest nurses’ strikes in US historyThroughout the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses around the US have faced deteriorating working conditions and challenges, from safety concerns to increasing workloads that have stemmed from understaffing as nurses have quit their jobs or retired early.Those nurses who are still on the job at many hospitals say they have been expected to do more with fewer resources, an issue that nurses say is causing retention crises and jeopardizing patient safety and care. Continue reading...

A long list of upcoming trials complicating Bayer’s efforts to escape the costly, ongoing litigation over the health effects of RoundupCancer has taken an unrelenting toll on 72-year-old Mike Langford. After being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in 2007 he suffered through five recurrences despite multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Now he struggles with chemo-related neuropathy in his arms and legs, and new tests show the cancer is back.Langford blames his cancer on his longtime use of the popular weed-killing product Roundup, which he applied countless times over decades using a backpack sprayer around his five-acre California property and a vacation lake home. He alleges in a lawsuit that Monsanto, the longtime Roundup maker now owned by the German company Bayer AG, should have warned of a cancer risk. Continue reading...

The quarterback is supremely talented but has been tarnished by allegations of sexual misconduct. How will he be treated in his new home?The Cleveland Browns don’t make it very easy for their fans, do they?Their most recent championship came in 1964, and they are one of four NFL teams to have never appeared in a Super Bowl. There were no Browns at all for three seasons in the 1990s, between the time then-owner Art Modell moved them to Baltimore and the NFL gave Cleveland a new team. They have won one playoff game since 1 January 1995. Continue reading...

Eight years on from the young driver’s death, a new documentary seeks to answer questions about a deadly night on dirt trackOne evening, eight years ago this month, a 20-year-old stock car driver named Kevin Ward Jr turned up to a mud-packed oval circuit in upstate New York for a minor-league race. About halfway through, he was bumped by a rival car and sent spiraling into a barrier. Seeing red, Ward exited his vehicle and charged down the banked circuit to vent his frustration. Several cars tacked down to the inside-most line to avoid him. But when the car that had ended Ward’s race approached, it veered up toward the young driver, and flung him 25 feet across the track to his death. Spectators at Canandaigua Motorsports Park gasped. They hadn’t just witnessed the horror of a driver killed in competition. They saw Ward, a local hero and ascendent talent, run over by Nascar megastar Tony Stewart.A three-time Cup champion, Stewart, then 43, was moonlighting in the race ahead of a Nascar road race at Watkins Glen. Immediately after Ward’s death, officially ruled an “accident,” public sympathy swamped Stewart. Ward, on the other hand, was demonized as a hothead – and shortly afterwards a drug user when a post-mortem toxicology report didn’t just find THC in Ward’s system, but enough to impair his judgment according to Ontario county district attorney Michael Tantillo. Something about that picture always seemed off. Now a recent documentary shows just how far off, down to the pixel. Continue reading...

In letter announcing defection, state senator Kevin Priola cites political and environmental threat from his erstwhile partyAnnouncing his switch to the Democrats, a Colorado state senator said Republican attacks on democracy were not the only “existential threat” posed by his former party.“I have become increasingly worried about our planet and the climate crisis we are facing,” Kevin Priola said, in a letter posted to social media on Monday. Continue reading...

Long considered a swing state, Republicans have a considerable edge heading into this election seasonFlorida voters will head to the polls on Tuesday to determine which candidates will have the chance to face off in this November’s general election. Voters will cast ballots in races for the governorship and Congress, all the way down to circuit courts and local school boards.Democrats are competing to run against the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, and US senator Marco Rubio, both of whom are considered potential Republican presidential candidates for 2024. On the House side, a new congressional map drawn by DeSantis is expected to give Republicans a hefty advantage in the November midterms. Continue reading...

In 2018, San Francisco set out to build a better bin. The prototypes are finally ready for action – so we gave them a trySan Francisco may struggle with an intractable housing crisis, gaping income inequality and a deserted downtown – but one thing it will not tolerate is second-rate trash cans.In 2018, the city’s department of public works began the process of replacing the city’s more than 3,000 existing public trash cans. Not content with the models already on the market, San Francisco launched what is now a three-and-half-year (and counting), $550,000 project to design bespoke bins for its streets. Continue reading...

Defense department says use of military would be inappropriate as thousands of migrants being bused from Texas and ArizonaThe Pentagon on Monday once again denied a request from the District of Columbia seeking national guard assistance in dealing with thousands of migrants being bused to the city from Texas and Arizona.According to a copy of a letter to the city reviewed by the Associated Press, the Defense Department said use of the DC National Guard would be inappropriate and would hurt the overall readiness of the troops, forcing some to cancel or disrupt military training. Continue reading...

Ex-president seeks to prevent bureau from reading seized documents until court official weighs inDonald Trump on Monday filed suit against the US government over the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home, seeking to temporarily stop the bureau reading seized materials until a special court official can be appointed to review documents concerned.As the Guardian reported on Saturday, citing Trump’s lead attorney, Jim Trusty, and two sources familiar with the matter, “the suit argues that the court should appoint a special master – usually a retired lawyer or judge – because the FBI potentially seized privileged materials in its search and the Department of Justice (DoJ) should not itself decide what it can use in its investigation”. Continue reading...

As rental applications surge, jobseekers have flooded to the industry. It’s often far less appealing than they thoughtWhen Keyan Sanai moved to Manhattan and started working as a real estate broker in 2014, he was eating 12 to 15 cans of tuna a week to keep costs low. “I said to my friend, ‘My mouth tastes like a fistful of old pennies all the time,’” he says. After a doctor’s visit, he found out he had mercury poisoning.His first few years as a broker were rough. Working at a “boiler room” brokerage, he got acquainted with what he calls the “dark underbelly” of the industry. “The script is basically to lie to people: ‘Put up [an ad] that says ‘no fee’, and once you get ’em in, say, ‘Oh, that’s rented, but I have something else,’” he recalls managers telling him. He says they insisted their employees “just get [the client] out to the appointment, then pump the fear and pressure them into making a decision”. Continue reading...

State department says it does not want to close off pathways for Russian dissidents and victims of human rights abusesThe United States has rebuffed Ukraine’s demand for a blanket visa ban on Russians, saying Washington would not want to close off pathways to refuge for Russia’s dissidents and others who are vulnerable to human rights abuses.The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had first urged the visa ban in an interview earlier this month with the Washington Post, saying Russians should “live in their own world until they change their philosophy”. Continue reading...