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Democratic congresswoman confirms engagement to Roberts, whom she met as a student at Boston UniversityCongresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a break between visiting Amazon union workers and endorsing progressive candidates to get engaged to her longtime partner Riley Roberts.Ocasio-Cortez, 32, confirmed to Insider on Thursday that she and Roberts, who met while both were at Boston University, got engaged last month while visiting her parents’ home town in Puerto Rico. Continue reading...

Bill bans abortion at conception and if signed into law it would allow citizens to sue anyone who ‘aids or abets’ a patientOklahoma’s Republican-led legislature passed the nation’s strictest abortion ban on Thursday. The bill, if signed into law, would allows citizens to sue anyone, anywhere who “aids or abets” a patient in terminating a pregnancy.The bill bans abortion from conception, even before an egg implants in the uterus, and would go into effect immediately if signed by Republican governor, Kevin Stitt. Abortion providers expect he will do so before the coming week. Continue reading...

The revelation resurrects a line of inquiry into the involvement of House Republicans in the insurrectionThe House select committee investigating the Capitol attack revealed on Thursday that it had evidence to suggest certain “reconnaissance tours” took place in the days before 6 January, potentially providing some rioters with a layout of the complex.The panel said in a letter requesting cooperation from Georgia Republican congressman Barry Loudermilk that he gave a tour the day before the Capitol attack. The startling disclosure resurrects a contentious line of inquiry that connects House Republicans to the insurrection. Continue reading...

Billy McFarland ‘put together a team’ to generate income, likely for the $26m he was ordered to pay investors backThe lead organizer of the infamous failed 2017 Fyre festival will immediately begin new ventures in the entertainment industry after being released early from federal prison on Wednesday, according to his attorney.Billy McFarland, 30, “has put together a team of professionals to brainstorm and come up with ideas in entertainment and other avenues to generate income”, ostensibly to pay back the $26m he was ordered to reimburse his Fyre festival investors after pleading guilty to defrauding them, said his lawyer, Jason Russo. Continue reading...

Biden to sign mix of military and economic aid for Ukraine and its allies after 86-11 vote in Senate on ThursdayThe Senate overwhelmingly approved a $40bn infusion of military and economic aid for Ukraine and its allies on Thursday as both parties rallied behind America’s latest, and quite possibly not last, financial salvo against Russia’s invasion.The 86-11 vote gave final congressional approval to the package, three weeks after Joe Biden requested a smaller $33bn version and after a lone Republican opponent delayed Senate passage for a week. Every voting Democrat and all but 11 Republicans – including many of the chamber’s supporters of Donald Trump’s isolationist agenda – backed the measure. Continue reading...

Dispatcher could lose her job after Tops employee says dispatcher took on a nasty tone and asked her why she was whisperingA 911 dispatcher has been placed on administrative leave and will probably be fired after allegedly hanging up on a Tops supermarket employee during Saturday’s shooting rampage in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist allegedly killed 10 people.Latisha Rogers, an assistant office manager at the Tops supermarket, said she called 911 and whispered quietly into the phone about the shooter, who was already in the store. Continue reading...

Fiona Hill, a former national security council official, said Russian leader grew frustrated with Trump: ‘Putin doesn’t like to do that’Vladimir Putin “had to keep explaining things” to Donald Trump when Trump was US president, the former White House aide Fiona Hill said.“Putin doesn’t like to do that,” Hill told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Continue reading...

Government aims to speed production after closure of Abbott plant, as experts urge parents not to concoct own alternativesJoe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to address the shortage of infant formula by speeding production and authorizing flights to import it from abroad, as experts warned desperate parents not to concoct their own “home brew” alternatives.The safety-related closure of the nation’s largest formula manufacturing plant has seen a nationwide squeeze on supply. The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Continue reading...

Payton Gendron, 18, accused of killing 10 Black people at supermarket, not required to speak at brief court hearingThe man accused of killing 10 Black people in a racist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, at the weekend was called a coward by a loved one of one of the victims when he made a fresh appearance in court on Thursday.Payton Gendron, 18, who is white, was not required to speak – his court-appointed lawyer had already entered a plea of not guilty to one count of first-degree murder – but it was the first time families of the victims who had come to the courthouse came face to face with him. Continue reading...

Former president makes slip when speaking at his presidential library in Dallas on WednesdaySigmund Freud was unavailable for comment, but George W Bush saying Iraq instead of Ukraine when condemning “a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion” certainly suggests he still has a lot on his unconscious mind.The former president jokingly attributed the slip to his 75 years, but there has always been a faulty connection between his brain and his tongue. There are whole books full of “Bushisms”, like his boast that people “misunderestimated” him, and how much he felt for single mothers “working hard to put food on your family”. Continue reading...

Workers at the coffee chain have filed petitions for union elections at more than 250 stores, but chief Howard Schultz publicly opposes the movementStarbucks has fired over 20 union leaders around the US over the past several months as union organizing campaigns have spread across the country, the Guardian can reveal.The news comes as Starbucks workers have filed petitions for union elections at more than 250 stores, spanning 35 states in the US. Starbucks’ chief executive, Howard Schultz, has led a campaign against the union movement calling it “some outside force that’s going to dictate or disrupt who we are and what we do”. Continue reading...

Nina Jankowicz, the board’s director, resigns and says attacks and threats will not stop her from speaking out on disinformationThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has paused a new government board’s work on disinformation and accepted the resignation of its leader, capping weeks of argument about free speech rights in the US and a frenzy of conspiracy theories.Former disinformation governance board director Nina Jankowicz told the Associated Press hours after resigning on Wednesday that a wave of attacks and violent threats she has fielded since the board’s launch will not stop her from speaking out about disinformation campaigns pulsing through the social media feeds of Americans. Continue reading...

A place in Saturday’s Champions League final vindicates bold decisions taken by the Brazil-born US international and her dadThe journey of the striker Catarina Macario from the Brazilian city of São Luís to a first Champions League final with the seven-times winners Lyon has been long but not surprising to those familiar with her remarkable backstory.Macario is used to making bold decisions to further her steady and goal-laden rise. Her family swapped São Luís for Brasília for her mother’s job as a surgeon when she was seven and, when Macario was 12 and no longer allowed to play with boys, her father decided to split the family. He, Macario and her brother Steve moved to San Diego in the US so she could play while her mother supported the family from afar. Continue reading...

Non-Americans – whose interests don’t necessarily align with the interests of the US – assert growing influence over American politicsIn 2017, Donald Trump repeatedly claimed without evidence that between 3 million and 5 million unauthorized immigrants had voted for Hillary Clinton. In the last few weeks, Trump has resurrected his lie during campaign rallies for Republican primary candidates he has endorsed – whipping up fears of “open borders and horrible elections”, and calling for stricter voter ID laws and proof of citizenship at the ballot box.Trump endorsees and wannabes are amplifying this lie. JD Vance, the Trump-backed winner of last week’s Ohio Republican senate primary, claimed that President Biden’s immigration policy has resulted in “more Democrat voters pouring into this country”.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...

Brad Raffensperger, who resisted Trump’s call to ‘find’ extra votes in 2020, is seeking re-election against Jody Hice, who toes the ex-president’s lineHello and Happy Thursday,On Tuesday, Georgia voters will cast their ballots in what I believe is the most important primary election this year: the Republican primary for secretary of state. This morning, we published a story from reporting I did earlier this month about the race between incumbent Brad Raffensperger, the Republican who became nationally known for refusing to overturn the election results, and his Trump-backed challenger and big lie peddler, Congressman Jody Hice. Continue reading...

He stumbles from one fine mess to another. It is hard to know when there was worse custodianship of national affairsAnother triumph for Boris Johnson’s Houdini act. Partygate appears over with today’s announcement that the Metropolitan police has closed the file on Downing Street parties, with 126 penalty notices and reportedly no more for the prime minister. Rumours are that Sue Gray’s separate report on the parties will be published next week, but it is hard to see what it is likely to add, or what will come from the continuing inquiry into whether the prime minister “misled parliament”. Johnson’s tactic of devolving judgment to a dilatory police force has worked, albeit at the cost of £460,000. What appeared last December to be a resignation issue has been kicked down the road so many times as to disappear from view.Like all high-profile political sagas, Partygate looks like one of those transient Westminster storms more seismic at the time than in retrospect. It stands with other “affairs”, such as Profumo, Westland, Formula One and Cheriegate in the canon of moments when the strictures of Westminster seemed to usurp those of the electorate. They display De Tocqueville’s truth about British politics, that its ethos is that of a club not of a mob. Leaders are at most short-term risk when they offend the club, not the people.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Despite military successes, Kyiv faces economic devastation, citizens ‘removed’ by Russia and the risk of dwindling supportThere is near euphoria, currently, among supporters of Ukraine at the continued military reverses it is inflicting on Russian forces. But the truth is that Ukraine has a long way to go before it can achieve any kind of acceptable outcome from this war – and the going will get harder the closer it seems to come to victory.It’s not just the large areas of territory under Russian control, where Ukraine still has to fight to relieve the suffering of its citizens under a savage military occupation. It’s also the political and economic aspects of the war, which have been so often overlooked in the day-to-day tactical detail of Russia’s often self-inflicted military disasters.Keir Giles works with the Russia and Eurasia programme of Chatham House. He is the author of Moscow Rules: What Drives Russia to Confront the West Continue reading...

Adam Kinzinger was the lone Republican to vote in favor of the measure that faces an uphill climb to pass the SenateThe US House of Representatives has passed legislation that would bolster federal resources to prevent domestic terrorism in response to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York – but the bill faces the increasingly familiar burden of an uphill climb to pass the Senate.The 222-203, nearly party-line House vote was an answer to the growing pressure Congress faces to address gun violence and white supremacist attacks – a crisis that escalated following two mass shootings over the weekend. Continue reading...

Doug Mastriano may be one of the most radical candidates ever to receive a Republican nod and he has been clear that he will use that powerPennsylvania Republicans have nominated state senator Doug Mastriano to be the next governor. Mastriano is one of the most radical gubernatorial candidates ever to receive a major party nomination.Many Republicans have indulged Trump’s claims that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election. But few have gone as far as Mastriano has to try to justify Trump’s fever dream.I’m Doug Mastriano, and I get to appoint the secretary of state who’s delegated from me the power to make the corrections to elections, the voting logs and everything. I could decertify every machine in the state with the stroke of a pen via the secretary of state. I already had the secretary of state picked out. It’s a world-class person that knows voting integrity better than anyone else in the nation, I think, and I already have a team that’s gonna be built around that individual.Judd Legum is the founder and author of Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism, where this post originally appeared Continue reading...

Brad Raffensperger resisted Trump’s call to overturn the presidential election result and is now facing his ireBrad Raffensperger was on his way out when the bartender stopped him. He wanted a word.The man had been lingering in the doorway as Raffensperger, a Republican serving as Georgia’s top election official, spoke to a little over a dozen members of the chamber of commerce in Washington, a small town about two hours east of Atlanta. Raffensperger had seen him from the lectern and asked if he wanted to ask a question – he declined. Now the bartender had more courage. He wanted to ask about the phone call. “How did that make you feel?” he said. Continue reading...

US president authorized defense department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies from overseas

Conservatives are animated by a vision of 1950s-style white Christian patriarchal dominance – it is the only order they will accept for AmericaThe supreme court is set to overturn Roe v Wade, this much has been clear since a draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked earlier this month. An attempt to safeguard abortion rights via national legislation was blocked by a united front of Republicans plus Democrat Joe Manchin in the Senate last week. As a result, we must expect abortion to be banned in roughly half the country soon.It is very hard to overstate how significant this moment is. The US is about to join the very short list of countries that have restricted existing abortion rights since the 1990s – the overall trend internationally certainly has been towards a liberalization of abortion laws. And it’s also a basically unique development in US history: while the supreme court has often upheld and codified a discriminatory status quo, it has never actively and officially abolished what had previously been recognized as a constitutionally guaranteed right.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...

With the new collective bargaining agreements announced Wednesday by US Soccer and the players’ unions, everyone is finally on the same sideAt long last, peace.Expensive peace, certainly. But a peace without which US Soccer was never going to progress. Continue reading...

They are also two to three times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women, according to the CDCThe repeal of federally protected abortion rights would result in an increase in violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and all those who birth, predicted the director of one of the leading research institutes on Indigenous and Alaska Native people across the US.“The only option we have right now if this was to be overturned, is to provide the limited resources and support, but it will be limited, especially initially. As a direct result our people are going to suffer,” Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Women have breastfed for thousands of years and yet there are still those who think we can just ‘switch on’ our milkI had an easy pregnancy, a textbook C-section and the gift of a two-week recovery period alone at home after my twins were sent to the newborn intensive care unit – or, having given birth in the US, “the world’s most expensive babysitting service”, as a nurse described it at the time.One consequence of this was that I was fully healed by the time they came home. Another was that in the first two weeks of my babies’ lives, breastfeeding had to be supplemented with formula. By the time they left hospital, my supply was getting sketchy, which as it turned out was the least of our problems. Trying to get two preemies, not much bigger than guinea pigs, to latch was like asking them to eat peas off a beachball.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The Angels haven’t had a winning season since 2015, despite the presence of their nine-time All Star. This year could be when things change thoughMike Trout has done so many wondrous things in nearly 11 full big-league seasons – 319 home runs, nine All-Star appearances, three American League Most Valuable Player awards among them – that it is hard to believe that he has but one career postseason hit. One.That lonely hit, a bases-empty home run, came in the top of the first inning of a game on 5 October 2014 that the then-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim would lose to the Kansas City Royals, 8-3, to get swept out of the American League Division Series in three games. Continue reading...

Massive food producers hold too much power – and the regulators scarcely understand what is happening. Sound familiar?For the past few years, scientists have been frantically sounding an alarm that governments refuse to hear: the global food system is beginning to look like the global financial system in the run-up to 2008.While financial collapse would have been devastating to human welfare, food system collapse doesn’t bear thinking about. Yet the evidence that something is going badly wrong has been escalating rapidly. The current surge in food prices looks like the latest sign of systemic instability.George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Peter Cook says in the aftermath of the Buffalo racist shooting white Christian denominations have a duty to actIn the aftermath of the racist shooting that killed 10 on Saturday in Buffalo, the director of the New York State Council of Churches, the Rev Peter Cook, has been a constant presence at prayer gatherings and public memorials.The organization he leads represents eight denominations to New York state government; and he has the ear of political leaders, including Governor Kathy Hochul, in shaping the political response to a massacre that targeted the Black community of East Buffalo – one that has been met with expressions of faith alongside anger and distress. Continue reading...

The deal resulted in 6,000 New Yorkers placing an order every minute, overwhelming kitchens and delivery workersWhat were they thinking?That’s what customers, restaurants, and delivery workers want to know after a surprise promotion by food delivery platform Grubhub went badly awry – and proved there’s really no such thing as a free lunch. Continue reading...

Reading Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I found her lines about living in London resonating intensely, so many years laterNovels. Why do I read them? My reading was at its most voracious when I was a kid. I suspect this was because my only purpose was enjoyment and escapism. From all 21 Famous Five stories – in order, naturally – to Anna Karenina, stuffed into a pannier on a cycling holiday, I was transported. Then, for A-levels and a degree, I read to pass exams. Slowly, tellingly, the joy faded. And I was no good at the exams either. When those last exams were done, more than 30 years ago, I was done with novels. I had fallen out of love.Gradually, it has come back, but it’s all different now. I find I’m reading whole novels mainly to unearth little jewels of wisdom to shed light on what I’ve been feeling; feelings that I’ve been unable to articulate myself. For some reason I picked up The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. A bit flabby in the middle, if I may say so, but generally I was transfixed by what started to seem like the greatest love story ever told. The plot soon starts to fade, and all you are left with is how it made you feel. This is nice, but what makes it all worthwhile is those specific insights that I make sure to harvest and go back to. For instance, Helen says of her new life in the big city: “At first, I was delighted with the novelty and excitement of our London life; but soon I began to weary of its mingled turbulence and constraint.”Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The US embassy in Kyiv has reopenedthree months after it closed due toRussia's impending invasion of Ukraine. A small number of diplomats willreturn to staff the embassy but consularoperations will not resume immediately. The embassy closed on14 February as Russian forcesmassed outside Ukraine.

Former US president George W Bush has made a significant slip of the tongue, criticising 'the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq'. Bush was speaking about Vladimir Putin when he appeared to confuse the Russian leader's invasion of Ukraine with the US-led invasion of Iraq during Bush's presidency. The former US leader was speaking at an event at the George W Bush Presidential Center that examined the future of American elections Continue reading...

Man who recently traveled to Canada has first case in US this year, but officials are preparing for moreMassachusetts officials on Wednesday reported a rare case of monkeypox in a man who recently traveled to Canada, and health officials are looking into whether it is connected to small outbreaks in Europe.Monkeypox is typically limited to Africa, and rare cases in the US and elsewhere are usually linked to travel there. A small number of confirmed or suspected cases have been reported this month in the United Kingdom, Portugal and Spain. Continue reading...

President also authorizes Pentagon to use commercial aircraft to import supplies amid growing political pressureJoe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to speed production of infant formula and authorized flights to import supply from overseas, as he faces mounting political pressure over a domestic shortage caused by the safety-related closure of the country’s largest formula manufacturing plant.The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Biden is also authorizing the defense department to use commercial aircraft to fly formula supplies that meet federal standards from overseas to the US, in what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula”. Continue reading...

Dow Jones sinks more than 1,100 points as S&P closes down 4%, its largest fall since June 2020, and Nasdaq loses 4.7%The wild ride on the US stock markets continued on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sinking more than 1,100 points as investors worried about a looming recession.All of the major US markets fell sharply, with the S&P closing down 4%, its largest fall since June 2020, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq losing 4.7%. Continue reading...

Nonhuman Rights Project argues that Happy the elephant’s right to ‘bodily liberty’ is being violated at the Bronx ZooHappy, by species, is an Asian elephant. But can she also be considered a person?That question was before New York’s highest court on Wednesday in a closely watched case over whether a basic human right can be extended to an animal. Continue reading...

Kathy Hochul condemns ‘mainstreaming of hate speech’ and easy access to military-style weapons after Buffalo shootingNew York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, has unveiled what she called a “comprehensive plan to combat domestic terrorism and prevent gun violence”, days after a white supremacist allegedly killed 10 Black shoppers and staff at a Buffalo grocery store.“We as a country are facing an intersection of two crises: the mainstreaming of hate speech – including white nationalism, racism and white supremacy – and the easy access to military-style weapons and magazines,” Hochul said on Wednesday, announcing measures to create new domestic terrorism and intelligence units to track terrorist threats and increase social media monitoring. Continue reading...

Graphic novel recounts time in high school when ex-quarterback chose football despite pressure to play baseballThe former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who lost his playing career after kneeling during pre-game performances of the national anthem to protest against police killings of Black people, plans to put out a memoir aimed at young adult audiences, the athlete and the book’s publisher announced on Wednesday.The book, Colin Kaepernick: Change the Game, recounts the time in high school when the ex-quarterback chose to focus on football despite pressure from his parents and coaches to play baseball, at which he was also exceedingly talented, the publisher Scholastic said in a news release. Continue reading...

Letitia James said that her office is targeting Twitch, 4chan, 8chan and Discord which were all used to amplify the attackNew York’s attorney general, Letitia James, on Wednesday said her office was investigating social media companies the Buffalo grocery store gunman used to plan, promote and stream the massacre that left 10 dead.James said in a tweet her office will investigate Twitch, 4chan, 8chan and Discord along with other platforms the shooter used to amplify the attack. Continue reading...

Nearly 43,000 people killed last year as Americans returned to the roads after deserting them early in the pandemicNearly 43,000 people were killed on US roads last year, the highest number in 16 years, as Americans returned to the roads after the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay at home.The 10.5% jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began its fatality data collection system in 1975. Continue reading...

After his company acquired Daraprim, it raised price of the life-saving drug by 5,000%, prompting national outcryMartin Shkreli, the “Pharma Bro” entrepreneur who astronomically increased the price of a life-saving drug by 5,000%, and became a symbol of corporate Wall Street greed, has been released from prison.In a statement released on Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said he had been released to a halfway house. Continue reading...

Report by special inspector general blames Trump and Biden administrations, as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf GhaniAfghan armed forces collapsed last year because they had been made dependent on US support that was abruptly withdrawn in the face of a Taliban offensive, according to a scathing assessment by a US government watchdog.A report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Sigar) on the catastrophic defeat that led to the fall of Kabul on 15 August, blamed the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden as well as the Afghan government of Ashraf Ghani. Continue reading...

The Texan has battled back from being world No 92 and is relishing chance to add the US PGA Championship to his tallySalvation for golf’s purists, irked by the Saudi Arabian themes dominating their sport, may arrive in the form of a 28-year-old from Dallas. Should Jordan Spieth lift the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday evening, a career grand slam complete, there will be an appealing narrative to at least momentarily offset incessant chatter about breakaway tours, human rights and golf’s persona non grata, Phil The Shill.Spieth arrived at Southern Hills in the kind of form that suggests this is his finest chance yet to add the US PGA Championship to the Masters, US Open and Open. He would become only the sixth man in history to win each of golf’s big four. It is to Spieth’s credit that he fully embraces another tilt at history-making. Continue reading...