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Here’s a rule of thumb: when eating in front of the telly, the bleeding pieces of meat should mostly be on your plate, not the screenWhen our children were small, the grindingly matey tones of Chris Tarrant could make me salivate. It was a classic Pavlovian response, because Tarrant ate dinner with us most evenings. Or to be more exact, we ate dinner with him. These, you see, were the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? years, when the show was reliably stripped throughout the early evening. And it turned out to be the perfect TV to eat your dinner in front of.The fact is, like so many young parents, we found the business of loving our babies utterly exhausting. Yes, a joy and an honour, but bloody hell, the little sods didn’t half take it out of us. Certainly, at the end of a long day’s vigorous 21st-century parenting, the last thing we wanted was one of those civilised catch-up dinners at the kitchen table that the relationship therapists recommend. No, we wanted to eat wordlessly in front of the telly, lubricated by a bucket each of sauvignon blanc. Both Millionaire and Tarrant were just the thing. You didn’t need to watch to know what was going on. Every time you looked up, all the important information would be there on the screen. You could focus instead on shovelling stuff into your face, while merely listening to Tarrant commiserate with some numbnuts who’d just lost £125,000 because they thought Hitler’s first name was Heil. Continue reading...

Trump’s indictment and conviction is overdue. The midterms will be a battle between his acolytes and supporters of fair electionsOn Friday, Trump endorsed JD Vance in the Ohio Senate Republican primary. This follows his endorsement of Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s Senate Republican primary and Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate race.The media has framed these endorsements as long-shot bets that “could put [Trump’s] desired image as a kingmaker at risk”. But this misses the point. What’s really at stake for Trump is the selling of Trump and his big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Continue reading...

Russia changes tactics as US warns of risk of cyber-attacks on Ukraine’s allies. Plus, Trump campaign ordered to pay Omarosa Manigault Newman over $1.3mGood morning.Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian forces to blockade the Mariupol steelworks rather than storming the area, after his defence minister admitted thousands of Ukrainian troops continued to resist there.Facebook posts disputing evidence of alleged war crimes in Bucha have been shared hundreds of thousands of times, analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue has found.Russian forces are moving towards Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, British intelligence suggests, while Putin likely wants to demonstrate “significant successes” ahead of 9 May Victory Day celebrations.Russia has fined Google 11m roubles ($137,000) for failing to delete what it called “fake” information about the Ukraine war.What did the memoir say? Among other allegations, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House included the claim that the Trump was a “racist” who used the N-word. She also released audio recordings of Trump officials.Is this the first Trump NDA case? No – the former president has lost other cases, including by a former campaign worker who said he forcibly kissed her. Continue reading...

Deaths continue apace this year, with Black victims disproportionately harmed, amid calls to reduce traffic encountersPolice in the US have killed nearly 600 people during traffic stops since 2017, with the deaths continuing apace this year, a review of national police violence data shows.The numbers add urgency to the growing push from advocates to prevent deadly stops and remove officers from traffic enforcement following the police killing of Patrick Lyoya, a Black Michigan man, earlier this month. Continue reading...

Electric car giant’s CEO says he is not in talks on new bonus scheme after completing 2018 deal early

After two days on the stand in a $50m defamation case brought by Johnny Depp against his former wife, the actor concluded his narrative of their marriage by testifying on Wednesday that accusations of domestic violence brought by Amber Heard had destroyed his career.Depp testified that Heard had become enraged when he had started drinking in Australia during the filming of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise films and had thrown a bottle of vodka at him, severing the top of his finger.'Blood was pouring out,' he said. 'I think I went into some sort of … I don’t know what a nervous breakdown feels like, but that’s probably the closest that I’ve ever been. Nothing made sense.'Depp said he had hidden in a bathroom, and was later taken to a hospital where he told doctors the digit had been caught in large accordion doors.The trial continues

Ukrainians know the war is not over, so each day we clean up, document the destruction, and do our best to prepareNear one of the oldest and most beautiful squares in Kyiv, Sofiivska, I met Andriy Khlyvnyuk – a famous Ukrainian singer who recently joined the police civil defence. I wrote about him during the first days of the war. The video of him singing the century-old march Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow went viral. Pink Floyd collaborated with Khlyvnyuk and issued their version of the track, Hey Hey Rise Up, in support of Ukraine.At the start of the war, the streets of Ukrainian cities emptied. So when strangers meet now they say hello, and when you come across someone you know, even a distant acquaintance, you hug each other. I told Khlyvnyuk I’d just come from Donbas, and had a feeling of irreversible tragedy lying ahead in anticipation of possibly the biggest battle of the war. “How are you holding yourself together?” Andriy asked me. “I’m not thinking too hard,” I told him. “I just focus on what I should do next.” “The same with me,” he said. This is the case with most of my friends and the people I meet.Nataliya Gumenyuk is a Ukrainian journalist specialising in foreign affairs and conflict reporting, and author of Lost Island: Tales from the Occupied Crimea (2020)

Some have been known to retch at the sight of it, but I am a great enthusiast for urinals in the home. Mine has pride of place beneath the West Brom crestThose Hollywood fellows Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are never far from social media virality. Last week they were at it again. For reasons that remain unclear, the pair of them have bought Wrexham AFC, in the fifth tier of English football, and pumped some money into the place. Now Reynolds has made McElhenney a birthday present of a urinal at the club’s stadium, placing a commemorative plaque next to it.This put me in mind of a friend of mine, the late and much-missed Jon Brookes, drummer with the Charlatans. When West Brom demolished their home fans’ end of the stadium, he nicked some bricks from it for an extension that his brother, another West Brom fan, was getting built. It was only on the way home with the bricks, in his brother’s Capri, that they realised the bricks were from the toilet block. The stench was awful. But, like the true fans they were, they used them anyway and after a few months the smell abated. Continue reading...

A 15-month long investigation resulted in Jerry Braun’s arrest on 12 April; he’s been charged with violent entry and disorderly conductOn 6 January 2021, Jerry Braun hailed an Uber in Washington DC and got in the car, nursing a bleeding eye wound. The Uber driver noticed and asked, “So, has it been violent all day?”“Well it started around, right when I got there. I tore down the barricades,” Braun bragged. Continue reading...

The company has blamed password-sharing and the war in Ukraine for its plight. But the real problem might be its programmingAfter years of exponential growth, Netflix reported on Tuesday that it had lost subscribers for the first time in more than a decade. The announcement spooked Wall Street and sent shares plummeting more than 35%, erasing more than $50bn in market capitalization from a company whose stock was already down more than 40% on the year.To explain the downturn, Netflix posited everything from the war in Ukraine to people sharing passwords. But what if the reason is much simpler – that Netflix just isn’t really making much people want to see any more? Continue reading...

Republican senator makes demand in Wall Street Journal but does not suggest what a ‘woke adviser’ is or what one might recommendJoe Biden must act to reduce mounting economic pressure by ditching “woke advisers”, Mitt Romney said.The Utah senator and former Republican presidential nominee made the demand in a column for the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading...

Wildfire triples in size as wind gusts of up to 50mph kick up flames as high as 100ft outside a tourist townAn Arizona wildfire tripled in size on Wednesday to more than 19,000 acres, a day after heavy winds kicked up a towering wall of flames outside a northern Arizona tourist and college town.Flames as high as 100ft raced through an area of scattered homes, dry grass and Ponderosa pine trees on the outskirts of Flagstaff as wind gusts of up to 50mph pushed the Tunnel fire over a major highway. The blaze has ripped through two dozen structures and sent residents of more than 700 homes scrambling to flee. Continue reading...

State senate passes measure with big tax implications as governor clashes with company over its criticism of lawThe Florida senate passed a bill on Wednesday to repeal a law allowing Walt Disney World to operate a private government over its properties in the state, escalating a feud with the entertainment giant over its opposition to what critics call the “don’t say gay” law.The proposal could have huge tax implications for Disney, whose series of theme parks have over the decades transformed Orlando into one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. And Democrats have warned that the move could cause local homeowners to get hit with big tax bills if they have to absorb bond debt from Disney – although such details are far from clear. Continue reading...

Piers Morgan Uncensored 30-second trailer apparently shows former president irritated by US 2020 election questionsFormer US president Donald Trump appeared to storm out of an interview with Piers Morgan after he was questioned about losing the 2020 election.A dramatic 30-second advert for Morgan’s new show – Piers Morgan Uncensored, to feature on Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV – also showed the former president calling the presenter “dishonest” and “a fool”. Continue reading...

Ruling closes case over former aide’s alleged violation of a non-disclosure agreementDonald Trump’s campaign has been ordered to pay his former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman more than $1.3m in legal fees, closing a case over her alleged violation of a non-disclosure agreement.Celebrating the ruling, Manigault Newman compared herself to David and the former president to Goliath. Continue reading...

State officials deliver highest level of rebuke and say production demonstrated ‘plain indifference’ to employee protectionThe state of New Mexico on Wednesday issued its maximum citation against the producers of the western movie Rust for safety lapses before what the authorities called the “avoidable” shooting death of the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during filming last autumn.An investigation into Hutchins’ death found the company, Rust Movie Productions, knew firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and demonstrated “plain indifference” to employee safety, the New Mexico environment department said in a statement. Continue reading...

Ruling by district court judge in Florida that Covid-19 measure was illegal is opposed by 49% of Americans, poll shows

Proposed map would chop up the fifth district into four new ones where Black voters would comprise a much smaller share of the vote – a visual guideFlorida’s Governor Ron DeSantis is brazenly trying to curtail Black political power in his state as he redraws its congressional districts to significantly benefit Republicans.The Florida legislature is meeting this week to consider a proposal from DeSantis that would give Florida Republicans a 20-8 advantage over Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation. That’s a four-seat increase from the 16-11 advantage Republicans hold now (Florida gained an additional seat in Congress because of population growth). The Florida senate approved the plan on a party line vote on Wednesday. It is still being debated in the Florida house of representatives. Continue reading...

The human costs of lockdown in Shanghai have sparked frustration and despair. But leaders have no exit strategyEven by the standards of China’s overzealous censors, suppressing a hashtag that simply quoted its national anthem was striking stuff. The opening line – “Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!” – had been deployed to express the growing anger and distress in Shanghai as what was supposed to be a short, sharp lockdown stretched on for weeks, with gruelling results for individuals as well as damaging effects on the economy. On Wednesday the city eased restrictions somewhat, with millions allowed to leave home for the first time in weeks. Yet even if the worst proves to be over in the financial centre, experiencing China’s biggest outbreak since the virus first emerged in Wuhan, concerns about the country’s insistence on a zero-Covid strategy will persist.Outside China, the attention has been on the draconian nature of restrictions, with reports of the separation of small children from their parents, people dying from other medical problems because they could not access help, and the beating to death of a dog whose owner had apparently been sent to a quarantine centre. Plenty in China have lambasted the inhumanity, but it is also the inefficiency of authorities which has shocked. An international, sophisticated metropolis is asking why officials insisted there would be no lockdown until the last minute, leaving residents no time to prepare; why the testing and isolation process appears beset by confusion; why conditions are so poor in crowded quarantine centres; and why food is in such short supply. Officials have admitted “difficulties”. Delivery remains at the centre of the party’s legitimacy, even if nationalism has become an increasingly potent force. Continue reading...

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has contracted with private data brokers to get around some areas’ sanctuary laws, documents showOver the last decade, a growing number of American cities and states have restricted the information local law enforcement departments can exchange with immigration authorities.But new documents reveal that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has tapped a network of private technology companies to skirt such sanctuary policies, facilitating access to “real time” information about incarcerations and jail bookings, which enables them to pick up immigrants targeted for deportation. Continue reading...

After a judge struck down the mandate on transportation what anti-Covid mask rules apply in places from hospitals to theaters?Most US airlines and airports, the ride-sharing company Uber and national train service Amtrak are now lifting Covid-related mask mandates that have been in place for more than a year.The shift comes after a judge in Florida ruled against a federal mandate and the Biden administration said it would not enforce one even as Covid-19 infections are rising again in the US, and more than 400 people are dying every day from the airborne disease. Continue reading...

Russia’s humiliated military and intelligence blocs know they have let their leader down, and need the war to go onRussia’s war in Ukraine is not going according to plan. The sinking of the Moskva – the flagship of the Black Sea fleet – is the latest major military setback. In the course of almost two months, Russia has lost six major generals and between 15,000-20,000 troops, all the while failing to secure any appreciable gains.Reports of low morale and defection, coupled with sightings of mercenaries deployed by the Kremlin, hint at recruitment problems. This, along with Russia’s apparent inability to replenish lost military equipment – a consequence of western sanctions – has led some observers to wonder whether the Russian war machine is running out of road.Olga Chyzh researches political violence and repressive regimes. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto Continue reading...

President says US can deliver ‘most successful’ rugby events in history, for men in 2031 and women in 2033, with decision in MayA letter from Joe Biden to Sir Bill Beaumont, chairman of World Rugby, was part of a finalised World Cup package submitted by USA Rugby in its bid to host the men’s event in 2031 and the women two years later.World Rugby is due to announce the success or not of the US bid on 12 May. Alan Gilpin, chief executive of the governing body, has said World Rugby believes it “can deliver the right outcomes with this hosting plan”. Continue reading...

Tracey Meares had highest grades at Springfield high school but was denied title, sharing ‘top student’ award with white peerIn 1984, Tracey Meares was on her way to becoming her Illinois high school’s first Black valedictorian, with the highest academic ranking at Springfield High. Instead, she was declared “top student” – alongside Heather Russell, a white student.Thirty-eight years later, Meares is valedictorian at last, after she was finally presented with the title last Saturday after a screening of the documentary No Title for Tracey. Continue reading...

‘We have pharaohs in neighboring countries,’ Zelenskiy recently said. I was privileged to join a group of refugees celebrating sederOn the first night of Passover, more than 100 Ukrainian refugees gathered for a seder at the Doubletree-Hilton in Warsaw, Poland. The Haggadah, the accompanying liturgical libretto, directs its readers to see themselves as if they had personally exited from slavery. This year, Russia made that task easier.“We have pharaohs in neighboring countries,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, speaking to the world from Ukraine.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...

We know how important play and imagination are to children. But what is it about building, specifically, that feels so necessary?David Beckham apparently unwinds at the end of a long day by playing with Lego, which he’ll do until the wee hours – two, three, four in the morning. “It relaxes me,” he said during an interview.It’s something I thought about a lot earlier this year, as my family existed in the perpetual, foggy fugue state otherwise known as “everyone got Covid the day before we were supposed to go on our first family vacation in more than two years, and so now we’re stuck in our apartment and can’t leave, and we thought this was over, already”.Sophie Brickman is a contributor to the New Yorker, the New York Times and other publications, and the author of Baby, Unplugged: One Mother’s Search for Balance, Reason, and Sanity in the Digital Age Continue reading...

Rwanda has a long tradition of hospitality. But many asylum seekers view this British plan with suspicionIn the aftermath of genocide, Rwanda turned to tradition to help rebuild the country. There is a saying: turi bene mugabo umwe Gihanga – we all have the same father. Hospitality is part and parcel of this custom, a natural reflex of living together rather than an obligation. Sasa bugari, another saying goes, or widen your bed and always make room for the unknown traveller who may seek hospitality at any time. In the shack where we landed after being exiled, my mother immediately set about weaving two mats for any unexpected guests who may drop in, certain of a warm welcome.My father, too, would be up at cock’s crow, before dawn, and off into the savannah in search of more fertile earth on which to grow the next crop. Come nightfall, seeing smoke above a banana plantation, he knew he could simply lay down his staff outside a hut and call out “Yemwe abaha” (hey folks) to be received with all the respect and discretion that was due to a traveller. Early the next day he would set off again, secure in the knowledge that when the sun set behind the hills a woman somewhere would have prepared a welcome mat for the passing traveller.Scholastique Mukasonga is a French Rwandan novelist and author of Our Lady of the Nile and The Barefoot Woman. This article was translated by Harry Forster Continue reading...

A focus on open, inviting and community-centric interiors aims at appealing to a broad range of Black customers, including eldersWhen Kika Keith and her daughter opened a cannabis dispensary in South Central Los Angeles last year, they faced a design challenge: how could they create a store where older Black customers, who had seen all the ravages of the “war on drugs”, would feel comfortable making a purchase?It had been a tough battle for Keith to open a dispensary as a Black woman, in a post-legalized marijuana market where most of the business owners had become white men. She and her daughter, Kika Howze, wanted their store, Gorilla Rx Wellness Co, to reflect their focus on neighborhood investment and their hip-hop aesthetic. Continue reading...

Fears of a crime wave have fueled calls for harsher policing – but we’ve been down this road, says researcher James Forman JrIn the past two years, warnings of a pandemic-induced crime wave have become a staple of America’s evening news. A historic rise in homicide rates and reports of frequent retail thefts and “smash and grab robberies” have refreshed paranoia about a wave of violence and property crime. These fears have driven recall efforts against progressive prosecutors and calls from officials and residents alike to strengthen police forces.But this isn’t the first or even the second time the US has faced a moment of hysteria related to crime, reflexively calling for harsher punishments for perpetrators and more police officers on city streets. Continue reading...

Shawnee State University in Ohio had reprimanded Nicholas Meriwether, who then sued on first amendment groundsA public university in Ohio has agreed to pay $400,000 to one of its professors after it rebuked him for refusing to use a student’s preferred pronouns.In 2018, Nicholas Meriwether, a philosophy professor at Shawnee State University in southern Ohio, addressed a transgender student as “sir” when she raised her hand in class. Continue reading...

Shelling and strikes in Donbas increasing but Russians hampered by logistical problems, UK claims. Plus, Biden’s $6bn effort to save nuclear plants

New NCAA rules mean colleges can now pay athletes up to $5,980 per year for getting good grades. But few of them have plans to do soIn its athletic department’s mission statement, UCLA promises to “recruit only student-athletes who exhibit both an interest in the academic component of undergraduate life and the potential to succeed in the increasingly competitive academic environment of UCLA.” Duke University likewise “requires that students engaged in intercollegiate athletics be students first.”Yet, despite the supposed commitment to academics at these two premier universities – who have endowments of $7.4bn and $12.7bn respectively – neither has chosen to take up new NCAA rules which allow colleges to pay their athletes up to $5,980 per year for getting good grades or merely retaining eligibility. Just this week Duke publicly acknowledged that the it “has not yet made a decision on whether we will provide benefits for academic performance that are now permitted by the NCAA.” Nor are Duke and UCLA outliers: ESPN reported this month that only 22 of the 130 schools at the highest level of college football have firm plans to pay players for academic performance this year. Continue reading...

After Covid lockdown boom, orders dropped by 1% to 264.2m in first three months of 2022Just Eat Takeaway is considering selling off its Grubhub arm after reporting a decline in orders compared with bumper levels during Covid lockdowns.The online food ordering company said orders dropped by 1% to 264.2m in the first three months of 2022 as it struggled when trying to match the pandemic-boosted levels from a year earlier, when many cafes, restaurants and hospitality venues remained closed for several months. Continue reading...

The star ‘became irate’ after being asked to leave a private residence and reportedly threw a chair, which struck a womanFantastic Beasts star Ezra Miller has been arrested on suspicion of assault in Hawaii, just weeks after police on the Big Island arrested the actor for disorderly conduct and assault.The star, 29, also known for playing the Flash in Justice League films, “became irate” after being asked to leave a private residence and reportedly threw a chair, which struck a woman on the forehead, according to a statement from the Hawaii police department. Continue reading...

Former LA Lakers player and general manager claims HBO has ‘demeaned him for shock value’ in popular drama about basketball teamThe former Los Angeles Lakers player, coach and general manager Jerry West has reportedly demanded an apology and retraction over his depiction in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, calling it “a baseless and malicious assault”.The new drama series is centred on the rise of the LA Lakers in the 1980s “Showtime era”, when West was the team’s general manager. The actor Jason Clarke plays West, alongside John C Reilly as the team’s owner, Dr Jerry Buss. Continue reading...

Member of House Capitol attack panel says hearings will focus on Trump’s bid to cling to powerDonald Trump attempted a coup on 6 January 2021 as he tried to salvage his doomed presidency, and that will be a central focus of forthcoming public hearings of the special House panel investigating events surrounding the insurrection at the US Capitol, the congressman Jamie Raskin has said.Raskin is a prominent Democrat on the committee and also led the House efforts when Trump was impeached for a historic second time, in 2021, accused of inciting the storming of the US Capitol by his extremist supporters who were trying to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Continue reading...

For the price of a tiny hovel in NYC, I’m living the dream in Philadelphia. Even doing the laundry is an adventure here!After more than a decade spent considering myself a New Yorker I have finally left Manhattan for cheaper pastures (Philadelphia). I am, of course, obliged to tell you all about it. One does not get out of Metropolis quietly. No, ever since Joan Didion wrote Goodbye to All That in 1967, anyone who moves out of New York (or London) must file a Why I Left essay on their way out. It’s the law. And I’m very law-abiding.I’m also, luckily for you, on a strict word limit. Therefore I’m going to have to boil down my completely unique, never-before-experienced reflections on how the combination of having a new baby and living in a one-bedroom flat throughout the pandemic made me realise I wasn’t young enough or rich enough to have the sort of life I wanted in New York. And what sort of life did I want? The pandemic, middle age and motherhood made me figure out what was really important: having a washing machine in my house. They are surprisingly hard to come by in Manhattan. Continue reading...

Kathryn Mizelle, who overturned the federal requirement for masks on transport, part of Trump’s bid to reshape the judiciaryShe has become an instant heroine of the Republican right.In a 59-page opinion on Monday, the US district judge Kathryn Mizelle of Tampa, Florida, overturned the federal requirement that people wear masks on planes and public transportation. Continue reading...

I asked Asian Americans to share their funny-not-funny stories of being mistaken for other peopleRecently, standup queen Ali Wong announced her separation from her husband of eight years, Justin Hakuta. Sad news for the couple, who have two young daughters. And sad news for uninvolved bystander Randall Park, who, by virtue of having co-starred with Wong in the breakout Netflix romcom Always Be My Maybe, found his face splashed across the internet in breaking-news posts by Parade magazine and MSN – both of which used photos of Park in place of Hakuta.I don’t know what it was like for him on the day the story of Wong’s divorce hit the headlines. I imagine him driving home from a long day of being hilarious on TV, when all of a sudden his phone begins buzzing like a bag of angry hornets. He pulls over and looks at his messages. They’re from concerned friends and relatives, asking what he had to do with the breakup of his close friend and co-star’s marriage. He’s not on Twitter, so he messages back in panic asking for context. And then the phone rings, and it’s his wife, and honey, there’s some ’splainin to do … Continue reading...

With possession legalized, weed trucks and pop-ups are everywhere. But that could all change when the state swoops inFor the past few months, anyone visiting Katz’s Deli in the Lower East Side of Manhattan – as famous for its role in When Harry Met Sally as it is for pastrami – has queued near a green-painted food truck, strategically parked on Houston Street to capture Katz’s foot traffic, adorned with multi-colored LED signage advertising the city’s latest hot delicacy: cannabis.Passersby can stroll up to the truck’s sales window and peek at a menu written in marker on a white dry-erase board and ask to see and smell a sample before forking over $60 cash for 3.5 grams, the cannabis industry’s standard serving size. Continue reading...

If the centrist president wins, it will be by swinging the political pendulum further in Marine Le Pen’s directionThe promise of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency was straightforward: he would transcend the concepts of left and right, and consign populism to the margins of French politics. His rise to power in the spring of 2017 was an apparent lifeboat for liberals traumatised by Brexit and Donald Trump: here was the “centrist” prince over the water, a beacon of good governance and confirmation that the grownups were back in the room.It hasn’t worked out that way. Champions of so-called centrism believed Macron would be a desperately needed antidote to political polarisation. But Macronism has acted as an accelerant, not a coolant, leaving the country more troubled, divided and disillusioned than when this former investment banker secured office. Macron’s likely re-election, thanks to tactical voting, should not obscure a damning fact: the far right will come closer to holding power in a western European nation than at any time since 1945.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Agreement between diocese of Camden and plaintiffs is one of largest cash settlements involving Catholic church in USA New Jersey Catholic diocese has agreed to pay $87.5m to settle claims involving clergy sexual abuse with some 300 alleged victims, marking one of the largest cash settlements involving the Catholic church in the United States.The agreement between the diocese of Camden, which encompasses six counties in southern New Jersey on the outskirts of Philadelphia, and plaintiffs was filed with US bankruptcy court in Camden on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Lawsuit asks court to rule SB 8 unconstitutional, citing public threats and legal action from anti-abortion activistsReproductive rights advocates in Texas have filed a new legal challenge to halt a near-total abortion ban that has been in effect for more than half a year.Senate Bill 8 bars abortion once embryonic cardiac activity is detected – typically as early as six week of pregnancy, which is before most people are aware they are pregnant – and offers no exception for rape or incest. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asks a federal court to rule the extreme law unconstitutional. It cites public threats and legal action from anti-abortion activists against Texas abortion funds, groups that have been instrumental in helping patients travel out of state for care, arguing that this conduct has chilled their first amendment rights. Continue reading...

President follows video call with allies on Ukraine with trip to New Hampshire to discuss infrastructure

Steve Cohen says the US must establish ‘deterrents’ against lawyers accused of carrying out ‘unscrupulous work’A US congressman has urged the Biden administration to ban six British lawyers from entering the US amid accusations that the lawyers have “enabled” “Putin’s” oligarchs by engaging in “abusive” lawsuits against journalists as part of an alleged effort to silence them.Steve Cohen, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee, said in a letter to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, that the US needed to begin establishing “deterrents” against lawyers whom he accused of performing “unscrupulous work” that ultimately undermined democratic values. Continue reading...

The messages could strengthen a theory being explored by the House committee that January 6 included a coordinated assaultTop leaders in the Oath Keepers militia group indicted on seditious conspiracy charges over the Capitol attack had contacts with the Proud Boys and a figure in the Stop the Steal movement and may also have been in touch with the Republican congressman Ronny Jackson, newly released text messages show.The texts – which indicate the apparent ease with which Oath Keepers messaged Proud Boys – could strengthen a theory being explored by the House January 6 committee and the US justice department: that the Capitol attack included a coordinated assault. Continue reading...