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Billionaire says she gave ‘every single piece of myself’ to marriage to Microsoft co-founder and says many factors led to divorceMelinda French Gates has addressed her divorce from Bill Gates publicly, saying that although she and the Microsoft co-founder are “friendly at this point”, she is not ready to label her relationship with Gates as “friends”.In a recent interview with CBS’s Gayle King, French Gates said multiple factors resulted in the couple’s high-profile divorce last May after 27 years of marriage. Continue reading...

The pilot reportedly downed seven to eight drinks before boarding the planeA JetBlue pilot was removed from the cockpit of a flight and taken into custody in the US after having a blood-alcohol level more than four times the federal limit for pilots.The pilot, a 52-year-old man from Orlando, Florida, was first removed from the cockpit after a Transportation Security Administration agent told authorities Clifton looked “impaired” while passing through security, reported the Buffalo News. Continue reading...

Sackler family members who own the company boost cash contribution to as much as $6bnPurdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin, have reached a settlement over its role in the US’s deadly opioid crisis that includes US states and thousands of local governments, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6bn.The deal follows an earlier settlement that had been appealed by eight states and the District of Columbia. They agreed to sign on after the Sacklers kicked in more cash and accepted other terms, including apologizing. In exchange, the family would be protected from civil lawsuits. Continue reading...

Court filing says public hearings will address ‘in detail’ Trump’s legal culpability for obstructing Congress and defrauding the USThe House select committee investigating the Capitol attack is hoping to show through public hearings in April how it believes Donald Trump came to violate federal laws in his efforts to overturn the 2020 US election results, the panel has indicated in court documents.The hearings are set to be a major and historical political event in America as the panel seeks to publicly show the extent of its investigations so far into the shocking events that saw a pro-Trump mob invade the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the election of Joe Biden by Congress. Continue reading...

David Mora, who shot dead his young daughters and then himself, was subject to restraining order that barred him from having gunsThe father who fatally shot his three daughters and a man at a California church this week repeatedly threatened to kill his estranged girlfriend and scared their girls so much they cried and one bit off her fingernails, according to a restraining order that was supposed to keep him away from guns and bullets.But 39-year-old David Mora had both when he showed up Monday for a supervised visit with his daughters, ages 13, 10 and nine. He shot them, the chaperone he and his ex-girlfriend had agreed could oversee the weekly visits, and then himself. Continue reading...

His regime and all those complicit in war crimes must be held accountable – starting now. Ukrainians are fighting for their livesWhen Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, criminal invasion of Ukraine, he shot himself in one foot. When he threatened to use nuclear weapons, he blew off the other. His regime has chosen a path of self-liquidation. The only question is how much damage it will do before its demise.Ukraine, of course, is now the main target of Putin’s barbarism. I salute the bravery of the Ukrainian people and their leadership. Ukraine, an independent sovereign democracy, is not a part of Russia; but, as is the case for many Russians, Ukraine is a part of me. My grandfather, killed defending Moscow from fascist invaders in 1941, was from Zhytomyr in Ukraine. Today the invaders attacking his homeland are Russian. My grandmother was from Kharkiv. When I see the bombing of her city, it rips my heart in two – my motherland bombing the land of my grandmother.Mikhail Khodorkovsky is founder of the Open Russia movement, former Yukos CEO and Amnesty prisoner of conscience Continue reading...

The barrier Trump touted as ‘impenetrable’ can be breached with common power tools, the Washington Post reportsSmugglers have breached the Trump administration’s border wall along the US-Mexico frontier more than 3,000 times, government maintenance records obtained by the Washington Post reveal.Nearly 500 miles of barrier was constructed by the Trump administration beginning in 2019, mostly in rural New Mexico and Arizona. Former president Trump touted the “big, beautiful wall” as the “Rolls-Royce” of barriers, but smugglers have breached the wall at least 3,272 times, mostly with common power tools found at hardware stores. Continue reading...

Pamela Moses was sentenced to six years for trying to vote while white people who committed more intentional acts of fraud merely received probationHello and Happy Thursday,In an unexpected move last Friday, a Memphis judge ordered a new trial for Pamela Moses, the Black Lives Matter activist who was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register to vote.A long-anticipated Republican review of the 2020 election in Wisconsin argued that lawmakers could “decertify” Joe Biden’s victory in the state – something that is not legally possible.New voting restrictions loomed over the Texas primary, where progressive notched key wins and a Donald Trump ally suffered a major blow.A federal judge in Georgia declined to impose new electoral maps in the state, even though he found evidence that the ones Republicans passed last year were illegal. Continue reading...

FDA and CDC urge parents to avoid feeding babies formula produced at Michigan facility operated by Abbott NutritionUS authorities are investigating reports of illness among infants who consumed powdered baby formula produced at Michigan facility operated by Abbott Nutrition, following a widespread recall and the deaths of at least two children.On 17 February Abbott Nutrition voluntarily recalled three of its formula products: Similac, Alimentum and EleCare. Continue reading...

This powerful competition has a more important job than the Olympics in opening doors and lifting the oppressed in societyI was taught to ski by a guy called Bill Bowness. He has sadly passed away now, but he was an American Paralympian with this big beard and a proper chilled vibe. He took me up a slope at Lake Tahoe once in one of the early sit skis and I remember it to this day: a fibreglass bucket seat bolted to a frame on top of a ski. Even balancing on one of these things was hard enough. I was horror-struck, but there was Bill teaching me, cool as you like, and he was literally skiing down the mountain backwards as he did it.Skiing is one of the most liberating sensations you can feel and that’s especially true for people with disabilities. You’re thinking if I do something wrong here then I’m toppling down a mountain at 50mph, but if I get down safely then I’ve played with death (or broken bones) and I’ve won the game. As humans we like to feel like we’re in control and if you feel like you’re in control of danger, that’s really exhilarating. I almost feel like a psychopath talking about it in those terms, but that’s what I think of when the Winter Paralympics come around. Continue reading...

Just because we live in a post-industrial era doesn’t mean industrial action has suddenly become obsoleteThis week the tube workers went on strike, and the Telegraph called them “the enemy underground” and complained that “Putin apologists” had “brought London to a standstill”. It was the silliness, more than the vulgar opportunism, that caught the eye.The tube was actually down because of a row over pensions and staffing levels. Two weeks ago, university lecturers were striking on the same principle, though more recently their actions have also been centred on the whole spectrum of declining pay and conditions – a pension raid is often just the most visible edge of a wider erosion of rights. Building a casuistic case linking union action to a brutal kleptocrat’s war, via a Morning Star subscription, is essentially an attempt to delegitimise unions altogether – and not even a serious attempt: more of a festive sidebar to the more sober main narrative.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Conservatives have taken cash without asking tough questions. Even now they have no credible plan to clean up ‘Londongrad’In 2010 I was approached on behalf of a Russian multimillionaire offering £30m. I’d recently launched a philanthropic foundation to help grassroots charities cope with the aftermath of the financial crisis.We attracted a lot of support from individuals with genuine motives, but soon we were being approached by professional philanthropy advisers – a recently established money-making trade created by wealth managers and “private offices”. But on this occasion an adviser from a luxury concierge firm told us it had a Russian client willing to give us a huge sum to help us start up.Gina Miller is a transparency campaigner and leader of the True and Fair party Continue reading...

At first glance, Golden State are telling a straightforward story this season: the club that rewired the NBA is back. But the truth goes deeperIt’s no less pretty the thousandth time you see it. On an early-February evening in San Francisco, Stephen Curry threads into the heart of the Sacramento defense, spins in place, then whips a one-handed pass the length of the baseline through a tangle of turned heads. By the time it reaches Klay Thompson, the crowd builds to a murmur. A rhythm dribble, a three from the corner, a little blood-pumping bounce on his surgically restored left leg. The shot drops and the noise roars forth: same as it ever was.At first glance, the Golden State Warriors are telling a straightforward story this season: the club that rewired the NBA is back. After Curry and co ripped off three championships in four years from 2015 to 2018, their good fortune soured as quickly. In the 2019 finals, Kevin Durant ruptured his achilles tendon and Thompson tore his ACL; Durant left the club in free agency that summer. In the fourth game of the next season, Curry landed hard on his hand – not the record-setting right, small miracles – and missed nearly the entire year with broken bones and nerve damage. After spending a year rebuilding his knee, Thompson tore his own Achilles in November 2020: another full season lost. Now the team is mostly whole (Draymond Green, Golden State’s canniest passer and firiest defender, has started practicing again as he heals from a back injury, and Thompson has missed the last couple games with illness) and perched near its accustomed spot, second in the Western Conference with a 43-19 record. Continue reading...

As the Winter Paralympics open, a swimmer born with no arms calls for a global commitment to the millions with disabilitiesIn most cases, the birth of a child is a celebration. It is an opportunity to rejoice in the excitement of what that child will be or could become – that child is a gift. But when I was born, my family cried. They cried with sorrow and they cried with fear. Because those, like me, born with a disability, are not perceived as a gift or as special, they are considered different. In many parts of the world, different is not considered a good thing: it can even be perilous.I was born in Afghanistan with no arms. As a child, while my family supported me, the world around me did not. I was seven when this realisation hit me – my life was going to be different. I was bullied at school and made to feel inferior. It was only when I discovered swimming that I finally felt accepted. The water made me feel safe, and it was swimming that made me feel alive; it also made me realise that even with my disability, I had a gift. That’s when I set out on a journey that would break down barriers and show others that people with disabilities can be active and can fulfil their potential. Continue reading...

Getting a place right shouldn’t be hard, so why does TV show Somebody Somewhere’s accurate depiction of the midwest feel like a miracle?One Saturday last fall, my husband and I bought an antique clawfoot bathtub in Manhattan, Kansas. After loading it from a stranger’s backyard into the bed of our truck, we walked to The Chef, a downtown diner, figuring we might be seated quickly with half the town tailgating at the Kansas State University football game.We drank bloody Marys on the patio among white, Black and brown diners while purple school flags waved in the autumn breeze. Our server pointed to a pile of blankets in case I got chilly. Continue reading...

The Washington Spirit forward on a new era for the US as well as her team’s NWSL triumph after the league was soaked in scandalAshley Hatch came on as a sub during USA’s SheBelieves Cup match against New Zealand last month. Just six minutes later, she found the back of the net. It was her third goal in three appearances and, strikingly, it was the longest she had taken to score.The other two goals, both in games against Australia, came in the first and fourth minutes. Hatch says she is always keen to make an impact as quickly as possible. Continue reading...

In several prominent cases, Black people got harsher sentences for unintentional voting errors than whites who committed fraudIn the late summer of 2020, Bruce Bartman went to Pennsylvania’s voter registration website and signed up his mother and mother-in-law to vote. Both women were dead.A few months later, Bartman, who is white, requested a mail-in ballot for his late mother and cast her vote for Donald Trump. Bartman was arrested that December and charged with perjury and unlawful voting. Months later, he pleaded guilty, admitted he made a “stupid mistake,” was sentenced to five years of probation and barred from serving on a jury or voting for four years. Continue reading...

The port city’s mayor tells residents to obey a curfew imposed by ‘armed visitors’. Plus, House committee says Trump violated federal laws over electionHello and good morning.Russia has captured the city of Kherson. The Black Sea port has become the first major Ukrainian target to fall under the de facto control of Russia forces.How high could refugee numbers climb? The UN estimates there could be as many as 4 million refugees from the invasion, crossing the borders into neighbouring countries.How many Russian soldiers have been sent to their deaths by president Vladimir Putin so far? Ukraine’s government said yesterday nearly 6,000 Russian troops had been killed. Moscow said the figure was 498.How many international allies does Russia have over the invasion? Four. At yesterday’s emergency UN general assembly session, only Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea and Syria voted with Putin. 141 opposed and 35 abstained. Continue reading...

Ron DeSantis had strong words for a group of students at the University of South Florida who were wearing face masks before a press conference. The Republican governor for Florida asked them to take their masks off, saying it was 'Covid theater'

The state’s near-total ban has had ‘devastating’ effects, providers say, and offers a glimpse of the future if Roe v Wade is overturnedThe most restrictive abortion law in the US has inflicted “devastating” consequences in Texas since it was introduced six months ago, according to healthcare providers and pro-choice groups.Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) bars the procedure once embryonic cardiac activity is detected, typically at six weeks of pregnancy or earlier, with no exception for rape or incest. As most people are not aware they are pregnant this early on, the unprecedented law amounts to a near-total ban. Continue reading...

In a major filing, the House committee says it believes the former president was obstructing Congress and defrauding the United StatesThe House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack said in a major filing on Wednesday that it believed that Donald Trump violated multiple federal laws to overturn the 2020 election, including obstructing Congress and defrauding the United States.The revelations came as part of a filing that intended to force John Eastman, Trump’s former lawyer, to turn over thousands of emails and records since his participation in potential crimes destroyed his arguments for attorney-client privilege protections. Continue reading...

Amy Clark Meachum has issued an order blocking governor Greg Abbott’s directive examining gender-affirming care as child abuseA Texas judge on Wednesday blocked the state from investigating the parents of a transgender teenager over gender-confirmation treatments, but stopped short of preventing the state from looking into other reports about children receiving similar care.District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary order halting the investigation by the Department of Family and Protective Services into the parents of the 16-year-old girl. The parents sued over the investigation and Republican governor Greg Abbott’s order last week that officials look into reports of such treatments as abuse. Continue reading...

Van Taylor acknowledges ‘horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain’ and abruptly halts bid for third congressional termA Texas Republican congressman apologized and dropped his bid for re-election on Wednesday, after revelations of an affair with a British woman who was once married to an Islamic State leader.Van Taylor, who was bidding for a third term in the US House of Representatives, said: “About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world. I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life.” Continue reading...

The 2024 presidential nominee contender also angrily chastised students on stage with him for wearing masks as ‘Covid theatre’

In the span of two hours on Sunday night, a man allegedly punched, shoved or elbowed the women without provocationThe New York police department has released video footage of a suspect who is believed to have assaulted seven Asian women in Manhattan in the span of two hours on Sunday night.According to authorities, the suspect punched, shoved or elbowed the Asian women without provocation. He was described as a man in his 20s with light complexion and blond hair, and was captured on camera wearing a light blue T-shirt, dark pants and a multicolored backpack. Continue reading...

Joe Biden’s State of the Union address showed an old enemy re-entering US consciousnessJoe Biden’s speech on Tuesday mentioned Russia 18 times – more than any other State of the Union Address since the tradition started in 1790.Biden condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the first 11 minutes of his speech, painting the war as a global ideological fight. “In the battle between democracy and autocracy, democracies are rising to the moment, and the world is clearly choosing the side of peace and security,” he said. Continue reading...

Attorney general Ken Paxton heads to nomination runoff against Jeb Bush’s son while progressive Jessica Cisneros celebrates runoffProgressive Democrats notched victories in two of Texas’s congressional primary races on Tuesday while Ken Paxton, one of the most prominent Republicans in the state and Donald Trump ally, suffered a major blow.In the most closely watched congressional primary, Jessica Cisneros, a progressive Democrat, forced a runoff against Henry Cuellar, a nine-term congressman who is one of the most conservative Democrats in the US House. (Texas races go to a runoff if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.) Continue reading...

The threat of Armageddon was always in the background – but now young people have to deal with the pandemic and climate crisis too

Juror had marked ‘no’ in response to sexual abuse question but claimed in post-trial interviews that he was victimized in his youthA juror in Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal trial who apparently did not disclose childhood sexual abuse during jury selection will invoke his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination at an 8 March hearing.This juror, who is named Scotty David, was on 24 February ordered to appear in court for questioning about his answers on a screening questionnaire for then-prospective jurors. Continue reading...

Telecoms group’s admission comes days after revelations about alleged bribes given to Islamic StateThe Swedish telecoms group Ericsson broke a formal agreement with US prosecutors by withholding evidence about its involvement in corruption, the firm has announced.The US Department of Justice had notified Ericsson that the firm has failed, as required, to hand over details of alleged corruption in Iraq to DoJ prosecutors. Continue reading...

Russia is starting to reassess its objectives. Expect a return to tactics seen previously in the likes of Chechnya and SyriaRussian military operations against Ukraine are moving beyond the initial period in which the aim was creating quick superiority. Many observers have been surprised at Russia’s failure to achieve early gains and the defeats it has suffered.The heroism and resistance of Ukrainian forces have initially constrained Russia. Ukrainian command and control systems – the ability to communicate, move and fight – are still functioning. Ukraine’s air defence is still standing, thus denying Russia the superiority Moscow would have hoped to achieve quickly.Mathieu Boulègue is a research fellow with the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London Continue reading...

Trump’s endorsement wasn’t enough to prevent incumbent Ken Paxton from being forced into runoff for state attorney generalRepublican governor Greg Abbott will face Democrat Beto O’Rourke after voters in Texas opened what could be a lengthy, bruising primary season poised to reshape political power from state capitals to Washington.Both easily won their party’s nomination for governor on Tuesday. Continue reading...

A stunning number of Trump’s closest associates had deep ties to the Kremlin. The significance of this cannot be overstatedIn 2014, the Putin regime invaded Ukraine’s Crimea. In 2016, the same regime invaded the United States. The former took place as a conventional military operation; the latter was a spectacular case of cyberwarfare, including disinformation that it was happening at all and promulgation of a lot of talking points still devoutly repeated by many. It was a vast social-media influencing project that took many forms as it sought to sow discord and confusion, even attempting to dissuade Black voters from voting.Additionally, Russian intelligence targeted voter rolls in all 50 states, which is not thought to have had consequences, but demonstrated the reach and ambition of online interference. This weekend, British investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr said on Twitter, “We failed to acknowledge Russia had staged a military attack on the West. We called it ’meddling.’ We used words like ‘interference.’ It wasn’t. It was warfare. We’ve been under military attack for eight years now.”Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses Continue reading...

President bans Russian aircraft in US airspace as bombardment of Ukraine intensifies. Plus, the teen tracking oligarchs

The US president has good intentions, with only halting, sporadic, uncreative, and trepidatious efforts to actually enact themThere’s always something a bit grim about the State of the Union. A setpiece of American political theater, the annual speech by the president to a joint session of Congress is choreographed to eliminate any chance of accidental sincerity. The president speaks in carefully calibrated spin; every word sounds like it has been focus-grouped. Members of the opposition party make a show of their animosity, vamping for the cameras with either staid, dignified displeasure or ravenous hatred, depending on where they are running for re-election. No one’s mind is changed and little new information is delivered. By its nature, the speech is meant to describe the status quo. It is not meant to change it.This year, President Biden had a particularly grim task. After months and months of negotiations with Senator Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, proved fruitless, his sweeping economic agenda, the Build Back Better Plan, appears to be dead. The two voting rights bills that would have helped secure the franchise for Black Americans and protect the integrity of future elections were killed when Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona, declined to support an exemption to the filibuster, meaning that the erosion of voting rights in Republican-controlled states is likely to advance unchallenged. Many economic indicators are strong, but with inflation running rampant, this means little to working families, who see their paychecks covering less and less of what they need. This spring, the US supreme court will hand down opinions that will drastically reshape American government and American lives, including the case from Mississippi, Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health, that will overturn Roe v Wade. The midterms are coming, and in Europe, a pointless and brutal war of self-aggrandizement has been launched by an erratic and mendacious dictator with a massive stockpile of nuclear weapons. Continue reading...

The former UK politician must act to end the company’s profit-driven cycle of tearing societies and democracies apart

House committee tells John Eastman to prioritize terms linked with possible conspiracy in complying with documents subpoenaThe House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol is asking the former Trump lawyer John Eastman to prioritize turning over records with certain keywords as he complies with his subpoena – a list of terms that reveal the panel’s focus as it investigates a potential conspiracy.The keywords include a Gmail address used by Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and the names of various individuals involved in the effort to overturn the 2020 election, from top Trump aides to Republican members of Congress to the former justice department official Jeffrey Clark. Continue reading...

The start of the new season has been lost after talks between players and owners broke down. Baseball is in danger of fading further into the background of US cultureIt is only a screengrab, a capture of a fleeting expression that did not reflect the overall tone of his address to the media on Tuesday. But it might prove to be the image Rob Manfred is remembered for, on the day that may well define his tenure as Major League Baseball commissioner.A smile. A toothy grin as he announced that the league and the players’ union have not reached a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement and so the first two series of the regular season, which was due to start on 31 March, are cancelled. Continue reading...

A new professional football league is ready to kick off in Alabama this spring. But it looks very similar to one that died a notorious death in the 1980sJust for fun, suppose you are a pro football fan from, say, Philadelphia. That would mean you probably like/love/fixate on the Eagles. It would probably mean that you’d root for any other pro football team attaching “Philadelphia” to its nickname, as long as it did not play in the fall.Philadelphia and seven other cities, states or regions are getting new pro football teams next month, when the second version of the United States Football League makes its debut. The Philadelphia team will be called the Stars, after the team in the first iteration of the USFL. Continue reading...

President condemns attack and seeks to reassure Americans exhausted by pandemic and its economic falloutJoe Biden vowed in his first State of the Union address to defend democracy threatened by war in Europe, pledging to punish Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine, while also promising to tame rising inflation and return the nation to a “more normal” state as the coronavirus pandemic appears to wane.Speaking before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, at a perilous moment for his presidency and the world, Biden accused the Russian president of trying to “shake the foundations of the free world” with a “premeditated and unprovoked” invasion of its Democratic neighbor. Continue reading...

Democrats and Republicans come together to condemn Putin – then it’s back to politics as usualVladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has managed to do what Joe Biden could not: bridge the partisan divide and bring, however fleetingly, the US Congress together.Many Democrats and Republicans who attended the US president’s first State of the Union address, on Tuesday night, wore yellow and blue in solidarity with Ukraine, with some holding miniature Ukrainian flags. Continue reading...

US president Joe Biden used the opening of his State of the Union address to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 'Putin's attack on Ukraine was premeditated and totally unprovoked', said Biden, before emphasising the strength of the Nato alliance. Biden’s praise of the Ukrainian people was met with a standing ovation in the House chamberState of the Union live: Biden denounces ‘menacing’ Putin and vows to tackle inflation and CovidState of the Union takeaways: Biden talks tough on Putin and touts Covid progress Continue reading...

Oksana Markarova, the ambassador of Ukraine to the US, was given a standing ovation at the US Capitol on Tuesday night during Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address to Congress. Markarova appeared moved as she thanked attendees, while the US president condemned Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s ‘tyranny’