US news | The Guardian

Lawsuit alleges recklessness and negligent infliction of emotional distress after DNA test revealed mixup made nearly 60 years agoTwo women are suing an Oklahoma hospital after a DNA test revealed that they were switched at birth nearly 60 years ago.Tinna Ennis and Jill Lopez have filed a lawsuit against the Duncan Regional hospital after an apparent mixup resulted in the women – then babies – being unknowingly taken home by each other’s parents in 1964. Continue reading...

Myles Harris was preparing to shoot a story when he turns to look at traffic and recognizes approaching car: ‘That’s my Mom, hold on’A video of a local television reporter in Ohio being surprised at work by his mother has gone viral, striking a chord with parents and their children alike.ABC 6 reporter Myles Harris was preparing to shoot a story with his back to a road when he turned to look at traffic and appeared to recognize an approaching vehicle. Continue reading...

The White House is urging liberal groups to support nominees against critics’ attacks, CNN reportsJoe Biden has interviewed at least three potential supreme court nominees and is expected to reveal his decision by the end of this month, according to multiple sources close to the president.Ketanji Brown Jackson, Leondra Kruger and J. Michelle Childs – all Black women – were among the contenders who spoke with the president, those familiar with the matter told CNN and the Washington Post. Continue reading...

Victim’s identity and country of origin has not been released yet but he was likely an undocumented migrant, authorities sayA man crossing the US-Mexico border into Arizona was fatally shot by a federal border patrol agent over the weekend at about 10pm on Saturday night in a town just north of Douglas.An autopsy conducted by the Pima county medical examiner’s office confirmed the cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds. The victim’s identity and country of origin has not been released yet, but he was likely an undocumented migrant, according to local authorities. Continue reading...

Former president says Russian leader made ‘very savvy’ decision to recognise two territories of eastern Ukraine as independent

Army less well equipped than Russia’s but can call upon half a million war veterans. Plus, wildfires could increase by a third• Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.If Russian forces try to take new territory in Ukraine, they will face an army that is far smaller and less well equipped than their own but hardened by eight years of fighting, writes Emma Graham-Harrison in Kyiv.Is Russia invading Ukraine and what will happen next? Putin has sent soldiers on a “peacekeeping mission” but is likely to threaten Ukraine with a broader war. Here is an explainer on what could happen next.Is all hope for a diplomatic solution lost? Not necessarily. Putin said this morning: “Our country is always open for direct and honest dialogue, for the search for diplomatic solutions to the most complex problems.” However, he added Russia’s interests were “non-negotiable”.What is Biden doing to stop the crisis? The president has threatened tougher steps for further provocation, but some believe he is holding back in order to preserve the potency of sanctions as a deterrent.It remains to be seen if any of the US convoys would seek to actively shut down Washington’s streets, the way their Canadian counterparts did in Ottawa. Some convoy organisers have spoken of plans to briefly roll through the city, then focus on shutting down the Beltway, which encircles the capital. Continue reading...

Trump and his supporters are using the language of authoritarians when they denounce cases against him as ‘illegitimate’Last week, Judge Arthur F Engoron of the supreme court of the state of New York ruled that former president Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr, and his daughter Ivanka Trump must produce documents and testify under oath in a civil investigation into their valuations of their business assets, complying with a subpoena New York attorney general Letitia James issued for their testimony in December.The Trumps can invoke their rights under the fifth amendment to the constitution not to incriminate themselves. This is what Eric Trump did more than 500 times in October 2020, when he testified before members of the attorney general’s office. In a civil trial, however, invoking the fifth can be interpreted negatively.Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian and professor of history at Boston College. She is the author of Letters from an American, a daily newsletter about American politics and history Continue reading...

Letter from Democratic lawmakers to homeland security chief condemns corporate-run system as punitive and ineffectiveUS lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to reduce the number of immigrants enrolled in a controversial surveillance program and rethink the US government’s exclusive contract with the private company managing the program.In a letter to the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, the group of Democratic lawmakers demands urgent changes to the intensive supervision appearance program (Isap), an effort introduced in 2004 as a “humane alternative” to immigration detention. Continue reading...

The Pennsylvania-based candy brand has hired union-busting consultants as workers fight for better pay and conditionsAround 1,300 workers at a Hershey’s candy manufacturing plant in Stuarts Draft, Virginia, are voting on whether to unionize, in a move organizers say is led by older workers seeking to ensure good benefits for newer employees.The ballots for the mail-in election to join the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers’ International Union will be sent to workers on 24 February, with results to be counted on 24 March. Continue reading...

Bank also increases staff bonus pool by 17% to £1.3bn and reports pre-tax of £8.4bnBarclays has frozen £22m worth of bonuses for its former chief executive Jes Staley until there are further developments in a regulatory investigation into his links to Jeffrey Epstein.The news came as the bank increased the bonus pool for its existing staff by more than 17% to £1.3bn, after a surge in annual profits linked to the release of cash originally put aside to cushion the blow of the Covid crisis. Including deferred bonuses, the total bonus pot grew 23% to £1.9bn. Continue reading...

Conservatives see Dana White’s UFC as an ideal market to engage with a valuable demographic: young menLast week, Republican senator Ted Cruz posted a photo of himself alongside UFC legend Chuck Liddell. The photo, which showed the two men posing with raised fists, was the latest example of a politician using an athlete’s star power, in this case to pander to a younger demographic. It also underscored the American right’s ongoing love affair with the UFC.Over the past few years, UFC has become synonymous with rightwing politics due to its well-documented relationship with former president Donald Trump. As previously reported by the Guardian, the organization effectively became the sports arm of the Maga regime and was an ideal platform for Trump to espouse his political agenda. Continue reading...

Tuesday’s landmark deal was a positive end to a long fight for the World Cup champions. But there are still wrangles aheadA mere 2,155 days after the US women’s soccer team filed a complaint with the USA’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and 1,082 days since the team filed a lawsuit against US Soccer, the team and the federation announced a settlement on Tuesday.Unusually for legal action, the terms of the settlement were immediately made public: $24m, with $2m of that money earmarked for “USWNT players in their post-career goals and charitable efforts related to women’s and girls’ soccer.” Continue reading...

Many high-risk people feel they must now shut themselves away again – only with none of the support available in 2020

The first time I kissed a woman in public, a stranger tried to hit me. But gen Zers are enjoying the hard-won freedom to be themselves – and it’s beautifulOK, spill: who has been adding gay pills to the water supply? Someone must have been, because the number of LGBTQ-identifying adults in the US has jumped dramatically. According to a recent Gallup poll, the numbers have gone from 3.5% in 2012 to 7.1% in 2021. Gen Z, defined by Gallup as people born between 1997 and 2003, is leading the charge: 20.8% of them identified as LGBTQ+ in 2021, up from 10.5% in 2017.People take things very seriously these days, so I should probably state for the record that I am obviously joking about the whole gay pills in the water thing. As a card-carrying member of the International Society for the Advancement of Homosexual Lifestyles (ISAHL), I can assure you that the Gay Agenda explicitly prohibits the use of bioweapons. No, we focus solely on mind control techniques. A little bit of brainwashing, subliminal messaging during the ad breaks, that sort of thing.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The helicopter, being flown during a training operation, crashed early Tuesday near the Pacific missile range facility in KauaiFour people have died in the crash of a contractor’s helicopter on the Hawaii island of Kauai, the US navy said on Tuesday.The Pacific missile range facility said the aircraft crashed on the north side of the installation shortly after 10am. There were no survivors. The names of those killed were not yet available, it said. Continue reading...

US protest to follow Canadian truckers’ demonstration against pandemic restrictionsThe Pentagon is expected to approve the deployment of 700 to 800 unarmed national guard troops to the nation’s capital, a US official said on Tuesday, in the face of trucker convoys that are planning protests against pandemic restrictions beginning next week.The District of Columbia government and the US Capitol police are requesting the national guard assistance. The troops would be used largely to help control traffic and are expected to come from the district’s national guard and three states, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss aid not yet formally approved. Continue reading...

The president has threatened tougher steps for further provocation, preserving the potency of sanctions as a deterrent

Joe Biden has announced new sanctions in retaliation for Russia recognizing two self-proclaimed republics, Donetsk and Luhansk, and sending troops there, adding to western efforts to stop what they fear is the beginning of a full-scale invasion. The measures target Russian banks and sovereign debt, among other steps. 'We have no intention of fighting Russia,' Biden said. 'We want to send an unmistakable message, though, that the United States, together with our allies, will defend every inch of Nato territory and abide by the commitments we made to NATO'

A task force will prioritize a list of replacement names and present them to the federal Board on Geographic Names later this yearUS officials have come up with a list of potential replacement names for hundreds of geographic sites in three dozen states that currently include an offensive word, kicking off a public comment period that will run through late April.US Interior secretary Deb Haaland in November formally declared the term “squaw” derogatory and initiated a process to remove the word from use by the federal government and to replace other existing derogatory place names. Continue reading...

House panel investigating the attack is already combing through Trump White House documents related to the insurrectionThe supreme court has formally rejected Donald Trump’s request to block the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack from accessing White House records related to the events of 6 January 2021.The court announced on Tuesday in its latest list of orders that it would not take up Trump’s appeal to a lower-court ruling allowing the select committee access to the documents. Continue reading...

The company promised to eliminate gestation crates 10 years ago but says pandemic disruptions delayed the planOne of Wall Street’s most fearsome activist investors has launched a campaign to force McDonald’s to change the way it buys pork for its Bacon McDouble Cheeseburgers, Sausage McMuffins and McRib sandwiches.Carl Icahn, whose long history as an asset stripper precedes him, plans to challenge the practice used by some of McDonald’s pork suppliers of confining pregnant pigs in small crates and not in group housing. Continue reading...

Brigham Young University police say ‘volatile mixture suddenly exploded into a fireball’ on SundayAfter a student’s failed attempt at creating rocket fuel in a dorm room displaced 22 people, police at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah reminded students to “keep your experiments in the lab”.The unnamed student attempted to concoct homemade rocket fuel on a stove in their dorm on Sunday afternoon. Continue reading...

Jury reaches decision after several hours on charges against Greg and Travis McMichael and William ‘Roddie’ BryanThe three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery were found guilty of federal hate crimes on Tuesday, for violating Arbery’s civil rights and targeting him because he was Black.A jury of eight white people, three Black people and one Hispanic person, reached its decision after several hours of deliberation on the charges against father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan. Continue reading...

Teen who shot dead two men and injured another during anti-racism protests in Wisconsin has become a rightwing celebrityKyle Rittenhouse, the teen who shot dead two men and injured another during anti-racism protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020, has announced the formation of a group to fund lawsuits against reporters – and also Whoopi Goldberg.In November, after a controversial trial, Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges related to the shootings, which he carried out with an assault rifle while purportedly providing security in the protest-racked city. Continue reading...

We live in an age of sentimental hardmen – just listen to the Russian leader’s aggressively maudlin demands for ‘respect’It says a lot about the Ukrainian people’s awful options that the big question is whether Vladimir Putin is crazy or just pretending to be crazy. For some, last night’s entirely improvised, heavily staged speech to his security council was an indication that the Russian president has finally gone mad – a remote diagnosis that suggests we might look back on such things as the annexing of Crimea and the deployment of nerve agent in historic Wiltshire as “his good years”.I should say right off the bat that I have no idea whether Putin has or hasn’t gone mad – however unfashionable not knowing things may be these days. As Russian tanks roll into Ukraine and the western powers debate whether it technically is or isn’t an invasion, you have to say this phoney war really does boast an unbelievable headcount of phoneys.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Incident occurred following a dispute over his order at a drive-thru in suburban Salt Lake CityInvestigators believe a man told his four-year-old child to fire a gun at officers following a dispute over his order at a McDonald’s drive-thru in suburban Salt Lake City on Monday, police said.An officer was able to swipe at the gun as it was fired, directing the bullet away. Continue reading...

Neil Cavuto returns to Fox Business to say doctors told him only vaccination saved his life this timeThe Fox anchor Neil Cavuto returned to the air on Monday, to say he nearly died from a second bout with the coronavirus and to tell detractors including those who sent death threats over his support for vaccines: “So sorry to disappoint you.”More than 935,000 Americans have died of Covid-19 in the last two years. The seven-day average daily death rate is just under 2,000 – the vast majority unvaccinated. Continue reading...

Republicans could not be clearer about their cynicism, yet some establishment Democrats act as if politics as usual is still an optionOver the past few weeks, President Joe Biden has repeatedly emphasized his friendship with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. At the National Prayer Breakfast in early February, for instance, he praised McConnell as “a man of your word. And you’re a man of honor. Thank you for being my friend.”Biden’s publicly professed affinity is weirdly at odds with the political situation. Going back to the Obama era, McConnell has led the Republican Party in a strategy of near-total obstruction which he has pursued with ruthless cynicism. It is true that he has, at times, signaled distance to Donald Trump and condemned the January 6 insurrection. But McConnell is also sabotaging any effort to counter the Republican party’s ongoing authoritarian assault on the political system.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...

US ambassador to UN says Putin’s claims about ‘peacekeeping’ operation are ‘nonsense’. Plus: how AI is tackling the biodiversity crisis

The Russian leader has shown he cares enough about Ukraine to shed blood over it. He needs to know the gain won’t be worth the painVladimir Putin’s recognition of two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as independent, along with his subsequent deployment of troops and tanks to the regions, has moved Europe closer to the brink of war.Despite many differences, there are echoes of 1938 in current developments. Putin may not be Hitler; Ukraine in 2022 isn’t Czechoslovakia in 1938; and French president Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, and their western colleagues aren’t some sort of collective Chamberlain. But 1938 does carry important lessons: the most important being that deterrence may seem more expensive and risky than accommodation today, but it is essential for Europe’s long-term security.Ian Bond is the director of foreign policy at the independent thinktank, the Centre for European Reform, and a former British diplomat. Continue reading...

The Scottish midfielder has always been happy to forge his own path. And at the age of 26, his rich football education looks like it is paying offNearly 10 years on from his professional debut, and more than 4,000 miles from home, the man once labelled the “Scottish Messi” and who drew interest as a teen from the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Liverpool has at last, in Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps, found a home at which he can deliver on his vast potential.Now 26, Ryan Gauld has come a long way in his career – both in terms of distance covered and experiences logged – as he gets ready for the start of the new MLS season, which starts on Saturday. He was once the 17-year-old star of a vibrant young Dundee United side, before a seven-year stint in Portugal brought mixed fortunes. Continue reading...

It is a diverse and complicated place poorly served by stereotypes and simplistic solutions• This essay originally appeared in the DriftOne evening a few summers ago, I walked from my house to the county fairgrounds. It was a long July day, and the sun still hung above the hills that surround the small western Colorado town where I live. People packed the bleachers of an outdoor arena to watch a rodeo.Shortly before the bullriding began, a rodeo clown strolled to the center of the dirt field and began his night with a joke. It went something like this: Continue reading...

Despite wide public support for banning lawmakers from trading stocks, members of both parties have expressed anxiety about the ideaNancy Pelosi likely did not expect to set off such a firestorm with her use of three words: free market economy.When the House speaker was asked in December whether she supports proposals to ban members and their spouses from trading individual stocks, she said no. “We’re a free market economy,” Pelosi said. “They should be able to participate in that.” Continue reading...

Investors rattled by risk of fully fledged invasion, pushing shares lower around the world

The suit charges that diluting Indigenous power violates their voting rights and will handicap tribe members who run for officeDays before a new legislative map for North Dakota was set to be introduced in the state house, leaders of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Spirit Lake Nation sent a letter to the governor and other state lawmakers urging them to rethink the proposal.“All citizens deserve to have their voices heard and to be treated fairly and equally under the law,” they wrote, arguing that the proposed map was illegal, diluting the strength of their communities’ voice. Continue reading...

Prosecutor makes closing arguments in hate crimes trial of Travis and Gregory McMichael and William ‘Roddie’ BryanThree white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery on a residential street acted out of “pent-up racial anger” and should be convicted of hate crimes, a federal prosecutor told a jury on Monday.Travis McMichael, the man who pulled the trigger and fatally shot Arbery, “was just looking for a reason” to hurt a Black person when he saw the 25-year-old jogging on his street, the prosecutor argued, citing a slew of racist comments and videos McMichael had posted online. Continue reading...

New Zealand defender Meikayla Moore scored three goals - for the US women’s national team - as the Americans won 5-0 on Sunday in the second round of matches in the SheBelieves Cup.The US, who drew with the Czech Republic 0-0 in their tournament opener on Thursday, got all the help they needed thanks to Moore’s own goals in the fifth, sixth and 36th minutes.The US took over from there as Ashley Hatch made it 4-0 with a header in the 51st minute, before Mallory Pugh scored in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.

I won’t be holding my breath for government action or an inquiry into its actions – or into any other bank for that matter

Scotland’s undisputed world light-welterweight champion is one of five men in history to hold all four belts in his division but is still awaiting the recognition he deservesSweat pours down Josh Taylor’s face as the rope whirrs above his head and his feet blur beneath him. The best boxer in Britain, and one of the leading pound-for-pound fighters in the world, skips faster and faster in a stark and anonymous building in Harlow, Essex. We’re in the gym where Taylor has spent so much of the past two months preparing to defend his undisputed world light‑welterweight titles against Jack Catterall in Glasgow on Saturday.In his last bout, nine months ago, Taylor became the first British fighter, and the fifth man in boxing’s four-belt history, to win the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles in his division. He defeated the previously unbeaten José Ramírez in a thrilling battle, twice knocking down the tough American on his way to a unanimous victory on points in Las Vegas. Continue reading...

The tasks before Biden are vast and the dangers great. He must hold steady and persevereJoseph R Biden has the weight of the world on his shoulders. These words are as true of him as they have ever been of any mortal soul. Until his term ends, he will be alone with the gravest decisions that have ever confronted an American leader. Things might have gone very badly for Abraham Lincoln, but the varieties of loss and destruction now possible if the systems of order fail are great beyond imagining.The design of our government poses one human being against all our troubles, however difficult or threatening. This is only truer now that this president has to deal with an opposition committed to seeing him fail – or be perceived as failing, which for most purposes is the same thing. Our champion in the present trial-by-history is a fine old man of truly vast experience who may or may not show signs of aging which may or may not reflect on his judgment and competence. I am a few days more than a year younger than Biden, so I am sensitive to the association of age with cognitive slippage and less inclined to credit it than the generality of people seem to be. Old as I am, I remember that the press ridiculed Eisenhower for supposedly being inarticulate. No doubt Biden remembers this as well.Marilynne Robinson is an American novelist and essayist. Her latest book is Jack Continue reading...