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A country still struggling with the aftermath of a disastrous occupation has a mixed opinion of the former generalFor many Iraqis, Colin Powell was the face of the US invasion which caused an estimated 200,000 deaths, unleashing nearly two decades of domestic chaos and precipitating turmoil throughout the region.His death, at the age of 84, was unlamented by many in a country still grappling with the aftermath of a disastrous occupation and an Islamist insurgency that followed the 2003 war – a conflict that Powell himself was later to acknowledge as a stain on his legacy. Continue reading...

Unlike the Soviet Union, China is an economic, technological and military challenger to the US. That raises questions – especially for TaiwanWhether China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that can circle the globe or not, there is a convincing argument that the country has emerged as a serious strategic rival to the United States. With scores of nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles, China already has the ability to strike the US mainland with devastating force. However, the hypersonic missile test – which the Chinese say was a peaceful spacecraft launch – can be read as a warning from Beijing that it could defeat, through its technological prowess, US missile defences.What remains largely unacknowledged is that both Washington and Beijing have been building their strategic nuclear capabilities at a rapid and potentially destabilising pace. The US plans to spend up to $1.5tn to overhaul its nuclear arsenal by rebuilding each leg of its nuclear triad – with new warheads, submarines and bombers being commissioned. China is doing the same. While Monday’s test made headlines around the world, China’s first hypersonic glide test was in 2014. The US has its own plans for such technologies. The unavoidable impression is that such efforts contribute to a dangerous arms race. Continue reading...

Political leaders from Tony Blair to Dick Cheney praise the former soldier and diplomat in the wake of his death from CovidTributes poured in for former Republican secretary of state Colin Powell after the announcement of his death on Monday morning at the age of 84.Leading praise from the US and around the world, Joe Biden hailed “a dear friend and patriot of unmatched honor and dignity” on behalf of himself and the first lady, Jill Biden. Continue reading...

Analysis: His security council presentation didn’t directly lead to the Iraq invasion – but it was a turning point in US-UN relationsColin Powell will be most remembered for the act he most regretted, his 2003 presentation to the UN security council laying out US evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which turned out not to exist.It did not directly lead to the Iraq invasion because George W Bush was going to invade anyway, and the presentation did not succeed in its goal of persuading the council to pass a second resolution backing military action against Iraq. Continue reading...

Former US secretary of state and highly decorated army officer who made the case for the 2003 invasion of IraqColin Powell, who has died aged 84 from complications of Covid-19, rose higher in public office than any previous black American, the youngest chair of the joint chiefs of staff. Then, when the second Bush administration emerged from the controversial election of 2000, the new president chose Powell as the first black secretary of state.To outsiders it might have seemed a dream come true. For Powell it gradually turned into a nightmare. When he resigned after Bush’s re-election in 2004, he left as one of America’s least successful diplomats. His mistake lay in trying to bring a voice of reason to an administration that had no wish to hear it. The opening days of the Bush presidency demonstrated how ideology and nationalism would play a far greater role in US foreign policy. The White House quickly repudiated its predecessor’s commitments to policies ranging from global warming to international trade. Continue reading...

Former military leader and the first Black US secretary of state has died of complications from Covid-19Colin Powell, former military leader and the first Black US secretary of state, has died of complications from Covid-19 at the age of 84. Here is a look back at some key facts from Powell’s life, reported by CNN:Powell was born on 5 April 1937 in Harlem, New York. His parents were Jamaican immigrants, his dad, a shipping clerk, and his mom, a seamstress.In college, Powell participated in ROTC, a military training program, and was leader of the precision drill team, earning a top rank.While serving two tours during the Vietnam war, Powell was injured in a helicopter crash and rescued by two fellow soldiers.Powell earned several military and civilian awards in his lifetime including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, twice.Powell was the youngest person, as well as the first Black person, to serve as chairman of the joint chief of staff during the George HW Bush administration.In 1993, Powell was named an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II.Powell helped negotiate the return of the former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s first democratically elected president, in 1994.In 2001, Powell was sworn in as the first Black US secretary of state.Powell published two memoirs, My American Journey and It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership.After being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2003, Powell underwent surgery at the Walter Reed army medical center.Powell pushed for a swift military response to 9/11 in 2001, and Iraq intervention in 2003. He was criticized for presenting questionable intelligence to the United Nations in a 75-minute speech, which he later called a blot on his record.During the summer of 2007, Powell began criticizing the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq, the increasing military presence in the country, and Guantánamo Bay.Powell served as one of the honorary co-chairs for Barack Obama’s inauguration, endorsing Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.Following the 6 January insurrection, Powell said he no longer considered himself a Republican.Powell suffered from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, which can lead to a severely compromised immune response. Continue reading...

Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state who played a pivotal role in attempting to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has died from complications from Covid-19 aged 84, it was announced on Monday. He was fully vaccinated.After his time in government, Powell remained a hugely influential commentator on US politics and public life. During a 2011 speech, he spoke about what he considered the most important element of leadership

Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state, has died from complications from Covid-19 aged 84, it was announced on Monday. Powell, a retired four-star general, was a key figure in the buildup to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in the early 1990s Continue reading...

The Chicago Sky defeated Diana Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA finals, but that shouldn’t alter her reputation as one of basketball’s all-time greatsIt was all set up perfectly for Diana Taurasi. After the Phoenix Mercury’s postseason series win over the Las Vegas Aces, the WNBA legend flew back home to witness her wife give birth to the couple’s second child. Then, before the start of the WNBA finals, it was announced that fans had voted Taurasi as the greatest player in league history. With the Mercury facing the sixth-seeded Chicago Sky, the stars had aligned for her to cap off her historic career with a fourth championship.Even though her team was down 2-1 in the best-of-five series, that dream ending to the season still looked plausible in the third quarter of Sunday’s Game 4. The Mercury held a 14-point lead over the Sky and looked set to force a decisive Game 5 in Phoenix. Instead, the Sky pulled off a heroic comeback, clinching their first championship in franchise history. Continue reading...

The bill proposes extending the child tax credit, funding universal pre-K and childcare, and finally giving American parents mandated paid family leaveJoe Manchin is worried that American families will get spoiled if their government looks out for them too much. In negotiations over the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), the Biden administration’s sweeping social spending bill that is poised to be passed through budget reconciliation, the West Virginia senator has reportedly admonished the Biden administration and progressive Democrats that the bill is too big. The Build Back Better Act has already shrunk: the Biden administration initially proposed $3.5tn in social spending, which in negotiation has dwindled dramatically to $2.2tn. The cuts already mean that Biden will likely fail to meet some of his campaign promises, a prospect that spells bad news for the Democrats in next year’s midterm elections.But for Manchin – and other conservative Democrats who agree with him – that’s still too much money. Instead, Manchin wants to spend a mere $1.5tn – at most. The danger, Manchin says, is that if the Biden agenda is passed in full, America will become an “entitlement society”. Continue reading...

Freedom Summer registered hundreds of Black people to vote in Mississippi in 1964 in defiance of Jim Crow lawsIn the early 1960s, Charles McLaurin served as a field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), laying the groundwork for a massive voter registration drive in Mississippi known as Freedom Summer. That historic summer of 1964, young people from across the country poured into the state to help register Black people to vote, a campaign that energized the US civil rights movement and exposed Mississippi’s racial terrors.“In 1962, there was not a single Black elected official in the whole state and Mississippi only had about 5% of the Black population registered to vote,” said McLaurin, flanked by his former SNCC colleagues Freddie Biddle and Hollis Watkins at a recent conference commemorating the organization’s founding in 1960. Continue reading...

Failure to pass legislation to cut emissions before the UN summit in Glasgow could be catastrophic. Plus, the danger of psychological diagnoses

Most Americans know the price tag but don’t know what’s actually in the bill. Here’s a crash courseIn much of the press coverage of the fight over Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill, politicians, pundits and media talking heads often focus on its $3.5tn price tag. But all the attention to the top-line figure ignores the huge implications of what is actually in the legislation – and how it could transform millions of Americans’ lives.That seems to be doing the public a great disservice. A CBS poll found that only 10% of Americans knew “a lot of the specifics” about the Build Back Better plan (also known as the budget reconciliation bill), and 29% did not know what was in it at all. Continue reading...

The Cleveland Browns quarterback is a good player, maybe even a very good one. But he does not have the ability to put a team on his backThe Cardinals clubbed the Browns 37-14 on the road on Sunday to move to 6-0 on the season. They now have the league’s last remaining undefeated record. For Cleveland, it was the same old nagging question: Is Baker Mayfield really good enough?This is not a league solely decided by quarterbacks. But it was hard watching the Cardinals romp up and down the field and not feel the urge to to draw comparisons between Kyler Murray and Mayfield. Two former No 1 overall draft picks. Two Heisman Trophy winners. Both stars at the University of Oklahoma. Continue reading...

The NFL now has 30 medical professionals at each game as it grapples with rule changes and greater head-injury awarenessWe are high above the plush seats in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the NFL’s chief medical officer and I, watching the Atlanta Falcons’ Cordarrelle Patterson getting dumped on his back. “As he throws the ball, keep an eye on his head,” Dr Allen Sills says. The tackle looks innocuous, at least at first. But then Sills asks a technician in the video review booth to slow down the footage before viewing it from another angle. Now it is clear that, as Patterson falls, his head spanks the turf and ricochets up. The incident, from the NFL game in London on Sunday 10 October, led to a call being made downstairs from an independent neurologist to the game officials – and to Patterson being checked immediately for concussion.In recent years we have learnt that, when it comes to brain injuries, what the NFL has faced first – from class-action lawsuits from former players to having to make rule changes to prevent concussions – other sports will eventually experience. It has been forced to confront and adapt. That is one reason the Premier League held a medical conference with the NFL last week: to share best practice when it comes to player health and safety, including concussion. Continue reading...

Judge estimates jury selection could take at least two weeks after duty notices were mailed to 1,000 people in Glynn county GeorgiaThe trial of three white men accused of pursuing and murdering Ahmaud Arbery in one of Georgia’s most notorious racial killings is scheduled to begin on Monday with jury selection, a process the judge estimates could take at least two weeks.Jury duty notices were mailed to 1,000 people in Glynn county, about one in every 85 adult residents, in an attempt to secure an unbiased panel of 12 plus four alternates for the trial of Travis McMichael, his father Greg and their friend William “Roddie” Bryan. Continue reading...

Lawsuit brought by Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded by Kyle Rittenhouse during anti-police brutality protests in August 2020The police department in the Wisconsin city of Kenosha is facing new legal action after being accused of “deputizing” a group of militia vigilantes during anti-police brutality protests last year in which 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse killed two people.The action, brought by Gaige Grosskreutz, who was wounded during the incident, alleges that local police effectively deputized a “band of white nationalist vigilantes” during protests sparked by the shooting of Jacob Blake, who is now paralyzed from the waist down, by a white police officer. Continue reading...

Republican Adam Kinzinger says pursuit of a criminal contempt referral was ‘the first shot over the bow’ for Trump alliesAdam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the special committee investigating the deadly 6 January US Capitol attack, said on Sunday the pursuit of a criminal contempt referral against Steve Bannon was “the first shot over the bow” for allies of Donald Trump defying subpoenas to testify.“It’s very real, but it says to anybody else coming in front of the committee, ‘Don’t think that you’re going to be able to just kind of walk away and we’re going to forget about you’,” Kinzinger, a vocal critic of the former president, told CNN’s State of the Union. Continue reading...

Redrawn map, expected to strengthen Republican numbers, faces final negotiations before being sent to Governor Greg AbbottRepublicans have moved to tighten their grip on power in Texas after a late-night vote in the state’s legislature approved an early sign-off to new congressional boundaries at the expense of communities of color.The Republican-led effort will give the party powers over redrawn US House maps and shore up its eroding dominance in Texas, whose demographics are becoming less white in a shift that most experts see as favoring Democrats. Continue reading...

Former US president was admitted to California hospital on Tuesday with an infection unrelated to CovidBill Clinton was released Sunday from the Southern California hospital where he had been treated for an infection.The former US president was released around 8am from the University of California Irvine medical center. Continue reading...

Pet-friendly offices and insurance for animal companions could be the trending post-pandemic employment perksWe’re in the midst of a severe labor shortage and a reluctance among many people to return to the office. So how can small businesses attract workers? Maybe we should be considering dogs and cats?It’s no secret that pet ownership soared during the pandemic. According to the American Pet Products Association, 11.38m US households took on a new pet during the pandemic, with 75% of all pet owners saying that spending time with a dog or cat helped to reduce their stress and increased their sense of wellbeing during Covid-19. Continue reading...

SB 8 not only stripped Texan women of their rights under Roe v Wade, it made a mockery of the US constitution and the supremacy of the federal courtsSadly, predictably and appallingly, on October 14, a three judge panel of the US court of appeals for the fifth circuit has allowed Texas’s “Bounty-Hunter” anti-abortion law to go back into effect while the court considers the case on the merits. Every day that the fifth circuit panel’s unlawful order keeps the statute in operation brings irreversible injury to women in Texas. US Attorney General Merrick Garland has properly decided to seek emergency relief from the US supreme court.The justice department is right to accuse the State of Texas of seeking to destroy not only abortion rights but also the foundation of our constitutional Republic. In a nation whose history is fraught with battles between states’ rights and national sovereignty, the case of United States v Texas raises issues basic to our national compact.Laurence H Tribe is the Carl M Loeb University Professor emeritus and a professor of constitutional law emeritus at Harvard Law School. Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean of the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Jeffrey Abramson is Professor of Law and Government at the University of Texas, Austin. Dennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor Continue reading...

Failure to recognize the scope of the illness will harm countless people around the globeThe WHO recently released its clinical case definition for what it called “post-Covid-19 condition”. This definition is too little too late, its myopic scope does not recognize the breadth of disability and disease caused by long Covid and its long term implications on quality of life and life expectancy. The millions of people around the globe suffering from long Covid deserve better.It is unclear why the WHO definition snubs and does not embrace the term “long Covid”. The term was coined by patients who also refer to themselves as long-haulers. These patients-advocates-researchers galvanized attention around the existence of this disease and brought long Covid to the spotlight. In a short few months, they created a formidable patient-led advocacy and research movement that changed the arc of medical history. They were the first to survey their membership and catalogue the broad array of clinical problems caused by Covid-19. Their contributions will go down in the annals of history as an important inflection point.Ziyad Al-Aly is a physician-scientist and long Covid researcher Continue reading...

Founder of midlife website Noon is delighted the subject is being talked about openly, but does not want to see it commercialisedThe menopause used to be the condition that dare not speak its name, the domain of elderly aunts whispering about “the change”. Now it’s impossible to escape the topic. A slew of celebrities from Davina McCall to Meg Mathews can’t stop talking about hot flushes, brain fog and vaginal atrophy and on Monday it is World Menopause Day.The cause even got royal backing recently, with Sophie, Countess of Wessex, patron of the charity Wellbeing of Women, talking about the fate of menopausal women in the workplace. “We are fabulous in our 40s and even more fabulous in our 50s, 60s and 70s,” she said. “We shouldn’t be made to slope off into the shadows.” Quite. Continue reading...

A study of German footballers revealed they still weren’t fighting fit six months after recovering from infectionThe impact of the pandemic on our economy as we attempt to reopen is top of the agenda, with ships on the wrong side of the globe, gas prices rising and surging demand for many goods going unmet. How big and long lasting these effects will be dominated discussions of global financial leaders at last week’s annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.But what is hardly discussed and still poorly understood is the continuing impact of Covid-19, specifically on the millions of people who have had it. Governments are only just starting to worry about long Covid’s impact on their disability benefits bill, while we know little about Covid’s direct effect on productivity. Continue reading...

The regime in Tehran says discussions will resume ‘soon’, but Israel has already ‘greatly accelerated’ plans for military actionCoordinated warnings last week from the US, Israel and the EU that “time is short” to revive an agreement curbing Iran’s nuclear activities raise a disturbing question: what will opposing governments do if, as seems likely, Tehran’s hardline regime continues to drag its feet while accumulating the wherewithal to build a nuclear weapon?Israel’s leaders, as usual, are not mincing words. “Every day that passes, every delay in the negotiations, brings Iran closer to a nuclear bomb. If a terror regime is going to acquire a nuclear weapon, we must act. We must make clear that the civilised world won’t allow it,” said foreign minister Yair Lapid. Continue reading...

How much eye contact to make, how long everyone’s hair is, how many times to sanitise the keyboard… Why returning to work is so utterly exhaustingI mean, bloody hell. Honestly, Blood-ee hell. How on this sick sweet earth did we ever manage in the before-times? After a single week back at work, face to face with my colleagues, I am overcome with a profound and existential exhaustion. The kind of tiredness that creeps up behind you and climbs on your back, its wet tentacles slithering into your hair and armpits, shushing in your ears, singing terrible lullabies.Why does my body find it so very difficult to engage? I am like a 90s modem, whirring desperately, screaming with the pain of trying to connect. Sitting in a meeting with three people and their notebooks, four hot drinks of varying brown, two ideas that keep running at each other and shattering on impact, I can feel my cells working their minuscule fingers to the minuscule bone. To remain “present”. To successfully “think”. To maintain a level of energy that allows a smile, a nod, an upright posture, a body that does not puddle on the table, a voice that varies pleasingly in pitch instead of allowing words to fall, clattering, like old teeth from an old mouth. Continue reading...

Although travelers’ hissy fits are nothing new, incidences of bad behavior have spiked amid the tense landscape of Covid-19Alexander Clark had only just boarded the Los Angeles-bound United airliner when the man seated behind him became incensed. As Clark tells it, a flight attendant had repeatedly asked the passenger to alternately stop talking on his phone or don a face mask when, after the fourth ask, the passenger snapped.“I will find your name, date of birth, and address! I will know your social security number before I get off this plane!” yelled the passenger, who appeared to be in his 30s. He leapt to his feet mid-shout, spittle arcing from his maskless mouth, and stomped over to the male flight attendant. Continue reading...

Former assistant attorney general faces possible disbarment and charges after report details machinations on Trump’s behalfJeffrey Clark, a former top environmental lawyer at the Trump justice department accused of plotting with Trump to undermine the 2020 election results in Georgia and other states, is facing ethics investigations in Washington that could lead to possible disbarment, as well as a watchdog inquiry that might result in a criminal referral.The mounting scrutiny of the ex-assistant attorney general, who led the justice department’s environment division for almost two years and then ran its civil division, was provoked by a report from the Senate judiciary committee whose Democratic chairman, Richard Durbin, has asked the DC bar’s disciplinary counsel to examine Clark’s conduct and possibly sanction him. Continue reading...

Jonathan and Diana Toebbes’s story is like a fictional spy caper, blending an all-American couple with technology and betrayalWhen accused spies Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were escorted into a West Virginia court to be arraigned on espionage charges, they looked as any middle-aged, suburban couple might: struck by a dramatic turn in circumstances that comes when placed in an orange jumpsuit and restricted by manacles.But the story of the Toebbes, 42 and 45, is now about as far from typical suburbia as you can get. It’s a story that reads like a fictional spy caper, blending a seemingly normal couple with high technology and low espionage. Continue reading...

Up to 60,000 behind-the-scenes workers had been set to strike from Monday over claims of excessive hours and unliveable wagesAn 11th-hour deal between producers and the union representing 60,000 film and television workers has averted a strike that threatened to cause widespread disruption in Hollywood.The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which includes camera operators, makeup artists, sound technicians and others, said negotiators agreed to a new three-year contract on Saturday, ahead of a Monday deadline that would have seen them walk off the job. Continue reading...

The real estate heir was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Susan Berman just two days agoRobert Durst, the wealthy New York real estate heir and convicted murderer, is on a ventilator after testing positive for Covid-19, his attorney has confirmed to the Los Angeles Times.Durst’s attorney Dick DeGuerin told the newspaper his client was in “very bad condition” during the sentencing hearing and “was having difficulty breathing and he was having difficulty communicating”. Continue reading...

The race is unpredictable and tight, with former governor Terry McAuliffe up against Republican challenger Glenn YoungkinJoe Biden faces a key test of public standing in a tight and closely watched campaign for governor in Virginia next month. So important has the fight now become in being seen as a bellwether for the 2022 midterm elections, that two ex-presidents are weighing in on the battle.For Biden and the Democrats winning Virginia would hold out the prospect of keeping a grip on congress next year and avoiding being seen as a lame duck administration. For Republicans, a win could pre-sage a major comeback in 2022 and a return to electoral strength of a party still dominated by Donald Trump. Continue reading...

The US transportation secretary and his husband recently adopted newborn twins and praised ‘an administration that’s actually pro-family’US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has been on paternity leave since mid-August with newborn twins, called right-wing attacks on his paternity leave “strange” and from “a side of the aisle that used to claim the mantle of being pro-family”.Buttigieg – who is gay – was the subject of criticism from Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday, who belittled the secretary’s paternity leave while making homophobic comments and criticizing the administration for supply chain woes. Continue reading...

A system that can put a young woman away for four years for suffering a miscarriage should make your blood boilBrittney Poolaw is going to prison for having a miscarriage. Last week the 21-year-old Oklahoma woman was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree after losing her baby at 17 weeks. She’s already spent a year and a half in jail – one of the most dangerous places to be during the pandemic – awaiting trial because she couldn’t afford the $20,000 bond. Now, after a one-day trial, she’s facing four years in state prison. Continue reading...

Rescuers used 24in snake pole to remove snakes preparing to hibernate from mountainside home in Santa RosaAl Wolf is used to clearing one or two snakes from under houses but recently was called by a woman who said she had seen rattlesnakes scurry under her northern California house and was surprised to find more than 90 rattlesnakes getting ready to hibernate.Wolf, director of Sonoma County Reptile Rescue, said he crawled under the mountainside home in Santa Rosa and found a rattlesnake right away, then another and another. He got out from under the house, grabbed two buckets, put on long, safety gloves, and went back in. Continue reading...

Sinema is one of two Democrat holdouts against passing Biden’s Build Back Better agenda – but hasn’t made public why. Here’s what she is public aboutServing in the US Senate is a pretty good gig if you can get it. You’re paid $174,000 a year, only have to show up around 200 days and you almost always snag an even better-compensated private sector gig when you retire or lose an election.For all these perks, all you have to do is occasionally give a thumbs up or down on matters of serious import. Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema seems to enjoy all of those aspects of her job besides the last one. Continue reading...

In his new book, Seth Wickersham explores how Tom Brady and Bill Belichick built one of the most successful teams in historyFor most of the past two decades, the New England Patriots’ dynasty monopolized the NFL. Between nine Super Bowl appearances, multiple scandals, a global superstar quarterback, and a coaching wizard, the Patriots machine churned and churned until Tom Brady joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020.The organization’s historical run resulted in an infinite amount of reporting, yet a cloud of mystery has always been present. ESPN Senior Writer Seth Wickersham, who has covered Brady and company since the early 2000s, presents the deepest dive yet into the Pats’ dynasty in his debut book, It’s Better to be Feared. Continue reading...

Democrats and gay rights groups groups call out Mark Robinson for ‘dangerous’ remarks but lieutenant governor remains defiantA top Republican politician in North Carolina is facing a wave of outrage and backlash, including calls for resignation, from elected officials and various human rights groups over his recent discriminatory comments that likened gay and transgender people to “filth”.Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, the state’s highest Republican in an executive office position, made the remarks at Asbury Baptist church in Seagrove, North Carolina, in June. Right Wing Watch, a project of the advocacy group People For the American Way, posted the video on social media last week. Continue reading...

Dinner, bath, book, bedtime: every school year we stick to the timetable for a few days. Until the variables start creeping in …There is a protocol at New York City public schools that allows for early entrance in the morning if you sign your kids up for breakfast. Customarily, the school gates open at 8.30am (and shut, as we know too well, at 8.33am, after which you are marked late and forced to shout at your children in the street). But if you arrive 30 minutes early, you can get them up the steps and into the building for a Department of Education-issued muffin and milk and be back at your desk by 8.30am. This is the holy grail in our house, a piece of flawless efficiency that sets the stage for the rest of the day. In three years of school, we have achieved it twice.The quest for the perfect timetable is one I’ve been periodically engaged in since high school. Then, it was a matter of coloured pens and folders. If I could find the right combination of highlighters, stickers and capitalised sub-heads, I could pass into the golden zone of faultless revision notes, gateway to the state of nirvana. This ambition faded in my 20s and for some of my 30s, when life was single-focus enough to make timetabling simple. Now, in my 40s and with two kids and their interests to manage, the desire to nail a frictionless existence has come roaring back. It is particularly strong at this time of year, when the back-to-school vibes are strong. This year we’ll do it, I think. We’ll parcel out our time into 20-minute segments, and before we know it we’ll be robot-efficient.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The sale of artwork by Joe Biden’s son – a novice artist – could generate up to half a million dollars. Critics say it is an open door to influence-peddlingIt was another starry night in Hollywood. In a white-walled room at the Milk Studios art gallery, where a lone violinist played before a projected animation, musician Moby, artist Shepard Fairey and Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti reportedly mingled with about 200 guests.On display were artworks that combine canvas, yupo paper, wood and metal with oil, acrylic, ink and the written word. Organizers hope they will sell for up to half a million dollars – unusually high for an emerging artist. But then, this artist also happens to be son of the president of the United States. Continue reading...

Major part of the Biden administration’s climate agenda will ‘likely’ be cut from the massive budget bill pending in Congress, New York Times reportsA central component to the Biden administration’s climate agenda could be dropped from the massive budget bill that is pending in Congress due to opposition from Senator Joe Manchin, according to a report in the New York Times on Friday.The White House will “likely” cut from its spending bill a program to replace coal- and gas-fired power plants in the US with wind, solar and nuclear energy, the Times reported, citing congressional staffers and lobbyists familiar with the matter. Continue reading...