Police prepared for trouble at event near Capitol but only a few hundred attended as politicians and pro-Trump groups did notAny passing American might have been forgiven for thinking they had stumbled on one of the great human rights struggles of our time.Related: Peril review: Bob Woodward Trump trilogy ends on note of dire warning Continue reading...
Marc Smerling, producer of film that helped secure murder conviction, says Durst had ‘a tremendous compulsion to confess’A documentary producer whose work helped convict Robert Durst of the murder of his best friend 20 years ago believes the 78-year-old New York property scion may have feared he was a serial killer and wanted to be stopped.Related: Cockroaches, staged wrestling and more lies: the peculiar murder trial of Robert Durst Continue reading...
The opposition parties are uniting behind an unlikely hero leading a broad popular frontGergely Karácsony does not have the commanding features of a warrior who can fight Europe’s authoritarian nationalists. The mayor of Budapest is 46, but his mild manner makes him look like an unassuming junior lecturer who could not take on a class of rowdy students, let alone Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s de facto dictator.He doesn’t shout or sloganise. He talks in a learned manner about how the European Union has fallen for a Fukuyaman delusion that democracy is irreversible while all the time providing cover for the dismantling of democracy in Poland and Hungary. Continue reading...
On Saturday the US government worked on plans to send many of the thousands of Haitian immigrants who have gathered in a Texas border city back to their Caribbean homeland. Aerial video from local media showed Haitians crossing the Rio Grande freely and in a steady stream on Friday, going back and forth between the US and Mexico through knee-deep water, with some parents carrying small children on their shoulders. People pitched tents and built shelters from giant reeds. Many bathed and washed clothing in the river
Trump’s former press secretary makes remark to New York Times, saying Psaki ‘walks into a bunch of kittens’Donald Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer has complained that the Washington press corps treat his successor under Joe Biden more kindly.Related: Peril review: Bob Woodward Trump trilogy ends on note of dire warning Continue reading...
It’s probably a minor effect of the immune response but it’s not a good look when the medical establishment can’t be bothered to notice Continue reading...
Exhausted healthcare workers admit they feel demoralized as the fourth surge spreads across the USLast February, Dr Bryce Meck, 30, would lock herself in the bathroom to cry for five minutes when her patients, whom she had watched over for weeks in the medical intensive care unit, were dying from Covid-19. They begged her to tell people in their community to get vaccinated. Of the 20 patients with Covid-19 in her care, only three survived.Each week, Meck’s frustration grew when she saw patients in a Columbia, Missouri, primary care clinic. They expressed vaccine hesitancy, shared misinformation or told her that their friends were pressuring them to remain unvaccinated. “If only the patients in the clinic could just meet the people who are suffering in the hospital,” said Meck, who continues to experience long-term effects of the virus herself. Continue reading...
Civilian deaths in US drone strike deal blow to credibility of chairman of the joint chiefs of staff when he needs it mostThree days after a US drone obliterated a car in a Kabul street, General Mark Milley, shrugged off reports of civilian casualties, insisting it was a “righteous strike”.On Friday that word came back to haunt America’s top general when the Pentagon was forced to admit that all 10 dead had been civilians, seven of them children. The drone had hit the wrong white Toyota Corolla. Continue reading...
California measure would end practice of paying workers per piece made and put brands on the hook for wage theft claimsLos Angeles is considered the center of garment manufacturing in America, employing over 40,000 people to make clothing for fashion brands including Reformation, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe and Wet Seal.But for decades those workers have functioned under a system that sees them paid per piece they construct, meaning they often earn less than $6 per hour, according to a University of California, Los Angeles, study – less than half of California’s minimum wage. Continue reading...
Jean-Pierre Thebault, the French ambassador to Australia, said France was kept in the dark over the surprise cancellation of a submarine contract in favour of a US deal. France recalled its ambassadors to Australia and the US on Friday in an unprecedented show of anger over a deal between the US, Australia and the UK to provide Australia with a fleet of at least eight nuclear-powered submarines
It’s ironic that at a time when this job has never been more desirable to so many, there is such an expectation of conformity of opinionFor someone who never actually wanted to be a columnist, I have written a heck of a lot of columns. I’ve been a Weekend columnist for five and a half years, and before that I was in the Guardian’s opinion section, and before that I was a columnist in the daily features section, G2, meaning I’ve foisted about 10 million of my random opinions on all of you. It has been a joy (for me, anyway), but now it is time to stop. I’ll still be doing interviews for the Guardian, but there is a tide in the affairs of man (all columnists love a random classic quote), and even an overly opinionated, 80s movies-obsessed, Jewish New Yorker (I’m WAWKIN’ here, I’m WAWKIN’!) knows when to step away from the table. So I’ll be banging on about fewer of my opinions, and writing more about those of others.Like I said, I never wanted to be a columnist, but no one did when I started back in 2000. Sure, there were columnists around then, some of whom still write for the Guardian (Jonathan Freedland, Martin Kettle, Polly Toynbee), some of whom sadly don’t (Martin Wollacott, Hugo Young). But column-writing was seen as something of a private members’ club: elitist, dusty and distant. Back then, young journalists wanted the fun, scrappy jobs: investigative reporter, music reviewer, features writer. But ever since the rise of blogging culture in the 2000s, when anyone with an Apple PowerBook (RIP) could knock out a column, pretty much every aspiring journalist I’ve met has told me they want to be a columnist. Stating your opinion online has become the definitive way of saying who you are, so of course more people want columns. Yet, here’s a funny thing: I can’t recall a single day – and there were thousands – that I spent sitting at my desk writing a column. I can, however, recall going to the Oscars to cover them, or the weekend I spent with Judy Blume to interview her. Columns pump up the ego, but going out and finding stories is a lot more fun. Continue reading...
Europe’s captain accepts the outcome of next week’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits will have an impact on his golfing legacyIt has never been wise to mistake the eccentric side of Pádraig Harrington for an overarching trait. Harrington is far more intelligent, sagacious and tough than is apparent when he displays a quirky side. A career that has delivered three major championships among more than 30 professional victories means Harrington is widely regarded as the Republic of Ireland’s greatest sportsman. This is not the domain of a clown.There is now vulnerability. The 50-year-old Harrington will lead Europe into next weekend’s Ryder Cup with the sense – and fear – that his reputation is on the line. “There are very few things that can affect my golfing legacy,” he explains. “If I win another tournament, it doesn’t make much difference. It’s even questionable whether winning another major would. The Ryder Cup impacts my legacy. My ego is attached to my golf and there is no question the Ryder Cup will have an effect on that. Being a losing captain could definitely have an effect on who I feel I am. That’s something that would have to be dealt with. Continue reading...
Department says it will remove social security numbers from ‘field interview cards’, which Guardian investigated in recent reportThe Los Angeles police department (LAPD) has moved to end its practice of requesting the social security numbers of civilians officers question, after immigrants’ rights advocates raised concerns about potential violations of sanctuary laws meant to protect undocumented residents.The Guardian reported last week on internal documents showing that LAPD was instructing officers to collect civilians’ social security numbers via “field interview cards”, which police complete after they stop or question someone, including civilians who aren’t under arrest. Continue reading...
Prosecutors said multimillionaire killed friend because she planned to tell police what she knew about his wife’s deathThe multimillionaire New York real estate heir Robert Durst has been convicted of murdering his best friend Susan Berman more than 20 years ago, in a case that took on new life following the documentary The Jinx.Related: Cockroaches, staged wrestling and more lies: the peculiar murder trial of Robert Durst Continue reading...
A US drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, Gen Frank McKenzie, the head of Central Command, told reporters on Friday. Senior officers had said the 29 August strike which took place as foreign forces completed the last stages of their withdrawal from Afghanistan targeted an Islamic States suicide bomber who posed an imminent threat. 'At the time of the strike, I was confident that the strike had averted an imminent threat to our forces at the airport,' McKenzie said. 'Our investigation now concludes that the strike was a tragic mistake.'
Gen Kenneth McKenzie says ‘it was a mistake’ and that it was unlikely those who died posed a direct threat to US forcesA US drone strike in Afghanistan last month killed 10 civilians – including seven children – and not an Islamic State extremist as first claimed, the Pentagon has admitted.In a briefing on Friday, the commander of US Central Command, Gen Kenneth McKenzie, said he now believes it was unlikely that those who died were Islamic State militants or posed a direct threat to US forces at Kabul’s airport. Continue reading...
In America: Remember, an outdoor art installation, will stand for 17 days near the Washington monument in the nation’s capitolA sea of more than 650,000 white flags is lining the National Mall near the Washington monument in the nation’s capitol to represent the American lives lost so far to Covid-19.The outdoor art installation titled, In America: Remember, by social practice artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, is scheduled to stand for 17 days from Friday in the shadow of the White House. Continue reading...
Efforts underway to protect General Sherman and other giant trees from wildfires threatening Sequoia national parkAs flames crept closer to California’s cherished sequoia trees firefighters took an unusual step to protect them, wrapping the giant bases in fire-resistant blankets.The shiny material that helps quell flames, commonly used to protect structures, is rarely applied to natural features, but crews fighting the KNP Complex fire in the Sequoia national park said they are doing everything possible to protect the iconic trees. Continue reading...
Petito, 22, disappeared during a cross-country journey in a converted camper van after a fight with Brian Laundrie in UtahAuthorities and the family of a woman who disappeared during a cross-country camper van journey with her fiance in Utah have appealed to the man and his family after they refused to cooperate with the investigation.Police video released Thursday shows 22-year-old Gabrielle “Gabby” Petito and Brian Laundrie, 23, had a fight in the tourist town of Moab before she vanished. Continue reading...
The Colorado governor married his longtime partner of 18 years, Marlon Reis, in a traditional Jewish ceremony in BoulderJared Polis has become the first openly gay governor in the US to marry in office.The Colorado governor and Marlon Reis, his partner of 18 years, hosted an intimate traditional-styled Jewish wedding surrounded by close friends, family and their two children, according to a news release this week. Continue reading...
by Alexandra Villarreal in Austin and agencies on (#5PN95)
Border patrol ‘overwhelmed’ as makeshift camp springs up under international bridge in Del Rio on Mexico borderThousands of migrants and refugees have gathered under the bridge that connects Del Rio in Texas and Mexico’s Ciudad Acuña, creating a makeshift camp with few basic services in intense heat in the latest border emergency facing Joe Biden.The mayor of Del Rio, Bruno Lozano, said that as of early Thursday evening 10,503 people were camping under the Del Rio International Bridge, up from 8,200 in the morning. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Jessica Glenza on (#5PNH2)
Jonathan Mitchell writes in supreme court brief that ‘women can “control their reproductive lives” without access to abortion’The legal architect of the Texas abortion ban has argued in a supreme court brief that overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark decision which guarantees a right to abortion in the US, would compel women to practice abstinence as a way to “control their reproductive lives”.Former Texas solicitor general Jonathan Mitchell, who played a pivotal role in designing the legal framework of the state’s near-total abortion ban, also argued on behalf of anti-abortion group Texas Right to Life that women would still be able to terminate pregnancies if Roe was overturned by traveling to “wealthy pro-abortion” states like California and New York with the help of “taxpayer subsidies”. Continue reading...
The deal has upset China, but it also binds the US into European security, in a world where Nato may be less relevantFrance is furious. Theresa May is worried. The announcement of the new Australia-UK-US alliance (Aukus) and the ditching of a previous French-Australian submarine deal has led France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, to term the pact “a stab in the back”, while the former British prime minister is concerned about Britain being dragged into a war over the future of Taiwan.Oddly enough, Beijing’s reaction has been rather muted. Yes, it has accused the west of a “cold war mentality”, and Xi Jinping has warned foreigners not to interfere in the region, but its warning that China would “closely monitor the situation” was close to a “cut and paste” outrage. Continue reading...
Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker of the US Congress, has likened the 6 January attack to 9/11, saying one had been an assault on US democracy from within and the other from the outside. Speaking at a Chatham House seminar in London on Friday, she also claimed the Republicans had been hijacked by a cult that believed neither in science nor government, making it hard for the US to be governed
House speaker makes remarks at Chatham House seminar in London a day after meeting Boris JohnsonNancy Pelosi, the House speaker of the US Congress, has likened the 6 January insurrection fomented by Donald Trump to 9/11, saying one had been an assault on US democracy from within and the other from the outside.She also claimed the Republicans had been hijacked by a cult that believed neither in science or government, making it hard for the US to be governed. Continue reading...
Franchise deal will operate as joint venture, with British retailer having 51% stake and US firm 49%The British clothing retailer Next has struck a deal with Gap to run its business in the UK and Ireland, months after the US chain confirmed it was shutting all its high street stores in those countries.Under the terms of the agreement, Next will operate Gap’s online shopping business, host branded Gap concessions in selected retail locations, and offer “extensive” click-and-collect options for online shoppers. Next has about 500 retail stores in the UK and Ireland. Continue reading...
Between the first complaints to the FBI and the time the agency took action, Nassar sexually abused some 70 women and girls. One of the agents who was supposed to investigate was angling for a job at USA GymnasticsWhen she was in Tokyo for a competition, the former Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney told the Federal Bureau of Investigation, she was afraid that she might not survive the abuse of Larry Nassar, the former sports medicine doctor and prolific child molester. “I thought I was going to die that night because there was no way he was going to let me go,” Maroney repeated to a Senate hearing on Wednesday. At the time she gave her interview to the FBI, Maroney was just a teenager. She hadn’t yet told her own mother about the extent of Nassar’s sexual abuse. But the agent she spoke to over the phone, from the FBI’s Indianapolis field office, didn’t seem particularly moved. “Is that all?” she recalls him asking.Ultimately, the FBI would barely investigate Maroney’s accusations, according to a scathing report issued by the Department of Justice’s inspector general this summer. Allegations against Nassar were largely discarded at first, and a meaningful inquiry was delayed for months. Of the three gymnasts who initially came forward to the FBI in 2015, Maroney was the only one who was interviewed. Her conversation with the FBI agent was not properly documented for 17 months; when it was, the agent who authored the report misrepresented what she had told him. The FBI did not refer the allegations to state and local authorities, as it is required to do in such cases. And one of the agents assigned to the case, W Jay Abbott, seems to have been hoping to get a job with USA Gymnastics or the US Olympic Committee. When internal investigators later asked Abbott about his job queries, he lied about them, according to the report. Continue reading...
A new book claims the US’s top military officer secretly told the Chinese military he would warn if Trump ordered an attack. His reasons don’t matter – he must be relieved of commandOn Tuesday, the Washington Post published a bombshell drawn from a forthcoming book by the journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa: during the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the US’s highest-ranking military officer, called the senior ranking general of the Chinese military and offered to warn him in advance of any American military action against China.Milley, who reportedly believed that Trump was unstable and might launch a politically motivated military operation, contacted the Chinese without the knowledge of the White House. He no doubt thought that his decision was for the greater good. But if he did indeed negotiate with a foreign military rival without authorization, he violated the longstanding American political tradition that the military is subordinate to elected civilian leaders. Continue reading...
Cars would be prevented from starting if the operator is impaired – but some critics worry about who could access the dataCar manufacturers would be required to include technology to monitor whether US drivers are impaired by alcohol and to disable the vehicle from operating under a proposal contained in the infrastructure bill awaiting a Senate vote.While advocates say the proposal could save thousands of lives, the move has some critics worried it could cross ethical boundaries and raise civil rights issues. Continue reading...
School safety officers will be transferred out of the police department and trained in restorative justice practices. But for some, ‘retrofitting’ the job isn’t enoughNew York City’s school system is beginning to remove the police from its corridors and classrooms in a move welcomed by advocates as a de-escalation of a system that is often seen as imposing harsh punishments that disproportionately target students of color.In all, about 5,000 New York City school safety agents (SSAs) will be transferred from the supervision of the New York police department to the Department of Education (DoE) in June 2022. The city’s school system is the biggest in the US. Continue reading...
Rightwing forums and prominent figures claim event is ‘false flag’ but police brace for violenceExtremist groups and prominent rightwing figures are warning supporters not to attend a far-right rally in support of the people arrested for participating in the 6 January Capitol attack, calling the event a “false flag” and a “trap”.Capitol police are bracing for potential violence at the “Justice for J6” protest rally, which is taking place in Washington DC on Saturday, and security fencing has gone up once more around the Capitol building. Continue reading...
Firefighters have wrapped the base of the world’s largest tree in a fire-resistant blanket as they tried to save a famous grove of gigantic old-growth sequoias from wildfires burning in California. The colossal General Sherman tree in Sequoia national park’s giant forest is among the trees to be wrapped in aluminium as wildfires close in on the Giant Forest
If Week 1 is any evidence, Arizona quarterback Kyler Murray has vaulted from a fun-to-watch, he’ll-put-it-together-someday signal-caller into the league’s upper tierSometimes you can just tell a player has made the proverbial leap. You can see it. You can feel it.In Week 1, the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray vaulted from a fun-to-watch, he’ll-put-it-together-someday quarterback into the league’s upper tier. Murray torched the Tennessee Titans through the air. He torched them on the ground. He played within the flow of Arizona’s system; he broke it apart, freelanced a little, and clubbed the Titans over the head some more. Continue reading...
The World Surfing League’s attempt to capitalize on a post-Olympic swell of fan interest has not been without controversyIt was during Tuesday’s championship match between world No 1 Gabriel Medina and fellow Brazilian Filipe Toledo that a six to eight foot shark was spotted breaching the competition area.“A shark has breached the side of the line-up and it’s about six to eight foot so we’re going to search the line-up and make sure it’s gone,” World Surf League (WSL) head of competition Jessie Miley-Dyer said during the live broadcast of the WSL Rip Curl Finals at Lower Trestles, California. Continue reading...
The airlessness of lockdown as a family has been replaced with uncomfortable proximity to 8.5 million peopleMore than 1 million kids went back to school in New York this week. In the largest school district in the US, the return looked, from a distance, vaguely normal. For a year, children in the city who had opted for in-person learning – a mere 350,000 – had experienced a weird version of school, with some classes on Zoom and the vast majority of their classmates still learning remotely. In my children’s first-grade class there were fewer than 15 kids in attendance. Compared with full shutdown, it was a luxury, of course. But it was still an unnerving, pared-down experience.This Monday, the scene at the school gate felt like the resumption of a life many of us had forgotten how to lead. Before the summer break, Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York, announced that in September remote learning options would be retired; the entire student body – with the exception of kids with particular health needs – would be required to turn up in person. This was a good thing, putting an end to the split resources and scheduling nightmares of hybrid learning. It was also a shock. That first morning, parents, still prohibited from entering school buildings, lined up around the block to drop their children off at the gates. School buses, back up to capacity, stood bumper to bumper. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of public-sector workers in New York, ordered to return to in-person work, resumed the daily commute. The feeling was of an entire city on the move. Continue reading...
The Republican senator Jim Risch pressed the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, over rumours someone in the White House has the ability to cut off the president's microphone when he speaks. While Blinken chuckled throughout the questioning, Risch continued to press his claims after an earlier video from the White House featuring Biden cut off during a briefing. 'It’s been widely reported that somebody has the ability to push the button and cut off his sound and stop him from speaking,' Risch said.Blinken replied: 'Anyone who knows the president, including members of this committee, knows that he speaks very clearly and very deliberately for himself'
Michael Sussmann is second person to be indicted in William Barr-ordered investigation of the investigatorsAn attorney who represented Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign was indicted on Thursday for lying to the FBI.The development was part of special counsel John Durham’s ongoing examination of the origins of the FBI’s investigation into ties between Russia and former US president Donald Trump’s election campaign. Continue reading...
James Risch questioned the secretary of state about an official supposedly able to mute the president – ‘Who is that person?’The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, fought back laughter on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as the Republican senator James Risch relentlessly questioned him about a rumor that someone on the White House staff “pushes the button and cuts [Joe Biden] off mid-sentence” with a wireless device.“Somebody in the White House has authority to press the button and cut off the president’s speaking ability and sound. Who is that person?” asked Risch, who was also former lieutenant governor of Idaho. Continue reading...
Academics object to UK company’s sponsorship of pharmaceutical event after tobacco giant seals £1.1bn dealAsthma inhaler maker Vectura has been excluded from a pharmaceutical conference after academics staged a rebellion over the company’s £1.1bn takeover by cigarette company Philip Morris International (PMI).PMI effectively sealed the takeover on Thursday, after more than half of Vectura’s shareholders agreed to sell their stock. Continue reading...
Health officials scramble to prepare for rollout despite a void of critical details amid chaosMere days ahead of the Biden administration’s self-imposed deadline to begin Covid-19 booster shots, experts remain deeply divided over the benefits of a third jab, while health officials are scrambling to prepare for the rollout despite a void of critical details.The vast majority of vaccinated adults in the United States want a booster, some so urgently that they are already fudging their vaccination records to get one. Continue reading...
