The Guardian |
- Russia-Ukraine war: Russia ‘will only open ports if sanctions reviewed’; Nato chief ‘confident’ in quick decision for Finland and Sweden – live
- Russian soldier asks Ukrainian widow to forgive him during first war crimes trial
- Putin’s daughter flew to Munich ‘more than 50 times’, investigation suggests
- Zelenskiy compares Russian laser threat to nonexistent Nazi ‘wonder weapon’
- ‘Help is on the way’: US Senate approves $40bn Ukraine package
- Congress members led ‘reconnaissance tours’ of Capitol before attack, evidence suggests
- He became a hero for halting Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. Will voters now punish him?
- Suspect in Buffalo mass shooting heckled as ‘coward’ in court
- Oklahoma Republican-led legislature passes nation’s strictest abortion ban
- Revealed: Starbucks fired over 20 US union leaders in recent months
- Suicides indicate wave of ‘doomerism’ over escalating climate crisis
- Putin ‘had to keep explaining things to Trump’, ex-White House aide says
- More than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals found in food packaging
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets engaged to longtime partner Riley Roberts
- Vangelis, composer of Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner soundtracks, dies aged 79
- Rihanna and A$AP Rocky welcome their first child – report
- The Christian leader trying to break America’s link between faith and guns
- George W Bush accidentally admits Iraq war was ‘unjustified and brutal’ in gaffe
- ‘This can’t be real’: Grubhub promotion turns New York City restaurants into a ‘war zone’
- ‘A catastrophic failure’: computer scientist Hany Farid on why violent videos circulate on the internet
- Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week
- ‘Think you can do what you want with your body?’: vintage pro-choice ads – in pictures
- ‘Some things can’t be repaired’: how do you recover when a friend betrays you?
- ‘Each little thing in my life is precious’: Ken Watanabe on cancer, childhood and Hollywood cliches
- Gucci £1,300 umbrella ridiculed in China for not being waterproof
- Trump claims immigrants are voting illegally. The real problem is foreign fatcats funding US campaigns | Robert Reich
- Republicans just nominated one of the most radical governor candidates in history | Judd Legum
- The banks collapsed in 2008 – and our food system is about to do the same | George Monbiot
- The US is running out of baby formula: yet more evidence that new mothers can never win | Emma Brockes
- Ending Roe v Wade is just the beginning | Thomas Zimmer
- It’s too soon to celebrate Putin's losses – the hard miles are yet to come for Ukraine | Keir Giles
- The clouds of Partygate may part for Johnson, but there will be another one along soon | Simon Jenkins
- I used to read novels for pleasure, then for exams – now I read them for their little jewels of wisdom | Adrian Chiles
- US PGA Championship 2022: McIlroy sets pace in opening round – live!
- NBA owners have combined $10bn invested in China, study shows
- Everton 3-2 Crystal Palace, Aston Villa 1-1 Burnley: Premier League – as it happened
- Mike Trout: does the world’s best baseball player finally have a supporting cast?
- US Soccer’s historic equal pay deal represents a hard-won peace
- Alabama’s Nick Saban says Texas A&M ‘bought every player on their team’
- Carlos Sainz worried over health of F1 drivers due to bouncing on track
- Lyon’s Catarina Macario: ‘Choosing Europe was for moments like this’
- Environmental toxins are worsening obesity pandemic, say scientists
- French dijon mustard supply hit by climate and rising costs, say producers
- How Vladimir Putin rejuvenated Nato – podcast
- ‘All your friends were dying’: revisiting the horrors of the Aids crisis
- Seth Meyers on Madison Cawthorn’s loss: ‘A rare treat to watch Republicans tear each other apart’
- Udo Kier: ‘I was so weak from eating only salad leaves to play Dracula I was in a wheelchair’
- ‘Gorgeous is my business’ … how blond billboard bombshell Angelyne became an LA icon
- Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers review – surprisingly sharp Disney+ update
- Armageddon Time review – Hopkins and Hathaway can’t save this stagy tale of a quasi-Trump
- ‘Cool is the enemy!’ Eurovision hero Sam Ryder on how he ditched his ego and found his joy
- Fleetwood Mac’s 30 greatest songs – ranked!
- God’s Creatures review – Emily Watson and Paul Mescal shine in doom-laden drama
- Le Otto Montagne (The Eight Mountains) review – rich, beautiful and inexpressibly sad
- Dining across the divide: ‘I found myself considering my life in a way I haven’t before’
- ‘How is that a real job?’ Parents struggle to keep up with children’s career options
- ‘Really cool, day or night’: readers’ top modern European architecture
- ‘I was dog-tired but exhilarated’: hiking the UK’s Coast to Coast route
- Space heroes, dictator art and cartoon toy horses – take the Thursday quiz
- Fyre festival creator plans new entertainment ventures after prison
- Average price of gas surpasses $6 a gallon for first time in California
- Biden uses Defense Production Act to tackle US baby formula crisis
- US homeland security pauses new disinformation board amid criticism
- Indigenous and Alaska Native women could face escalated violence if Roe is repealed
- US House passes domestic terrorism bill in response to Buffalo shooting
- ‘She got mad’: 911 dispatcher allegedly hung up during Buffalo shooting call
- Maduro glimpses political lifeline as US rethinks Venezuela policy
- ‘Top of the world’: Black climbing team makes history as first to scale Mount Everest
- Taliban orders female Afghan TV presenters to cover faces on air
- Canadian premier abruptly quits amid surge in far-right influences
- Civil servants and No 10 advisers furious over single fine for Boris Johnson
- Israel will not hold criminal inquiry into killing of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh
- Twenty-five ethnic Pamiris killed by security forces in Tajikistan protests
- Woman seriously wounded in German school shooting, say police
- Cornish pub receives framed apology from Vogue publisher after name row
- Rebekah Vardy subjected to ridicule on a massive scale, libel trial told
- Abortion: El Salvador’s jailed women offer US glimpse of post-Roe future
- The story of my madness | Emmanuel Carrère
- The case of the disappearing deer – and how a new corridor could save it
- Dolphins can recognise each other by taste of their urine, study finds
- US embassy in Kyiv reopens after three months – video
- Why bike lanes don't make traffic worse – video
- Kilts, mohawks and plumbing: smashing Jewish stereotypes – in pictures
- Milky Way photographer of the year 2022 – in pictures
| Posted: 19 May 2022 02:26 PM PDT Russian minister says access to Ukrainian Black Sea ports linked to sanctions; Stoltenberg says alliance 'addressing concerns Turkey has expressed'
The UK's ministry of defence has issued its daily public intelligence briefing on the situation with Russia and Ukraine, and this morning it is concentrating on the situation within Russia's military. The ministry claims that Lieutenant General Serhiy Kisel has been suspended for failing to capture Kharkiv and Vice Admiral Igor Osipov has been suspended from commanding the Black Sea Fleet. It says: A culture of cover-ups and scapegoating is probably prevalent within the Russian military and security system. Many officials involved in the invasion of Ukraine will likely be increasingly distracted by efforts to avoid personal culpability for Russia's operational set-backs. Continue reading... |
| Russian soldier asks Ukrainian widow to forgive him during first war crimes trial Posted: 19 May 2022 06:11 AM PDT Vadim Shishimarin, 21-year-old tank commander, has pleaded guilty to killing unarmed 62-year-old civilian A 21-year-old Russian soldier asked a Ukrainian widow to forgive him for the murder of her husband, as a court in Kyiv met for a second hearing on Thursday in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia's 24 February invasion. Vadim Shishimarin, a tank commander, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to killing Oleksandr Shelipov, an unarmed 62-year-old civilian, in the north-east Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on 28 February. Continue reading... |
| Putin’s daughter flew to Munich ‘more than 50 times’, investigation suggests Posted: 19 May 2022 01:51 PM PDT Investigation also suggests president's youngest daughter is in a relationship with ballet dancer Igor Zelensky Since the start of his military campaign against Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has railed aggressively against pro-western Russians, whose appetite for European cuisine and climates he said meant "their mentality is there, not here, with our people". Yet his own daughter's enthusiasm for sojourns to western Europe at least matches that of the oligarch "scum and traitors" he has decried, a joint investigation by independent Russian media outlet iStories and German magazine Der Spiegel suggests. Continue reading... |
| Zelenskiy compares Russian laser threat to nonexistent Nazi ‘wonder weapon’ Posted: 19 May 2022 10:11 AM PDT Russia says weapon destroyed drone in five seconds in a test, but there is scepticism that it could be used in war Russia's promise to use lasers to shoot down drones in Ukraine has prompted widespread scepticism that the novel and possibly nuclear-powered weaponry could be deployed on the battlefield or have any significant impact on the war. Yuri Borisov, Russia's deputy prime minister, told the country's Channel One television station that the new Zadira directed-energy weapon could destroy targets up to 5km away, and had incinerated a drone in five seconds in a test. Continue reading... |
| ‘Help is on the way’: US Senate approves $40bn Ukraine package Posted: 19 May 2022 12:03 PM PDT Biden to sign mix of military and economic aid for Ukraine and its allies after 86-11 vote in Senate on Thursday The Senate overwhelmingly approved a $40bn infusion of military and economic aid for Ukraine and its allies on Thursday as both parties rallied behind America's latest, and quite possibly not last, financial salvo against Russia's invasion. The 86-11 vote gave final congressional approval to the package, three weeks after Joe Biden requested a smaller $33bn version and after a lone Republican opponent delayed Senate passage for a week. Every voting Democrat and all but 11 Republicans – including many of the chamber's supporters of Donald Trump's isolationist agenda – backed the measure. Continue reading... |
| Congress members led ‘reconnaissance tours’ of Capitol before attack, evidence suggests Posted: 19 May 2022 12:23 PM PDT The revelation resurrects a line of inquiry into the involvement of House Republicans in the insurrection The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack revealed on Thursday that it had evidence to suggest certain "reconnaissance tours" took place in the days before 6 January, potentially providing some rioters with a layout of the complex. The panel said in a letter requesting cooperation from Georgia Republican congressman Barry Loudermilk that he gave a tour the day before the Capitol attack. The startling disclosure resurrects a contentious line of inquiry that connects House Republicans to the insurrection. Continue reading... |
| He became a hero for halting Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. Will voters now punish him? Posted: 19 May 2022 04:00 AM PDT Brad Raffensperger resisted Trump's call to overturn the presidential election result and is now facing his ire Brad Raffensperger was on his way out when the bartender stopped him. He wanted a word. The man had been lingering in the doorway as Raffensperger, a Republican serving as Georgia's top election official, spoke to a little over a dozen members of the chamber of commerce in Washington, a small town about two hours east of Atlanta. Raffensperger had seen him from the lectern and asked if he wanted to ask a question – he declined. Now the bartender had more courage. He wanted to ask about the phone call. "How did that make you feel?" he said. Continue reading... |
| Suspect in Buffalo mass shooting heckled as ‘coward’ in court Posted: 19 May 2022 10:29 AM PDT Payton Gendron, 18, accused of killing 10 Black people at supermarket, not required to speak at brief court hearing The man accused of killing 10 Black people in a racist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, at the weekend was called a coward by a loved one of one of the victims when he made a fresh appearance in court on Thursday. Payton Gendron, 18, who is white, was not required to speak – his court-appointed lawyer had already entered a plea of not guilty to one count of first-degree murder – but it was the first time families of the victims who had come to the courthouse came face to face with him. Continue reading... |
| Oklahoma Republican-led legislature passes nation’s strictest abortion ban Posted: 19 May 2022 01:20 PM PDT Bill bans abortion at conception and if signed into law it would allow citizens to sue anyone who 'aids or abets' a patient Oklahoma's Republican-led legislature passed the nation's strictest abortion ban on Thursday. The bill, if signed into law, would allows citizens to sue anyone, anywhere who "aids or abets" a patient in terminating a pregnancy. The bill bans abortion from conception, even before an egg implants in the uterus, and would go into effect immediately if signed by Republican governor Kevin Stitt. Abortion providers expect he will do so before the coming week. Continue reading... |
| Revealed: Starbucks fired over 20 US union leaders in recent months Posted: 19 May 2022 07:53 AM PDT Workers at the coffee chain have filed petitions for union elections at more than 250 stores, but chief Howard Schultz publicly opposes the movement Starbucks has fired over 20 union leaders around the US over the past several months as union organizing campaigns have spread across the country, the Guardian can reveal. The news comes as Starbucks workers have filed petitions for union elections at more than 250 stores, spanning 35 states in the US. Starbucks' chief executive, Howard Schultz, has led a campaign against the union movement calling it "some outside force that's going to dictate or disrupt who we are and what we do". Continue reading... |
| Suicides indicate wave of ‘doomerism’ over escalating climate crisis Posted: 19 May 2022 05:00 AM PDT While alarm over wildfires, droughts, flooding and societal unrest is on the rise, not many of us talk about climate angst
It was a stunning, grisly act. A man, a climate activist and Buddhist, had set himself on fire on the steps of the US supreme court. He sat upright and didn't immediately scream despite the agony. Police officers desperately plunged nearby orange traffic cones into the court's marbled fountain and hurled water at him. It wasn't enough to save him. The death of Wynn Bruce, a 50-year-old photographer who lived in Boulder, Colorado, was a shock to those who knew him. "It was so upsetting," said April Lyons, a psychotherapist who knew Bruce from a therapeutic dance class they both took. "He was a solid person, a compassionate, kind person. We had no idea he'd do this." Continue reading... |
| Putin ‘had to keep explaining things to Trump’, ex-White House aide says Posted: 19 May 2022 11:49 AM PDT Fiona Hill, a former national security council official, said Russian leader grew frustrated with Trump: 'Putin doesn't like to do that' Vladimir Putin "had to keep explaining things" to Donald Trump when Trump was US president, the former White House aide Fiona Hill said. "Putin doesn't like to do that," Hill told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Continue reading... |
| More than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals found in food packaging Posted: 19 May 2022 05:17 AM PDT International experts who analyzed more than 1,200 scientific studies warn chemicals are being consumed with unknown long-term impacts Scientists have identified more than 3,000 potentially harmful chemicals that can be found in food packaging and other food-related materials, two-thirds of which were not previously known to be in contact with food. An international group of scientists analyzed more than 1,200 scientific studies where chemicals had been measured in food packaging, processing equipment, tableware and reusable food containers. Continue reading... |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets engaged to longtime partner Riley Roberts Posted: 19 May 2022 01:37 PM PDT Democratic congresswoman confirms engagement to Roberts, whom she met as a student at Boston University Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took a break between visiting Amazon union workers and endorsing progressive candidates to get engaged to her longtime partner Riley Roberts. Ocasio-Cortez, 32, confirmed to Insider on Thursday that she and Roberts, who met while both were at Boston University, got engaged last month while visiting her parents' home town in Puerto Rico. Continue reading... |
| Vangelis, composer of Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner soundtracks, dies aged 79 Posted: 19 May 2022 09:44 AM PDT Greek composer topped US charts and won an Oscar with Chariots of Fire's uplifting piano-led theme Vangelis, the Greek composer and musician whose synth-driven work brought huge drama to film soundtracks including Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire, has died aged 79. His representatives said he died in hospital in France where he was being treated. Born Evángelos Odysséas PapathanassÃou in 1943, Vangelis won an Oscar for his 1981 Chariots of Fire soundtrack. Its uplifting piano motif became world-renowned, and reached No 1 in the US charts, as did the accompanying soundtrack album. Continue reading... |
| Rihanna and A$AP Rocky welcome their first child – report Posted: 19 May 2022 11:25 AM PDT The pop star reportedly gave birth to a baby boy on 13 May in Los Angeles Multi-hyphenate pop star Rihanna and rapper A$AP Rocky have welcomed their first child, according to a TMZ report. The baby boy was reportedly born on 13 May in Los Angeles. No name was given. The couple, together since early 2020, first announced their pregnancy with a heavily photographed stroll through A$AP Rocky's home town of New York in January. The fashion mogul and Fenty beauty founder has since made headlines for her trend-setting maternity style of sheer lace, crop tops and belly-baring outfits. Continue reading... |
| The Christian leader trying to break America’s link between faith and guns Posted: 18 May 2022 11:00 PM PDT Peter Cook says in the aftermath of the Buffalo racist shooting white Christian denominations have a duty to act In the aftermath of the racist shooting that killed 10 on Saturday in Buffalo, the director of the New York State Council of Churches, the Rev Peter Cook, has been a constant presence at prayer gatherings and public memorials. The organization he leads represents eight denominations to New York state government; and he has the ear of political leaders, including Governor Kathy Hochul, in shaping the political response to a massacre that targeted the Black community of East Buffalo – one that has been met with expressions of faith as well as anger and distress. Continue reading... |
| George W Bush accidentally admits Iraq war was ‘unjustified and brutal’ in gaffe Posted: 19 May 2022 08:30 AM PDT Former president makes slip when speaking at his presidential library in Dallas on Wednesday Sigmund Freud was unavailable for comment, but George W Bush saying Iraq instead of Ukraine when condemning "a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion" certainly suggests he still has a lot on his unconscious mind. The former president jokingly attributed the slip to his 75 years, but there has always been a faulty connection between his brain and his tongue. There are whole books full of "Bushisms", like his boast that people "misunderestimated" him, and how much he felt for single mothers "working hard to put food on your family". Continue reading... |
| ‘This can’t be real’: Grubhub promotion turns New York City restaurants into a ‘war zone’ Posted: 18 May 2022 11:00 PM PDT The deal resulted in 6,000 New Yorkers placing an order every minute, overwhelming kitchens and delivery workers What were they thinking? That's what customers, restaurants and delivery workers want to know after a surprise promotion by the food delivery platform Grubhub went badly awry – and proved there's really no such thing as a free lunch. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 09:53 AM PDT 'Hashing' would allow copies of videos to be removed from social media – but tech companies can't be bothered to make it work In the aftermath of yet another racially motivated shooting that was live-streamed on social media, tech companies are facing fresh questions about their ability to effectively moderate their platforms. PaytonGendron, the 18-year-old gunman who killed 10 people in a largely Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, broadcasted his violent rampage on the video-game streaming service Twitch. Twitch says it took down the video stream in mere minutes, but it was still enough time for people to create edited copies of the video and share it on other platforms including Streamable, Facebook and Twitter. Continue reading... |
| Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week Posted: 19 May 2022 03:15 AM PDT (Anti-) In the early noughties, Levon Helm began hosting live shows he called Midnight Rambles in a studio at his home in Woodstock, NY. It was a rare bright moment in the story of what happened to the members of the Band who weren't Robbie Robertson in the years following the quintet's split, a grim saga involving bitter enmity, addiction, suicide, bankruptcy and jail. The Midnight Rambles shows reinvigorated the drummer and vocalist's career, led to two Grammy-winning solo albums and attracted a vast array of guests: Dr John, Drive-By Truckers, Elvis Costello, Donald Fagen, My Morning Jacket, Norah Jones, Kris Kristofferson. But perhaps no performer was quite as appropriate to the event as Mavis Staples, who played a Midnight Ramble with Helm and his band in 2011. Helm had prosaic reasons for starting the shows – after suffering with throat cancer which left him unable to sing for five years, he had medical bills to pay – but his stated aim was to recreate the atmosphere of the travelling tent shows he'd seen as a child in Arkansas. The "midnight ramble", he explained, was a second, adults-only performance, "where the songs would get a little bit juicier, the jokes would get funnier and the prettiest dancer would really get down and shake it". Continue reading... |
| ‘Think you can do what you want with your body?’: vintage pro-choice ads – in pictures Posted: 18 May 2022 10:00 PM PDT Aiming to underscore the threat to abortion rights in the late 1990s, activists created a provocative campaign In the late 90s, there was a fear that a new generation who had never known a pre-Roe world was unaware of the threat that abortion might once again become illegal in the US. A group of pro-choice activists came together with the imperative to push back against the notion that abortion rights were sacrosanct, and to motivate women to remain passionately engaged in the pro-choice struggle. Their great fear was that, with people turning their attention to other battles, the enemies of Roe might gain the upper hand. Continue reading... |
| ‘Some things can’t be repaired’: how do you recover when a friend betrays you? Posted: 19 May 2022 02:00 AM PDT With the 'Wagatha Christie' trial poring over the destruction of a celebrity friendship, four people share their experiences of treachery and trauma As the libel suit between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney rumbles on in the high court, the public has heard weeks of claims and counterclaims about Instagram stings, paparazzi ambushes and phones lost in the sea. But one thing has been clear from the outset: one of the two women has been betrayed. Either, as Rooney claims, Vardy sold stories about her fellow Wag to the Sun, or, as Vardy maintains, Rooney's baseless accusation has dragged her good name through the mud. It is a messy and sordid tale from which no one – except possibly the lawyers – emerges the better. Rooney has described Vardy's WhatsApp exchanges about her as "evil"; Vardy has said that the threats and abuse she received after Rooney's accusations made her feel suicidal. What is driving the former friends to spend millions airing their most intimate details? Continue reading... |
| ‘Each little thing in my life is precious’: Ken Watanabe on cancer, childhood and Hollywood cliches Posted: 19 May 2022 04:00 AM PDT His role in The Last Samurai changed Hollywood's attitude to Asian characters overnight – but illness very nearly ended his career. He discusses recovery, regret and yakuza drama Tokyo Vice There is something incongruous about seeing Ken Watanabe in a light-brown hoodie. He is synonymous with crisp tailored suits. It is like catching James Bond in jogging bottoms. "Hello!" he beams from a cosy corner of his living room, family photos lining a shelf, dark-mahogany cabinets behind him. "Good evening! Or good morning?" he asks from his home in Karuizawa, a resort town in Honshu, Japan, as we chat over video. He has just finished a photoshoot with his boisterous border collie, Dan, who is yelping nearby, desperate to be included. Even dressed down, the Japanese actor radiates the same commanding presence that he exudes on screen. He is one of the few modern east Asian stars to cross over successfully to Hollywood, which he did with his role in 2003's historical epic The Last Samurai. At 62, sporting a smattering of stubble, he still looks remarkably youthful. Continue reading... |
| Gucci £1,300 umbrella ridiculed in China for not being waterproof Posted: 19 May 2022 07:30 AM PDT Item from Adidas collaboration mocked over warning it is meant only for 'sun protection or decorative use' An umbrella created as part of a collaboration between Gucci and Adidas has met with a storm of criticism in China, where social media users have derided its inability to keep its owner dry. Chinese consumers are calling out the fact that the item, priced at 11,000 yuan (£1,311) and not yet available, does not perform the basic function a user might expect. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 07:08 AM PDT Non-Americans – whose interests don't necessarily align with the interests of the US – assert growing influence over American politics In 2017, Donald Trump repeatedly claimed without evidence that between 3 million and 5 million unauthorized immigrants had voted for Hillary Clinton. In the last few weeks, Trump has resurrected his lie during campaign rallies for Republican primary candidates he has endorsed – whipping up fears of "open borders and horrible elections", and calling for stricter voter ID laws and proof of citizenship at the ballot box. Trump endorsees and wannabes are amplifying this lie. JD Vance, the Trump-backed winner of last week's Ohio Republican senate primary, claimed that President Biden's immigration policy has resulted in "more Democrat voters pouring into this country". Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His new book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading... |
| Republicans just nominated one of the most radical governor candidates in history | Judd Legum Posted: 19 May 2022 06:00 AM PDT Doug Mastriano may be one of the most radical candidates ever to receive a Republican nod and he has been clear that he will use that power Pennsylvania Republicans have nominated state senator Doug Mastriano to be the next governor. Mastriano is one of the most radical gubernatorial candidates ever to receive a major party nomination. Many Republicans have indulged Trump's claims that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election. But few have gone as far as Mastriano has to try to justify Trump's fever dream. I'm Doug Mastriano, and I get to appoint the secretary of state who's delegated from me the power to make the corrections to elections, the voting logs and everything. I could decertify every machine in the state with the stroke of a pen via the secretary of state. I already had the secretary of state picked out. It's a world-class person that knows voting integrity better than anyone else in the nation, I think, and I already have a team that's gonna be built around that individual. Judd Legum is the founder and author of Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism, where this post originally appeared Continue reading... |
| The banks collapsed in 2008 – and our food system is about to do the same | George Monbiot Posted: 18 May 2022 11:00 PM PDT Massive food producers hold too much power – and the regulators scarcely understand what is happening. Sound familiar? For the past few years, scientists have been frantically sounding an alarm that governments refuse to hear: the global food system is beginning to look like the global financial system in the run-up to 2008. While financial collapse would have been devastating to human welfare, food system collapse doesn't bear thinking about. Yet the evidence that something is going badly wrong has been escalating rapidly. The current surge in food prices looks like the latest sign of systemic instability. George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist George Monbiot will discuss his new book, Regenesis, at a Guardian Live event on Monday 30 May. Book tickets in-person or online here Continue reading... |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 01:00 AM PDT Women have breastfed for thousands of years and yet there are still those who think we can just 'switch on' our milk I had an easy pregnancy, a textbook C-section and the gift of a two-week recovery period alone at home after my twins were sent to the newborn intensive care unit – or, having given birth in the US, "the world's most expensive babysitting service", as a nurse described it at the time. One consequence of this was that I was fully healed by the time they came home. Another was that in the first two weeks of my babies' lives, breastfeeding had to be supplemented with formula. By the time they left hospital, my supply was getting sketchy, which as it turned out was the least of our problems. Trying to get two preemies, not much bigger than guinea pigs, to latch was like asking them to eat peas off a beachball. Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading... |
| Ending Roe v Wade is just the beginning | Thomas Zimmer Posted: 19 May 2022 03:24 AM PDT Conservatives are animated by a vision of 1950s-style white Christian patriarchal dominance – it is the only order they will accept for America The supreme court is set to overturn Roe v Wade, this much has been clear since a draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked earlier this month. An attempt to safeguard abortion rights via national legislation was blocked by a united front of Republicans plus Democrat Joe Manchin in the Senate last week. As a result, we must expect abortion to be banned in roughly half the country soon. It is very hard to overstate how significant this moment is. The US is about to join the very short list of countries that have restricted existing abortion rights since the 1990s – the overall trend internationally certainly has been towards a liberalization of abortion laws. And it's also a basically unique development in US history: while the supreme court has often upheld and codified a discriminatory status quo, it has never actively and officially abolished what had previously been recognized as a constitutionally guaranteed right. 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... |
| It’s too soon to celebrate Putin's losses – the hard miles are yet to come for Ukraine | Keir Giles Posted: 19 May 2022 06:32 AM PDT Despite military successes, Kyiv faces economic devastation, citizens 'removed' by Russia and the risk of dwindling support There is near euphoria, currently, among supporters of Ukraine at the continued military reverses it is inflicting on Russian forces. But the truth is that Ukraine has a long way to go before it can achieve any kind of acceptable outcome from this war – and the going will get harder the closer it seems to come to victory. It's not just the large areas of territory under Russian control, where Ukraine still has to fight to relieve the suffering of its citizens under a savage military occupation. It's also the political and economic aspects of the war, which have been so often overlooked in the day-to-day tactical detail of Russia's often self-inflicted military disasters. Keir Giles works with the Russia and Eurasia programme of Chatham House. He is the author of Moscow Rules: What Drives Russia to Confront the West Continue reading... |
| Posted: 19 May 2022 06:35 AM PDT He stumbles from one fine mess to another. It is hard to know when there was worse custodianship of national affairs Another triumph for Boris Johnson's Houdini act. Partygate appears over with today's announcement that the Metropolitan police has closed the file on Downing Street parties, with 126 penalty notices and reportedly no more for the prime minister. Rumours are that Sue Gray's separate report on the parties will be published next week, but it is hard to see what it is likely to add, or what will come from the continuing inquiry into whether the prime minister "misled parliament". Johnson's tactic of devolving judgment to a dilatory police force has worked, albeit at the cost of £460,000. What appeared last December to be a resignation issue has been kicked down the road so many times as to disappear from view. Like all high-profile political sagas, Partygate looks like one of those transient Westminster storms more seismic at the time than in retrospect. It stands with other "affairs", such as Profumo, Westland, Formula One and Cheriegate in the canon of moments when the strictures of Westminster seemed to usurp those of the electorate. They display De Tocqueville's truth about British politics, that its ethos is that of a club not of a mob. Leaders are at most short-term risk when they offend the club, not the people. Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading... |
| Posted: 18 May 2022 11:00 PM PDT Reading Anne Brontë's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I found her lines about living in London resonating intensely, so many years later Novels. Why do I read them? My reading was at its most voracious when I was a kid. I suspect this was because my only purpose was enjoyment and escapism. From all 21 Famous Five stories – in order, naturally – to Anna Karenina, stuffed into a pannier on a cycling holiday, I was transported. Then, for A-levels and a degree, I read to pass exams. Slowly, tellingly, the joy faded. And I was no good at the exams either. When those last exams were done, more than 30 years ago, I was done with novels. I had fallen out of love. Gradually, it has come back, but it's all different now. I find I'm reading whole novels mainly to unearth little jewels of wisdom to shed light on what I've been feeling; feelings that I've been unable to articulate myself. For some reason I picked up The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. A bit flabby in the middle, if I may say so, but generally I was transfixed by what started to seem like the greatest love story ever told. The plot soon starts to fade, and all you are left with is how it made you feel. This is nice, but what makes it all worthwhile is those specific insights that I make sure to harvest and go back to. For instance, Helen says of her new life in the big city: "At first, I was delighted with the novelty and excitement of our London life; but soon I began to weary of its mingled turbulence and constraint." Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading... |
| US PGA Championship 2022: McIlroy sets pace in opening round – live! Posted: 19 May 2022 02:26 PM PDT
Up on the 13th green, it's back to back birdies for Max Homa. He joins the leading pack at -2. Once the green is cleared, Cam Smith nearly sends his second into a greenside body of water. Just over, but he'll need to clear his head, which is possibly running hot after that needless double-bogey at 12. Meanwhile a clumsy three-putt par for Xander Schauffele at 14; he slips back to -1. Xander Schauffele joins the leaders with birdie at the par-five 13th. His partner Tony Finau birdies as well, cancelling out the dismal three-putt bogey he opened with at 10. He's back to level par. Meanwhile patient birdies for Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth at 12. Patient because they have to wait for the group ahead to hit their drives at the extended par-five 13th, the tee box positioned so players have to send their shots over the 12th green and towards the 13th fairway. The designers have squeezed every inch out of this real estate all right. Continue reading... |
| NBA owners have combined $10bn invested in China, study shows Posted: 19 May 2022 12:37 PM PDT
Forty principal owners in the NBA have more than a combined $10bn tied up in China, investments that have significant impact on the valuation of the teams, according to an ESPN report published Thursday. Between the personal investments and NBA China having grown into a $5bn business, "the China value of each of the league's 30 teams (is) an estimated $150 million," per the ESPN report. Continue reading... |
| Everton 3-2 Crystal Palace, Aston Villa 1-1 Burnley: Premier League – as it happened Posted: 19 May 2022 02:04 PM PDT Dominic Calvert-Lewin completed a legendary comeback that ensured Everton's survival, while Burnley moved out of the relegation zone Peep peep! Everton v Crystal Palace is under way at Goodison Park, and it's hella noisy. "Goodison is like a wild dog," says Gary Naylor. "You're not sure what's it's going to do when it's cornered, but you're bloody glad when you find out it's on your side." Continue reading... |
| Mike Trout: does the world’s best baseball player finally have a supporting cast? Posted: 19 May 2022 01:00 AM PDT The Angels haven't had a winning season since 2015, despite the presence of their nine-time All-Star. This year could be when things change though Mike Trout has done so many wondrous things in nearly 11 full big-league seasons – 319 home runs, nine All-Star appearances, three American League Most Valuable Player awards among them – that it is hard to believe that he has but one career postseason hit. One. That lonely hit, a bases-empty home run, came in the top of the first inning of a game on 5 October 2014 that the then-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim would lose to the Kansas City Royals, 8-3, to get swept out of the American League Division Series in three games. Continue reading... |
| US Soccer’s historic equal pay deal represents a hard-won peace Posted: 19 May 2022 03:20 AM PDT With the new collective bargaining agreements announced Wednesday by US Soccer and the players' unions, everyone is finally on the same side At long last, peace. Expensive peace, certainly. But a peace without which US Soccer was never going to progress. Continue reading... |
| Alabama’s Nick Saban says Texas A&M ‘bought every player on their team’ Posted: 19 May 2022 04:49 AM PDT
Alabama coach Nick Saban called out Texas A&M on Wednesday night for "buying" players in its top-ranked recruiting class with name, image and likeness deals, saying Crimson Tide football players earned more than $3m last year "the right way". "I know the consequence is going to be difficult for the people who are spending tons of money to get players," Saban said while speaking at an event in Birmingham, Alabama, to promote the World Games being held there in July. Continue reading... |
| Carlos Sainz worried over health of F1 drivers due to bouncing on track Posted: 19 May 2022 09:37 AM PDT
Carlos Sainz has warned he fears for the long-term health of Formula One drivers because of the violent bouncing they are being subjected to on track. The Spanish Ferrari driver said he will discuss the issue with other drivers with a view to bringing it up with the FIA. Speaking in the buildup to his home grand prix this weekend in Barcelona, the 27-year-old was unequivocal in expressing his concern over the effects of what is known as porpoising – the car bouncing on straights as it gains and loses ground-effect downforce – on the necks and backs of drivers. The problem has plagued many teams on the grid, including Ferrari and Mercedes, and was an unexpected side-effect of this year's new regulations. Continue reading... |
| Lyon’s Catarina Macario: ‘Choosing Europe was for moments like this’ Posted: 19 May 2022 07:30 AM PDT A place in Saturday's Champions League final vindicates bold decisions taken by the Brazil-born US international and her dad The journey of the striker Catarina Macario from the Brazilian city of São LuÃs to a first Champions League final with the seven-times winners Lyon has been long but not surprising to those familiar with her remarkable backstory. Macario is used to making bold decisions to further her steady and goal-laden rise. Her family swapped São LuÃs for BrasÃlia for her mother's job as a surgeon when she was seven and, when Macario was 12 and no longer allowed to play with boys, her father decided to split the family. He, Macario and her brother Steve moved to San Diego in the US so she could play while her mother supported the family from afar. Continue reading... |
| Environmental toxins are worsening obesity pandemic, say scientists Posted: 19 May 2022 08:51 AM PDT Exclusive: Pollutants can upset body's metabolic thermostat with some even causing obesity to be passed on to children Chemical pollution in the environment is supersizing the global obesity epidemic, according to a major scientific review. The idea that the toxins called "obesogens" can affect how the body controls weight is not yet part of mainstream medicine. But the dozens of scientists behind the review argue that the evidence is now so strong that it should be. "This is critical because the current clinical management of obese patients is woefully inadequate," they said. Continue reading... |
| French dijon mustard supply hit by climate and rising costs, say producers Posted: 19 May 2022 03:21 AM PDT Poor seed harvests have led to empty shelves at supermarkets in France and global shortages Climate change and rising costs are causing supermarkets in France to run out of dijon mustard, raising questions over whether the shortage could spread to other countries. French mustard producers said seed production in 2021 was down 50% after poor harvests, which they said had been brought on by the changing climate in France's Burgundy region and Canada, the second largest mustard seed producer in the world. Continue reading... |
| How Vladimir Putin rejuvenated Nato – podcast Posted: 18 May 2022 07:00 PM PDT Finland and Sweden this week formally applied to join Nato after years of non-alignment. Jon Henley reports on how the Ukraine war has given the alliance a new lease of life For decades, Sweden and Finland have held back from joining other western nations in the Nato military alliance. For Sweden, it would have compromised its longstanding neutrality. For Finland, it was a more pragmatic matter of not appearing to antagonise Russia, with which it shares an 810-mile border and against which it fought brutal 20th-century wars. But as Jon Henley tells Michael Safi, Russia's invasion of Ukraine (another non-Nato European country) changed everything. This week the two countries formally submitted their applications to join the military alliance. It is a move that has been met with hostility and threats by Russia, but it's one that injects new life into an alliance that appeared to be faltering. With defence budgets being cut across Europe, Donald Trump's unpredictable presidency and a drifting sense of purpose, Nato's future was being openly questioned. Not any more. Continue reading... |
| ‘All your friends were dying’: revisiting the horrors of the Aids crisis Posted: 18 May 2022 11:08 PM PDT In a damning new season of podcast docuseries Fiasco, journalist Leon Neyfakh revisits a period of devastating loss and horrifying apathy Over two years into a global pandemic that's killed more than 6 million people, infected over 500 million others and irrevocably changed the way we all live, work and interact, while some mourn and some continue to constantly readapt, for others, an investigation continues. How did we get here? What mistakes were made? And what can we learn? For those who survived another global health crisis decades prior, one with a far higher mortality rate but drastically lower visibility, many of these questions still remain. In the summer of 1981, a quietly alarming new illness started to afflict gay men, initially reported in localised gay media but soon covered in the New York Times with the still rather unforgettably chilling headline "Rare Cancer Seen in 41 Homosexuals". In that year 234 people in the US died. In 1982, the CDC used the term Aids for the first time. By the end of the decade, over 100,000 Americans had died. Continue reading... |
| Seth Meyers on Madison Cawthorn’s loss: ‘A rare treat to watch Republicans tear each other apart’ Posted: 19 May 2022 08:05 AM PDT Late-night hosts discuss the scandal-ridden Trump ally's loss in the North Carolina GOP primary and Dr Oz's too-close-to-call race in Pennsylvania Seth Meyers celebrated the defeat of Trump loyalist Madison Cawthorn in the North Carolina Republican primaries on Tuesday, which will end the 26-year-old freshman congressman's scandal-ridden term in office. "Oh Madison, you may be gone but soon you'll be forgotten," the Late Night host said. "At least now he'll have more time for his other jobs – starring as, I don't know, the bad boy villain in a CW drama?" Continue reading... |
| Udo Kier: ‘I was so weak from eating only salad leaves to play Dracula I was in a wheelchair’ Posted: 19 May 2022 07:00 AM PDT The German acting veteran of 275 films answers your questions on creating spine-chilling characters, singing into a lamp and working with everyone from Lars Von Trier to Arnold Schwarzenegger Have you seen 1970's Mark of the Devil, 1973's Flesh for Frankenstein or 1974's Blood for Dracula recently? What are your thoughts on how they have aged? NatMikeel No, I don't watch my old films. I'm not one of those actors who has friends over and after dinner says: "Oh, let's put on one of my movies." I've made 275 films, a lot of which I want to forget but also some I will never forget. Continue reading... |
| ‘Gorgeous is my business’ … how blond billboard bombshell Angelyne became an LA icon Posted: 18 May 2022 10:00 PM PDT Mystery has shrouded Angelyne ever since her giant ads besieged LA. Now a new drama starring Emmy Rossum and Martin Freeman is telling her astonishing story – and she's furious about it. We track down the pink-Corvette-driving star In 1984, a billboard featuring a pouting, pneumatic blond woman appeared on Sunset Boulevard, the most feted thoroughfare in Los Angeles. "Angelyne rocks," it declared. There was a phone number and nothing else. Any onlookers curious enough to call got through to her management: would they like to book Angelyne? I don't know, those callers would probably have answered, who is Angelyne? Within a decade, there were 200 Angelyne billboards around LA – and still it was no clearer who Angelyne was or what she did. "I'm famous for being on billboards," she told one bemused interviewer. Over the years, not much more was learned about Angelyne. She came from the midwest, she said, sometimes mentioning Idaho. There were no romances, no children. She sang in a punk band, did some art. Angelinos might see her driving in one of her many pink Corvettes, sometimes stopping to pout on the hood, or sell photos and merchandise. Investors, she said, were paying for the billboards, and the returns became obvious when she began appearing on screen. Continue reading... |
| Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers review – surprisingly sharp Disney+ update Posted: 19 May 2022 01:13 PM PDT The short-lived late 80s animated series gets a satirical yet earnest reboot with sly jabs at the industry and a host of comedians doing voice work It's no real surprise that someone was prepped to poke fun at Hollywood's increasingly aggressive remaking, rebooting and remixing of dust-caked IP, but it's perhaps more of a surprise to find the joke coming from inside the house. Not just any house either but the house of mouse, arguably the most egregious offender of all. But the unending sift of studios trawling though their back catalogues (this year promises new spins on Gremlins, Three Man and a Baby, Father of the Bride, Frasier, Scooby Doo, Night at the Museum, Hellraiser, Matilda and many, many others), has resulted in an unusual satire, made even more unusual given the unlikely packaging. The relatively un-hyped release of a live-action-animation-hybrid movie based on late 80s series Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, offloaded onto Disney+, seemed at first glance to be more of the same. But inside the Trojan horse of a lazily inevitable kids adventure is a surprisingly sharp and detailed comedy. It's not quite on par with Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, the film it undoubtedly wants to be likened to, but it's infinitely better than it had any right to be. Continue reading... |
| Armageddon Time review – Hopkins and Hathaway can’t save this stagy tale of a quasi-Trump Posted: 19 May 2022 11:55 AM PDT A middle-class boy capitalises on his privilege in Reagan-era New York in James Gray's uncharacteristically syrupy movie After his brilliant space adventure Ad Astra in 2019, James Gray has come heavily back to Earth. This slightly laborious and self-consciously acted family coming-of-age drama features some perfunctory plot resolutions, and dinner-theatre performances from its all-star cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway. It is set in Queens, New York in 1980 – the time in which US presidential candidate Ronald Reagan solemnly announced that the US was facing a moral "Armageddon". Continue reading... |
| ‘Cool is the enemy!’ Eurovision hero Sam Ryder on how he ditched his ego and found his joy Posted: 18 May 2022 10:00 PM PDT From Essex wedding singer to the face of British pop, it's been a wild ride for Sam Ryder. He talks about the hard graft behind his meteoric rise Did Sam Ryder have any idea, when he got ready for his Eurovision performance, that he might be about to reverse the nation's doldrums, the super-low scores that have dogged us for this entire century? Did he have a clue that he might come second? "I had inklings," Ryder says, sitting in Langham's, a fancy hotel in central London, where he and his girlfriend, Lois Gaskin-Barber, have been holed up since they came back from Turin on Sunday. "It seemed like it was from the universe." The 32-year-old, with a hat-trick of Jesus-like qualities (long hair, beard, good at carpentry), leans forward to paint the scene: "I was backstage, with clips in my hair, I looked like a little terrier. The atmosphere is like a school play, times a million. Everyone's getting ready, fixing loose stitches, putting pearls back on with a glue gun, rollers in their hair, flapping." When he stepped on stage to perform Space Man, an anthemic, Queen-tinged riot of a song, he had just been awarded Eurovision's Press award for best song of the year. "The UK has never won that. So that gave me a real boost, a lot of adrenaline." Continue reading... |
| Fleetwood Mac’s 30 greatest songs – ranked! Posted: 19 May 2022 04:00 AM PDT The soft-rock giants are masters at turning relationship turmoil into radio-friendly gold. But which song did Stevie Nicks only contribute one word to, which did Christine McVie claim was about a dog, and – crucially – which is their best? A fantastic curio from the Mystery to Me album. Written by Bob Welch, Keep on Going sets Christine McVie's voice against an arrangement audibly influenced by the soul music coming out of Philadelphia International Records at the time: high-drama strings, dancefloor drums. It's like nothing else Fleetwood Mac recorded. Continue reading... |
| God’s Creatures review – Emily Watson and Paul Mescal shine in doom-laden drama Posted: 19 May 2022 01:06 AM PDT As her son returns home after years away, Eileen is asked to give him an alibi which sets in motion a terrible series of events This film, from screenwriter Shane Crowley and co-directors Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer, is a tense cine-ballad of guilt and shame. It is set on a remote coastal village in Ireland where there is a precarious living to be made from fishing and oyster farming and the wind's howling creates an unearthly and doom-laden atmosphere. This is a movie which has some dramatic redundancy and is sometimes submerged too deeply in its own sense of tragic destiny. But it is fiercely acted by its excellent cast, including Emily Watson as Eileen, the careworn mum who has been deeply affected by a prodigal-son drama in her life. The oedipal element here may have taken some inspiration from David Siegel and Scott McGehee's 2001 drama-thriller The Deep End with Tilda Swinton as the protective mother taking desperate steps for her son. The presence of Watson in this film, along with its sombre, almost ritualistic singing scenes, brought back for me a tiny echo of Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves. Continue reading... |
| Le Otto Montagne (The Eight Mountains) review – rich, beautiful and inexpressibly sad Posted: 19 May 2022 02:43 AM PDT A meditation on our capacity for love shapes this sweeping story of two friends, torn apart by family and life's journeys but bound by something deeper This rich, beautiful and inexpressibly sad film is about the friendship between men who can't talk about their feelings and about winning and losing at the great game of life. It is set in the breathtaking and wonderfully photographed Italian Alpine valley of Aosta, which includes the slopes of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn. But the "eight mountains" of the title refers to the eight highest peaks of Nepal: a mysterious symbol of worldly ambition and conquest. Belgian film-makers Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch have adapted the award-winning 2016 novel by Italian author Paolo Cognetti and have created a deeply intelligent meditation on our capacity for love, and how it is shaped by the arbitrary, irreversible experiences of childhood, and by our relationship with the landscape. The Aosta valley is depicted with magnificent sweep, and van Groeningen and Vandermeersch find a stratum of sadness under it, a kind of water table of tears. Continue reading... |
| Dining across the divide: ‘I found myself considering my life in a way I haven’t before’ Posted: 19 May 2022 04:30 AM PDT They agreed on what to do with problematic statues, but what about injustice in the police force? Fancy dining across the divide? Find out how to take part Kieran, 45, Hyde, Greater Manchester Occupation Project coordinator for a group of games, media and music colleges Continue reading... |
| ‘How is that a real job?’ Parents struggle to keep up with children’s career options Posted: 18 May 2022 11:00 PM PDT Survey finds many feel overwhelmed as their children express interest in jobs they know nothing about When Leon Martin asked for his parents' advice on how to pursue his dream of becoming a UX designer, they were flummoxed. "I literally didn't have the first idea what he was talking about," said Anne, his mother. "I didn't know whether he was talking about designing clothes, computer programmes or a fancy new brand of mountain bike." Even when 18-year-old Leon explained that the role was to do with "behind the scenes" online design, his mother floundered. "I felt like I'd totally failed as a parent," she said. "My job as a parent is to open doors so my children can achieve their potential, but how can I do that when I don't even understand what their ambitions are?" Continue reading... |
| ‘Really cool, day or night’: readers’ top modern European architecture Posted: 19 May 2022 03:00 AM PDT From a giant Gulliver in Spain to a sleek basking whale in Budapest, readers tip 10 destinations with stunning contemporary buildings The Hamsun Centre in Hamarøy, northern Norway (a couple of hours by boat from Bodø), is dedicated to Norway's most famous novelist, Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), hailed by many as the father of modern Norwegian literature. Designed by the American architect Steven Holl, the striking building, which dominates the landscape for miles, offers references to the man and his work, including "hair" on its head (the roof), a metallic "spine" running through the building and a beckoning hand (a yellow balcony jutting out from the dark facade). |
| ‘I was dog-tired but exhilarated’: hiking the UK’s Coast to Coast route Posted: 18 May 2022 11:00 PM PDT A solo hike on the celebrated 192-mile route from St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay brought our writer solace after the death of her mother Lying back on the grass, I exhaled for what seemed like the first time in 18 months. I was miles away from civilisation and a world away from the long days of solo lockdown in my London flat. Now I was alone again, but in happier circumstances. I could hear faraway sheep and feel a gentle breeze as I gazed at the Lake District countryside and sky. I was a few days into walking from Cumbria's Irish Sea shores to the North Sea on the Coast to Coast, a network of paths created by fell-walker and writer Alfred Wainwright, and it was absolute bliss. Continue reading... |
| Space heroes, dictator art and cartoon toy horses – take the Thursday quiz Posted: 19 May 2022 03:00 AM PDT Fifteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia plus a few jokes every Thursday – how will you fare? As these introductory blurbs get increasingly laboured and half-hearted, it is time once again to gather for the rituals of the Thursday quiz. Face the 15 vaguely topical and general knowledge questions. Sigh as you ponder if Kate Bush will ever be a correct answer. Cower under the withering gaze of Ron from Sparks. And seek out a hidden reference to Doctor Who in the incorrect answers. There are no prizes, but let us know how you got on in the comments. The Thursday quiz, No 56 If you do think there has been an egregious error in one of the questions or answers, please feel free to email martin.belam@theguardian.com, but remember, the quiz master's word is always final, and you wouldn't enjoy being fired into a black hole. Continue reading... |
| Fyre festival creator plans new entertainment ventures after prison Posted: 19 May 2022 12:14 PM PDT Billy McFarland 'put together a team' to generate income, likely for the $26m he was ordered to pay investors back The lead organizer of the infamous failed 2017 Fyre festival will immediately begin new ventures in the entertainment industry after being released early from federal prison on Wednesday, according to his attorney. Billy McFarland, 30, "has put together a team of professionals to brainstorm and come up with ideas in entertainment and other avenues to generate income", ostensibly to pay back the $26m he was ordered to reimburse his Fyre festival investors after pleading guilty to defrauding them, said his lawyer, Jason Russo. Continue reading... |
| Average price of gas surpasses $6 a gallon for first time in California Posted: 19 May 2022 01:59 PM PDT The price is a record high for the state and follows a record high average price nationwide at nearly $4.59 a gallon The average price of gas in California has surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time ever as fuel costs across the US reach record highs. Drivers in the Golden State are paying more for a gallon of fuel than anywhere else in the country at an average of $6.06, an all-time high for California and the US, according to AAA. The national average is nearly $4.59 a gallon, also a record, increasing 10 cents since Monday. Meanwhile, in some rural regions of California prices are even higher – fuel costs more than $7 a gallon in Mono county in the state's east. Continue reading... |
| Biden uses Defense Production Act to tackle US baby formula crisis Posted: 19 May 2022 11:13 AM PDT Government aims to speed production after closure of Abbott plant, as experts urge parents not to concoct own alternatives Joe Biden has invoked the Defense Production Act to address the shortage of infant formula by speeding production and authorizing flights to import it from abroad, as experts warned desperate parents not to concoct their own "home brew" alternatives. The safety-related closure of the nation's largest formula manufacturing plant has seen a nationwide squeeze on supply. The Defense Production Act order requires suppliers of formula manufacturers to fulfill orders from those companies before other customers, in an effort to eliminate production bottlenecks. Continue reading... |
| US homeland security pauses new disinformation board amid criticism Posted: 19 May 2022 07:38 AM PDT Nina Jankowicz, the board's director, resigns and says attacks and threats will not stop her from speaking out on disinformation The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has paused a new government board's work on disinformation and accepted the resignation of its leader, capping weeks of argument about free speech rights in the US and a frenzy of conspiracy theories. Former disinformation governance board director Nina Jankowicz told the Associated Press hours after resigning on Wednesday that a wave of attacks and violent threats she has fielded since the board's launch will not stop her from speaking out about disinformation campaigns pulsing through the social media feeds of Americans. Continue reading... |
| Indigenous and Alaska Native women could face escalated violence if Roe is repealed Posted: 19 May 2022 02:00 AM PDT They are also two to three times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than white women, according to the CDC The repeal of federally protected abortion rights would result in an increase in violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and all those who birth, predicted the director of one of the leading research institutes on Indigenous and Alaska Native people across the US. "The only option we have right now if this was to be overturned, is to provide the limited resources and support, but it will be limited, especially initially. As a direct result our people are going to suffer," Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, told the Guardian. Continue reading... |
| US House passes domestic terrorism bill in response to Buffalo shooting Posted: 19 May 2022 06:14 AM PDT Adam Kinzinger was the lone Republican to vote in favor of the measure that faces an uphill climb to pass the Senate The US House of Representatives has passed legislation that would bolster federal resources to prevent domestic terrorism in response to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York – but the bill faces the increasingly familiar burden of an uphill climb to pass the Senate. The 222-203, nearly party-line House vote was an answer to the growing pressure Congress faces to address gun violence and white supremacist attacks – a crisis that escalated following two mass shootings over the weekend. Continue reading... |
| ‘She got mad’: 911 dispatcher allegedly hung up during Buffalo shooting call Posted: 19 May 2022 11:52 AM PDT Dispatcher could lose her job after Tops employee says dispatcher took on a nasty tone and asked her why she was whispering A 911 dispatcher has been placed on administrative leave and will probably be fired after allegedly hanging up on a Tops supermarket employee during Saturday's shooting rampage in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist allegedly killed 10 people. Latisha Rogers, an assistant office manager at the Tops supermarket, said she called 911 and whispered quietly into the phone about the shooter, who was already in the store. Continue reading... |
| Maduro glimpses political lifeline as US rethinks Venezuela policy Posted: 19 May 2022 02:15 AM PDT Putin's war on Ukraine and political deadlock in Caracas have combined to herald a new dawn in US-Venezuela ties It was little more than a year ago that US officials were publicly rubbishing the prospect of engagement with Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, who they described as a "dictator". "His repression, corruption and mismanagement have generated one of the most dire humanitarian crises this hemisphere has seen," the state department spokesperson, Ned Price, declared in February last year. "We certainly don't expect any contact with Maduro any time soon." Continue reading... |
| ‘Top of the world’: Black climbing team makes history as first to scale Mount Everest Posted: 19 May 2022 10:50 AM PDT Seven members reached the summit with the hope of inspiring the next generation of Black outdoor enthusiasts The first all-Black climbing group to reach the summit of Mount Everest was recovering back at the bottom of the mountain on Thursday and celebrating a journey to the "top of the world". Seven members of the US-led team made it to the top of the mountain in one expedition, greatly increasing the number of Black people who have summited the world's highest peak from 10 to 17, out of about 10,000 in total. Continue reading... |
| Taliban orders female Afghan TV presenters to cover faces on air Posted: 19 May 2022 07:20 AM PDT Female anchors post pictures of themselves being 'erased' on orders of virtue and vice ministry Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have ordered all female TV presenters to cover their faces on air, the country's biggest media outlet has said. The order came in a statement from the Taliban's virtue and vice ministry, tasked with enforcing the group's rulings, as well as from the information and culture ministry, the Tolo news channel tweeted on Thursday. The statement called the order "final and non-negotiable", the channel said. Continue reading... |
| Canadian premier abruptly quits amid surge in far-right influences Posted: 19 May 2022 01:19 PM PDT Conservative Jason Kenney, Alberta premier, leaves province's top job after barely surviving a leadership review The abrupt resignation of Alberta's premier has shocked the western province and raised questions about the ideological direction of Canada's conservative movement amid a surge in far-right and populist influences. Jason Kenney announced late on Wednesday that he was leaving the province's top job after barely surviving a leadership review. A slim majority of party members – 51.4% – had voted in favour of keeping him in power but Kenney said that support wasn't enough to justify remaining head of the governing United Conservatives. Continue reading... |
| Civil servants and No 10 advisers furious over single fine for Boris Johnson Posted: 19 May 2022 12:28 PM PDT PM received only one of 126 fixed-penalty notices relating to law-breaking parties, prompting claims Met police bungled inquiry Civil servants and special advisers have reacted with fury and disbelief after Scotland Yard confirmed Boris Johnson got only one of 126 fines levied for law-breaking parties at the heart of Downing Street and Whitehall. The Metropolitan police came under intense pressure to explain how it reached its conclusions after Downing Street said officers confirmed no further action would be taken against the prime minister despite him attending gatherings for which others were fined. Continue reading... |
| Israel will not hold criminal inquiry into killing of journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh Posted: 19 May 2022 07:16 AM PDT Military police say they are satisfied with assurances of Israeli troops over death of US-Palestinian despite international demands Israel will not launch a criminal investigation into the killing of the US-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, which Palestinian officials and witnesses have blamed on Israeli soldiers. In a statement released on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces claimed that because Abu Aqleh was killed in an "active combat situation", an immediate criminal investigation would not be launched, although an "operational inquiry" would continue. Continue reading... |
| Twenty-five ethnic Pamiris killed by security forces in Tajikistan protests Posted: 19 May 2022 06:13 AM PDT Escalating tensions erupt into regime-backed violence against the minority group in the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan At least 25 people were killed on Wednesday by security forces in Tajikistan during a protest in the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO), where the Tajik regime has targeted the Pamiri ethnic minority. The deaths mark an escalation of violence in the region. Conflict between the central government and the Pamiri has continued for decades, with the cultural and linguistic minority ethnic group suffering human rights abuses, as well as discrimination over jobs and housing. Continue reading... |
| Woman seriously wounded in German school shooting, say police Posted: 19 May 2022 06:29 AM PDT Bremerhaven pupils barricade themselves in classrooms during attack by man reportedly armed with crossbow Students at a school in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, used chairs and tables to barricade themselves in their classrooms after several shots were fired at the building, seriously injuring an adult woman. Police in Bremerhaven say an armed attacker used an unidentified weapon to injure a female employee at the Lloyd Gymnasium secondary school on Thursday morning. Continue reading... |
| Cornish pub receives framed apology from Vogue publisher after name row Posted: 19 May 2022 11:22 AM PDT Condé Nast had threatened the Star Inn at Vogue with legal action if the pub was not renamed A country pub has received a framed apology from a fashion publishing giant after being threatened with legal action unless the landlords changed its name. The Star Inn at Vogue was sent a cease-and-desist letter by Vogue's publisher, Condé Nast, which claimed a link between the two businesses was "likely to be inferred". Continue reading... |
| Rebekah Vardy subjected to ridicule on a massive scale, libel trial told Posted: 19 May 2022 11:22 AM PDT Footballer's wife seeking substantial damages from Coleen Rooney at end of two weeks of high court hearings Rebekah Vardy has demanded "substantial" damages from Coleen Rooney after enduring "public abuse and ridicule on a massive scale", as the "Wagatha Christie" libel trial drew to a close at the high court after two weeks of headline-grabbing and occasionally excruciating hearings. Vardy said her life had been made hell as a result of the allegation in 2019 that she was leaking stories from Rooney's private Instagram account to journalists at the Sun. Continue reading... |
| Abortion: El Salvador’s jailed women offer US glimpse of post-Roe future Posted: 19 May 2022 02:15 AM PDT 'Don't let our reality become your reality,' campaigners warn after woman is freed after decade behind bars for medical emergency ruled attempted murder A 33-year-old woman in El Salvador who suffered a medical emergency while pregnant has been freed after serving a decade in jail for attempted murder, the victim of a draconian abortion ban being replicated in the US. The woman, named only as Jacqueline, sought medical help for an obstetric complication in 2011, and even though the baby survived, she was arrested on suspicion of attempted abortion. She was separated from her newborn daughter and eight-year-old son, and sentenced to 15 years for attempted murder. Continue reading... |
| The story of my madness | Emmanuel Carrère Posted: 18 May 2022 10:00 PM PDT Emmanuel Carrère was no stranger to depression, but it was late in life that a major episode got him hospitalised and diagnosed as bipolar. In some ways it made sense of his problems, but in the midst of it, everything was broken It's disturbing, at almost 60 years of age, to be diagnosed with an illness that you've suffered from your whole life without it ever being named. Your first reaction is to protest. I protested, insisting that bipolar disorder is one of those notions that are all of a sudden in vogue and get pinned on anything and everything. Then you read what you can on the subject, you re-examine your whole life from that angle, and you realise that the shoe fits. Perfectly, even. That all your life you've been subject to this alternation of excitement and depression that is of course all of our lot – because all our moods change, we all have highs and lows, clear skies and dark clouds – only that there's a group of people to which you belong, along with, it seems, 2% of the population, for whom the highs are higher and the lows lower than average, to the point that their succession becomes pathological. However, where the description doesn't fit at first glance has to do with the so-called "manic" phase of what until the 90s was called manic depressive psychosis. The manic state is when people strip naked on the street, or suddenly buy three Ferraris, or feverishly explain to anyone who wants to hear it that what they've got to do is eat guavas, lots and lots of guavas, to save humanity from a third world war. I knew a young guy who did things like that and who, once the crisis had passed, was appalled by what he'd done. He killed himself, as it seems up to 20% of people with bipolar disorder do. I felt sorry for this brilliant, desperate young guy, and never thought I suffered from the same disorder as he did. I was depressive, yes. In addition to what can be called empty periods, I've been through two phases of real, severe depression, the sort that lasts for several months, and during which you hardly ever get up, you can no longer accomplish the most basic tasks, and above all you can no longer imagine that things will change. Continue reading... |
| The case of the disappearing deer Рand how a new corridor could save it Posted: 19 May 2022 03:00 AM PDT Only 1,500 huemul remain in the world, but a parks corridor is being created to save the deer that features on Chile's coat of arms It is twilight in Las Horquetas valley in Patagonia's northern Ays̩n region. Several cars have pulled over beneath sandy cliffs on a wide paved road. Just metres away, three deer graze unperturbed in the glow of the car lights. The Patagonian huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus), or South Andean deer, is the most endangered hoofed animal in South America. It has deep inset eyes, furry antlers and is no bigger than a toddler. Fewer than 1,500 survive today Рtwo-thirds are found in Chile and the remainder in Argentina, where the huemul's principal habitat is lenga forest and scrubland. They exist in severely fragmented groups of 101 known sub-populations, with 60% of these comprising only 10-20 individuals, making them susceptible to freak weather events. They also suffer from poor genetic diversity. Continue reading... |
| Dolphins can recognise each other by taste of their urine, study finds Posted: 19 May 2022 04:03 AM PDT Aquatic mammals can recognise friends and family members without seeing or hearing them Dolphins are able to recognise one another by the taste of their urine, a study has found. Researchers at the University of St Andrews have discovered that the mammals can recognise friends and family members without seeing or hearing them. Continue reading... |
| US embassy in Kyiv reopens after three months – video Posted: 18 May 2022 10:19 PM PDT The US embassy in Kyiv has reopened three months after it closed due to Russia's impending invasion of Ukraine. A small number of diplomats will return to staff the embassy but consular operations will not resume immediately. The embassy closed on 14 February as Russian forces massed outside Ukraine. Continue reading... |
| Why bike lanes don't make traffic worse – video Posted: 19 May 2022 12:00 AM PDT Cities in the UK and around the world are installing new bike lanes to help reduce emissions, but some claim they are making traffic worse. The argument goes that bike lanes means less space for cars and therefore more congestion. While this might sound plausible, it appears to hark back to outdated traffic management theory. Josh Toussaint-Strauss finds out how traffic really works, and the actual impact of installing new bike lanes
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| Kilts, mohawks and plumbing: smashing Jewish stereotypes – in pictures Posted: 18 May 2022 11:00 PM PDT Fed up with media cliches around a 'typical' Jewish person, Keith Kahn-Harris and Rob Stothard set out to showcase the community's diversity – and hear their stories Continue reading... |
| Milky Way photographer of the year 2022 – in pictures Posted: 19 May 2022 12:00 AM PDT The Milky Way photographer of the year winners are selected every year by the travel blog Capture the Atlas. The Milky Way season ranges from February to October in the northern hemisphere and from January to November in the southern hemisphere Continue reading... |
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