Ahmaud Arbery verdict: three men found guilty of murdering Black man as he jogged

Travis McMicheal, Greg McMichael and William ‘Roddie’ Bryan all face the possibility of life in prison

The three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery have been found guilty of murder, following his 2020 shooting death in south Georgia, which led to a wave of racial justice protest and a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US.

Travis McMicheal, his father, Greg McMichael, and their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan were each convicted for murdering Arbery, who was unarmed, after pursuing him in February last year and claiming, without evidence, he had been involved in a spate of burglaries in their neighborhood.

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Can big tech ever be reined in?

The Biden administration has shown an early determination to tackle the power of Amazon, Google, Facebook and co. But is it already too late?

When historians look back on this period, one of the things that they will find remarkable is that for a quarter of a century, the governments of western democracies slept peacefully while some of the most powerful (and profitable) corporations in history emerged and grew, without let or hindrance, at exponential speeds.

They will wonder at how a small number of these organisations, which came to be called “tech giants” (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft), acquired, and began to wield, extraordinary powers. They logged and tracked everything we did online – every email, tweet, blog, photograph and social media post we sent, every “like” we registered, every website we visited, every Google search we made, every product we ordered online, every place we visited, which groups we belonged to and who our closest friends were.

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House Democrats pass Biden’s expansive Build Back Better policy plan

Bill now goes back to the Senate, where it faces total opposition from Republicans and an uphill battle against centrist Democrats

Joe Biden has hailed the US House of Representatives for passing a $1.75tn social and climate spending bill, a central pillar of his agenda that must now go before the Senate.

The Democratic majority in the House approved the Build Back Better Act on Friday despite fierce opposition from Republicans.

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Boeing admits full responsibility for 737 Max plane crash in Ethiopia

‘Significant milestone’ paves way for families of 157 victims of 2019 crash to seek compensation, say lawyers

Boeing has admitted full responsibility for the second crash of its 737 Max model in Ethiopia, in a legal agreement with families of the 157 victims.

Lawyers for the families said it was a “significant milestone” for families to achieve justice.

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Astroworld: Travis Scott and Drake sued over deadly Texas concert crush

Lawsuits brought by some of those injured, including 23-year-old Texas resident Kristian Paredes

The rappers Travis Scott and Drake have been sued for having “incited mayhem” after eight people were killed and dozens injured in a crush during a Texas concert, a law firm has confirmed.

Thomas J Henry Law tweeted a story published by the Daily Mail on the lawsuit, confirming on Sunday that it had filed “one of the first lawsuits in Travis Scott Astroworld festival tragedy”.

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Prince Andrew’s lawyer asks to keep 2009 legal agreement sealed

Attorney says the deal can protect the prince against a lawsuit that claims that he assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was 17

Prince Andrew’s lawyer has asked a New York judge to keep sealed a 2009 legal agreement that he says can protect the prince against a lawsuit’s claims that he sexually assaulted an American woman when she was under 18.

The request was made in court papers in Manhattan federal court, where the US district judge Lewis A Kaplan is presiding over an August lawsuit filed on behalf of Virginia Giuffre. The lawsuit said the prince abused her on multiple occasions in 2001 when she was 17 and a minor under US law.

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How the US fails to take away guns from domestic abusers: ‘These deaths are preventable’

Every 16 hours, a woman is fatally shot by a current or former intimate partner. Many of the offenders were legally prohibited from having guns

Editor’s note: This story was produced by the non-profit newsroom Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. Get its investigations emailed directly to you.

Paige Mitchell and Bradley Gray forged a bond over tragedy. Late one Sunday in October 2009, Mitchell’s husband borrowed a motorcycle from a neighbor on a whim, rumbled down a back road in rural Moundville, Alabama, and careened to his death. Almost exactly a year later, at almost precisely the same time of night, Gray’s wife died on the same county byway when her car crashed into a tree. Fate seemed to push Mitchell and Gray together, making their relationship hard to sever even as it descended into dysfunction.

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Trump files lawsuit to block release of Capitol attack records

  • Ex-president challenges decision to waive executive privilege
  • White House says Trump ‘abused the office of the presidency’

Donald Trump has sought to block the release of documents related to the US Capitol attack to a House committee investigating the incident, challenging Joe Biden’s initial decision to waive executive privilege.

In a federal lawsuit, the former president said the committee’s request in August was “almost limitless in scope” and sought many records that were not connected to the siege.

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Spies next door? The suburban US couple accused of espionage

Jonathan and Diana Toebbes’s story is like a fictional spy caper, blending an all-American couple with technology and betrayal

When accused spies Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were escorted into a West Virginia court to be arraigned on espionage charges, they looked as any middle-aged, suburban couple might: struck by a dramatic turn in circumstances that comes when placed in an orange jumpsuit and restricted by manacles.

But the story of the Toebbes, 42 and 45, is now about as far from typical suburbia as you can get. It’s a story that reads like a fictional spy caper, blending a seemingly normal couple with high technology and low espionage.

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Biden administration to ask supreme court to halt Texas abortion ban

Government will ask court to reverse appeals court decision leaving in place the law that all but bans abortions in the state

The Biden administration said on Friday it will turn next to the US supreme court its attempt to halt a Texas law that has banned most abortions since September.

The move by the justice department comes after an appeals court on Thursday night left in place the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions at roughly six weeks, or before most women know they are pregnant. The appeals court, the fifth circuit, is among the most conservative in the nation.

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Texas’ restrictive abortion law temporarily reinstated one day after being blocked

A New Orleans-based appeals court quickly granted the state’s request to set aside a suspension until the case is reviewed

A federal appeals court on Friday night allowed Texas to temporarily resume banning most abortions, just one day after clinics across the state began rushing to serve patients again for the first time since early September.

Abortion providers in Texas had been bracing for the 5th US court of appeals to act quickly, even as they booked new appointments and reopened their doors during a brief reprieve from the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks.

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US judge temporarily blocks Texas’ near-total abortion ban in blow to contentious law

Judge excoriates ‘unprecedented scheme’ to deny women abortion right as law faces uncertain future

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked the near-total ban on abortion in Texas, dealing the first legal blow against the contentious law and throwing its future into uncertainty.

The law, known as Senate Bill 8, banned most abortions in the nation’s second-most populous state and, until now, had withstood a wave of early challenges.

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The US government avoided a shutdown – but what happens next?

Congress passed a bill to fund the government into December. But questions remain over the debt ceiling and Biden’s agenda

The US government went into Thursday embroiled in a game of three-dimensional chess with time running out and trillions of dollars at stake.

The first dimension was a must-do: fund the government by midnight to avoid it shutting down. In a typical shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal employees stop getting paid and many stop working; some services are suspended and numerous national attractions and national parks temporarily close.

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Britney Spears’ father suspended from conservatorship in victory for singer

Star has sought liberation from Jamie Spears’ control of her finances and personal life for years

A Los Angeles judge has suspended Britney Spears’ father from the conservatorship that has controlled her life for 13 years, marking a major victory for the singer, who has long objected to the arrangement that has stripped her of independence.

At a court hearing on Wednesday, Judge Brenda Penny ordered Jamie Spears suspended as conservator effective immediately.

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Biden administration asks court to block enforcement of Texas abortion ban

US justice department seeks temporary restraining order while lawsuit challenges the statute as unconstitutional

The Biden administration has formally asked a federal judge to block enforcement of a new Texas law that effectively bans almost all abortions in the state under a novel legal design that opponents say is intended to thwart court challenge.

The US Department of Justice’s 45-page emergency motion seeks a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction lifting the abortion ban while its lawsuit challenging the statute as unconstitutional proceeds through the courts.

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Amy Coney Barrett says supreme court ‘is not comprised of partisan hacks’

Justice spoke alongside Mitch McConnell at Kentucky event a week after supreme court declined to block Texas abortion law

Claiming the supreme court “is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks”, Amy Coney Barrett told an audience at a Kentucky center named for the Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell that “judicial philosophies are not the same as political parties”.

Related: The supreme court is deciding more and more cases in a secretive ‘shadow docket’ | Moira Donegan

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‘The harm to children is irreparable’: Ruth Etzel speaks out ahead of EPA whistleblower hearing

The former EPA scientist is among five who have come forward alleging that the agency has become deeply corrupted

The US Environmental Protection Agency is failing to protect children by ignoring poisons in the environment and focusing on corporate interests, according to a top children’s health official who will testify this week that the agency tried to silence her because of her insistence on stronger preventions against lead poisoning.

“The people of the United States expect the EPA to protect the health of their children, but the EPA is more concerned with protecting the interests of polluting industries,” said Ruth Etzel, former director of the EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection (OCHP). The harm being done to children is “irreparable”, she said.

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Britney Spears’ father files to shut down conservatorship that controls his daughter’s life

Jamie Spears, conservator of the pop singer’s estate since 2008, says ‘recent events’ called the arrangement into question

Britney Spears’ father has filed an unexpected request to terminate the controversial conservatorship that has controlled the singer’s life for 13 years.

In a stunning move, Jamie Spears, who is the conservator of his daughter’s estate, said “recent events” called into question whether she still needed a court to oversee her personal affairs and finances.

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Biden condemns US supreme court’s ‘unprecedented assault’ on abortion rights

  • President denounces justices for failing to block Texas ban
  • Vows to ‘ensure woman have access to safe and legal abortions’

Joe Biden condemned the US supreme court on Thursday, saying it had delivered “an unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional right” in a rebuke of its decision not to consider a Texas law that effectively bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Related: Biden launches ‘whole-of-government’ effort to protect Texas abortion rights after ruling – live

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Sackler family set to pay $4.5bn to settle opioid claims after judge approves plan

Conditional approval for plan to organize drugmaker into new company with board appointed by public officials


A US federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday conditionally approved a sweeping, potentially $10bn plan submitted by the OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to settle a mountain of lawsuits over its role in the opioid crisis that has killed a half-million Americans over the past two decades.

Related: Former Purdue Pharma chair denies responsibility for US opioid crisis

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