Lawmakers approve Democrats’ budget resolution on party-line 50-49 vote hours after passing $1tn infrastructure bill
Democrats pushed a $3.5tn framework for bolstering family services, health and environment programs through the Senate early Wednesday.
The overnight vote advances Joe Biden’s plans for reshaping federal priorities, and came hours after passing a $1tn infrastructure package.
Continue reading...Firefighters battled 300 different blazes across the southern regions of Italy, Calabria and Sicily in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.
Seven Canadair planes flew over the area, which has had 70% more wildfires than in the previous year, the majority breaking out in Sicily, Puglia, Calabria and Sardinia
Pardons bill gains significant support among Chileans who credit for 2019 protest for galvanising important reforms
Maribel Gaete could not shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen to her son, 19-year-old Bastian Campos, when he went to a protest in Antofagasta, Chile, in November 2019.
“Police were firing teargas; you couldn’t breathe. As soon as he shut the door, I began to worry,” recalled Gaete.
Continue reading...Government confident of winning vote despite losing majority after coalition partner walks out
The future of Poland’s three-party coalition government has been thrown into doubt as parliament votes on Wednesday on a controversial media ownership bill that could lead to the country’s largest remaining independent TV station losing its licence.
After a night of protests in Warsaw and 80 other towns and cities against the bill, which opponents see as an attempt to silence an often critical broadcaster, the government said on Wednesday it was confident of winning the vote.
Continue reading...The Friends reunion seemed pointless – until now. If it paved the way for Ross and Rachel to get together in real life, the world might explode with joy. So why do I have a sinking feeling?
Initially, this year’s Friends reunion didn’t exactly offer much in the way of entertainment. There was Justin Bieber dressed as a potato, and there was that meme about Matt LeBlanc looking like someone’s Irish uncle. Apart from that, the whole thing felt like an elaborate attempt to give James Corden even more air time.
But that was then. Because now that David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston are dating, the Friends reunion has become an important historical document and must be preserved for ever.
Continue reading...A juvenile black bear was filmed on video by stunned shoppers after it wandered into a Los Angeles area supermarket. The bear was spotted inside the Ralphs supermarket in Porter Ranch before it was shooed out. It was later seen outside and was tranquillised and relocated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service
Continue reading...Life and death on the Atlantic migrant route. Plus, is it too late to halt global heating?
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When we think of Europe’s migrant crisis, much of our attention understandably focuses on Mediterranean sea crossings from North Africa. But the Guardian Weekly’s big story this week casts light on another deadly route, from Africa’s western coast to the Spanish Atlantic territory of the Canary Islands. While official death rates are comparatively low, concerns are growing that undocumented fatalities on this extremely dangerous crossing could be many times higher. Sam Jones reports from Gran Canaria.
As extreme weather-fuelled wildfires continued to blaze in several parts of the world this week, a major new report from hundreds of top scientists laid bare the severe extent of our damage to the Earth’s climate and the disaster looming if the slim chance to avert global heating above 1.5C is not grasped. Environment editor Damian Carrington analyses what the IPCC report means, while on our Opinion pages, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, warns starkly that only a complete transformation of our societies can now arrest the warming process.
Virginia Giuffre’s lawyer says it ‘would be very ill-advised for Prince Andrew to ignore judicial process’
Prince Andrew cannot hide behind his wealth and power from allegations he sexually abused a child, a lawyer for his accuser has said, warning the duke that he risks a “default judgment” if he ignores the civil case brought against him in the US.
David Boies, representing Virginia Giuffre, has said he and his client have tried everything they can to resolve the matter after alleging that the Duke of York had sex with her while she was 17 – knowing she had been trafficked by his former friend, the disgraced former financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Continue reading...Mutilation, slavery and torture of women and girls detailed in accounts published by Amnesty, in what organisation says could amount to war crimes
Ethiopian government forces have been systematically raping and abusing hundreds of women and girls in the current conflict in Tigray, according to a new report from Amnesty International.
Adding to a growing body of evidence that rape is being used as a weapon of war in the northern region of Ethiopia, Amnesty’s research offers a snapshot of the extent of the crimes in an area where communications with the outside world have been deliberately restricted by federal authorities.
Continue reading...Mistaken for drug dealers? Monitored by police? A new play staged in a Bradford car park weaves stories of everyday racism, faith and petrolheads
“I don’t go out, I don’t really go clubbing, I don’t drink, I don’t do none of that,” says Sohail Hussain, who is explaining how all encompassing his hobby is. “All my money goes on cars – for me it’s an investment.”
Hussain is one of three actors starring in Peaceophobia, a piece from collaborative theatre company Common Wealth and Fuel that interweaves stories about Islam, faith and modified car culture. Set in a car park in Bradford, the three drivers – Casper Ahmed, Mohammad Ali Yunis and Hussain – chat pistons and prayer over the constant hum of engine noise and tension.
Continue reading...Authorities say about 8,600 people may have been affected
Authorities in northern Germany have appealed to thousands of people to get another shot of Covid vaccine after a police investigation found that a Red Cross nurse may have injected them with a saline solution.
The nurse is suspected of injecting salt solution into people’s arms instead of genuine doses at a vaccination centre in Friesland – a rural district near the North Sea coast – in the early spring.
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The $1tn infrastructure bill that passed the Senate takes some steps toward addressing the climate crisis and building resiliency – through environmental activists and progressive Democrats say it falls short. In California, where global heating has helped fuel extreme wildfires, Dani Anguiano reports on the devastation of the Dixie fire:
After weeks of fire, smoke and warnings, Kimberly Price’s beloved hometown had run out of time.
With wind driving the Dixie fire directly into Greenville, Price’s longtime partner, John Hunter, told her she needed to leave. Price, 58, had spent most of her life in the close-knit Sierra Nevada community. She couldn’t bear the thought of leaving, but the flames were everywhere.
Related: ‘I still feel it isn’t real’: Gold Rush town residents reckon with wildfire devastation
White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified the president’s earlier comments praising Andrew Cuomo’s legacy as governor.
Earlier, a reporter had asked Joe Biden to assess Cuomo’s decade-long career as governor. “I thought he’s done a hell of a job – and both on everything from access to voting to infrastructure to a whole range of things. That’s why it’s so sad,” Biden responded.
@potus responded to a specific question today about @NYGovCuomo work on infrastructure. He also made clear it was right for @NYGovCuomo to step down, reiterated his support for women who come forward, and made clear you can’t separate personal behavior from other work.
Continue reading...Prime minister says request made for help internationally as forest blazes erupt in Kabyle region and elsewhere
More than 40 people, including 25 soldiers, have died in wildfires that erupted east of the Algerian capital, the country’s prime minister, Ayman Benabderrahmane, said.
Benabderrahmane also told state television that the government had asked for help from the international community and was in talks with partners to hire planes to extinguish fires. So far, 42 deaths have been reported.
Continue reading...Victims’ families demand comprehensive declassification review of all documents, particularly into Saudi Arabia’s role in attacks
Families of 9/11 victims say an FBI offer to release some documents from its investigation into the attack has not gone far enough, and are demanding a comprehensive declassification review of all relevant material, particularly on Saudi Arabia’s role.
The FBI offer on Monday followed a call by some victims’ families and first responders for Joe Biden to stay away from ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the attack next month, if the president failed to honour a campaign pledge to lift the secrecy surrounding the multi-agency investigations.
Continue reading...Data collected from 38 member countries says UK among the major economies now in the slow lane
The world’s major economies have seen their rapid recovery after easing Covid restrictions begin to run out of steam in the past month as a resurgence in the virus depressed consumer spending, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
There are signs that the recovery in the US and Japan is losing momentum, the OECD said, while parts of Europe and China have slowed as consumers remain reluctant to eat out, visit attractions and shop as they did before the pandemic.
Continue reading...Officials in Pul-e-Khumri say government forces abandoned compounds during heady fighting
The Taliban have captured the key Afghan city of Pul-e-Khumri, 140 miles north of the capital Kabul, giving the insurgents control of a strategic road junction linking Kabul to the north and west, according to insurgents and local officials.
Two officials in the city told the Guardian it fell to Taliban after heavy fighting on Tuesday, with officials and security forces abandoning their compounds.
Continue reading...Free Latifa’s co-founder, Latifa’s cousin Marcus Essabri, was photographed with her in Iceland
The organisers of a campaign to free Princess Latifa, who was captured three years ago trying to leave Dubai by her father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, have disbanded it after the latest photograph of the princess out with friends emerged, and her cousin, the campaign’s co-founder, confirmed he had seen her looking happy and well.
A photo of Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum and her cousin, Marcus Essabri, in Iceland along with Sioned Taylor, a British woman who has previously appeared in pictures with Latifa, was posted on Taylor’s Instagram account on Monday. Latifa has not yet spoken publicly.
Continue reading...Politicians around world continue to respond to report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Food production around the world will suffer as global heating reaches 1.5C, with serious effects on the food supply in the next two decades, scientists have warned, following the biggest scientific report yet on the climate crisis.
Rising temperatures will mean there will be more times of year when temperatures exceed what crops can stand, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its sixth assessment report published on Monday.
Continue reading...Panel says country should also continue to pursue ambitious Covid elimination strategy, even after border reopens
New Zealand should take a phased approach to reopening its border but not before a high percentage of the population is vaccinated, according to an expert governmental advisory panel.
The advice’s release comes a day before the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is expected to make an announcement on the government’s approach to the reopening of the country on Thursday.
Continue reading...Armoured vehicles roll through streets of Brasília as congress prepares to vote on plans to change Brazil’s voting system
Critics have denounced Jair Bolsonaro’s “banana republic-style” decision to send combat vehicles on to the streets of Brazil’s capital for a rare military parade in what was widely seen as a beleaguered president’s ham-fisted attempt to project strength.
Bolsonaro, whose ratings have plunged as a result of his chaotic response to the Covid pandemic, looked on from the marble ramp outside the presidential palace as a motorcade of armoured vehicles trundled past on Tuesday morning.
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