‘Pile of bricks’ artist Carl Andre dies at 88

Famed and derided for his minimalist aesthetic, the artist’s career was overshadowed by suspicions about his role in the death of his wife Ana Mendieta

Carl Andre, the minimalist sculptor whose life’s work was overshadowed by accusations that he had murdered his third wife, has died aged 88.

The artist was a pioneer of minimalism, and famed for austere works such as 1966’s Equivalent VIII, an arrangement of 120 fire bricks on the gallery floor. But he was also notorious for being a suspect in the murder of Ana Mendieta, who fell from the couple’s apartment window after an argument in 1985. Despite being acquitted of second-degree murder in 1988, the accusations continued to follow Andre for the rest of his life, with supporters of Mendieta turning up to protest at his exhibitions.

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Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro to be sentenced for contempt of Congress

Navarro, trade adviser during Trump presidency, convicted over refusal to comply with subpoena from January 6 committee

The former Trump adviser Peter Navarro faces sentencing on Thursday on two counts of contempt of Congress, arising from his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on Congress.

The mandatory minimum sentence is two months in prison, one for each count. Prosecutors in the case, which saw Navarro convicted in federal court in Washington DC in September, asked for 12 months prison time and a $200,000 fine.

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Grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 planes can return to service after inspection, says FAA

US regulator makes announcement hours after CEO says planemaker will only allow jets to fly when ‘100%’ certain of safety

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved an inspection and maintenance process to allow grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to return to service, following a cabin panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight.

“The exhaustive, enhanced review our team completed after several weeks of information gathering gives me and the FAA confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase,” FAA administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement.

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Tesla delivers underwhelming earnings despite Cybertruck launch and high vehicle deliveries

Electric vehicle manufacturer’s earnings in the fourth quarter of 2023 missed analyst expectations

Despite putting a new vehicle on the market, announcing another for 2025 and beating Wall Street’s expectations for vehicle deliveries, Tesla was not able to shake off its disappointing third quarter.

The electric vehicle manufacturer brought in $25.1bn in revenue and posted $.71 in earnings a share in the fourth quarter of 2023, missing analyst expectations of 25.76bn in revenue and $0.74 earnings a share. The company’s fourth quarter revenue increased 3% year over year from $24.3bn in 2022.

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Tim Scott’s behaviour around Trump is ‘humiliating’, says the Rev Al Sharpton

‘It was humiliating to watch,’ civil rights leader tells MSNBC after senator appeared with ex-president in New Hampshire

The South Carolina Republican senator Tim Scott’s behaviour around Donald Trump is “humiliating”, the civil rights leader Rev Al Sharpton said.

“It was humiliating to watch what Tim Scott did as a sitting senator,” Sharpton told MSNBC, for which he hosts a show, after Scott appeared with Trump in New Hampshire, where the former president won the Republican presidential primary on Tuesday.

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Ohio senate overrides governor and blocks trans youth from receiving care

Mike DeWine had vetoed a bill banning trans minors from getting gender-affirming care and playing on sports teams

Ohio’s state senate has voted to override the governor Mike DeWine’s veto of a bill that bans transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming care, and their ability to play on sports teams, on Wednesday.

The bill, HB68, prohibits doctors from providing gender-affirming care – such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgeries – to trans youths. It also blocks transgender female student athletes from participating on girls’ sports teams.

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More than one-third of Americans believe Israel is committing genocide, poll shows

Poll released Wednesday shows divisions by age and political lines, with 35% overall saying campaign against Palestinians is genocide

More than one in three Americans believe Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, a poll published on Wednesday has found.

According to the Economist/YouGov poll, roughly equal numbers of adults believe Israel’s military campaign against Palestinians, which is estimated to have killed more than 25,000 people since 7 October, amounts to genocide: 35% say it is, 36% say it isn’t, with 29% undecided.

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Biden administration reportedly pauses approval of ‘carbon mega bomb’ gas export hub

Calcasieu Pass 2, positioned near the rapidly eroding Louisiana shoreline, would be the biggest such export terminal in the US

The Biden administration will reportedly pause a decision on approving what would be one of the world’s largest gas export hubs, amid concern from climate experts that greenlighting the project would create a “carbon mega bomb”.

The project, Calcasieu Pass 2, or CP2, would be positioned near the rapidly eroding Louisiana shoreline and be the biggest such export terminal in the US and part of a huge expansion of new gas infrastructure along the Gulf of Mexico.

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US navy escorts cargo ships to safety after Houthi missile attack from Yemen

Two vessels forced to turn around as Iran-aligned group continues strikes against Red Sea shipping

Two ships sailing close to the Gulf of Aden were forced to seek the support of the US navy after explosions were heard nearby, as the Houthi group kept up their assault on commercial shipping off the coast of Yemen.

The Houthis have said their attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinians as Israel bombards Gaza. The ships belonging to the Danish shipping company Maersk came under attack from three anti-ship missiles near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the US central command (Centcom) said. No damage was caused either to the Maersk Detroit or the Maersk Chesapeake.

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Canadian firm under fire for supplying equipment for Alabama execution

Private equity firm Onex Corp partly owns company that makes mask for use in untested nitrogen hypoxia execution method

A Canadian company is facing criticism for allegedly supplying the equipment for a state execution in the United States, in a case that has drawn outrage for the reliance on a seemingly untested method of execution.

On Thursday, Alabama plans to kill inmate Kenneth Smith by suffocating him with nitrogen gas, a method never before used in the country.

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Nikki Haley vows to fight on after Trump’s victory in New Hampshire – US politics live

Donald Trump double digit win makes November rematch with Joe Biden more likely, but Haley says ‘this race is far from over’

Eric Bradner at CNN writes that it is difficult to see where a Nikki Haley victory is coming from, despite them promising big spending. He said:

What is not clear is where Haley could actually notch a victory against Trump. She isn’t participating in the Nevada caucuses on 8 February (she will instead be on the state’s primary ballot, which won’t lead to her winning any delegates), and polls in her home state of South Carolina – where the 24 February primary will be the next major showdown – show Trump with a huge lead.

Haley is likely to face immense pressure to depart the race in coming days. She’ll face questions about whether she’ll follow a path similar to Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who vowed to continue on after his second-place finish in last week’s Iowa caucuses – and then he dropped out days later.

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Trump-Biden rematch increasingly inevitable after New Hampshire primary

Ex-president in strong position to seize Republican nomination after sweeping first two contests of 2024 primary season

A sweep of the first two nominating contests on the 2024 primary season left Donald Trump in a strong position to seize the Republican party nomination, and made a rematch with Joe Biden even more inevitable.

Trump’s Republican rival, Nikki Haley, vowed to fight on despite her second place finish in New Hampshire, a state where she had hoped for an upset, and her third place finish in the Iowa caucuses. But she faces long odds. There is no precedent for a candidate winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and losing their party’s nomination.

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Iraq accuses US of ‘reckless escalation’ of regional violence after latest strikes

Pentagon calls overnight attacks ‘necessary and proportionate’, after US personnel were injured in a weekend attack in Iraq

US strikes against militias in Iraq have prompted the most scathing criticism yet from Baghdad, with the prime minister’s office accusing Washington of contributing to a “reckless escalation” of regional violence.

The Pentagon announced earlier on Wednesday that it had carried out overnight retaliatory strikes against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militias in response to its own forces coming under attack at an Iraqi airbase at the weekend.

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Nose wheel falls off Boeing 757 airliner waiting for takeoff

Delta Air Lines jet was due to depart Atlanta international airport and none of the crew or passengers were hurt

A nose wheel fell off a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 passenger jet and rolled away as the plane lined up for takeoff over the weekend from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson international airport in the US, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

According to a preliminary FAA notice, none of the 184 passengers or six crew members aboard were hurt in the incident.

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Trump turns into sinister playground bully in New Hampshire victory lap

Ex-president follows up his Iowa win with victory over Nikki Haley – and makes threats against his last Republican primary rival

The cruelty is the point.

As Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday night, Donald Trump now has the Republican presidential nomination sewn up. But like a Roman emperor or mob boss, Trump used his victory speech in New Hampshire to humiliate his former opponents – and make sinister threats against his last primary rival.

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Joe Biden wins New Hampshire’s Democratic primary with write-in votes

Incumbent refused to campaign in the state and had to rely on write-in campaign powered by his allies and surrogates

Joe Biden has won New Hampshire’s Democratic presidential primary, even though the incumbent refused to campaign in the state and had to rely on a write-in campaign powered by his allies and surrogates to secure a victory.

Leading up to election day in New Hampshire, much more attention was paid to the Republican presidential primary, in which Donald Trump easily defeated Nikki Haley. But the results of the Democratic primary could provide additional clues about the general election in November.

Trump wins Republican primary in New Hampshire

Key dates for the 2024 election

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Nikki Haley chases upset in bitter New Hampshire face-off with Trump

Polls open in state’s primary in what may be last chance Republicans have to stop ex-president from securing nomination

New Hampshire held its primary on Tuesday, seen by many as the last chance for Republicans to stop Donald Trump seizing their presidential nomination for a third time, as Nikki Haley chased an upset.

Would New Hampshire voters stand by Trump, the winner in Iowa last week, or would they put Haley in striking distance or even hand her a win?

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New Hampshire primary: Biden warns US democracy at stake as Trump races closer to Republican presidential nomination – as it happened

This blog is now closed. You can read our latest reporting here:

We are a ways out from the 5 November election itself, but after today’s primary in New Hampshire the election events start coming thick and fast until we reach Super Tuesday on 5 March. If you need it, here is a handy timeline of how the process unfolds throughout the year.

Former US secretary of labor Robert Reich has written for the Guardian today, and is scathing about what he says is the way that the media are making a big deal of Trump’s performance in the campaign so far:

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Michigan school shooter’s mother on trial for manslaughter in student deaths

Prosecutors say parents made gun accessible to Ethan Crumbley and ignored his mental health needs

Jury selection began on Tuesday in the trial of the mother of a teenager who carried out a deadly mass shooting at his school on involuntary manslaughter charges in an unusual effort to pin criminal responsibility on the shooter’s parents for the deaths of four students.

Jennifer and James Crumbley are not accused of knowing their son planned to kill fellow students at Oxford high school in 2021. But prosecutors said they made a gun accessible to Ethan Crumbley, ignored his mental health needs and declined to take him home when confronted with his violent drawings at school on the day of the attack.

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China’s human rights record criticised at UN as it faces rare scrutiny of policies

UK, US and others use universal periodic review to speak out over Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong

The UK, the US and several other countries criticised China’s human rights record on Tuesday as the country was subjected to rare scrutiny of its policies at the United Nations.

The UK called on China to “cease the persecution and arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and Tibetans and allow genuine freedom of religion or belief and cultural expression without fear of surveillance, torture, forced labour or sexual violence”, while the US said China should “release all arbitrarily detained individuals” and cease the operation of “forcible assimilation policies including boarding schools in Tibet and Xinjiang”.

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