The actor has announced he will speak live online to the director on 28 June
Alec Baldwin has announced he is to interview Woody Allen on Instagram Live on 28 June.
The actor made the announcement on his own Instagram account, with a note which sought to pre-empt criticism of the move.
Continue reading...President speaks on video link, as leaders discuss economic measures and US confirms plans to send air defence system
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged G7 leaders gathered in Germany to help end the war in Ukraine by the winter as they planned new economic measures against Russia and vowed to “stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes”.
A six-page communique from the group of seven industrialised countries – the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and Italy – said it was “committed to helping Ukraine to end Russia’s war … to defend itself and to choose its future”. It said it would provide materials, training, logistics, intelligence and economic support.
Continue reading...Employees say staff shortages and low pay are causing donors to leave before giving blood, amid delays over union contract
The American Red Cross, which controls about 40% of the blood supply in the US, declared a national blood shortage in January, the worst shortage in over a decade.
The Red Cross emphasized decreasing blood donations as a driving factor for shortages, citing a 10% decline in the number of people donating blood during the pandemic. The shortage has continued across the US in recent months.
Continue reading...Second world war ship found broken in two at depth of 22,916 feet in Philippines at ‘hallowed war grave’
A US navy destroyer that engaged a superior Japanese fleet in the largest sea battle of the second world war in the Philippines has become the deepest shipwreck to be discovered, according to explorers.
The USS Samuel B Roberts, popularly known as the “Sammy B”, was identified on Wednesday broken into two pieces on a slope at a depth of 22,916 feet (6,985m), or about four miles.
Continue reading...Tech firms and banks, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, add ‘critical healthcare’ package
Many US corporate giants have moved swiftly to provide support and financial assistance to employees seeking abortions in states that outlawed the procedure following the US supreme court’s decision on Friday to overturn its landmark Roe v Wade ruling.
With potentially millions of women soon looking to cross state lines for the procedure, many employers have added “critical healthcare” packages to employees benefit packages.
Continue reading...Top Democrats again call for appointing additional justices to blunt conservative super-majority which made ruling possible
Leading Democrats on Sunday continued calling the supreme court’s legitimacy into question after it took away the nationwide right to abortion last week, and some again lobbied for appointing additional justices to the panel so as to blunt the conservative super-majority which made the controversial ruling possible.
The Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren suggested to ABC’s This Week that there was urgency to do that because supreme court justice Clarence Thomas indicated within Friday’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling that he’s open to reconsidering precedents guaranteeing contraception, same-sex marriage rights and consensual gay sex.
Continue reading...In New York demonstrations fell on Pride weekend, as thousands gathered downtown to celebrate and give voice to anger
Protests over a US supreme court decision that overturned abortion rights continued across the country this weekend. In New York, thousands marched to voice their anger at the ruling that came at the end of a dizzying week around not just reproductive rights but also gun carry laws and the US Capitol attack.
“Not your uterus, not your choice,” many shouted as the demonstrations progressed in Washington DC., New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta and Austin.
Continue reading...Move prompts Maxwell’s attorney to seek to postpone her sentencing because she can’t properly prepare for the hearing
Guards at the federal prison where Ghislaine Maxwell awaits her sentencing for her role in an elaborate child sexual abuse case have placed her on suicide watch, though she isn’t suicidal, according to court records.
The move prompted the British socialite’s attorney to write a letter telling the judge in the case that Maxwell would seek to postpone her sentencing Tuesday because she can’t properly prepare for the hearing. Prison officials on Friday took away Maxwell’s legal papers – along with her regular clothes, toothpaste and soap – while putting her in solitary confinement and on suicide watch, said the letter from her attorney Bobby Sternheim.
Continue reading...The email from Alabama’s Mo Brooks potentially reveals what conduct by lawmakers he feared might be criminal
When the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack revealed the evidence that showed Republican members of Congress sought preemptive presidential pardons after January 6, one of the most striking requests came from Congressman Mo Brooks.
The request from Brooks to the Trump White House came in an 11 January 2021 email – obtained by the Guardian – that asked for all-purpose, preemptive pardons for lawmakers involved in objecting to the certification of Joe Biden’s election win.
Continue reading...Sophia Smith scored twice in the second half and the US women’s national team beat Colombia 3-0 on Saturday night to extend their home unbeaten streak to 68 games, but many of the players had a seismic legal ruling on their minds.
Smith scored her first in the 54th minute off a pass from Rose Lavelle when Colombian goalkeeper Catalina Perez came out of her goal. She added her second in the 60th minute. Smith, who plays for the Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Soccer League, has six international goals.
Continue reading...Legal scholar Lawrence Tribe: ‘We’re in for a long, tangled, chaotic and, in terms of human suffering, horribly costly struggle’
Joe Biden on Saturday renewed his criticism of the supreme court, a day after justices handed down a historic ruling that overturned a ruling that had guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion for almost half a century.
“The supreme court has made some terrible decisions,” Biden said at an event where he signed last week’s bipartisan gun control bill into law. The president said he and the first lady, Jill Biden, knew “how painful and devastating the decision is for so many Americans” and vowed that his administration would focus on how states implement the decision.
Continue reading...Searing public testimony illustrates extreme reluctance of police chief to let his officers put a stop to the carnage
Ruben Ruiz, a school district police officer in Uvalde, Texas, was standing in a hallway outside the classroom where his wife taught fourth-graders a couple of days before summer break. His wife, Eva Mireles, had just called his cellphone, begging for help after an intruder had shot her and her students.
Ruiz was among 18 officers who had rushed over to his wife’s school, Robb elementary, in response to reports of an active shooter. He was ready to charge in with a few of his fellow law enforcement officers, battle the 18-year-old rifleman who had invaded the campus, and hopefully save his wife and her students.
Continue reading...Pro-choice campaigners say hearing the term, seen as partisan, on Today programme was ‘disappointing’
One of the BBC’s most high-profile presenters has been criticised for using the term “pro-life” to describe anti-abortion campaigners in a discussion about the US supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.
The term, which is considered partisan, was used twice by Amol Rajan during Saturday morning’s Today programme on Radio 4, in segments about the landmark ruling ending Americans’ constitutional right to abortion.
Continue reading...Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh said they would not overturn landmark abortion ruling, Susan Collins and Joe Manchin say
When the supreme court decided on Friday to overturn Roe v Wade, several senators who recently approved justices responsible for this decision said they felt deceived. These politicians pointed to prior statements from Trump appointees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch; both male judges had claimed they would not overturn Roe.
“I feel misled,” the Maine senator Susan Collins told the New York Times. In a lengthy meeting on 21 August 2018, the Republican reportedly grilled Kavanaugh to explain why he could be trusted not to overturn Roe.
Continue reading...EU foreign affairs chief says stalemate broken after meeting with Iranian foreign minister in Tehran
Josep Borrell, the EU foreign affairs chief, has said talks will restart on the Iran nuclear deal, averting a complete collapse in the agreement which could spark a nuclear arms race across the Middle East.
After a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Tehran, Borrell said he had broken the stalemate which had led to talks on the revival of the nuclear deal being stalled since March. Borrell gave no detail about the exact date of the resumption of talks or the precise format, but said the process had the agreement of Iran and the US. He also met Iran’s national security chief Ali Shamkhani.
Continue reading...Constitutional law would cement abortion rights for future generations, says member of parliament
A group of lawmakers from the French president’s party will propose a bill to inscribe abortion rights into the country’s constitution, according to a statement by two members of parliament on Saturday.
The move comes after the US supreme court overturned a 50-year-old ruling and stripped women’s constitutional protections for abortion.
Continue reading...Attorneys argue sentencing hearing should not hear from four accusers because their ages did not legally qualify them as victims
Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers are fighting to keep several accusers from providing victim impact statements at her sentencing for sex trafficking on Tuesday. The British socialite’s legal team argued in court filings on Friday that four accusers’ ages meant that they were not “statutory crime victims” who would have the right to speak at sentencing.
In making their arguments, Maxwell’s legal team publicly included three impact statements, which were submitted to Judge Alison Nathan in advance of sentencing; this appears to be an unusual move, as prosecutors typically file these remarks. This seemingly unusual move also means that Maxwell’s lawyers – not the victims and not those representing them – made the decision about when the victims’ words would be public.
Continue reading...Bipartisan deal ‘doesn’t do everything I want’, president says, but will toughen background checks and facilitate ‘red flag’ laws
Joe Biden on Saturday signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades, a bipartisan compromise that seemed unimaginable until a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
“Lives will be saved,” the president said at the White House. Citing the families of shooting victims, the president said, “Their message to us was to do something. Well today, we did.”
Continue reading...Utah among first states to outlaw almost all abortions, while mayor of Washington DC declares it ‘pro-choice city’
Abortion was already illegal in multiple US states on Saturday, with bans introduced within hours of Roe v Wade being overturned, as cities erupted in protest at the landmark ruling.
It came after the US supreme court on Friday abolished the constitutional right to abortion, more than 50 years after it was established, leaving individual states to decide. It is ultimately expected to lead to abortion bans in about half of the states.
Continue reading...With Roe v Wade overturned, government could go to court over how mifepristone is approved for use
Joe Biden’s administration has indicated it will seek to prevent states from banning a pill used for medical abortion in light of the supreme court ruling overturning Roe v Wade, signalling a major new legal fight.
The administration could argue in court that the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, one of the pills used for medical abortions, preempts state restrictions, meaning federal authority outweighs any state action.
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