Democrats in states across US seek to offer legal refuge to trans youth

Effort by state legislators follows California’s lead in responding to wave of Republican laws targeting transgender kids and families

Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states are following California’s lead in seeking to offer legal refuge to displaced transgender youth and their families.

The coordinated effort, which was announced on Tuesday by the LGBTQ Victory Institute and other advocates, comes in response to recent actions taken in conservative states. In Texas, for example, Gregg Abbott, the governor, has directed state agencies to consider placing trans children in foster care, though a judge has temporarily blocked such investigations. And multiple states have approved measures prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare treatments for trans youth.

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Erosion of abortion rights gathers pace around the world as US signals new era

A leaked supreme court draft ruling shows the US is set to end 50 years of a woman’s right to choose. Elsewhere, the battle still rages

In 2022, abortion remains one of the most controversial and bitterly contested ethical and political battlegrounds. It is illegal for women to terminate their pregnancies in any circumstance in 24 countries, with a further 37 restricting access in any case except when the mother’s life is in danger.

As a leaked document signals that the US supreme court is poised to strike down the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade, millions of American women face losing their access to legal abortions, joining millions more living in those countries rejecting a woman’s right to choose.

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‘It will be chaos’: 26 states in US will ban abortion if supreme court ruling stands

Regulation would be returned to states where lawmakers in south and midwest have enacted bans in anticipation of court’s decision

More than half of US states will outlaw abortion immediately or as soon as practicable, if a leaked draft decision from five supreme court justices remains substantially unchanged.

The result would send hundreds of thousands of people in 26 states hostile to abortion elsewhere to terminate a pregnancy – either by traveling hundreds of miles to an abortion clinic or seeking to self-manage abortion through medication from grassroots or illicit groups.

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US shaken to its core by supreme court draft that would overturn Roe v Wade

Biden condemns abortion opinion that, if handed down, would mean ‘fundamental shift’ in law and imperil many other rights

US politics – live coverage

Joe Biden has warned that a leaked draft supreme court ruling overturning Roe v Wade, the 1973 case which guaranteed the right to abortion, would represent a huge change in America law and could imperil a wide range of other civil rights.

In a historic moment that shook the US to the core and highlighted jagged social and political divisions, the court confirmed the draft was authentic but said it did not “represent a decision by the court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case”.

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Drone carrying guns into Canada from US intercepted after crashing into tree

Police in Port Lambton, Ontario, called after device carrying shopping bag of guns flew into tree and operator fled in vehicle

Police in Canada have intercepted a drone which crossed the border from the United States carrying a shopping bag with nearly a dozen handguns – but only after the pilot crashed the device into a nearby tree.

Officers in southern Ontario were called to a home near the town of Port Lambton, north-east of Detroit, after residents reported seeing a stranger maneuvering a commercial drone.

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Ukrainian refugees waiting at Mexico camp urge US to open doors

Fifty to 100 people arriving at camp every day as some told at US border in Tijuana they would no longer be admitted

On a dusty field on the east side of Mexico’s sprawling capital, about 500 Ukrainian refugees are waiting in large tents under a searing sun for the United States government to tell them they can come.

The camp has only been open a week and 50 to 100 people are arriving every day. Some have already been to the US border in Tijuana where they were told they would no longer be admitted. Others arrived at airports in Mexico City or Cancún, anywhere they could find a ticket from Europe.

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‘Supersonic ballet’: helicopter briefly catches falling rocket

Rocket Lab test successfully hooks booster in midair before having to drop it into South Pacific

A space company has briefly managed to catch a falling rocket using a helicopter and a hook in a test described by its chief executive as “something of a supersonic ballet”.

The test was part of Rocket Lab’s attempts to find relatively low-cost ways of recovering rockets for multiple missions to space.

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‘An abomination’: how campaigners reacted to report on US supreme court’s draft decision on Roe v Wade

Leaked initial draft majority opinion suggests court is poised to overturn ruling that legalised abortion across US

A leaked initial draft majority opinion suggests the US supreme court is poised to overturn the Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion nationwide, Politico reported on Monday.

The unprecedented leak stunned Washington. It holds the potential to reshape the political landscape ahead of US midterm elections in November. Following is some reaction to the report:

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Fashion’s biggest night, the 2022 Met Gala – as it happened

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That dress deserves another look – Lively really has gone all-in:

Gala co-chairs Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively have made their entrance.

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Jury gives sweeping win to Kardashians in $100m Blac Chyna lawsuit

Los Angeles jury finds Kardashian family did not convince the E! network to cancel Chyna’s reality show Rob & Chyna

A Los Angeles jury has given a sweeping win to the Kardashian family in former reality TV star Blac Chyna’s lawsuit against them, finding that none of the Kardashians had defamed Chyna, nor did they interfere with her contract by convincing the E! network to cancel her show Rob & Chyna.

The four Kardashian defendants Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Khloé Kardashian and Kylie Jenner attended nearly the entire trial, but when the verdict was read all were in New York at the Met Gala.

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Supreme court voted to overturn Roe v Wade abortion law, leaked draft opinion reportedly shows

In an unprecedented revelation, a document written by Justice Samuel Alito says ‘Roe was egregiously wrong from the start’

The US supreme court has provisionally voted to overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that legalised abortion nationwide in America, according to a draft opinion reported on by Politico.

In what appeared to be a stunning and unprecedented leak, Politico said on Monday evening it had obtained an initial majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated in the court on 10 February.

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Drought-starved Lake Mead reveals a decades-old barrel with a body inside

Water levels at the Nevada reservoir have depleted to such a level that officials predict more grim finds in the future

A body inside a barrel was found over the weekend on the the newly exposed bottom of Nevada’s Lake Mead as drought depletes one of the largest US reservoirs – and officials predicted the discovery could be just the first of more grim finds.

“I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains,” Las Vegas police Lt Ray Spencer told KLAS-TV on Monday.

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British Virgin Islands premier demands release from US custody in cocaine case

Andrew Fahie was arrested last week in a US Drug Enforcement Administration sting as he was preparing to board a private jet

The premier of the British Virgin Islands has demanded his immediate release from US custody, arguing he is immune from prosecution on cocaine-smuggling charges because he is the elected, constitutional head of government of the British overseas territory.

An attorney for Andrew Fahie made the request in a filing with Miami federal court on Monday.

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Biden will meet with parents of US journalist abducted in Syria 10 years ago

Marc and Debra Tice are expected to meet with the president at the White House to speak about their son, Austin Tice

Joe Biden said he was meeting Monday with the parents of American journalist Austin Tice, who was abducted in Syria 10 years ago.

The meeting with Marc and Debra Tice was expected to take place at the White House.

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Square Enix sells its western studios and hits such as Tomb Raider for $300m

Japanese gaming company behind Final Fantasy series secures deal with Sweden-based Embracer

The Japanese gaming company behind Final Fantasy is selling off three studios, including the rights to hit franchises including Tomb Raider, in a $300m (£240m) deal.

Tokyo-based Square Enix has sold US-headquartered Crystal Dynamics and Canada-based Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal to the Nasdaq-listed Swedish gaming group Embracer.

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Ukraine hopes to evacuate more civilians from Mariupol | First Thing

Zelenskiy said about 100 civilians who sheltered in steelworks would arrive in Zaporizhzhia today. Plus, the tense wait for a supernova

Good morning.

Ukrainian authorities are planning to evacuate more civilians from Mariupol today, after dozens were finally brought to safety following weeks trapped under heavy fire in the strategic port city’s Azovstal steel complex.

How many people are still trapped in Mariupol? As many as 100,000 people are believed to be in the blockaded city, which has endured some of the most terrible suffering of the Russian invasion. These include 1,000 civilians and 2,000 Ukrainian fighters thought to be sheltering underneath the Soviet-era steelworks.

Will Biden’s Ukraine aid request be approved? Joe Biden’s $33bn request to Congress for more aid for Ukraine is likely to receive swift approval from lawmakers, a senior Republican said on Sunday, as the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, made a surprise visit to the war-riven country.

What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 68 of the invasion.

What did Kinzinger say? The June hearings will involve laying out “what led to January 6, the lies after the election, fundraising, the 187 minutes the president basically sat in the Oval Office [as the Capitol was attacked] … the response by [the Department of Defense],” he said.

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Gator aid: Florida couple call for help after can-do alligator drinks Diet Cokes

Uninvited guest surprised Naples homeowners when they opened door to garage after hearing a crash

A gregarious Florida alligator seemingly could not wait for a family’s birthday party to begin, so it slipped into a garage where supplies were being stored and chugged down a slab of Diet Coke.

The uninvited guest surprised Naples homeowners Karyn and Jamie Dobson when they opened the connecting door from their house after hearing a crash, WINK News reported.

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American Idol winner Laine Hardy arrested after allegedly spying on woman

Louisiana college student found hidden audio recording device and told police she feared musician planted it there

Three years ago, Laine Hardy tasted superstardom by winning American Idol. Last week, the 21-year-old landed in the headlines for a different reason.

A college student in Hardy’s home state, Louisiana, looked under her dormitory bed, found a hidden audio recording device and told police she feared the musician planted it there.

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Trump or no Trump: Asa Hutchinson mulls run for president in 2024

Republican Arkansas governor says he would not be deterred by former president in party in wrong over January 6 insurrection

The Arkansas governor, Asa Hutchinson, is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and would not be deterred if Donald Trump made an expected bid to return to the White House.

“No, it won’t [deter me],” Hutchinson told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.

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Netflix drops Meghan’s animated series amid cutbacks – report

Pearl was to have focused on the adventures of a 12-year-old girl inspired by historically influential female figures

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has fallen victim to cutbacks at Netflix, according to a US report that said the struggling streaming giant has dropped plans for her animated series Pearl.

Announced to fanfare last summer, with Meghan as its creator and executive producer, the “family series” was to have focused on the adventures of a 12-year-old girl inspired by historically influential female figures.

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