More than a billion sea creatures across the Pacific north-west perished in this year’s heatwave. And it’s just a taste of what’s to come
When forecasts foreshadowed the Pacific north-west’s devastating heatwave at the end of June, marine biologist Christopher Harley was alarmed and intrigued.
Then came the smell, and his feelings somberly shifted.
Continue reading...The Senate convened for a rare weekend session on Saturday with the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, encouraging the authors of a bipartisan infrastructure plan to finish writing their bill.
Related: Trump tries to defend ‘just say the election was corrupt’ demand to DoJ
Continue reading...The bodies of 19 people exhumed from an Oklahoma cemetery during a search for victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre were reburied in a closed ceremony on Friday, despite objections from protesters outside the cemetery.
Continue reading...Donald Trump insisted on Saturday that when he told senior justice department officials to “Just say that the election was corrupt [and] leave the rest to me”, he was not attempting to subvert US democracy, but to “uphold the integrity and honesty of elections and the sanctity of our vote”.
Related: IRS must turn over Trump tax returns to Congress, DoJ says
Continue reading...The CDC has advised people to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, prompting a political fight in several US states
On Wednesday, Georgia governor Brian Kemp used his official Twitter account to say his state “will not lock down or impose statewide mask mandates”.
Related: California expands Covid restrictions as Delta variant threat grows
Continue reading...The Hudson Yards development in midtown Manhattan is facing calls to dismantle the Vessel, its huge sculptural centrepiece, after a fourth person in less than two years jumped from the 150ft structure.
Related: 'We never thought it would happen': Thomas Heatherwick's $200m gamble
Continue reading...Smoke, closed businesses and constant worry have changed life for those living with disaster on their doorstep
The Dixie fire was consuming vast swaths of land in the Sierra Nevada foothills, but in the nearby valley city of Chico, California, it was a typical summer day.
The temperature had already climbed past 102F and a dusting of smoke was pushing air quality to unhealthy levels. Yet at the One Mile city park on Wednesday, college students lay in the shade of oak trees, kids splashed around Sycamore Pool and cyclists raced by.
Continue reading...2021 is already the deadliest year on record for Florida manatees. Scientists and activists are scrambling to avert further disaster
On a bright morning in July, a crowd gathered on a boat ramp in St Augustine, Florida, awaiting the arrival of a young male manatee named Gerard. The marshy Matanzas River gently flowed around oyster beds and sawgrass islands as biologists organized their equipment. Nearby about a dozen onlookers paced by the shore, waiting to catch a glimpse of Gerard’s return to the wild following weeks of captivity.
Earlier in spring, beachgoers discovered Gerard stranded and sunbaked in Palm Coast, about 25 miles south of St Augustine, on the Atlantic Ocean. Samaritans draped wet towels over the feeble marine mammal, keeping him cool and shaded from the subtropical sun, as a rescue team raced to the scene. Gravely thin, Gerard was transported to Jacksonville Zoo, where he spent the next 10 weeks in critical care until he was plump enough to re-enter the wild.
Continue reading...Progressives had hoped for fewer Biden allies, more foreign service professionals
Joe Biden is sticking to tradition as he slowly fills the vacancies in the ranks of ambassadors across the world, focussing on mixing longtime career diplomatic officials with figures with strong ties to himself and the Democratic party.
Among Biden’s expected picks is Caroline Kennedy, former US ambassador to Japan, daughter of the former president, and longtime Biden friend, ally and donor, to be ambassador to Australia. He has picked the Los Angeles mayor, Eric Garcetti, who was a prominent Biden surrogate on the presidential campaign trail, to be ambassador to India, despite a relative lack of foreign policy experience. And the president is also widely expected to name the former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel ambassador to Japan.
Continue reading...US actor, 58. makes first public statement since collapsing on set of Better Call Saul earlier this week
Bob Odenkirk, the actor and star of Better Call Saul, said Friday that he “had a small heart attack” but will “be back soon”.
Related: Nobody review – Bob Odenkirk is a blast in action man mode
Continue reading...Department says House panel has ‘sufficient reasons’ for requesting returns as Nancy Pelosi hails ‘victory for the rule of law’
The US Department of Justice on Friday ordered the Internal Revenue Service to hand Donald Trump’s tax returns to a House committee, saying the panel had “invoked sufficient reasons” for requesting them.
Related: Trump pressured DoJ officials to falsely claim election corrupt, memos show
Continue reading...Rochelle Walensky says ‘extreme’ measures needed to counter threat of virus that can be spread even by vaccinated people
The Delta variant spreads much faster, is more likely to infect the vaccinated, and could potentially trigger more severe illness in the unvaccinated compared with all other known variants, according to an internal report compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The document, a slide presentation prepared by officials within the US’s health protection agency first obtained by the Washington Post, warned that the Delta variant is as infectious as chickenpox, and argues that government officials must “acknowledge the war has changed” given how dangerous the variant is.
Continue reading...House speaker Nancy Pelosi noted in a letter to colleagues that only $3bn of $46bn allocated for rental aid in the American Rescue Plan had been spent
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Democratic congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the House oversight committee, said the notes painted a damning picture of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election.
“These handwritten notes show that President Trump directly instructed our nation’s top law enforcement agency to take steps to overturn a free and fair election in the final days of his presidency,” Maloney said in a statement.
Continue reading...J Lo and Ben Affleck did it, but experts urge restraint after lockdown prompts ‘rekindled romance’ dating trend
Relationship experts have warned against romanticising the idea of getting back with your ex-partner, after it was confirmed that one of the most famous celebrity couples of the early noughties – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck – were indeed back together.
Last week, the actor and singer thrilled fans when they recreated a famous intimate image from J-Lo’s 2002 music video for Jenny from the Block to mark her 52nd birthday, 17 years after their break up.
Continue reading...Top Biden administration official reportedly raised questions about spyware sold by NSO Group
The White House has raised concerns with top Israeli officials about allegations that spyware sold by Israeli surveillance company NSO Group has been used by governments around the world to monitor journalists and activists and – potentially – government officials with close ties to the US.
Brett McGurk, a top Biden administration adviser on the Middle East, raised questions privately about NSO in a meeting last week with Zohar Palti, a senior Israeli defence ministry official, according to reports by Axios and the Washington Post.
Continue reading...Congress members Joyce Beatty and Hank Johnson were previously arrested for participating in separate demonstrations
Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democratic representative of Texas, was arrested in Washington DC on Thursday while protesting lawmakers’ delay in passing legislation to protect voting rights, becoming the third member of the Congressional Black Caucus to be arrested for civil disobedience in recent weeks.
Related: Voting curbs enacted in 18 US states this year despite none finding widespread fraud
Continue reading...Rule would affect more than 2m civilian employees, but Republicans continue to block preventive measures
Joe Biden has announced that all civilian federal workers must show proof of vaccination against the coronavirus or face regular testing and stringent physical distancing, masking and travel restrictions.
Facing a daunting political test as the Delta variant cuts a swath through unvaccinated Americans, the president outlined a more aggressive approach by the federal government and expressed hope that it would offer a model for corporate employers.
Continue reading...The actor claims that the studio breached her contract by releasing her standalone Marvel adventure on Disney+
Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney over the recent release of Black Widow.
The actor is claiming that the studio’s decision to launch her first, and last, Marvel standalone film on Disney+ as well as cinemas is a breach of contract.
Continue reading...Teachers, who worked in Monroe, Washington, said they suffered brain damage from exposure to PCBs in fluorescent lighting
Three schoolteachers in Washington state who sued the chemical company Monsanto over exposure to materials in fluorescent lights have been awarded $185m.
The law firm that represented the teachers, Friedman Rubin, said a jury returned the verdict on Tuesday in King county superior court. The teachers, who worked at the Sky Valley education center in Monroe, Washington, said they suffered brain damage from exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, in the fluorescent lighting at the school.
Continue reading...People coming to the aid of the Wet’suwet’en nation to stop a pipeline are using direct action that is prompting terror charges
The night of 28 November, Samantha Brooks, 24, hunched over the railway tracks near Bellingham, Washington, about 32km (20 miles) south of the Canada-US border and installed a “shunt,” according to trial documents obtained by the Guardian.
Related: Dakota access pipeline: court strikes down permits in victory for Standing Rock Sioux
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