Outrage after actor reveals he retired word only after his daughter told him that it was unacceptable
Matt Damon has been heavily criticized after revealing that he has only recently stopped using a well-known homophobic slur, after being told by his daughter that it was unacceptable.
The Oscar-winning actor made the admission in a Sunday Times interview to promote his new movie Stillwater, claiming the term “was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application”.
Continue reading...Shawn Michael Chock charged with murdering 58-year-old Jeremy Barrett after allegedly driving his truck into bike race participants in Arizona
An Arizona man already facing assault charges for allegedly driving his pickup truck into people participating in a bike race nearly six weeks ago has been charged with murder.
An indictment made public Wednesday adds a murder charge against Shawn Michael Chock in the death of 58-year-old Australian Jeremy Barrett.
Continue reading...Florida’s ban on mask mandates came under increasing scrutiny from public health officials on Sunday as the surging Delta variant pushed new daily cases of Covid-19 in the state to a record high.
Related: US vaccinations rise but White House frustrated with media ‘alarmism’
Continue reading...Afghan forces defend western city of Herat and Lashkar Gah in south as Kandahar airport hit by rockets
The Taliban escalated its nationwide offensive in Afghanistan on Sunday, renewing assaults on three major cities and rocketing a major airport in the south amid warnings that the conflict was rapidly worsening.
As Afghan government forces struggled with a resurgent Taliban after the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces, hundreds of commandos were deployed to the economically important western city of Herat, while authorities in the southern city of Lashkar Gah called for more troops to rein in the assaults amid fierce fighting.
Continue reading...Evacuation flights start before visas are issued after insurgents make sweeping gains in provinces
America has launched emergency airlifts for Afghans who worked with its armed forces and diplomats, evacuating hundreds who are still waiting for their visas to the United States on military flights.
Only people in the final stages of a long, slow and bureaucratic visa process are eligible for the airlift, but bringing applicants to the continental US in large numbers is still unprecedented in recent years, officials working on the programme say.
Continue reading...Experts say mandates could be a logical step to contain the spread of the virus as cases of the Delta variant rise
As cases of the Delta coronavirus variant have risen and vaccination rates slowed, several US businesses and institutions have announced they will now require vaccinations from employees.
Related: Eviction crisis looms after Biden and Congress fail to extend Covid ban
Continue reading...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.
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