Author: The Guardian

Clarence Thomas strikes again.On the heels of his impressive string of recent Supreme Court victories — repealing abortion rights, eradicating affirmative action, gutting federal regulations and more — the ultraconservative justice can now also frustrate Donald Trump’s hoarding Criminal prosecution of confidential documents.Judge Erin Cannon shocked the legal community on Monday by dismissing the case. She did so based on a widely disputed legal argument that Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who brought the case, was improperly appointed.This argument was originally made by the former US president’s lawyers, but it did not find much support in judicial circles, as it…

JD Vance, a venture capitalist turned Ohio senator who rose to fame with his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, once described himself as a “never Trumper”, calling the then – candidate Donald Trump in 2016 an “idiot”, “cultural heroin” and a potential “American Hitler”.Now the two men are running mates – and the connection seems to be borne of personal affinity rather than cold political calculation.Here’s what to know about the former president’s choice for his vice-presidential candidate:1. Vance will be loyal and can turn the tables on DemocratsThis was on display within two hours of Saturday’s failed assassination attempt in…

GAreth Southgate looked ready for his post-match press conference deep in the cod-classic gray concrete dungeon of Berlin’s Olympiastadion. Not ready yet as the numbers are crunched and the Nations League dates planned for September against the Republic of Ireland, but ready gogo.Southgate said he would “give himself a few days” to consider what to do next. This in itself is Southgate’s style. These days will no doubt be spent doing gentle and restorative things, walking the Jurassic Trail, learning Mandarin, and recording an inspirational Ted Talk called “Dare to Dare” or “Managing Failure.”The use of past tense is obvious.…

Violent clashes at a site designated to house asylum seekers in north Dublin were described as “reprehensible” by the taoiseach, after at least 15 people were arrested.“No person has a right to burn cars, damage property or attack members of An Garda Síochána and emergency services,” Simon Harris said on Monday.“These actions are criminal and are designed to sow fear and division. We should not accept them being legitimised in any way by describing them as ‘protest’.”The clashes are the latest at sites earmarked for asylum seekers, who have arrived in Ireland in growing numbers in recent years. Videos posted…

About a thousand people staged violent demonstrations against Donald Trump and his party in the streets outside as the Republican National Convention opened in Milwaukee on Monday.The Republican National Committee parade gathered in a park a few blocks from the Fiserv Forum, where Trump was officially nominated as the Republican presidential nominee.Armed with pro-Palestinian flags, anti-Trump posters and even a ventriloquist puppet of Trump, a coalition of progressive groups marched through downtown Milwaukee, blocking traffic and chanting “Free Palestine” as they walked.The group has begun holding rallies at Red Arrow Park, with RNC March Alliance co-chair Omar Flores among the…

FBI agents went house to house scouring the Bethel Park neighborhood lived in by Thomas Matthew Crooks and his family as mystery continued to surround the motives of the gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump while he was addressing a crowd in nearby Butler, Pennsylvania.The FBI said it had managed to access Crooks’s phone but preliminary analysis of the information at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, had reportedly not advanced the search into Crooks’s reasons for shooting at Trump, injuring the former US president, killing a rally-goer and wounding two more.Crooks was almost instantly killed by Secret Service…

The climate crisis is causing each day to become longer, as massive melting of polar ice reshapes the planet, the analysis shows.Scientists say the phenomenon is striking evidence of how human actions are changing the planet, comparable to natural processes that have existed for billions of years.The change in the length of a day is measured in milliseconds, but it’s enough to potentially disrupt web traffic, financial transactions and GPS navigation, all of which rely on precise timing.The length of Earth’s day has been steadily increasing over geological time due to the Moon’s gravitational pull on Earth’s oceans and land.…

The FBI has gained access to the phone of the suspected gunman who opened fire on Donald Trump’s rally and is analyzing the device’s contents, the agency stated in a press release on Monday afternoon. The shooting, which killed one audience member and left Trump bleeding from one ear, is being investigated as an assassination attempt.Authorities have been working to determine the motive behind the attack at Trump’s campaign rally on Saturday, but no clear picture has yet emerged. The gunman, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks by the FBI, was shot and killed in the incident.Federal investigators announced on…

Donald Trump has chosen J.D. Vance, the junior senator from Ohio and author of the best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” as his presidential running mate.The announcement, made on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday, marks the culmination of Vance’s stunning political evolution over the past few years.Vance has been an outspoken critic of Trump, deriding him as “America’s Hitler” and a “complete liar.” But Vance began to embrace Trump as he sought a Senate seat in 2022, ultimately winning over the former president in a crowded Republican primary.”He’s the one who said bad things…

Donald Trump has named JD Vance, the Ohio senator who has aligned himself with the populist right, as his running mate at the Republican national convention on Monday.“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator JD Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” wrote Trump on Truth Social.When Trump first ran for office, Vance’s eventual nomination to run alongside him would have seemed implausible. Vance, a venture capitalist who rocketed into the public eye…