Author: The Guardian

Louisiana’s decision to force public schools to display the Ten Commandments is the latest fallout from a spate of controversial rulings from the rightwing supermajority of the US supreme court which has opened up a Pandora’s box that is fueling efforts to turn America into a theocratic state.The new law, signed on Wednesday by the hard-right governor, Jeff Landry, puts Louisiana in the vanguard of a decades-long movement to obliterate the foundational US separation of church and state. It puts wind in the sails of those who want the US to be reinvented as an overtly Christian nation, and comes…

Italian football legend Roberto Baggio was robbed and beaten at gunpoint while watching Italy’s European Championship match with Spain with his family at home on Thursday.At 10 p.m. local time, at least five armed men forced their way into a villa in Vicentina, Altavilla, northern Italy.Media reports said Baggio, 57, tried to fight the thieves and one of them hit him in the head with the butt of a gun. The former Ballon d’Or winner was then confined to a room with his family while thieves ransacked the house, making off with jewellery, watches and cash.After the raid, when Baggio…

The lost toothKristian Leven, photographerI was capturing a shot of the groom before the ceremony, tying some ribbon to the wedding car, when all of a sudden he popped up looking concerned. He had been trying to cut the ribbon with his teeth, and his capped front tooth had fallen off. The groomsmen managed to find the tooth and a dentist who could reattach it – not easy on a Saturday. The groom and I raced there. He was super nervous, looking at his watch the whole time. It took the dentist five minutes to do it, and he didn’t charge! The groom did the…

I was 24 when I had Heidi in 1993, two years after her brother, Jacob, was born. I adored being pregnant. I carried easily and recovered without any problems. Heidi and I were always close. We shared a love of music, Disney and a positive outlook on life. By adulthood she was my best friend, and lived 30 minutes from my house in California.She dreamed of being a mother. So, in 2016, seeing her and her husband, John, struggle to conceive was heartbreaking. They tried for four years until finally, in 2020, it happened. Hearing she was pregnant with twins, I dissolved into happy tears.Our joy…

The prosecution: Ololade Just because I’m the eldest doesn’t mean I should always be the one to send them gifts and cards I love my grandparents on my mum’s side – they’re the only ones we have left – but as the oldest sibling, it feels like it’s always my job to keep up the relationship on behalf of me and my brother. I’ve been doing it for years, but I’m 28 now, and tired of it.My younger brother, Babatunde, makes me do all the general relationship admin, like texting them at Christmas, thanking them for our gifts, and sending…

Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that Russian could supply weapons to North Korea is “incredibly concerning”, a senior US official has said, days after Putin and the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, signed a defence pact that requires their countries to provide immediate military assistance if either is attacked.Matthew Miller, a US state department spokesperson, said the provision of Russian weapons to Pyongyang “would destabilise the Korean peninsula, of course, and potentially … depending on the type of weapons they provide … violate UN security council resolutions that Russia itself has supported”.The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and South Korea’s foreign ministry…

When New Zealand opened its borders after the pandemic, the departures began immediately. For Kirsty Frame, then a 24-year-old journalist for the country’s national broadcaster in Wellington, the sense of loss was constant.“It was goodbye dinner after goodbye dinner, leaving drinks after leaving drinks, and I think that started to take a toll.”For her, the city’s beauty came from its people. “If what made Wellington so great as a place to live and work was my community, and I feel I don’t have that here now and there’s a lot less people my age, what do I want to do?”She…

Gareth Southgate accepted responsibility for England’s 1-1 draw with Denmark but suggested his players must be better prepared to cope with the weight of expectations on their shoulders at Euro 2024.Southgate found himself unable to paint a positive picture after a disappointing night at the Eintracht Frankfurt Arena after his side were booed after a poor performance in their second game of the World Cup. .England took the lead through Harry Kane’s early goal but were below their usual level before being surprisingly substituted in the second half, but luckily they escaped with a point advantage, Putting them on track…

Sutherland with then wife Shirley Douglas, son Kiefer (on his knee), Thomas Douglas (Shirley’s son from a previous relationship) and daughter Rachel, photographed at home in California on 5 May 1970, the year the couple divorced Photograph: Co Rentmeester/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Source link

Donald Sutherland, whose acting career spanned six decades and included starring in such highly acclaimed films as Don’t Look Now, M*A*S*H and The Hunger Games, has died aged 88.He died in Miami after a long illness, confirmed by his representatives.His son, actor Kiefer Sutherland, also shared the news on X. “With a heavy heart, I tell you that my father, Donald Sutherland, has passed away,” he wrote. “I personally think one of the most important actors in the history of film. Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved,…