News (old posts, page 934)
Sorry, Rich Foreigners. Sounds Like Trump’s Golden Visas Aren’t Going to Happen.
Turning immigration policy into a tacky souvenir suitable for bribery was a bad idea anyway.
The 6 Best Prime Day Lawnmower Deals
It's the best time of the year to finally get the one you want.
US immigration officials release Iranian woman nabbed from her home’s yard
Mandonna ‘Donna’ Kashanian was taken a day after US bombed Iran, but her community rallied for her freedom
Federal immigration officials have released an Iranian woman whom they allowed to stay in the US without legal status for the last 47 years, until agents in tactical gear and unmarked vehicles suddenly nabbed her in front of her New Orleans home on 22 June – the day after American forces bombed Iran.
A letter-writing campaign extolling decades of community service by Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian, 64, and care for her neighbors in the quiet Lakeview section of the city helped get her case in front of Steve Scalise, the Republican US House majority leader, and then top Trump administration officials, Kashanian’s neighbor and longtime friend Connie Uddo said.
Continue reading...US court strikes down ‘click-to-cancel’ rule designed to make unsubscribing easier
Rule would have kept businesses from forcing customers through lengthy chats or other barriers to cancellation
A federal rule designed to make canceling subscriptions as easy as signing up for them has been struck down by a US federal appeals court just days before it was scheduled to take effect.
The US court of appeals for the eighth circuit vacated the Federal Trade Commission’s “click-to-cancel” rule, which would have required companies to allow consumers to cancel subscriptions using the same method they used to sign up, after finding that the commission behind it failed to follow required procedures under the FTC Act during the rule-making process.
Continue reading...Cameron Norrie’s meek exit leaves Centre Court pining for the days of Murray
Carlos Alcaraz’s one-sided win against the last Briton standing at Wimbledon struggled to get pulses racing
When this quarter-final was definitively wrapped up after only 1hr 39min, the noise on Centre Court was a subdued mixture of applause and the odd whoop. The applause was polite, acknowledging a sporting contest had taken place, even if it had not been competitive. The whoops were a little performative. Britain’s last remaining singles hope at these Championships, Cameron Norrie, had been outclassed by a purring Carlos Alcaraz 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
Alcaraz, the reigning men’s champion, had whipped through the match, whipped forehand winner after forehand winner, and whipped his opponent into meek submission. It had been so tough for Norrie that he had felt the need to fist-pump simply for holding points on his serve. This is where the whoops came in; the crowd’s own attempt to find encouragement where it could.
Continue reading...‘Representation matters’: Barbie launches first doll with type 1 diabetes
Doll with insulin pump and glucose monitor is latest in range designed ‘to enable more children to see themselves’
In Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, Barbieland is a haven of equality and diversity. But although the dolls have been around since 1959, it was only in 2019 that the manufacturer, Mattel, started selling Barbies with physical disabilities.
Mattel has now launched its first Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes, the latest addition to a range it says has been designed “to enable more children to see themselves reflected and encourage doll play that extends beyond a child’s lived experience”.
Continue reading...Judge says Trump cuts to anti-violence groups ‘shameful’ – but can’t stop them
Amit Mehta rules against violence prevention groups, saying he does not have the authority to enact an injunction
A federal judge has ruled against five non-profit organizations that sued the Trump administration over the rescinding of hundreds of millions of dollars meant to prevent and respond to issues such as gun violence, substance abuse and hate crimes.
In an opinion released on Monday, judge Amit P Mehta, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2014, said that while the cuts were “shameful”, he does not have the authority to enact an injunction that would keep the dollars flowing. “[The] defendants’ rescinding of these awards is shameful. It is likely to harm communities and individuals vulnerable to crime and violence. No federal agency, especially the Department of Justice, should conduct itself in such [a] manner,” Mehta wrote.
Continue reading...Trump threatens to escalate trade war amid confusion over new tariff rates
US president announces tariffs of up to 200% on foreign drugs and 50% on copper as he continues to shift plans
Donald Trump vowed to further escalate his trade wars on Tuesday, threatening US tariffs of up to 200% on foreign drugs and 50% on copper, amid widespread confusion around his shifting plans.
Hours after saying his latest deadline for a new wave of steep duties was “not 100% firm”, the US president declared that “no extensions will be granted” beyond 1 August.
Continue reading...Superman review – is it a bust? Is it a pain? James Gunn’s dim reboot is both
The Man of Steel – played with square-faced soullessness by David Corenswet – has an uninteresting crisis of confidence in Gunn’s cluttered, pointless franchise restarter
Here is a film occupying the heartsinking Venn diagram overlap between franchise exhaustion and AI soullessness: a film fatally unconvinced of the reason for its own existence. We’d all hoped that writer-director James Gunn, who was in charge of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie series, might put some wind back beneath Superman’s wings – or in his cape, or under his boots, or at any rate somewhere near his costumed person. The Man of Steel needed a fresh start after his self-cancelling contest in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, and getting muddled together with a lot of other utility superheroes in Justice League a year later – though I will admit to enjoying the pure hubristic craziness of the lengthy Zack Snyder cut of that movie when it saw the light of day.
But this? If it was to be a reboot then really we needed to get back to basics, and be reminded why we liked superheroes in the first place – and I do – and remember why they were exciting and escapist and fun. We needed the clarity and simplicity of something like the origin myth of the infant Superman arriving here from his doomed planet, like Moses, destined to put heart back into an America hit by the Great Depression, hokey though all that may be.
Continue reading...