Jury seated as US trial of Catholic priest accused of sexual assault begins pred 8 urami in 25 minutami Anthony Odiong, charged with sexually abusing three female congregants in Texas, could face life sentenceA jury of eight women and four men was seated on Tuesday in the criminal trial of a Roman Catholic priest who ministered in Texas and south-east Louisiana and was charged with illicitly abusing his status as a clergyman to pursue sex with spiritually vulnerable female congregants.Anthony Odiong, 57, faces five charges of first-degree sexual assault and two such counts in the second degree in Waco, Texas, involving three women whom he met while working there. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Australia politics live: Quad countries ink deal to build surveillance network and Fiji port to counter China pred 8 urami in 58 minutami Australia’s foreign affairs minister Penny Wong met with US secretary of state Marco Rubio in New Delhi meeting. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSyrian children should be treated ‘sensitively and gently’, Ryan saysIndependent MP Monique Ryan says the women and children returning from a Syrian camp should be treated gently, after they arrived in Australia last night.We’re talking about kids who have grown up in a camp in Syria who haven’t been exposed to Australia at all, and I would suggest that we should treat them sensitively and gently upon their arrival. And remember that there’s vulnerable kids and that the last thing they need to be subjected to on their arrival is an aggressive media. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
South Carolina Republicans defy Trump again to reject rapid redistricting drive pred 9 urami in 46 minutami Bid to remake maps and reduce Democratic voters in Jim Clyburn’s district before midterms fails in state senateRepublican lawmakers in South Carolina have defied Donald Trump and rejected a breakneck bid to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of November’s US midterm elections.In a 26-18 vote, state senators rejected mid-decade redistricting in a special session of the legislature, ending hope in Washington to split up congressman Jim Clyburn’s district and add to the list of gerrymandered gains for Republicans. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Tony Blair’s essay on Labour failings gets full marks for being unhelpful pred 9 urami in 54 minutami Intervention by former PM almost feels designed to inflict maximum annoyance on his partyTony Blair tells Starmer and rivals: abandon net zero and move closer to TrumpDid Tony Blair ever mention he was quite good at winning elections? If you happened to miss it, then his 5,700-word opus on where Labour, Keir Starmer and the UK more generally have gone wrong is here to remind you. Several times.“I led the Labour party for 13 years and through three general elections,” goes the second sentence. Further on, Blair laments that when the party tries to puzzle out how to win a second term, the one thing ruled out was “learning from the only time in the party’s 120-year history it has ever done so”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Tony Blair tells Starmer and rivals: abandon net zero and move closer to Trump pred 9 urami in 54 minutami In highly unusual intervention, ex-PM says his party’s ‘almost infinite capacity for self-delusion’ makes it likely to lose next electionAnalysis: Tony Blair’s essay on Labour failings gets full marks for being unhelpfulTony Blair has accused Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting of putting Labour’s future at risk by abandoning the centre ground, warning that the party’s “almost infinite capacity for self-delusion” means it is likely to lose the next election.In a scathing 5,700-word attack on the prime minister and his would-be successors published on Tuesday night, Blair argued for the government to crack down on welfare spending, abandon restrictions on oil and gas and smooth relations with Donald Trump. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
