Author: TheGuardian

After a century of wielding extraordinary economic and political power, America’s petroleum giants face a reckoning for driving the greatest existential threat of our lifetimes. An unprecedented wave of lawsuits, filed by cities and states across the US, aim to hold the oil and gas industry to account for the environmental devastation caused by fossil fuels – and covering up what they knew along the way. Coastal cities struggling to keep rising sea levels at bay, midwestern states watching “mega-rains” destroy crops and homes, and fishing communities losing catches to warming waters, are now demanding the oil conglomerates pay...

Swimming caps designed for natural black hair created by a black-owned brand will not be allowed at the Olympics. The hats, made by Soul Cap, which previously partnered with Alice Dearing, who qualified to become the first black female swimmer to represent Team GB at the Olympics, have been rejected by the International Swimming Federation (Fina). The body said the caps did not fit “the natural form of the head” and to their “best knowledge the athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require … caps of such size and configuration.” Danielle Obe, the founding member of...

If Donald Trump’s inaugural address can be summed up in two words, “American carnage,” Joe Biden’s might be remembered for three: “Democracy has prevailed.” The new president, speaking from the spot where just two weeks earlier a pro-Trump mob had stormed the US Capitol, promised that the worst was over in a battered, bruised yet resilient Washington. But now, almost five months later the alarm bells are sounding on American democracy again. Even as the coronavirus retreats, the pandemic of Trump’s “big lie” about a stolen election spreads, manifest in Republicans’ blocking of a commission to investigate the insurrection....

The Capitol attack was a warning: the United States democracy is at risk. To fix the system before the midterms, two steps have to be enacted before the 2022 midterms. Academics rarely agree about the big issues, and generally hesitate to enter the political fray by signing collective public statements. Yet more than 100 leading scholars of democracy endorsed a remarkable Statement of Concern, which I also signed, warning about grave threats to American democracy and the deterioration of U.S. elections. “We urge members of Congress to do whatever is necessary – including suspending the filibuster – in order...

For the first time since the 1989 Tіаnаnmеn Square massacre, there will be no formal commemoration event held in the Chinese-speaking world for the anniversary. Thirty-two years after soldiers crushed student protests in Beijing and killed anywhere from several hundred to several thousand people, a combination of censorship, government crackdowns on criticism and pandemic restrictions will ensure no physical gathering is allowed in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan. Remembering the violent events of 4 June has never been allowed in the PRC, where it has been officially censored. Each year around this time,...