Michael Dressel was born in Berlin but spent four decades living and working in the US. As the election looms, he talks us through his new book capturing a nation in crisis
‘Things are truly scary’: the divided states of America
âSome unique featuresâ: Cop16 delegates in âlove motelâ as Cali hotels hit capacity | Cop16
Robert Baluku, a Ugandan delegate to the UNâs biodiversity summit in Colombia, found himself between a rock and hard place when his teamâs accommodation was abruptly cancelled, leaving them stranded before the start of Cop16 in Cali.
The cityâs hotels were packed to capacity with thousands of country leaders, scientists, government ministers and UN negotiators, and Baluku was left scrambling for options â until the Motel Deseos (Desires) came to the rescue.
Now, Baluku finds himself among at least a dozen delegates and negotiators accommodated by the cityâs hourly rate motels, which come equipped with circular beds, âlove machineâ chairs, dance poles and sex swings.
Quick Guide
What is Cop16 and why does it matter?
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What is Cop16?
From 21 October until 1 November, governments will meet in Cali, Colombia, for a summit on the state of biodiversity and nature. Representatives of almost 200 countries will negotiate over how to protect the planet from mass extinctions and ecosystem breakdown. The gathering is formally known as the 16th conference of the parties of the UN convention on biological diversity â shortened to Cop16. It will be the first time countries have met since they formed a landmark nature-protection deal at Cop15 in Montreal, Canada, in December 2022.
What will they be negotiating over?
In Montreal, countries agreed a landmark deal to save nature. Cop16 will be about whether they are putting that into practice. The main focus will be on progress on 23 biodiversity targets for this decade. They include a high-profile goal to protect 30% of the Earth for nature by the end of the decade, restore 30% of the planet’s most degraded ecosystems and reform some of the economic drivers of the loss. Countries will also be discussing how to fund these protections.
What is at stake?
Nature is in crisis: global wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 73% in 50 years, according to a scientific assessment made in October 2024. The biodiversity crisis is not just about other species â humans also rely on the natural world for food, clean water and air to breathe. On the eve of Cop16, land restoration expert Tonthoza Uganja said: ‘We are on the precipice of shattering Earthâs natural limits â we have not gone there yet, but we are right on the edge.’
Showing the Guardian around his room, Baluku said it was âvery unusualâ to put a mirror above the circular bed. âI donât know the motive behind that,â he said. He noted that it was âvery funnyâ to watch yourself falling asleep.
The Motel Deseosâs manager, Diana Echeverry, said she was called by the local government one week before the start of the conference asking if they had space for delegates. She removed the love swings and added blankets and coat hangers. âThey came and liked it so much they told their friends and colleagues to stay here too,â Echeverry said.
The motel is now housing 12 delegates from Uganda, Nepal, Brazil and Ecuador. Its most extravagant rooms have Jacuzzis, âKama Sutraâ loungers and dance poles, and cost 100,000 pesos (£18) to rent for four hours. Typically, guests drive into a private car park, picking their rooms from a selection of pictures as they enter.
âItâs like a McDonaldâs drive-through but for rooms,â says Echeverry. For Cop16, she developed a special nightly rate of about $35 (£27).
The new arrangement has been an adjustment for hotelier and guests. Normally Echeverry does not meet her guests, and passes food, drink and exchanges of money through a cubby hole â but for the delegates she has introduced a breakfast service serving orange juice, coffee, fruit, eggs and Colombian bread. âEvery morning each of them tells us how they want their eggs,â she said.
She is enjoying meeting people from other countries. âWeâll do it again,â she says. Her employees are going out of their way to make their stay comfortable. âWe give them chocolates and coffee candy in the morning to show they are special to us.â
Baluku said some of his roomâs attributes were not ideal for government negotiators: it had no wardrobe space because the average couple is there for just four hours, so his clothes are draped over his bed or hang from the shower screen. He noted that his room did not come with a pole, but some colleaguesâ rooms did.
Aggrey Rwetsiba, another Ugandan delegate staying at the motel, said: âIâm not sure whether Iâve got the full understanding of what a motel should be, but I have seen some unique features ⦠like the mirror on the ceiling. I have never seen [that] in a hotel.â
He noted that the lone wall socket was located next to the bed, rather than by the table where he needs to power his laptop.
âSo the setup is quite different,â he said.
Overall, however, Baluku said the delegates were happy.
âWe are enjoying ourselves here, itâs a nice hotel,â he said, with colleagues commenting that the rooms are âmore comfortableâ than many traditional hotels.
Caliâs mayor, Alejandro Eder, told reporters this week the cityâs hotels were â100%â full. Initial expectations had been for between 12,000 and 15,000 people to attend the Cop16, but there have been closer to 23,000 registered delegates.
Echeverry said there were 40 rooms spread over two floors, but she has put Cop16 delegates on one corridor because noise comes from rooms âall the timeâ when they are in use.
âWe guarantee good rest for our delegates,â she said.
She said that Cop16 had been great for hotels, taxi drivers and artisans in Cali. âWeâre not complaining,â she says.
As he works with other delegates to reach international agreements to try to halt the decline of the natural world, Baluku is philosophical about his accommodation. âYou have to prepare for such kind of eventualities. The world is changing every other day. Anything can happen.â
Polar bears are back in Britain. But should they really be living here? | Conservation
A small boy calls out the sights as the train speeds through the Suffolk countryside from London Liverpool Street.
“Tractor. Church. Pigs. Polar bear! Dad! A polar bear!”
The dad doesn’t glance up. “We don’t have polar bears in this country.”
But the boy isn’t dreaming. There they are: four polar bears lumbering across a big green meadow beside a pond, a few miles outside Ipswich.
The arrival of the bears beside the railway line is causing plenty of double-takes from passengers. Sometimes, the bears are announced by the conductor. Occasionally, the driver appears to slow down. It’s only a matter of time before this train is renamed the Polar Express.
Polar bears belong in the frozen Arctic, above 70 degrees north. And yet these magnificent carnivores, one of the largest surviving land mammals on Earth, have been kept in captivity at much hotter latitudes since Egyptian times. King Henry III housed one in the Tower of London. In the 20th century, they became the charismatic inmates of concrete enclosures in flourishing urban zoos. Screaming crowds loved them.
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Sailors visit the polar bear enclosure at London zoo in 1930. Below: a bear at Dudley Zoo in Worcestershire, 1937 (left), and Brumas, the first baby polar bear to be successfully reared in the UK, at London Zoo in 1950. Photographs: Fox/Getty Images; Mirrorpix/Getty Images
By the 1990s though, polar bears had become the focus of campaigns to end the caging of big, intelligent, far-roaming animals. British zoos seemed to accept the argument that these carnivores, whose wild home range could be as vast as 135,000 square miles, could not flourish in a zoo enclosure less than a millionth of that size. By the turn of the century, just one polar bear remained in Britain.
Now, however, the polar bears are back. In the last year, Jimmy’s Farm, the farm and wildlife park run by farmer, conservationist and TV presenter Jimmy Doherty, has taken in four. A further 12 bears live in three other British parks. Are these captive animals the best hope for a climate-challenged species whose wild population has dwindled to 26,000? Or should they not be here at all?
The fact that a 49-year-old pig farmer owns four polar bears could be the most bizarre farm diversification ever. “Owner of polar bears. It makes me sound like I’m a Nordic god,” muses Doherty, resplendent in double denim. How about the British Tiger King? “Jimmy Exotic. That would be something. I haven’t got the outfits he’s got,” says Doherty of the eccentric Joe Exotic from the Netflix series. “And I won’t be ringing up Trump to get me out of jail.”
The story of how Doherty built the largest polar bear enclosure in Europe stretches back to his childhood, when he was school friends with Jamie Oliver. The young Doherty was mad-keen on nature, worked at a wildlife park and spent his earnings (he still remembers his wage: £1.12 an hour) on his own menagerie: polecats, terrapins, stick insects. “In my bedroom were loads of snakes. I kept my pocket money in a glass jar inside a snake tank so no one would nick it.”
Later, Doherty studied zoology before dropping out of an entomology PhD to rear pigs. He’d been inspired by John Seymour’s self-sufficiency books, and with his entrepreneurial instincts he realised he could sell rare-breed pork and bacon directly to new farmers’ markets. He rented 40.4 hectares (100 acres) of derelict ground and lived in a caravan; he was assisted by the Jimmy’s Farm documentary series and a £55,000 loan from Oliver. When he opened a farm shop he saw that visitors were fascinated by the animals. “So I put a sow and a litter out, and then a trail, and it became a farm park,” he says.
Then the phone calls began. The RSPCA asked him to take emus found in a shed in Ipswich. A snapping turtle was discovered by a local garage. “She’s called Peaches,” he says. “More and more exotic stuff.” When Doherty opened a butterfly house, his farm became a registered zoo.
Doherty sees nothing odd about the pigs and polar bears combo – it’s all part of his mission to champion global and local conservation, farming and rewilding, and reconnect children with nature and local food production, as he explains when we walk through his park.
There’s a rescued South American ring-tailed coati and racoons saved from a shed in Felixstowe. You may say Doherty’s a rescuer. He also can’t resist a big idea. “There’s always another one around the corner,” he says. “Someone says ‘we need your help’ and it somehow gives you permission.” Doherty once said that he never wanted his park to be one of those places with polar bears and tigers. But that changed in 2022 when he heard that Orsa Predator Park in Sweden was closing and needed to rehome two polar bears.
“Ewa had a tough life – alopecia, a broken claw. She couldn’t go back to the wild and they were going to put her down,” says Doherty. “Time was of the essence.” He borrowed money from the bank and, using donated telegraph poles, built 15km of 4m-high fencing around a 6.5-hectare (16-acre) enclosure, which includes a 16m-deep purpose-built pool, two dens, a state-of-the-art ventilated house, a saltwater dipping pool and a large natural woodland area. This facility cost £1m. “It’s a massive commitment. It’s like getting married again,” he says. Was it a big risk? “Was? Still is.”
Two bears, Ewa and her adult cub Miki, were shipped from Sweden to Suffolk last autumn. Within days of arriving, Miki was dead. “That was horrific,” says Doherty. Miki had an undiagnosed heart condition. “She was a ticking timebomb. She could’ve gone at any time. It was really sad.”
Since then, Ewa has been joined by fellow females Hope (a former companion from Sweden), and Flocke and Tala from Yorkshire Wildlife Park. These two are part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) for polar bears, an official zoo breeding programme which aims to safeguard healthy populations of threatened species in captivity.
On a bright autumn day, Tala is playing in a lake, while Flocke and Hope are quickly drawn to a keeper arriving with melons, which they love. Ewa is ambling alone – it’s important they can find private space, explains park director Stevie Sheppard. “There’s two big things we try to do with all our animals. One is to give them space. And the second is choice. If they want to walk in the woods because it’s cooler, they can walk in the woods. They can dive in the deep lakes, bathe in the shallow pool or roll around in the grass or go in a den – it’s their choice.”
How an Arctic species copes with sunny Suffolk at 52 degrees north may be the most-asked question. Doherty points out that mean high summer temperatures in Hudson Bay – polar bear country – are higher than Suffolk’s 22C. “Our worry was the high temperatures – that’s when they get heat stress,” says Doherty. “If they want to regulate their temperature they can go in the woodland, which is about 4C cooler. Having that woodland and the deep pool has really helped.”
Enrichment includes a varied, seasonal diet, whole-carcass feeding (a dead horse or cow), food in blocks of ice, foraging for blackberries, watching the small fish in the ponds and plenty of toys. Doherty particularly enjoys letting them into the woods. “You see them sliding down the hill in the woodland. They pile up the mud and roll about,” he says.
The enclosures at Jimmy’s Farm are a far cry from traditional zoo pens. For critics, however, they are still a much, much smaller space than the wild species enjoys. “We acknowledge that the facilities in the UK are some of the larger facilities in Europe,” says Chris Lewis of the Born Free Foundation. Ultimately, the charity believes that no polar bears should be kept in captivity. They point to evidence of stress in captivity: shortened lifespans, a high level of stress-related fatalities, high infant mortality (a 2003 study put it at 65%), and a high risk of captivity-induced diseases. “Our short-term asks of the zoo industry would be to stop breeding polar bears and then look to phase out the existing population,” says Lewis, “because there’s no meaningful or direct conservation benefit to keeping polar bears in captivity.”
Lewis says it is “hard to understand” why polar bears have returned to British zoos. Are they irresistible? Back in 2007, one bear powerfully demonstrated their box-office status to the rest of the European zoo community. Knut, a cub rejected by his mother at Berlin zoo, was hand-reared by a devoted keeper and became a global media sensation. Knutmania saw Berlin zoo enjoy the most profitable year in its 163-year history, with 30% more visitors and €5m in revenue. Merchandise, books and films followed – and tragedy. Knut’s keeper died, and so did Knut, aged just four, of a seizure triggered by encephalitis.
Bringing polar bears to Jimmy’s Farm was clearly a decision of the heart for Doherty – but he had his financial head on too. “The sums have to add up, otherwise you’re being foolish. You make sure you repay the loans,” he says. They had a 50% increase in visitors over summer half-term and are aiming for 300,000 this year.
Another reason for British zoos bringing back polar bears is the innovative work of Douglas Richardson. At Highland Wildlife Park in 2009, he oversaw the creation of a new polar bear enclosure, so Britain’s ageing last polar bear, Mercedes, could be relocated from Edinburgh. Bear enclosures were once expensively made from concrete and steel, which necessarily made them small. Richardson deployed much more cost-effective deer fencing, reinforced with electric fencing, which was cheap enough to build a four-hectare (10-acre) enclosure.
“Using what one colleague called ‘chicken wire and harsh language’ to contain polar bears allowed you to enclose very large areas very economically,” says Richardson, who has since advised all three British zoos that keep them. Yorkshire Wildlife Park set up a new four-hectare (10-acre) enclosure in 2014; they now have six bears. Staffordshire’s Peak Wildlife Park keeps two bears in two hectares (five acres). Under Richardson’s guidance, the first British polar bear cub for 25 years, Hamish, was born at Highland Wildlife Park in 2017.
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Hamish as a cub and just three years later, at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster. Photographs: Royal Zoological Society of Scotland/PA; Danny Lawson/PA
“The way polar bears were kept in zoos historically was, to be frank, nothing short of appalling,” says Richardson. But he argues the new enclosures are a different world. He didn’t recognise Ewa when he checked on her at Jimmy’s Farm in September: her alopecia has vanished, she’s off medication and has returned to her natural cycle. Of Doherty’s woodland, Richardson says: “It’s not exactly polar bear habitat but there’s lots of shade and lots of interesting smells. And it turns out polar bears like mushrooms.”
The idea of zoos being arks for imperilled wild populations remains a popular one. But a zoo-kept polar bear has never been successfully returned to the wild. “Common zoo reintroduction successes are usually invertebrates they’ve been able to breed in large numbers,” says Lewis. “Other examples that the zoo industry uses are always the same because there’s so few – the Arabian oryx, the California condor. There’s not enough space to keep [polar bears] in enough numbers to have a genetically diverse population that is healthy enough to release into the wild. Zoos are almost a distraction. Conservation action needs to be taken to address the threats facing these species in the wild – the climate crisis, pollution, human encroachment.”
Richardson, who advises the European captive-breeding programme for polar bears, admits that “reintroducing polar bears from a captive population would be hugely, hugely difficult” but argues that at least a captive population retains that option. He says the European population of 120 animals, based on 60 founder animals, is genetically viable because there has been a steady addition of new wild individuals via Russia. “If you have a regular infusion of new founders your actual population need not be enormous,” he says.
In the near future, Richardson predicts that global heating will lead to more climate change refugee polar bears requiring rescue from the wild. He hopes that new, massive fenced reserves more reflective of the polar bears’ natural range may be established, mimicking how many African safari animals live in fenced reserves.
Back at Jimmy’s Farm, Doherty is not ruling out breeding polar bears. “Maybe one day, if we were called upon, and there was good reason to do it, and it was that we need more paws on the ground,” he says.
Meanwhile, there’s another big idea – or animal rescue – to attend to. Despite being “skint”, Doherty crowdfunded to save the last brown bear, Diego, from Orsa Predator Park, and is now importing another brown bear from a Romanian sanctuary. I can imagine Michaela, Doherty’s wife, rolling her eyes at his latest rescue. Does he get told off for all the new burdens he acquires? “Quite a lot. There’s always someone that needs help. That’s the problem.”
Sean âDiddyâ Combs accused of sexually assaulting 10- and 17-year-old boys | Sean âDiddyâ Combs
Sean âDiddyâ Combs is accused in one of two lawsuits filed on Monday of drugging and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in a New York City hotel room in 2005.
The second lawsuit accuses the jailed hip-hop mogul of similarly assaulting a 17-year-old would-be contestant on the reality television series Making the Band in 2008.
The lawsuits filed in state supreme court in New York are the latest in a wave of lawsuits in which accusers allege they were sexually assaulted by Combs at parties and meetings over the last two decades.
Combsâs lawyers denied the two new claims Monday and accused the plaintiffsâ lawyer, Anthony Buzbee, who also represents accusers in earlier lawsuits, of seeking publicity.
âMr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process,â an emailed statement said. âIn court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone â man or woman, adult or minor.â
Combs, 54, is incarcerated in a New York City jail after pleading not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges contained in an indictment unsealed the day after his 16 September arrest. Charges include allegations he coerced and abused women and silenced victims through blackmail and violence.
The 10-year-old boy who was not identified in the lawsuit was an aspiring actor and rapper who had traveled with his parents from California for meetings with music industry representatives. During what was supposed to be an audition for Combs, he was given a drug-laced soda by a Combs associate and sexually assaulted by the Bad Boy Records founder, according to the lawsuit.
The boy eventually lost consciousness. When he awoke, Combs threatened to badly hurt the childâs parents if he told anyone what happened, the filing said.
In a second lawsuit, a 17-year-old unidentified male said Combs forced him into sexual acts with Combs and a bodyguard during a three-day audition for the Making the Band television show, which Combs produced.
When the aspiring contestant expressed reservations, he was eliminated from the competition and unable to return to the music industry for seven years, according to the filing.
Both lawsuits were brought under New York Cityâs Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, which allows survivors to bring lawsuits even if the statute of limitations has passed.
Whales ârelentlessly pesteredâ: tourism boom sparks new rules in French Polynesia | Whales
Lisette Muratore swam with humpback whales for the first time off the coast of Moâorea, an island in French Polynesia, as part of a guided tour. She describes the experience as âoverwhelming.â
âYou have a sudden realisation of the immensity of these creatures ⦠seeing their wild beauty, itâs almost like thereâs something sacred about them. When the baby [humpback whale] looked straight into my eyes it felt almost like I was looking at a god.â
A handful of Pacific Islands allow tourists to swim with humpback whales and in recent years, French Polynesia and Tonga have become increasingly popular destinations for this kind of tourism.
The marine mammals, which can grow to around 16m in length and weigh up to 36 tons, travel through the islandsâ warm waters every year to give birth, rest and nourish their young before their long migration down to Antarctica.
Whale-watching tourism generates over $2bn in revenue, according to the International Whaling Commission â and the Pacific industry is growing. In French Polynesia, the number of certified whale-based tourism operators rose from 60 in 2023, to 90 in 2024, according to Tahiti Tourism.
But their growth has raised concerns over the potential harm to the animals. In April, a report by French Polynesiaâs government said âincreasing pressure on whales from human activities poses a considerable risk to these fragile animals.â It said due to the rising number of whale-based tourism operators, âcetaceans can be relentlessly pestered throughout the day.â
In response, French Polynesia plans to introduce new rules to reduce risks to whales, but some in the industry say they donât go far enough.
âThe government just keeps giving new [whale watching] permits,â says Temoana Poole, a founder of whale-based tourism operator WildMÄ.
Poole says boats in Moâorea have been increasing year after year â and estimates there are more than 50 working on his island alone. âThey need to put a quota on it,â he says.
Guardians of the sea
In Polynesian cultures, humpback whales are sacred animals, often seen as guardians or ancestors. Earlier this year, Indigenous leaders from French Polynesia, New Zealand and other Pacific islands signed a treaty granting whales legal personhood in a combined effort to protect them.
French Polynesia is home to one of the worldâs largest marine sanctuaries for whales, and all marine mammals are protected species. The local tourism industry offers whale watching and swimming-with-whales tours. There are rules in place, including that operators must have a permit amd tourists must swim with a certified guide.
In 2025, French Polynesia will tighten some regulations for whale-based tourism. It will introduce a quota, with only three boats permitted to approach a whale at the same time. It will restrict whale-watching operators to one boat for each company, and private boats will have to stay at least 300m away.
But in a move that seems at odds with improving protections, divers will be able to swim closer to whales from next year, when the current limit of 30m from the mammals will be dropped to 15m. The government says the new limit still means swimmers will be a âsafe distanceâ away.
âThe reality on the ground shows that at 30m you canât see much, and the animal often approaches out of curiosity anyway. But itâs still important to keep a safe distance, which weâve set at 15m,â says Fanny Martre, spokesperson for the environment department.
Dr Mark Orams specialises in marine tourism and studied whale-based tourism in Tonga. He says allowing swimmers to get within 15m of a humpback whale is âdangerous.â
âThese whales are 15 metres in length. You get within 15 metres and you are in immediate proximity of their biggest weapon which is their tail ⦠I would be really concerned if there were approaches at that sort of length,â says Dr Orams.
He adds that we probably shouldnât be swimming with whales â especially not with mothers and their calves. In a study he co-authored, researchers found that swimming with whales had a negative effect on the behaviour of mothers and calves in Tonga.
âBrings light into the worldâ
Dr Agnès Benet, marine biologist and founder of the not-for-profit group Mata Tohora, has been campaigning for mandatory âquiet periodsâ during the day, without any boats or swimmers, to allow marine mammals to rest.
âIn the second biggest sanctuary for marine mammals in the world, we might expect to have a period of time without human activity, to fulfil the original purpose of having a âsanctuary,ââ says Benet.
WildMÄâs Poole wants tourists to be sold âwhale watchingâ experiences rather than whale swimming or diving. Getting in the water depends on the conditions being safe for the whales â and if that does happen itâs âthe cherry on the cake.â
But experts and locals agree that whale-based tourism can be done ethically and respectfully.
Poole says that a portion of their earnings goes back into funding whale research and conservation, and supporting the local community.
He says when its done properly, whale tourism âbrings so much light and love into the world, and to the people.â
Anger grows over racist remarks about Puerto Ricans at Trump rally | US elections 2024
Outrage is continuing to mount following the racist anti-Puerto Rican remarks at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in New York as Democrats, celebrities and even some Republicans condemned the incident.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe came under fire for comments made about Latinos and Puerto Rico at the Sunday rally.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said, among other controversial remarks.
In the hours following, Democrats and Hispanic groups on both sides of the political aisle have condemned the comments as “offensive” and “derogatory”.
Kamala Harris called the remarks “nonsense” and said: “I think last night, Donald Trump’s event in Madison Square Garden really highlighted a point that I’ve been making throughout this campaign. He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country.”
Joe Biden said the rally had been “simply embarrassing” and added: “It’s beneath any president, but that’s what we’re getting used to. That’s why this election is so important.”
Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, born in New York to Puerto Ricans, called out the comments in a series of posts.
“This isn’t the comedy store. You’re using your set to boost neo-Nazis like MTG & stripping women’s rights to the Stone Age. Your ‘sense of humor’ doesn’t change that,” she wrote in one post replying directly to Hinchcliffe defending his comments.
Tim Walz, Harris’s running mate, was also unamused by the racist jokes.
“People in Puerto Rico are citizens. They pay tax and they serve in the military at almost a higher rate than anybody else,” he said on a Twitch livestream with AOC.
In addition to being immediately criticized by the Harris campaign, the comments drew angry responses from prominent Puerto Rican Republicans including Angel Cintron, the head of the Republican party on the island.
Republican congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents parts of Miami and has participated in recent Trump events, criticized the remarks on X, writing: “Disgusted by @TonyHinchcliffe’s racist comment calling Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ This rhetoric does not reflect GOP values. Puerto Rico sent 48,000+ soldiers to Vietnam, with over 345 Purple Hearts awarded. This bravery deserves respect. Educate yourself!”
Rick Scott, a Republican senator from Florida, also used X to call out the comedian.
“This joke bombed for a reason. It’s not funny and it’s not true. Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans!” he wrote in a post.
Peter Navarro, a former Trump administration official and loyal supporter, opted for more colorful language: “@tonyhinchcliffe must be the biggest, stupidest asshole that ever came down the comedy pike,” he wrote on X.
Trump’s team is scrambling to contain the backlash. Campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in an interview on Fox News that Hinchcliffe made a “joke in poor taste”, but also suggested that the incident was being overblown.
“This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Danielle Alvarez, a Trump campaign spokesperson, said in a statement.
But the criticism continues outside politics. Puerto Rican music stars Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin announced their endorsement of Kamala Harris following the Trump rally. Martin wrote in a post to his 18 million followers on Instagram: “This is what they think of us. Vote for @kamalaharris.”
Several political action committees have seized the moment as an opportunity to grow support for the Harris campaign.
Nuestro Pac, a Democratic Super Pac focused on Latinos, began sending texts on Monday after raising $30,000 to text all Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania following the Trump rally, the Washington Post reports.
Outcry over Trumpâs hint at âlittle secretâ with House Republicans | Donald Trump
Donald Trump faced mounting suspicion of hatching a plot to steal next weekâs presidential election as Democrats and commentators focused on his references to a âlittle secretâ at Sunday nightâs tumultuous Madison Square Garden rally.
The allusions initially attracted little notice amid the angry backlash provoked by racist jokes and incendiary rhetoric from a succession of warm-up speakers, including an offensive comment about Puerto Ricans that even Trumpâs own campaign felt obliged to disavow.
However, some observers and Democratic politicians believed the most telling remark of the night came from the Republican nominee himself after he introduced Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, on stage and alluded to a shared secret.
âWe gotta get the congressmen elected and we gotta get the senators elected,â Trump told the crowd, referring to the congressional elections at stake next week.
âWe can take the Senate pretty easily, and I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House. Our little secret is having a big impact. He and I have a little secret â we will tell you what it is when the race is over.â
Trump embellished the tease with no further clues. But commentators and some Democrats drew their own conclusions.
In its Playbook column, Politico described the aside as âpotentially ⦠sinister comments that could be a reference to the House settling a contested electionâ.
Dan Goldman, a Democratic representative from New York, was more explicit, telling CNN that Trumpâs motivation for staging the rally â in a state he has no chance of winning â was boosting Republican candidates in an effort to ensure a Republican majority in Congress at a time when it will have the role of certifying the presidential election result.
âWhy did Donald Trump come to New York nine days before the election? The state is going to go to Kamala Harris,â Goldman said.
âThe answer is that the House really runs through New York. There are seven races that could go either way in the house, and that will likely determine the majority.
âOn January 6, the certification of the electoral college will happen again, and as we know from 2021, whoever is in control of the House of Congress will have a lot of say on what happens on January 6. I suspect Donald Trumpâs little secret plan with Mike Johnson is a backup plan for when he loses and he tries to go to the House of Representatives to throw out the electoral college.â
The situation under a Republican-controlled Congress would be a reverse of the certification process that followed the 2020 election, Goldman said. Then, Trump tried to deploy the then vice-president, Mike Pence â presiding over affairs in his constitutional role â to block the procedure at a time when the Senate and the House were controlled by the Democrats.
The gambit failed when Pence refused to play along, precipitating the attack on the US Capitol by a Trump-supporting mob, some of whom called for Pence to be hanged.
âIf itâs the reverse, the Republicans have a lot more opportunity and a lot more possibilities for overturning this election,â Goldman said. âThat I believe is what Donald Trumpâs secret with Mike Johnson was.â
Johnson, a constitutional lawyer, played a key role in Trumpâs attempt to reverse Joe Bidenâs 2020 victory, supporting a Texas lawsuit that attempted to overturn the results in four swing states. He also voted with 146 other Republicans in Congress in favour of overturning the results.
On Monday, he responded obliquely to accusations that he and Trump were planning a repeat scenario but did not deny it â instead switching the focus to supposed âsecretsâ the Democrats had withheld.
âSpeaking of secrets, Harris knew Biden was physically and mentally impaired and kept it a secret,â he wrote, referring to unproven accusations that the White House had covered up an age-related decline in the presidentâs cognitive abilities.
âThey also knew that Russia collusion was a fake and kept that secret too. It appears that all those secrets didnât matter to the media because they all helped Democrats. But this one might help Donald Trump and now they care?
âBy definition, a secret is not to be shared â and I donât intend to share this one.â
Early ballots burned in suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon | US elections 2024
Hundreds of early ballots cast for the US presidential election have been burned in two suspected attacks in Washington and Oregon, exacerbating tensions ahead of next Tuesday’s knife-edge contest.
Police said Monday that the fires in the two states were believed to be connected and that a vehicle involved had been identified, according to the Associated Press.
Firefighters went to the scene after smoke was reported coming from a ballot drop box in the city of Vancouver in Washington state at 6.30am on Monday, according to local media.
KATU, a local television channel, reported capturing footage of responders releasing a pile of burning ballots to the grounds. The ballots continued to smolder after the flames had been doused.
Hundreds of ballots were believed to have been inside when smoke was reported billowing from the box, which had last been emptied at 8am on Sunday. KATU reported that only a few of the ballots deposited there after that had been saved.
The elections auditor for Clark county, the local authority administering the boxes, said voters who had cast their ballots into it after 11am could seek new voting documents at a link on the county’s election web page.
“There is absolutely zero place in our democracy for political violence or interference against our fellow citizens, election workers, or voting infrastructure … Our right to vote needs to be protected under all circumstances. We can’t yield to intimidation, and we must continue to stand up against unpatriotic acts such as this one,” said local congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
She requested law enforcement officers be in place overnight at all ballot drop boxes in the county until election day, saying: “South-west Washington cannot risk a single vote being lost to arson and political violence.”
The fire was reported after a similar incident in nearby Portland in Oregon, where police say an incendiary device was set off inside a ballot drop box close to a building hosting the Multnomah county elections division.
Security staff extinguished the fire before police arrived. The device was deactivated and removed by the local bomb squad.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned of ballot drop box destruction in a September memo obtained by Property of the People, a public records watchdog group. The agency said in an intelligence brief that election infrastructure will be seen as an “attractive target for some domestic violent extremists”, with drop boxes as a “soft target” because they are more accessible.
Social media posters in forums frequented by extremists have shared ideas for attacked drop boxes, the agency said, including “road flares, fireworks, petroleum fuel, linseed oil and white phosphorus, cement or expanding foam, bleach or other chemicals, and farm machinery”. Other methods could include putting up fake signs to claim a drop box is out of order, putting up decoy drop boxes or putting “timed explosives” into drop boxes. They have also discussed ways to avoid law enforcement detection.
“Damaged ballot drop boxes could temporarily decrease voting opportunities and accessibility and intimidate voters from casting votes if safety concerns arise in the vicinity of a targeted or damaged ballot drop box,” the DHS wrote in the intelligence brief. “Successful ballot drop box destruction could inspire others with related grievances to conduct similar actions.”
The incidents came days after a US Postal Service mail box containing a small number of ballots was set on fire in Phoenix, Arizona, last Thursday.
Police arrested a 35-year-old man who they said admitted to the crime while he was in custody. They also said he had told them his actions had not been politically motivated and he had committed the office with the purpose of getting himself arrested.
The Guardian has reported that far-right election denial groups supporting Donald Trump have been monitoring election drop boxes as part of their activity in the run-up to next week’s poll, when officials are bracing themselves for disruption and challenges to the vote tallies.
âA once-in-a-generation changeâ: Oregonâs biggest city prepares for monumental overhaul of government | Portland
When voters in Portland, Oregon, head to the polls next month, they will be tasked not only with selecting new leaders, but also the implementation of a monumental overhaul of the cityâs government.
Two years ago, residents moved to fundamentally alter their local government structure and adopted what experts have described as some of the most âexpansive voting reformsâ undertaken by a major US city in recent decades. Come November, the city will use ranked-choice voting to elect a mayor and a larger, more representative city council as Portland moves from a commission form of government to one overseen by a city administrator.
The shake-up comes after challenging years for Portland in which the city of 630,000 grappled with a declining downtown, rising homelessness, a fentanyl crisis, growing public drug use and the continued economic impacts of the pandemic years.
While some news coverage has portrayed the shift as Portlanders rejecting the cityâs historically progressive values, those involved with the project counter that residents are embracing democratic reforms that will lead to a more equitable government better equipped to solve the cityâs problems.
âIt was really clear that this system was, as operated, very inequitable,â said Jenny Lee, managing director of Building Power for Communities of Color, a non-profit that was a key proponent of the effort.
âAnd the challenges in governing are going to be felt the most by those who already have been marginalized in our political system.â
Now the city waits to see what the âonce-in-a-generationâ change will mean for its future.
Since 1913, Portland has used a commission form of government. The commission consisted of five people elected citywide and who were responsible for passing policies and also acting as administrators in charge of city departments.
The system was briefly popular in other major US cities, but then largely abandoned, said Richard Clucas, a political science professor at Portland State University.
âMost cities who adopted that form of government realized there were problems with it,â he said. âSomeone may be good as a legislator but it doesnât make them good as an administrator.â
And Portlandâs system had long failed to adequately represent different demographics in the city, Lee said. The cityâs elected officials historically have been white men from more affluent areas where residents are more likely to have a higher income and own their homes, according to the Sightline Institute. In 2017, only two people of color had ever been elected to the city council.
Under the charter system, simple decisions â such as where to put a bike lane â were politicized, said Shoshanah Oppenheim, the charter transition project manager.
âIt was based on the political tide,â said Oppenheim, who is also a senior adviser in the city administratorâs office.
For more than a century, Portlanders rejected attempts to reform the commission system, but that changed when the 10-year review of the city charter coincided with upheaval and challenges of the pandemic years.
The pandemic exacerbated the existing limitations of the cityâs form of government, according to a report from Harvardâs Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation chronicling Portlandâs reforms.
Meanwhile, Portland was the site of widespread racial justice protests and an ensuing federal crackdown, the cityâs economic recovery from the pandemic was slow, and residents grew increasingly disillusioned with their leadersâ ability to make meaningful progress tackling homelessness and drug abuse.
Those challenges created an opportunity to have meaningful conversations about elections and government, Lee said.
Clucas echoed that sentiment: âI think the public was looking and happy to take on some sort of change.â
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Community leaders had spent years educating themselves about electoral reform, and saw an opportunity to create change in the city, the report stated.
With support from community organizations and local activists, the commission brought a measure before voters that would make key changes to the cityâs system, allowing voters to rank local candidates in order of preference, expand the city council from five to 12 representatives elected from four newly created districts, and move to a system of government overseen by a professional city administrator.
Despite criticism about the complexity of the measure and opposition from political leaders and the business community, 58% of voters approved the package of reforms proposed by the commission.
Although the timing coincided with major changes and social issues, Lee said the reforms were not reactionary and instead an example of Portland being willing to try new things, which ties into Oregonâs long history of democratic reforms aimed at making government more participatory.
âIt was a message about change, but it was definitely a hopeful one,â she said. âIt was always about these changes will make our government more effective and equitable.â
The city has spent the last two years preparing for a project unlike anything Portland has seen before,Oppenheim said. âWe had a really short timeline ⦠Itâs been an all-hands-on-deck approach,â she said. âThere is no playbook. We are making it up as we go along.â
Next month, voters will decided among more than 100 candidates for 12 council seats and 19 candidates for mayor. A recent poll from the Oregonian suggested a once-longshot candidate, whose campaign has focused on ending homelessness, is well positioned to win.
In a poll of roughly 300 voters from early October, before election packets were sent out, two-thirds responded that they understood how voting works very well or somewhat well. People tend to understand the system right away given that they rank things every day, Oppenheim said.
The city has also developed a voter education program to inform residents about the changes and trained operators on its information line how to explain ranked-choice voting.
The hope is that voters will feel the increased power of their vote, Lee said. âEvery vote has a lot of power. Your constituentsâ voices really matter. Their second- and third-choice rankings actually really matter.â
After the election, the other major test comes next year when Portlandâs new government takes the reins. âWe want to be ready on day one so all the city business can continue,â Oppenheim said.
âPortlanders have huge expectations for change and we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do things better,â Oppenheim said. âThey want a more representative government. We have it in our power to deliver that.â
Hedgehogs ânear threatenedâ on red list after 30% decline over past decade | IUCN red list of endangered species
Hedgehogs are now listed as ânear threatenedâ on the International Union for Conservation of Natureâs red list after a decline in numbers of at least 30% over the past decade across much of their range.
While hedgehogs were once common across Europe, and were until now listed as of âleast concernâ on the red list, they are being pushed towards extinction by urban development, intensive farming and roads, which have fragmented their habitat.
Their population has suffered from vehicle collisions, the use of pesticides and poorly managed domestic gardens. Pesticides kill the insects that hedgehogs eat and may also poison them directly.
Abi Gazzard, a programme officer at the IUCN, said: âUnfortunately, evidence points towards a worrying and widespread downward trend. The red list assessment also highlights data uncertainties â for example, the limits of this speciesâ distribution are not entirely clear, and there are gaps in knowledge of its populations. There is still a chance to halt the decline of the western European hedgehog, and we must aim to prevent any further worsening of status.â
The Mammal Society is calling for people to look after hedgehogs by gardening in a wildlife-friendly way. This includes leaving small gaps in fences to allow hedgehog movement between gardens, not using pesticides and creating shelter with log piles or hedgehog houses. One in four UK mammal species are threatened with extinction, and many others are in decline.
Hope Nothhelfer, a communications officer at the Mammal Society, said: âThis decline will likely come as no surprise to the average person. When hedgehogs come up in conversation, itâs not long before someone says that they just donât see them any more. The hope is that as hedgehogs become more and more like a distant memory from our childhoods, we will respond with action that will bring these memories back to life.â
Shorebirds have fared badly on the red list this year, with four UK shorebird species moving to higher threat categories. These are birds that come to the UK in winter from colder climates and rest and feed on the shore and in estuaries before moving back to their breeding grounds for spring.
Birds that have been added to the list include the grey plover, which has declined by more than 30% globally since the late 1990s. Its conservation status has moved two categories from âleast concernâ to âvulnerableâ. Dunlins and turnstones have faced steep declines and have both been moved from âleast concernâ to ânear threatenedâ, and curlew sandpipers have declined by more than 30% globally since the late 2000s and have moved from ânear threatenedâ to âvulnerableâ.
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Threats they face include pollution, development and the climate crisis, with sea level rise causing increased erosion and a heightened risk of coastal flooding, forcing wildlife into smaller and smaller spaces.
The red list also reveals that 38% of the worldâs tree species are at risk of extinction, in its first global tree assessment. The list shows that at least 16,425 of the 47,282 species assessed are at risk of extinction. Islands host the largest proportion of threatened trees, where they are at risk due to deforestation for urban development and agriculture, as well as invasive species, pests and diseases.