Content warning: This article discusses sexual assault in a way that may be distressing to some readers.

A thick haze has this week smothered Beijing and surrounding areas, with tens of millions of people in northern China...

Amazon today updated its Echo lineup, and previewed a conversational version of Alexa that offers

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has ordered the government to ensure national food security under all circumstances, while

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2023--

Electric vehicles have proved far less reliable, on average, than gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports, which found that EVs from the 2021 through 2023 model years encountered nearly 80% more problems than did vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines

The Middle East has long been a global crossroads for air travel, with hundreds of aircraft bisecting the

We’ve come a long way when it comes to sunscreen. Trust me, as a long-time /r/skincareaddiction reader, the conversation about sunscreen has shifted in the past decade, and that’s a good thing. There are more options, more diversity ingredients, and, of course, more product development = more innovations in the space = more inclusion in the sunscreen market, which claps all around for us all. But when it comes to the sunscreen conversation, we’re still dealing with the dreaded white-cast discussion.

Stargazers in the northern half of the world may be able to view a brightening

Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult sit down with Mashable entertainment reporter Belen Edwards to describe

When a draft of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson opinion that would overturn Roe v Wade leaked in May of last year, US Senator Tina Smith had only three words. “This is bulls***,” the Minnesota Democrat tweeted. She had similar words when Walgreens announced in March of this year it would not dispense abortion pills in states where abortion remained legal. Ms Smith told The Independent in a phone interview that she knew the consequences of overturning the enshrined constitutional right to seek an abortion from her time working at Planned Parenthood as the Minnesota branch’s executive vice president for external affairs. She said her time working there taught her about the effects restrictions have on women’s lives. “The first thing I realized is that for women facing a decision about what to do about an unplanned pregnancy, a pregnancy that they don't want, this is a purely personal decision for them,” she said. “As a policymaker, why do Republicans in the Senate and in state legislators around the country think that they know better than those women whose stories they'll never know? Why do they think that they should be the ones who decide? It’s those women's decisions.” Ms Smith said that the Dobbs decision has led to rooting the question of abortion rights in terms of personal freedom. “You know, they can see this, these stories of individuals and doctors that are trying to provide the best health care, get the best health care for people, and you know, they unable to do that and they can see that that's just wrong,” she said. Sen Smith arrived under peculiar circumstances after then-Governor Mark Dayton nominated her, while she was serving as lieutenant governor of Minnesota, to replace Sen Al Franken amid multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour. Similarly, she has often been overshadowed by Minnesota’s senior Democratic Sen Amy Klobuchar, who ran for president. She and fellow midwestern Democratic Sen Tammy Baldwin, of Wisconsin, have a running joke that reporters and Capitol Hill staff often confuse them. In the past year, Sen Smith has emerged as a stronger presence. She wrote some of the climate provisions in what would become the Inflation Reduction Act. When Sen John Fetterman (D-PA) left the Senate for a few weeks to undergo treatment for depression, she spoke about her own difficulties with the condition. In addition, she’s emerged as one of the strongest voices defending abortion rights. Ms Smith said the Dobbs decision has made the contrast between Democrats and Republicans clearer. In recent months, Sen Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has blocked military nominations because of the Pentagon’s policy that reimburses people who travel out of state to receive abortions. “What Senator Tuberville is doing is so outside the norms of what we should be doing in the Senate, it's outrageous,” she said. “I just need to point out that what Senator Tuberville is trying to do is to overturn a policy which basically provides women serving in the military with the same access to health care that people that are incarcerated in our federal prisons have.” Few Republicans seem deterred from their opposition to abortion despite the role it played in dulling their efforts to flip the Senate last year. Ms Smith’s colleague Sen Tim Scott (R-SC), now a candidate for president, told the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference last month “thank God almighty for the Dobbs decision.” Former vice president Mike Pence has called for a 15-week national abortion ban. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump has campaigned as the president who nominated the three Supreme Court justices who made the decision possible. Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who often places a second distant behind Mr Trump in polls, signed legislation banning abortion after six weeks. As vice chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Ms Smith faces a tough challenge because not only does she have to defend Senate seats in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada – all of which President Joe Biden won in 2020 – she also has to defend Senate seats in three states Mr Trump won twice: Ohio, Montana and West Virginia. “And make no mistake, if Republicans win the Senate or if Republicans win the White House, we can see from their statements, they're going to move to pass a national ban on abortion,” she said, noting how many GOP candidates for Senate oppose abortion. “So, this is the contrast, this is what voters will be confronted with when they cast their votes in 2024,” she said. “Do you want to elect individuals who think they know better, that they should be the ones making decisions, individuals that want to ban abortion rights? Or do you want to elect Democrats who believe that women and not politicians should be making their own health care decisions?” At the same time, Democrats face huge challenges to codify abortion rights. Last week, Mr Biden told donors he was personally uncomfortable with abortion. “I'm a practising Catholic,” he said on Tuesday. “I'm not big on abortion, but guess what? Roe v Wade got it right.” Sen Smith defended Mr Biden’s actions defending abortion rights. “I believe that the President and the administration have moved decisively in all the ways that they can as they look for other ways to the practical reproductive freedom, that's a good thing,” she said. “I'm proud of the work that they've done. I think ultimately, the action that we need to take is legislative action, and that is why we need to win these elections.” Last year, shortly after the Dobbs leak, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to put the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have codified the protections in Roe, to a vote. But Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) opposed the measure. Even then, Sen Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who later left the Democratic Party to become an independent, opposes removing the filibuster, which demands a two-thirds majority to pass legislation. Sen Smith said if Democrats with the House, the Senate and the White House again, they should get rid of the filibuster. “And you know, we need to work towards a Senate majority that will not only support reproductive freedom but will also change Senate rules so that we can act on that belief,” she said. “And that I think is going to as I said before, that I believe will be a decisive issue in the in the elections in 2024.” Read More Congresswoman who authored abortion rights bill calls Senate’s inaction to codify Roe v Wade ‘such a crime’ Ritchie Torres, the only openly gay Black man in Congress, on how he fights GOP ‘bullying’ of LGBT+ people Republicans try to thread the needle on abortion on anniversary of the death of Roe 'Rage giving' prompted by the end of Roe has dropped off, abortion access groups say Arizona executive order safeguards abortion seekers and providers from prosecution Why some doctors stay in US states with restrictive abortion laws and others leave

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has revealed Lewis Hamilton’s reaction to his joint-best performance of the season after finishing second at the Mexican Grand Prix. It’s been a long grind of a season for Mercedes, who have struggled to consistently get the desired results from their W14 car, prompting plenty of frustration from Hamilton and teammate George Russell amid Red Bull’s domination. But there were signs of life in Mexico over the weekend as Russell finished sixth but Hamilton crossed the line in second place for just the third time this season following the Spanish GP in June and the Australian GP back in April. The 38-year-old couldn’t catch the unstoppable Max Verstappen cruising to another race victory but team boss Wolff joked that the veteran British driver was finally happy with the W14. “Today I think it was a first where he said ‘the car is actually good!’,” smiled Wolff. “But it was a brilliant, brilliant drive and we have these oscillations in performance. We don’t really know, sometimes the tyres stick, sometimes not. “The smiles on our faces because the car was strong. I think once Lewis was in free air, we had so much margin on the medium, fastest lap at the end. It was good.” Mercedes are hardly alone in struggling this campaign, with Red Bull having won all but one of the 19 races so far, with Verstappen claiming victory in 16 of those – already breaking his own record from last year of most wins in a single season. Not since Russell crossed the line first at Interlagos in 2022 have the German manufacturer finished top of the podium but Wolff is pleased with the progress shown, although he refused to commit to an exact timescale on when that elusive win might come. “Not sure,” Wolff said. “It’s been a few weekends now that we’ve been saying ‘we could have’ but we didn’t. “I think we need to qualify better and then probably in straight-line speed, it wouldn’t have been so competitive against Max but who knows? The pace is there.” Read More F1 2023 season race schedule: When is the Brazilian Grand Prix? Max Verstappen gives blunt verdict on Sergio Perez’s Mexican Grand Prix crash Sergio Perez lasts just 14 seconds in home race as Max Verstappen wins in Mexico