Sailors' relatives are relieved as the ship is expected to dock in San Diego this week after a record-breaking 250-plus days at seaA mother in San Diego is counting down the days until her son comes home.I had a big sign made, welcoming him back," she said. I can't wait to see him." Continue reading...
John Steinbeck's hometown of Salinas is the least affordable city in the US for the middle class, a recent Brookings Institution analysis foundNestled between two mountain ranges at the crook of central California's coastline sits a valley known as the salad bowl of the world".Farm workers stoop over neatly lined rows of crops off Highway 101 to harvest more than half of the nation's supply of lettuce and nearly a third of its strawberries. The soil here is so rich that author John Steinbeck made the Salinas valley the promised land in his literary depictions of people chasing the American dream: immigrants, farm workers, westward-moving hopefuls, hungering for a better life. Continue reading...
Announcement from US officials comes after CDC declared end to outbreak that infected nearly 13,000 peopleThe Food and Drug Administration said on Friday its inspectors had detected cyclospora at the Mexican farm blamed for the largest foodborne illness outbreak of the parasite in US history.FDA inspectors said Friday they found cyclospora in two places: a wastewater tank and a drainage ditch used for lettuce cultivation. They said it was unclear how the lettuce became infected. Continue reading...
Kenan Ken' Urker, 34, who died of apparent drug overdose, was partner of woman convicted of murder of motherThe on-and-off partner of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who spent time in prison for her role in the murder of her abusive mother, was found dead inside his Louisiana home on his 34th birthday on Thursday in what authorities described as an apparent drug overdose.The sheriff's office in Lafourche parish, Louisiana, confirmed Kenan Ken" Urker - the father of Blanchard's daughter - was discovered on Thursday after relatives asked police to conduct a welfare check at his residence. Continue reading...
Plan to install barriers through popular national park sparked outrage from advocates and politicians alikeA federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from expanding the border wall and other security infrastructure across the Big Bend region of west Texas, where contentious plans to build roads and vehicle barriers through a popular national park have led to furious backlash and public protests.US district judge Kathleen Cardone's ruling after a Friday hearing in El Paso deals a major blow to the Trump administration's efforts to expand the border wall through west Texas at breakneck pace, while riding roughshod over the objections of local business owners, landowners, public land advocates and politicians from both parties. Continue reading...
Kevin Warsh's predecessor had been investigated over cost overruns related to central bank renovation projectThe US justice department is not reopening a criminal investigation into former Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for cost overruns related to the central bank's building renovation project, a department spokesperson said on Friday.Attorney general Todd Blanche - in comments to Bloomberg News, which first reported the development - said he has not ruled out continuing to look into the project's oversight and potentially take action if evidence of wrongdoing came to light. Continue reading...
by Alba Asenjo Domínguez in Washington on (#78SV1)
The justice and treasury departments said they sent $2m to Hamas through charities and cryptocurrency, while six people were arrested across the US and FranceThe Trump administration on Friday unveiled sanctions against three individuals allegedly related to the Islamist militant group Hamas and against two charities based in France while also announcing six arrests - actions that the government called an extraordinary counter-terrorism work" to expose a sophisticated, multiyear financing architecture".Investigators alleged that the network moved more than $2m to Hamas through deceptive charitable fronts and cryptocurrency channels". Continue reading...
Judge unseals bodycam footage from officers who responded to 911 from McDonald's in PennsylvaniaPolice bodycam footage released Friday shows the moment officers located and arrested Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald's in connection with the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan.In one video, officers ask Mangione to lower the face mask he was wearing to hide his identity. Continue reading...
Newly released police bodycam footage shows officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, approaching, searching and arresting Luigi Mangione at a McDonald's on 9 December 2024 in connection with the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The Guardian has edited the video from multiple cameras to show the moments of the arrest Continue reading...
Attorneys say hospital staff are working to clear pentobarbital she was administered from her systemChrista Pike remained hospitalized, unconscious and on a machine helping her breathe after her failed execution in Tennessee, her attorneys said in a court filing Friday.The attorneys said hospital staff were working to save Pike's life and clear the pentobarbital she was administered from her system as of late Thursday. Continue reading...
Ceremony will not be hosted at its traditional home for the first time since awards began in 1978The Kennedy Center Honors will take place away from its traditional home this year for the first time in its history as the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts remains in jeopardy amid Donald Trump's ongoing battle to have it named after himself.The Capital One Arena in Washington DC is now set to host the ceremony on 7 December, a Kennedy Center spokespersonsaid. The list of honorees this year has not yet been announced. Continue reading...
University denies allegations, saying it is committed to making admissions decisions in compliance with all lawsThe Department of Justice said on Thursday that the law school at the University of California, Los Angeles illegally considered race in admissions.The announcement follows a similar accusation against the university's medical school and comes as the Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of colleges' processes for selecting students. Continue reading...
A decade after his infamous Access Hollywood tape, the gender divide is again shaping a pivotal midterm electionA decade ago, Donald Trump's improbable presidential campaign was rocked - and nearly derailed - by the now-infamous Access Hollywood tape, a 2005 recording in which the real estate developer turned reality TV star boasted about kissing and grabbing women without their consent.When you're a star, they let you do it," he said, a remark he later downplayed as locker-room talk" before musing that the tape might be fake. (It wasn't.)Of course I'm the underdog': the British former spin doctor trying to turn California redA fake image of a Georgia mayor kissing a person went viral. Can US voters trust everything they see?Most Americans don't know Hasan Piker. The rest say he is changing this year's electionsTrump campaign ads paid with public money violate federal law, critics sayTrump allies could use midterms counting window' to disrupt results, experts warnWhat Democrats are getting right - and wrong - in run-up to midterms: We can't just be anti-Trump' Continue reading...
Russian strikes on Kyiv, the flydubai plane incident, student protests in Paris and Mount Etna erupts - the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalistsWarning: this gallery contains images some readers may find distressing Continue reading...
Hochul, who appointed the state's attorney general, Letitia James, as special prosecutor in the case, criticized how the alleged assault was handled by the school and promised a thorough investigation Continue reading...
Support for 37-year-old Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins could upend the governor's race in the heavily Republican stateThis July, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins spent four days and 450 miles (725km) wending his way down the Yukon River in a 24-ft Alweld skiff, a flat-bottomed aluminum boat built for shallow Alaska rivers.Starting in Koyukon Athabascan country, he passed through Indigenous Deg Hit'an communities like Anvik, before ending among the Yup'ik villages of the lower river, Russian Mission and Pilot Station among them. The boat carried him through 11 villages - some only reachable by water or small plane, and most with fewer than 300 residents, and fewer still who could recall the last time they had seen a candidate for Alaska governor, Republican, Democrat or independent. Continue reading...
Final jobs report before the midterm elections also shows the US unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.2%US employers added just 29,000 jobs in September, a sharp drop from last month's gains, and unemployment rose slightly to 4.2%, a sign of a cooling labor market in the final jobs report before the midterm election.The numbers were under half of economists' expectations of just under 70,000 new jobs. Most job gains were concentrated in the healthcare industry, which added 17,000 new jobs, while the information, financial and professional industries saw losses, according to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue reading...
Refugees from third countries are being sent to Equatorial Guinea, where they are often sent back to the very countries they fledFor nearly a year, the Hotel Bamy in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, has been Adam's prison. He is confined alone to a hotel room, under constant watch by the security officers and soldiers of a notoriously oppressive regime who control his movements. Not long ago, they barged into his room, handcuffed and beat him, and warned him not to tell anyone. There is no cell to point to, no charges or formal sentence, and nothing on paper to document his plight.Adam, 26, has chosen not to share his real name or even his country of origin out of fear for his safety. He fled indefinite, forced military conscription in his home country after enduring abuse during his military service. Continue reading...
Death toll of medical helicopter crash is now three people as two others continue to recover from injuries, authorities sayPolice divers have found the body of a patient who went missing after a medical helicopter crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island near Los Angeles, bringing the death toll to three while two other people were recovering from their injuries, the authorities said on Friday.Divers with the Los Angeles county sheriff's department found the victim's body Thursday in the wreckage of the helicopter after searching more than 156 sq miles (404 sq km) over 23 hours, the Coast Guard said in a statement. Continue reading...
Wilber Rafael Garces Perez remains in custody after surgery to remove bullet supporters say was stuck close to his spineThe Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot and wounded by a federal immigration agent in Texas last month had surgery on Thursday to remove the bullet that had been lodged in his back for nearly two weeks.Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, had appeared in court in a wheelchair on Wednesday, wearing a sling on his arm. He remains in custody on charges that he assaulted an officer while trying to evade arrest. Continue reading...
As LeBron James and other NBA stars wholeheartedly embrace the murk of betting and prediction markets, the San Antonio Spurs' 22-year-old cornerstone has drawn a refreshing lineIf the song from LeBron James's agonizing Polymarket ad is as stuck in your head as mine thanks to the commercial playing during every YouTube video and HBO show (all I wanted to do was rewatch The Leftovers), let Victor Wembanyama be your antidote. At the Spurs' practice on Thursday, San Antonio Express-News columnist Mike Finger asked Wembanyama if he would ever partner with a sports betting firm. It couldn't have been easier for the 22-year-old to say yes. The NBA displays ads for both FanDuel and DraftKings, in addition to hawking betting odds on its broadcasts. Until the streaming service met its end a few months ago, plenty of NBA games streamed exclusively on FanDuel Sports Network. Then there are Wembanyama's legendary peers: James is the new face of Polymarket; Kevin Durant reads FanDuel odds and invests in Kalshi; Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Kalshi shareholder.Absolutely not," Wembanyama said instead. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me." Continue reading...
The case of the Siders family illustrates major shortcomings among Ohio's political and administrative authoritiesIn June 2025, Jody Walker stood in front of Ohio lawmakers at a senate finance committee meeting in Columbus. As the head of South Central Ohio Job and Family Services, he was desperate for help.I have been a county director since 1999, yet I have not seen such a challenging time in the child welfare system as I do today," he said, specifically in terms of the needs of our children." Continue reading...
City on edge as police comb home of Raymond Horsch, pornographer who died last year, in grisly case involving disturbing pictures and filmA dilapidated house, burned out above the second story, may hold clues to dark tales and - potentially - the darkest of endings as the FBI and police in Philadelphia try to unpick what took place at 417 West Chew Avenue for more than three decades.Last week, homicide investigators shifted their focus from examining an archive of a million photographs and film recovered from what is known locally as the house of horrors" to excavating what is in or under the home of Raymond RC" Horsch, a career criminal, local artist, author and snuff photographer who died last year aged 82, and his son Eugene, 44. Continue reading...
by Presented by Jonathan Freedland with James Henson, on (#78SDT)
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is surprising everyone, as polls have him leading his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, in the Republican-led state of Texas.Jonathan Freedland speaks to James Henson, founder and executive director of the Texas Politics Project, about why a blue wave in the Lone Star state would be seismic Continue reading...
Failed attempt to execute 50-year-old prompts review of state's execution practices. Plus the California woman who is allergic to coldGood morning. Tennessee's governor has suspended executions as Christa Pike's lawyer says the state's failed lethal injection execution attempt has left her in a critical condition. Bill Lee, the Republican state governor, has suspended all executions in the state until at least the end of the year and ordered an independent inquiry.Leading voices on the death penalty in the US have told the Guardian that the failed execution was such a violation of the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment" that all judicial killings should be halted nationwide.What have Pike's lawyers said about her condition? Randy Spivey, one of her attorneys, said: We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health at the moment, but we do know that she is alive right now and receiving life-saving medical care. She is in a critical condition."What did witnesses say took place during the execution attempt? Catherine Sweeney, a reporter at the Nashville Public Radio WPLN, said: They went through two rounds, and she was still breathing at the end. She was very ragged. She lifted her head up and was looking around. At one point, she said ... there was a spot that was burning and hurting, and asked if that was normal. None of it was normal."What was Pike convicted of? She was convicted of the brutal 1995 killing of Colleen Slemmer, alongside her then boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp. Lee said he had not yet spoken to Slemmer's family after the failed execution.Why has the DNC issued a lawsuit against the administration? The Trump administration broke the law when it pushed through a last-minute change to the form overseas citizens use to register and request absentee ballots, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) said in a lawsuit filed on Thursday. Trump and Republicans are so desperate to hang on to power that they are trying to eliminate the way some American citizens abroad register to vote and request mail ballots," said Ken Martin, the chair of the DNC.Which states are leading the resistance to the Trump EPA's repeal of emissions rules? Twenty-one states, led by New York, are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's power plant rule. The New York attorney general, Letitia James, said the federal government was showing callous disregard" for Americans' health and the environment, and future generations would pay the price. Power plants that burn fossil fuels are a major source of planet-warming pollution. Continue reading...
Israel's conduct in Gaza shows the danger of using AI in warfare. Humans must remain at the center of wartime decisionsAs tech leaders warn about the threats of artificial intelligence, most conjure up images of AI agents running amok, such as hacking systems used to run our critical infrastructure, banks or even militaries. Yet one serious danger is mentioned less frequently - the threat posed by AI - empowered lethal weapons. Fully autonomous versions of these weapons are colloquially known as killer robots.Israel's conduct in Gaza shows that, in an important respect, such AI weapon systems are already here. An algorithm has been deciding who lives and who dies. Continue reading...
What happened to Pike was gruesome. No one deserves what she went through, not even those who commit horrible crimesBotched executions are nothing new in US history. In the era when hangings were common, some condemned people were decapitated. Later, when the electric chair was in vogue, every now and again, someone would catch fire during an electrocution. And nitrogen hypoxia, the US's newest execution method, has already proven notoriously unreliable.But, of all of the ways we have tried to execute people, lethal injection has the worst track record. More than 8% of all lethal injection executions have been botched. Most of them resulted when those charged with carrying them out could not find a usable vein. Continue reading...
The rightwing media mogul has lost ground to fellow sports bros like Pat McAfee and Joe Rogan. He's hoping his new venture can recapture some groundWhen Maga media blowhard Clay Travis offered $2m to Colin Kaepernick last week to appear on the daily talkshow he hosts with former CIA analyst Buck Sexton, it represented the culmination of a years-long obsession on the right with the onetime NFL star. In Travis's telling of history, Kaepernick taking a knee during the 2016 NFL season was the event that catalyzed professional sports into the era of woke" excess from which, he claims, it has been struggling to recover ever since.But more than simply confirming the right's longstanding villainization of Kaepernick, Travis's offer was also a smarmy bid for publicity for his new media venture, Sport & State. Sport & State, which launched in August, is Travis's bid to get back to his roots as a media mogul who sold the wildly popular Outkick to Fox Sports for a rumored $100m, and reclaim some of the cultural territory lost to fellow sports bros and Magagitators like Pat McAfee, Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro. But if there's one thing Sport & State won't be doing, it's engaging with anyone beyond the Magaverse. There has been no response from Kaepernick since Travis made his offer" of $2m to charity in exchange for an interview, which suggests he understands that it was extended more in a spirit of trolling buffoonery than sincerity. No one associated with the left or progressive politics ever appears on Travis's shows, for the simple reason that they are designed purely for the right to talk to itself. (Some would say the same could be said of the left, although the disregard for dissenting perspectives in the Magasphere seems way more extreme.) More than it heralds a renewal of Travis's career or an injection of fresh energy into the Trumpist mediasphere, Sport & State is a case study in the stagnation that has taken hold on the right as Donald Trump stares down the barrel of defeat in November's midterm elections. Continue reading...
Henry Ford's 1926 policy held for decades before eroding into a 24/7 mindset. Here's what we can do about itIt was a Saturday. In fact, the Saturday.Almost exactly a century ago, on 25 September 1926, Henry Ford instituted a policy of weekends for his workforce. Although various labor campaigns had existed for decades to try to carve out what we now call the weekend, this was the first widespread adoption. Continue reading...
Advocacy group that pushed for the legislation says 9,000 children are married in California every yearCalifornia has outlawed child marriage, joining 17 other US states where the taboo practice is also banned.Under past state law, minors of any age could obtain a court order for marriage with the consent of their parents. Continue reading...
Christa Pike is critically ill in a Nashville hospital after surviving two attempts by Tennessee to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyers say. Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in the 1990s for a murder she committed as a teenager, with her lawyers saying she has a blood disorder that made it difficult to establish an intravenous line. Pike's lawyer Randy Spivey says Tennessee has again demonstrated it is unable to carry out an execution with 'basic human dignity'
Officials in Wyoming had called notion to host game in Grand Teton national park deeply unwelcome'Major League Baseball (MLB) leadership is no longer considering holding a game inside a national park, according to a letter commissioner Robert Manfred sent to officials in Teton county, Wyoming, on Thursday in what could be the league's biggest swing-and-a-miss off the diamond.On 26 September, the Washington Post reported that MLB had reached out to the White House about staging a one-day game at Grand Teton national park in Wyoming. Teton county describes itself as a a year-round resort community" and sits within the Jackson Hole valley. It's also a habitat for grizzly bears, osprey, bison and more. Continue reading...
New York attorney general brought in by governor after recent questions raised over university's 2024 investigationKathy Hochul, the New York governor, said on Thursday she is appointing Letitia James, the state's attorney general, as special prosecutor to investigate the alleged gang-rape at Cornell University.The young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued," Hochul said in a statement. This action will ensure that the matter is fully and thoroughly investigated without conflict or bias, and handled independently with the rigor that this matter demands." Continue reading...
Landlords can no longer refuse pit bulls, rottweilers, dobermans or other breeds considered scary'Landlords in Washington DC will no longer be able to refuse a tenant's dog based on its breed, size or weight, nor can they impose special charges related to these factors.At least, that's what a new law that took effect on Thursday aims to achieve. Animal welfare organizations and animal shelters applauded the legislation, emphasizing the benefits of reducing barriers to pet ownership in the US capital. Continue reading...
Democratic-led coalition says gutting key protections will set US back decades and worsen climate crisisStates and cities sued the Trump administration on Thursday for repealing rules that limit planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas.Twenty-one states, led by New York, are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's power plant rule. The Democratic-led coalition also includes Pennsylvania's governor, the District of Columbia, New York City, Chicago and the city and county of Denver. They argue that gutting one of the country's most significant climate protections" will set the nation back decades and worsen the climate crisis. Continue reading...
Shoppers and vendors in Aspen surprised by unusual customer as it stretched to sample stall offeringsFarmers' market shoppers might not usually pay much attention to the local resident devouring fresh bread and pastries at one of the stalls with extra gusto - but some certainly did last weekend when they realized it was a hungry bear.Onlookers on Saturday reached for their phones to take photos and videos of the bear in downtown Aspen, Colorado, after it wandered through the stalls and got up on to its hind legs to dig into the baked goods. Continue reading...
Request for Clancy, 36, to be acquitted turned down nearly a month after first trial ended with deadlocked juryThe judge in the Lindsay Clancy murder case on Thursday refused to declare her not guilty, turning down a defense motion that had argued there was not enough evidence to prove she was responsible for killing her three children.On Tuesday, Clancy's attorney Kevin Reddington tried to persuade Judge William Sullivan that prosecutors had not offered any proof that Clancy had killed her three children. Prosecutors argued there was plenty of evidence, calling Reddington's claim laughable". Continue reading...
Court will review practice of indefinite detention for undocumented immigrants living in the USThe US supreme court agreed on Thursday to take up a case challenging the Trump administration's practice of indefinite detention for undocumented immigrants living in the US and awaiting deportation proceedings.At the center of the immigration case is a dispute over Donald Trump's reinterpretation of a longstanding policy that has led to a huge surge in the number of migrants held in detention centers. Continue reading...
The former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach took 12 years to build a city filled with stadiums, skyscrapers and bespoke homes. It is a marvelWe may finally have cracked the case as to why the Pittsburgh Steelers stagnated so much over the final years of Mike Tomlin's tenure as head coach: he was focused on virtual urban planning.I'm kidding, of course. It's good when people in high-pressure jobs have creative hobbies. Count this writer (and his interior designer wife) among those who were gobsmacked on Wednesday night by Tomlin's reveal of a 12-year-long project in Minecraft, the world-building game. Tomlin had teased that during his coaching career, he took up Minecraft city-building as a way to connect with his young children. We have now seen the fruits of that labor, and they are magnificent. Look my my works, Terry Bradshaw, and despair. Continue reading...
Three-quarters of nations have rightly abolished capital punishment in law or practice, but killing by the state has surged in the USWhat is the kindest way to kill? That's the question being asked once more following Tennessee's failed attempts to execute Christa Pike for the brutal murder of a classmate, Colleen Slemmer, when she was 18. The 50-year-old was taken to a medical facility, her condition unknown, with witnesses describing her snoring loudly around 40 minutes after receiving two injections of pentobarbital on Wednesday. It is the second botched killing in months, prompting Tennessee's governor to order a halt to executions.Lethal injection was supposed to be the humane alternative to firing squads and electric chairs. They in turn were seen as an improvement on hanging, which looked much like lynching in a system disproportionately handing the death penalty to black men. The age and ill health of those executed, and the ethical refusal of most medical staff to be involved, may contribute to botched injections. But analysis of autopsy results has provided compelling evidence that suffering is inherent; injections - especially those involving paralytic drugs - have merely disguised it. What is described as safeguarding the dignity of prisoners is really about reducing the discomfort of witnesses who would otherwise see their suffering. Continue reading...
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