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A shared joy of the sport has united Canada for much of its history. But it's becoming increasingly difficult - and expensive - to watch games on televisionThe Oilers lost to the Detroit Red Wings on 26 October, but Edmonton captain Connor McDavid got an assist anyway. He's been doing that a lot lately. Just 16 games into the year, McDavid has 31 assists. It's the fastest anyone has ever hit that milestone in any NHL season. But on that night in late October, many fans in Edmonton were unable to see McDavid's feats - including patrons of a local bar - because it was one of nine Oilers games this season that are only available via a subscription to a premium streaming service.It's the same story in every Canadian NHL city, thanks to changes to broadcasts that have meant that a handful of games for each team are now only available with a $12.99 per month subscription to Sportsnet+, a streaming channel owned by Canadian telecom juggernaut - and owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs - Rogers Communications Inc. But it's not just Sportsnet+. The NHL also expanded its broadcast deal with Amazon, so when, two nights after the game against Detroit, the Oilers played their provincial rival, the Calgary Flames, only Amazon Prime subscribers could watch (true to form, McDavid got two assists in that one). Continue reading...

Gavin Newsom's decision to empty California's death row saves hundreds of lives and signals a national shiftGavin Newsom's decision to empty his state's death row is a truly remarkable moment in the US's death penalty history.Not only will it free hundreds of people from the threat of execution, but coming from a politician seemingly looking to run for the presidency, it sends an important signal that America's attachment to capital punishment is weakening, and opposing the death penalty is no longer a third rail in US politics. Continue reading...

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It's important to enjoy the misery of one's political enemies

Anthony Albanese's government has taken a blow due to Iran war but voter anxiety around cost of living and datacentres may hit harder

President seeks to make Oval Office a national monument to ensure designs are not ripped down by stupid people'Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday that he says will prevent future administrations from changing his design of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, spaces which he declared as national monuments that should be preserved.In the days since his party suffered historic defeats in the midterm elections, the president has seemingly turned his attention to the many renovation projects he has begun across the nation's capital. Sitting behind the Resolute Desk on Thursday, Trump declared the Oval Office a national monument". Continue reading...

Unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day previously happened in 2010Alabama, Florida and Indiana all carried out executions on Thursday in an unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day.In a record-tying 19th execution of the year, Florida executed Jesse Guardado via a three-drug lethal injection. Guardado had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman inside her Walton county home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing. Continue reading...

Major shake-up as LA councilmember, once considered long shot, ousts Democratic rival she had once endorsed

Kirill Dimitrov, envoy to Russian president Vladimir Putin, delivered a gift to Melania Trump at the White House on Thursday to thank her for brokering a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russian forces in Oleshky, Ukraine. During the same event, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets gifted the first lady with the Order of Princess Olga, 1st Degree award. Continue reading...

As war rages on in Kyiv and other cities, the first lady celebrates her single-city ceasefire with Russian and Ukrainian envoysBeaming from a podium in the White House's Grand Foyer, Melania Trump welcomed senior Russian and Ukrainian officials on Thursday to celebrate a ceasefire in an embattled Ukrainian town for which she has become the unlikeliest broker.The evacuation from Oleshky, a frontline Ukrainian town now occupied by Russia where 800 people lived through a protracted humanitarian crisis, may seem like a sideshow at this point in the war. Russian missiles and drones continue to rain down on Kyiv and other major cities, and a single Russian strike described as a double-tap" bombing killed 40 people in Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Democrat's move prevents these people from executions under future governors, after Christa Pike's failed executionGavin Newsom, California's governor, commuted the death sentences of more than 500 people on the state's death row on Thursday, a move that ensures they can never be executed under future administrations.The Democrat's mass commutation at the end of his term has converted all of the state's death sentences to life without the possibility of parole, the largest clearing of any US death row in modern history. Continue reading...

Trump administration push emerges from a lawsuit alleging violations of national immigration regulationsThe Trump administration held secret talks with Iran on deporting Iranians even as the war there dragged on, court documents obtained by the Associated Press show.The court documents unsealed on Thursday show the Republican administration as recently as mid-October said it had plans to deport the Iranians through an unnamed third country, although it was unclear when it intended to do so. Continue reading...

Bills have soared in rural state buffeted by tariffs and war in Iran - and Democrat Adam Hamilton's stunning upset shows how deep economic frustrations runLinda Olson always does her homework before voting - a trait she inherited from a family invested, and interested, in politics. Her father was a photographer who took portraits of political leaders in Washington, while her grandparents were farmers who cared deeply about their industry.In 2024, Olson's research led her to Donald Trump. She trusted that the then-former president would improve their economic realities in Junction City, Kansas - where she was born and raised - if he returned to the White House. Continue reading...

The judge oversaw extradition proceedings in Mexico for a Canadian citizen allegedly helping Ryan WeddingA Mexican judge has been arrested and accused of accepting $2m in bribes in exchange for releasing a suspected Canadian drug trafficker from custody, US officials said on Thursday.Luis Benitez Alcantara was overseeing extradition proceedings in Mexico in 2024 for Canadian citizen Andrew Clark, who was charged in the US with helping to run a billion-dollar drug-trafficking group allegedly headed by the former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, the justice department said in a statement. Continue reading...

Urban planner and outsider who bested Karen Bass has close ties to Hollywood progressives - and a complicated relationship with the DSANithya Raman on Thursday unseated Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass after a neck-and-neck race for the leadership for the US's second largest city.The young progressive's victory means that the two largest cities in the US, as well the nation's capital, Washington DC, have now all elected democratic socialist mayors. Continue reading...

The president seems to accept this is his last White House stint and is focused on renovating whatever he can get his little hands onAs you'd expect, the right is in a shambles right now. Elon Musk is making jokes about his election-interfering space lasers" and pretending that he really, really doesn't care that he threw away nearly half a billion dollars trying to influence the midterms. JD Vance is writing long essays on social media about how he agrees the Iran war was a bit of an oopsie.Donald Trump, meanwhile, seems to be going through his own idiosyncratic grieving process about the Republicans' historic midterm beating. The president has skipped all the way past shock, denial and anger and landed at the admiring my beautiful renovations" stage of grief. Continue reading...

A note from our US editor: A reckoning is coming, but make no mistake: Trump is still president - we'll need a free press in 2027 as much as we did in darker days. Please help today if you are able

President's lawyers ask appeals court to toss criminal trial verdict over $130,000 sent to Stormy DanielsDonald Trump's legal team on Thursday continued efforts to get his 2024 conviction in the hush-money election corruption case thrown out.Attorneys for the US president are trying to persuade a New York appeals court to toss the criminal trial verdict from May 2024, when Trump was found guilty on all charges of falsifying business records in the hush-money corruption scheme to influence his eventual victory in the 2016 presidential election. Continue reading...

Power is draining away at home, but the US president will see a chance to make his mark through foreign policy

The Democrats have gained new powers to constrain Donald Trump. But the drubbing that Republicans received could yet prompt him to new excessesDonald Trump is a president without parallel, but history can still be instructive. Lame duck presidents often focus on foreign policy to escape domestic discontent and establish a legacy in an area where a hostile Congress offers less of an obstacle. Mr Trump, who was stunningly rebuffed by voters in Tuesday's midterms, might seek satisfaction in construction projects, the 2028 presidential race and his family's future. Or, amid the humiliation and with Republican critics growing louder, he could distract attention with fresh adventurism - perhaps escalating against Cuba - or more likely a vengeful new offensive against Iran.Mr Trump won't put in the legwork or attention to detail demanded by, say, Bill Clinton's push for lasting peace in the Middle East. But he loves the glitz of state visits, spectacular military action, hobnobbing with strongmen and (unearned) credit for dubious peace deals". With a potential three-way meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping mooted for the Apec summit in China this month, Ukraine, Taiwan and others have reason to be nervous.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Black in defamation lawsuit alleges California lawmaker made false statements about his ties to Jeffrey EpsteinBillionaire Leon Black has filed a defamation lawsuit against California congressman Robert Garcia, accusing the lawmaker, who is the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, of making false statements about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the disgraced financiers's sex trafficking crimes.The filing, filed in federal court in New York on Wednesday, comes almost two months after the House voted to hold Black in contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply with subpoenas issued by the House oversight committee as part of the panel's investigation into Epstein. As of 5 November, the Department of Justice has not filed contempt charges against Black. Garcia's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Continue reading...

JD Vance, Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz all pointed to Iran war and affordability as key factors in Democratic victory

The postseason is nearly upon us but there's plenty to still be decided as the end of the regular season approachesJust days after millions of Americans cast their votes in the midterm elections, we will soon arrive at the second-most meaningful decider in US society: Major League Soccer's Decision Day. With eight 4pm ET kickoffs on the east coast and another seven games kicking off hours later out west on Saturday, there's still plenty to play for at the end of the regular season.This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here. Continue reading...

In Michigan, support for Israel was a kind of political hologram. But the media often made it seem realAmong the things that Abdul El-Sayed's victory last night in the Michigan Senate race revealed is this: the debate over US policy toward Israel does not primarily pit the left versus the right. It pits the top versus the bottom.There was no grassroots enthusiasm in the state for maintaining US military aid and weapons sales to Israel. That view no longer commands support even among ordinary Republicans. There was instead a massive infusion of pro-Israel money, mostly from extremely wealthy people.Peter Beinart is a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, editor at large at Jewish Currents, a professor at the Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York, and the author of The Beinart Notebook, a weekly newsletter. His most recent book is Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza Continue reading...

For a decade, good-hearted citizens witnessed horrors and insisted: This is not America.' Finally, the conversation has shiftedFor the past 10 years - such brutally discouraging years in the United States - we've been hearing good-hearted citizens put forth something they believed to their bones.This is not America," they would insist as federal agents shot people on city streets, as immigrants were called rapists and animals, as Donald Trump and his cronies stuffed their own pockets while they shrugged at the price of gas and groceries, and humiliated the nation on the world stage, alienating allies and sucking up to autocrats. Continue reading...

Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain flexed their muscles, Manchester United fought back and an unlikely star stole the show for AEK AthensStill without the recovering Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich are among the favorites to win the Champions League, which would be their first European title since 2019-20. Rene Mari's side produced a dominant display at the Metropolitano, playing Atletico Madrid off the field in a commanding 2-0 win. Lennart Karl and Konrad Laimer made the difference, with Harry Kane providing Laimer with a fine assist in his first continental appearance since winning the Ballon d'Or. Bayern remain just outside the top eight, which guarantees automatic passage to the last 16, having won two and drawn two of their opening four matches. Continue reading...

Trump is still president, and we don't know where things will go from here - but sometimes it just feels good to see some terrible people have a terrible timeThe last couple of days have been very bad for Donald Trump. Of course, in Trump's usual style, he is denying that the Republican loss at the midterms has anything to do with him - but we all know it does. While I fear the Democrats will not use this decisive moment to exercise some ambition and take meaningful action, the goings-on of the last couple of days have been undeniably fun to watch.Seeing so many conservatives lose in such a spectacular way has blessed millions across the globe with powerful schadenfreude. It is a much needed moment of relief, an experience of positivity to rejuvenate our ailing nervous systems (or whatever biology does). Sometimes you just need to see some terrible people have a terrible time. For me, it's just been the icing on a cake I've been dining out on for the last couple of months: watching Trump supporters watch Trump describing other men's bodies in detail. Continue reading...

European far-right leaders quick to distance themselves from US president and stress their own priorities

The wins for Democrats come after years of cuts and upheaval to US health and science infrastructureA political organizations behind a wave of Democratic doctors and scientists winning elections up and down the ballot is calling the stunning rebuke of Trumpism the Stem swing" and revenge of the nerds".The wins come after years of cuts and upheaval to US health and science infrastructure, as Democrats spent big on health-related ads and as voters rejected the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement. Continue reading...

Criticism of US-Israel war on Iran seen as huge factor in Democrats' sweeping victory. Plus, a spiky customer steps into a North Carolina bagel store

Bitter postmortem under way as party comes to terms with Darline Graham's stunning loss to Annie AndrewsIt's not that Shane Brown somehow didn't know about the US Senate election in South Carolina. Nor was he unaware that the outcome of the race between Senator Darline Graham and her Democratic challenger, Annie Andrews, was shockingly competitive when he refrained from voting Tuesday.The campaigns would not let him forget it. Continue reading...

James Talarico and Adam Hamilton's interpretations of the Bible are wildly different from the conservative vision we are regularly fedTwo-thirds of Americans identify as Christian, but since less than a third of the country actually makes it to church regularly, many rely on what they pick up from the media - social or otherwise - to know what the religion means.And until yesterday, that received wisdom could be summed up as: a conservative, domineering, and above all anti-gay force fiercely committed to the Republican party.Well, let's just talk about what Republicans and Democrats believe, and I value Republicans, too. But ... Republicanism - often we hear it's about fiscal responsibility, limited government, a strong defense, and personal civil liberties, and let's say conservative values in some ways. And Democrats - if you think about what they stand for, it's education, it's the vulnerable, it's social safety nets, it's a progressive spirit that's trying to lift people up. And I said: if you think about those two, which sounds more like Jesus in the gospels? Continue reading...

Polling done for the Guardian shows plummeting support from a former key constituency of Donald Trump's basePolling conducted by the Harris Poll for the Guardian before the election shows just how angry voters were and points to one key reason Republicans lost so badly: plummeting support from rural voters, once a key constituency of Donald Trump's base.Over the summer, 95% of Americans indicated they believed there was an affordability crisis, particularly because of steep gas and grocery prices. By October, 61% of voters believed the country was experiencing a recession, even though technically it wasn't. Continue reading...

Senior leaders say party will be united' in focus, but progressives call on party to take radical actionProgressive Democrats have declared that significant US midterm election wins across the country are as much a repudiation of their own party's political establishment as of Donald Trump's presidency.After a string of left-wing candidates scored stunning victories from Texas to Michigan, senior Democratic leaders have stressed the party's new representatives in Washington will be united" in their focus on reducing costs for Americans and ending corruption under Trump. Continue reading...

A Democratic sweep has changed Washington's balance of power. But from gambling legislation to stadium subsidies, both parties have helped build the system that enriches American sports' billionaire ownersBefore a single vote was cast this election cycle, the technocrats and oligarchs who own American sports had already voted. Pro sports owners put more than $100m into this cycle, according to Front Office Sports. But Tuesday night was a referendum not just on Donald Trump and Maga policies, but on the puppeteers who pull America's strings. The people voted, and the owners lost.Before anyone frames this as a rescue, a word about the rescuers. Democrats are the instrument for ending Maga, and they are also the other face of the same coin. Think Republicans are behind all of our ills? Think again. New Jersey's governor, Phil Murphy, placed his state's first legal sports bet in 2018. Illinois governor JB Pritzker signed sports betting into law a year later. New York's mobile sportsbooks went live under Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022, with the state taking 51% of the revenue. Pritzker and Hochul both won Tuesday, and all of them are Democrats. In some of the biggest betting markets in the country, the bookmakers' most reliable partner has been a Democratic statehouse. Continue reading...

Administration had waged aggressive bid to sow doubt about midterms results but worst fears were not realizedIn the months leading up to the midterm elections, Donald Trump's administration waged an aggressive effort to sow doubt about the results, intimidate voters and election officials, and signal they would use the power of the federal government to challenge the electoral process.But when the results came in Tuesday night, revealing a massive blowout for the GOP, Trump did something almost unprecedented: he accepted the results. Trump said he was absolutely willing" to accept the outcome and looked forward to working with Democrats. With the exception of the 2024 election, which he won and Republicans performed well in, Trump has raised doubt about every presidential race and midterm since his first election in 2016. Continue reading...

Gordon Brothers still in active discussions' with interested parties and seeking to protect as many jobs as possible'The US owner of Poundland has said the high street chain remains challenged and vulnerable" after holding talks with ministers amid government criticism of its handling of the retailer.Gordon Brothers said in a statement on Thursday morning that it was still in active discussions" with interested suitors and had been seeking to protect as many jobs as possible". Continue reading...

The Democrats have taken control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. These charts and maps reveal the key trends and races behind this result

With many seats still to come in, the Democrats have taken control of the Senate, House and several key governorships. Find live updating results in full here

Accuracy of US polling came into sharp focus after Trump outperformed polls in 2016, 2020 and 2024Political polling experts hailed a great night" for the industry after surveys accurately foresaw much of the Democratic blue wave that swept across the US in midterm elections.In only a handful of US Senate races, including Texas and New Hampshire, key polls failed to gauge the scale of the Democratic victory over Republicans on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Guardian analysis shows how tumbling approval ratings may have hurt candidates backed by US president

This blog has now closed - our live US midterms results coverage continues hereWall Street surged at the open, after Democrats scored historic victories in midterm elections and secured control of US Congress.The Dow Jones rose 2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500 both gained more than 1%. That's quite a reversal: Overnight, stock futures fell sharply as investors worried about the prospect of tougher regulation of the AI sector and the impact on economic growth. Continue reading...

Amendment 81 would have required law enforcement to notify federal agents if people accused of violent crimes were not lawfully present in USColorado voters have spurned a conservative group's effort to force police and prosecutors to aid the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda.Amendment 81, which failed to receive 55% of the vote on Tuesday, would have required Colorado's law enforcement agents to notify federal immigration authorities if individuals accused of violent crime were not lawfully present in the US or if their legal status was undetermined. Continue reading...

JD Vance calls Iran war into question as Thomas Massie files eight articles of impeachment

Donald Trump's crushing defeat in the US midterms over cost-of-living pressures is a warning for politicians closer to homeFascinating, isn't it, that for all that Donald Trump has got away with, it's arguably the cost of fuel that's finally led to an absolute rout in the midterms.So many Americans held their noses at so many other things, but in the end his own decision-making on Iran will haunt the rest of his presidency. Continue reading...

When the US's first Muslim senator used Arabic in his victory speech, it cut through the torrent of vile racism Maga launched at him throughout his campaignRepeat after me: yallah. YAH-luh. This versatile Arabic word means everything from hurry up", to come on" to speak to you later". If you add a bye" at the end, the meaning shifts to please shut up, fool" or speak soon friend," depending on your intonation.Next up: wallah. wa-LAH. Again, the definition changes depending on context and cadence. It can mean everything from no way!" to I swear to God." Continue reading...