The GOP tried to dilute their power, but Black voters helped Democrats get elected in Alabama, Texas and FloridaBlack voter turnout surged across US southern states where Republicans were accused of redrawing electoral maps to diminish Black political power" in the wake of a seismic supreme court ruling.Democrats flipped or held seats in Alabama, Texas and Florida with the support of this voting bloc, building on a decades-long, dedicated movement to protect and build Black political power in the region. Continue reading...
Senior British politicians and officials highlight potential to end Iran war but warn US president is not yet a spent force'Andy Burnham was having dinner at the Commonwealth summit in Antigua when the results of the US midterm elections started rolling in.UK government officials in the Caribbean with the prime minister scrolled through their phones with growing incredulity as the scale of the Republicans' defeat became clear. Continue reading...
US voters repudiated mass deportation campaign, but choice of new chief of staff is an ominous signal that Trump is driving ahead at full speedOn Tuesday, US midterm voters resoundingly rebuked Donald Trump and his brutal mass deportation campaign that sent military tanks and masked agents though residential streets.But on Friday, the president doubled down. He named Stephen Miller - the architect of the administration's most aggressive immigration policies - as his chief of staff. Continue reading...
Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos arrested by secret service after telling officers voices told him to kill Donald TrumpThe US secret service said a suspect has been taken into custody and charged after officers found him in a vehicle near the White House with multiple guns, claiming he heard voices in his head telling him to kill Donald Trump.The arrest Thursday night happened after secret service officers approached a man acting suspicious" in a parked car, according to a Homeland Security statement. US officials said the suspect - Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos - went on to describe voices in his head that were telling him to come to the nation's capital and kill the Republican president. Continue reading...
Tech stocks have lost trillions while voters have rejected the industry's political champions. The billionaire-led boom is facing a democratic reckoningThis week's midterms showed that the political bill for the AI boom is falling due. The Democratic sweep intensified fears over runaway spending, mounting debt and resistance to datacentres, sending tech shares tumbling. On Thursday Wall Street suffered its worst day since the pandemic as $3.2tn was wiped from markets. Anthropic, developer of the Claude chatbot, is hoping to float within the next fortnight for $1.5tn (1.1tn), but it may not now get even a trillion dollars. The dominant AI chipmaker Nvidia saw its value crash by more than $400bn. The world's richest man, ElonMusk, lost $113bn in two days.While a few very rich people may be a little less wealthy, the sell-off may not be a bad thing. It brings a needed dose of reality to an industry whose spending plans and valuations depend on heroic expectations of future profits. That is a view held by many influential figures - from Goldman Sachs' research boss to Nobel laureate Daron Acemolu. AI may transform the economy. That does not guarantee investors will earn back the sums being poured into it.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...
Faculty senate passed resolution expressing deep discontent with school's response to alleged fraternity rapeCornell University's faculty senate approved a resolution on Friday declaring no confidence" in the school's top leaders, a symbolic gesture reflecting deep discontent on campus in the wake of a former student's lawsuit saying she was gang-raped at a fraternity party in 2024.The resolution passed 75-50, with five faculty senators abstaining and five others not voting, according to an email sent to members of the faculty senate on Friday afternoon. Continue reading...
by David Smith, Laure Boulinier, Naomi Schanen, Karif on (#79K44)
Democrat James Talarico won a Senate seat in Texas, breaking a 38-year drought for his party in the Republican stronghold and delivering a stunning blow to Donald Trump. The race became one of the most expensive Senate contests in US history, with advertising spending topping $500m, according to estimates. GOP-aligned groups poured hundreds of millions of dollars into efforts to elect Ken Paxton, including substantial funding linked to multibillionaire Elon Musk, whom Talarico accused of trying to buy a Senate seat.
Jason Reding Quinones led investigation into whether Trump's rights were violated during 2020 election inquiryA US attorney overseeing the so-called grand conspiracy" investigation into Donald Trump's rivals announced on Friday he is leaving the Department of Justice, one of several officials to leave the department in recent days after sweeping Democratic wins in the midterm elections.Jason Reding Quinones, the US attorney for the southern district of Florida, and John Eisenberg, who led the justice department's national security division, are both leaving. Democrats have pledged to use their majorities in the US House and Senate to conduct aggressive oversight of the justice department, among other agencies. Continue reading...
Severe storms brought heavy rain across the border between Georgia and Tennessee on 4 November, flooding communities and forcing dozens of rescues Continue reading...
by Presented by Lucy Hough with Richard Partington ; on (#79JWH)
Global tech stocks have plunged after the Democrats' victory in the US midterm elections, with fears of a slowdown in AI development. Major tech corporations including Apple, Tesla and Nvidia shed about $1tn in a single trading session. Is this stock market jitters, or a sign the AI bubble might be about to burst? Lucy Hough speaks to senior economics correspondent Richard Partington Continue reading...
Historians and political scientists say that framing the wins as Ohio's working class has come home' is too simpleAt its peak, the Mahoning valley was once the beating heart of the US's steel economy - a hardscrabble, heavily unionized Democratic bastion in north-eastern Ohio. But de-industrialization, sparked by the mass closure of steel mills in the late 1970s, transformed the region.Tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs disappeared. Populations declined. And support for Democrats slowly, but surely, faded. In 2020, Mahoning county voted for its first Republican presidential candidate - Donald Trump - in a generation. Continue reading...
After two titles won as the lowest seed in the playoffs, the New Jersey club sought consistency in 2026. It's arrived, but what's next?By the time Gotham FC had won their second NWSL Championship in three seasons, Yael Averbuch West had already determined what was going to change.Some of that is the nature of her job; the general manager of a perennial contender can't rest on laurels. Before every postseason, Gotham finalize tough looming personnel decisions, assessing the roster and staff alike with clear eyes. Continue reading...
by Presented by Jonathan Freedland , produced by Dani on (#79JSH)
Jonathan Freedland hosts a live panel to look at what happens next -for Donald Trump, the Republicans who might want to succeed him, and for Democrats looking ahead to 2028. He is joined by the Guardian's Washington bureau chief, David Smith; Tara Setmayer, a co-founder and CEO of the Seneca project; the Guardian's global editor, Devika Bhat; Adam Smith, a professor of US politics and political history at the University of Oxford; and the clinical psychologist, author and political commentator Mary Trump Continue reading...
The Warriors' freshman has spent his first weeks in the NBA antagonizing superstars, speaking his mind and emerging as one of the league's most compelling personalitiesIf a screen-addled pickup basketball player teleported into the body of a high-level athlete, they might resemble Yaxel Lendeborg. The most commonly cited fact about Lendeborg is that he used to spend 12 to 14 hours a day gaming, and didn't debut on his high school basketball team until he was an upperclassman. Professional athletes often have origin stories that resemble the superhero more than the mortal, but Lendeborg really was just like us at one point. Lendeborg has also said that prior to entering the NBA, he didn't really watch it, either. The Puerto Rican forward racked up more than enough accolades in college to qualify for the NBA, including helming Michigan to their first national championship in 37 years, but still. Any of you reading this could smoke the man who may be this season's rookie of the year in trivia about his profession.The 24-year-old Lendeborg is a forward on the Golden State Warriors, a team caught between the ancient, gleaming remnants of the most fearsome dynasty of the 2010s and its future. The balance didn't work out last season, as the Warriors produced flashes of old greatness to win one play-in game before flaming out in the next. Such results are a frustrating waste of Stephen Curry's wonderful form even at 38 years old. Lendeborg is the best hope in a while to help maximize it. But even more importantly, Lendeborg is the character of the season so far. He's spent its first two weeks antagonizing superstars, firing off unselfconscious takes in the press and vacuuming up the spotlight from his blander peers. What a joy to bear witness to an athlete who probably didn't even hear the words media training" until college. Continue reading...
Low-hire, low-fire' labor market shows sluggish growth but few layoffs, with an interest rate hike expected in DecemberThe US added 165,000 jobs to the economy in October, a sign of resilience in the labor market amid ongoing war in the Middle East and inflation, according to new data released on Friday.Economists had said the labor market has been stuck in a low-hire, low-fire" state, in which job growth is sluggish but layoffs also remain low, but October's data surpassed economist expectations. The unemployment rate went down slightly to 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported. Continue reading...
A decade of political misery does terrible things to the mind. Tuesday's wins came with a sense of unrealityLate on Tuesday night, the comedian Alex Edelman asked a poignant question on social media: I know we've never had to ask this before tonight, but what's the opposite of doomscrolling?"I don't have a definitive answer to that, though I did offer the term boomscrolling", accompanied by a gif of the social media sensation and Costco enthusiast Big Boom AJ. Continue reading...
The successful Democratic contender for a Michigan Senate seat parried the many insinuations lobbed by RepublicansAbdul El-Sayed said he did not expect to be a main character of this midterms", but the first Muslim elected to the US Senate in history will take his seat in January after a vitriolic campaign that cast him as the central villain of the president and his party.By October he told the Associated Press he was not shying away" from those rightwing fixations. What are you implying?" El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, replied when a town hall attender asked if he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood, in a now-viral exchange. Continue reading...
Wildlife advocates incensed as documents show state paid out $2,000 per kill in effort to shrink state's wolf populationIdaho officials paid hunters thousands of dollars for killing a dozen newborn wolf pups this spring, including what appears to be at least one full litter killed in or near its den, according to state records shared with the Guardian and Public Domain.The wolf pup killings have incensed wildlife advocates in Idaho, where state wildlife officials have been ordered to take extraordinary measures to shrink the state's re-introduced wolf population amid complaints from the livestock industry and big game hunting outfitters. Continue reading...
by Anthony Flaccavento and Erica Etelson on (#79JQ5)
Democrats won over rural voters from Maga in the midterms by focusing more on working people and less on culture warsLong before Jamie Ager entered politics, he was making a name for himself in a very different place: the meat counter of a grocery store in Boone, North Carolina.It was the early 2000s, and Ager owned and operated Hickory Nut Gap, a regenerative farm near Asheville. Over the next 20 years, he helped build a regional food system that delivered healthier food to thousands of people, improved land stewardship and made farming a bit more profitable. Continue reading...
Anticipation that Democrats' blue wave' will lead to tighter rules on AI and datacenters sends tech stock plunging. Plus a big eight-legged surprise for customs officials in Peru
Yes, the Republicans suffered humiliating defeat. But the fact that a Trump presidency was even possible means something like it could happen againHe's down, but not quite out. Barring divine or other intervention, Donald Trump will remain in the Oval Office for a further two years and 10 weeks. Or, as the White House put it in a plaintive social media post brimming with neediness: PSA [Public Service Announcement]: Trump is still your president." But that's not the only reason why the global celebrations that greeted the Democratic tidal wave that swept Republicans out of even their deepest heartlands should be tempered, if only a tad.Don't get me wrong, the results of Tuesday's midterm elections are cause for genuine international jubilation. The defeats of Trump allies in Serbia and Brazil were delicious appetisers, but this was the feast. No mere electoral setback in line with midterm tradition, this was a thorough repudiation of the second Trump presidency and of Trumpism. The 16% swing to Democrats in the popular vote for the House of Representatives was greater even than the 11.2% swing recorded in the Watergate midterms of November 1974, following the resignation in disgrace of Richard Nixon. Trump had worked hard for many months to undermine these elections, either by gerrymandering districts in his favour or preparing the ground for a later claim the vote was rigged, but to no avail: the democratic system proved too resilient, and the American public too determined to have their say. And have it they did, in a voice loud and clear.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Fred Wellman, host of the progressive podcast On Democracy, defeated longtime incumbent Republican Ann WagnerFred Wellman's victory in Missouri's second congressional district on Tuesday was such a surprise that NBC News's star data analyst Steve Kornacki didn't even have a graphic prepared, he told supporters on election night.Longtime Republican incumbent Ann Wagner, who had been widely expected to hold her seat, was swept aside as part of a broader wave of Democratic victories across the country. Continue reading...
Even Donald Trump has acknowledged that support for Israel is increasingly a political liability in US politics. Will the Democratic leadership listen?Abdul El-Sayed's victorious path to the US Senate must become a wake-up call to the Democratic party. It shows us, yet again, that Democratic voters care about Gaza, that Palestinian demands for freedom are increasingly connected to American demands for freedom, and that the old smears and accusations against Palestinians and their supporters are fast losing potency.Even Donald Trump has acknowledged that support for Israel is increasingly a political liability in American politics. Will Chuck Schumer and the rest of the Democratic leadership listen? Continue reading...
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 he declared to be national monuments that should be preserved. Since returning to office, the US president has transformed the Oval Office with gold accents and statuettes, portraits of famous Americans pulled from storage and a copy of the Declaration of Independence that hangs on the wall.The redesign has drawn criticism, including from the former president Barack Obama, who recently joked that 'he's got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere.'
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...
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...
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...
by Gaya Gupta in Junction City, Kansas on (#79J9G)
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...
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