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Defending champions Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka progressed alongside other top seeds in Friday's third-round matchesLeylah Fernandez has broken Pegula early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first. You might recall that Fernandez was Emma Raducanu's opponent in the 2021 US Open final; since losing that match, the Canadian has only gone past the third round at a slam once (the 2022 French Open, where she made the quarter-finals) but has won five WTA Tour titles and is a consistent presence in the world's top 30. So which career path would you prefer: hers or Raducanu's?Sabalenka takes the first set 6-3, remaining dominant against an opponent who is playing decent stuff. Marta Kostyuk also claims the first set 6-3 over Alexandrova, while Sorana Cirstea has claimed the opener against Paolini by the same score. That feels like an upset, even though Cirstea is seeded higher - No 16 to Paolini's 19. Continue reading...

The weeks-long murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother accused of fatally strangling her three children, has ended in a mistrial. As the public now waits for what will happen next, the Guardian's breaking news reporter Maya Yang looks at some of what happened in court during 'America's saddest murder trial' Continue reading...

Massachusetts mother accused of fatally strangling her children faces possibility of retrial after judge declares mistrial

The case essentially goes back to the same status as before the trial began, and prosecutors have to decide whether to try again

Labor department report alleges Lori Chavez-DeRemer also made a staffer attend a strip club while on a personal tripDonald Trump's former secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, drank during working hours, kept alcohol on federal property and made a staffer attend a strip club while on a personal trip, according to a new report by the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General .Chavez-DeRemer was appointed by Trump to serve as labor secretary in January 2025 and resigned in April 2026 amid the misconduct allegations. Continue reading...

From mortgages to inflation, concerns about the public finances of major economies have wide-reaching consequencesWhen Donald Trump was asked recently about the threat of rising interest rates on US government debt, he told baffled reporters: The ultimate intervention is our military. And if we have to use that, we will."Perhaps not surprisingly, Trump's bellicose words did not soothe fractious bond markets, and his resumption of the bombing campaign against Iran only made matters worse. Continue reading...

Such is the US president's narcissism that he would see a Democratic victory as proof that he's indispensable - meanwhile, his every decision spells calamity for votersWhat is Donald Trump playing at? If it's true that the best way of understanding the behaviour of an organisation is to assume it's controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies, perhaps that same logic extends to the current conduct of the president of the United States. Maybe he secretly wants Republicans to lose the looming midterm elections that will decide the balance of power in the US for the next two years and for which the first postal ballots were sent out today.That's not as mad a theory as it sounds. Indeed, there are at least two reasons why Trump might either be unbothered by Republican defeat in November or even covertly desire it. We'll come to those, but let's start with a pattern of behaviour that is hard to explain as anything other than calculated self-sabotage.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Officers clipped to bridge had tried to talk man, who was holding a knife, into coming down safely, officials sayNew York City police shot and killed a man on Friday morning after he climbed on to the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge and approached officers with a knife extended, New York police department officials said.At a news conference on Friday, NYPD officials said that a 911 call came in at around 3.28am on Friday morning, reporting that a man was walking on the beams of the Brooklyn Bridge. Continue reading...

Number of new jobs being added has been fluctuating, with private companies adding 38,000 jobs in AugustThe US economy added 162,000 jobs in August, an uptick after a sluggish summer for the labor market.The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, still down from its most recent peak of 4.5% last November, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Despite the relative stability of the unemployment rate, the number of new jobs added to the economy has been fluctuating, going from 214,000 in March down to a 21,000 gain in July and then back up in August. Continue reading...

Christa Pike's planned execution is emblematic of America's broken death penalty systemOn 30 September, the state of Tennessee plans to put Christa Pike to death. She would be the third person brought to the death chamber in the Volunteer state this year, one of which was stopped after it was botched.She would join 17 others who have been put to death there since 1960. None of them were women. Continue reading...

Want to see how small the gene pool of Tory talent is? I give you Andrew Griffith as shadow chancellor. Also this week: Starmer's Fomo, and telly warsIt's the end of summer and Kemi Badenoch chose to mark the occasion with a reshuffle of her shadow cabinet. Her aim is apparently to get the Tories match fit in case Andy Burnham calls an early general election, but the vibes are much more rearranging the deckchairs on a sinking ship. After all, when the gene pool of talent is that small, there's not much you can do. James Cleverly got the ball rolling by announcing he was planning to be the Conservative candidate for London mayor in two years' time. He may have his work cut out. London is a liberal, multicultural city and unlikely to be won over by a party giving up on net zero and the European convention on human rights. Continue reading...

Jeering and heckling are increasingly commonplace, even at grand slams, as spectators try to influence matchesMidway through the first week of the US Open a couple of years ago, Jiri Lehecka's attempts to find his form were disrupted by incessant taunting from a spectator close by. There was a guy who sat just behind my bench on a smaller court, court four, and he was talking to me basically for the first three sets, like non-stop," Lehecka says. He was talking to me like: You can't do it. You are tired. He's better than you are.'"Lehecka maintained his composure and closed out the match, but even as he focused on navigating the intense stress of competition, he believed he understood this spectator's motivations. The spectator, he thinks, was not there just to cheer for his favourite player: he was a bettor who had put money on Lehecka to lose. He had entered court four solely to influence the outcome of the match. Continue reading...

In the California City facility, contact visits' are strictly forbidden - but detained residents aren't staying quiet. Are officials listening?Teresa Reyes drove 300 miles to be with her son on his 32nd birthday in May, but she couldn't give him a gift, share a meal with him or give him a hug. She couldn't even touch him.Her son, Guillermo, a tattoo artist from San Jose, is locked up in the California City immigration detention center, California's largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, and the only way he can see his mother is behind a thick pane of glass. Continue reading...

Vice-president's claim US-Iran conflict is not war draws ridicule from Democrat Ro Khanna. Plus, iconic feminist Gloria Steinem dies aged 92

Recruiting ex-pros. Inflaming Ukraine-Russia tensions. Suing the SEC and being sued back. The school is adapting to a new reality - and also creating a new oneIn 1893, a chemistry professor named Charles Coates arrived at Louisiana State University and wrote that, to his surprise, there was practically no athletics in the student body: no football, no tennis, and only very little baseball in the spring." A broad program of sports struck him as the kind of thing a school should have, particularly as US universities were beginning to tout intercollegiate athletics as critical to a balanced higher-ed experience and another way to justify the cost of entry. But 133 years on, sports aren't merely the main attraction at LSU. They're the school's raison d'etre, the blinkered obsession that consumes the university and its most prominent ambassadors.Any doubt that the business of educating college students is just a nettlesome distraction from the business of college sports in Baton Rouge has been emphatically dispelled over the past 10 months. On the football side, the school has spent or committed roughly $162m to its last three head coaches: Ed Orgeron, the folksy national champion in 2019 who received a $17m buyout when he was fired two years later; Brian Kelly, the unloved underachiever who received a $54m buyout after being fired last October; and Lane Kiffin, the Kelly replacement whom it signed to a $91m deal a month later. Clemson, the opponent for LSU's season opener at home on Saturday, are about to find out what all that money buys. Continue reading...

Intensification of Middle East conflict and ongoing Russian export ban sees diesel prices rise 10% in less than a weekFarmers are facing an astronomical" jump in the price of fuel needed to operate their vehicles and machinery after a surge in diesel costs in the UK and US.Renewed fighting between the US and Iran has driven up the price of crude oil, while last week Russia extended a ban on diesel exports, further pushing up market prices. Continue reading...

Seven years after springing one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, the Mexican Rocky is back with his old trainer for one final run at the heavyweight summitSeven years ago, Andy Ruiz Jr became the first fighter of Mexican descent to win the world heavyweight championship in one of the biggest upsets boxing has ever seen, stopping the undefeated Anthony Joshua inside seven rounds at Madison Square Garden.A replacement opponent summoned on five weeks' notice who went off as an 11-1 underdog, Ruiz came off the canvas in the third to knock Joshua down four times before the referee finally waved it off. Hailed as the Mexican Rocky", he was lionized as a border-straddling hero in his hometown of Imperial, the dusty agricultural community framed by the mountain ranges and flat deserts of south-eastern California. He made the late-night rounds, took an audience with Mexico president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and signed a $10m guarantee when Joshua activated his rematch clause. The money, cars, fame and women arrived all at once. Continue reading...

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Republican candidate Thomas Ross and former campaign manager allegedly devised plan to stash drugs in rival Louise Secker's purse or vehicleA Missouri House race has been rocked by the Wednesday arrest of Republican candidate Thomas Ross, whom prosecutors accuse of attempting to frame his primary opponent Louise Secker for cocaine possession.In June, Ross allegedly gave his former campaign manager, identified by the initials CS" in court documents, a bag of cocaine and Adderall. The two allegedly devised a plan for the former manager to stash the drugs in Secker's purse or vehicle. Continue reading...

Telle has previously worked for Trump during his first term as a special assistant to the president for legislative affairsDonald Trump on Thursday named Adam Telle as the acting army secretary after the departure of Daniel Driscoll amid widespread reports of tensions with defense secretary Pete Hegseth.Telle is currently the assistant secretary of the army for civil works. Continue reading...

Sean Alfortish and Leon Parker convicted on some counts but not murder charges linked to insurance fraud plotA federal jury in New Orleans on Thursday returned a split verdict after more than 30 hours of deliberations in a three-week-long blockbuster fraud and murder trial that garnered headlines far beyond Louisiana.Jurors deadlocked on murder charges Sean Alfortish and Leon Chunky" Parker faced, leading US district judge Wendy Vitter to declare a mistrial as prosecutors vowed to try the case on those counts again. Continue reading...

Cull of animals that eat native shrubs, causing spread of fast-igniting grasses, to go ahead despite fierce oppositionLocals and tourists have long fawned over Catalina Island's mule deer population. For nearly a century, the ungulates have roamed the land's waterfronts and woodlands, so comfortable around humans that it is not uncommon to spot deer roaming downtown Avalon.But that sight will soon disappear, after a judge this week paved the way for the island's conservancy to kill nearly all the island's 2,000 deer. Continue reading...

Auger-Aliassime lost in the second round, as did Musetti against Australia's Dane Sweeny, but Fritz, Swiatek and Andreeva won in straight sets and Osaka survived in threeIt feels rather odd saying this, given that Osaka is a two-time former US Open champion, but she's something of a wildcard contender this fortnight, having not won a title since 2021. But over the past year she's been building momentum, after returning from her maternity leave in 2024, and there were plenty of green shoots on the grass at Wimbledon, where she beat Aryna Sabalenka en route to the quarter-finals. And Osaka has started strongly today, leading Siniakova 3-1 and serving at 40-15. Make that game, as the 13th seed's pace is too much for the Czech to handle.Swiatek is serving for the first set at 5-3. And on her second set point, at her advantage, she takes it, when Podoroska prods a return wide. After starting with three holds to love, the set got closer, but the eighth seed found a way through and she's skipping to the back of the court to start the second set. She looks up for this - and most importantly, more confident than she has done for so much of this year. Continue reading...

Setback for Republicans in redistricting battle as court forbids maps from being used in November electionsThe Missouri supreme court has unanimously blocked new congressional districts backed by Donald Trump from being used in the November election and ordered a statewide vote on whether to uphold or reject the new map.The decision Thursday marks a rare setback for Republicans in a national redistricting battle. Republicans had hoped Missouri's new congressional boundaries could help them win an additional seat and hold on to their slim House majority in the midterms. The ruling still could be appealed to the US supreme court. Continue reading...

Firefighters hollowed out a dumpster truck and lifted a man from trash and debris after bystanders alerted driver to screamsSan Francisco fire officials manually hollowed out a garbage truck early on Wednesday to rescue a man trapped inside.Firefighters were dispatched around 4.11am after receiving a report of an individual stuck inside a Recology dumpster truck, authorities said. Continue reading...

Supreme court ruled in June against president's earlier order to change citizenship rules for babies born in USA federal judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump's latest attempt to restrict birthright citizenship - the longstanding principle that all babies born in the US are guaranteed American citizenship.The decision came nearly a month after the president tried for a second time to limit via executive order which people born in the US can become American citizens. The supreme court ruled in late June that Trump's previous sweeping order denying birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants or temporary visitors was unconstitutional. Continue reading...

Project that critics say will disrupt historic sightlines in Washington DC is facing a lawsuitThe Trump administration said on Thursday that excavation work will start over the next two weeks on the site where it plans to build a towering, gilded arch, a project that is facing a lawsuit and that critics say will disrupt historic sightlines in Washington DC.The proposed arch is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave his lasting imprint on Washington, including renaming and renovating the Kennedy Center, building a huge new White House ballroom, refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and rebuilding a golf course in East Potomac Park that could significantly reduce the public's access to running and biking paths. Continue reading...

US vice-president says he's extremely skeptical' of Iran reports when asked whether US was responsible for deathsThe US vice-president, JD Vance, said sometimes things happen" when asked on Thursday whether an American strike was responsible for killing four people, including a child, at a wedding celebration in southern Iran this week.The strike hit Kuhestak, a town in Sirik county on the strait of Hormuz. The toll was reported not by the Iranian government but by the Iranian Red Crescent, a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement that operates independently of Tehran and is generally treated by international monitors as a credible source on casualty figures. Continue reading...

The activist made the movement mainstream - and became a receptacle for its hopes and disappointments

Julio Sosa-Celis, who was shot in the leg by Christian Castro and survived, was one of three people shot by federal immigration agents during Trump's Operation Metro Surge'A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer has been indicted on charges of lying to investigators about the events leading up to the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Minneapolis immigration crackdown earlier this year, according to multiple reports.A source told the Associated Press that Christian Castro, the officer accused of shooting Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg in January, has been charged by US federal prosecutors with making false statements to federal investigators. He had been previously charged in state court. Continue reading...

The former Arsenal, Barcelona and France star says players shouldn't underestimate their ability to change how football worksAs Fifa continues to face scrutiny from some confederations and fans, Thierry Henry has encouraged players to use their voice as the political battle for control of international soccer unfolds. The former Arsenal and Barcelona forward turned pundit spoke with the Guardian on Tuesday alongside Kate Scott and Jamie Carragher as CBS and Paramount prepare for this season's Champions League broadcasts.For me, the players have more power than they think they have," Henry said when asked for his thoughts on the situation. And if they want it to change, they can make it happen - especially nowadays."This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here. Continue reading...

GOP-backed bill mandates institutions receiving federal funds not impose restrictions on programs related to IsraelThe US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a Republican-backed bill that would penalize universities that participate in boycotts of Israel, or attempt to prevent students from taking part in exchange programs with the country.The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act passed by a 237-169 vote, with 33 Democrats breaking with the rest of their party to vote in favor, and only two Republicans opposed. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. Continue reading...

Guardian reporters in Nepal have witnessed first-hand the scenes of destruction and grief after the flash floods. Plus, a not-to-be-missed interview with the legendary Mr TGood morning. Thousands remain missing and the delivery of aid has been hampered by treacherous conditions in communities almost wiped out of existence by the flash flooding in Nepal and Tibet. A week after the disaster, survivors who fled up mountainsides are still being collected by army helicopters and evacuated.The mountain village of Syabru Besi was among those destroyed, with even the road to the village gone. According to local government officials, at least 500 people there are missing, a quarter of the population. The village resembles nothing more than a muddy riverbed, with just one building left standing.What have Guardian reporters witnessed? Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Gaurav Pokharel have been in the Betrawati and Rasuwa districts with the photographer Ahmer Khan. In this video, Ellis-Petersen explains what she has seen alongside haunting footage of the debris. They have spoken to multiple survivors in a region now full of human suffering. Continue reading...

Judge says US Postal Service has told her nothing about how it plans to regulate mail ballots for midterm electionsA federal judge in Boston said on Thursday the US Postal Service had told her nothing about how it would implement a plan to regulate mail ballots for the midterms as she considers whether to let the plan proceed in the weeks before election day.US district court judge Indira Talwani is deciding whether to extend her prohibition on the proposed regulation of mail ballots, an effort undertaken as part of an executive order by Donald Trump. The hearing in the closely watched case came a day before the first state begins sending mail ballots to voters. Continue reading...

President said Howard Lutnick had Venezuela operation on his mind when he was discussing Iran war on CNBCDonald Trump has claimed his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, erroneously stated that no Americans had been killed in the war with Iran because he was thinking about a previous US operation, in Venezuela.The claim, at odds with the Pentagon's count of 18 US service members dead in the US-Israel war on Iran, sparked a swift backlash as Trump struggles to end the conflict after six months. Continue reading...

Billionaire financier, who previously walked out of a deposition, instead launches lawsuit against the committeeThe billionaire financier Leon Black did not appear on Thursday in front of the House oversight committee for a scheduled deposition about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and has instead launched a lawsuit against the committee arguing that it does not have the authority to compel him to turn over non-disclosure agreements.Black was a top Epstein client over several years, and the committee is investigating the men's relationship as well as the existence of any NDAs to which Black is a party. Continue reading...

In rural America, guns are a fact of life. But even conservatives agree that properly locking them up is crucial in preventing deathsI have six guns in my house.The first was a vintage Winchester 12-gauge. It was the winter of 1990, and my husband and I had just moved from an urban block in north-west Philadelphia to 100-year-old farmhouse in Appalachian Virginia, where my family goes back seven generations. Continue reading...

The writer, publisher and activist spent a lifetime advocating for greater rights for women around the world and brought feminist discourse into the mainstream

Non-profits say requests for legal help and housing on rise amid Trump funding cuts for prevention and responseAs cities and states across the US report historic drops in homicides, domestic violence killings remain alarmingly high.In Chicago, where homicides fell from 805 in 2021 to 425 in 2025, killings tied to domestic violence increased by 15% between 2024 and 2025. In Kansas City, Missouri, homicides in general have dropped since 2023, but 2025 was the second deadliest year for homicides tied to domestic violence. In Ohio, too, 2025 was the deadliest year for domestic violence killings, while homicides in general followed the national decrease. Across the US, the share of violent crimes that involve domestic violence has increased from 25% in 2020 to 27.5% in 2024, according to a 2026 FBI report. Continue reading...

The league is awash with ultra-wealthy owners. Adam Silver is hoping a hefty punishment for the Clippers will send them a message about who is in chargeWhen Steve Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers for $2bn in 2014, it was widely regarded as a coup for the NBA.Not only is Ballmer one of the richest men in the world - worth an estimated $152.7bn - but his passion and enthusiasm for the sport stood in stark contrast to the team's embattled former owner. Donald Sterling, who bought the Clippers for $12.5m in 1981, was forced to sell after being handed a lifetime ban by the NBA in response to a series of racist comments. Continue reading...

The trillions in tax cuts going to the rich and corporations could have instead been used to address the affordability crisisDear reader, I recognize that your eyes might glaze over at any mention of the nation's $40tn federal debt. But your reaction to this mind-boggling number shouldn't be ennui; it should be outrage and dismay.Outrage is in order because the nation's debt has climbed to more than $40tn under Donald Trump, even though back in 2016, when the debt was less than half what it is today, candidate Trump insisted that he'd totally eliminate the debt within eight years. That was yet another example of the Demagogue-in-Chief's willingness to say anything, no matter how insincere or untrue, to woo voters. Continue reading...

Mitchell Berman is among Democrats the party hopes can flip a Republican-leaning district in November's midtermsDemocrats are targeting vulnerable seats this midterm election with working-class candidates they hope will resonate with voters exhausted by the economy.Some candidates are new to politics, and many have backgrounds as union members and leaders, which the party hopes will give them an edge over Republican incumbents as people have grown weary of Washington and the higher cost of living. Continue reading...

Marx's All Things Possible Florida model uses private funds for cop pay and surveillance tools without public oversightThe All Things Possible ministry (ATP) is an unusual, and critics say potentially dangerous, operation. It has in the last year funded surveillance equipment and salaries for out-of-state law enforcement agencies, hired a range of private security and intelligence contractors, and is connected to a network of other self-appointed sex-trafficking rescue groups whose leading figures have attracted significant controversy.And its founder is the man who wants to be Colorado's next governor. Continue reading...

The founder of The Ringer and Grantland was famous for discovering and developing writers. Now he is promoting a technology eroding the creative industriesBill Simmons may have stopped writing with any regularity in the mid-2010s - he claims his fingers don't work - but that won't stop him from reminding you of his greatest hits. On a recent podcast about Russell Westbrook's retirement, he couldn't stop quoting his old columns. He first referenced an article from the 2012 NBA finals, and wasn't finished until 11 minutes into the podcast. His guest, The Ringer contributor Kirk Goldsberry, deserved an award for patience. But the biggest blight on the episode came later, in the form of a bizarre ad read.This episode," Simmons announced, is brought to you by ChatGPT, the Bill Simmons Podcast AI sponsor." (Emphasis mine; his overenthusiastic delivery mandates the italics.) Simmons said that he had asked ChatGPT what Westbrook's defining game was. That was a pretty good answer," he said of ChatGPT's offerings, as if it were a precocious, loveable nephew, before encouraging his listeners to try the platform. Continue reading...

Ben-Gvir did not come into power in a vacuum: he was helped into his position by an international community that has afforded Israel complete impunityLet me introduce you to Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of Israel's far-right Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party, the minister of national security, and an almost cartoonishly evil man. You'll have heard his name before: he made international news when he filmed himself taunting bound activists who had been detained trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. But you might not be familiar with many of his recent shocking comments, because they haven't been widely covered by much of the US media.Let's start with an AI-generated video that Ben-Gvir posted on Twitter/X on Sunday and then deleted. It shows portly Palestinian prisoners being loaded on to a conveyor belt and going into a detention camp, then emerging emaciated. The caption is we promised - we delivered!" which seems to be a reference to the national security minister's promise to worsen conditions for Palestinian prisoners. An ambitious goal, considering conditions are already hellish: Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has likened the prisons where Palestinians are kept to torture camps".Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...