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Xi Jinping's visit heavy on symbolism but no sign closed-door meeting yielded breakthroughs on thorny issues such as AI, trade, Taiwan and IranDonald Trump welcomed Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday, with talks on AI, trade and a growing US-China strategic rivalry expected to feature on an elaborate state visit that critics say went big on style but lacked substance.Here are the key takeaways from Xi's first visit to Washington in more than a decade. Continue reading...

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Officials deny entry even after federal judge rules Trump administration must grant banned journalists accessJournalists for CNN and MS Now were denied access to the White House state dinner in honor of Xi Jinping, China's president, on Thursday evening, hours after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration must allow them in after imposing a ban last week.About an hour before Xi's arrival was scheduled, the White House said CNN could cover the event, but only with a photojournalist and audio technician, notably excluding the network's editorial team consisting of a reporter and producer," CNN reported. Continue reading...

Mikie Sherrill says Dale Caldwell engaged in serious, repeated violations' involving staffers and giftsNew Jersey's governor on Thursday called on the state's lieutenant governor, Dale Caldwell, to resign by Friday after a law firm hired by her office concluded he violated the state's ethics and discrimination rules.The report published Wednesday found that Caldwell violated the state's policy prohibiting discrimination in the workplace. It said he made an advance toward a staffer's friend and when he was rebuffed, he told the staffer: You young women are looking for young sperm." Continue reading...

Chinese president's proposals for lessening tensions come amid period of intense competition between the two countries over AI and tradeXi Jinping has called for extensive cooperation with Washington to avoid the Thucydides trap" that could put the US and China on a military collision course amid rising tensions over artificial intelligence, trade and Taiwan.At the start of his summit meeting with Donald Trump in the White House, the Chinese president laid out terms for a mutual understanding that he said could steer the two competing superpowers away from future military conflict and on to a road of mutual gain. Continue reading...

James Copenhaver, 76, left with lingering injuries after gunman opened fire from rooftop at 2024 Pennsylvania rallyJames Copenhaver, one of three campaign rally attendees shot in 2024 during an assassination attempt on then candidate Donald Trump, has died in Pittsburgh, his lawyer said Thursday. He was 76.Copenhaver was in the bleachers during the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop, grazing Trump's right ear with one bullet. Copenhaver was struck in the arm and in the abdomen, wounds that left him with lingering injuries and walking with a cane. Continue reading...

Actor Susan Sarandon, whistleblower Chelsea Manning and comedian Caleb Hearon are detained by NYPDMore than 100 people were arrested outside the United Nations' headquarters in New York City on Thursday as Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the general assembly, a speech that also prompted dozens of UN delegates to walk out in protest.The protest outside the UN, one of several this week against the embattled Israeli prime minister, drew hundreds of Jewish, Palestinian, Iranian and Lebanese New Yorkers, among others, as well as several elected officials and candidates in the November election, and a number of celebrities. Continue reading...

Actors detained at Jewish Voice for Peace demonstration against Israeli prime minister's address to the UN general assemblyOscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon and Hacks star Hannah Einbinder were among people detained by police in New York on Thursday as they moved in to break up a protest against Benjamin Netanyahu.Agence France-Presse footage shows NYPD officers cuffing Thelma & Louise star Sarandon at the demo in the city as the Israeli prime minister was readying to address the United Nations general assembly. Continue reading...

State election officials said they reviewed 185 records homeland security sent them and confirmed they were US citizensThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrongly identified 185 people on Nevada's voter rolls as non-citizens, state officials said this week, escalating concerns over the shoddy methodology the government is using to raise fear about non-citizen voting ahead of the midterm elections.In July, Donald Trump gave a speech saying DHS had found a combined 278,000 non-citizens on the rolls in Nevada, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Follow-up letters to each of those states weakened the claim, saying there only could be as many as 278,000 non-citizens on the rolls, including up to 15,903 in Nevada. Continue reading...

Country says US must lift sanctions on its oil exports and end the war on all fronts, including in LebanonIran said it has told Donald Trump it is willing to open the strait of Hormuz in six days, and to start talks on its nuclear program the day after, so long as the US lifts sanctions on Iran's oil exports in return, ends the war on all fronts - including in Lebanon - and releases some of Iran's frozen assets.The proposal is designed to accelerate the steps first laid down in the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran in June, particularly by helping the talks on Iran's nuclear program start much more quickly than previously agreed. Continue reading...

Alaska Democratic nominee in pivotal Senate race struggled to deal with her grief' after death of husband and mother, spokesperson saidMary Peltola's campaign on Thursday downplayed a report that the Democratic nominee in Alaska's pivotal Senate race shoved a staffer and used slurs, saying the article exaggerated her behavior, but acknowledging she struggled following the deaths of her husband and mother.The New York Times article published on Wednesday is based on text messages and interviews with nine former employees of Peltola, who served in the House of Representatives from 2022 till the beginning of last year and is now set to face the Republican senator Dan Sullivan in the 3 November midterm elections. Continue reading...

Attorney general Todd Blanche requests that justices overturn lower court ruling that halted such removalsThe Trump administration has asked the US supreme court to allow it to deport immigrants to countries other than their own, the latest effort to seek approval for a controversial policy that fulfils Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda.Todd Blanche, the US attorney general, said on Thursday morning that the Department of Justice would ask the conservative-majority supreme court for help, nearly a week after a lower court judge rejected the policy. Continue reading...

I refuse to play host to a man who has overseen the slaughter or injury of more than 64,000 children in Gaza with American taxpayer dollars. I refuse to be complicit in genocideBenjamin Netanyahu belongs at The Hague; not in the streets of New York City, and certainly not before the United Nations general assembly. The international criminal court has a warrant out for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UN's own commission of inquiry has found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and named Netanyahu as its chief architect.As the Democratic nominee for New York's 13th congressional district, I refuse to allow a war criminal to roam the streets of our city unchallenged. I refuse to play host to a man who has overseen the slaughter or injury of more than 64,000 children in Gaza with American taxpayer dollars. I refuse to be complicit in genocide.Darializa Avila Chevalier is the Democratic nominee for New York's 13th congressional district Continue reading...

GAO documents array of costly problems as ICE pursues controversial plans to rapidly increase detention capacityUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies have wasted tens of millions of dollars pursuing controversial plans to rapidly increase detention capacity - and the total will likely rise due to continuing mismanagement, congressional investigators warned on Thursday.The US government accountability office (GAO) documented costly problems in several initiatives ICE has pursued since Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025 and ordered the mass arrest and deportation of people his administration has deemed should be forced out of the country. Continue reading...

Dozens of delegates left the room in support of Palestine as the Israeli prime minister walked to the podium on Thursday. Other delegates clapped and chanted 'Am Yisrael Chai' or 'the people of Israel live' in support of the prime minister

CNN senior reporter Betsy Klein gained access to the White House on 24 September, hours after a federal judge ruled against Donald Trump's media ban. The ban had barred reporters from CNN, MS Now and Politico from accessing the White House Continue reading...

Man left bloodied and hurt after immigration enforcement agents tried to arrest him in Evanston, a Chicago suburbAn eyewitness has described how two federal immigration agents allegedly beat and badly injured a US citizen in a botched arrest attempt in Illinois, and left the man dazed and bleeding on the ground as they walked away after realizing their apparent mistake.Bystander Ryan Garton told the Associated Press that he saw the agents pinning down the man, who is Black, on the side of the road as he was driving home on Sunday in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago. He said he pulled over to record what was happening on video. Continue reading...

Increase comes after Fed decision to raise interest rates, as Americans struggle with high prices and stagnant wagesUS mortgage rates surpassed 7% for the first time since January 2025, according to federal lender Freddie Mac, aggravating a housing market that has endured years of high interest rates and low supply.The increase comes after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, which directly affect mortgage rates, for the first time since 2023, citing high inflation. Continue reading...

Democrats must show links of climate shocks to kitchen table' issues, California governor saysIt's a mistake for Democratic politicians not to talk about climate change, and the reason they don't is because they don't know how to talk about it", the California governor, Gavin Newsom, said on Wednesday in an interview with the Guardian and the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting and New York Climate Week, Newsom also predicted that the midterm elections in November would bring the end of Donald Trump's presidency as we know it". To prevent Trump from stealing those elections, voters must turn out in such overwhelming numbers that he couldn't possibly contest" the outcome. If the US president nevertheless declares a national emergency or otherwise attempts to invalidate the results, Newsom said, then we the people have to step up. The courts have to intervene. Congress has to do its job and stand up for the rule of law." Continue reading...

US president's suggested 90-day export ban before midterm elections could bring even higher fuel prices across Europe

Senators' report says taxpayers face higher bills after bargain' between president and major pollutersThe fossil fuel industry secured an estimated $190bn in tax breaks and subsidies over the next decade after responding to Donald Trump's pre-election call for major campaign donations, leaving American taxpayers to shoulder higher bills and public health costs associated with pollution, according to a new report.Released on Thursday by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, ranking member of the Senate environment and public works committee, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, the report details what the senators describe as the fossil fuel industry's expansive influence over the Trump administration. Continue reading...

State visit takes place at same time as UN general assembly, which Chinese leader has avoided. Plus, meet the people who are real-life Pokemon professors'

Guardian investigation: 7-Eleven and Circle K stores often fail to honor advertised prices - charging more at pump and register for gas, snacks, and other itemsMarco Cruz pulled off a four-lane road into the parking lot of a Circle K convenience store in McAllen, Texas, 12 miles north of the US-Mexico border. It was 1.20am on a mild November night in 2025, and Cruz was looking for a bedtime snack after a day of visiting family and friends. He grabbed a pack of beef and jalapeno cheese sticks from the shelf, where they were priced at $3.99. At the counter, though, they rang up at $4.19.Cruz asked the cashier to charge him the lower shelf price. The employee refused, he said, and threatened to call the police when Cruz grew more insistent. All I'm asking you is honor the price," Cruz told the attendant before leaving the store and, later, filing a complaint with the Texas attorney general. Continue reading...

Two leaders could discuss tech safety issues and US-China trade ties but may skip over climate emergency

Conservatives long promoted a politics of sexual prohibition. Now such morals have been shed in favor of male dominationUnder Kash Patel, the FBI will now hire you even if you have a history of hiring prostitutes, or of having sex with animals. The rightwing Maha influencer Alex Clark had a guest on to her talk show to discuss the idea that wives should provide sex for their husbands on demand. A new ad for a sports gambling website is being hailed as a victory for the political right, because it features a nude Sydney Sweeney clutching footballs to her breasts. The Tate brothers, who encourage their male followers to pursue compulsive sexual conquest and who have been accused of sex trafficking and violence in the operation of their online cam porn business, have reportedly been friendly with members of Trump's circle. A dizzying array of elites on both sides of the aisle - conservatives very much included - seem to have been socializing with a pedophile financier, and were so unfazed by his constant coterie of underaged girl companions that one begins to wonder whether they were habituated to such scenes. A prominent conservative writer, best known for her opposition to gender transition care for children, has announced a new book claiming to tackle the problem of young women who are supposedly unwilling to have enough sex. And the women of the president's members club, Mar-A-Lago, are so well known for their dramatic facelifts, and their lips so stuffed with filler that they cannot quite close their mouths, that their faces are now a shorthand in the world of plastic surgery.Raunch, vulgarity, a boorish entitlement to women's sexual service, and the aesthetics - and, indeed, the business - of pornography are being embraced by the right.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal raise concerns in new letter about officials' handling of Gautam Adani caseThe Trump administration is facing growing questions over its decision to abandon a fraud and bribery case against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani after he promised to invest $10bn in the US.For the second time this year, two Democratic senators have demanded attorney general Todd Blanche answer questions about the US Department of Justice department's handling of the case - and raised concerns over its judgment under Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Benjamin Netanyahu lands in New York today to speak at the UN general assembly. This visit marks the Israeli prime minister's first time in the city since Mayor Zohran Mamdani vowed to arrest him for war crimes - and it's happening as support for Israel among US voters is taking an unprecedented plunge. Sixty percent of Americans now have an unfavorable view of Israel. (In 2022, only 42% of Americans said the same.) But what does this mean for Netanyahu's hold on US politics? And how will it play into Israel's October elections? Kai Wright and Carter Sherman are joined by two reporters with different perspectives on the Netanyahu story. Andrew Roth spent time reporting from Israel and the West Bank this summer, and Alice Speri has covered the pushback against Israel in Democratic politics here in the US Continue reading...

A new Paramount+ series premiering Thursday turns pushy sports parents into glossy entertainment - with the children largely ushered off stageRemember when pushy sports parents were deserving objects of our collective scorn? When Marv Marinovich and Jim Pierce were bywords for abusive fatherhood, Sarah Palin made the overbearing hockey mom a global punchline, and grim stories of pushy parents assaulting officials, kids and one another grabbed headlines and trained a harsh spotlight on youth sports? Well, the rebrand is in full swing.Team Moms: Baseball is a glossy new reality series premiering Thursday that aims to recast the pushy sports parent as something well worth coveting, a sexy black hat with a designer label. From the makers of Love Island (ITV America), for Hollywood's most rapacious studio (Paramount Skydance), with none other than basketball mom Kim Kardashian attached as executive producer, the Paramount+ series follows a cluster of parents whose sons attend Legendary Prep Academy - a Scottsdale, Arizona baseball hothouse with an intense focus on cultivating diamond gems. Anyone coming to this expecting genuine insights on a $40bn industry that's now under siege from private equity, swallowing ever larger chunks of hard-earned family budgets along the way, should know up front: this is a closer cousin to Bravo's Real Housewives franchise than ESPN's 30 for 30. Continue reading...

Hung Cao, acting US navy secretary, answered questions from US senator Kirsten Gillibrand in a letterEight US navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group have attempted suicide since the start of their lengthy deployment as part of the US war on Iran, Hung Cao, the acting US navy secretary, revealed in a letter to the US senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday.Since the beginning of Lincoln's deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group," Cao wrote, responding on behalf of US defense secretary Pete Hegseth to Gillibrand's inquiry about the quality of life aboard the fleet. This number includes the Lincoln crew and sailors from the carrier airwing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers and all embarked aviation squadrons." Continue reading...

What caused the turtles to begin nesting farther north than usual is the million dollar question'A sea turtle crawled out of the surf in southern California last weekend around sunset and started laying eggs in the sand.People on Huntington Beach who saw the female olive ridley sea turtle were shocked and excited. And they weren't the only ones freaking out, said Justin Viezbicke, the California stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (Noaa). Continue reading...

Ker'Sean Ramey, 41, died by lethal injection, the sixth person to be executed by Texas officials this yearA man found guilty of fatally shooting three people during a 2005 attempted robbery at a rural Texas home was executed Wednesday, a week after the other man convicted in the killings was put to death.Ker'Sean Ramey, 41, died by lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He is the sixth person executed so far this year in Texas, with three more people scheduled over the next two months. Continue reading...

President lays out red carpet as treasury secretary announces extension of Busan agreement' pausing trade war hostilities

In 2024 ethics filing, US health secretary pledged to not engage in writing, editing, marketing or promotional services for any of these books during government service'Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, received $4m over the last year in book advances from allies within the Make America Healthy Again movement, according to a new report.The advances were for upcoming books by Skyhorse Publishing, a publishing house belonging to Tony Lyons, a friend of Kennedy Jr who is also president of Maha Center, a non-profit that describes itself as tackling America's health crisis through education, investigation, innovation and action". Continue reading...

Former US vice-president still has optimism for climate advocacy two decades after groundbreaking documentaryTwo decades after the release of his groundbreaking documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore has admitted he was surprised by the ferocious, ongoing backlash from the fossil fuel industry and its political allies. But the former US vice-president insists he still has optimism the world will confront the climate crisis.At a New York event to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the film and his subsequent climate advocacy work, Gore, now 78, joked: I always say if it hadn't been for me, we might have a big problem right now" when asked about the progress made over the past two decades. Continue reading...

Republican senator calls bribery allegation categorically false' as ProPublica reports Trump derailed FBI inquiryDemocrats in Maine on Wednesday accused Republican senator Susan Collins of corruption after a major media outlet reported that the FBI had proposed investigating her for allegedly accepting bribes - before Donald Trump derailed the inquiry.The article from the investigative newsroom ProPublica rocked the race for Collins's Senate seat, which is crucial to Democrats' hopes of winning control of the chamber in the 3 November midterm election. The outlet reported that in the run-up to Collins's successful bid for a fifth term in 2020, the head of her Super Pac had solicited a campaign donation from contracting firm Navatek, which demanded assurances of business from the government in return. Continue reading...

Kremlin yet to respond publicly to US invitation that is likely to raise concerns from Ukraine and EU countriesThe United States has invited Vladimir Putin to take part in the meeting of the G20 scheduled in Miami in December in what would be the first major summit with the Russian leader present since he launched his invasion of Ukraine in 2022.The invitation, which marks a significant reversal by the Trump administration of Russia's international isolation, was announced by Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, during a press conference on the sidelines of the United Nations conference in New York. Continue reading...

Andy Burnham's accusation against the Kremlin tells half the story. Domestic extremists amplified by US big tech are part of the same problemIn November 2020, Barack Obama warned of an epistemological crisis" facing western democracies. Polarisation and radicalisation were corroding trust in established information sources. If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what's true from what's false, then by definition the marketplace of ideas doesn't work," the former US president said.That vulnerability has grown since then. Democracy's enemies have become more determined to exploit it. This is the threat that Andy Burnham highlighted in a speech at the United Nations this week. The prime minister accused Russia of waging an industrial-scale assault" on the UK's information environment using bot armies and fake websites to spread falsehoods, interfere in elections, foment discord and poison inter-community relations.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...

As the secretary general, Antonio Guterres, prepares to step down, the general assembly is highlighting the scale of the organisation's challengesThe United Nations was created, its charter states, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war". Donald Trump used his address to the general assembly to threaten Iran, another member state, with annihilation again. The charter also speaks of the obligations of international law. On Venezuela, MrTrump gloated that to the victor belong the spoils". His speech in New York on Tuesday might be regarded as an improvement on last year's only in that it was not an explicit, full-scale attack on the UN itself, merely on its founding principles.The absences this year are perhaps as telling as the US president's hostile presence. Vladimir Putin has not attended for more than a decade. Nor has Xi Jinping - but the snub is more striking as he is in Washington to meet the US president. India's Narendra Modi is not present; nor are Cyril Ramaphosa, BolaTinubu or Abdel Fatah al-Sisi - the leaders of Africa's three giants,South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. While their reasons are various, the gaps speak collectively to Mr Trump's wrecking capability and the broader challenges faced by the UN.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...

It is sad and dangerous that at such a perilous moment, the United States is saddled with a president like TrumpDonald Trump's speech on Tuesday to the United Nations general assembly was an object lesson in his lawless rule and remarkable capacity for self-delusion. Disregarding the UN charter's emphasis on the peaceful resolution of disputes, he doubled down on his violent unilateralism while denigrating the global issues that the UN is designed to address.For many, the headline remark was his musing about whether to annihilate the Islamic Republic" of Iran. Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?"Kenneth Roth is a Guardian US columnist, a senior fellow at Yale University and a former executive director of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments Continue reading...

Phil Knight and wife, Penny, make largest known donation to a public university to fund a new engineering schoolNike cofounder Phil Knight, and his wife, Penny, have donated $1bn to the University of Oregon in what the university described as the largest gift ever made to a comprehensive public university".The donation is intended to be used to establish a new engineering school in Eugene. In a news release, seen by the Guardian, the university said the new school will educate engineers and applied scientists in bioengineering and other high-demand disciplines, attract faculty and researchers to a growing campus, and accelerate the university's ability to move discoveries out of the laboratory and into products, therapies, technologies and companies". Continue reading...

First such storm of fall could have wind gusts of 70mph in places, flooding and power outages, forecasters warnNew York, Boston, and much of New England could face a weekend nor'easter storm with wind gusts of 70mph in places, and significant" impacts including beach erosion, flooding, and power outages, forecasters warn.Effects from the season's first such storm since Tuesday's official start of fall could last through the weekend, especially if the system sits swirling off the coast, a scenario experts say is looking increasingly likely. Continue reading...

The news organizations, which sued the US president, are claiming the ban violates the first amendment

Administration is holding back Covid vaccines for all children in at least 11 states and one US territoryThe Trump administration is holding back Covid vaccines for all children in at least 11 states and one US territory, and officials have not indicated when or whether the shots will become available.It's the latest step by top officials to restrict vaccines in America - and it sets a precedent for holding back other immunizations, experts said. Continue reading...

Osiris, one of 30 belugas removed from Ontario's shuttered Marineland, struggled to acclimate to her Illinois homeAn Illinois aquarium has said that a third beluga whale it rescued from a closed marine park in Canada this summer has died after it struggled to acclimate to its new environment.Osiris, a 26-year-old female, was one of 30 belugas removed from Ontario's shuttered Marineland amusement park, and among 10 rehomed at the Shedd aquarium in Chicago, which said the whale died there on Monday. Continue reading...

Criminal investigation could include manslaughter or negligent homicide charges after 27 flood deaths last yearCamp Mystic faces a criminal investigation that could include manslaughter or negligent homicide charges in the deaths of 27 girls amid devastating flooding in Texas last year, court documents show.In applications for search warrants executed last week, investigators sought to obtain the electronic communications of the camp's owners, saying they could provide evidence of manslaughter, negligent homicide, child abandonment or other crimes. No charges have been brought, and a representative of the camp did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Continue reading...