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Through the loss of one franchise, name controversies and stadium changes, Legacy supporters have created an environment of advocacy and belongingMore than two years of work had led to this moment for the Boston Independent Supporters' Association (ISA). Even before Boston's new NWSL team had a name, a mascot or a roster, there were fans organizing, ready and waiting to embrace the franchise.On 14 March 2026, it finally paid off. The Boston ISA members marched into Gillette Stadium for the Legacy's opening match, following behind the marching band from Boston Public Schools and holding their Up the Swans" scarves over their heads. The group arrived at their seats in the supporters' section behind the north goal and unfurled the tifo they had spent many hours diligently painting. Continue reading...

Long before state became a rightwing political stronghold it was defined by cowboys on strike and farmers organizingTexas is well-known as a Republican-red state, but it has another, largely forgotten red history of the radical shade. Long before it became a rightwing political stronghold, it was defined by cowboys on strike, farmers organizing against the railroads, and one of the largest Socialist party chapters in the country.In Texas, the history of our radical politics and labor and working class tradition has been purposefully hidden," author David Griscom said. It's important to go back and correct the record and see that there was an effort to try to make Texans forget the radical roots in the kind of more recent past." Continue reading...

Springfield community mourns one of its own after Pierre Damas Bel, who was forced to wear electronic ankle bracelet by ICE, walked into traffic and was killed by truckFor 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel, the humiliation of starting college last month with an electronic ankle bracelet - attached by ICE agents this summer - was deeply traumatic.I'm walking through the streets of the United States with a GPS monitor on my leg, carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience," he wrote on Instagram in July.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

After young people shifted right for Trump, Democratic-aligned groups across the US are eager to capture gen Z voters where they are before November's midterm electionsOn the first day of the fall semester at California State University, Northridge, student organizers holding Hot People Vote" signs wheeled a bright pink wagon outside the student union. They offered no strings attached" donuts, heart-shaped sunglasses and voting information for the November general election. Even though it was 105F outside, dozens of people stopped by to chat with the Donuts + Democracy volunteers and register to vote.One student told organizer Dzian Tran that she didn't plan to vote because she was disillusioned with politics. Tran chatted with her about how civic engagement is important to democracy and how some elections are won by a margin of only 400 votes. As she thanked Tran, the student held her phone up to a QR code to get more information about voting. Continue reading...

The state can't use new congressional districts under one court order - or its old ones under another. Plus, the architects in Europe turning urban spaces into areas of climate respite

AFL-CIO calls for ban on such labels to protect consumers and workers from surveillance pricing and job cutsThe universal adoption of electronic shelf labels in grocery stores across the US could cost tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages while further driving up grocery costs, according to a report released on Tuesday.An analysis by the AFL-CIO Tech Institute of the label manufacturers' own marketing materials found the universal adoption of electronic shelf labels, which are marketed to retailers as a cost-cutting measure, could cost workers between $1.6bn and $6.9bn in lost wages annually and affect between 44,223 and 191,633 jobs. Continue reading...

Kent Blacklidge, who officials say was directly involved with child exploitation cases', turned himself in last weekA federal law enforcement agent tasked with trying to provide justice in cases involving kids" has been charged with child rape in Alabama, state authorities said on Tuesday.Kent Blacklidge, described as a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), turned himself over to the Baldwin county jail on 5 September in connection with a grand jury indictment charging him with first- and second-degree rape, sodomy and sexual abuse, police in the city of Spanish Fort said in a statement. Continue reading...

Sports is the rare topic in which the president has succeeded in shifting the conversation to his preferred termsLately, it seems Donald Trump's scope of interests has narrowed to a few things: remaking downtown Washington DC in his gaudy image; wars he thinks he can win quickly and easily, even though he can't.Also, golf. Always golf. Ever golf.Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: U.S. Men's Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now. He teaches at Marist University. Continue reading...

The new season kicks off on Wednesday night. Our writers have their say on the MVP, rookies to watch and the disasters waiting to happenQuarterbacks living under center. The NFL has developed into a shotgun league, where most quarterbacks take the majority of their snaps three to seven yards away from the center. But the increase in efficiency when it comes to snaps taken right behind the center should have coaches directing their quarterbacks to do more of it. Matthew Stafford, Caleb Williams, and Sam Darnold led the way in 2025, and others will follow. DF Continue reading...

A year since his assassination, the movement Kirk started is reckoning with the void he left behind - and a revolution that eats its ownAs Charlie Kirk's family, friends, and colleagues barreled through the sky to Utah, one staffer kept throwing up in her mouth. Each time she quietly swallowed. She did not want to add to the distress of the others sitting in deathly silence on the jet - especially Kirk's 36-year-old wife, Erika. She was already a widow.Those who work at Turning Point USA - the ultraconservative activist organization based in Phoenix, Arizona, that Charlie Kirk founded - believe deeply in a Christian God. Many also believe that Satan and his deputies vie for influence on Earth. Earlier that day, on 10 September 2025, those forces had seemingly persuaded an angry young man to hide on a roof at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was speaking to 3,000 people, with a loaded rifle. Continue reading...

Far-right parties, Maga ideology and Kremlin money are conniving to suffocate liberal idealism for another generationNot all that long ago, Europe was a beacon of liberal idealism. One memoir recalls it as an era comfortably saturated with confidence in the unfailing and binding power of tolerance and conciliation". The economic system seemed obviously preferable to barbarous alternatives. People honestly believed that the divergencies and the boundaries between nations and sects would gradually melt away into a common humanity," the author added.Those words could describe the spirit of globalisation at the turn of the millennium. They were written in the 1930s by Stefan Zweig, reflecting on the optimism of late 19th-century Vienna from the perspective of a Jewish emigre whose world had been destroyed by murderous nationalism. Zweig took his own life in 1942. He never saw fascism defeated. He couldn't have imagined a renaissance of liberalism in the second half of the 20th century so complete as to attain a pitch of complacency rivalling the one he remembered from his childhood. Continue reading...

The president's substantial holiday gifts to four White House aides were made public via financial disclosures released by the administrationDonald Trump gave sizable holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to new financial disclosures released by the administration, including $45,000 to executive assistant Natalie Harp.Communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris also received $45,000, while director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta received a $20,000 gift. Continue reading...

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Tit-for-tat violence surges again in region, with tankers struck by the US in the Gulf of Oman, and reprisal attacks by Iran on a US base in JordanThe US military on Tuesday said it destroyed" multiple Iranian tankers, after Iran attempted to strike a US navy warship with ballistic missiles, as violence once again surged across the region, pushing the price of oil close to $100 a barrel.American forces struck the tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Iran's Kharg Island, US central command (Centcom) said in a statement, adding that American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck". Continue reading...

Documents available through an online portal launched three days before the 25th anniversary of September 11New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration has released more than 170,000 pages of municipal records involving the impact of the September 11 attacks on air quality health, as well as the city's response.Mamdani announced the documents and an online portal for accessing them on Tuesday. The release comes alongside the settlement of two lawsuits pursued by 9/11 Health Watch, which fought for access to these long-withheld documents. Continue reading...

Frontrunner Sununu beats Scott Brown to earn Republican nod in closely watched race in NovemberFormer senator John E Sununu triumphed on Tuesday in the New Hampshire Republican Senate primary Scott Brown, earning the GOP nod in what will likely be a must-win race if Democrats hope to seize the upper chamber.Sununu, 61, was the clear frontrunner in the GOP primary. He served one term in the Senate from 2003 to 2009. Continue reading...

Pappas fends off challenge from progressive Karishma Manzur in seat to be vacated by retiring Jeanne ShaheenCongressman Chris Pappas beat back progressive challenger Karishma Manzur in the Democratic primary for US Senate on Tuesday, advancing as most observers expected to what will be a closely watched general election that is critical to Democratic hopes of flipping the upper chamber.The two were competing for the nomination that opened up after Jeanne Shaheen, 79, the state's threeterm incumbent Democratic senator, announced her retirement. Continue reading...

The measure comes as Canada imposes $20bn in retaliatory tariffs and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney vows to reduce his country's economic dependence on the USThe US is banning dairy products, most alcoholic beverages and motorcycles from Canada, the White House said Tuesday, as the trade war between the two neighbors and longtime allies escalates.The ban will take effect in three weeks and comes after Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs on $20bn in US imports earlier Tuesday. Continue reading...

Federal judge says old maps cannot be used in November election, hours after supreme court blocked redrawn mapsA federal judge in Missouri on Tuesday temporarily prevented the state from using its old congressional maps in the November midterm elections, hours after the supreme court declined to intervene, the latest twist in a legal back-and-forth playing out less than two months before the midterms.On Tuesday the conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh denied the emergency request from Missouri officials to use a congressional map in November that was redrawn with Donald Trump's support to give Republicans an edge in the midterm elections. The supreme court action came after the Missouri supreme court ruled that the map must go before voters to approve or reject the new districts, meaning it cannot be used in the November election. Continue reading...

Sabalenka shows spirit to deny Noskova and reach semis

Authorities accused Missy Woods of altering years worth of data in cases involving homicide, sexual assault and robberyA judge sentenced a former forensic analyst for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to 10 years in prison on Tuesday after authorities said her manipulation of DNA data had raised questions about the validity of hundreds of criminal cases.Yvonne Missy" Woods pleaded guilty in June to perjury, attempting to influence a public servant, forgery and committing a cybercrime. Dozens of other counts were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Continue reading...

Brothers, convicted of parents' killings and denied parole last year, permitted to apply for another hearing earlier than expectedErik and Lyle Menendez will be before a parole board again in March, about 17 months earlier than expected.The brothers were originally sentenced in 1996 to life in prison for the 1989 fatal shootings of their father, Jose Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion. A Los Angeles judge reduced their sentences to 50 years to life in May 2025, making them eligible for parole because they were under age 26 when they committed their crimes. Continue reading...

Satirical program's new title is inspired by bravery and patriotism' of Apple and Google, who capitulated to Trump's requests to change Lake Ontario to Lake America'In light of Donald Trump's attempts to rename a gulf, lakes and even states after America", South Park, the animated satirical program that has long skewered those in power, has announced an official name change. For its 29th season, the Comedy Central series will be known as South America".Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA," creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker said in a statement. We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount - a Skydance Capitulation." The show's parent company, Paramount Skydance, owned by Trump ally David Ellison, is poised to become one of the biggest media conglomerates in the US after the Trump administration approved its $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), drawing much creative industry backlash.The 29th season of South America" will premiere on 16 September, and stream globally on Paramount+. Continue reading...

National Air Traffic Services apologise for technical issue disrupting departures today, which Flightradar24 say has caused hundreds of cancellations

I have to be honest, it has been stressful,' Lonnie Bunch III saysThe Smithsonian Institution's secretary, Lonnie Bunch III, will retire at the end of the year amid Donald Trump's attacks on the museum's content and independence.Bunch, who was appointed in 2019 as the first African American to lead the museums, cited personal reasons for departing, while acknowledging the pressure that the president's attacks on the Smithsonian's depictions of US history had taken. Continue reading...

Trump passed the long weekend posting a torrent of memes and musings on his Truth Social platformThe long weekend may have proved too long for Donald Trump, who passed the time by musing about annexing other countries, unilaterally renaming places he's not allowed to rename and turning himself into a superhero.Amid the torrent of memes and posts by the president on his Truth Social platform over the Labor Day holiday weekend was a bizarre AI-generated video depicting Trump as the Green Lantern DC superhero, wielding a glowing green power ring to erect his border wall, illuminate an American manufacturing" scene, and command a fleet of warplanes and warships behind him. Continue reading...

Summer spending across the league's 30 clubs has ballooned. Here are three takeaways from the league's transfer windowWith the shadow of the 2026 World Cup hanging over the league and a potential set of rule changes looming, Major League Soccer's summer transfer window was one defined by uncertainty, diverse strategies and record spending. It was the fourth transfer window since MLS allowed clubs to purchase players from other clubs using traditional transfer fees rather than general allocation money (GAM), the intraleague currency system. The new rule, which is now being used more frequently, has helped account for rapid growth in league expenditure, as has increased GAM allotted to each club.These trends have been seen broadly over the last two seasons, but this past window took it to a new level, smashing the previous record for summer spending. This summer, MLS teams spent 65% more year-over-year, with a total of nearly $190m spent, accounting for 45% of the 2026 total. The above factors combined to create one of the most consequential transfer windows in MLS history, which may give a glimpse into the league's future trajectory. Continue reading...

The more defense secretary Pete Hegseth tries to flex his manly strength, the wimpier he looksThe more the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, tries to flex his manly strength, the wimpier he looks.The former Fox News host has attempted to seize control of what the public is allowed to know, but bad news keeps creeping out from the Pentagon.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Amid unpopular Iran war and persistent inflation, governor says state has had its name since before US existedDemocrats have hit back against Donald Trump's suggestion that the state of New Mexico should be renamed New America", accusing the US president of trying to distract from his war on Iran and rising prices.The administration moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America" hours after Trump's return to office in January 2025. In August, as trade tensions escalated between the US and Canada, it moved to do the same with Lake Ontario, moving to rename it as Lake America". Continue reading...

David Burke's defense argues there is no evidence he had any intent of killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas HernandezThe family of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez has called for the singer D4vd, who is on trial suspected of killing the girl, to face the death penalty.D4vd, who was born David Anthony Burke, in July was ordered to stand trial over the killing of Rivas, whose dismembered body was found in the trunk of his Tesla car on 8 September 2025. Burke has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Continue reading...

The man, also accused of homophobic slurs on American Airlines flight, faces assault and disorderly conduct chargesAn Arizona realty company says it is no longer associated" with an agent who was recently arrested after alleged unruly behavior - including racist and homophobic slurs - on an airline flight led to his being zip-tied, duct-taped to his seat and arrested.Layne Arthur Lundeen, 67, faces counts of disorderly conduct and second-degree assault in the case, according to Maryland court records filed after he was taken into custody at Baltimore's airport on 3 September. Continue reading...

Farewell, New Mexico. The war isn't going well and nowhere on Earth is safe from the US president's favourite displacement activityBusy times for crayon-wielding US president Donald Trump, Earth's most tireless freelance cartographer, who at the weekend celebrated the US labouring under the highest diesel prices in its history while his two-week" Iran war edges into its seventh month with a social media spree in which he pushed renaming New Mexico as New America.In some ways, it was a surprise to see Trump go for merely rebranding a state at this point, given that it was only so recently that he declared: If you think about it, we have a gulf, and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean." This is believed to be a reference to the Gulf of America, formerly - and indeed currently, in every meaningful sense - the Gulf of Mexico. It was also a nod to Lake America, as precisely no one calls Lake Ontario despite Trump supposedly retitling it by executive order last month, in another fit of pique over his trade war with Canada. Candidates for this heavily trailed American Ocean clearly include the Pacific and the Atlantic - though why the other oceans should be locationally ineligible increasingly feels unclear. At this rate, geography exams in the US are also about to get a whole lot easier.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The US president says criticising his soaring investment portfolio is very unfair'. Tell that to the millions of Americans struggling with the cost of livingIf I had a dollar for every time Donald Trump said something inane, I would be a very rich woman. But even with an income that steady, I could never hope to be as flush as the president. A Forbes calculation from March puts his net worth at about $6.5bn - and it's growing rapidly. Trump made $2.2bn in 2025 via business interests that ranged from selling cryptocurrency and Trump Bibles to offering early access to his (often market-moving) Truth Social posts.To be fair, Trump isn't making all this money just so he can buy golf clubs and gold toilets. No, he's amassing these billions for the good of the little people; it's altruism, not avarice! I do this for our Country, not myself," the president wrote on Truth Social on Sunday night alongside an AI-generated picture of him trading Intel stock. I've made Hundreds of Billions of Dollars on Stocks, and many other type Holdings, for the U.S.A., not myself, and all I do is get criticized by the Radical Left Dumocrats. Very unfair, but what can you do!" Continue reading...

Centrist Chris Pappas faces progressive primary challenger Karishma Manzur while Republicans eye chance to flip seatNew Hampshire voters head to the polls Tuesday for primaries that will set up a closely watched Senate contest - a vulnerable open seat Democrats must defend if they are to have any shot at reclaiming the upper chamber.The race opened when Jeanne Shaheen, 79, the state's threeterm incumbent Democratic senator, announced her retirement. Congressman Chris Pappas, who represents New Hampshire's first district, is seeking the nomination and enters the final stretch with a clear financial edge: more than $4m cash on hand, according to his latest filings. But his main challenger, Dr Karishma Manzur - a scientist and progressive activist with no experience holding public office - has gained ground. Continue reading...

Candidates must focus on two issues: affordability and accountability. They are not competing prioritiesAs the November election approaches with control of the House and Senate on the line, the stakes are high. With so much riding on the outcome, there is no shortage of debate about the message Democrats need to win.Affordability has emerged as a shared - if often undefined - rallying cry. Working families are struggling with rising costs and looking for answers. But too often, we've seen affordability positioned as the beginning and end of the plan. Meanwhile, many see holding the Trump administration accountable for its corruption and harms as at odds with a relentless focus on kitchen-table issues. Continue reading...

A natural history museum lets residents take home 1,400 specimens, from bobcats and beetles to snakes in jarsOn a hot afternoon in August, I walked out of the San Diego Natural History Museum carrying a whale rib, a leopard pelt, a taxidermized weasel and a small piece of fossilized dinosaur poop.It felt like a heist. These were real specimens that belonged to the museum, not gift shop replicas. But for two weeks, they were mine to take home, display in my living room, even bring to events with my friends. Continue reading...

From rare bacteria to forever chemicals', a series of cases of violations or alleged pollution has prompted alarmWhen officials in Wyoming conducted a routine test on the water that was being discharged from a massive under-construction Meta datacenter, it was a shock to find it contained a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium.While the wastewater flushed into sewers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was never destined for the public drinking supply, the presence of Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium in 801,000 gallons of water ejected by a contractor for the datacenter earlier this year was still unnerving. Continue reading...

Stalemate between two nations leads to tit-for-tat measures on wide range of imports. Plus: Captain Kirk recalls 60 years of Star Trek

The president apparently plans to focus on the person he most admires - himself - even if Republicans would rather he didn'tWith the midterm races officially beginning this week, a big question hanging over the Republican party is how Trump will allocate his giant stash of Super Pac money. As of 31 July, Maga Inc had more than $400m on hand, larger than the cash reserves of any of the major party committees.But he's barely spent any of it yet. Why not? Continue reading...

The breach won't be the last - or the most dangerous - of its kind. We need an agency capable of full investigations into AI incidentsWhen OpenAI first revealed that its AI agents had autonomously hacked a major real-world company, Hugging Face, many assumed only one or two agents were involved. The truth, a new report reveals, is far stranger: the incident involved about 1,200 AI agents, 700 of which directly participated in the attack.OpenAI invited researchers from METR, along with an expert from Redwood Research, to produce the new report, alongside the company's own investigation. The findings shocked the experts. Continue reading...

In the hours after the 9/11 attacks, the journalist Rozina Ali remembers her parents telling her that as Muslims, they would now be under suspicion. It took years for Ali to understand what they meant. She talks to Carter Sherman about this journey and how it led her to write about the history of Islamophobia in the US. Ali explores how attacks on Muslims by successive administrations since 9/11 cemented Islamophobia in all areas of American life, and she explains why she believes these prejudices are more pervasive now than ever.

Our cartoonist imagines how the football great might while away the hours after calling time on his international career

The Philadelphia Union midfielder has gotten his longest run of game time since turning pro, and the data is tantalizingThere's a video from a United States U-15 camp three years ago that will make your head spin. It's a routine training session for the boys on the pitch except one, a head shorter and a year or two younger than the others, who's practicing with the national team for the first time.Is the boy nervous? He is not. A pass floats into the box and he checks his run, tries to get under it, but the ball is too high for his 13-year-old head to reach. He doesn't even jump. As the cross sails over him, he flings himself forward like Superman and flicks a heel up behind his back, catching the ball with a scorpion kick that bounces straight into the path of a teammate for a cartoon assist. Continue reading...

Players generally welcome interacting with their fans. But as the league's popularity surges, there are dangers to be aware ofCaitlin Clark spent most of the 2025 WNBA season sidelined with a series of injuries that forced her to miss more than 30 games. But she also spent part of the season (and the preceding offseason) quietly navigating a tumultuous and scary reality: a 55-year-old man was stalking her, and he was convinced they were in a relationship.That man, Michael Lewis, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison last July. Lewis sent Clark hundreds" of messages - many of which were threats and sexually explicit" - between 12 December 2024 and 11 January 2025. Lewis, who is from Texas, was arrested at a hotel in Indianapolis, where Clark plays for the Indiana Fever. The case took a toll on Clark: she said she feared for her safety and had changed her appearance in public. Continue reading...

A large part of San Francisco's summer was a literal car crash. On the positive side, they have so far avoided their usual list of crushing injuriesThe Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers have trekked to Australia for this week's NFL season opener in Melbourne. The flight time from California to Victoria is nearly the same for both teams - roughly 16 hours - but their journeys to the start of the season couldn't be more different.It's been smooth sailing for the Rams, with their collection of playmakers growing by the day. It's a very different story for the 49ers: facing Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett, not to mention the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks, at least twice this season is the least of their problems. Their offseason has been more than lightly turbulent: it's been batshit crazy. Continue reading...