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Mike Johnson claims big-hearted' president wants to reopen government; FBI fires official amid Patel's outrage over stories about jet use - key US politics stories from Sunday 2 NovemberRepublicans are insisting that Donald Trump is desperate" to end the government shutdown, which has now entered its 33rd day.The comments by the Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, come as the US president delays food assistance funding for millions of low-income Americans but steams ahead with construction of his $300m gilded White House ballroom. Continue reading...

Actor says Harris was given a very tough task' because she had to run against her own record', and extends an olive branch to Hunter BidenGeorge Clooney has said he feels it was a mistake" for Kamala Harris to replace Joe Biden in the 2024 US presidential election, adding that he had no regrets about the New York Times opinion piece in which he called on the Democrats to find a new presidential nominee.Speaking on CBS' Sunday Morning, the actor and activist, who is a prominent financial donor to the Democratic party, said he would write his op-ed again if given the chance, and that he wished the Democrats had held a new primary to elect a presidential candidate. Instead, Harris was nominated by a virtual vote of party delegates. Continue reading...

Buffalo beat Kansas City 28-21 in a heavyweight AFC clash after a thrilling Sunday of late comebacks and shock winsSteelers 0-7 Colts 4:17, 1st quarterThe Steelers go out with a whimper again and again. Pittsburgh's second punt goes deep, Josh Downs is there but spills it and the Steelers recover. Instant red zone for Pittsburgh. They edge closer but Indi's defense forces a fourth down, they go for it and Rodgers fires a fastball at his tight end Darnell Washington. He would have had a walk-in touchdown if he had caught it. Colts take over with 95 yards to travel. Continue reading...

More than 40 Roman Catholic dioceses have filed chapter 11 claims, 28 of which had obvious indicators of abuse falloutThe number of Roman Catholic dioceses in the US which have declared federal bankruptcy amid the worldwide church's clergy abuse scandal has grown after one in central Louisiana recently filed for chapter 11 protection.The diocese of Alexandria announced in a statement Friday it had joined more than 40 Catholic institutions in the US which have filed for bankruptcy protection. According to Penn State's law school, 28 of those bankruptcies had concluded in one of the most obvious indicators of the clergy abuse scandal's fallout. Continue reading...

Patel reportedly became furious after revelation he flew to visit girlfriend as agency fires official who oversees fleetA top FBI official with 27 years standing has reportedly been fired by the bureau after its director, Kash Patel, became enraged by press stories revealing he had used a government jet to travel to see his girlfriend sing the national anthem at a wrestling match.Steven Palmer, who had worked at the bureau since 1998, was fired as head of the FBI's critical incident response group which is responsible for handling major security threats as well as overseeing the agency's fleet of jets. He was the third head of the unit to be dismissed since Patel became the second Trump administration's FBI director in February. Continue reading...

House speaker says president has tried everything he can' even while Trump delays food benefits to millionsTop Republicans are portraying Donald Trump as a big-hearted president" who is desperate to reopen the US government, even as he delays food assistance funding for millions of low-income Americans but steams ahead with construction of his $300m gilded White House ballroom.As the government shutdown entered its 33rd day, the Republican speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, presented Trump as a man angry and desperate to break the impasse so as to ease mounting pain for ordinary Americans. He's just desperate for the government to open, he's tried everything he can," Johnson said, adding that Trump was a big-hearted president, he wants everybody to get their services". Continue reading...

Despite Illinois governor's plea to let families celebrate Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, agents used pepper spray and continued to arrest peopleFor 40-year-old Cecilia Romero, the days before and after Halloween are not just any other holiday. It's the time of year when she can take her kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood she's from - and a connection to her own past when she would go celebrate as a little girl.She remembers years of streets brimming with families and children, with street vendors selling food and cempasuchil, the marigolds that loved ones place on altars for Day of the Dead - or Dia de los Muertos - from 1 to 2 November. Continue reading...

Jack Schlossberg says dangerous' to evoke grandfather's assassination; Fox says it's a statement' of Jackie's bravery'Political writer and commentator Jack Schlossberg has said it was disgusting, desperate and dangerous" for actor Julia Fox to wear a Halloween costume evoking the assassination of president John F Kennedy, his grandfather.Fox, however, has defended her controversial decision to wear a replica of the blood-stained, pink suit that former first lady Jackie Kennedy was seen wearing when her husband was shot dead by a sniper while the couple rode in a motorcade in Dallas in 1963. The Uncut Gems star has said she dressed as Jackie Kennedy as a statement" about the poise and extraordinary bravery" she showed when subjected to unimaginable brutality". Continue reading...

Voters set to accept new maps to help Democrats counter Republican gerrymandering - and check president's powerCalifornia's Proposition 50 began as a warning from the nation's largest blue state to its largest red one: don't poke the bear. But when Texas moved ahead with a rare, mid-decade gerrymander, pushed by Donald Trump as Republicans seek to shore up their fragile House majority in the midterm elections, California made good on its threat.Now, California voters appear poised to approve a redistricting measure placed on the ballot in August by Democrats and the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, who have cast it as a chance to check Trump's power. Continue reading...

Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia is betting that the antidote to Trumpism is unflashy competence and a focus on cost of livingShe spoke of political turmoil coming out of Washington. Recklessness and heartlessness coming out of Washington. A careless, chaotic, reckless economic policy coming out of Washington. She did not mention Donald Trump.The Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, pitched her closing argument on Saturday to more than 7,000 supporters at a campaign rally in Norfolk, home to the world's biggest naval base. Continue reading...

The repeat champions' vast wealth means they can stockpile talent unimaginable to other teams. But it's undeniable that the results are hugely entertainingA unicorn led off the game with a single and then trotted out to the mound to pitch the bottom of the first. Another pitcher won Games 2, 6, and 7 of the World Series, throwing 17.2 innings along the way. A catcher set a record, squatting behind the plate for 74 Fall Classic frames and ultimately ended the series by hitting the final go-ahead home run.Just as everyone feared or sneered, the Los Angeles Dodgers are champions. Again. In what some forecasted as a harbinger of doom, the sinister strategy of employing the best baseball player on the planet along with a generous number of his nearly equal peers proved effective. It's not fair, some people will say in the coming months about the fact that the team broadly believed to be the best ultimately won it all. Continue reading...

The president is lashing out before the supreme court's impending decision on his absurd policyHalloween came early for Donald Trump. Ronald Reagan spooked him. Trump had a startled reaction to the TV ad that appeared during the first game of the World Series, placed by the provincial government of Ontario, featuring excerpts from President Reagan's radio talk in April 1987 in which he explained the danger of trade wars. Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing that it was a FRAUD," Trump posted. It was, he falsely claimed, a serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act". In retaliation, he slapped an additional 10% tariff on Canada.Trump was apparently horrified at the sudden presence of the ghost of conservatism past, who had kept the outlandish bounder at arm's length and whom Trump regarded warily if not nervously. Reagan was the original, bigger and more successful performer, whose appeal was as the harbinger of morning in America, not the grim reaper of a zombie nightfall. Canada is being punished for Trump's fright.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Rural US towns reel as policies like tariffs cause global manufacturing companies to reconsider major investment projectsFor decades, a line of storefronts in Jeffersonville, Ohio, a town of 1,200 people 40 minutes south-west of Columbus, lay empty.But now locals are hard at work renovating the downtown and paving streets in anticipation of a potential economic boom fueled by a huge new electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant. Continue reading...

The corporate-friendly party refuses to learn the lessons of the past decade. When will it implement a truly humane agenda?Democrats enabled Donald Trump to become president twice because of repetition compulsions that still propel the party's leaders - undermining the party's potential to end the real-life nightmare of Maga control over the federal government. Scrutinizing how this century's Democratic leaders set the stage for Trump's electoral triumphs is crucial not only for clarity about the past. It also makes possible a vital focus on how such failures can be avoided in the future.Elites did quite well after Barack Obama took back the presidency for Democrats in January 2009, amid the Great Recession. He bailed out big banks while a huge number of people lost their homes. By the time Obama was most of the way through his presidency, he had facilitated the dispossession of at least 5.2 million US homeowner families, the explosion of inequality, and the largest ruination of middle-class wealth in nearly a century", the journalist David Dayen pointed out.Norman Solomon is the director of RootsAction and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book is War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine Continue reading...

Republicans hold a 219-213 majority in the House, but they could lock in more seats if reapportionments go their wayRepublicans and Democrats have entered a war in legislatures and courts to narrow the political battlefield of 2026 before a single vote is cast.Normally, redistricting only occurs after the US census counts residents in each state every 10 years. A demand from Donald Trump to lock in more Republican-leaning districts in Congress, together with a changing legal landscape around partisan gerrymandering, set off a chain of mid-decade reapportionments. Continue reading...

Schmoozing the super-rich to fund a $300m ballroom while cutting food aid for those on low incomes threw the president's architectural folly into sharp reliefIt was a feast fit for a king - and any billionaire willing to be his subject. From gold-rimmed plates on gold-patterned tablecloths decorated with gold candlestick holders, they gorged on heirloom tomato panzanella salad, beef wellington and a dessert of roasted Anjou pears, cinnamon crumble and butterscotch ice-cream.On 15 October, Donald Trump welcomed nearly 130 deep-pocketed donors, allies and representatives of major companies for a dinner at the White House to reward them for their pledged contributions to a vast new ballroom now expected to cost $300m. That the federal government had shut down two weeks earlier scarcely seemed to matter. Continue reading...

Georgia Republican lawmaker also claims she didn't know Rothschild family, of her space laser' theory, was JewishRepublican US House member Marjorie Taylor Greene has said she believes in demons, surmising that they might be aliens who fell from heaven, and claims to have been unaware that key figures in the antisemitic space lasers conspiracy she floated were Jewish.She made those bizarre remarks as a guest on Friday on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher after winning some fans among Democrats who once loathed her - yet had come to appreciate how the far-right Georgia representative had recently broken with Republicans on various issues. Those include healthcare, Gaza, the federal government shutdown that began on 1 October and the handling of documents pertaining to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was friends with Donald Trump before the latter man won two presidencies. Continue reading...

The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in a pulse-pounding Game 7 of the World Series in the early hours of Sunday morning, setting off celebrations (and commiserations) around the world

Defense secretary announces a new strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, bringing total killed in US strikes to at least 64 peopleThe US military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said.Hegseth said on Saturday the vessel was operated by a US-designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted. He said three people were killed in the strike. Continue reading...

It's currently a two-horse race - and the next US leader is guaranteed to be a careerist who knows nothing of statesmanshipMillions of Americans yearn for 7 November 2028, the scheduled date of the next presidential election. That's the day the Trump era effectively ends. Probably. That's the day the Democrats will atone for Kamala Harris's calamitous 2024 failure. Possibly. That's the day US democracy is reborn. Hopefully. Succession talk is tantalising Washington. Gavin Newsom, California's governor, has given the clearest sign yet that he'll run and glossing over past blunders, Harris reckons she deserves a second chance.Yet most attention is focused on the Republicans, after Trump, 79, again threatened to defy the constitution and seek a third term. I would love to do it," he said this week. He rowed back later, albeit unconvincingly. We'll see what happens," he teased. This undignified narcissist's electoral fan dance will drag on interminably. Of greater practical interest are the two names Trump picked out as his most likely successors: JD Vance and Marco Rubio, vice-president and secretary of state respectively.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

President says he has instructed the newly named department of war to prepare for possible action" in the West African country. Key US politics stories from Saturday 1 November at a glanceIn describing his foreign policy agenda, Donald Trump has proclaimed an America First" policy.But on Saturday the US president threatened to launch attacks in Nigeria in response to alleged violence against Christians, saying he had instructed his newly named department of war to prepare for possible action". Continue reading...

The 28-1 success of Ethical Diamond for Willie Mullins was the highlight of a memorable afternoon at Del MarSplendora paid $7.80 to a $2 stake - a shade under 3-1.Hope Road cruised through the race until the final turn and eased to the front just over a furlong out, but Splendora rocketed past soon afterwards and the race was as good as over. That's a 20th Breeders' Cup winner for Bob Baffert, who is now just one behind Aidan O'Brien, the winning-most trainer in Breeders' Cup history since about 18 hours ago, when Gstaad took the Juvenile Turf. Continue reading...

The wit and wisdom of the superstar ex-US president make him the best candidate - too bad he can't runIt's not as if we didn't see some of this coming," said Barack Obama, a note of bleak humour in his voice. I will admit it's worse than even I expected, but I did warn y'all!"The crowd at a sports arena in Norfolk, Virginia, half-laughed and half-groaned. I did," Obama added. You can run the tape." Continue reading...

Former US president headlines event for Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, who leads in pollsBarack Obama headlined a rally Saturday in Virginia to try to secure a victory for the state's Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who leads in polls days before the election.Obama moved between criticizing Donald Trump and Republican policy and rhetoric - with a bit of humor - while also explaining how Abigail Spanberger could help counter what Democrats see as the country's downward trajectory. Continue reading...

US president says he ordered Pentagon to begin planning for action, without mentioning Muslim persecutionDonald Trump on Saturday said he had ordered the Pentagon to begin planning for potential military action in Nigeria as he stepped up his criticism that the government was failing to rein in the persecution of Christians in the west African country.If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, guns-a-blazing,' to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities," Trump posted on social media. I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!" Continue reading...

Nearly 50% of 30 busiest airports facing absences as staff are forced to work without pay and shutdown hits 31st dayNearly 50% of the 30 busiest US airports faced shortages of air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday, leading to flight delays nationwide as a federal government shutdown hit its 31st day.The absence of controllers on Friday is by far the most widespread since the shutdown began, with one of the worst-hit regions being New York, where 80% of air traffic controllers were out, the agency said. Continue reading...

US vice-president announces to 10,000 attenders of Turning Point USA that he prefers wife, who is Hindu, to be ChristianJD Vance is doubling down on comments he made about wanting his wife, Usha Vance, to convert to Christianity - remarks that drew political backlash from some quarters.At an event with Turning Point USA at the University of Mississippi to honor the conservative group's slain founder Charlie Kirk, an audience member questioned the US vice-president about how he sees the links between American patriotism and Christianity. Continue reading...

The government shutdown is not an accident. Trump's budget would push millions into poverty and must be stoppedDemocrats in the US Senate must stand with the working families of our country and in opposition to Donald Trump's authoritarianism. They must not cave in to the president's attacks on the working class during this ongoing government shutdown. If they do, the consequences will be catastrophic for our country.This may be the most consequential moment in American history since the civil war. We have a megalomaniacal president who, consumed by his quest for more and more power, is undermining our constitution and the rule of law. Further, we have an administration that is waging war against the working class of our country and our most vulnerable people. Continue reading...

Race between Democrat Mikie Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli is drawing attention as preview of 2026 midtermsAfter last year's election, when Republicans made significant inroads in the state, New Jersey voters will cast ballots in an off-year, unpredictable gubernatorial race that voters and experts say feels different from any in recent memory.Democrat Mikie Sherrill, a former navy pilot and federal prosecutor who represents New Jersey's 11th congressional District, is facing Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a businessman and former state lawmaker, who is making his third bid for governor, this time with Donald Trump's endorsement. Continue reading...

Clint Curtis is overseeing a 4 November ballot that could add five Democratic seats and reshape US politicsWhen Clint Curtis was appointed to oversee voting in California's Shasta county earlier this year, the Florida-based lawyer and election skeptic pledged to fix" the voting process.Curtis had never before administered an election and didn't live in this rural northern California region. But he was well-known to followers of the US election denialism movement, who believe the voting system is not secure and that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Curtis, a former congressional candidate, described himself as an expert in elections law and had long argued that voting machines could be hacked and that the government could manipulate the results of elections. Continue reading...

Thomas Jacob Sanford, who also lit church on fire, was killed by police who responded to September shootingThe former US marine who opened fire in a Michigan church and set it ablaze in September was motivated by anti-religious beliefs" against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the FBI said on Friday.While friends of the gunman in the deadly shooting have said he harbored hatred for what is widely known as the Mormon church, the FBI had previously declined to specify the motivation behind the attack that left four people dead and the church burned to the ground, except to say it was a targeted" act of violence. Continue reading...

In Colorado, the end of subsidies means some daycares have open slots they can't fill - even as demand remains highOn an early fall day, toddlers played at Westwood Academy, a highly rated Denver childcare center serving children aged six weeks to five years. The room glowed with natural wood and light while preschoolers settled onto colorful floor circles to hear a book read aloud. Where's your circle?" one of the children asked the teacher.Westwood is located in west Denver, a lower-income part of the city; median family income in the surrounding area is less than $43,000 a year, according to census data. Continue reading...

Threatening to deport your critics, even those with US citizenship, seems to have become Maga policySome couples bond over shared hobbies; others over shared values. The Maga bigwigs Stephen and Katie Miller, on the other hand, appear to have connected over their shared love of terrorizing immigrant children.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

The state has killed 15 people this year with two more scheduled this month as death penalty in decline across USDeath penalty opponents have decried an unprecedented surge in executions ordered by Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, after the state maintained a record pace with last week's killing of a military veteran.Norman Mearle Grim, who was convicted of the 1998 murder and rape of a neighbor, became the 15th person put to death this year, by lethal injection, at the Florida state prison in Starke on Wednesday. Continue reading...

The political differences between the two main candidates could have major implications for next year's midtermsNew Yorkers will find out the identity of their next mayor on Tuesday, in a race that will decide who will run, and defend, the US's largest city at a time when Donald Trump has threatened to send military troops there.Against that backdrop, New York has seen a mayoral election that has pitted two very different Democrats against one another. The race has become an increasingly bitter face-off, laced with alleged racism and Islamophobia, but it is the political differences between the two main candidates that could have major implications for how the Democratic party performs in next year's midterm elections. Continue reading...

Food insecurity for millions of Americans set to increase with Trump officials saying Snap benefits will cease as government shutdown enters second monthWaves of hungry Angelenos gathered outside Community Space food bank's storefront on a recent afternoon, grabbing dry goods like pastries, bagels, lentils and pasta along with refrigerated salads and frozen bags of brisket.The crowd ebbs and flows all day, said founder Gaines Newborn, but as news spread last week that the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) would cease on Saturday, he braced for the need to dramatically increase. Continue reading...

The question is not whether we will reshape our institutions to manage climate impacts, but howFor decades, stopping climate change" has been the singular goal of climate politics. Across the political spectrum, from grassroots climate campaigners to elite UN negotiators, reducing carbon emissions to avoid future catastrophe has been the organizing logic of climate policies.Yet climate change has arrived and its material impacts are already being felt. This means that climate politics can no longer focus only on preventing future catastrophes. It must now also encompass struggles over how society manages climate impacts already reshaping economic and social life. Insurance markets, housing, water and land use policies, national labor markets, and local economies - all will need to be radically remade as we adapt to a changed and increasingly volatile climate.Leah Aronowsky is a historian of science and assistant professor at the Columbia Climate School Continue reading...

Richard Hooker Jr is running to replace Trump ally Sean O'Brien as president of the Teamsters International unionThe Teamsters International president, Sean O'Brien, is putting the working class in jeopardy" by allying with Donald Trump, according to a prominent labor activist challenging his leadership of the powerful union.O'Brien has no business being a labor leader" and shouldn't be trusted", Richard Hooker Jr - who is running against O'Brien's re-election next year - told the Guardian. Continue reading...

San Antonio's French phenom has led the Spurs to a franchise-best 5-0 start, announcing the dawn of basketball's next dynastyA spectre is haunting the NBA - the spectre of Victor Wembanyama.All the powers of the old guard have entered into a tenuous alliance to contain this unicorn: rivals Luka Doni and Anthony Edwards, the Oklahoma City radicals, and the one with the most to lose, Nikola Joki. Everyone senses the shift, from the veterans of past champions to the new faces of the league. The Spurs are a basketball dynasty-in-waiting. Continue reading...

Olympic champions Sifan Hassan and Eliud Kipchoge make their NYC debuts on Sunday, where rolling bridges, loud crowds and marathon chaos awaitThe New York City Marathon, like the city it takes over each fall, is as vast as it is vibrant; as loud as it is chaotic; and more than a little daunting, too.No marathon is easy. But an air of unpredictability lingers over the five boroughs, with hopefuls humbled, and favorites frustrated, as they embark on a challenging 26.2-mile tour of the city. Continue reading...

Carney said he had made the apology privately to Trump when they both attended a dinner hosted by South Korea's president on WednesdayThe Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, said he had apologised to the US president, Donald Trump, over an anti-tariff political advertisement and had told the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, not to run it.Carney, speaking to reporters on Saturday after attending an Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea, said he had made the apology privately to Trump when they both attended a dinner hosted by South Korea's president on Wednesday. Continue reading...