California governor rejects bill that would've helped Black families reclaim or be compensated for land taken unjustlyCalifornia governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have helped Black families reclaim or be compensated for property that was unjustly taken by the government.The bill would have created a process for families to file a claim with the state if they believe the government seized their property through eminent domain due to discriminatory motives and without providing fair compensation. Continue reading...
by Maanvi Singh, Chris Stein and Anna Betts on (#6R06V)
This blog is now closed. You can read more on Kamala Harris's economic vision hereThe only vice-presidential debate before the November election is scheduled for next Tuesday, where Ohio's Republican senator JD Vance will square off against Minnesota governor Tim Walz in New York City.In a call with reporters today, Vance was asked about his plans for the debate, and if he plans to hold the sort of debate boot camp Walz is reportedly doing.We have, I think, well-developed views on public policy, so we don't have to prepare that much. I think what we're going to focus on is making sure that I make as concise and direct an appeal to the American people as possible about Donald Trump's successful policies and Kamala Harris's failed ones. Continue reading...
Ralph de la Torre, paid at least $250m by Steward Health Care amid facility issues and closures, ignored subpoenaThe US Senate has voted unanimously to hold the CEO of Steward Health Care in criminal contempt for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena - marking the first time in more than 50 years that the chamber has moved to hold someone in criminal contempt.On Wednesday, the Senate voted to hold Ralph de la Torre in contempt of Congress after the 58-year-old head of the Massachusetts-based for-profit healthcare system - which declared bankruptcy earlier this year - ignored a congressional subpoena and failed to appear at a hearing over the hospital chain's alleged abuse of finances on 12 September. Continue reading...
Senate approves bill extending funds until December two hours after House passes it, sending it to Biden's deskUS Congress passed a three-month government funding package on Wednesday, sending the bill to Joe Biden's desk and averting a shutdown that was set to begin next Tuesday.The Senate approved the funding package just two hours after the House passed the bill on Wednesday afternoon, as lawmakers raced to return to their home districts six weeks before election day. Continue reading...
Zelenskyy's visit to Pennsylvania weapons factory upsets speaker as Trump continues attacks on Ukrainian presidentThe US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has demanded that Ukraine fire its ambassador to Washington as the feud between Donald Trump and Volodymr Zelenskyy escalated and Republicans accused the Ukrainian leader of election interference.In a public letter, Johnson demanded that Zelenskyy fire the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, over a visit to a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, last week where the Ukrainian president thanked workers for providing desperately needed shells to his outgunned forces. Continue reading...
Trump son-in-law's Affinity Partners fuels Senate suspicions of foreign influence-buying before US electionA private equity firm owned by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, has been paid $157m in fees since 2021 without returning any profit to investors, according to a US Senate inquiry.The finding from the Senate finance committee has fuelled suspicions that the Miami-based company, Affinity Partners, may be a foreign influence-buying operation established in anticipation of the former president returning to the White House. Continue reading...
Those onboard the bus had alleged they were terrorised' for over 90 minutes and calling 911 also did not yield any helpA federal jury in Texas on Monday cleared five supporters of Donald Trump but found one driver liable in a civil trial over a so-called Trump Train" that surrounded a Biden-Harris campaign bus on a busy highway days before the 2020 election.The two-week trial in a federal courthouse in Austin centered on whether the actions of the Trump Train" participants amounted to political intimidation. Among those onboard the bus was Wendy Davis, the former Democratic lawmaker, who testified she feared for her life while a convoy of Trump supporters boxed in the bus along Interstate 35.This story was updated on September 25 to correct a headline and add more detail on the man found liable. Continue reading...
Embattled agency places employee on leave amid allegation of assault in hotel room in WisconsinThe US Secret Service has confirmed it is investigating accusations of sexual assault against one of its agents, reportedly with the alleged victim being a female staff member of Kamala Harris's election campaign team.The federal agency, already under fire over operational lapses that preceded the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in July, confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday: The employee has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation." Continue reading...
Storm forecasted to hit Florida's Gulf coast on Thursday as 40 million people under severe weather warningsTropical Storm Helene strengthened into a hurricane on Wednesday morning.The tempest was labeled a category 1 hurricane and the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it was packing maximum sustained winds of 80mph (128km/h) as it churned in the eastern Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula. Continue reading...
Tropical Storm Helene strengthened into a hurricane on Wednesday morning. The storm was labelled a category 1 hurricane and the US National Hurricane Center said it was packing maximum sustained winds of 80mph as it churned in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to hit Florida's Gulf coast later on Thursday as a forceful hurricane and is forecast to be the most powerful storm to hit the US in more than a year
Toxic leak of styrene from railcar can cause respiratory issues and potentially can lead to organ damageJoe Biden and Kamala Harris were briefed on Wednesday on the dangerous chemical leak from a railcar near Cincinnati, Ohio, that has prompted evacuations of school buildings and homes.The White House announced that the US president had been briefed on the leak of styrene from a parked railcar in Whitewater Township, near Cleves, on the outskirts of Cincinnati, on Tuesday, saying: Federal Railroad Administration and Environmental Protection Agency officials are on the ground assisting with hazmat operations and air quality testing. Continue reading...
Early morning chase involves officers using spiked strips, flash-bang device, beanbags and stun grenadesA bus hijacking in downtown Los Angeles has left one person dead and another person in custody, according to police.At around 12.45am local time on Wednesday, a suspect boarded a bus between Figueroa Street and Manchester Avenue in south Los Angeles and held the bus driver at gunpoint. According to local media reports, there were four people on board, including two passengers, as the suspect ordered the driver to drive. Continue reading...
This is a critical time for global leadership. There must be an urgent plan and a firm resolve, and UK ministers must demand actionThe situation in El Fasher, North Darfur, has become a humanitarian catastrophe. As fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalates, more than 1.5 million people, including those in the Zamzam internal displacement camp, are at immediate risk. The threat of crimes against humanity is real and urgent. Civilians in the region are facing dire conditions, with mass violence, displacement and a paucity of essential resources.On the other side of the world, in New York, the high-level week of the 79th United Nations general assembly is beginning, gathering the world's leaders to address the most pressing international challenges. While the Middle East and Ukraine are set to dominate the agenda, we must not let the crisis in Sudan be ignored. The meeting is a pivotal opportunity - indeed, a responsibility - for collective action to ensure that the international community lives up to its obligation under the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) framework to help protect populations from destruction. Failure to do so risks the lives of more than a million people.Andrew Mitchell is the shadow foreign secretary Continue reading...
Senate inquiry finds there was no clear security decision-making at rally and general communications chaosThe breadth of known Secret Service errors that led up to Donald Trump's first near-assassination in July widened on Wednesday with the release of a report by the US Senate that found there was no one clearly in charge of decision-making for security at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that day - causing foreseeable, preventable" failings before the former president was shot.The catalogue of security errors that allowed a would-be assassin to fire seven rounds at Trump at the election rally include failing to set up sight-line barriers around the outdoor rally area, the absence of a plan to secure the building the shooter took aim from and general communication chaos. Continue reading...
US intelligence officials warn Republican nominee of specific threats' unrelated to two recent attemptsUS intelligence officials have briefed Donald Trump about a suspected Iranian plot to kill him, his campaign has said.The briefing, from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), is believed to have focused on a scheme unrelated to two failed domestic assassination attempts against the Republican nominee for president, and came amid reports suggesting that Iran is conducting an ongoing hack against Trump's campaign. Continue reading...
Governor Gavin Newson signed new laws restricting gun ownership, including for perpetrators of domestic violenceCalifornia's governor signed several new gun control measures, expanding the state's restrictions on gun ownership and introducing new protections for survivors of domestic violence.California already has some of the strictest gun laws in the US. The new laws signed by Gavin Newsom on Tuesday will further limit who can own a gun, allow the court to consider stalking and animal cruelty as grounds to restrict access to firearms, and prevent the proliferation of ghost guns". The laws also increase protections for domestic violence survivors. Continue reading...
Co-founder Refik Anadol says Dataland will promote ethical AI' and use renewable energy sourcesA prominent AI artist has announced he will open the world's first AI art museum in Los Angeles, which will highlight the intersection of human imagination and the creative potential of machines".The artificial intelligence art museum, dubbed Dataland, is slated to open in late 2025, in a new development next to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Broad Museum and the home of the LA philharmonic, creating a space for AI art among some of Los Angeles's most prestigious cultural venues. Continue reading...
Do I choose the eco wash' setting and wait 17 hours? Or select short cottons' and doom the planet? Either way, dazzling whites and fluffy towels elude meIt was at the back of a school hall, sitting on a blue plastic chair, watching my son erratically kick a chest-height dummy while a medley of synth instrumental numbers twanged in the background, that I finally had to admit something I have long suspected: I have issues with laundry.Like many of my generation, I am caught between late 20th-century social expectations about cleanliness and 21st-century anxiety about ecological impact. I am programmed to believe that I should wash all my tops after a single wear, while knowing that the profligate use of chemicals, energy and water involved in doing so is going to very quickly poison the planet. I dump whole items into the laundry basket where a quick spot wash with a cloth would almost certainly do the trick, and then stand at the riverside and despair at the state of the filth and flooding I have contributed to. Continue reading...
US president also mocks former president's windmill conspiracy theories at Climate Week event in New YorkJoe Biden has lauded the US's progress in fighting the climate crisis during his presidency, while also criticizing Donald Trump for his dismissal of the more dangerous world" that global heating poses to future generations.The US president was speaking at a Bloomberg event on Tuesday being held as part of Climate Week in New York, a summit that runs alongside the United Nations general assembly, which the US president spoke at earlier in the day. Continue reading...
Democratic governor warns that efforts to ban mifepristone post-Roe are a multi-decade' effortWashington state's first-in-the-nation stockpile of abortion drugs will serve as insurance against future lawsuits seeking to ban the procedure nationwide or a second presidential term for Republican Donald Trump, the state's governor, Jay Inslee, said.Last year, with a federal lawsuit seeking to restrict access to abortion medication nationwide, Inslee, a Democrat, ordered the state's department of corrections to use its pharmacy license to buy 30,000 doses of the abortion drug mifepristone. Continue reading...
Democrats were fooled by their social media echo chamber in 2016. Now Republicans may be falling into the same trapIn the aftermath of Donald Trump's shock victory in 2016, one common explanation for why the Democrats had not seen it coming was that they had succumbed to the social media echo chamber. The fact that many digital platforms, such as Twitter (now X), tended to be dominated by liberals had lured Democrats into a false sense of security. This, so the explanation went, made them complacent, leading to inconsiderate gestures that alienated sections of the electorate: Hillary Clinton's infamous jab at Trump's supporters as deplorables" was often cited as a prime example.With the internet ever more captive to the caprices of timeline algorithms, the risk of echo chambers is even greater in this election cycle. However, it is now Trump and the broader political right that is - to use the internet lingo - too online". Continue reading...
Nitazenes, synthetic opioids, could create latest drug crisis as scientists rush to find how to detect them in drug supplyA new class of potentially deadly synthetic opioids is suddenly appearing around the globe, including in the US, and scientists are rushing to figure out how to detect it in the drug supply.Within the last month, nitazenes were implicated in four overdose deaths in Manchester, England; they were detected in over 2,500 counterfeit oxycodone pills in Hamilton, Canada; and they were found for the first time in the Netherlands. The US Drug Enforcement Administration has warned about their appearance in Washington DC. Continue reading...
We are all now so desensitised to Trump that it can be easy to forget he lacks the ability to string a sentence together. Yet he's frighteningly close to being back in chargeLadies, are you DEPRESSED and UNHAPPY? Do you feel POORER and LESS HEALTHY than you did four years ago? Do you pray one day your little woman brain will NO LONGER BE THINKING ABOUT ABORTION all the time? Well, don't worry, Donald Trump is going to FIX ALL OF THAT.So he says, anyway. At 11.42pm on Friday night Trump flexed his fingers, hit the all-caps key, and ranted on Truth Social about how UNHAPPY women are under the Biden administration. What happened at 11.41pm to prompt this, I wonder? Did he get a preview of some new polls which show him trailing Kamala Harris, partly thanks to a historic gender gap that sees Harris leading among women 58% to 37%? Did Trump decide, in his infinite wisdom, that the best way to fix this was an all-caps rant? Because I am not sure that is a winning strategy. Continue reading...
France's all-time leading scorer joined LAFC during the midseason break. As he learns the demands of the league, his teammates are trying to adjust to his styleIt took all of three league games with his new club for Olivier Giroud to show that his influence extends beyond his attacking output.While celebrating LAFC's opening goal in a derby against LA Galaxy, Giroud briefly broke away from the festivities and made a beeline for the young midfielder who had played a role in the buildup. As his teammates tell it, that leadership is already the norm for a player who officially swapped Milan for Los Angeles just two months ago. Continue reading...
I admit I've ghosted men and failed to reply to them. The apps need to innovate, and our behaviour has to change tooYou wouldn't know it now, from my thousand-yard stare, but there was once a time - not even that long ago - when dating apps were pretty exciting, and even fun. In 2012, I was 21 and living in a small city; Tinder was a welcome breath of fresh air into that claustrophobic scene, offering a way into social circles adjacent to our own.With time, the pitfalls and risks of the technology became apparent. But, in the beginning, there was optimism that dating apps not only worked as they claimed to, but could make our lives betterElle Hunt is a freelance journalist Continue reading...
by Victor Whitman in Renton, Washington on (#6R033)
Union members picketing in Renton, Washington, say they won't accept low pay offers nearly two weeks into strikeWorkers have manned a picket line outside Boeing's airplane factory in Renton, Washington, around the clock since tens of thousands walked off the job earlier this month. Almost two weeks into the strike, the largest now under way in the US, nobody knows when it will end.Orlando, a quality inspector at the aerospace giant, arrived at 3.45am on Saturday, long before dawn. On the outskirts of a city as expensive as Seattle, the cost of living is always going up", he said. And I guess the biggest part is making sure our wages reflect that." Continue reading...
Green Bay and Pittsburgh have got off to strong starts to the season but a number of high-profile QBs have found the new campaign toughPittsburgh Steelers Continue reading...
Dauwalter does not have a coach, a strict training plan or a Strava account, but the 38-year-old is widely considered ultrarunning's greatest of all timeIn 2023, Dauwalter became the first person, male or female, to win the Triple Crown, the three most iconic 100-mile races in the world, in a single season.Ultrarunning, with races ranging from 50km to 250 miles, is defined by type-A personalities: meticulous, rigid, detail-oriented, even obsessed. Courtney Dauwalter, 38, is the exception to the rule. Continue reading...
Ryan Murphy's American Sports Story drama looks at the troubling tale of an NFL player who became a killer and the many issues that surfacedBelle Glade, Florida, 2013. Erotic dancers writhe in the dim red light of nightclub. Aaron Hernandez thinks he spots cops at the bar and exits. As they drive away, a friend reminds him: I know all your secrets." In a remote, rainy place, Hernandez pulls out a gun, shoots the friend and leaves him for dead.Later, at an awards ceremony, Hernandez receives a call. You should have made sure I was dead," says the voice on the line. I'm alive. I'm alive and I'm coming for your ass." Continue reading...
The far right demands a pure Irishness'. But our island story has long been interwoven with other ethnicities and diasporasWhen lecturing on Irish immigration history, I usually start by asking: in which decade was the first footage of people of colour in Ireland filmed? Some students guess the 1960s. Others reach back to the 30s when the singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson performed in Dublin. The answer? The first filmed footage depicting an African diaspora gathering in Ireland is older than the independent Irish state.The film, a silent black-and-white British Pathe reel, shows members of the Southern Syncopated Orchestra, an early jazz band, at Dublin port in October 1921. The men and women were survivors of a shipwreck. After their safe arrival on another vessel, the band performed for Dublin audiences. In the same month that Dubliners enjoyed the orchestra's music, Irish republican leaders negotiated national independence with the British government. The footage provides a visual metaphor: Ireland's history of diversity predates the state itself.Maurice J Casey is an Irish historian based in Queen's University Belfast. He is the author of Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism's Forgotten RadicalsDo 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...
Williams long maintained his innocence and the killing was opposed by victim's family, jurors and office that tried himMissouri executed a man on death row on Tuesday, despite objections from prosecutors who sought to have his conviction overturned and have supported his claims of innocence.Marcellus Khaliifah" Williams, 55, was killed by lethal injection, ending a legal battle that has sparked widespread outrage as the office that originally tried the case suggested he was wrongfully convicted. Continue reading...
Ryan Routh, 58, accused of plotting to kill Republican presidential nominee in West Palm Beach last weekA man accused of lurking outside Donald Trump's south Florida golf course on 15 September with a gun - and allegedly writing about his desire to kill him - was charged on Tuesday with attempting to kill the Republican presidential candidate.Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was indicted on five counts in south Florida federal court: attempted assassination of a major political candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He was first charged with federal firearms crimes after his arrest. Continue reading...
Judge Tanya Chutkan grants Jack Smith's request to file 180-page motion on presidential immunity in federal caseSpecial counsel Jack Smith can file an oversized, 180-page motion on presidential immunity in Donald Trump's Washington DC federal court election interference case, a judge ruled Tuesday.Judge Tanya S Chutkan's decision stems from prosecutors' 21 September request to exceed the typical 45-page limit for opening motions and oppositions. Smith's motion must be filed by Thursday and will include both legal arguments and evidence and could provide additional insight into Trump's efforts to throw out election results, though it is unclear when the public might be able to see the material given that it will initially be filed under seal. Continue reading...
by Callum Jones in New York and agencies on (#6QZMS)
Government claims firm stifles competition by threatening merchants with high fees and pays off potential rivalsThe US Department of Justice has sued Visa, accusing one of the world's largest payment networks of antitrust violations that affect the price of nearly everything".The financial giant has suppressed competition by threatening merchants with high fees and paying off potential rivals, according to the complaint, filed in US district court for the southern district of New York. Continue reading...
Ex-Alameda CEO and ex-girlfriend of fallen crypto mogul pleaded guilty, but prosecutors requested lenient sentenceCaroline Ellison, the former crypto executive and romantic partner of the disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 24 months in prison in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. Ellison was a central figure in the FTX bankruptcy saga and key witness for the prosecution in the $8bn fraud trial that ended with Bankman-Fried's conviction.Ellison served as the chief executive of Alameda Research, which was the trading arm of the now defunct FTX crypto exchange. The collapse of FTX, once valued at $32bn, was directly linked to revelations that it was attempting to financially prop up Alameda with fraudulent accounting. Subsequent investigations and criminal charges found that FTX and the hedge fund had used billions in customer funds for risky trades and lavish personal spending. Continue reading...
Republican nominee spews falsehoods about undocumented immigrants to Savannah crowd's delightAt an event intended to tout economic policies that would usher in what his campaign calls a new age of American industrialism", Donald Trump spent as much time discussing personal grievances and blaming immigrants for everything from fentanyl overdoses to crime and taking Americans' jobs as he did discussing the economy.This is a speech on economic development but this is a big part of economic development," the former president said of immigration at a speech in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Haitian Bridge Alliance files criminal charges after local prosecutors take no action in response to racist remarksThe Haitian Bridge Alliance, a non-profit organization that provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal and social services", filed criminal charges against Donald Trump and JD Vance over their inflammatory, racist remarks about Haitian immigrants. The rhetoric has led to threats of violence in Springfield, Ohio, including more than 30 bomb threats, forced evacuations of schools and government buildings and violence against Haitians in the city.The filing comes after both the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate made false statements about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, alleging that they were stealing and eating their neighbors' pets. The charges include disrupting public services, making false alarms, two counts of telecommunications harassment, aggravated menacing, and complicity. Ohio law allows the public to file criminal charges in the same way a prosecutor would. In this case, the Haitian Bridge Alliance is asking the Clark county municipal court to affirm that there is probable cause that Trump and Vance committed the crimes, and to issue arrest warrants for them both. Continue reading...
Democratic nominee focuses campaign on reproductive freedom' and says 60-vote threshold should be abolishedKamala Harris has called for an end to the Senate filibuster to make good on her pledge to restore the right to abortion through legislation.The US vice-president, herself a former senator, told a radio station in Wisconsin that eliminating the filibuster - which sets a 60-vote threshold in the 100-seat upper chamber of the US Congress - would be necessary to codify the rights that were enshrined in Roe v Wade, the 1973 supreme court ruling that upheld the right to legal abortion throughout the US until it was overturned by a ruling two years ago. Continue reading...
More than 7,000 workers to hold strike vote this week amid accusations of staff shortages and expensive healthcareMore than 7,000 workers at CVS stores across California are holding a strike vote this week after accusing the US's largest pharmacy chain of shortchanging staff and failing to provide affordable healthcare.CVS and its union remain far apart in negotiations on a new contract. Their current union contract expired on 30 June 2024. Continue reading...
Dangers to the Middle East continue to grow with strikes on Lebanon. De-escalation through escalation is not a strategy, just wishful thinkingFor almost a year now, the danger of a wider regional conflagration has shadowed the spiralling death toll in Gaza. The escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, which was feared from the beginning, has happened, month by month. Israel's military says that it is not lookingfor wars". This is not yet the all-out ground conflict that many have anticipated. But with more than 550 already dead in Israel's strikes on alleged Hezbollah targets in Lebanon - including 50 children and 94women, according to health authorities - what is this ifnot a war?Opening the UN general assembly in New York, the secretary general, Antonio Guterres, rightly warned that the world cannot afford Lebanon to become another Gaza". Even if Israel intended this week's assault as a substitute for, rather than precursor to, a ground invasion, it cannot predict the consequences. Continue reading...
The volume of inappropriate emergency presentations via ambulance invites puzzlement that people could be so seemingly frivolous with a precious assetYour ankle has hurt for months, what brought you in today?"It's quiet on Sundays." Continue reading...
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