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In Saginaw, a swing county in a swing state, war veterans share their stories of fighting for democracyLike so many military veterans, the ageing group of men and women adorned with badges of fighting forces and theaters of war hesitated to talk about their past lives. But after one finally spoke up to denounce the man they called the devil", the floodgates opened to an anger and alarm that went far beyond normal political discourse.The veterans turned out on a warm evening to phone-bank for Kamala Harris in Saginaw, Michigan - a swing county in a key battleground state. But first they got to tell each other about where they served and the ways in which that shapes how they see next week's presidential election. Continue reading...

Recent video purportedly showing a man destroying ballots marked for Trump is a disinformation campaign, say officialsRussian actors were behind a viral video falsely showing mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in the swing state of Pennsylvania, US officials said on Friday, amid heightened alert over foreign influence operations targeting the upcoming election.The video, which garnered millions of views on platforms such as the Elon Musk-owned X, purports to show a man sorting through mail-in ballots from the state's Bucks county and ripping up those cast for the former president. Continue reading...

Freddie Freeman's historic walk-off grand slam in extra innings on Friday night delivered the opening salvo in a star-studded World Series bursting with promiseAs a nation confronts electoral chaos, potential civil disorder and the threat of nuclear war, the renewal of its most revered athletic rivalry promises to provide a welcome distraction.Yankees v Dodgers. Whether in the Bronx, Brooklyn or Los Angeles, both teams have combined to write an encyclopedia of memorable, magical moments during their World Series confrontations going back more than eight decades. This year's renewal, which began Friday night at Dodger Stadium, has already made a unique mark. Continue reading...

Babel Street's people-tracking service allows customers - including government agencies - to track mobile usersEver heard of Babel Street? Unless you're a data and analytics enthusiast, it's likely you haven't. The Virginia-based technology company isn't a household name the way that Google and Facebook are. And yet the company most likely knows a hell of a lot about you and everyone else in your household. Continue reading...

The superstar Dodgers player has brought a swell of tourists to this endangered historic neighborhoodDuring the past couple of months, Don Tahara has given out nearly 100 bottles of free sake to celebrate Shohei Ohtani's late-season heroics for the Los Angeles Dodgers.At Little Tokyo's Far Bar, a gastropub Tahara opened 18 years ago, every patron receives a shot on the house each time Ohtani hits a homer. The Shohei sake shot" special hasn't been a cheap expenditure, but Tahara said it's money well-spent for a lifelong Dodgers fan. Continue reading...

The party senses a chance to win support from critical voting bloc the Democrats have traditionally relied uponOutside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh are 11 glass and porcelain flower ornaments, each a symbol of the lives lost on 27 October 2018 in the worst antisemitic attack in US history.A large, long fence surrounds much of the complex, part of which is being demolished to be replaced with a museum and a memorial to the victims of the attack. Continue reading...

The effort to pre-emptively deny an election loss goes beyond rhetoric - it is backed up by a massive rightwing apparatusThere is little doubt that Donald Trump will refuse to accept a defeat in November's US presidential election.The former president, who is deadlocked in the polls with Kamala Harris, has spent months priming his supporters to believe the only way he could lose is through fraud. If I lose - I'll tell you what, it's possible. Because they cheat. That's the only way we're gonna lose, because they cheat," he said at a rally in September.Don't miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alerts Continue reading...

Sentenced to life imprisonment for killing their parents, the brothers could finally have a shot at freedom after 35 yearsNearly three decades ago, Los Angeles prosecutors argued that Erik and Lyle Menendez were cold-blooded killers who violently murdered their parents for money, and asked that they be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.This week, in an extraordinary turn of events for the brothers, the Los Angeles district attorney said he will recommend they be resentenced - a decision that could lead to their release. Continue reading...

Polls suggest Harris and Trump still neck-and-neck, but Democrats pessimistic and Republicans confidentLess than a fortnight before polling day, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are locked in a nail-bitingly close US presidential election race, triggering pessimism among Democrats and confidence among Republicans - even though polls suggest both candidates have a near equal chance of entering the White House.The Guardian's 10-day polling tracking average shows Harris, the Democratic nominee and US vice-president, maintaining the single-point advantage over her Republican rival she had a week earlier, 47% to 46%. Continue reading...

Medicare Advantage plans promise enticing benefits like free monthly premiums. Problems start when people fall illThe television ads show seniors playing tennis, golfing and riding motorcycles. In others, celebrity pitchmen seniors will know - such as actor William Shatner, NFL star Joe Namath and former Republican Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee - promise new benefits alongside pictures of government-issued ID cards.All of these are ads for Medicare Advantage and if Donald Trump wins the White House, Americans might be seeing a lot more of them. Continue reading...

Charles Chuck' Graves spent final moments rescuing five-year-old grandchild in waters off Alabama's Gulf coastA family who recently gathered on Alabama's Gulf coast for a vacation is grieving after their patriarch reportedly died from a heart attack immediately after saving his grandson from drowning.Loved ones of 75-year-old Charles Chuck" Graves told the Alabama news station WALA that his life's final act vividly demonstrated how important family was to him. Continue reading...

If elected again, Trump's policies may largely be shaped by the candidate himself - and it may be more chaotic than it was eight years agoWhen Americans choose between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris next month, the decision will mark one of the most consequential elections for US foreign policy in generations that could ripple out into conflicts and redraw alliances around the world.With the candidates deadlocked in the final polls before election day, just tens of thousands of voters could decide whether world leaders next year face an American centrist in the vein of Joe Biden or a second term of office for one of the most disruptive US politicians of the last century. Continue reading...

As a former senator, I've seen how major parties conspired with the military to manipulate elections and crush opponents. This can't go onFor most of its history, Pakistan has been ruled by military dictators. Brief democratic intervals were only possible because the military became so hugely unpopular that it was left with no other option than to temporarily cede space to democracy. The last military dictator was forced to quit in 2008, and Pakistan has since seen the longest spell of civilian control in its history. Instead of moving forward, it has slid backwards, and was downgraded last year from a hybrid" to an authoritarian" regime. Its electoral process and its democracy have lost all credibility - not only in the eyes of ordinary Pakistanis, but in the eyes of the world.We didn't get here overnight. In Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, one character asks another How did you go bankrupt?", and gets the famed reply: Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly." In the past decade or so, all major political parties in Pakistan have participated in the gradual decline of its democracy. In their lust for power, they have conspired with the military, using its influence to manipulate elections and crush political opponents. In doing so, they have helped to undermine the rule of law, democratic norms and the country's constitution.Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar is a former senator in Pakistan. From 2009 to 2013, he served as the adviser to the prime minister of Pakistan on human rights Continue reading...

We asked a group of Black Britons, some famous, some not: who do you most revere as a chronicler of the Black journey, in Britain and abroad?The first book I read by Paul Gilroy was There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack. I was 19 and studying fine art at Goldsmiths, and it turned my head like nothing before. For a young person looking for answers and clues, to have that sort of book was eye-opening. It uncovered and revealed things. And then I read his masterpiece, The Black Atlantic. It was huge. His ideas about modernity and double-consciousness represented a major shift in thinking throughout the world. That book spoke to so many people. Continue reading...

Jacky Rosen, the Democratic Nevada senator, is running a re-election campaign on local issues in the key swing stateEverybody's got their comfy shoes?" Jacky Rosen scanned the room full of union workers who were preparing canvas for her in Reno, Nevada. The room erupted in response.Those gym shoes are going to be worn out," the Democratic senator told the crowd. But that's OK. Those holes in the bottom mean you're doing the good work ... helping return the Democratic majority in the United States." Continue reading...

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris appear in Texas with just days to go until polls open in the 5 November 2024 presidential election

This blog is now closedKamala Harris and Donald Trump are tied at 48%, according to a new poll by the New York Times and Siena College.Published on Friday, the poll, the poll also revealed that 31% of registered voters view Trump as very favorable while 29% view Harris as very favorable.Ms Harris's position, if anything, may have declined among likely voters since the last Times/Siena College poll, taken in early October. At the time, she had a slight lead over Mr Trump, 49 percent to 46 percent. The change is within the margin of error, but The Times's national polling average has registered a tightening in polls over the past few weeks as well, suggesting at the very least that this contest has drawn even closer.I don't think she has Jim Comey in the wings waiting to kneecap her so that's good."I think she is doing what she needs to do, and...a number of the voters who were at [the CNN] town hall have said she convinced them, that she had shown the kind of empathy and concern about their problems, that she had come forward with her ideas, her suggested policies. So, I think she's doing what she needs to do." Continue reading...

Kamala Harris's vice-presidential nominee hails former president in Scranton, Pennsylvania, pep talkTim Walz delivered a rousing pep talk in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Friday, encouraging supporters to do everything they can in the next 11 days to elect Kamala Harris as president.Addressing hundreds of voters at the Scranton Cultural Center, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee compared the final days of the neck-and-neck presidential race between Harris and Donald Trump to the fourth quarter of a football game, leaning on his background as a former high school teacher and coach. Continue reading...

Update by Food and Drug Administration signals escalation in food poisoning outbreak affecting US west and midwest

A list of the accusations made against Donald Trump between the 1980s and 2013, all of which he has deniedA former model has accused Donald Trump of groping and sexually touching her in 1993, in what she believed was a twisted game" between him and Jeffrey Epstein, who she claims introduced them.Stacey Williams, who was a model in the 1990s, said she first met Trump in 1992 after being introduced by Epstein. Williams said that while on a walk with Epstein in early 1993, he suggested they stop by Trump Tower. Soon after they arrived, she alleges, Trump pulled her toward him and started groping her, putting his hands all over my breasts", waist and her buttocks. Williams said she froze and that she believed she saw the men smiling at each other. Continue reading...

Famous Yeti's Pizza picked up wrong jug of oil from commercial kitchen and called it alarming' for customersPizza inadvertently laced with THC - the principal psychoactive ingredient in marijuana - has apparently sickened dozens of people in Wisconsin.Health officials in Dane county say Famous Yeti's Pizza in Stoughton, about 20 miles (32km) south-east of Madison, served pizza contaminated with THC, from Monday through Thursday. Continue reading...

Governor's order on non-citizen voting led to many residents wrongly deemed ineligible due to errorsVirginia must restore more than 1,600 people to the voter rolls after a federal judge ruled on Friday that the state had illegally removed them.The US district judge Patricia Giles granted an injunction request brought against Virginia election officials by the justice department, which claimed the voter registrations were wrongly canceled during a 90-day quiet period ahead of the November election that restricts states from making large-scale changes to their voter rolls. Continue reading...

Joe Biden formally apologises for the US government's role in running more than 500 Indian boarding schools. From 1819 to 1969, in what Biden called 'one of the most horrific chapters in American history', the US government directly managed or funded Indian boarding schools in nearly 40 states. The schools attempted to forcibly strip indigenous children of their culture. A US Department of the Interior report released earlier this year found that at least nearly 1,000 Indigenous children died in the schools

With an outbreak of the disease has been linked to McDonald's burgers, here's what you need to know about itHealth authorities are investigating an outbreak of E coli infections linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounder cheeseburgers in 12 states in the US midwest and mountain west.At least 75 people have been sickened, 22 people hospitalized and one died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While the investigation is ongoing, here's what authorities currently know about how people might have been sickened and what to do about it. Continue reading...

Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, a total blackout in Cuba, tributes to Liam Payne and the US election: the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists Continue reading...

President's historic remarks, alongside Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, given at Gila Crossing school near PhoenixOn Friday, Joe Biden formally apologized for the United States government's role in running at least 523 Indian boarding schools. His remarks were given at the Gila Crossing community school outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and marked his first visit to Indian country as president.After 150 years, the United States government eventually stopped the program," Biden said. But the federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened - until today. I formally apologize, as president of the United States of America, for what we did. I formally apologize. That's long overdue." Continue reading...

Grammy winner arrested for reportedly ordering killing of rapper Quando Rondo, causing fatal shooting of his cousinGrammy Award-winning rapper Lil Durk has been arrested in Florida on federal charges that he paid for the attempted 2022 revenge killing of rapper Quando Rondo at a Los Angeles gas station, a shooting that resulted in the death of Rondo's cousin.Durk, 32, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire in the slaying of Saviay'a Robinson, 24, who was gunned down on 19 August 2022, according to an FBI affidavit released Friday. Continue reading...

The decision of American voters will be profoundly consequential for everyone. A Harris victory would offer some hopeThis spring Josep Borrell, the EU foreign affairs chief, warned bluntly that Europe should prepare itself for potential war: Maybe, depending on who is ruling inWashington, we cannot rely on the American support and on the American capacity to protect us," he said. Weeks earlier, Donald Trump had remarked that he would encourage Russia to attack Nato countries whopaid too little.Japanese defence spending has soared. In South Korea, there are growing calls for an independent nuclear deterrent. America's allies are nervous as they contemplate next month's election. Autocrats, upon whom Mr Trump lavishes praise, are hopeful. The votes of tens of thousands of Americans in battleground states are likely to prove profoundly consequential for the rest of the world. Continue reading...

In tough economic times, a rebranding campaign by small breweries can help keep the industry's big beasts at bayThese are tough economic times for small-scale craft breweries, as recent closures have sadly illustrated. But the ethos of creative defiance and quirky independence lives on. At the annual Didsbury beer festival in Manchester this weekend, drinking possibilities range from the intriguingly named Interior Life in the Exterior World, by the Mancunian brewer Cloudwater, to the less angsty Superdelic Single Hop, from Big Trip. Sellout crowds have testified to the resilience of a sector that combines playfulness with anintense seriousness about hoppy beer.Successfully appealing to the cognoscenti, however, is one thing. Courting non-aficionados, and coping with ever more wily multinational competitors, is quite another. A survey commissioned by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (Siba) has found that clever branding, combined with judicious takeovers of successful independents, is allowing industry giants to muscle in and profit from pushing their own pseudo-artisanal vibe. Just under half of those questioned by YouGov believed, for example, that the rough-and-ready sounding Neck Oil beer is brewed by an independent, when in fact it is the product of Heineken-owned Beavertown.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...

LeBron James and his son are following in rare sporting footsteps but at least they aren't trying to beat each otherLeBron James's shadow is a big one for anyone to step into. Earlier this year the NBA's all-time leading scorer topped 40,000 points and played in a record 20th All-Star game. On Tuesday, the 39-year-old recorded another first: he played in the NBA alongside his son. Which means Bronny James, too, has achieved something unique in the history of basketball. Not bad for a 20-year-old rookie who's played three minutes in the big leagues, against the Minnesota Timberwolves.The occasion was hyped to the max - Nike made a bespoke advert in which LeBron supposedly hazed his new teammate - and yes, it was a sentimental moment, not least because Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest in training last year. But it was also a feat of engineering, years in the making. The Lakers star had made it perfectly clear, when his son was still playing in high school, what he wanted, and what he expected his employers to do about it. My last year will be played with my son," James said in 2022. Wherever Bronny is at, that's where I'll be." Continue reading...

Spokesperson for second gentleman denies claim from woman who says he struck her at the Cannes film festivalA woman has alleged that Doug Emhoff slapped her during an argument when they were a couple in 2012, before he married Kamala Harris, and the accusation has prompted a spokesperson for the second gentleman to issue a denial.The woman has not publicly identified herself. She first spoke to the Daily Mail anonymously and then again after Emhoff's denial, on the condition that her name was not disclosed. The tabloid described her as a successful lawyer in New York and published pictures of the then couple, but with her face blurred out. Continue reading...

Democrats on defensive to keep narrow majority with Montana and Ohio races as Republicans eye swing statesThe Democrats are fending off a Republican offensive aimed at overturning their tiny majority in the Senate.Retaking control of the US Congress's upper chamber may represent the GOP's best opportunity of success in November's election, according to analysts, surpassing their chances of retaking the White House or even retaining control of the House of Representatives. Continue reading...

Sherrod Brown is running against Trump-backed Bernie Moreno, who settled multiple wage-theft lawsuits last yearWhen the Democrat Sherrod Brown was first elected to the US Senate in 2006, Ohio, with its large urban populations and manufacturing industries, was fairly reliable territory for Democrats.Barack Obama claimed the state in 2008 and 2012 on his way to the White House. Democrats boasted strong representation in Ohio's politics. Analysts zealously watched its voting patterns, such was its prominence as a bellwether state. Continue reading...

Families cope with loss of structure as experts say learning disruptions can set children back for yearsWhen Elizabeth Steere's two sons were little, the family watched The Wizard of Oz and its famous tornado scene that whips Dorothy through the air.Steere, who lives in Asheville, North Carolina, assured her kids, now 11 and 13, not to worry. I remember saying, very glibly, That's not something you guys have to worry about,'" Steele recalled. Continue reading...

Chorus of voices speaking out against Trump grows after former Trump chief of staff John Kelly called him a fascist

From John Kelly to Mike Pence, top figures from the Trump administration have warned of his unfitness to be president

Former model said of incident at Trump Tower in 1993: I was rolled in there like a piece of meat in some kind of twisted game'

Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, who bought the newspaper in 2018, wouldn't let board endorse HarrisNearly 2,000 Los Angeles Times subscribers cancelled their subscriptions to the paper, citing editorial content" reasons, after Patrick Soon-Shiong, the paper's billionaire owner, refused to let its editorial board endorse Kamala Harris for president. And that was just on Tuesday and Wednesday.After the paper's editorials editor, Mariel Garza, resigned in protest on Wednesday, two more members of the Los Angeles Times editorial board resigned on Thursday. Continue reading...

Biology can play a role in how girls and boys behave. But it's parents who turn small differences into big onesAccording to the internet, I'm a boy mum". It's not a term I'd heard until I gave birth to a baby boy. Suddenly, I was being bombarded with videos about the nightmare in store for me. This was footage showing the kind of destructive male-toddler behaviour that Jackass stars Johnny Knoxville and Bam Margera would deem too risky. Meanwhile, their mothers were portrayed as longsuffering, harried, hard-as-nails veterans of the boy-toddler insane asylum.My son is very physically active, but he's also a gentle, cautious child, so this doesn't resonate with me, or with several of the boy mums" I know. (Meanwhile, some of the girl mums" spend their days chasing their Tasmanian Devil-esque daughters like they're in a Looney Tunes cartoon.) Yet it's everywhere. Then, last week, I saw a report that found girls were playing outside less than boys, even at two years old - something that shocked the researchers, who hadn't expected to see socialised gender roles emerging so early.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

During this election race I have heard people describe Kamala Harris with vicious misogyny - and the gender divide just keeps growing

Democratic nominee spoke to primarily Black voters, including Spike Lee, Tyler Perry and Samuel L Jackson, at a star-studded rally in Atlanta. Plus, Ohio judge rules the state's abortion ban is unconstitutionalGood morning.Vice-president Kamala Harris appeared with Barack Obama for the first time on the campaign trail in Atlanta, where she told the rally that she was leading a fight for the future" and underlined her support for abortion rights.What did Obama say? He warned that just because Trump's behavior is goofy" doesn't mean he isn't dangerous.Who else was there? It was a star-studded event, including Samuel L Jackson, Spike Lee, Tyler Perry and Bruce Springsteen, who said Trump was running to be an American tyrant".Where else has he campaigned? Trump was in Georgia the day before, where Tucker Carlson compared him to an angry father spanking his daughter in a bizarre speech that led the audience to chant: Daddy Don" and Daddy's home". Continue reading...

Miami raced to the highest points total in league history this season. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything in knockout matchesIf last season was defined by Lionel Messi, this one was about Inter Miami as a whole. The club built the plane as they were flying it, stretching the MLS rulebook to its absolute limit as it added players, shedded others, and ended the season with the best-ever points total in league history. Big spending and sporting success haven't usually gone hand-in-hand in MLS, but 2024 was the year that Miami showed that era is well and truly over. AA Continue reading...

It's west coast v east coast as LA and New York prepare to do battle. Our writers have their say on Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and the restThe same as always: whoever's playing the Yankees. The Evil Empire may technically be marginal underdogs (48% chance of winning) with the bookmakers but are you really going to root for the team that already has 27 of these things? As well as the bigger payroll (at least technically)? Or are you going to get behind baseball's best boy, Shohei Ohtani? AE Continue reading...

Democratic nominee appears on campaign trail with ex-president for first time, targeting Black voters in AtlantaVice-president Kamala Harris appeared with Barack Obama for the first time on the campaign trail, offering closing arguments targeting Black voters in Atlanta's eastern suburbs, a vibrant, symbolic part of Georgia.Ours is a fight for the future," Harris said at the rally in Clarkston. She touched on familiar themes - reducing the costs of drugs, housing and groceries. I come from the middle class, and I will never forget where I come from. Continue reading...

Test your knowledge of a big week in the NBA, MLB, Champions League and Women's T20 World Cup cricket Continue reading...

Have a cup of tea while not looking at the news (it is all bad)

While it's likely Labour did nothing illegal in assisting its politicos to volunteer for Harris, it's yet another issue that was easily avoidableGordon Brown famously brought his moral compass to the prime ministership. Boris Johnson, notoriously, did not. Under Keir Starmer, there is a moral compass in Downing Street once more. But something else has gone missing. Too often, Labour now seems to lack not a moral compass, but a fully functioning political one. It has never needed one more than it does today.Recent history suggests that any government's political compass is a powerful embodiment of its survival instinct. The compass addresses the dangers, as well as the attractions, of a course of action. It recognises that the way an action will be portrayed is a reality as powerful as the intention behind it. It prioritises grip, speed and proactive flair, as well as discipline about priorities.Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...