US news | The Guardian

Western democracies are wrong to overlook a country's descent into electoral autocracy because they believe they need it to contain ChinaNarendra Modi is an authoritarian figure who, as India's prime minister since 2014, has pushed his country into increasingly becoming a de facto ethnic democracy", in which Hindus define the national identity and non-Hindus are seen as second-class citizens. Yet as the host of the upcoming talks of the world's 20 largest economies, Mr Modi will be feted by major global leaders - except his absent fellow strongmen Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.Mr Modi's dangerous majoritarianism is too easily overlooked by the west, as the G20 glad-handing will show. India had been considered an exemplary liberal parliamentary democracy among developing countries. This is being slowly dismantled by Mr Modi's brand of Hindu nationalism. State intimidation has seen civil society harassed and critics jailed. A report by a group of prominent lawyers last year warned that the administration of law has become the means by which ... the Muslim community can be kept in a state of perpetual fear". Since May, the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur has been burning, with its valley Hindus and highland Christians sinking into bloody fighting. Mr Modi's party blames non-Hindus for the violence. Continue reading...

Sunak knew he would be grilled over the school concrete crisis but failed to come up with anything plausible to say at PMQsIt was never going to be pretty. Even if school buildings hadn't been found to be collapsing all around us, the first prime minister's questions of the new session was always likely to be brutal for Rishi Sunak. The government's attempts to seize control of the news agenda over the summer had backfired badly. Small boats week, NHS week and crime week had all left ministers trying to explain why nothing was going as planned. It was as if the idiots had taken over the asylum. Which of course, they have. Only the idiots are left. To be a halfwit in the current Conservative party is a status symbol. Most are far dimmer than that.Sunak's problem is that almost everyone has long since given up listening to him. There was a brief period after he replaced Liz Truss when a few people kept half an ear open to him but that window has long been closed. Now he's just an irritant. White noise. A man programmed to be a very basic form of artificial intelligence whose only output is to take the country for mugs. RishGPT. The words tumble out in an entitled nasal whine but everyone has zoned out. Life is too short. People have given the Tories more than enough chances already. Time's up. Continue reading...

There's a strong tradition of flattery in the genre. But can we really forget the go home' vans and, er, Brexit?An abiding curiosity of recent British political history is the speed at which recently loathed leaders become more palatable in light of their abysmal replacements. If Boris Johnson seemed the worst prime minister in every conceivable category, Liz Truss - perhaps her major achievement in government - found new ways to unseat him.Theresa May, considered reliably awful for most of her three-year tenure, appears a model of sanity compared to her successors. As a measure of this, the unveiling this week of a portrait of May triggered not the gag reflex of yore but something almost like warmth. My first thought, on seeing the painting, was that if I didn't know who she was, I would totally hang that on my wall.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

New regulations expected to affect tens of thousands of illegal short-term listingsNew New York City rules on Airbnbs and short-term rentals went into effect on Tuesday, with tens of thousands of illegal short-term listings expected to be affected.The new legislation bulks up enforcement of existing rules on how short-term rentals are allowed to operate. Passed in January, the measure known as Local Law 18 mandates that short-term rental hosts register with city government. Continue reading...

Jim Messina, who helped Obama win in 2008 and 2012, says Democrats continually believe every bad thing people say'Democrats worried about Joe Biden's re-election prospects are fucking bedwetters" and should not worry so much, the former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said.Historically, we're fucking bedwetters," Messina told Politico. We grew up in the 80s and 90s when Republicans won elections all the time. Democrats had their hearts deeply broken when Hillary [Clinton] lost [to Donald Trump in 2016] and people didn't see that coming. And so, you know, we continually believe every bad thing people say." Continue reading...

Passengers re-board flight to Spain after eight-hour delay while social media posts describe flight crew mopping up messFootage has emerged of the onboard medical emergency" that forced a US airliner back to Atlanta only two hours into its flight to Spain: a messy trail of diarrhea left by a struggling passenger.Maintenance crews spent five hours cleaning the Delta Airlines Airbus A350 after its enforced early landing, including replacing an aisle carpet ruined in the incident. Continue reading...

Both parties entered into a relationship that boosted their profile in New York's celebrity culture. But a parting of ways was inevitableDonald Trump's last trip to the US Open did not go as smoothly as his 2015 presidential campaign kickoff. Three months after that gold-plated escalator ride, Trump was booed upon arriving at the VIP entrance at Arthur Ashe Stadium and booed again when he was shown on the big screen during that night's quarter-final match between Venus and Serena Williams. He hasn't shown his face at Billie Jean National Tennis Center since.Trump of course would be first to say he had more pressing matters to attend to over the past eight years. Currently, he's facing four separate indictments related to his time as US president - not least 34 counts here in New York for alleged hush money payments to an adult film star. Perhaps Trump would never have sunk this low if he had stuck to his role as the US Open's unofficial celebrity mascot instead of moving into politics. But that role also helped his late-stage career change. Nowadays, though, you'd be hard pressed to find any trace of the relationship around the US Open grounds. Trump doesn't talk about his time here anymore. Neither does the USTA. It's almost as if an affair that lasted nearly 40 years never happened. Continue reading...

Vice-president says ex-president should absolutely' be held accountable after Proud Boys leader sentenced over Capitol attackDonald Trump should absolutely" be held accountable for inspiring the January 6 attack on Congress, said Kamala Harris, speaking after a former leader of a far-right group involved in the riot was sentenced to 22 years in jail.I spent the majority of my career as a prosecutor," the vice-president told the Associated Press. I believe people should be held accountable under the law. And when they break the law, there should be accountability. And I support it when it happens." Continue reading...

Complaint from attorneys shows extent to which Trump's social media activities are serious issue for US prosecutorsDonald Trump is making daily extrajudicial statements that threaten to prejudice the jury pool" in the federal criminal case dealing with his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, attorneys for special counsel Jack Smith said in a court filing.Trump has not hesitated to criticize the US district judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case. He has called her highly partisan" and VERY BIASED & UNFAIR," pointing to her comments sentencing one of the January 6 rioters. Trump has also attacked Smith, calling him deranged" and someone with unchecked and insane aggression". Continue reading...

Video footage of Tripod' shows bear taking food and hard seltzer from area next to a swimming pool at a private residenceA three-legged bear in Florida has been spotted raiding a poolside refrigerator for cans of White Claw hard seltzer before heading back into the woods.Known in the Lake Mary neighborhood as Tripod", the bear had been seen before, according to local TV station WESH. But on this particular visit to a resident's garden, the bear launched a brazen theft of food and drinks on a swimming pool area. Continue reading...

Antony Blinken expected to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy and announce an initial assistance package of up to $200m

Republicans Mitch McConnell and Steve Scalise join others in increased scrutiny over recent health issuesLawmakers are returning to Capitol Hill as they race to reach a short-term funding deal by the end of the month to keep federal agencies open and avert a government shutdown. But worries about the health of two top Republicans loom over the high-stakes talks as politicians' age has become a growing concern.Speaking to reporters last week in Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, the 81-year-old Senate Republican leader, appeared to freeze for 30 seconds after calling the possibility of a shutdown a pretty big mess". The incident raised questions about his health and mirrored an earlier incident where he suddenly paused for several seconds while speaking to reporters at the US Capitol. Continue reading...

A new study has identified US chains as the best place to find people from different socioeconomic classes mixing. How did we get here?If you were choosing to eat at a restaurant based on social good, where would you choose? Would it be the zero-waste restaurant whose ingredients are only sourced within a 25-mile radius, or the one that offers job training to marginalised groups, such as refugees and ex-offenders, to become its chefs?Or would it be Zizzi?Coco Khan is commissioning editor for Guardian B2B and a writer Continue reading...

From a squirt of Rwandan chilli oil to rolling down a hill and fresh linen, it's the little things that can make a big differenceUp to 60% of the human adult body is water. My body on the other hand is probably 40% water and 20% Akabanga. A friend recently gave me a bottle of Rwandan chilli oil (the catchy name means little secret" in Kinyarwanda) and I have been obsessed with it ever since. It is the holy grail of hot sauces - fiery but not overpowering - and I put it on everything. It pains me that I didn't know about it for so long. Still, now I know the secret to a spicier life and you do too. I'll let you in on another secret: there are plenty of small things that make every day life a lot better. Here are nine more.1 Putting your ice-cream in a fancy goblet or wine glass. It makes it taste 10,000 times better than eating it out of a boring old bowl, trust me. The ice-cream-eating experience is instantly elevated; transformed from a snack into an occasion. Continue reading...

PragerU is not accredited but has become a key tool in pushing false claims to youngsters - and raked in $200m from 2018 to 2022A rightwing media outlet promoting climate-change denialism and other anti-woke" staples to young students and adults via social media has become a fundraising Goliath, raking in close to $200m from 2018 to 2022 with big checks from top conservative donors, tax records reveal.Founded in 2009 by the conservative talkshow host Dennis Prager, the eponymous Prager University Foundation is not an accredited education organization. But via online media its PragerU Kids division has become a key tool in spreading false claims to young people with short videos aimed at undercutting widely accepted science that climate crisis disasters are accelerating due, largely, to fossil-fuel usage. Continue reading...

CDC study reveals deaths have more than doubled from the counterfeits, which are mostly laced with fentanylA flood of counterfeit prescription pills has added to record levels of drug overdose deaths in the US, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The CDC said the number of deaths from fake pills, principally sold as opioid painkillers or the tranquilliser Xanax, more than doubled across the US between mid-2019 and the end of 2021, and tripled in western states such as Alaska, Utah and New Mexico. Continue reading...

Our cartoonist looks at how the New York Jets veteran still feels the brutal effects of football long after his retirement Continue reading...

Athletes, coaches, and staff working within Major League Soccer have joined forces to change the game from withinA framed photograph of the Cleveland Summit overlooks the desk of Allen Hopkins as he logs on at work each day. It records the 1967 meeting between Black athletes - Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar among them - and politicians to consider and eventually support Ali's refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam war. That support sent a message - the fight for civil rights is a collective effort.When a Black player walks up to take a penalty, I can't even watch," says Hopkins, announced in July as the first executive director for Black Players for Change, a US-based collective of athletes, coaches, and staff working within Major League Soccer. If he misses that penalty he is going to get his socials crushed. I can't watch. I just never want a Black player to take a penalty ... if he misses ..." Continue reading...

The former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Tuesday for his part in the failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the 2020 election.Tarrio's attorney, Nayib Hassan, said his team had been 'taken a bit off guard' with the sentence and they would file an appeal.The judge handed down the longest sentence yet in a case relating to the January 6 Capitol attack. Tarrio was a top target in one of the most important cases prosecuted by the US justice department

The Taliban have barred us from the workplace, cut our access to healthcare and closed schools to us. Must we struggle alone?We suddenly all woke in the middle of the night. A piercing cry came from the corner of our room. It was my teenage sister, sobbing in the little room we rent in London. She always used to sleep in the same bed as my mother - until the fall of Kabul.She wasn't used to sleeping alone. That night, early in spring, she sobbed until dawn. Her pain was obvious: separation from my mother and a longing that became chronically painful for us all. Since our exile, I have been playing the role of mother, thousands of miles from our parents. Continue reading...

Cruise, the robotaxi firm, denies the city's claims its vehicle blocked ambulance which resulted in injured person's deathSan Francisco authorities and the company Cruise have offered conflicting accounts of an incident in which the fire department said two of the company's robotaxis delayed an ambulance transporting a patient with critical injuries who later died at a hospital.The company denied the city's claims and shared video with the Guardian that shows one of the vehicles quickly leaving the area. Reports of the incident have garnered outrage in San Francisco, which has been battling over the use of robotaxis vehicles in the city. Continue reading...

Sentencing of Enrique Tarrio caps one of the most significant prosecutions in the investigation into the January 6 attackThe former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Tuesday for his part in the failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the 2020 election.Prosecutors sought a 33-year term. The judge did not agree but nonetheless handed down the longest sentence yet in a case relating to 2020 and the January 6 Capitol attack. The longest sentence previously handed down was 18 years, to both Ethan Nordean, a member of the Proud Boys, and Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia. Continue reading...

Letitia James says Trump family is rehashing failed legal arguments in $250m civil suit over company's business affairsThe attorney general of New York state is seeking $20,000 in fines against Donald Trump, his adult sons, other defendants and their lawyers, for repeating frivolous" arguments rejected in court in a $250m civil suit over family business practices.In a filing on Tuesday, Andrew Amer, an assistant to Letitia James, the attorney general, noted repeated rejections of arguments deemed borderline frivolous even the first time defendants made them". Continue reading...

Reform is part of a settlement agreement in response to lawsuits about police behavior during the 2020 racial justice protestsThe New York police department (NYPD) has agreed to ban several controversial policing tactics used on demonstrators - as part of a settlement agreement in response to lawsuits about police behavior during the 2020 racial justice protests.The New York state attorney general Letitia James, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Legal Aid Society announced the reforms on Tuesday after the parties sued the city's police department. James issued a statement noting the agreement will significantly" change how the NYPD responses to mass demonstrations in future. Continue reading...

Coco Gauff beat Jelena Ostapenko to reach her first US Open semi, then Novak Djokovic saw off Taylor Fritz to reach the last four of a Grand Slam for a record 47th timeOstapenko 0-2 Gauff* Ashe is far too empty for a match of this quality and magnitude; I'm not sure why, but it's a nonsense. Ostapenko, meanwhile, is thrashing away, a big forehand making 15-all, but she misses with two more attempted winners, then Gauff sends an ace down the T, and that's the consolidation.*Ostapenko 0-1 Gauff (*denotes server) Gauff makes 15-30, then Ostapenko nets a forehand and immediately we have break points, two of them. But Gauff only needs one, Ostapenko netting a backhand, and she didn't really have to earn that. Continue reading...

Former Trump chief of staff joins 18 other co-defendants in pleading not guilty over illegal scheme to overturn election resultsMark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff, has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of participating in an illegal scheme to try to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia and will not appear in court in Atlanta this week.Scott McAfee, the Fulton county superior court judge, had scheduled arraignment hearings for Wednesday for Meadows, Donald Trump and the other 17 people charged last month in a sprawling indictment. By midday Tuesday, all of the defendants had filed paperwork pleading not guilty in filings with the court and waived their rights to an arraignment hearing. Continue reading...

Some of 61 defendants charged also face money laundering and domestic terrorism charges for environmental protestsDozens of activists who oppose a controversial police and fire training facility in Georgia known as Cop City have been charged with racketeering, appearing to confirm fears from civil rights groups that prosecutors are stepping up an aggressive pursuit of environmental protesters.A total of 61 people - most not from Georgia - were indicted for violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act last week, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Continue reading...

Historic trial in state senate centers on allegedly corrupt relationship with real estate developer Nate PaulThe impeachment trial of the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, began on Tuesday - a rare and historic event in the state.The ultra-conservative Paxton has a history of ethically questionable conduct that dates back to his first term in 2014, when he was fined by the Texas state securities board for violating financial laws. Continue reading...

Surveillance video shows Danelo Cavalcante, 34, who escaped from Pennsylvania prison last week, at popular botanical gardensAuthorities have moved and expanded the search area for a convicted murderer who escaped from a suburban Philadelphia prison last week, after he was spotted on a trail camera at one of the nation's premier botanical gardens.Danelo Cavalcante, 34, has been spotted five times since he escaped on Thursday from the Chester state prison. The most recent sighting came on Monday night at Longwood Gardens, where surveillance video captured him walking through the area with a duffel bag, backpack and hooded sweatshirt. Continue reading...

Court-appointed special master and cartographer will draw new map before 2024 election - although state is expected to appealA panel of federal judges has struck down Alabama's redrawn congressional map, saying the state clearly continued to violate the Voting Rights Act and had ignored a clear mandate from the federal judiciary to increase the political power of Black voters in the state.The panel said a court-appointed special master and cartographer would draw a new map before the 2024 election. Alabama is expected to appeal the decision to the US supreme court, which upheld an earlier ruling ordering the state to redraw its map. Continue reading...

Abaya-wearing girls are seen not simply as students, but as envoys of global Islamism conspiring against the French nationWhen Gabriel Attal, the French education minister, went on national television for an interview to mark the start of the new school term, he had a clear message: I have decided that the abaya can no longer be worn in school." He elaborated: When you walk into a classroom, you should not be able to identify the pupils' religion by looking at them." An official statement came a few days later confirming the ban on the long, loose dress worn by some Muslim women and girls. The practical effect of the announcement is that any young woman who turns up at the gates of her school wearing an abaya faces being barred from attending class or mixing with her classmates. But," added the minister, students will be welcomed and there will be a conversation with them to explain the meaning of the rule."The ban on wearing the abaya should be seen as part of the colonial relationship that exists between the French state and French citizens descended from postcolonial immigration. It has a history marked by three key events: in 1989 the principal of a school expelled three teenage girls for wearing headscarves in class. In 1994 a government memorandum created a distinction between so-called discreet" religious symbols, which it said were acceptable in schools, and ostentatious" religious symbols, which were not. In 2004 a new law banned the wearing of veils or any conspicuous" religious symbols in state schools.Kaoutar Harchi is a French sociologist and the author of As We Exist: A Postcolonial Autobiography Continue reading...

Residents of Wellington found more than 100 plastic bags containing anti-Jewish propaganda as well as an unknown pelletResidents of a Florida town received dozens of antisemitic flyers over the Labor Day weekend, prompting police warnings for them to discard the hate speech.People in the south-eastern Florida community of Wellington early on Monday said that they found more than 100 plastic bags containing antisemitic propaganda as well as an unknown pellet. Continue reading...

Harris Wolobah's cause of death not yet determined but relatives fear complications from Pacqui chip a factorA 14-year-old boy from Massachusetts died unexpectedly a short time after he ate a particularly spicy tortilla chip, leaving his family grieving and searching for answers.Harris Wolobah died on Friday, said a statement from officials at the Worcester public school district where the boy studied. Continue reading...

First lady experiencing only mild symptoms' amid late-summer rise in coronavirus infections in USJill Biden tested positive for Covid on Monday night, the White House said, the second time the first lady has tested positive for the virus.She is currently experiencing only mild symptoms. She will remain at their home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware," the first lady's communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, said in a statement. Continue reading...

Everyone piled in on the private jet-flying tech bros getting bogged down in the rain and mud. Can anyone blame us?Rumours of an Ebola outbreak, it unsurprisingly turns out, were greatly exaggerated. Speculation that festival-goers might turn on each other in Lord of the Flies fashion did not come to pass. There was no cannibalism. No human sacrifices took place. Anarchy was not loosed on the world. Instead, the rain stopped, the roads dried up, and, on Monday, an exodus from the northern Nevada desert began. The tens of thousands of festival-goers who had been stuck at the Burning Man festival because of flooding got in their vehicles and left. By now, most of the revellers are safe at home - no doubt telling everyone they know how life-affirming and radically self-sufficient their Burning Man experience was.While this year's festival may be over, let us not forget all the jokes that were made along the way. For a brief but beautiful moment, large swathes of the internet came together to delight in others' misfortune. People from the left and the right united in hilarity over the fact that 70,000 tech types were stranded in a desert, covered in mud, and having to deal with a less-than-enjoyable toilet situation. Continue reading...

Thousands of vehicles were filmed leaving the site of Burning Man, after organisers reopened the road leading out of the remote Nevada desert festival.Unexpected summer rain turned the weeklong event into a quagmire as up to 70,000 people were ordered to stay put and conserve food and water as officials closed the roads

Farris and Dan Wilks' deep pockets fund climate denialism education, conservative politicians and pro-fossil fuel projectsTwo billionaire Texas brothers whose fortunes derive from oil and gas fracking have pumped millions of dollars into rightwing media outfits that have promoted climate-crisis denialism and sent more big checks to back an array of evangelical projects and conservative Texas politicians.The fracking billionaires Farris and Dan Wilks have each doled out millions of dollars through separate foundations over the last decade to a number of high-profile conservative and religious groups including the Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. Continue reading...

Organisers of event in Nevada desert have asked people to stagger their departure after thousands were stranded over weekend. Plus, has US learned to cope with extreme heat?

Robert Fico, the former PM who showers praise on Moscow and models himself on Viktor Orban, is leading the polls for the coming electionsSlovakia matters far more than Europe realises. On 30 September, the small European country holds a parliamentary election that will have ramifications far beyond its borders. If the opinion polls are correct, it would mark the return of Robert Fico: a man who lavishes praises on Moscow and models himself on Viktor Orban, the alt-right" leader in neighbouring Hungary. The European Union and Nato could soon have a new troublemaker within.When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Slovakia went all in to defend Ukrainian sovereignty. Per capita, it has been one of Kyiv's staunchest backers, becoming the first Nato country to send fighter jets. If Fico is elected, it is in danger of doing a 180-degree turn and giving its support to Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

The annual parade kicked off in New York City on Monday with brightly coloured costumes, steel bands, flag waving and street dancing. The Brooklyn parade is the culmination of carnival week and one of the world's largest celebrations of Caribbean culture. The parade routinely attracts more than 1 million people for what has become one the city's most spirited annual events Continue reading...

Players are showered with cash and adulation. But the pressures of life in the league can also bring isolation and mental health burdensMaking it to the NBA is a dream come true. Fans can see it on the faces of the players on draft day when their names are called. They arrive at the podium with visions of celebrity, multimillion dollar paydays and glamor as they shake the commissioner's hand. But no matter how exciting the prospect is of playing in the league, there is more to being human than simply providing entertainment for big bucks. So, what happens when the dream fades and issues of loneliness and trust become part of a person's day-to-day?You dream about something for your whole life," NBA veteran Kelly Oubre Jr tells the Guardian. And when you finally reach that dream - everybody wakes up at one point in time. When I woke up, life really hit me." Continue reading...