by Gabriel Baumgaertner, Alan Evans, Bryan Armen Grah on (#70ZQW)
It's the Toronto Blue Jays and the LA Dodgers in the 121st Fall Classic. Our writers assess how it will be decided, who will shine brightest and the eventual championHe is and it's hard to imagine that another player will even approach his accomplishments in this lifetime. In Game 4 of this season's NLCS, he struck out 10 hitters over six shutout innings and hit over a quarter-mile's worth of home runs. Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux may have summarized it best when said: He kind of reminds you of Nolan Ryan, and then he reminds you of freaking Barry Bonds." Gabriel Baumgaertner Continue reading...
The arrests of a prominent coach and player on Thursday were depressing but it is hard to have sympathy with a league that has embraced gamblingThe NBA scoreboard has turned into a stock ticker. Crowd chants, but half of them are watching their parlays instead of the play. Somewhere a coach calls timeout; somewhere else a bookmaker grins. This was always coming. The NBA invited gambling to the game when it signed lucrative sponsorship deals and paved the way for odds and offers to be splashed over our TV screens during games. So when the FBI finally showed up on Thursday, they were simply collecting the rent.Portland head coach Chauncey Billups, whose playing career ended with his induction in the hall of fame, and Miami guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday in connection with an FBI investigation into allegations of illegal gambling and rigged poker games. Former player and assistant coach Damon Jones, who allegedly provided inside information" about NBA games to bettors, was also taken into custody. Continue reading...
Donald Trump has canceled plans for a deployment of federal troops to San Francisco that had sparked widespread condemnation from California leaders and sent protestors flooding into the streets. The Bay Area region had been on edge after reports emerged the Trump administration was poised to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection and other federal agents to the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, a city in the East Bay, as part of a large-scale immigration-enforcement plan. It prompted hundreds of protesters to mobilize outside the Coast Guard base
US president accuses Canada of egregious behaviour' after release of ad featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffsDonald Trump has said he is ending all trade negotiations" with Canada after the release of a television ad opposing US tariffs. The US president accused Canada of egregious behavior" aimed at influencing US court decisions.The Thursday night post on Trump's social media site came after Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said he aims to double his country's exports to countries outside the US because of the threat posed by Trump's tariffs. Continue reading...
by Robert Mackey, Shrai Popat and Tom Ambrose on (#70YWP)
This live blog is now closed.More than half of Americans, including about three in 10 Republicans, believe president Donald Trump is using federal law enforcement to go after his enemies, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that also found growing concern about US political divisions nine months into his second term in office.Some 55% of poll respondents in the six-day poll, which closed on Monday, agreed with a statement that the Republican president is using law enforcement to target his enemies, while 26% disagreed and the rest were unsure or did not respond. Continue reading...
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, accused of starting devastating fire that destroyed more than 6,800 structuresThe Florida man charged with starting the Palisades fire pleaded not guilty in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday.Earlier this year, the Palisades fire killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures, turning swaths of western Los Angeles into a wasteland. Continue reading...
Anthony Boyd, 54, says I didn't kill anybody' as Justice Sonya Sotomayor writes excoriating dissenting opinionAn Alabama man convicted of helping to burn a man alive was executed by nitrogen gas - a form of suffocation which defense lawyers have described as cruel and unusual punishment - on Thursday shortly after the US supreme court signed off on the seventh execution using the contested method.Anthony Boyd, 54, was sent to the death chamber at the William C Holman correctional facility on Thursday evening. Continue reading...
Donald Trump will travel to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea for the Apec and Asean summits. Will he meet Xi Jinping, and what tariff deals might be secured?Donald Trump is about to embark on a tour of Asia that many hope will ease trade tensions with countries in the region and repair damaged ties with China. Trump will begin his trip on Sunday at a meeting of south-east Asian nations in Malaysia, before flying to Japan to meet its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, early next week.But the most important stop on his itinerary will come at the end of the month, when he is expected to discuss trade, and possibly Taiwan, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Apec summit in South Korea. Continue reading...
by Maanvi Singh in San Francisco and Dani Anguiano on (#70Z3X)
Protesters flood streets in show of resistance, as president calls off deployment after speaking with city's mayor and Silicon Valley leadersDonald Trump canceled plans for a deployment of federal troops to San Francisco that had sparked widespread condemnation from California leaders and sent protesters flooding into the streets.The Bay Area region had been on edge after reports emerged on Wednesday that the Trump administration was poised to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agents to the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, a city in the East Bay, as part of a large-scale immigration-enforcement plan. By early Thursday morning, hundreds of protesters had gathered outside the Coast Guard base, holding signs with slogans such as No ICE or Troops in the Bay!". Continue reading...
President says San Francisco mayor and Silicon Valley leaders asked him to give the city a chance' - key US politics stories from Thursday 23 October at a glanceDonald Trump has cancelled plans for a deployment of federal troops to the San Francisco Bay Area that had sparked widespread condemnation from California leaders and sent protesters flooding into the streets.The region had been on edge after reports emerged on Wednesday that the Trump administration was poised to send more than 100 Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other federal agents to the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, across the Bay from San Francisco, as part of a large-scale immigration enforcement plan. Continue reading...
Exclusive: unanimous ruling calls administration's push to halt reviews of disability appeals an extreme request'A panel of US judges has rejected an effort by the Trump administration to delay court rulings on claims by veterans who say they have been unfairly denied disability benefits and other compensation tied to their military service.The 9-0 ruling, handed down on Wednesday by the court of appeals for veterans claims, was led by chief judge Michael Allen, a Trump appointee. The action is the latest example of the growing number of federal judges pushing back against Trump administration moves. Continue reading...
Adams revealed decision in a New York Times interview a month after calling Cuomo a snake and a liar'The New York City mayor, Eric Adams, will endorse Andrew Cuomo in the city's mayoral race, following months of tension between the two Democrats turned independents.Adams revealed his intention in an interview with the New York Times a month after he ended his own re-election campaign which saw him register poor polling numbers. Continue reading...
FBI says years-long operation that led to arrest of Heat's Terry Rozier and Trail Blazers' Chauncey Billups also connected to mafia familiesThe NBA, one of the world's most prominent sports leagues, found itself associated with illegal gambling again on Thursday after two prominent stars were arrested in a sweeping federal investigation. Chauncey Billups, a Hall of Fame player who is now coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, was arrested in connection with a poker operation linked to the mafia, while Miami Heat star Terry Rozier is accused of taking part in a scheme to manipulate games.Today, we are here in New York to announce a historic arrest across a wide sweeping criminal enterprise," the FBI director, Kash Patel, said at a news conference on Thursday unveiling the charges. This is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years." Continue reading...
Lindsey Halligan, who's brought cases against James Comey and Letitia James, allegedly violated records-retention lawsA top federal prosecutor's use of an encrypted messaging application with messages set to be automatically deleted after eight hours was potentially illegal, two watchdog groups said.Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, used Signal earlier this month to communicate with Anna Bower, a journalist for Lawfare, about the criminal case she is pursuing against the New York attorney general, Letitia James. Bower published the full conversation on Monday evening and said Halligan had set messages to auto-delete after eight hours. Continue reading...
Retribution, by Jonathan Karl, describes backroom squabbling over Kristi Noem and Sean Duffy appointmentsDonald Trump picked Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary as a personal favour to his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski despite objections that she was obviously unqualified", according to a new book.The factional infighting behind Trump's cabinet selection, where inexperience was no barrier to success, is detailed by journalist Jonathan Karl in Retribution: Donald Trump and the Campaign That Changed America. The Guardian obtained a copy. Continue reading...
Darren Bailey's son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren all killed in accident in MontanaA former Illinois state senator running for governor in 2026 is mourning the deaths of four family members killed when their helicopter crashed in Montana on Wednesday.Darren Bailey's son Zachary, daughter-in-law Kelsey, and grandchildren Vada Rose, 12, and Samuel, seven, all perished in the incident, according to an announcement from his campaign on Thursday. The couple is survived by their 10-year-old son Finn, who was not on the aircraft. Continue reading...
Family was forced to swim to small island where they were stranded for two days before boat's radio washed ashoreA family was rescued by the Coast Guard off Cape Cod after their 30ft pleasure boat caught fire and they were forced to swim to a small island where they sheltered in a barn for almost two days.When the mother, father and their son didn't return as expected on Tuesday night, a relative contacted authorities. The Coast Guard, along with the Falmouth police and Falmouth Harbormaster, began a search throughout the night. Calls to the family went to voicemail. Continue reading...
A negotiated settlement would be unfair and frustrating. But after nearly four years of fighting, it may be the best optionOn Wednesday, President Trump imposed substantial new sanctions on Russia's giant oil and gas companies, and lifted restrictions on the use of certain long-range missiles by Ukraine, which will now be able to strike more freely into Russia itself. These moves come on the heels of Trump's conversations last week with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after which the US president expressed his frustration at both side's intransigence. Trump had hoped to end this war long ago. Will this be enough?When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US and its allies chose a strategy that aimed to use Washington's awesome political, economic and military power to impose such high costs on Russia that the Kremlin would sue for peace on Ukraine's terms. This cost-imposition" strategy makes sense in theory. The problem is that, in practice, it has slowed Russia's progress but not persuaded Putin to end his aggression.Christopher S Chivvis is a senior fellow and director of the American statecraft program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Continue reading...
US vice-president has criticised Israel's parliament vote on West Bank annexation, calling the move a 'stupid political stunt' after a bill applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, a move tantamount to the annexation of land Palestinians want for a state, won preliminary approval from Israel's parliament on Wednesday. Speaking on the tarmac of Tel Aviv's international airport before departing at the end of his visit to Israel, JD Vance insisted that 'the policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that but we certainly weren't happy about it,' adding:'I personally take some insult to it'
Freedom of speech requires freedom of thought - and the American political climate poses a serious threat to itFor all the opinions about free speech and censorship that rage around us, there is remarkably little argument about what the free" in free speech means. Most defenders of free speech" only seem to care about the freedom to express themselves. They fight for the right to say anything, not whether the speech itself comes from a position of freedom.Focusing on what makes free speech free is fundamental to our moral and political futures. Because free speech, properly conceived, is not just about the right to say what one wants. It is also about being the kind of person who has been so conscientious in their thinking, learning and discussion that they have become a free subject whose speech is directed toward the pursuit of truth. And there are serious threats today against the freedom of thought on which free speech relies. Continue reading...
by Tom Silverstone, Laurence Topham, Mei-Ling McNamar on (#70YWR)
Tina Frundt is one of Washington DC's most experienced specialists in protecting children from sex trafficking. Many of the youths she supports are targeted and exploited on social media platforms, which give traffickers unprecedented levels of access to their victims. Fighting to break this cycle, Tina works closely with law enforcement, social workers and parents to create an environment where some of America's most vulnerable children can feel safe again Continue reading...
Claim that Tren de Aragua planned to attack officers was widely shared - only for FBI to later acknowledge it was mistaken, internal files showAn unverified rumor that Venezuelan gang members were preparing to kill police officers spread like wildfire through US law enforcement agencies last year, internal records reveal, only for federal officials to later quietly acknowledge the claim was mistaken.The intelligence report, which appears to have first been disseminated by a local New Mexico police department in July 2024, suggested that the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang had directed its members to fire on or attack" law enforcement. The vague assertion quickly traveled among law enforcement agencies. It even made its way into a formal proclamation by Texas governor Greg Abbott, and was repeated by Republican Congress members as evidence of the dangers of Venezuelan immigrants and Democrats' border policies. Continue reading...
In an embarrassing climbdown, the game in Miami is off with the league having alienated the players and even Villarreal, the club that was on its sideIf there is a moment that defined La Liga's fourth failed attempt to play in Miami, an image to explain why everything went wrong, it may have been the moment it was all over. On Tuesday night, Spanish television broadcast reaction to the news from the Estadio de la Ceramica, live and unfiltered.Cameras caught someone else who felt dismissed and disrespected, treated as if they didn't count. This time it was someone who was supposed to be on the league's side, but now appeared as a portrait of poor planning and poorer communication, a lack of consideration that pushed the project to collapse. Continue reading...
Obama once joked about what a gaudy Trump White House would like - the president seems bent on proving him rightWhen Barack Obama roasted Donald Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Association dinner, the icing on the cake was a cartoon illustration of what the White House might look like if Trump ever became US president.The name Trump" was emblazoned across the top in giant capital letters, followed by the White House" in lurid purple cursive, then hotel casino golf course" and presidential suite". The parody imagined gold pillars, a giant crystal chandelier and two scantily clad women sitting at reception. Continue reading...
Refurbishing the nation should be a collective effort - not the work of a single man with an unmatched taste for the gaudyWho doesn't love a good home renovation project? Something to take your mind off the humdrum details of life. A fresh start. A dream made reality. I recently repainted my French doors from teal to aquamarine. I felt like a new man, albeit one with all the same problems. Just with a new door color.The average homeowner will always find something to change, tweak or revise - even in the most beautiful property. Don't like your kitchen sink? Rip it out. Not a fan of subway tiles? Scrap them. Have you ever considered the sublime serenity of a rainfall shower on your body in the morning? All of these amenities can be yours for the price of materials, labor and the psychic distress of a bunch of burly middle-aged men traipsing around your house with large, thick boots. A small price to pay for a bit of temporary contentment. Continue reading...
A few months ago Baltimore were seen as a Super Bowl contender; now they're struggling to make the playoffs. We assess their chances of turning things aroundThe Ravens' season is on the brink. Coming out of a bye week, Baltimore are 1-5 after a miserable start partly because their roster has been ripped apart by injuries. Next up are the Chicago Bears, who have come into some form. Beat the Bears, and the Ravens could turn the year around. If they lose, and they fall to 1-6, their season is effectively over, a huge disappointment for a team with genuine Super Bowl aspirations a few months ago. Below, we look at the factors that have hurt the Ravens - and the chances of those factors changing for the better. Continue reading...
As the LA Angels stand trial over the pitcher's death in the quiet shadow of the World Series fanfare across town, a sport confronts a truth practically as old as the game itselfBefore steroids, before amphetamines and before fentanyl, baseball's first documented chemical dalliance came from monkey testicles. In August 1889, a worn-down pitcher for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys named James Francis Pud" Galvin, so nicknamed for his once-devastating ability to reduce hitters to pudding", was in need of a spark. He was 32, his right arm a rubbery relic of nearly 5,000 innings pitched, his career on the fade. Then came salvation in a syringe. A French-Mauritian doctor by the name of Charles-Edouard Brown-Sequard published a paper - The Effects Produced on Man by the Subcutaneous Injections of a Liquid Obtained from the Testicles of Animals - in which he claimed that a few drops of an extract sourced from dogs and guinea pigs might well make ordinary men stronger and more virile. Galvin, a stocky power pitcher, wasted no time getting jabbed with the so-called Brown-Sequard elixir in a public demonstration at the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, only four miles east from the team's home ground. The next day he pitched a five-hit shutout to turn back the Boston Beaneaters, adding a double and a triple at the plate off the great Old Hoss Radbourn for good measure. (Take that, Ohtani.)If there still be doubting Thomases who concede no virtue of the elixir, they are respectfully referred to Galvin's record in yesterday's Boston-Pittsburg game," wrote the Washington Post, with proto-advertorial flourish. It is the best proof yet furnished of the value of the discovery." No one thought to call it cheating, even before Brown-Sequard's colleagues called cap on the tonic's efficacy in the weeks that followed. Why would they? Good old Pud wasn't breaking the rules so much as pushing the boundaries of willpower and endurance. In baseball, those things have often been one and the same. Continue reading...
Candidates jockeyed for advantage during debate, but were unlikely to change voters' minds before election dayZohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and current frontrunner for New York City mayor, faced off with Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor now running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, at the second and final New York mayoral election debate on Wednesday night.Here are some key takeaways from the evening. Continue reading...
Final debate was marked by heated exchanges between the frontrunners, while Sliwa quipped at Cuomo's expenseNew York City's three mayoral contenders had a fiery debate on Wednesday night in their final televised face-off less than two weeks before voters decide the city's next leader on 4 November.Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa participated in a tense and often chaotic discussion. The current mayor, Eric Adams, who dropped out of the race weeks earlier, once again did not attend. Continue reading...
Attorney general Letitia James urges residents to share video and photos amid outcry over Chinatown raidThe New York state attorney general, Letitia James, rolled out a Federal Action Reporting Portal" form urging New York residents to share photos and videos of federal immigration enforcement action across the state, just a day after a high-profile ICE raid rattled Manhattan's Chinatown and prompted hundreds to come out in protest.A US congressman revealed in a Wednesday press conference that four US citizens were arrested and held for nearly 24 hours" after Tuesday's raid. Protests broke out in New York on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Continue reading...
by Robert Mackey (now); Ryan Fonseca and Shannon Ho ( on (#70YKF)
Candidates came out swinging as they vied for New Yorkers' votes in final debateIt's us versus them," Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, says in his brief opening statement, in which he claims that he is the true representative of New Yorkers.Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor, begins by urging the Knicks to win, and then pivots to attacking my main opponent", Zohran Mamdani. Continue reading...
Women report miscarriages, delayed care, being shackled and being held in solitary confinement, letter saysPregnant women have reported bleeding, miscarriages, being shackled and other instances of medical neglect while in US immigration custody, according to a group of prominent civil rights organizations.The groups - which include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its Louisiana chapter, the National Immigration Project, Robert F Kennedy Human Rights, Sanctuary of the South and Sanctuary Now Abolition Project - sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Senate committees on Wednesday, describing interviews with more than a dozen women. Continue reading...
Trump, who has to date not put sanctions on Russia over the war and instead relied on trade measures, says Rosneft and Lukoil will be targeted. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 22 OctoberDonald Trump imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term, targeting oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft, sending oil prices higher by more than $2 a barrel.The president imposed the new measures as his frustration grows with Russian president Vladimir Putin over the war. Continue reading...
Newsom calls move right out of the dictator's handbook' as agents prepare for key immigration enforcement operationThe Trump administration appeared poised to send dozens of federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a major immigration enforcement operation, prompting condemnation from California leaders.Details of the deployment were still emerging, but it will reportedly involve more than 100 federal agents, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The agents are reportedly set to begin using the US Coast Guard base in Alameda, a city located across the bay from San Francisco. It remained unclear whether national guard troops would also be involved. Continue reading...
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