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Olympic star turns Sports Illustrated swimsuit model after saying she's targeting World Cup in England next yearIlona Maher, the US women's center who lit up the Paris Olympics and became the most followed rugby player in the world, was hailed as a feminist trailblazer" after becoming a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.Ilona Maher gracing the cover of our September digital issue is more than just a celebration of her athletic achievements - it's a powerful statement," said MJ Day, editor in chief of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, on Thursday. Continue reading...

There should be no sugar-coating the recent deaths of six teenagers. If we genuinely want to protect our kids, we need to take seriously the question of abolishing tackle footballSix teenagers have now died while playing school football in less than three weeks. This astonishing rash of football-related school deaths should be understood as nothing less than a public health emergency. It is also a clarion call to question why we are exposing our young people to such a dangerous activity at all, much less in institutions designed to care for and nurture them.The first four of these recent deaths were due to apparently heat-related causes and the latest two due to head trauma. Five of the athletes were high schoolers, the eldest only 16, and one was a 13-year-old eighth-grade student. The young athletes who died were Ovet Gomez-Regalado, age 15, in Kansas City; Semaj Wilkins, age 14, in Alabama; Jayvion Taylor, age 15, in Virginia; Leslie Noble, age 16, in Maryland; Caden Tellier, age 16, in Alabama; and Cohen Craddock, age 13, in West Virginia. Continue reading...

Officials at military cemetery say two campaign members verbally abused and pushed' a representativeOfficials at Arlington national cemetery have filed a report over the behavior of members of Donald Trump's campaign staff who reportedly shoved and verbally abused an employee during a crass" photo opportunity for the Republican presidential candidate.The officials confirmed that a confrontation took place at the Virginia cemetery on Monday after the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony for 13 US servicemen and -women killed in a 2021 suicide bomb attack outside Kabul airport in Afghanistan. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can find all of our US elections coverage hereMark Esper, a former defense secretary under Donald Trump, told CNN that he hoped the reported altercation between the former president's staff and an official at Arlington national cemetery was investigated, while saying that the grounds should never be used for partisan political purposes":Esper served under Trump from 2019 until shortly after the 2020 election, when Trump fired him. The former defense chief has since decried Trump as a threat to democracy". Continue reading...

The shooter had done extensive research and had also searched online for events and targetsNew details have come to light in the FBI's investigation into the assassination attempt of Donald Trump, including how the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, researched and planned the attack.In a call with journalists on Wednesday, a senior FBI official shared that the gunman had searched online for events of both the former president and Joe Biden and saw the Pennsylvania campaign rally where he opened fire last month as a target of opportunity." Continue reading...

Andrey Rublev came back from two sets down to beat Arthur Rinderknech in a thriller, and there were also wins for Aryna Sabalenka, Madison Keys and Alexander ZverevOn Grandstand, Ruse and Krejcikova have exchanged breaks at 1-1, while Dimitrov breaks Hijikata at the first time of asking for a 2-0 lead. There's a real calmness about how he conducts himself in rallies, but I just can't see a way he beats one of the top three over five.Already, Townsend is giving Badosa something different to what she usually gets, loopy lefty forehands at varying pace. But at 1-1 0-15, Badosa misses an overhead with almost the whole court at which to aim ... then makes amends by drilling a forehand winner, and when Townsend nets a forehand, there are two break points on the agenda. And Badosa only needs one, dominating the rally with some sizeable groundstrokes and responding to another loopy one by upping the pace of her own shot; her opponent can't respind and the Spaniard leads 2-1. Continue reading...

Police close investigation into Barbara and Rosario Poma over possible manslaughter linked to Florida massacreThe Orlando police department has closed its investigation into the former owners of the Pulse nightclub without filing any charges. Victims' families and survivors of the mass shooting that killed 49 patrons at the LGBTQ+ club had asked law enforcement to investigate them for criminal culpability.No charges will be filed against the former owners, Barbara and Rosario Poma, because probable cause did not exist for involuntary manslaughter by culpable negligence, the Orlando police said this week in an emailed statement. Continue reading...

Trumpism's route to the White House is paved with bricks of election theft in the battleground stateThe latest election-protecting lawsuit filed this week in Georgia goes straight to the heart of the contest in the country over the survival of freedom's most basic institutions: our vote and the rule of law. The suit is also vital to the more immediate outcome of this election, and whether Donald Trump can find a way to win by any means necessary.Trump and his Maga allies seek to permanently dismantle the architecture of government established by our founders 235 years ago. The route there this November runs through Georgia, a key battleground state where undoing any electoral victory by Kamala Harris would be vital to Trump's return to power. Trump and his acolytes will do whatever it takes to win. That includes not certifying the people's actual vote.Laurence H Tribe is the Carl M Loeb University professor and professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law SchoolDennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy Continue reading...

Trump and Harris, the Republican and Democratic nominees, are frontrunners as few other candidates remain

The 21-year-old's decision to dodge four weeks of hard court events left her ill prepared for a typically tough encounterLate on Tuesday night in Arthur Ashe stadium, Emma Raducanu wiped away tears as she digested another bitter loss in the first round of the US Open. Her tight, frantic three-set defeat against Sofia Kenin, at the tournament that yielded her career-defining victory three years ago, was even more painful given how tight the encounter had been.While Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, had been in poor form coming into the final grand slam tournament of the year, she rose to the occasion of facing a distinguished opponent and played a fantastic match. Continue reading...

Ruling on multibillion-dollar Save program, which aims to lower monthly payments, has no immediate effect on borrowersThe US supreme court decided on Wednesday that it will not reinstate the Biden administration's multibillion-dollar student loan repayment plan, Save, which aims to lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers.The plan was blocked by a federal appeals court earlier this summer as a result of a legal challenge led by several Republican states. Continue reading...

Emmanuel Macron's refusal to accept a minority left government was a mistake. Having lost the election he needs to give groundThough he made a number of appearances during theOlympics, Emmanuel Macron largely retreated to his holiday residence in southern France for the duration of the Games. From there, having called a political truce as Paris put on a triumphant sporting spectacle, the president hoped to plot a path out of the self-inflicted chaos created by his decision to call asnap election in the middle of the summer.No such luck. The Olympic athletes are long departed, and the traditional September rentree looms. But no newgovernment is in place - the longest such hiatus since immediately following the second world war -and bitter acrimony reigns. This week, MrMacron used his presidential prerogative to rule out any candidate for prime minister put forward by the NewPopular Front (NFP), the leftwing alliance thatbya short head came first in the July poll. Continue reading...

The non-dog-eating, brain worm-surviving independent candidate dropped out of the race, sort of, but he was less of a joke to strategistsHello, good day,First, an apology. We missed some big election news in July, when the town of Omena, in northern Michigan, elected a horse called Lucky to be mayor. Lucky becomes the first horse to hold the position - the largely ceremonial role was previously held by Rosie, who is a dog. We wish the 16-year-old stallion all the best for his time in office. Continue reading...

Find out who is leading the way at the Paralympics, and drill down to see which events each country has won medals forAs is traditional, the table prioritises the number of gold medals won. On this basis in 2021, China led the Paralympics field with 96 golds, with Great Britain second on 41 and the United States third with 37. If countries have the same number of gold medals, the order is then dictated by which has the most silvers, and finally bronze if the numbers are still identical. Continue reading...

Big-city gun violence draws more attention, but rural towns like Delano have many more gun deaths per capita. Residents are desperate to figure out whyThis is the first of three stories on gun violence in Delano. Read the next installment tomorrowPatrick Orque distinctly remembers hanging out with a friend late one night, just after new year's 2020, when they heard gunshots.They were in his friend's front yard, in Orque's home town of Delano, an agricultural community deep within California's central valley. The nearby Mexican restaurants and markets had closed up, and the town was quiet, as it often is at night, enveloped in a still expanse of vineyards and citrus groves. Continue reading...

Vast conglomerate becomes the first non-tech company to hit the major stock market milestoneThe market value of Berkshire Hathaway surpassed $1tn on Wednesday, reflecting investor confidence in the conglomerate that Warren Buffett built over nearly six decades into what many consider a proxy for the American economy.Berkshire joined six other companies, mainly from the technology sector, above $1trn: Apple, Nvidia , Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon.com and Facebook parent Meta Platforms. Continue reading...

Having a mastectomy is tough enough without the added pressure to have a breast reconstruction just to conform to conventional representations of womanlinessAs a small-breasted woman, my boobs have rarely been ogled. Yet this year I've noticed people copping stares at my chest. At the dog park a woman who stopped to chat spent the entire time with her eyes locked well south of my chin, like those sleazy tit-talkers that big-busted women complain about.I wanted to say Go on, ask me, where has my breast gone?" But I didn't, because then I'd have to answer my own question. And telling people you have cancer is exhausting, eliciting a mix of pity and fear, where you know what they really want to ask is: Are you going to die? Or, as one acquaintance boldly put it: Is it the sort they can treat, or the other sort." Continue reading...

Even before this, Harris already had an 11-point lead over Trump in public perceptions of honesty and trustworthinessOn Tuesday, Jack Smith, the special counsel, delivered a revised 36-page indictment, again charging Donald Trump with conspiring to subvert the final outcome of the 2020 election. How the courts treat the latest indictment remains to be seen. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito may again race to Trump's rescue. But two weeks before the scheduled 10 September presidential debate, the American electorate and Donald Trump are again reminded that the Republican nominee stands in legal jeopardy. Then again, winning on 5 November may be the simplest way for him to avoid jail time.Already trailing in the polls, this is not good news for Trump, a candidate who has twice lost the popular vote. Without Joe Biden as a foil, his decline and age visibly grow. At 59, Kamala Harris is almost 20 years younger. All too often, Trump, 78, slurs his words and rambles. His dance moves remind folks of their elderly uncle.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

Fan group holds Zoom call featuring Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and original cat lady' Carole KingTaylor Swift has yet to publicly endorse a candidate, but some of her fanbase are already mobilizing for Kamala Harris. The Swifties for Kamala Coalition officially launched on Tuesday, raising more than $138,000 for the Democratic candidate in a virtual rally featuring Carole King and the senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand.Swift, who has no affiliation with the group, was not present on the Zoom call nor involved in the event. The group has amassed about 250 million followers on social media platforms since Joe Biden dropped out of the race in late July and endorsed the vice-president. Continue reading...

Republican vice-presidential candidate criticizes leaders on the left' and Randi Weingarten in 2021 clip

Live coverage of business, economics and financial markets as water company for southeast England says proposed cuts plan is not tenable and renders our plan uninvestible'More electric vehicle news: Polestar has replaced its chief executive Thomas Ingenlath with the former boss of Opel. Michael Lohscheller will take over from Ingenlath from 1 October.Polestar was spun out of Sweden's Volvo, but it is owned by China's Geely, which manufactures many of its vehicles.I am very proud of what we've achieved together in the last seven years. We had the vision of an electric premium brand which puts performance and design at its core. And we made it, the dream became reality: Polestar is the only true global premium electric brand, we just launched the Polestar 3 and 4, we are producing on two continents - thank you to everybody who contributed so far on this journey.It was a lifetime experience to build up this brand with you all. I wish Michael and the team the best for the next chapter of Polestar. Continue reading...

Ex-president claimed Biden administration weaponized justice department and caused staffing shortages at Secret ServiceDonald Trump has blamed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for last month's failed assassination attempt against him by accusing them of making it difficult for the Secret Service to protect him.The Republican presidential nominee's claim - for which he offered no evidence - was made on the television talkshow Dr Phil, hosted by Phil McGraw, on Tuesday. The remarks follow disclosures that several Secret Service agents from the Pittsburgh field office had been placed on administrative leave after the 13 July shooting. Continue reading...

Dismal lyrics, plodding tunes and prehistoric political views: why is everyone so happy that the Gallagher brothers are back?So 15 years of Punch-and-Judy bickering between Liam and Noel Gallagher has ended with the inevitable: Oasis reforming for a UK and Ireland tour - and a giant payday (money talks, especially when Noel has a reported 20m divorce settlement to cover). Cue wild celebrations from the section of the British public who are still nostalgic for the simpler times of Euro 96 and the first Blair administration. Britpop's coming home.I'm not among them, and here's why. I genuinely believe Oasis are the most damaging pop-cultural force in recent British history. It's easy to attack them for being musically regressive: after all, they didn't just Stop The Clocks, to quote the title of their 2006 best-of, but rewound them by 30 years. But the real problem is that they set social attitudes back even further.Simon Price is a music journalist and author Continue reading...

Biden administration employees said their voices were not being heard' internally regarding US's support of IsraelWhen Maryam Hassanein joined the US Department of Interior as a Biden administration appointee in January, she hoped that Israel's war on Gaza would soon come to an end. But when the US authorized a $1bn arms shipment to Israel in the spring, Hassanein decided to use her voice to affect change. She was inspired by the resilience of students involved in the anti-war movement at nearby George Washington University, where she had attended pro-Palestinian rallies.Seeing the strength of the students who led that movement across the country really made me think about what I should be doing," Hassanein said, and how I can advocate far more for an end to the carnage in Palestine." Continue reading...

Filing does not substantially change case after immunity ruling. Plus, France to trial ban on mobile phones at schools

Exclusive: groundbreaking Mapping Police Violence data estimates scale of physical force and civilian injuriesPolice in the US use force on at least 300,000 people each year, injuring an estimated 100,000 of them, according to a groundbreaking data analysis on law enforcement encounters.Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group that tracks killings by US police, launched a new database on Wednesday cataloging non-fatal incidents of police use of force, including stun guns, chemical sprays, K9 dog attacks, neck restraints, beanbags and baton strikes. Continue reading...

Heels make your legs look great and you feel instantly powerful. But that's not enough for gen ZThese days my wardrobe is best described as freelance-writer chic". Which is to say, I feel dressed up when my socks match. Once upon a time, however, I was a trainee corporate lawyer and dressed like one - tottering around in a state of constant panic and very high heels. I was, as you may have guessed, not really cut out for corporate law. After I eventually gave up both the law and my heels, my feet took several years to recover from the abuse. It had been a sole-destroying job. For a while I had to tiptoe everywhere when I didn't have shoes on because the heels had mucked up my achilles tendons and calf muscles.Despite the fact that they disfigured my feet, I still have a soft spot for heels. They make your legs look great and you feel instantly powerful. Apart from the pain and the impracticality, what's not to like? So it is with mixed feelings - but comfortable feet - that I watch them die a slow death. Heels have been on the way out for years now, their demise supercharged by the pandemic. Kids these days don't wear heels out clubbing, according to a recent viral TikTok from an influencer who wondered whether we [millennials] need to come out of retirement and teach the girls how to wear heels". And per the Economist, even the French have kicked off their heels. Continue reading...

Two states have already adopted ranked-choice voting, a nonpartisan fix to our outdated electoral systemRobert F Kennedy Jr has suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, in part because he did not want to be a spoiler across competitive swing states. The third-party spoiler problem", unfortunately, will not vanish with him.Three committed independents and third-party nominees remain: progressive activist Cornel West, Libertarian Chase Oliver, and Jill Stein of the Green party. They could still tip the balance: the White House looks likely to be won by the tiniest margins across just seven swing states, just as it was in 2016 and 2020.David Daley is the author of Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count and Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy. He is a senior fellow at FairVote Continue reading...

Joe Biden declared himself the most pro-union president ever'. Kamala Harris should go even furtherOne of the most compelling speeches at last week's Democratic national convention wasn't followed by balloons. Delivered just a few hours before Kamala Harris's primetime address, it came from a man with - until now, anyway - zero name recognition. John Russell is a mulleted tree-stump grinder turned activist journalist from rural Ohio. He seemed a bit of a misfit next to glamorous speakers like Oprah and the guy who played the president on Scandal. But on the final night in Chicago, Russell took the stage to give what my colleague Bhaskar Sunkara called the most radical speech" in the convention's history.His blistering remarks cut through the convention's fever dream to deliver a necessary wake-up call. He warned about the working class's political disillusionment. He demanded that Democrats reclaim their heritage as fearless defenders of labor. And he issued ambitious prescriptions for action on everything from a living wage to climate crisis. On that last issue, he reminded the gathered delegates that environmental degradation isn't just a matter of coastal (elite) flooding, but of strip mining and poisoned water in flyover country. Perhaps most impressively, he spoke all this truth to power in only two minutes. As he said himself: It is our moment to live up to. Let's get after it." Continue reading...

Not for the first time, Trump will cut up one of his suits to sell to supporters who buy enough digital trading cardsDonald Trump announced on Tuesday that he is selling a new collection of digital trading cards, and that supporters who buy 15 or more cards will receive a physical card adorned with a piece of the suit he wore for the presidential debate against Joe Biden in June.The announcement was made on Tuesday in a video posted on Truth Social. Continue reading...

As the Paris Paralympics kick off, here's a look at 10 athletes from Team USA worth keeping an eye onThree years ago, the United States sent 235 athletes to the Tokyo Paralympics and won 104 medals.Some of these athletes were born with physical challenges, while others suffered devastating injuries from accidents or assaults. Some have been Paralympians since just after the turn of the century. Continue reading...

The pop star ran into unfair flak when she rehomed her dog because of its behavioural issues. I face the same dilemmaLast week, the pop star Lily Allen was viciously criticised on social media after it was revealed that she had rehomed her dog Mary - after Mary ate her and her children's passports. The animal rights charity Peta published an open letter accusing Allen of treating her dog like an accessory to be discarded when they become inconvenient". Allen tried to put the event in context, saying that the passport eating was the final straw in a series of incidents stemming from the dog's severe behavioural issues.While I understand the natural impulse to say that Allen is a monster" for rehoming Mary, I have sympathy for her. Having a pet is a big responsibility, and one we should always take seriously, but when a pet has such extreme behavioural issues that it can't seem to live and thrive in your home, it's OK to ask whether it might be better off elsewhere. Continue reading...

Thursday spot with anchor Dana Bash follows weeks of demands from GOP and media for nominees to open upKamala Harris and Tim Walz will sit for their first interview as the Democratic ticket on Thursday, after weeks of demands from Republicans and members of the media for the nominees to open themselves up to questions.The interview, which will be conducted by CNN anchor Dana Bash from the battleground state of Georgia, is set for a primetime spot on CNN at 9pm ET. Continue reading...

New indictment alleges Trump sought to pressure department of justice in his effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat; Trump calls new filing a travesty'. This blog is now closed.Tulsi Gabbard is a former Hawaii congresswoman who endorsed Bernie Sanders and once called Joe Biden a friend. But her days in Democratic politics are far behind her, the Guardian's David Smith reported earlier this year, when he covered Gabbard's speech to a major convention of conservatives:Once a prominent backer of the leftwing senator Bernie Sanders, on Thursday she was greeted by far-right activists with a standing ovation and a group of supporters brandishing gold letters that spelled T-R-U-M-P. Continue reading...

Former Democrats would help ex-president choose policies and personnel if he were to win White House in NovemberDonald Trump has appointed Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard, two former Democrats who have endorsed his bid for a second presidency, to the transition team that could shape his future administration.The pair will serve as honorary co-chairs of a body that will help him choose policies and personnel if he wins November's presidential election, the New York Times reported. Continue reading...

Jannik Sinner came from a set down to win, while Dan Evans came from 0-4 0-40 down in the fifth to beat Karen Khachanov in the longest match in US Open historyKokkinakis has only won two matches in New York but he consolidates his break and now leads 2-1, but Sasnovich has retrieved the one of which Boult relieved her and it's now 2-2 in the first. Elsewhere, Tabilo (22) leads Goffin 3-1, Muchova - a favourite of this blog - is up 4-1 on Voylnets, and Mensik leads Auger-Aliassime 3-1.A fine, muscular start from Boulter, who leads Sasnovich 2-0, while Collins is 2-0 up on Dolehide. Is it just me who sings her name to this banger? Surely not? Oh come on. Continue reading...

Move does not substantially change criminal case but protects it in wake of July supreme court immunity rulingThe justice department filed a new indictment against Donald Trump on Tuesday over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The maneuver does not substantially change the criminal case against him but protects it in the wake of a July US supreme court decision ruling saying that Trump and other presidents have immunity for official acts, but not unofficial ones.Today, a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned a superseding indictment, charging the defendant with the same criminal offenses that were charged in the original indictment," lawyers for Jack Smith, the special counsel handling the case, said in a filing that accompanied what is known as a superseding indictment. Continue reading...

At Michigan rally, the Republican VP nominee referred to his former hostility while taking aim at Kamala HarrisJD Vance has admitted he once doubted Donald Trump's abilities to be US president but insists he was won over by the policies and track record of a man he previously decried as America's Hitler" and cultural heroin".The Republican vice-presidential nominee obliquely referred to his former hostility at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as he attempted to blame Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, for the policies of the Biden administration at the same time as accusing her of preparing to steal Trump's ideological clothes. Continue reading...

Trump and Harris, the Republican and Democratic nominees, are frontrunners as few other candidates remainThe 2024 election season is well under way.The campaign was marked by a consequential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, followed by weeks of pressure on Biden following his debate performance, culminating in his announcement that he would drop out of the race. Continue reading...

Democratic elites continue to ignore the multiple allegations against Clinton - and the reality of the Lewinsky affairOne of the grim lessons of the #MeToo movement and its long backlash is this: whether someone finds a sexual abuse allegation credible largely depends on their pre-existing opinion of the man accused. When a woman comes forward with an account of a man's mistreatment of her - be it humiliating boorishness, violent rape or any of the range of degradations and hurts that fall along the wide spectrum between - the listener's response is fairly predictable. If they hate the accused man, they'll believe his accuser. If they like him, they'll say it's bullshit.This rule holds, I am sorry to say, even for women who identify themselves as feminists. It held for Gloria Steinem, the famed feminist now in her 90s, who in 1998 defended Clinton amid his slew of sex scandals and abuse allegations in the pages of the New York Times, dismissing the allegations against him as trivial and making an unconvincing case that the offense she took at similar allegations against Clarence Thomas was different. It held true, most famously, for Bill Clinton's wife, the liberal feminist icon Hillary Clinton, who has remained silently beside her husband throughout each of the allegations against him - and retained her feminist credibility despite her loyalty to an allegedly abusive man that I can only describe as canine.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...