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I'm nearly 50 and my hobby is sitting. Why did I decide to attempt a strange version of the handstand?Why on earth did I read about a five-week yoga forearm-stand workshop and think: That sounds like a fun challenge - I should sign up"?I'm nearly 50 and I sit down for my job and as my main hobby, so I don't know what hubristic derangement possessed me. Never book yoga when you're feeling energetic," a friend counselled, too late. It's like going to the supermarket hungry." I blame TikTok: I got cocky when I managed the shrimp stand-up" I saw there (you hold on to one foot as you stand from kneeling, using the other leg) and concluded I was ready for more physical feats. Was it a mini-midlife crisis? An out-of-body experience?Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Why was I so fixated on being right all of the time? Calmly, after a board game outburst, a seven-year-old set me straightI have my fair share of flaws, just like anyone else. Neither my caffeine habit nor my relentless fixation on the news cycle are particularly endearing habits, but those were mere trifles compared with my obsession with being right. From what colour to paint the kitchen to the origin of a famous quote, or even something as trivial as what to have for dinner, I loved to argue. Day or night, I was always ready to spar with whoever was unlucky enough to strike up a conversation with me.My challengers included my children, my wife, friends and even strangers. During these debates, I could be playfully teasing, passionately opposing, or even dismissively superior. But what was always true was that I was never really listening to the other person's perspective. For some unexplored reason, I would always consider my own argument to be more competent and would try to prove it in every possible way.Sergey Maidukov is an author who lives in Kyiv Continue reading...

The Bengals QB has 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions this season. Yet his team find themselves scraping the barrelIt's official: Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals is one of the unluckiest quarterbacks we've ever seen. The Bengals lost 41-38 to the Baltimore Ravens in overtime on Sunday, sending Cincinnati to 1-4 on the season. It certainly hasn't been Burrow's fault - through the first five games of the season, Burrow has completed 125 of 173 passes (a 72.3% completion rate) for 1,370 yards (7.9 yards per attempt), 12 touchdowns, two interceptions, and an outstanding passer rating of 113.6 (his QBR of 73.6 is the second-best in the league).But that hasn't been enough to stop the Bengals slipping out of the playoff race - We're not a championship-level team right now," was Burrow's brutal conclusion after Sunday's loss. Most of Cincinnati's issues center around a defense that has been especially awful against the run, and has forced Burrow to make as many big plays as possible just to keep his team in games - which he is certainly capable of doing. Continue reading...

This won't end until those in power understand that you can't have peace and stability while denying Palestinians their rightsI began to write this column last week in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. I started it several times, both on the page and in my head, as I travelled between occupied territories. In every location I started the column again, then failed to capture what is unfolding and has been for years. So maybe I will just start at what seems like the beginning, with the killing of Israeli civilians on 7 October - a year ago today.I say seems", because that is not really the beginning, but just another beginning as far as Palestinians are concerned. Another date after which conditions worsened and occupation and illegal settlements became more brutal. Because as the world's attention has rightly been on Gaza - then Lebanon, then, last week, the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel - Israeli authorities and settlers have, under cover of war, intensified their assault on Palestinians with renewed licence and relish. Again, that summation seems inadequate, a poor attempt at describing a reality that is nothing short of a living nightmare. The violation of Palestinians is so colossal in scale that I began to speak to the readers of this column in my head. I kept saying: I wish you could see.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

I've found a political reawakening, and learned that the only way this will end is if we turn our enemies into our partners

Former first lady Melania Trump, in an interview with Fox News, reiterated her stance on abortion saying she believed in individual freedom and that she didn't want government to interfere with her personal choices. 'I want to decide what I want to do with my body,' Trump said

Animals crash through glass door of 74-year-old man's home and claw at him when he tried to get them to leaveA 74-year-old Colorado man was injured after a black bear with three cubs crashed in through his sliding glass door and he was unable to get them to leave, the Colorado parks and wildlife department said.Residents of the home were startled by a loud crash at about 8.30pm Thursday night and saw the bears coming in through the sliding door which had been left ajar. Continue reading...

State official urges people to prepare for largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma'Florida has expanded its state of emergency as it braces for a major storm expect to pummel the state's western peninsula by midweek, after Tropical Storm Milton gathered strength and was declared a category 1 hurricane on Sunday.The impending landfall of Milton comes days after Hurricane Helene caused devastation and destruction through large swaths of Florida and other parts of the south-east of the US including North Carolina. The death toll stands at 230 people, and is expected to rise. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Read more from our politics coverage hereDuring an interview on CNN's State of the Union, Arizona senator Mark Kelly criticized Elon Musk for supporting Donald Trump.On Saturday, Musk joined Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and made the baseless claim that if Trump's supporters fail to turn out, this will be the last election". Continue reading...

David Paterson and his stepson were attacked Friday evening in Manhattan by two boys, ages 12 and 13Two boys, ages 12 and 13, were arrested Saturday in connection with an assault on former New York governor David Paterson and his stepson, police said.Paterson, 70, and his stepson, Anthony Sliwa, 20, were attacked at about 8.30pm Friday while they were out for a walk on Manhattan's Upper East Side. They were treated at a hospital for minor injuries to the face. Continue reading...

The veteran quarterback could not deliver a trademark comeback as Minnesota ran out 23-17 winners in the capitalWe have seen this movie before. Aaron Rodgers with the ball in his hand, the crowd and the elements against him, ready to play the last action hero again. This time, though, there was a brutal twist.When Rodgers hobbled on to the pitch with three minutes remaining, his New York Jets side were 23-17 down. But, having mustered 32 game-winning drives during his long and storied career, this was hardly unknown territory. Continue reading...

Democratic nominee and running mate Walz both embark on media scrambles as election remains nail-bitingly closeKamala Harris has embarked on a week-long media blitz, hurtling from TV studios and late-night shows to podcast interviews as she seeks to gain an edge over Donald Trump in the US election's key battleground states that remain nail-bitingly close.The vice-president's decision to face a raft of largely friendly media outlets came as the campaigns entered the final 30 days. More than 1.4 million Americans have already cast their ballots in early voting across 30 states. Continue reading...

Republican presidential nominee and former president Donald Trump returned to the scene of an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, where he was wounded in the ear during a rally in July. Trump called the shooter a 'vicious monster' who he said aimed to silence him. Billionaire Elon Musk later took the stage at the rally.

Messaging about crime and disorder in major US cities is an expression of conservatives' existential dread of being ruled by urban elites and Black leadersAtlanta is, from time to time, the center of the political universe.It is also home to all things evil and villainous, a festering cesspool of lurid crime, a shooting gallery" in the words of Donald Trump, spoken in the vile confines of a brand new college basketball arena amid the unspeakable horrors of a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood with a microbrewery. Continue reading...

Battered by ethics scandals, the court shows no signs of reining itself in - and it could play a key role in the electionThe US supreme court embarks on its next nine-month term on Monday with public confidence in the court still reeling following recent extreme rulings compounded by the ethically dubious conduct of some justices.As the new term begins, the dust cloud kicked up by controversial opinions delivered at the end of the last term has barely settled. In particular, the July decision of the six-to-three rightwing majority to grant Donald Trump substantial immunity from criminal prosecution for actions he carried out as president astonished even seasoned observers of the country's top court. Continue reading...

It's almost 30 years since I lost my hair to alopecia. What if Pfizer's drug Litfulo could bring it back?My hair looks incredible at the moment. I know because people keep telling me - in bakeries, cafes and when I was getting my tattooed eyebrows touched up yesterday.What to say? Thanks!" feels conceited. My hairdresser's a genius," is (part of) the truth. I often narcissistically worry what would happen if he were to slip away before me; how wrong would it be to bring him five or six wigs to cut on his deathbed? In a similar vein, I was thrilled yesterday, when S, who has done my brows for decades, told me her daughter may be going into the family business - succession secured!Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

The ex-Tory MP's documentary How to Kill a Human Being convinced Oklahoma - and then Alabama took up the batonShortly after Alabama last week carried out its second-ever execution using nitrogen gas, state officials took credit for pioneering what they see as a breakthrough approach to the death penalty - even though it has sparked outrage and revulsion among critics.But the idea to execute inmates in the US with nitrogen was actually set in motion by a rebellious and ultra-conservative lawmaker in Oklahoma, and surprisingly involves a former British Conservative MP turned television personality, Michael Portillo. Continue reading...

Mohsin Meghji drew scrutiny for behavior with bankruptcy judges in unrelated case involving drugmakerClergy abuse survivors and other parties ensnared in the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans' expensive and lengthy bankruptcy reorganization are concerned after a nationally recognized business-turnaround expert brought on to assist with resolving the unusually contentious proceeding had some of his actions questioned in an unrelated case.Judge Meredith Grabill's chosen expert, Mohsin Mo" Meghji, was recently the subject of a Wall Street Journal investigation that examined ethical concerns over some of his maneuvering in a pharmaceutical company's high-stakes bankruptcy reorganization. Continue reading...

Josefina Duenas faced doubts from her own colleagues on the city council. Now I represent the women, the immigrants, the disabled, the homeless'It wasn't until she turned five years old that Josefina Duenas was diagnosed with a disorder her family had long suspected: hipoacusia bilateral, or severe hearing loss that affected both of her ears.Almost 60 years later, as Duenas walked into Ukiah's city hall, located in northern California's Mendocino county, she recounted her childhood memories and the years that trained her to overcome the many challenges that still arise due to her hearing disability. Continue reading...

Divisions remain deep, with some afraid to participate and others uninterested in talk while destruction continuesA year after the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel and Tel Aviv's response to them sparked months-long protests and inflamed divisions on campuses across the country, some university administrations have turned to dialogue" as the way forward.They're hoping that getting students talking to each other will serve as a salve for the turbulence of the last year, with its dramatic resignations, canceled graduations and thousands of arrests - as well as a deep disillusion among students with their universities' ability to provide direction at a time of crisis. Continue reading...

While he's always been quick to insult, he's now frequently vicious, and his speeches are increasingly disjointedA beautiful" beach body and a mentally disabled" opponent. One rough hour" of police retaliation to stop criminals. A million Rambos" in Afghanistan. Haitian immigrants eating the dogs" and eating the cats". Death by electrocution versus death by shark. Insane asylums and, of course, the late, great Hannibal Lecter".These are just a few of the recent remarks made by one of two major candidates for president of the United States. Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has spent years saying the unsayable to entertain, goad and grab attention. But his pronouncements over the past few weeks have plumbed new depths of absurdity and incoherence. Continue reading...

Fallout from damaged infrastructure - as well as rampant misinformation - will plague communitiesHurricane Helene unleashed record rainfall in parts of Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee, becoming one of the deadliest hurricanes in modern times and setting up the affected regions to face years of health challenges.Some of the effects, like the flooded manufacturing plant that produces 60% of the nation's IV supply, will reverberate throughout the entire country. Continue reading...

Vanity is a basic instinct, but women and men are risking their lives as cosmetic procedures become cheaperPlastic surgery is a brutal business. No wonder it makes a good subject for a horror film. In fact, the subject may be too much for the genre. Hardened gore fans all over the world have been walking out of Demi Moore's new film, The Substance, in which a younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of herself tears its way out of her back. Blank silence has reportedly followed several screenings.It's imaginative stuff, but not, I suppose, a million miles from the operating room itself. Injecting, stretching, chopping, gouging, poisoning, freezing, stitching, slicing: it's the grisly and invasive nature of these beauty treatments that make them such a cause for worry, especially when young people decide to do it. The problem is the risk: only two weeks ago, a 33-year-old British woman called Alice Webb died after reportedly undergoing a non-surgical Brazilian butt lift, with a coroner stating further investigation is needed to confirm the cause of death. According to her mother, hospital staff were unable to resuscitate her following the procedure, which had taken place at another location. Last week, another apparent plastic surgery tragedy hit the news - Viviane Lira Monte, 24, died after undergoing six cosmetic procedures during an eight-hour operation in Brazil.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

A year after the 7 October attack, the myth of blood libel' persists in the media coverage of Gaza violenceIt says something for the conscience of the Church of England that, in 1955, it put up a plaque alongside the former shrine of Little Hugh in Lincoln Cathedral, apologising for the harm it had done by falsely accusing Jews of the ritual slaughter of the boy in 1255.That Jews habitually murdered gentile children for blood with which to make Passover matzoh, was a popular superstition throughout Britain and Europe in the middle ages. These fictions cost many innocent Jews their lives," the plaque reads, [and] do not redound to the credit of Christendom, and so we pray: Lord, forgive what we have been, amend what we are, and direct what we shall be." Continue reading...

Thousands attend Pennsylvania rally to see Republican candidate, while Elon Musk warns of last election' if supporters don't turn out to voteDonald Trump has returned to the site where he narrowly escaped assassination in July, pushing the emotional buttons of his supporters and suggesting that his political opponents maybe even tried to kill me" to stop him regaining the White House.The Republican presidential nominee - and perennial showman - mounted an unabashedly sentimental spectacle in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. He was joined by billionaire Elon Musk, who made the baseless claim that if Trump's supporters fail to turn out, this will be the last election". Continue reading...

Vice-president pledges ongoing support during second trip in four days to North Carolina disaster zoneKamala Harris pledged ongoing federal support and praised the heroes among us" during a swing through hurricane-hit North Carolina on Saturday, her second trip in four days to the disaster zone.The vice-president began her visit by attending a briefing with state and local officials in Charlotte, where she thanked those who are in the room and those who are out there right now working around the clock" in the post-Helene rescue effort. Continue reading...

Ex-president addresses crowd in Butler less than three months after assassination attempt there on 13 JulyAs the Trump and Harris campaigns host events across the country today - now one month before the 5 November election - the Guardian US is averaging national and state polls to see how the two candidates are faring. We will update our averages once a week, or more if there is major news.As the Guardian's Sam Levine writes today:With her highest national polling average since July, Harris is now leading in five of seven key swing states. Nationally, the Guardian's tracker shows Harris with 49.3% of the vote, compared with 46% for Trump. The election is a month away, and already an estimated 1.4 million Americans have voted as of midday on Friday.The race is still extremely close. The simplest path to collecting the 270 electoral votes needed to win is still the blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. While Harris leads Trump in all three according to the Guardian's analysis (Pennsylvania by 1.2 points, Michigan by 0.1 points and Wisconsin by 2.2 points), those advantages are quite slim. Continue reading...

Statement comes as president urges Congress to pass disaster-relief package as costs soar amid devastationThe White House moved Saturday to quash claims that government officials control the weather, including a far-fetched rumor circulating on social media that Hurricane Helene was an engineered storm to allow corporations to mine regional lithium deposits.We have seen a large increase in false information circulating online related to the federal response to Hurricane Helene," a statement said, pointing to a number of scam artists, bad-faith actors, and others who want to sow chaos because they think it helps their political interests are promoting disinformation about the recovery effort." Continue reading...

I detest what early-onset Alzheimer's is doing to the person I love. Yet I'm in awe of how she quietly, stoically, responds to its ravagesMy wife - and best friend- of the past 38 years can no longer say the word hippopotamus" or count backwards from 100, or draw a watch face on a piece of paper. Sometimes she leaves the oven on or forgets to turn off the kitchen tap, and yesterday she wandered into the wrong stairwell of our apartment block.Two years ago, at the age of 60, Cathie was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's and our lives changed irrevocably. There were no soothing words from the family doctor as a bureaucratic error had sent us the PET scan that confirmed our fears. We read the results together and one of us, the weaker one, cried for a week. Then I pulled myself together and focused on what's important. Continue reading...

Future finances will be shaped by inheritance, but millennials shouldn't hold their breath, they'll have to wait until they're 61Here's how to retire early," promise TikTok's financial influencers. But the life hacks offered never cover the most important advice: pick the right parents. Because looking ahead, inheritances will decide who does, and doesn't, get a decent gap between the carriage clock and grim reaper.Household wealth has surged in Britain in recent decades, to total over 15tn, while wealth inequality is twice as high as income inequality (that's before we recognise that official figures underestimate the assets of the very top by 800bn). Wealth gaps have also stretched between young and old: home ownership rates for young adults have plummeted, while a staggering one in six baby boomers own a second property.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Former president will appear with quadruple' the security, and also honor firefighter killed during shootingDonald Trump plans to return on Saturday to the site where a gunman tried to assassinate him in July, as the former president sets aside what are now near-constant worries for his physical safety in order to fulfill a promise - really an obligation", he said recently - to the people of Butler, Pennsylvania.I'll probably start off by saying, As I was saying ... '," the Republican presidential nominee has joked, in a bit of black humor about a speech cut short when a bullet struck Trump's ear and he was whisked off stage - fist aloft - with blood dripping across his face. Continue reading...

David Paterson, 70, and Anthony Sliwa, 20, were on Upper East Side when a verbal altercation with five people escalatedDavid Paterson, the former New York governor, and his stepson were attacked and injured on New York City's Upper East Side on Friday night, the city police department said.Paterson, 70, and his stepson, Anthony Sliwa, 20, had been walking in the upscale neighborhood at about 8.30pm when they were attacked after a verbal altercation with five people, according to the police. Continue reading...

After renewed interest in case from Netflix series, reality star pleas for leniency for the brothers convicted of murdering their parents in 1989Law school graduate and criminal justice advocate Kim Kardashian has called on California authorities to reconsider the life sentences handed to Erik and Lyle Menendez, the two brothers convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents seven years earlier.They are kind, intelligent and honest men," Kardashian wrote in a personal essay submitted to NBC. The reality star and Skims founder said the brothers' actions were not excusable" but that their life sentences without the possibility for parole are questionable. Continue reading...

Bill rejected by Newsom would have let attorney general deny mergers after recent scandal involving Stewart HealthHopes to rein in private equity investment in healthcare died in California last weekend, as a nationally watched bill was vetoed by the Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.The bill was the nation's most high-profile legislative effort to regulate such investments in healthcare, and would have given the state attorney general discretion to deny mergers. Continue reading...

Western leaders look feeble and helpless as religious fanatics and rightwing zealots dig the region deeper into conflictSo it's finally happening. The wider Middle East conflict that so many feared is igniting. Almost exactly a year after Hamas's 7 October terrorist atrocities, Israel is fighting on multiple fronts. Iran is now the principal adversary. Israeli leaders, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, maintain that it always was. Netanyahu has long sought this showdown.Self-deluding boasts that Israel is winning", bruited about after the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, drown out calls to halt the madness. Despite their otiose talk of changing the regional balance of power, Netanyahu, his far-right allies and generals lack a credible, long-term political strategy. Their whack-a-mole tactics condemn Israel and neighbours to war without end.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

It is little explored that the father of the great architect's patron, Eusebi Guell, made much of his fortune from slavery in CubaI only recently learned, on a trip to Barcelona, that a large part of the money for Antoni Gaudi's glorious buildings came from slavery in Cuba, in which Catalan traders were engaged as late as the 1880s.His greatest patron, Eusebi Guell, owed much of his wealth to slave-based fortunes accumulated by his father-in-law and his father - a fact that, while not secret, is little explored in the official histories. Does this mean that the great architect's work is fatally tainted, that the tourists who queue up to visit the Gaudi-designed palace, park and unfinished church that bear Guell's name should feel bad about themselves for doing so? It does not. But it's never wrong to know the truth, however difficult. Continue reading...

Factory closures and little improvement in working people's lives in Saginaw a death by a thousand cuts' that still hurtsEvan Allardyce worked as an electrician at one of the General Motors factories that once dotted Michigan's Saginaw county and now stand as decaying markers to thousands of jobs lost to corporate agendas. He struggled to find work after the plant closures and was forced to travel across the country for contract jobs.So Allardyce, now a leader of a Saginaw branch of the US's largest electricians union, understands blue-collar anger over the free trade agreements that allowed car makers and other industries to move hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs into Mexico and Canada since the 1990s. He sees how the resulting economic decline and rising poverty in the industrial heartlands helped elect Donald Trump in 2016. Continue reading...

State's bid cites requirements that $60 Trump-endorsed God Bless the USA Bible appears to be tailor-made to meetOklahoma's top education official is seeking to buy 55,000 Bibles for public schools and specifying that each copy contain the Declaration of Independence and US constitution, which are not commonly found in Bibles but are included in one endorsed by former president Donald Trump.The request is part of Republican state superintendent Ryan Walters' ongoing efforts to require Bibles in every classroom, which has been met with resistance by some of Oklahoma's largest school districts. Continue reading...

New York is pushing birth control to curb its rodent problem - at a time when women's reproductive rights in other US states are under attack. Oh, the ironyEric Adams, we recently learned, seems to have spent the bulk of his time as mayor of New York trying to wangle criminally cheap business class tickets from Turkish Airlines. But while Adams may have made history by becoming the first sitting mayor of New York to be indicted on federal corruption charges, the fact that he has a slightly wonky moral compass is old news. Even before being appointed mayor, there were questions about Adam's truthfulness, including a long-running debate about whether the swagger-obsessed candidate lived in Brooklyn, as he insisted he did, or New Jersey. Continue reading...

A year later, memorials to the 7 October attacks use art, virtual reality and dark tourism to stir support for limitless violence. But there is a different way to remember Continue reading...

More than 1.4 million have already voted in the presidential election, as battleground state polls show no clear frontrunnerMore than 1.4 million people have now voted in the presidential election, as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue to crisscross the country in the final stretch of a neck-and-neck campaign.Their vice-presidential picks, JD Vance and Tim Walz, also faced off this week in the only vice-presidential debate of this cycle. But initial polls suggested voters saw the debate as a draw, without clear impact on the race. Continue reading...

Gita, 13, sat down in middle of road in Washington state after owner hurt his leg, fell and couldn't get upA dog saved her owner - who hurt his leg at home in rural Washington state, fell and couldn't get up for hours - by walking to a road, sitting in the middle of it until a local sheriff's deputy stopped, and leading the officer to him, according to authorities.Gita's ability to be a good girl and true hero" in her 84-year-old owner's moment of need after his injury at their cabin on 25 September led to her saving his life that day", the Stevens county sheriff's office said in a statement. Continue reading...

Firefighters carry heavy packs along rugged slopes to calm fast-moving fires, and sweltering weather is compounding already dangerous work

Behind the devastating storm's death toll - currently more than 200 people in six states - lie personal tales of anguishHundreds, if not thousands, of harrowing stories of search and survival have come to light in the wake of Hurricane Helene's devastation, which destroyed communities in six states across the south-east US after it made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region.Heading into the weekend, officials reported at least 215 deaths across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia, the toll climbing as recovery efforts continued. It was the deadliest US hurricane since the levee failures in New Orleans during Katrina killed nearly 1,400 people. Continue reading...

The interim agreement expires in January, and a further strike would again hurt America's fragile supply chainThe Biden administration breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when the union representing port workers called off a strike that threatened mass disruption of goods just weeks before November's election.But the dispute between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the nation's port operators is not yet over, and could hand whoever wins the White House their first political crisis come January. Continue reading...