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US statesman's encouragement of Pinochet's coup in Chile and his backing for Argentina's military dictatorship left lasting stainHenry Kissinger's death has brought out some bitter epitaphs from Latin America where the legacy of US intervention helped saddle the region with some of the most brutal military regimes of the 20th century.Nowhere has been the reaction been more damning than in Chile, where Kissinger was instrumental in the 1973 coup that led to the death of a democratically elected socialist president, Salvador Allende and the installation of a dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet, and his military junta. Continue reading...

Governor has been busy campaigning over the last few months, but his approval rating sank to an all-time low and his constituents are growing increasingly skepticalGavin Newsom won't be on the ballot in 2024, though lately, he's been acting a lot like he is.In the lead-up to his prime-time debate on Thursday with Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, Newsom, 56, has been busy campaigning over the last few months. He has travelled to several red states, where he also paid for billboards and television advertisements. He has challenged not just DeSantis, but a number of Republican governors including Greg Abbott of Texas. He launched a Campaign for Democracy'' political action committee. He met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and Xi Jinping in China. Continue reading...

British-born journalist's program had gained reputation for hard-hitting interviewsThe cable TV channel MSNBC and its sister network NBC's Peacock streaming service is cancelling the weekend news show The Mehdi Hasan Show, with its eponymous outspoken host, people familiar with the decision have told the news website Semafor.The host and journalist Mehdi Hasan will instead become an on-camera analyst and guest host, the outlet reported on Thursday. The Peacock original show will be replaced by an additional hour of Ayman, the news program hosted by Ayman Mohyeldin. Continue reading...

Phillip Dean Hancock killed by lethal injection after Republican governor declines to commute sentence despite recommendationOklahoma executed a man on Thursday who claimed he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed two men in Oklahoma City in 2001.Phillip Dean Hancock, 59, received a three-drug lethal injection at the Oklahoma state penitentiary and was declared dead at 11.29am. His execution went forward once the Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, declined to commute his sentence, despite a clemency recommendation from the state's pardon and parole board. Continue reading...

The New York fabulist faces expulsion but the fault for his rise lies with Trump, McCarthy, McConnell and the supreme courtIt seems churlish for any member of the party of Donald Trump to single out George Santos for punishment as a liar, fraudster and fabulist. The 23 federal charges against the first-term member of Congress pale beside the Republican frontrunner's 91 felony counts and civil suits over fraud and E Jean Carroll's defamation claim, based on her allegation of rape. Republicans' faux horror at the discovery of Santos's extravagant spending of campaign funds on Botox, casino chips and OnlyFans porn belies their previous blithe tolerance of the red-dressed, gay-pride, Brazilian drag queen in their midst. Santos thrived as the symbol of the cultural contradictions of Republicanism. Did his sophisticated taste for accessories from Hermes and Ferragamo finally do him in with his anti-globalist colleagues?The facts of Santos's false identity were pried apart gradually, beginning before he was even sworn in. Slowly, his crimes were revealed. Expose after expose - yet nothing happened. So long as Santos voted as a reliable Republican (100% Heritage Action rating), he was shielded from ritual rounds of queer bashing, much less expulsion. The narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives required every able-bodied member who could hold up an arm. Santos was straight as a party liner. Continue reading...

Paralysed by the demands of the Israeli public and the US, the PM is struggling to offer solutions or a vision of the future

No matter who 72-year-old Gerry picks on this week's finale, the spin-off has injected new life into the US's flagship dating showStrange as it may sound, one of the hottest shows on TV this fall has been ... an old dating series now catering, for once, to senior citizens. That would be The Golden Bachelor, a new spin-off of America's pre-eminent dating series in which a 72-year-old widow searches for love among a cohort of age-appropriate women aged 60-75. The show has delivered the franchise's highest ratings in years - its September premiere reached a combined 13.9 million viewers and set a streaming record as ABC's most-watched episode of an unscripted series ever on Hulu. And it's not just appealing to the golden demographic; the series scored the franchise's best ratings for the 18-49 demographic since a 2021 episode of Bachelor in Paradise, which adheres to the much more standard format of hot young singles commingling in hot exotic locales.Anecdotally, The Golden Bachelor has transcended the generally siloed island of Bachelor Nation - no show has been mentioned to me more this fall, or with more surprise and delight. I'm generally dating show agnostic, and yet found myself charmed by the older midwesterner Gerry Turner and his suitors, all openly looking for companionship after love, loss and many former eras. Regardless of who Turner chooses on this week's two-hour season finale - 64-year-old Leslie Fhima, a former national aerobics champion, or 70-year-old Theresa Nist, who also lost a longtime beloved spouse - the Golden Bachelor has undoubtedly reinvigorated America's pre-eminent dating franchise. Continue reading...

Republican congressman, facing possible expulsion following House vote on Friday, gives speech outside the US Capitol

The logjam created by MLS's newly bloated playoff format and European qualifying has made things complicated for players like Philadelphia Union and Hungary midfielder Daniel GazdagThe 28th season of Major League Soccer has taken a league famed for its frequent changes and Americanized innovations and shifted the format once more.With the inaugural Leagues Cup stuck into the middle of a long, arduous season, MLS's 29 teams entered the postseason already considerably fatigued. Upon arrival, they'd find an expanded playoff format allowing nearly two-thirds of the league's teams into a postseason race that started with drawn-out best-of-three series. Victors in that round were then treated to an international break - further beleaguering their star talent - before the conference semi-finals arrived this past weekend. Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin among those offering condolences and praising former US secretary of state, amid division over legacy

Leaders of China, France, Russia and Italy pay tribute amid critical statements over his record in Latin America and CambodiaOn the subject of Taiwan - and see below for our China correspondent Amy Hawkins' reminder of the incredible fact that in 1979 Kissinger was a key figure in the US severing ties with Taiwan, and switching its formal recognition to the government in Beijing - some people there praised his death as good news".Bless him for being Chinese in his next life," one said. Continue reading...

Edited video clips, which some say are misleading, show comments made by public at city council debate justifying Hamas as armed resistance'Prominent Democratic party leaders in California, as well as pro-Israel Jewish groups in the Bay Area, have condemned expressions of support for Hamas and conspiracy theories questioning the 7 October attacks aired at a heated Oakland city council debate on Monday.The California congress member Adam Schiff said it was shocking to hear people downplay, deny or even seek to justify" the horrific attacks, rapes, killings and kidnappings" carried out by Hamas. Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, also posted on social media that Hamas was a terrorist organization that must be called out for what they are: evil". Continue reading...

Santos appeared to launch a veiled threat against House members who voted against his expulsion, saying it would 'haunt them'.He also launched a tirade against New York Democratic representative Jamaal Bowman, who was charged last month with setting off a false fire alarm in a House office building before a vote on a government funding bill. Bowman pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a fine of $1,000 (792).The Republican speaker of the US House, Mike Johnson, said the chamber would vote on whether to expel George Santos on Thursday for embellishing his resume and allegedly breaking federal law

Former US secretary of state visited Peru dressing room before eyebrow-raising 1978 defeat and claimed to have devised tactics that were forerunner of catenaccioIt was the final game of the second group phase. Earlier in the day, Brazil had beaten Poland 3-1, which meant Argentina had to beat Peru by four goals to make it to the 1978 World Cup final. Before kick-off, the Peru team were visited in their dressing room by Jorge Videla, the leader of the military junta that had seized power in Argentina in 1976, and Henry Kissinger, who had been the US secretary of state until the previous January. This, Peru's players felt, was deeply odd.Kissinger, who died on Wednesday, loved football and often attended games. In 1976, for instance, after flying to Britain to discuss the crisis in Rhodesia, he went to Blundell Park for Grimsby's win over Gillingham with the foreign secretary, Tony Crosland, a passionate Grimsby fan. Continue reading...

Demonstrators say they are using event as educational moment for our fellow New Yorkers'Hundreds gathered around Manhattan on Wednesday night, outside iconic locales like the Rockefeller Center, in support of the people of Palestine amid a truce between Israel and Hamas.Outside the News Corp Building, there was an interfaith protest organized by Within Our Lifetime, a Palestinian-led community organization. A few blocks away, at Rockefeller Center, a starkly different scene was playing out: the 90th tree lighting ceremony where scores of people gather each year to witness the illumination of the 80-foot-tall Norway spruce. Continue reading...

He may have overseen the 20th century, but the champion of US power was also a symbol of its dangerous neo-imperialismAll political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure." So said Enoch Powell - yet to this famous aphorism, Henry Kissinger, cold war strategist, US secretary of state, counsellor to 12 American presidents and alleged war criminal - who has died aged 100 - is a notable exception.The man who invented shuttle diplomacy, promoted the concept of hard-eyed realpolitik and pursued fleeting mirages of detente between hostile superpowers paradoxically lived a life of multiple professional failures that ended happily, marked by generally high international regard.Simon Tisdall is a foreign affairs commentator. He has been a foreign leader writer, foreign editor and US editor for the GuardianDo 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.

Right wing criticizes US president for appearing to support a ceasefire, while others see move as a potential to stop the bloodshedJoe Biden is facing criticism after a social media post sowed confusion over his stance on the Israel-Hamas war, with some viewing it as evidence that he is bowing to domestic pressure for a ceasefire.Hamas unleashed a terrorist attack because they fear nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace," the US president's X account said on Tuesday. To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek. We can't do that." Continue reading...

For more than a decade, people have been saying that the era of US dominance is coming to an end. But in reality there are still no other global players to rival itIn recent years, the idea that the United States is an empire in decline has gained considerable support, some of it from quarters that until very recently would have denied it was ever an empire at all. The New York Times, for instance, has run columns that describe a remarkably benign" American empire that is in retreat", or even at risk of decline and fall.Yet the shadow American power still casts over the rest of the world is unmistakable. The US has military superiority over all other countries, control of the world's oceans via critical sea lanes, garrisons on every continent, a network of alliances that covers much of the industrial world, the ability to render individuals to secret prisons in countries from Cuba to Thailand, preponderant influence over the global financial system, about 30% of the world's wealth and a continental economy not dependent on international trade. Continue reading...

UK footwear firm's shares plunge as American turnaround proves more challenging than expected'Dr Martens has issued its fourth profit warning this year as a tough consumer environment in the US continues to affect sales of its sturdy boots.The Northamptonshire-based footwear brand said sales fell 5% to 396m in the six months to 30 September and pre-tax profits dived 55% to 26m. While this was better than City analysts had expected, the company said the outlook for the following six months had worsened because of a slower than hoped for recovery in its US business. Continue reading...

Former secretary of state under Richard Nixon became one of the most prominent and controversial figures of US foreign policy in the 20th century. Plus, what's happening on the first day of Cop28

Parents of three hostages met with officials on Wednesday to pressure Biden administration to push for Americans' releaseIn the disorienting aftermath of Hamas's 7 October assault on Israel, Ruby and Hagit Chen desperately sought news of their son, 19-year-old Itay Chen, a dual American-Israeli citizen who had been on active duty for the Israeli military.Then came an early morning knock on the door of their home in Netanya, a city north of Tel Aviv. Continue reading...

As mainstream politics has shifted to the right, once-fringe parties are gaining support - and moving closer to governmentThe turning point in Geert Wilders' path to Dutch electoral triumph (if not power) is now thought to have been the decision by the leader of the conservative VVD party to open the door to Wilders' party as a coalition partner. It was at this moment that many voters calculated that they might as well vote for Wilders as for the VVD.More and more rightwing leaders across western Europe are making the same decision to accommodate the far right in coalition as a way of keeping their own parties in power. The fact that this tactic completely backfired for the VVD's Dilan Yeilgoz, (her party ended up in third place) contains an important lesson that extends beyond the Netherlands.Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor in the school of public and international affairs at the University of GeorgiaDo 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...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells Ryan Grim life in Congress completely transformed' after Democratic leader stepped downIn a call to congratulate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on her momentous 2018 primary win over Joe Crowley, a Democratic grandee from New York, Nancy Pelosi told the young socialist from the Bronx: We already have too many old white men here in Congress."The quip from the then Democratic minority leader, who went on to be House speaker until January this year, seemed to indicate strong affinity for the younger woman. Continue reading...

When it comes to the NBA's best ever practitioners in the bitter science of verbal sparring, these 10 players stand above the restIn the NBA, there is a skill paramount to winning that isn't often taught in camps or clinics. Some are born with it and while they can hone the attribute over time, it is not always evident from afar like speed or springy legs. It's the timeless art of trash talking and in basketball, a sport likened to one played in underwear, where there are no helmets and open space comes at a premium, verbal sparring is frequent.But who is the best? Who has the most potent style? Who could jaw with such prowess that it helped gain their teams an advantage even before the sneakers are laced? Indeed, whose tongues provide the best weapons? Let's dig in. Continue reading...

With the regular season past its halfway point, we pick out a few figures around the league and assess the likelihood of there being change in the airShould Prescott's seat feel warm? No. Does it? Absolutely. It's drifted under the radar, but Prescott has been the NFL's best quarterback since week six. He leads the league in QBR and EPA/play since the debacle that was the 42-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in week five. And if you extrapolate that performance out over the full season, he would still be in second. Continue reading...

Success at Cop28 and in the future lies in equipping a new generation to lead the transition to a greener planet. Countries such as Kenya have already laid the groundworkThe faces of young climate activists have become familiar in reports of UN climate talks. Their frustration and anxiety are understandable. We are off-track in achieving global climate goals, and their generation faces a crisis it did not create.But what often goes unnoticed in climate discussions is the proactive work of dynamic young people in low- and middle-income countries. From the Kenyan Youth Biodiversity Network engaging in national policy discussions to social entrepreneurs in the Philippines creating green business opportunities, young people are taking matters into their own hands by actively educating their communities and seeking green opportunities. Continue reading...

Far from freeing the UK from continental insecurities, Brexit has made some of them worse. Isolationism won't help: the only hope is to work with our neighboursOnce again, a spectre is haunting Europe. Yet the spectre is not communism, as Karl Marx wrongly predicted nearly 200 years ago. Far from it. The spectre today consists of multiple new drivers of national and regional insecurity. Together they threaten Europe's - and Britain's - long postwar years of general democratic stability and intermittent economic optimism. And Europe does not yet know what to do about it.Last week's success for Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom in the Netherlands' general election is the latest of these many shocks. The vote for Wilders' anti-migrant, anti-Islamic and Eurosceptic campaign has sent a jolt through all of Europe. It is too simplistic to call it part of a general shift to the right, partly because that may encourage simplistic responses. The far right has always been a problem in each country, and will continue to be so. But the increased vote for Wilders is also a sign of something altogether larger.Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

This year's summit in Dubai must be the moment when the developing world finally meets its climate crisis promises

We are belatedly waking up to the many health risks of microplastics. Yet too little research focuses on the most exposed demographic of allFor the last 70 years, we have all been lab rats in the biggest health experiment of human history, one that none of us signed up for, least of all our children.In the run-up to attending the global plastic treaty negotiations in Nairobi, I was feeling frustrated about the coverage of microplastics and their impact on human health, so I wrote a report, Babies v Plastics. I wanted to emphasise that these tiny, insidious fragments of plastic are associated with not just one health risk, but with an entire range of health issues, from elevated miscarriage rates to early puberty. Continue reading...

The towering diplomat and Nobel prize winner shaped decades of US foreign policy but was seen by critics as a war criminalHenry Kissinger, the former secretary of state under Richard Nixon who became one of the most prominent and controversial figures of US foreign policy in the 20th century, has died. He was 100.His consulting firm Kissinger Associates announced his death in a statement on Wednesday evening, but did not disclose a cause. Continue reading...

Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state under Richard Nixon, became one of the most prominent and controversial figures of US foreign policy in the 20th century. He remained influential until the end of his life, in large part thanks to his founding of his geopolitical consulting firm and the authorship of several books on international affairs

The former secretary of state and Nobel peace prize winner remained influential in US politics and foreign policy until the end of his life Continue reading...

Stan, who recently played Tommy Lee in Pam & Tommy, will play the former US president in new film, joined by Strong as Roy Cohn and Bakalova as Ivana TrumpMarvel star Sebastian Stan will play Donald Trump in an upcoming biopic, to be joined by Succession's Jeremy Strong and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova in leading roles.Directed by Iranian film-maker Ali Abbasi, The Apprentice, which commenced production this week, is billed as an exploration of power and ambition in a world of corruption and deceit. Continue reading...

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Union drive will cover nearly 150,000 workers at factories largely in US southLess than two weeks after ratifying new contracts with Detroit automakers, the United Auto Workers union announced plans on Wednesday to try to organize workers simultaneously at more than a dozen non-union auto factories.The UAW says the drive will cover nearly 150,000 workers at factories largely in the south, where the union has had little success in recruiting new members. Continue reading...

Prosecutor says lethal dose of ketamine killed the 23-year-old Black man, after he had been weakened by police neck holdsA Colorado prosecutor said on Wednesday that two paramedicsdid nothing" to help an ailing Elijah McClain as he lay on the ground and instead injected him with an overdose of a powerful sedative that killed the 23-year-old Black man, after he had been weakened by police neck holds when officers forcibly restrained him as he was walking home from a convenience store.A defense attorney, however, sought to shift blame to the officers during opening statements in the final jury trial over McClain's 2019 death in a Denver suburb. Continue reading...

Republican county supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd initially refused to certify their county's election resultsTwo elected officials in a rural Arizona county who stalled certifying election results have been charged by Arizona's attorney general with conspiracy and interfering with an election officer.Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, Republican county supervisors in Cochise county, face two felony counts for their initial refusal to certify the county's election results in 2022. A grand jury convened earlier this month to discuss the potential charges, which were filed on Wednesday. Continue reading...

The novel, about the uprising of a fictional Latino community, won widespread recognition for its themes of social justiceThe writer John Nichols, best known for his populist novel The Milagro Beanfield War, has died. He was 83.Nichols died on Monday at home in Taos, New Mexico, amid declining health linked to a long-term heart condition, said his daughter, Tania Harris of Albuquerque. Continue reading...

Indictment released by DoJ also provides new evidence unnamed agent ordered murder of activist Hardeep Singh NijjarUS prosecutors have accused an agent of the Indian government of directing the attempted assassination of an American citizen on US soil, according to a superseding indictment released by the Department of Justice, which revealed new details about India's alleged targeting of Sikh activists around the world.The indictment also provided new evidence that the Indian agent - who is not named - ordered the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh activist who was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia in June. Continue reading...

Munger, who has died at 99, won fans for a quick wit that cut much of the business world down to sizeIf people weren't so often wrong, we wouldn't be so rich," Charlie Munger, the right-hand man of the billionaire stock picker Warren Buffett, once said of rival investors.It was that humour, paired with decades of investment successes, that endeared Munger to a global business community now in mourning after news of his death at the age of 99 on Tuesday night. Continue reading...

Look past the sniping and family rivalries, and a new book from biographer Omid Scobie paints a deeply disturbing pictureOmid Scobie is the reporter favoured by Harry and Meghan. In ordinary circumstances, this would be a footnote, but the couple's relationship with the rest of the press is so frosty that Scobie's access looks as unfettered as if he were their medieval scribe or they were all in a thruple. It's for this reason, I suspect, that there are no details in Scobie's new book, Endgame, that would trouble the Sussexes. Given the openness of Harry in Spare, earlier this year, there was arguably not much new news to share.Yet scandal arrived on its own, via the Dutch publishers, whose translation appeared to name the member of the royal household who allegedly asked what colour Meghan and Harry's son would be when he was born. The book has been pulled from the shelves in the Netherlands, though not before some readers clocked it, so the intelligence is now in the waiting room of the public domain; enough people know it that we'll all know it soon enough.Zoe Williams 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...

Mike Johnson says we're going to allow people to vote their conscience' over Republican, fabulist and accused fraudster

Music and culture publication has acquired the feminist US news site and is looking to relaunch as quickly as possibleLess than three weeks after the feminist US news site Jezebel was shuttered, news has emerged that the site has been acquired.On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Paste Magazine, a music and culture publication, had acquired Jezebel and was looking to relaunch the site as quickly as Wednesday. Continue reading...

It's obscene that the super-rich can criminalise protest, while they burn the world's resources and remain untouched by the lawDon't they have children? Don't they have grandchildren? Don't rich and powerful people care about the world they will leave to their descendants? These are questions I'm asked every week, and they are not easy to answer. How can we explain a mindset that would sacrifice the habitable planet for a little more power or a little more wealth, when they have so much already?There are many ways in which extreme wealth impoverishes us. The most obvious is money-spreading across our common ecological space. The recent reporting by Oxfam, the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Guardian gives us a glimpse of how much of the planet the very wealthy now sprawl across. The richest 1% of the world's people burn more carbon than the poorest 66%, while multibillionaires, running their yachts, private jets and multiple homes, each consume thousands of times the global average. You could see it as another colonial land grab: a powerful elite has captured the resources on which everyone depends.George Monbiot 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...

In my previous column, I accused veterinarians of upselling' remedies for profit, and I am sorry. Vets are lovely - but their corporate employers, not so muchI owe vets an apology. I wrote something about the commercialisation of veterinary care a couple of weeks ago which did the vast majority of them a great disservice. I would have apologised sooner, but I was away on holiday last week. If it's any consolation to those furious with me, my break was marred by worries about how I'd find a vet to treat my dog if he got ill. I suppose I could have sent him in alone with a note and some cash tucked into his collar.A number of clarifications are necessary. I should have made clear that almost every vet I have had the pleasure of meeting was exactly that - a pleasure to meet. Mostly not long out of veterinary school, they have been kind, patient, clever and plainly motivated by a love of, and desire to care for, animals. On reflection, this sheer fondness for their patients is what separates vets from doctors. But I've made enough enemies in the field of medicine lately, so best I don't go there.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and 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...