As much as 5% of all deaths along US eastern coast since 1930s have been the result of such storms, research findsMajor storms such as Hurricane Helene, which obliterated towns and turned roads into rivers after surging inland from Florida last week, have a far longer and more devastating impact upon lives than previously thought, contributing to thousands of deaths up to 15 years after they have swept through, a new study has found.In terms of lives lost, hurricanes are generally thought to be short, sharp events. More than 150 people are thought to have died across five states after Helene tore across the southern US as a category 4 storm, with fatalities caused by rising floodwaters, car crashes or falling trees and debris. Continue reading...
Some states are moving to ban proposition bets', a type of side wager, but big firms are lobbying against itCollege athletes are facing significant abuse" amid a surge in harassment unleashed by America's gambling boom, according to US sports officials who say students are increasingly subject to death threats, harassment and demands for money.A handful of state regulators have moved to ban legal gambling platforms from offering certain types of bets on collegiate sports as a result of the inherently problematic" surge in harassment of college athletes online, at venues and in dorms. Continue reading...
And how will they react to the news from the mayor, Eric Adams, that changes to the source - and taste - are coming?No city believes in its exceptionalism quite like New York City. Whether they're talking about corner stores or mayoral scandals, New Yorkers believe everything there is just better. Even the water claims an almost mythic status, with both locals and experts describing it as the champagne of tap waters".New York tap water is unfiltered - the largest drinking water system in the US where this is the case. That's because the water quality from the Catskills is high enough to meet state guidelines without the need for human-made filtration. Continue reading...
Live coverage of business, economics and financial markets as bank gave accounts to 49,000 high-risk customers and oil prices rise after Iranian missile attacks on IsraelThe UK financial regulator has fined app-based Starling Bank 29m for shockingly lax" failures related to financial sanctions screening.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that Starling had reported multiple potential breaches of financial sanctions" despite its financial checks process being under scrutiny by the regulator.Starling's financial sanction screening controls were shockingly lax. It left the financial system wide open to criminals and those subject to sanctions. It compounded this by failing to properly comply with FCA requirements it had agreed to, which were put in place to lower the risk of Starling facilitating financial crime.The unemployment rate remains at the lowest level recorded since the eurozone began in 1999. The low rate remains remarkable given the sluggish economic environment that the eurozone has been in since late 2022. But labour demand remains high despite a weak economic environment. That results in worrisome productivity developments, but also boosts household income growth and confidence in the short-term. Continue reading...
American Jews will commemorate in different ways - reflecting the deep community divisions since the attacksThe Anthem is a concert hall by the waterfront in Washington DC. Upcoming performing acts include Ringo Starr and Vampire Weekend.But on 7 October, it will be where three large mainstream Jewish organizations, pulling from across the city's Jewish communities, will host an evening of remembrance. Attendees are invited to send in photo reflections - pictures of themselves and their community showing support for Israel - some of which will be shared at the event, an attempt to give the evening a feeling that's both deeply personal and communal. Continue reading...
Ronan Day-Lewis has brought his father out of retirement to shoot Anemone, yet any great actor knows the difficulties of working with young, inexperienced directorsSeven years ago, I recorded my swooning-fanboy professional farewell to Daniel Day-Lewis who at the age of 60 had announced his retirement from movies. He was just going to do Phantom Thread with Paul Thomas Anderson, apparently, and then that would be it.No. Surely not. I dared to hope that he would change his mind. Now he has dramatically retired from retirement, and is shooting a movie called Anemone, co-starring Sean Bean and Samantha Morton. It should be great news. It is great news. And yet many DDL fans will have woken up this morning, pondering a strange and disturbing dream they've had about Jaden Smith, son of Will. Whatever can it mean? Continue reading...
Voting opens in 10th annual contest after Bear 402 was killed by a male bear on Monday in Katmai national parkLet the chunk-off begin.Voting starts on Wednesday in the annual Fat Bear Week contest at Alaska's Katmai national park and preserve, with viewers picking their favorite among a dozen brown bears fattened up to survive the winter. Continue reading...
The ex-president heads towards election day free from courtroom distractions - but how will the pending cases play with voters?For a man staring down years in prison and who claimed he was fighting a weaponised justice system aimed at keeping him from returning to the White House, Donald Trump has many reasons to celebrate.Trump, who for years has fought legal woes on numerous fronts, has repeatedly won battles in criminal and civil proceedings that have insulated him from their potential consequences for the foreseeable future. Continue reading...
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to retaliate. Plus, Walz and Vance clash over abortion Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.The conflict in the Middle East is escalating on multiple fronts.What are the hopes for de-escalation in the region? In such dangerous times, the region has historically looked to Washington to contain and reverse the logic of escalation," writes the Guardian's Julian Borger. But the man currently inhabiting the Oval Office is a lame duck president who has been ignored to the point of humiliation in recent months by the US's closest ally in the Middle East."Follow our live blog hereWhat are the presidential polls saying? It's neck and neck. Nationally, Kamala Harris is averaging 48.6% versus Donald Trump's 45.9%, but the races are even closer in the key swing states that will matter most in determining the outcome. Continue reading...
Trump's running mate had the greasy self-assurance of someone used to lying to people he thinks are stupidMaybe he thought the pink tie could help. JD Vance, the Ohio senator and Donald Trump's running mate, clearly set out to make himself seem less creepy at Tuesday night's vice-presidential debate, and a major target of this project was aimed at convincing women voters to like him. Vance, after all, has what pollsters call high unfavorables", which is a polite way of saying that people hate his guts.Much of this stems from Vance's extreme and inflexible views on abortion, his hostility to childless women, and his creepy statements about families and childrearing. He had to convince women that he's not out to hurt them or monitor their menstrual cycles; he had to try and seem kindly, empathetic, gentle. The resulting 90 minutes felt like watching a remarkably lifelike robot try to imitate normal human emotion. He smiled. He cooed. He spoke of an anonymous woman he knew whom he said was watching, and told her: Love ya". And occasionally, when he was fact-checked or received pushback on his falsehoods or distortions, the eyes of his stiff, fixed face flashed with an incandescent rage.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon, Iran's ballistic attack - there will be no end to this turmoil until a diplomatic settlement is reachedIran's ballistic missile attack against Israel yesterday was a significant escalation in the conflict between the two states. And Israel has promised a response, which could include direct strikes on Tehran. However, the most active front in the conflict in the region is still on the Israeli-Lebanese border, with Israeli troops invading southern Lebanon.Iran's attack came in the aftermath of Israel's killing of Hezbollah secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah; Iran's close connection with Hezbollah means it is deeply invested in the outcome of the conflict in Lebanon. At the same time, while Israel is presenting the invasion as a limited and short-term ground operation, it represents a significant escalation of its conflict with Hezbollah, as well as a huge commitment of military resources. The intertwinement of the Lebanese and regional fronts will impact Lebanon's long-term security - but also Israel's.Do 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...
Biden needs better strategies to handle America's allies. So will the next US presidentThe United States is in a trying position with two of its most consequential foreign friends: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Washington has provided broad military backing to both, even when their actions run counter to long-term US interests. A more clear-eyed approach is needed.Over the last year, Netanyahu repeatedly defied US efforts to de-escalate the war in Gaza. Earlier last month he may even have intentionally scuttled US diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire. And in the past few days, he has backtracked after agreeing to a ceasefire in Lebanon, publicly embarrassing the Biden administration. Continue reading...
The league has ended its resistance to institutional capital. The Premier League has shown the chaos and rot that the relationship can bringThe last of the holdouts has fallen. A few weeks ago, the National Football League passed a resolution to allow private equity investment in individual teams, thereby bringing to an end to the league's long resistance to the incursion of institutional capital. The NFL joins the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, all of which have opened up to institutional investment in recent years. Only one of the league's 32 owners, the Cincinnati Bengals' Mike Brown, voted against the proposal - a decision, reports suggest, born of his longstanding desire to maintain the financial viability of smaller franchises in a league where growth in team valuations and media revenues shows no sign of slowing down.The effects of the new ownership regime will be minimal, for now at least. The NFL will not be transformed overnight from a league in which teams are owned by wealthy individuals and families and managed for the benefit of fans and communities to one run according to the whims of private equity's bullies and money grubbers. But it seems hard to imagine that a shift of this nature won't take shape eventually. The league has been careful to limit the initial scope of private equity investment in the league: individual funds can buy no more than 10% in a given franchise; will acquire purely passive stakes, stripped of any decision-making, governance or voting rights; and will have to hold on to their investments for at least six years. Only four participating funds are allowed to invest for now; they are all long-dated (meaning they generally have long investment horizons and are not, in theory, looking to generate quick returns) and have a lot of money to burn. Sovereign wealth funds, asset management firms, endowments, and pension funds are barred from investing in the league - a marked contrast to the NBA, which opened up to this bigger class of investors in 2022. Continue reading...
We would like to hear from US voters living in swing states and their thoughts on how the debate wentThree weeks on from the presidential debate, Tim Walz and JD Vance took to the stage on Tuesday night for a vice-presidential head-to-head. The two candidate largely avoided attacks on each other in what was a more policy-driven discussion.If you live in a swing state such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, we would like to hear what you thought of the debate. How do you think it went and do you feel the candidates addressed the issues important to you? What other issues would you like them to have addressed in the debate? What was your favourite moment? Did anything change your mind in any way? Continue reading...
A Maga lion in sheep's clothing and a coach with debate nerves brought brief hope of civility returning to politicsThere was a strange feeling as the vice-presidential debate got under way in the CBS News studios on Tuesday night that only intensified as 90 minutes of detailed policy discussion unfolded: was the United States in danger of regaining its sanity?After weeks and months of being assailed by Donald Trump's dystopian evocation of a country on the verge of self-destruction, amplified by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's dire warnings of democracy in peril, here was something very different. The two vice-presidential nominees were embracing that most endangered of American political species: agreement. Continue reading...
Atlanta have benefited from a star on special teams, while San Francisco do not yet look like a united team as they aim for a Super BowlYounghoe Koo Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran will pay" for launching almost 200 ballistic missiles across Israel, in sharp escalation of conflict Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.Iran launched a wave of ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday evening in retaliation for a series of attacks against its proxies. Officials in Tehran cited the assassinations of top Hezbollah and Hamas commanders - including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed on Friday - and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.US election | JD Vance refused to say whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and sidestepped questions over whether he would certify a Trump loss this autumn, bringing out sharp attacks by his Democratic opponent, Tim Walz, during the vice-presidential debate last night.Surveillance | UK government ministers have been warned not to resurrect Conservative plans to tackle welfare fraud by launching mass algorithmic surveillance of bank accounts. Rights and privacy groups fear the government is poised to deliver a snooper's charter" using automation and possibly AI to crack down on benefit cheating and mistakes that cost 10bn a year.UK news | A 14-year-old girl was left with potentially life-changing injuries while a 16-year-old boy was in hospital after a substance - believed to be acidic - was thrown at them by a male who approached them on the street outside their London school, police have said.Lucy Letby | A senior doctor said he was ashamed" he failed to stop the nurse Lucy Letby from harming babies and that police should have been contacted a year earlier. John Gibbs told a public inquiry that doctors received very firm pushback" from senior nurses when they raised growing suspicions about Letby in early 2016.Space | A comet that has not been seen from Earth since Neanderthals were alive has reappeared in the sky, with astronomers saying it might be visible to the naked eye. Continue reading...
Fellow presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama wish Carter well, praising him as a moral force for our nation and world'Joe Biden led congratulations on Tuesday to Jimmy Carter on his 100th birthday, a milestone that makes Carter the first former US president to become a centenarian.Carter entered hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, 19 months ago. His grandson, Jason Carter, has said the former president is eager to cast his ballot for Kamala Harris, a fellow Democrat, in the presidential election. Continue reading...
As the Middle East spiraled towards full-scale war, the US vice-presidential debate focused largely on domestic issuesAs the Middle East spiraled towards full-scale war, the US vice presidential debate focused largely on domestic issues, like school shootings and the cost of housing, healthcare, and childcare.The CBS News debate moderators largely declined to fact-check JD Vance or Tim Walz, asking them instead to respond to each other. Continue reading...
by Moustafa Bayoumi, LaTosha Brown, Ben Davis, Lloyd on (#6R5NJ)
Walz was solid but underwhelming, while Vance nimbly reset his public imageThe first question the vice-presidential candidates were asked in their debate was, frankly speaking, bonkers: Would you support or oppose a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran?" The vast majority of the globe is waiting for the United States to exercise real global leadership and bring, at a bare minimum, temporary calm to the eastern Mediterranean region. But CBS apparently felt it wiser to ask the candidates whether they supported escalating the war now or escalating the war later.Moustafa Bayoumi is a Guardian US columnistBen Davis works in political data in Washington DCLloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnistBhaskar Sunkara is the president of the Nation, founding editor of Jacobin and author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme InequalitiesLaTosha Brown is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter Continue reading...
Vice-presidential candidate sidesteps questions over certifying a Trump loss this fall, drawing rebuke from WalzJD Vance refused to say whether Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and continued to sidestep questions over whether he would certify a Trump loss this fall during the vice-presidential debate on Tuesday.The exchange brought out some of the sharpest attacks from Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate and Minnesota governor, in what was otherwise a muted and civil back-and-forth with the Ohio senator. Continue reading...
Garcia White, convicted in killings of Annette and Bernette Edwards, sixth person put to death in US in the last 11 daysA Texas man convicted of fatally stabbing twin 16-year-old girls more than three decades ago was executed on Tuesday evening.Garcia Glenn White was pronounced dead at 6.56pm CDT following a chemical injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He had been condemned for the December 1989 killings of Annette and Bernette Edwards. The bodies of the twin girls and their mother, Bonita Edwards, were found in their Houston apartment. Continue reading...
Republican nominee visits Wisconsin, pledges to solve' inflation and calls Biden and Harris grossly incompetent'Donald Trump reprised his role as a reality TV character during a rally in Waunakee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, telling voters in the key swing state that his Democratic rival Kamala Harris wouldn't have succeeded on his business competition show.Kamala, you're fired!" the ex-president said, invoking his contestant-eliminating tagline from The Apprentice after he urged voters to support him. Get out of here!" Continue reading...
Prosecutors asked permission to file public version of brief with references to testimony from Trump's closest aidesDonald Trump's lawyers made a last-ditch effort on Tuesday to limit the amount of evidence that could become public that special counsel prosecutors collected during their criminal investigation into the former US president's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.The prosecutors last week filed under seal a brief, which may be as long as 180 pages, to presiding US district judge Tanya Chutkan that defends the viability of the charges against Trump even after the US supreme court's presidential immunity ruling. Continue reading...
by Maya Yang (now); Anna Betts and Yohannes Lowe (ear on (#6R4RZ)
This live blog is now closed. For the latest on US politics, you can see full coverage here.Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Saginaw, Michigan, on Thursday at 3pm ET.In 2016, the former president narrowly won Saginaw county, which sits around 100 miles north-west of Detroit and is home to around 200,000 people. However, in 2020, Joe Biden won the county. Continue reading...
New York City mayor argues that New York Times' leaks over past year amount to prejudicing the public against himLawyers for Eric Adams, the indicted New York City mayor, asked a federal court Monday to hold an evidentiary hearing about what they claim are secrecy violations by government prosecutors.Adams' lawyers argue that the New York Times' leaks over the past year amount to prejudicing the public against the mayor. Continue reading...
President directed the military to aid Israel's defense against any future assaults as US fully supportive' of allyJoe Biden has reaffirmed US support for Israel after Iran's ballistic missile attacks, describing the barrage as defeated and ineffective" and ordering the US military to aid Israel's defense against any future assaults.The attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the US military," the US president told reporters on Tuesday after Tehran launched an unprecedented salvo of 180 high-speed ballistic missiles. Continue reading...
Strike - first by port workers on US east coast since 1977 - threatens to shut down ports from Maine to TexasJoe Biden has urged port operators to give workers a meaningful increase" in pay after tens of thousands went on strike, prompting some of the busiest ports in the US to brace for crippling disruption.About 45,000 port workers represented by the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) began walking off the job after their contracts expired at midnight, with 36 ports along the east and Gulf coasts affected. They typically handle about half of the nation's ocean shipping. Continue reading...
Searchers using helicopters to get past washed-out bridges and hike through wilderness to reach isolated homesHurricane Helene's death toll has surpassed 150 as searchers use helicopters to get past washed-out bridges and hike through wilderness to reach isolated homes.Crews were still trudging through knee-deep muck and debris in the wake of the deadly category 4 storm that dumped more than 40tn gallons of rain on the southern US after it crashed ashore in Florida on Thursday. Continue reading...
With a ground offensive in Lebanon, and Iran firing missiles, the dangers are spiralling. A diplomatic, not military, solution is neededLimited" is a vague assurance or aspiration, not a definition. How many will be dead in Lebanon by the time Israel's limited" ground operation and accompanying strikes are over? More than a thousand have reportedly died in the last fortnight, including women and children. A million people are homeless in a country that was already struggling to function. Far from preventing further conflict, the Israeli groundoffensive only paves the way for more violence.As night fell on Tuesday, Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel - almost 200, according to Israeli Army Radio - which the Revolutionary Guards described as retaliation for the killing of the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas. At least eight people died when armed gunmen opened fire at a light rail stationinJaffa.The Israeli operation appeared, at least initially, to be on a smaller scale than many had anticipated. But the impact will not be limited to the Hezbollah fighters it targets. Ordering civilians to leave does not absolve an army of its obligations to them under international law. Israel used the term limited" during its Rafah operations, yet the outcome there was no different from the devastation seen across Gaza. Limited" operations, when repeated, become something larger. Limited" operations undergo mission creep, intentionally or otherwise - and their outcome is not determined by Israel alone. Hezbollah, Iran and others are rethinking the limits that - for entirely self-interested reasons-they had previously set in striking Israel.Do 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 Freedom party's first ever victory is the latest in a string of far-right triumphs in Europe. Business as usual is not a credible mainstream responseThe sequence has become dismally familiar. Piling up votes in provincial and rural areas at the expense of mainstream parties, a far-right movement celebrates an outstanding election result in a European Union member state. Its leader proclaims a new era" and delightedly receives congratulations from MarineLePen, Viktor Orban and Geert Wilders. Minority ethnic groups, and Muslims in particular, feel less safe and less at home in a country where many of them were born.And repeat. A clear first-place finish for the Austrian Freedom party (FPO) in Sunday's election follows a similar performance by Ms Le Pen's Rassemblement National in the recent snap election in France. Last month, across Austria's northern border, a far-right party won a German state election for the first time since the second world war. In Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the Czech Republic, the authoritarian right either governs or wields significant influence.Do 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 woeful standard of wannabe leaders - KemiKaze, Jimmy Dimly, Honest Bob - proves the Tories' masochistic need to be abusedCredit where credit is due. You'd have thought the Tory party conference would be a downbeat affair. A death spiral of despair. Instead, it's as if everyone is out of their heads on acid. Blissed out in an alternative reality. Slugging back vast quantities of Kool Aid in an everlasting kiss.This being the Conservatives, you can never rule out the possibility that there are a number of delegates who still have no idea they suffered a landslide defeat in the July election. Or even that the election actually took place. The same people who haven't yet been told that Margaret Thatcher is not immortal. There's a surprising number of them. Continue reading...
One worker said Impact Plastics managers would not let employees leave, which company deniesSeveral employees at a plastics factory in eastern Tennessee were killed during Hurricane Helene or are missing, amid warnings that the storm's current death toll of more than 130 is likely to rise substantially as subsiding floodwaters allow rescuers to search through the wreckage.Impact Plastics confirmed there had been fatalities at its plant in Erwin but did not say how many people had been killed. The company said there were missing and deceased employees as well as a contractor. Continue reading...
After practicing with a fake egg, the fortysomething lesser flamingos join other same-sex animal co-parentsTwo male flamingos have joined their kind's ranks of same-sex co-parents after hatching an egg together at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.The two foster dads are both in their 40s and are lesser flamingos, a species found in sub-Saharan Africa and western India, according to the zoo. The chick is also a lesser flamingo. Continue reading...
State's governor had threatened to remove the sheriff from office after the shooting, which followed an argumentA Kentucky sheriff charged with killing a local judge in the latter man's judicial chambers resigned Monday.Shawn Stines, 43, the sherriff in Letcher county, Kentucky, allegedly shot state court judge Kevin Mullins, 54, in the local courthouse on 19 September. Continue reading...
Statue weighing 6,000lbs is expected to be brought to other cities after being on interstate from Las Vegas to RenoA 43ft (13 meters) effigy of an entirely nude Donald Trump on the interstate from Las Vegas to Reno, Nevada, has been dismissed as deplorable" and pornographic" by Republicans in the state.In a statement, the Nevada Republican party said it strongly condemns" the effigy of the former president, which hangs from a crane, weighs 6,000lbs, is made from foam and rebar, is titled Crooked and Obscene and is expected to be brought to other cities as part of a nationwide tour. Continue reading...
Every night, I make up little Rascal's bed and leave a dog chew on his pillow. What's so odd about that?In the popular imagination, writers often have rock'n'roll lifestyles. Me? Not so much. In fact, I have the world's most mundane weekday routine. Every morning, about 8.25, I wipe congealed oatmeal off my kid's face and put her in a stroller. Then I put a lead on my dog (a mutt called Rascal) and walk to daycare with them. Then I walk back home with an empty stroller and my dog.This extremely ordinary routine - or at least the second half of it - seems to puzzle people. Surprisingly often, I have had strangers stop me in the street and ask if the empty stroller is for my dog. No, it's for my small child, whom I just dropped at daycare," I will explain. They will nod along, but look as if they don't quite believe me. Oh," they might say. I thought it was for the dog." Continue reading...
New arrivals in the Ohio city have been blamed for rising costs but reports suggest responsibility lies with landlordsFor John, living in a room in a shared house without even a door for privacy was what he found himself dealing with when he first arrived in Ohio four years ago.I was afraid to tell my wife, who was still in Florida at the time," John says. When I spoke to her on the phone, I closed the video so she wouldn't see what it was like." John, who did not want to give his real name out of fear of the consequences, paid $50 a week for a room in a house that was also home to a family of Haitians and others who came and went regularly. Continue reading...
Walz takes on fellow midwesterner JD Vance ahead on popularity, but the economy remains the critical issueTim Walz has had a meteoric rise to the national political stage, advancing from state governor to Democratic running mate, bolstering Kamala Harris's presidential chances, invigorating the party's base, and re-popularizing the term weird" along the way.On Tuesday night, the avuncular Minnesota governor will face his next challenge: taking on Ohio senator JD Vance, in a much-anticipated debate in New York. Both men have long sold their experiences of growing up in rural midwest towns as proof that they represent middle America, and both were recruited to augment their parties' chances in November. Continue reading...
Every team in the postseason has flaws, which should lead to an open scrap for the World Series. We run down the 12 contenders in OctoberStrengths: Shohei Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a regular season (he finished with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases) and behind him are former MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. And behind those hitters is Teoscar Hernandez, who finished sixth in the National League with 33 home runs. This is an extremely powerful lineup capable of torturing any big league pitching staff. Continue reading...
Trump, widely regarded as the sleaziest person to ever run for president, is leading or tied with Harris in crucial swing statesWith less than 40 days until election day, how can it be that Trump has taken a small lead in Arizona and Georgia - two swing states he lost to Biden in 2020? How can he be narrowly leading Harris in the swing state of North Carolina? How can he now be essentially tied with her in the other key swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin?More generally, how can Trump have chiseled away Harris's advantage from early August? How is it possible that more voters appear to view Trump favorably now than they did several months ago when he was in the race against Biden?Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His newest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...
Officials class mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances' - which medics say could imperil women's livesTwo common abortion pills are, as of Tuesday, classified as controlled substances" in Louisiana, due to a first-of-its-kind law that medical professionals warn will endanger the lives of women by restricting medication used to treat postpartum hemorrhage and other conditions.Louisiana, which already bans abortion, passed a law reclassifying mifepristone and misoprostol as schedule IV drugs - a designation typically reserved for drugs that carry a risk of abuse or dependence. People caught with the drugs without a valid prescription could face up to five years in prison, although pregnant women who procure it for their own use are exempted from punishment under the law. Continue reading...
The debate between the Ohio senator and Minnesota governor will be hosted by CBS News at 9pm ET on TuesdayTim Walz and JD Vance will face off Tuesday night in the first - and only - vice-presidential debate before the November election. With the campaigns currently neck-and-neck in the polls, and with voting under way in some states, it's a chance for the would-be vice-presidents to introduce themselves to a wide US audience.While VP debates don't usually tip the scales much, they could matter in a close race - and they build profiles for lower-profile politicians who will probably stay on the national scene for years to come. Continue reading...
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