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Eagles and Os Lobos cruise past Hong Kong and Kenya, setting up one-off game for place with Wales and Australia in Pool C next yearThe USA set up a winner-takes-all meeting with Portugal next week, the prize a place in the Rugby World Cup in France next year, by beating Hong Kong 49-7 in Dubai on Saturday. In the other game of the day, the Portuguese hammered Kenya 85-0.The Eagles, who last week beat Kenya 68-14, and Os Lobos, who beat Hong Kong 42-14, have both taken bonus points in beating lower-ranked opponents. The Portuguese are slightly ahead on points differential and tries scored (19 to 17). Continue reading...

Balance in Senate chamber remains at 49-49, with eyes on race between Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Adam Laxalt

Republican Adam Laxalt’s lead over Catherine Cortez Masto shrinks in race that could hand Democrats control of chamberAfter the Democrat Mark Kelly was declared the winner of his Senate re-election race in Arizona, the outcome of a tight race in Nevada will determine whether Democrats can secure a majority in the upper congressional chamber without having to hold their breath until the December runoff in Georgia.The race between Nevada’s Democratic incumbent, Catherine Cortez Masto, and her Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, the state’s former attorney general, got even closer on Saturday when a batch of counted votes were reported. Just 862 votes make up Laxalt’s lead. About 25,000 mail-in ballots and 15,000 ballots that need “curing”, or correcting by the voter, have yet to be reported. Continue reading...

The No 2-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs edged the Michigan State Spartans aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln at San Diego’s North Island Naval Air Station in the marquee matchup of college basketball’s opening weekend Continue reading...

Republican, who ran unopposed, will represent home town in state house of representativesNot every Republican television personality who ran for political office during Tuesday’s US elections lost.The winner of the TV competition Survivor: David v Goliath in 2018, Nick Wilson, secured a seat as a Republican in Kentucky’s state house of representatives. Wilson’s path to victory wasn’t particularly fraught, as he ran unopposed for a seat that was left empty when the prior officeholder, Regina Huff, retired. Continue reading...

Actor says he wants to clear his name after 2021 on-set shooting that killed Halyna HutchinsSaying he wanted to clear his name, the actor Alec Baldwin on Friday sued people involved in handling and supplying the loaded gun that he was using when it fired and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a 2021 filming accident in New Mexico.Baldwin filed a cross-complaint in Los Angeles’s superior court alleging negligence against some of the people sued by a script supervisor, Mamie Mitchell. Among other things, it seeks a share of any damages that Mitchell may win from the people Baldwin names and asks that they pay for any damages assessed against him. Continue reading...

Full live results of the Congressional midterms, seat by seat, as electors across the US vote to decide whether the Republicans or Democrats will control the House of Representatives and SenateUS midterm elections 2022 – latest live news updatesAll 435 seats in the lower chamber of the federal congress, the House of Representatives, are re-elected every two years. (There are no term limits, and incumbents are often returned, so there is substantial continuity in the membership). House seats are broadly proportional to population, so California has lots of seats but Montana only a few. Continue reading...

Students, researchers and scholars are negotiating contracts in what could be the largest strike in US’s higher education historyGraduate workers including teaching assistants and student researchers, academic researchers and postdoctoral scholars in the University of California system have voted to authorize a strike which could be the largest in higher education history in the US.Their unions – UAW 5810, UAW 2865 and SRU-UAW – representing 48,000 workers are currently negotiating union contracts for four separate bargaining units. They are coordinating to push increased compensation, childcare reimbursements, job security protections, sustainable transit incentives, eliminating fees for international scholars and stronger disability accommodations. Continue reading...

Acknowledging that climate breakdown is unavoidable is key to making fossil-fuel companies and governments take actionIn his Cop27 speech this week, our will-he-go, won’t-he-go prime minister said that stopping the planet dangerously overheating was still within our grasp, leaving many wondering just what planet he was on.According to Rishi Sunak, last year’s Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow was all about keeping alive the possibility of preventing the global average temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution from climbing above 1.5C. That is “alive”, as in connected to a drip, in a coma and suffering cardiac arrest every few hours.Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL and the author of Hothouse Earth: An Inhabitant’s Guide Continue reading...

In an exclusive extract from her new book, the former first lady shares what she learned about raising a family while living in the White HouseAfter Barack was elected president, word got out that Marian Robinson, my 71-year-old mother, was planning to move to the White House with us. The idea was that she’d help look after Sasha and Malia, who were seven and 10 at the time, at least until they were settled. She’d make sure that everyone adjusted OK and then move back to Chicago. The media seemed instantly charmed by this notion, requesting interviews with my mother and producing a slew of stories, dubbing her “First Granny” and “Grandmother-in Chief”. It was as if a new and potentially exciting character had been added to the cast of a network drama. Suddenly, my mother was in the news. She was news.If you’ve ever met my mother, however, you’ll know that the last thing she wants is to be well known. She agreed to do a handful of interviews, figuring it was just part of the larger transition process, though she said, again and again, that she was surprised that anyone would care. Continue reading...

The incident occurred at the Parris Island training ground last year when temperatures exceeded 90F during physical exercisesA drill instructor at the US Marine Corps’s training grounds on Parris Island, South Carolina, has been charged with negligent homicide after allegedly causing the overheating death of a recruit last year.The instructor, Staff Sgt Steven T Smiley, was in command when Dalton Beals died while undergoing the so-called Crucible event of recruit training at Parris Island on 4 June 2021, the military news website Task & Purpose reported. Investigators determined that Smiley had failed to adequately supervise Beals, 19, and other recruits, making them endure additional physical training even though the temperature exceeded 90F (32C) that day. Continue reading...

Women and young people, furious over losing federal abortion protections, helped Democrats defy expectationsThis summer, after a tectonic decision by the supreme court to overturn Roe v Wade eliminated the nearly 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion, Joe Biden predicted American women would revolt. Republicans, however, saw a “red wave” brewing, fueled by widespread economic discontent.On Thursday, after Democrats defied historical expectations in the first major election of the post-Roe era, Biden effectively declared: “I told ya so.” Continue reading...

Ex-US president tries to reclaim the unhinged ‘stable genius’ as a joke – and a small part of me thinks good luck to himIn among the serious analysis of the US midterms this week, a small nugget of pure joy. Continue reading...

Temperatures in Canada dropped by as much as 20C below normal this weekSignificant cold is spreading widely across North America this weekend, having already affected northern and western parts so far this week.During the night of 9 November, temperatures across central and western provinces of Canada, as well as many western states of the US, plummeted to widely at least 10C (50F) below normal, with some parts of Canada seeing temperatures as low as 20C (68F) below normal. Continue reading...

The former Marine beat Mark Finchem, an ex-member of Oath Keepers militia who was at the Capitol on January 6The victory of Adrian Fontes, the Democratic candidate for secretary of state in Arizona, may come to be seen as one of the most significant results of the 2022 elections in terms of the future of American democracy.Fontes, a former Marine, managed to fend off one of the most contentious Republican election deniers in a bitterly fought and exceedingly close race. His opponent, Mark Finchem, is a state lawmaker who has been a member of the far-right Oath Keepers militia and was present at the US Capitol on the day of the 6 January 2021 insurrection. Continue reading...

Counting continues in key Senate battleground, while Republicans look on course for slim majority in House

The senator defeated the Donald Trump-endorsed Blake Masters after a campaign in which Kelly pitched himself as a moderateDemocrat Mark Kelly has won re-election in Arizona, defeating his far-right challenger Blake Masters in a critical race that puts the Democrats one victory away from securing control of the US Senate.The Arizona race is one of a handful of contests that Republicans targeted in their bid to take control of the 50-50 Senate. It was a test of the inroads that Kelly and other Democrats have made in Arizona, a state that was once reliably dominated by the GOP but has emerged as a purple battleground. Continue reading...

Lombardo, a career police officer, defeats Democrat Steve Sisolak to regain governorship for GOPRepublican Joe Lombardo, a career police officer and sheriff in Las Vegas who was endorsed by Donald Trump, has been elected governor in Nevada.Lombardo defeated Steve Sisolak, regaining the governorship for the GOP and making Sisolak a one-term Democrat amid two decades of Republicans. Continue reading...

The committee demanded the ex-president’s testimony and access to several documents in their investigation of the 6 January riotDonald Trump’s attorneys filed a lawsuit seeking to block the House January 6 select committee’s subpoena demanding testimony in the investigation into Capitol attack, according to court documents and a statement on Friday night, setting up a legal battle over the extent of executive power.The suit appears to reflect an attempt by the former president to delay compliance with the sprawling subpoena, in an effort that could culminate in a constitutional showdown with the House of Representatives before the US supreme court. Continue reading...

Prolific voice actor defined the sound of the caped crusader in acclaimed animated series, films and video gamesKevin Conroy, the prolific voice actor whose gravely delivery on Batman: The Animated Series, was for many Batman fans the definitive sound of the caped crusader, has died at 66.Conroy died after a battle with cancer, series producer Warner Bros announced Friday. Continue reading...

Democrat Mark Kelly appears close to re-election in Arizona, with Nevada still up in the air and Georgia going to a runoff vote

Department of Labor complaint says Nebraska firm employed children ages 13 to 17 to work with ‘dangerous equipment’A Nebraska sanitation services firm is facing a major complaint from the Department of Labor for allegedly employing 31 children in job duties that are illegal for those under 18 years old.The Department of Labor filed the complaint against Packers Sanitation Services (PSSI) on Wednesday, issuing a request for a temporary injunction, as reported by the Daily Beast. Continue reading...

Jody Greene resigned on 24 October after local prosecutors filed petition to remove himA North Carolina sheriff who resigned in late October following revelations he made racist remarks about Black employees will get his job back after voters re-elected him on Tuesday.Jody Greene stepped down as sheriff of Columbus county on 24 October, after the local district attorney filed a petition to remove him over “highly inappropriate and racially charged statements” made about Black employees in 2019. Continue reading...

Joe Biden’s party abandoned timidity and neutered the Republican right. Labour should take heedPolitics has brought so much angst in recent years that when hope comes along we should savour it. This week delivered a dollop of unexpectedly good news from the US, news that should encourage, and perhaps instruct, those who oppose the menace of nationalist populism the world over – even here in Britain.True, the struggle against that danger has enjoyed mixed fortunes this autumn. Jair Bolsonaro was ejected in Brazil, only for an Israeli election to seal the comeback of Benjamin Netanyahu two days later. But the message from Tuesday’s US midterms is clear: populists can be defeated.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist. Listen to his Politics Weekly America podcast here Continue reading...

Former president, who is still expected to announce candidacy, posts diatribe against possible White House contender and others

‘We have zero tolerance for any form of bias or hate,’ company says and offers $100,000 reward to help find who was responsibleThe firm building former US president Barack Obama’s presidential library suspended operations after a noose was found at the construction site in Chicago and the police were called.A $100,000 reward was offered by the construction company to help find who was responsible. Continue reading...

The US president, Joe Biden, addressed the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt on Friday and was briefly interrupted by whooping.He continued, saying the climate crisis posed an existential threat to the planet, and promising that the US was doing its part to combat it

Even as detractors portrayed him as a ‘bum’, senator-elect’s clothing summed up beliefs, says sociologistBy his own admission, Pennsylvania’s new senator-elect, John Fetterman, does not look like “a typical politician”.Just over 6ft 8in with a goatee, tattoos on his forearms and a strong tendency toward workwear (for his official portrait, he chose to sit in a creased, grey Dickies camp shirt in front of the US flag), Fetterman has been described as the state’s first “workwear senator” as well as “a dude in shorts”. Continue reading...

These MPs have found their imaginary backbones only when he is washed up. That tells you everything about their calibreWhat drives Matt Hancock? What propels the erstwhile health secretary to fly home after getting trench foot in Thailand on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, then to almost immediately fly out to the Australian rainforest, pausing only to update his out-of-office bounceback in case West Suffolk constituents want to contact him about boring little things like their problems? Is Hancock himself right when he answers that question by identifying as “an adventurer”: the hero of his own story – and perhaps yet the world’s?No. No, he is not. To watch I’m A Celebrity’s latest campmate for more than two minutes is to know what was already abundantly clear from his career as a minister: Matt Hancock is driven by the urge to resist self-knowledge at all costs. Matt Hancock is a fugitive from self-reflection; a flight risk from the truth; a guy compelled to loudly self-narrate in order to drown out the real story. There is a chasm between thinking you’re a good person who made mistakes, and accepting that things were always going to end the way they did because of who you are. Matt Hancock’s greatest fear is not snakes, as he told the show producers, but of crossing that chasm.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnistA year in Westminster with John Crace and Marina Hyde

Taiwan, human rights, and North Korea expected to be discussed as Biden seeks to ‘build a floor’ for US-China relationshipJoe Biden will meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, the White House has said, in their first face-to-face talks since the US leader became president.Biden hopes the meeting on Monday will allow him to build a “floor” for relations between the two countries, but he will be honest about US concerns, including on Taiwan and human rights, a senior administration official said on Thursday. Continue reading...

The youth vote was the highest in almost three decades, defying conventional wisdom about 18-29 demographic• US midterms 2022 – follow live• US midterms results trackerThe 2022 midterm election delivered surprising results, with Democrats maintaining more House seats than projected and a Republican “red wave” failing to materialize. As the forces driving these come into focus, one group proved to be key: young voters.While final figures are still pouring in, it is estimated that 27% of young voters aged 18-29 cast a ballot in 2022, making this the midterm election with the second highest youth voter turnout in almost three decades, after 2018. In some key battleground states, turnout was even higher, at 31%, and support for Democratic candidates was roughly over 60%, driven in large part by the fight for abortion rights after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade. Continue reading...

Pro-choice anger propelled Democratic candidates, delivered decisive victories in four state referenda on abortion, and blocked the brunt of what was supposed to be a wipeoutWe were told that abortion would not be a major issue in the midterm elections. Over the past weeks, pundits and political strategists alike suggested that the outrage over the Dobbs decision had been momentary, capricious; that by election day, women would forget. They insisted that the surge in new voter registrations among women was a fluke, or irrelevant.Ahead of the election, it became conventional wisdom among a kind of self-serious, mostly male political commentator to insist that not only were the Democrats doomed, they had doomed themselves, specifically, by talking about abortion too much. The party had dragged itself down with a social issue that was ultimately not very important, we were told. The Democrats were going to lose, and it was going to be because they had spent too much time catering to the flighty and unserious demands of feminists. Continue reading...

Libertarian Chase Oliver, 37, managed 81,000 votes despite raising just $8,000

Racist advertising practices marketed vaginal cleansing products to Black women. Years later, they deal with the falloutAs someone who suffers from chronic hives and has a hormonally driven health condition, I have been on a mission to remove risky chemicals from my hygiene regimen. Phasing out toxic chemicals from my hair and beauty routine was fairly straightforward, as “clean beauty” products abound in the makeup aisle these days. But recently, I started assessing another category of products that left me with more questions than answers: the so-called world of “feminine hygiene”.This broad swath of products marketed towards women includes everything from menstrual products like pads and tampons – to cosmetic products aimed at reducing vaginal odors, like scented wipes, powders and douches. The latter category can still be found on drugstore shelves, even though researchers have documented adverse health effects from the use of vaginal cleansing products since the 1980s. Continue reading...

Unprepared system leaves unemployed Americans vulnerable to poverty, losing homes and struggling to pay bills or feed familiesThe onset of the Covid-19 pandemic left millions of Americans jobless in the US, overwhelmingly state unemployment benefit systems that did not have the staffing, technology or resources to handle the influx of those who lost their jobs.Federal pandemic relief added an additional $600 a week to unemployment benefits which was cut to $300 a week, as most state benefits provide only a fraction of the value of weekly wages for the average worker. Continue reading...

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Full live results of the Congressional midterms, seat by seat, as electors across the US vote to decide whether the Republicans or Democrats will control the House of Representatives and SenateUS midterm elections 2022 – latest live news updatesAll 435 seats in the lower chamber of the federal congress, the House of Representatives, are re-elected every two years. (There are no term limits, and incumbents are often returned, so there is substantial continuity in the membership). House seats are broadly proportional to population, so California has lots of seats but Montana only a few. Continue reading...

Strike began after Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s management, Block Communications, cut off health insuranceMore than 100 workers represented by five labor unions at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are currently on an unfair labor practice strike, including production, distribution, advertising and accounts receivable staff.The strike initially began after the newspaper’s management, Block Communications owned by the Block family, cut off health insurance for employees on 1 October after refusing to pay an additional $19 a week per employee to maintain the existing coverage. Continue reading...

With the ex-president facing heat for the GOP’s midterm washout, there is conflict over whether he should delay next week’s event. Plus, the latest on Cop27Good morning.Donald Trump’s top political staffers at Mar-a-Lago are pressing him to move forward with his planned 2024 presidential campaign announcement next week, but a chorus of allies are suggesting he delay until after the Senate runoff in Georgia in December, according to sources familiar with the matter.Is there an upside to waiting until next month? His handpicked Republican candidate, Herschel Walker, trails Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock. His staffers are said to have told him: if Walker wins, you can take credit, and if Walker loses, your position will be no different to now.Why is the midterm vote count taking so long in some US states? Because elections are devolved to each of the 50 states, the method and speed of the count varies slightly between each state. The big picture here is that counts are taking extra time in races that are very close. Continue reading...

For years, the superteam model has dominated the NBA. But recent events suggest there are limits to what superstars alone can accomplishIn his first interview as the permanent head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, Jacque Vaughn addressed the elephant in the room. “I guess I was the write-in candidate in the minds of elections right now,” he said before the Nets’ 112-85 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday. “But I’m OK with that. I said to my wife I might have not been her first choice, but we’ve been together 20 years so it could all work out, so off we go.”If he was a second choice (with the Nets in this case rather than his wife), then who was the first? Well, according to previous reports, the Nets were all set to make one of the most inexplicable moves in NBA history. After parting ways with Steve Nash last week, insiders pegged his likely replacement as suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka. Continue reading...

Lobbying group Alec wrote model legislation to protect oil companies, big ag and gunmakers from economic backlashA powerful rightwing pressure group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), is pushing states to adopt a new law shielding all US businesses from “political boycotts”.Although primarily aimed at protecting controversial industries such as fossil fuel companies, big agriculture and gun manufacturers, the proposed legislation is written to prevent boycotts by investors, banks and other companies of any US business. Continue reading...

The US national team returned to the World Cup after a four-decade absence at Italia 90 – and their showdown with the hosts at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico offered a night to rememberHere they are, back in the bus, and there’s something exhilarating about being on the move with a police escort. It’s a special little part of the pomp and pageantry of a truly big event. Just like the sound of aluminum studs clack-clack-clacking in a stadium tunnel before kickoff, it’s a mental and sensory cue that it’s game time. It’s on.The US team steadily moves through traffic, winding through the Eternal City, gladiators on their way to Rome’s latter-day Colosseum, the Stadio Olimpico. Just like in Trinidad, they’re once again playing the antagonist to the crowd favorites. It’s them against an entire nation, and they’re behind enemy lines. Continue reading...

Angel Ramos, 21, was fatally shot by the Vallejo police department, which then spread falsehoods about the incidentA northern California city that has had one of the highest rates of fatal police shootings in the state has agreed to pay nearly $3m to the mother of a 21-year-old who was killed by an officer inside his family’s home in 2017.The family of Angel Ramos has settled its lawsuit with the city of Vallejo and Vallejo police officer Zach Jacobsen, the family’s attorneys announced on Wednesday. Continue reading...

With the ex-president facing heat for the GOP’s midterm washout, there is conflict on if he should hold off next week’s eventDonald Trump’s top political staffers at Mar-a-Lago are pressing him to move forward with his planned 2024 presidential campaign announcement next week but a chorus of allies are suggesting delaying until after the Senate runoff in Georgia in December, according to sources familiar with the matter.The former US president has been forced to reckon with Republican blame for underwhelming performances from rightwing candidates he endorsed in the midterm elections, with the defeat of Republican candidate Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, contributing to uncertainty over which party will control the Senate. Continue reading...

Jury awarded the sum to Haleigh Breest who alleged the Academy Award winner had assaulted her in 2013A jury ordered Academy Award-winning film-maker Paul Haggis Thursday to pay at least $7.5m to a woman who accused him of rape in one of several #MeToo-era cases that have put Hollywood notables’ behavior on trial this fall.The jury also decided that additional punitive damages should be awarded, but the amount is to be decided later. Continue reading...

Storm, which has weakened from hurricane force, is forecast to head into Georgia and the Carolinas later Thursday and FridayThe death toll from Tropical Storm Nicole rose to at least four on Thursday after the rare November hurricane battered Florida with strong winds and flooding, then weakened into a rainmaker on course for Georgia and the Carolinas.The late-season cyclone made landfall close to Vero Beach on Florida’s east coast at about 3am, delivering 75mph winds and a storm surge that collapsed buildings into the ocean and swept away roads as far north as Daytona Beach. Continue reading...