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In an open letter, the leaders of the group allege the Democratic National Committee is taking away people's choice in 2024 electionThe centrist group No Labels accused the Democratic National Committee of waging war" against it, fearing the impact of a potential third candidate in a putative 2024 election rematch between the president and Donald Trump.In an open letter entitled Defending the Soul of the Nation' and Ending the War on No Labels, the former Connecticut senator and vice-presidential nominee, Joe Lieberman, the former Missouri governor Jay Nixon and the civil rights leader Benjamin Chavis accused the DNC of a heavy-handed effort to limit Americans' choices in the 2024 election". Continue reading...

His menacing words toward Mark Milley and Letitia James should not be shrugged offTwice in the past two weeks, Donald Trump has suggested violent consequences for those who dare to cross him.Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, deserves to be executed, Trump charged. Milley's backchannel communications, intended to reassure Chinese military leaders before and after the 2020 election, amounted to a treasonous act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!" Continue reading...

The humdrum era is here - but the prices remain as outrageous as everLeafing through Grazia magazine's autumn fashion special, amid the adverts for Cartier panther rings, power suits and slinky boots, I was stopped in my tracks by the following headline: Is your wardrobe boring enough?"Apparently, this season's catwalk shows were teeming with hoodies worn under drab coats combined with leggings, trainers and cross-body bags. It's me! At last, the capsule wardrobe I have painstakingly curated over many years is bang on trend. (Well, maybe not my cashmere hoodie which has served as a free buffet for all the moths in north London since I last wore it, but that's a mere detail.)Anita Chaudhuri is a freelance journalistDo 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...

Christians, Muslims and Jews have starred in the league. But even those without a faith can benefit from spiritual practiceBefore every game, Bob Hill brought his teams together for a moment of silence. Hill, who coached in places like New York, Indianapolis, San Antonio and Seattle, didn't insist on any particular message. It was simply a moment of togetherness before the start of another NBA battle. But it was in 1994 when he got to San Antonio, where David Robinson starred, that Hill was exposed to a more pointed pregame process. During a preseason game against the Knicks, Robinson, a born-again Christian, began to lead the team in prayer. Then, before the next game, the 7ft 1in center did so again. It got to be such a big part of the team's ritual that pregame prayer became the norm - fitting, Hill says, for a roster that included Terry Cummings, an ordained minister, and Avery Johnson, who was also a born-again Christian.I didn't have anything to do with it. This was all them," says Hill, remembering the season when the Spurs went 62-20. The culture of the team was spiritually motivated because of David, Terry and Avery. It was that way all year long." Continue reading...

Anyone watching the historic' or unprecedented' turns in recent US politics will not be surprisedIn the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside." These words, delivered at the US Capitol by president John F Kennedy in his 1961 inaugural address, seemed particularly apt on Tuesday.Kevin McCarthy's ousting as speaker of the House of Representatives was a personal tragedy foretold. The first seeds of destruction had been planted when, days after declaring Donald Trump responsible for the January 6 insurrection, McCarthy went grovelling at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and made his pact with the devil. Continue reading...

The election of the pro-Kremlin nationalist Robert Fico reveals a country in crisis - and one that young people like my sons will leaveWhen the Polish writer Witold Szabowski tried, at an event in London we both attended earlier this year, to describe the feeling shared by many people in countries bordering Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, he reached for the image of a hen house being circled by a fox. It was an apt metaphor: the fox quietly huffing and puffing, prowling menacingly, tightening the noose. Beyond the fence, the house of our neighbours lies ransacked; we watch from a distance, our own houses still quiet. But the tension and restlessness inside them has mounted like a pressure cooker.Ahead of Slovakia's election last Saturday, the unease among pro-democracy voters was intense. Now the results are in and we watch in sadness, as parties sympathetic to Russia set about trying to form a coalition government.Monika Kompanikova is a Slovakian writer and books editor at Dennik N. Her 2010 novel Boat Number Five was made into the movie Little HarbourDo 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...

New report airs arguments for and against nuclear-powered submarine sale to Australia

Anger is still seen as admirable in men but unacceptable in women. It's time to end the tyranny of gendered emotionsWhen the captain of the Indian women's cricket team was banned for two matches and fined for smashing the stumps with her bat in an angry outburst in July, the social media reaction was swift and harsh: Harmanpreet Kaur was called pathetic" for her anger on the pitch, and labelled disgusting and stupid".This is in stark contrast to the way people respond to male aggression in the sport. A quick search of the web will find numerous discussion forums and articles lauding the angry men of Indian cricket that you wouldn't want to mess with", and cricketers such as Virat Kohli, who has been nicknamed the Hulk" because he is angry all the time". Continue reading...

Victims reportedly receive non-life-threatening injuries, with city council member saying it is believed three people fired into a crowdAt least four people were wounded, none critically, in a shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore on Tuesday, according to authorities.Baltimore police initially said officers were on the scene of an active shooter situation". Police kept the campus on lockdown for hours, telling people to shelter in place and avoid the area. The address given for the shooting appeared to match a residential building on the same block as a city police station. Continue reading...

An inside look at the House chamber during the unprecedented, bipartisan vote to remove the speakerA grim-faced Kevin McCarthy clenched the armrest of his seat in the House chamber as he was ousted from the speakership on Tuesday, the knuckles of his right hand turning whiter with every vote that assured he would lose the gavel in a move without precedent in modern US history.The person who had orchestrated his removal, the far-right Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, was seated about 20 feet behind him, at times leaning forward in anticipation and apparent excitement. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. You can read our stories on today's events at the links below:

McCarthy was ousted by hard-right members of his own Republican party, eight of which voted with 208 Democrats to remove him from office. 'Chaos is Speaker McCarthy. Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word,' said Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, who tabled the motion to vacate the chair that led to McCarthy being removed after nine months in the role.

Now-former speaker confirms he will not run again as Republicans plan to hold a vote for a new speaker next Wednesday

Chaos' erupts after McCarthy is removed from the post nine months after he secured the gavel through 15 rounds of votingThe US House of Representatives voted to remove Kevin McCarthy from the speaker's chair on Tuesday, making McCarthy the first speaker of the House in US history to be removed from the job.McCarthy, who had only been in the post for nine months, set the wheels in motion for his removal last weekend when he collaborated with Democrats in an effort to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. That move prompted the hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida to introduce a motion on Monday night to oust him. Continue reading...

At least half of fake electors have already reached deals with district attorney's office for immunity in exchange for assistanceFulton county prosecutors in Georgia have approached several defendants about plea agreements in the sprawling criminal racketeering case dealing with Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Tuesday.Plea agreements are common in such cases accusing defendants of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Act, where prosecutors will often try and get individuals at the lower level of a criminal enterprise to flip" and assist the prosecution in exchange for a lighter sentence or immunity. The district attorney's office has already reached immunity plea agreements with at least half of the fake set of electors in Georgia. Continue reading...

More than 100 of 148 recorded deaths in El Paso sector were recorded between May and September when heat topped 100FScorching summer temperatures caused the number of deaths along one of the busiest migrant routes into the US to more than double in the 2023 fiscal year that closed on Sunday, according to data from the US border patrol.More than 100 of the 148 recorded deaths in the patrol's El Paso sector were recorded between May and September when temperatures were at or above 100F (37.7C) for 44 consecutive days, the El Paso Times said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

A Trump loyalist, Gaetz is being investigated by the House ethics committee for sexual misconduct and misuse of funds

US House speaker was removed from office after making deal with Democrats to avert shutdown

Republican, who some say could replace Kevin McCarthy, has had reported associations with ex-Ku Klux Klan grand wizardSteve Scalise, the Louisiana Republican who some in his party reportedly want to elect as speaker of the US House of Representatives after the stunning and historic removal of Kevin McCarthy, was once reported to have called himself David Duke without the baggage".Duke, 73, is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, an avowed white supremacist who has run for Louisiana governor, the US House and Senate and for president and who in 2003 was sentenced to 15 months in jail for mail and tax fraud.This article was amended on 3 October 2023 to correct who Matt Gaetz said might be good choices for House Speaker. Continue reading...

Vote expected on Tuesday afternoon after hard-right Florida congressman Matt Gaetz files motion to vacate

Potentially wide-ranging agreement could be unachievable due to British objections to lower animal welfare standardsThe US is pushing for Britain to open up its agricultural markets to US traders as part of a new economic agreement that would fall just short of a free trade agreement.Washington and London have begun negotiations over a foundational trade partnership", which would cover subjects such as digital trade, labour protections and agriculture, according to documents seen by the Guardian and first revealed by Politico. Continue reading...

Police arrest suspect in abduction of Charlotte Sena, whose disappearance from upstate New York park prompted more than 100 to searchDrones, bloodhounds and an airboat were used in the search for a missing nine-year-old girl who had been camping with her family in upstate New York, officials said Sunday.Charlotte Sena was last seen bicycling on Saturday evening in Moreau Lake state park, about 35 miles (60km) north of Albany, and police said it was possible she was abducted. Continue reading...

Victory for a Putin-friendly populist has given Viktor Orban an ally and the rest of Europe a problemElections in Slovakia, a country of 5.5 million people on the eurozone's eastern flank, do not normally generate global headlines. But these are not normal times. Amid fears of growing cracks in western unity over Russia's war in Ukraine, the victory over the weekend of a pro-Putin populist committed to ending military aid to Kyiv sent an ominous signal.Slovakia has bigger problems than Ukraine," said Robert Fico, in the wake of a win that will have been a cause for satisfaction in the Kremlin. His Smer-SD party, which ran a campaign targeting irregular migrants, LGBTQ+ rights and support for Kyiv, will now seek to lead a coalition government. For Mr Fico, who has been the subject of corruption allegations, and was ousted as leader in 2018 in toxic circumstances, this was a remarkable comeback. For most of Europe, it is one with worrying implications on a number of levels.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...

After winning the European title for the first time, the British women's team take on the might of the USA in AntwerpGreat Britain arrived at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago as heavy underdogs with low expectations. Not only were they a young and inexperienced group but they had to ignore ample criticism about the team composition after the omission of Becky Downie. At the end of a chaotic, unforgettable night in the team final, though, they held their nerve and emerged as surprise bronze medallists.The British team have continued to be the revelation Gymnasts can sometimes struggle to replicate such lofty successes, but a year later, they won a first world team silver medal on home soil in Liverpool. This year, they became European champions for the first time and finishing second in qualifying here showed they have not let up. Continue reading...

Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, 68, victim of carjacking in Navy Yard neighborhood on Monday night but was not physically hurtThe US congressman Henry Cuellar was robbed of his car at gunpoint on Monday evening in Washington, but he was not physically harmed, according to his office.A statement from Cuellar's chief of staff said the 68-year-old Texas Democrat was parking his car when three armed assailants approached him and stole the vehicle, his phone, his computer tablet and his sushi dinner. Continue reading...

Two months after wildfires devastated West Maui, officials announce phased' reopening as residents struggle to surviveTwo months after a deadly wildfire tore through Maui, Hawaii, government officials said the western region of the island - the epicenter of the disaster - will reopen to tourists on 8 October.At a Maui county council meeting last week, hundreds of West Maui residents begged for more time to recover. Continue reading...

Ex-chief of staff confirms Trump's contempt for wounded or killed US soldiers and says: What can I add that hasn't already been said?'Going on record to confirm stories of Donald Trump's contempt for wounded and killed US soldiers and their families, and commenting on the former president's suggestion a top general should be killed, the former marines general and White House chief of staff John Kelly took in Trump's commanding lead in the Republican primary and said: God help us."What can I add that has not already been said?" Kelly, who was also homeland security secretary under Trump, told CNN on Monday. Continue reading...

Liz Truss's return, the PM's HS2 dithering, Mr Brexit himself: no Netflix doc could truly make sense' of this Tory conferenceI'm still heavily sedated after the triumphant return of Liz Truss to the Conservative party conference, less than a calendar year after she caused an unfortunate lab accident involving the entire country. The spectacle is so absolutely mad that it has almost pushed through to the other side and become an impressive tale of resilience that you might use to inspire kids. See that lady there, she fell off the horse, but she got right back on it like nothing happened." But no. Sorry, I'm simply not quite there yet. Liz Truss is the human equivalent of honking out a joke about a terrorist attack while they're still pulling bodies out of the rubble. She is a walking too soon?". The only place you should be seeing her this October is as a Halloween costume (foam cheese wedge not included).Instead, she's selling out the Last of Us suite at the Tories' Manchester conference hotel. Hand on heart, I would say Truss's attempt to reclaim her back catalogue is going slightly less well than Taylor Swift's. I don't know if you managed to catch her speech about how to create growth (Liz's version), but you may have heard that it was a rendition for which conference attendees were queueing up the stairs and down the corridors. This certainly serves as a reminder that the questionably popular should always hold their events in small rooms. Tell you what, if Truss can sell out one night in a single 400-seat regional theatre to non-rubberneckers, then I'll pretend this is her Eras tour. Until then, we might have to face the fact that being popular within the very odd world of Conservative party conference is the equivalent of having infectious diarrhoea pretty much anywhere else. Continue reading...

Josh Kruger, 39, was shot seven times but there are no signs of forced entry and no arrests have been madeJosh Kruger, a 39-year-old Philadelphia-based journalist and activist, was shot and killed in his home early Monday morning.Kruger was shot seven times around 1.30am on 2 October and collapsed in the street after trying to contact someone for help. He was pronounced dead shortly after at a nearby hospital. Continue reading...

Judge says severing cases is not required to protect rights to a fair determination' of their guilt or innocenceA judge on Monday denied requests by three former Memphis officers to have separate trials in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop.Lawyers for Tadarrius Bean, Desmond Mills and Justin Smith had filed motions to sever their cases from Demetrius Haley and Emmitt Martin, arguing that they could not receive fair trials if they all face a jury together for the violent beating of Nichols on 7 January that was caught on police video. Continue reading...

Michael Zack III set to die Tuesday for the murder of Rayonne Smith, a bar employee killed in June 1996A man is scheduled to die by lethal injection over 25 years after he killed women het met in north Florida bars during a dayslong spate of crimes.Michael Zack III is set to die at 6pm Tuesday for the murder of Ravonne Smith, a bar employee he befriended and later beat and stabbed with an oyster knife in June 1996. He was also convicted and separately sentenced to life in prison for murdering Laura Rosillo, who he met at a bar in a nearby county. Continue reading...

Donald Trump gave our resentful reactionaries a playbook to copy. The vitriol will be hard to put back in the bottleAs a Swedish correspondent in the US, I have sometimes braced myself on trips back home for some drastic societal change I'd heard about, only to return home and find that things were in fact exactly as they'd always been. Drivers still followed the little white arrows on the road - government recommendations for maintaining safe distances between cars and a symbol of Swedish society's strong adherence to rules and compliance. On the evening news, bureaucrats would have heated debates about such things as infrastructure and highway tolls. Politics was reliably boring; a sure sign of a healthy democracy.But over the past few years, something has genuinely changed. The political discourse is aggressive, focused on the culture wars, and seems stuck in a constant mode of outrage. The shrill vocabulary often seems to be lifted straight from American cable news. Gun violence and gang crime is at record levels - September was the most violent month for shooting deaths on record - and has helped stoke a culture of fear and an ever-escalating political blame game over immigration and asylum policies.Martin Gelin is the US correspondent of the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter and the author of Den vita stormen: Rasismens historia och USA's fall (The White Storm: How Racism Poisoned American Democracy)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...

As the United Autoworkers strike continues, a collection ranging from board games to defensive weapons tells the story of organizing - and how little has changedA Hawaiian shirt branded with union logos that wouldn't look out of place on a hypebeast runway. Political cartoons roasting Ronald Reagan's anti-labor policies. Rusty weapons recovered from violent strikes. All of that and more can be found in the Reuther archives, an exhaustive repository of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union's artifacts from a century of strikes.The US is in the midst of the first strike by workers at all the big three car companies of Detroit in 80 years. It's been a galvanizing moment for autoworkers, with Joe Biden making a historic visit to the picket line.. Continue reading...

Kaiser Permanente workers push for improvements to staffing levels and wage increases after union contract expiresMore than 75,000 healthcare workers at the US's largest non-profit private healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente, are poised to strike on 4 October in the largest healthcare strike in US history.The workers' union contract expired at the weekend and staff are pushing for significant improvements to staffing levels and wage increases that account for recent high inflation. Continue reading...

Americans should feel encouraged by the tenacity of judges and prosecutors in holding Trump accountableThere's reason to feel a bit more secure about the strength of American democracy, notwithstanding Donald Trump's escalating threats.For one thing, a large bipartisan coalition in both chambers of Congress has beat back the House Maga Republicans' attempt to shut down the government.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.comGuardian Newsroom: How will the US presidential race unfold? On Thursday 2 November 8pm-9.15pm BST, join Devika Bhat, David Smith and Hugo Lowell and Joan E Greve for a livestream discussion on the 2024 US presidential election. Book tickets here Continue reading...

Far-right congressman files motion after expressing outrage at speaker's bipartisan effort to avoid government shutdown. Plus, what do we really know about non-surgical cosmetic treatments?

Revealed: individuals contacted by agency gave detailed accounts of abusive behavior they allegedly experienced or witnessedThe FBI has interviewed several individuals who have alleged they were abused by members of the People of Praise (PoP), a secretive Christian sect that counts conservative supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a lifelong member, according to sources familiar with the matter.The individuals were contacted following a years-long effort by a group called PoP Survivors, who have called for the South Bend-based sect to be investigated for leaders' handling of sexual abuse allegations. The body, which has 54 members, has alleged that abuse claims were routinely mishandled or covered up for decades in order to protect the close-knit faith group. Continue reading...

Heating his personal pool during a cost of living crisis? Donating millions to elite schools? The PM is banking on us filing this all apathetically under stuff rich people do'To kick off the Conservative conference, Laura Kuenssberg gave Rishi Sunak a first look, on air, at a word cloud of responses from the public to the question: What does Rishi Sunak stand for?" If you were building a reputation as a supervillain, the words looked great, but what about a prime minister? Unprecedented? Disastrous? The Rich", Rich People", Rich" and People" were four separate categories, by far the most ubiquitous; only Money" and Himself" came close. A few people knew he was a Conservative. There was an honourable mention of wealth", which is a little more courteous than rich", in so far as it's not something you are, it's something you have. Either way, one thing has cut through about the prime minister: he is really rich.It did come up, when he first took office a year ago, that his immense riches might pose a problem for him, just in the day-to-day stuff. Traditionally, people like their politicians to know the price of milk and how to pour a pint. This was always quite an easy fix for our esteemed public servants, who could learn these details ahead of a leadership bid.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

In an extract from his memoir, the 13-year NBA veteran reveals the childhood tragedy he has kept secret for more than 30 yearsI've never told anyone this before, but my best friend died in my arms - and it was all because of basketball. It's a day I've kept tucked away in a corner of my mind for over 30 years, like the carefully folded contents of a weathered trunk, buried behind cobwebs and cardboard boxes in the farthest corner of an attic. Until I started writing this book, I hadn't spoken about what happened to anyone, including my parents and siblings. It's a guarded memory I've only revisited in moments of solitude on my road to the NBA, and I debated dredging up the past when my family has always been about moving forward. Still, what happened changed the course of my life, as well as theirs, and I can't possibly tell my story without it.When it happened, Chris was seven and I was six. We were two inseparable bundles of energy who lived in neighboring tenement buildings in the crime-ridden Washington DC, projects in the late 1980s. We'd met in kindergarten and our families had become familiar enough to know that where they found one of us, the other was most assuredly there, as well. We walked to school together in the morning and left together each afternoon for the corner bodega, where we shared a $2 turkey, cheese, and mayo hero in thick white deli paper we'd unwrapped barely out of the door. Then, it was off to one of the half dozen courts sprinkled within walking distance of our complex, where we played basketball until dusk warned us to get home. Continue reading...

Being within touching distance of the Ryder Cup action is a rare and precious experience - one unlikely to last much longerYou get a fluorescent green bib from the front desk, and it makes you look a bit like you're about to do community service, but you don't really mind, because what you've just been given is actually a golden key. One of the most precious items in the whole of sportswriting - right up there with your thesaurus, your dog-eared envelope full of expense receipts, and Wikipedia. You're about to enter a magical portal into a sunlit universe of big swings and perfumed shoulders, cigar smoke and mild swearing.There are times in this job when you feel the need to explain to people that actually, it's not as opulent and idyllic as it all seems. That there are deadlines and demands, brutally early starts and late nights, interminable hours spent in windowless rooms waiting for a man in a tracksuit to shower you in banalities, long train journeys with Jonathan Wilson. Then, of course, there are the moments that just need to be savoured and shared. Lean into the smugness. Come with me. We're going behind the ropes at the Ryder Cup. Continue reading...

With no end to the conflict in sight, politicians and the public must not waver in our resolve to support the wartorn countryThe blue and yellow flag still flies high over Britain's town squares and public buildings, signalling our unwavering and enduring solidarity with Ukraine's war effort.Well, in theory, anyway. For you can feel the fatigue descending now, like heavy autumn mist pooling in the bottom of a valley; a sort of strange public torpor, quietly smothering the high emotion of the early days of the war. Having leapt too quickly at the assumption that Kyiv couldn't possibly hold out against the mighty Russian army, British public opinion then swung wildly towards what has turned out to be an equally unrealistic idea, namely that plucky Ukraine could somehow achieve a David v Goliath victory over the rusting superpower within the year. We could put up with one winter of rocketing gas bills, surely, if that was the price to be paid for peace in Europe. Only now it's the second winter of not daring to turn on the central heating, and the stories emerging from the frontline are no longer of Ukrainian farmers cheerfully towing away stranded tanks with their tractors, but of a grinding war of attrition that could last up to a decade.Gaby Hinsliff 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...

Far-right congressman files motion after expressing outrage at speaker's bipartisan effort to avoid government shutdownCongressman Matt Gaetz, a hard-right Republican of Florida, introduced a motion to remove Kevin McCarthy as House speaker on Monday, expressing outrage over the Republican leader's successful efforts to avoid a government shutdown this weekend.I have enough Republicans where at this point next week, one of two things will happen: Kevin McCarthy won't be the speaker of the House, or he'll be the speaker of the House working at the pleasure of the Democrats," Gaetz told reporters after he filed the motion. I'm at peace with either result because the American people deserve to know who governs them." Continue reading...

About 400 people took part in the search Monday, including state and local police, forest rangers and volunteer firefightersA nine-year-old girl who vanished during a family camping trip in upstate New York was found safe Monday following a two-day search, authorities said.Charlotte Sena was located in good health" and a suspect is in custody" in connection with her disappearance Saturday evening, New York state police said in a statement. Continue reading...

After the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the US vowed to hold Saudi Arabia accountable. Biden has done the oppositeFive years ago, Jamal Khashoggi walked into Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul to pick up a document he needed in order to marry his Turkish fiancee. The journalist never walked out. Inside the consulate, he was ambushed by a 15-member Saudi hit team, who suffocated him and dismembered his body with a bone saw. The death squad then slipped out of Turkey on two charter planes owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.Since then, Mohammed bin Salman - Saudi Arabia's crown prince and de facto ruler, who, according to US intelligence officials, approved Khashoggi's assassination - has managed a near complete rehabilitation of his increasingly autocratic regime. Prince Mohammed has met with Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and other world leaders; he's positioning Saudi Arabia as a global tourism destination; and he's plowing ahead with plans to build Neom, his $500bn futuristic city in the desert. The prince has spent more than $6bn on investments in football teams, golf tournaments and other sports deals. He's pouring billions more into Silicon Valley tech companies - all part of an effort to whitewash the kingdom's abysmal human rights record. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed. You can read our full report on the trial below:

Trump was a quiet presence inside court, but outside he said deranged' judge overseeing case should be out of office'Not many defendants would dare to brand the judge overseeing their case deranged", call for them to be kicked out of office and dismiss the suit against them as a witch-hunt". Not many defendants are Donald Trump.On the first day of a civil fraud case that could decide the future of his business career, Trump cut an angry, uncomfortable figure. This is a judge that should be out of office," he told reporters as the court broke for lunch. This is a judge that some people say could be charged criminally for what he's doing." Continue reading...

Ex-president rails against judge and prosecutors accusing him of years-long fraud they say inflated his wealth by as much as $2.2bnDonald Trump attacked the judge and New York prosecutors who have charged him with orchestrating a years-long fraud on Monday as state prosecutors accused the former president of using the scam to inflate his wealth by as much as $2.2bn.Trump arrived at a New York court just a few miles south of Trump Tower on Monday for the first day of a fraud trial that could see the former president and his family business paying hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and that has already threatened to end his business career in the city where it started. Continue reading...