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Category 4 storm made landfall in Florida late on Thursday before weakening and moving through Georgia and the Carolinas Continue reading...

For those that ignored dire evacuation orders, a day of clean-up follows a night of traumatic fearThe warnings about Hurricane Helene were dire and for the residents of Taylor county on the Gulf coast of Florida they were necessary.A mandatory evacuation for Taylor county residents has been ordered," came the first message from local and state authorities. Continue reading...

There are clear reasons why women are running from Trump, but men are flocking to him - and it's vital to understand whyI hesitate to give JD Vance any ideas, but if American women were denied the vote, Donald Trump would be restored to the White House in a landslide. Similarly, if men were removed from the franchise, Kamala Harris would be swept into the Oval Office in an even bigger earthquake. As it is, the two are clashing in an election marked by a gulf so wide, the phrase gender gap" doesn't do it justice. In ways that go deeper than mere politics, and with implications for the world beyond the US, the presidential election is increasingly looking like a war between men and women.The numbers are stunning. An NBC poll this week found men favour Trump over Harris by 12 points, 52% to 40%. Among women, Harris leads Trump by 21 points: 58% to 37%. Put the two together and you have a gender chasm of 33 points. Men may not be from Mars and women may not be from Venus, but when it comes to choosing a US president, they are on different planets.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Sometimes you've got to make the most of your 15 minutes of fame

Voters in the swing state are fired up at the idea of electing the US's first Black Indian American female presidentLas Vegas's historic Westside has long been celebrated for its Black community's entrepreneurship, activism and resilience. The neighborhood became historic" when America's first racially integrated casino, the Moulin Rouge, opened in 1955, employing Black card dealers and chorus line dancers, and welcoming singers such as Sammy Davis Jr and Ella Fitzgerald to not only perform, but to dine and gamble. Today, campaign organizers for Kamala Harris hope the community will play a history-making role again in November.The 2024 presidential election could hinge on how Nevada swings. To win the key battleground state, Democrats will have to run up the score in Las Vegas to overcome deficits in rural counties and the evenly divided electorate in Reno. Continue reading...

We would like to hear about the hardest parts of making sure your kids are happy and healthyAmerica is a nation of remarkable wealth and resources. Per capita investments in education and health care are among the highest in the world. And yet across the US, millions of American children are denied the opportunity to thrive.Recent data shows sky high records of child poverty, with children of immigrants representing over 40% of kids living under the poverty line. Affordable childcare is increasingly hard to find and its cost has been outpaced by inflation. Continue reading...

Program signals possible change of strategy in the eternal war between New Yorkers and their least favorite neighborsNew York's seemingly eternal battle against its rodent population has taken a new twist after the city council greenlighted pilot schemes to deploy rat contraceptives in a new bid to curb their booming population.The Thursday-night vote means that in the next few months pilot programs will begin using ContraPest, a type of rodent birth control, that will be put in special containers aimed at encouraging the rats to ingest it. Continue reading...

On the ballot in November is a measure that will make it a state crime for migrants to cross into the US unofficiallySheriffs in four Arizona counties that sit along the border with Mexico have warned that if voters in November pass a measure to make it a state crime for migrants to cross into the US unofficially, they will have face problems enforcing the new law.Criticisms range from the law being unenforceable because of budget to it being racist", with negative comments coming from both Democrats and Republicans. Continue reading...

Judge faces lawsuit after forcing student to put on jail garments and handcuffs and enter isolated holding cellA Detroit judge who briefly detained a teenage girl who fell asleep in his courtroom during a school field trip to learn about the justice system was demoted to presiding over traffic court as he faces a federal lawsuit.Judge Kenneth King was moved to the state court's traffic division after the incident on 13 August. King was temporarily removed from the bench as he completed mandatory training following his actions. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of titles, from dictionaries to Leonardo, are restricted across prisons - and its impact is palpableIn recent years the issue of book bans has become a major story in the US, often driven by socially conservative pressure groups, but nowhere has the impact of bans been felt more acutely than in America's enormous prison population, activists and campaigners say.Books can serve as vital connections to the outside world for incarcerated individuals, yet they are frequently censored in US prisons. Campaigners are advocating for public library catalogs to be accessible on carceral tablets. Continue reading...

Adams is bombastic, eccentric and allegedly ethically relaxed. This indictment does not come as a surpriseFor the first time in the modern history of New York City, a sitting mayor has been indicted.Eric Adams will now know the fate of Donald Trump - to be indicted and possibly convicted in a Manhattan courtroom. Damian Williams, the US attorney for the southern district, has unsealed a 57-page indictment that accused Adams of performing favors for Turkish foreign nationals after accepting more than $100,000 in international plane tickets and accommodations, as well as soliciting illegal donations from them. These donations generated public matching funds for his mayoral campaign in 2021. Continue reading...

Metals and PFAS linked to serious health issues are among compounds found, highlighting need for further scrutinyMore than 3,600 chemicals approved for food contact in packaging, kitchenware or food processing equipment have been found in humans, new peer-reviewed research has found, highlighting a little-regulated exposure risk to toxic substances.The chemicals have been found in human blood, hair or breast milk. Among them are compounds known to be highly toxic, like PFAS, bisphenol, metals, phthalates and volatile organic compounds. Many are linked to cancer, hormone disruption and other serious health issues. Continue reading...

Conservatives say voter registration processing is too slow, while voting rights groups are livid over drop box removalsA battleground Pennsylvania county with a history of election errors is facing heavy criticism from activists on both sides of the political spectrum over the way it is running its presidential vote in 2024.Conservative activists, who have dominated recent election board meetings, say the county isn't processing voter registrations fast enough - something county officials say is simply untrue. Voting rights groups, meanwhile, are furious over a recent decision by the county manager in Luzerne county in the north-eastern part of the state to get rid of ballot drop boxes. Continue reading...

Hurricane Helene made landfall along the Florida coast on Thursday night as a powerful and potentially disastrous category 4 storm, bringing chaos to a wide swathe of the Gulf coast and threatening high winds, storm surges and drenching rainfall. Helene was located about 70km east-southeast of Tallahassee, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 225km/h, the Miami-based UA National Hurricane Center said late on Thursday. The huge storm formed rapidly this week and strengthened as it careened across the warm waters of the Gulf, gathering speed. The National Hurricane Center has said Helene is now a tropical storm as it moves farther inland over Georgia but noted that 'life-threatening storm surges, winds and heavy rains continue'

This crisis is a humanitarian disaster that may destabilize the whole region. Does Biden have any red lines' left?Just after daybreak on Monday, dozens of US-made warplanes began raining bombs and missiles on Lebanon, killing more than 550 people and injuring 1,800 in the hours that followed. By day's end, Israel had carried out one of the most intense aerial bombardments in modern history. The Israeli fighter jets were sent by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but they couldn't have gotten off the ground without the full support and complicity of Joe Biden over the past 11 months.The Israeli military said it bombed more than 1,600 targets throughout Lebanon that day, claiming it was targeting locations where Hezbollah stored rockets and other weapons it was firing at northern Israel. The death toll, which included 50 children and 94 women, was the country's highest single-day toll since Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990. Nearly 500,000 Lebanese civilians fled their homes in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa valley and other regions. Continue reading...

While Trump's affair with Stormy Daniels made headlines, scandals like this don't move the needle for US votersEarlier this year, at Donald Trump's hush-money trial, adult film star Stormy Daniels told jurors how at age 27, she met a 60-year-old Trump, whose wife had only recently given birth to their son, for what she thought was dinner. She arrived to find him in satin pyjamas and, during an encounter that included very brief" sex, the business magnate told Daniels that she reminded him of his daughter, Ivanka.I'm not dragging all this up again to put you off your dinner. I'm bringing it up to remind you that, while all these sordid details made headlines and generated jokes on late-night talkshows, they didn't move the needle with Trump's voters at all. His base, which includes evangelical Christians, simply didn't care. Nor were they bothered about Trump's association with Mark Robinson, the disgraced Republican candidate running to be North Carolina's next governor who was allegedly once active on a porn forum called Nude Africa where he boasted about being a perv". Continue reading...

This fling may have been consensual - but let's spare a thought for all the other women in media tainted by unfair associationAnyone who is not a moralist or kidding themselves will admit that a good piece of gossip is one of life's greatest pleasures. Gossip exposes the false sanctimony of the powerful: it reveals the smug and self-righteous to be grubby, selfish and embarrassing - just like the rest of us. If the pronouncements of politicians make history, and the reporting of the media shapes that history's official narrative, gossip runs along behind them, like a bratty younger sibling, filling in their omissions to tell a truer story. You left out this part." That's not what you told me."Maybe this is why media gossip about journalists and politicians carries such a frisson of transgressive delight: it breaks their monopoly on narrative authority. The people who have been appointed to tell us stories about our world, and about ourselves, finally get themselves subjected to the same treatment. It helps, too, to bust the bubble of a media industry that has long demanded more moral gravitas than it has really earned. These are the people, after all, who claim to be holding power to account. But how do they actually behave towards those in power?Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Hurricane Helene is expected to bring life-threatening storm surges as high as 20ft. Plus, Eric Adams chargedGood morning.Hurricane Helene made landfall as a category 4 hurricane in the Florida Big Bend region around 11.10pm ET on Thursday, one of the strongest hurricanes on record to hit Florida. The storm weakened to a category 1 overnight.How dangerous is a storm surge? As a hurricane approaches a coast, the churning winds force ocean water up onto land; atmospheric pressure from the storm also helps squeeze the water ashore. The shallower the continental shelf, the higher the threat of a dangerous surge. Water is heavy, and it can move fast in a surge, sweeping people to their deaths, throwing about boats and vehicles, and pulverizing structures.Follow our live blog here.What did Netanyahu say? We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we reach all our goals - chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes." He addresses the UN today.What is the scale of the war? Israeli airstrikes have killed about 700 people since Monday - with that day representing the highest death toll in a single day in Lebanon since the civil war of 1975-90 - and reports have suggested Israel is making plans for a ground offensive. Continue reading...

Network includes derogatory profiles of figures such as UN experts and food writer Michael Pollan, and is part of an effort to downplay pesticide dangers, records suggestIn 2017, two United Nations experts called for a treaty to strictly regulate dangerous pesticides, which they said were a global human rights concern", citing scientific research showing pesticides can cause cancers, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and other health problems.Publicly, the pesticide industry's lead trade association dubbed the recommendations unfounded and sensational assertions". In private, industry advocates have gone further. Continue reading...

Surge could rise to as much as 20ft in some spots after huge storm strengthened as it careened across Gulf of MexicoHurricane Helene made landfall along the Florida coast on Thursday night as a powerful and potentially disastrous category 4 storm, bringing chaos to a wide swathe of the Gulf coast and threatening high winds, storm surges and drenching rainfall.Helene was located about 70km east-southeast of Tallahassee, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 225 kph, the Miami-based UA National Hurricane Center said late on Thursday. Continue reading...

After a final win before a sellout crowd, the Oakland A's are finally moving to Las Vegas as baseball's inexplicable lose-lose deal continues to move forwardA's fans lingered long after the third out of their 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers, soaking up every last minute inside the massive concrete Oakland Coliseum one final time. Now the club, one of Major League Baseball's most storied franchises - founded in Philadelphia before a stint in Kansas City - is set to abandon the city of Oakland and its colorful fanbase after 56 seasons. The Athletics aren't departing for greener pastures, but potentially - and we still don't really know for sure - for a desert locale that didn't ask for them. Oakland-born Dave Stewart, an All-Star hurler on the city's last World Series champion in 1989, posed the question of the day on the A's pre-game broadcast.What happened?" Stewart said. There's no real explanation for it. And any explanation that you give, it doesn't cover the impact, and it doesn't cover all the details of what really took place, for the Oakland A's to be leaving this city, playing [in at] minor league baseball [stadium] in Sacramento for three years, and then eventually ending up in Las Vegas." Continue reading...

Forecasters warn that storm, one of the most powerful to hit the US this year, could create a nightmare'

They've been my favourite since doing work experience at Sydney's Taronga zoo. I hope the viral moment sweeping the globe turns into an enduring devotion like mine

Alan Miller, 59, second person in US to be executed via controversial technique, shook and trembled on gurneyAlabama has carried out the second execution in the US using the controversial method of nitrogen gas, an experimental technique for humans that veterinarians have deemed unacceptable in the US and Europe for the euthanasia of most animals.Alan Eugene Miller, 59, was pronounced dead at 6.38pm local time at a south Alabama prison. Continue reading...

Rockville Centre diocese in New York settles with more than 530 victims after proposed deal comes close to failureA Roman Catholic diocese in Long Island, New York, announced a new bankruptcy settlement on Thursday that would pay more than $323m to about 530 sex abuse survivors who alleged they were abused by priests when they were children.The diocese of Rockville Centre, which serves about 1.2 million Catholics in Nassau and Suffolk counties, said earlier this year that it did not think a bankruptcy settlement would be possible after abuse survivors rejected the diocese's previous $200m settlement offer. Continue reading...

Executive order aims to crack down on conversion devices and 3D guns as Harris and Trump spar on campaign trailJoe Biden and Kamala Harris unveiled a new executive order aimed at tackling gun violence on Thursday, as the vice-president and Donald Trump clash over the issue on the campaign trail.The order establishes a new emerging firearms threats task force" to crack down on machine-gun conversion devices and unserialized, 3D-printed guns. The policy also calls on federal agencies to develop guidance for schools on active shooter drills to mitigate potential psychological harm to students. Continue reading...

Former police officer is the first sitting New York City mayor to be criminally charged and has vowed to stay in officeEric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has been charged with accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources after an indictment was filed against the leader of one of the world's biggest cities.In a five-count criminal indictment, US prosecutors allege that before and during his terms as mayor, Adams sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him". Continue reading...

Stopgap bill, passed by House and Senate with bipartisan majorities, extends funding until DecemberJoe Biden signed a three-month government funding bill on Thursday, averting an imminent shutdown and delaying a fuller conversation about government spending until after the November elections.The stopgap spending bill, known as a continuing resolution or CR, will extend government funding until 20 December. It will also provide an additional $231m for the Secret Service for operations necessary to carry out protective operations including the 2024 presidential campaign and national special security events", following the two recent assassination attempts against Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Pair reach agreement days before case, filed after rightwing network aired false voter claims, was due to go to trialThe voting machine company Smartmatic and the conservative outlet Newsmax have settled a closely watched defamation lawsuit days before it was set to go to trial in Delaware.A spokesman for the Delaware courts said the case had been settled on Thursday. He did not offer additional details. The trial was set to begin in Wilmington on Monday. Continue reading...

The US president, Joe Biden, has announced more than $8bn in military assistance for Ukraine. The aid includes the first shipment of a precision-guided glide bomb called the Joint Standoff Weapon, with a range of up to 81 miles. The Ukrainian president met the US president and the vice-president, Kamala Harris, in Washington

Prosecutors claim Turkish president showered the New York mayor with illegal donations and luxury stays

Ex-New York mayor, who played key role in promoting 2020 election lies, permanently suspended from practising lawRudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who built a career as an uncompromising crime-fighter, has been permanently disbarred from practising law in Washington DC in a ruling stemming from his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Donald Trump's favour.The decision came in the form of a one-page order issued by the US capital's court of appeal and followed a similar order issued in July in New York, Giuliani's home state. Continue reading...

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, jailed for 18 months, alleges prosecutorial misconduct and seeks to be releasedA judge heard arguments on whether to dismiss a criminal conviction against a movie armorer in the shooting death of a cinematographer by the actor Alec Baldwin and said she would rule next week on whether to scuttle the case or order a retrial.In a remote court hearing, an attorney for Hannah Gutierrez-Reed challenged her March conviction for involuntary manslaughter, alleging that prosecutors failed to share evidence including ammunition that might have been exculpatory in the shooting death that occurred on the set of Rust in 2021. Continue reading...

The US attorney for the southern district of New York, Damian Williams, held a press conference following the unsealing of a 57-page indictment against the mayor of New York, Eric Adams.The document details charges against Adams that include bribery, wire fraud and acceptance of illegal foreign campaign contributions, including from Turkish government officials.Adams has remained defiant since the indictment was made public and denies the charges

North Carolina-based Advocate Health takes action amid scrutiny of its aggressive debt collection methodsAdvocate Health, the third largest non-profit health system in the country, has announced it will cancel more than 11,500 debt judgments it holds against people who failed to pay medical bills.The move comes after more than a year of public scrutiny of the hospital conglomerate's aggressive debt collection practices - including news articles by the Guardian and other media outlets and a study by the Duke University School of Law and the state treasurer of North Carolina, where the chain is headquartered. Continue reading...

An all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah would have devastating consequences for civilians in the proximity, and perhaps beyondIt is not yet certain that a ground invasion of Lebanon will follow Israel's intense attacks on Hezbollah. But the signs increasingly point that way. The swift Israeli dismissals of the US and French-led call for a temporary ceasefire followed the mobilisation of IsraelDefense Forces brigades to the northern border and the chief of staff's announcement of a possible ground operation.Many in Israel have long believed that such an assault is inevitable at some point if citizens in the north are to live safely, given Hezbollah's entrenchment in, and attacks from, the south of Lebanon. They see it as more necessary than ever after the Hamas attack of 7 October in southern Israel. Air and other remote assaults, however devastating, will not be enough to eradicate the threat from fighters. Hezbollah is vulnerable after the killings of so many senior figures, the loss of confidence resulting from Israeli intelligence penetration, and attacks upon its weapons stores. A delay may allow it to regroup. Continue reading...

If you have been impacted by the storm, we would like to hear from you. Share your experiencesSouth-eastern US states are bracing for the impact of Hurricane Helene, which has been forecast to be the most severe US storm this year.The hurricane is expected to reach Florida's coast late on Thursday evening or early Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. Continue reading...

New indictment leaves Anthony Odiong facing seven sexual assault charges - all in connection with three womenA grand jury in Texas has handed up more felony sexual assault charges against a Roman Catholic priest accused of preying on women whom he met while ministering to them in that state as well as in south-east Louisiana, officials said.Anthony Odiong is now facing a total of five charges of sexual assault in the first degree and two more such counts in the second degree - all in connection with three separate women - after a new indictment was handed up against him on Thursday in the McLennan county, Texas, state courthouse. Continue reading...

During a press conference outside his official residence, New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, maintained his innocence after he was charged with accepting bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources. 'I do not take money from foreign donors,' he said. Hecklers shouted: 'Resign, resign, resign' as he walked back inside, which Adams has said he will not do

Louisiana's Clay Higgins called Haitians thugs' in now-deleted X post after Ohio group filed charges against TrumpA Republican congressman provoked a hail of outrage after posting a racist attack on Haitian immigrants on social media, which he subsequently deleted amid calls for him to be censured.Clay Higgins used his congressional X account to repeat debunked accusations - spread by Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee - about Haitians eating pets and broadened the attack to call them thugs" and brand Haiti as the nastiest country in the Western hemisphere". Continue reading...

Emmanuel Littlejohn put to death for role in 1992 shooting, which would be state's third execution this yearOklahoma executed a man by lethal injection on Thursday morning, despite conflicting evidence regarding his guilt.Emmanuel Littlejohn, 52, was executed by lethal injection for his role in the 1992 shooting death of a convenience store owner during a robbery in Oklahoma City. Littlejohn was the third inmate put to death by the state this year. He was 20 years old at the time the crime was committed. Continue reading...

Unfortunately, what's happening to Tlaib is far from unique. Advocating for basic Palestinian human rights has always been billed as controversial'Here's a handy tip: before you comment on an article, read the whole damn thing. Don't just read the headline, don't just read a paragraph someone screenshot and put on social media - read the whole thing. This one weird trick is very helpful when it comes to ensuring you're not taking something dangerously out of context or just making up facts entirely.This advice isn't addressed to you, dear reader. I'm sure that you don't need to be told something so basic. Rather it is addressed to everyone - including some very prominent cable news anchors - who has spent the last few days spreading inflammatory misinformation about the Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. It's addressed to everyone who has falsely and dangerously claimed that Tlaib said that the Michigan attorney general, Dana Nessel, only filed charges against pro-Palestinian activists at the University of Michigan because she is Jewish. Which, if this is what Tlaib actually said, would obviously be an outrageous statement. Continue reading...

Democrats including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say mayor should step down as federal agents search official residence

The last Republican House speaker was ousted by the hard right over a bipartisan bill to keep the government openThe Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, pursued the same strategy as his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, to prevent a government shutdown this month - working with Democrats to pass a bipartisan funding deal.Now Johnson has to hope he can avoid the same fate as McCarthy, the California congressman who was ousted from the speakership by hard-right members of his own conference last year just days after the House voted to keep the government open. Continue reading...

Federal investigators have raided home of the former police officer whose career is dotted with inconsistencies

WNBA players were subject to racist abuse online and in person in the build-up to and during Indiana Fever's and Connecticut Sun's second game of the series. It followed a foul by Connecticut Sun's DiJonai Carrington on Caitlin Clark in game one that left the Indiana Fever star with a black eye. Although both players said the injury was unintentional, Carrington shared an email on social media which referred to her by a racist slur and threatened her with sexual violence. The Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas said: 'I think in my 11-year career, I've never experienced the racial comments [like those] from the Indiana Fever fanbase.' The Connecticut Sun coach Stephanie White said it was 'unacceptable' while the Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides added: 'It is just not acceptable when it gets personal'.