US news | The Guardian

They seem to push the boundaries of what is possible, yet they understand reality better than anyone. This creates resilience Continue reading...

US president appears to acknowledge Israeli bombing campaign has been indiscriminate'. Plus, 10 ways the changing climate is creating a health emergency

Officers used flash-bang grenades, tear gas canisters, tanks and snipers and accused participants of terrorism'Police actions during a mass protest called Block Cop City" that drew people from across the US to Atlanta this week have been condemned as heavy handed after they included flash-bang grenades, tear-gas canisters, tanks and a press conference full of demonstrably false or misleading descriptions of the event.The Guardian also spoke with a protester who was detained, repeatedly called a terrorist", handcuffed and threatened with arrest in a supermarket parking lot near the march - only to be released with no charges. Continue reading...

It's like I fell asleep in the tropics and woke in the Sahara. With constant overheating, swimming is my main exercise joyNavigating menopause is challenging enough without having to add exercise to the mess. With the constant threat of overheating looming over my fuzzy head, I have to choose my activities wisely. Power-walking before sundown is a pointless venture - I need a cold shower before I'm even out the door - and the very thought of SoulCycle (admittedly, I'm still a bit unclear on the concept) induces enough hot-flashing to burn off my lunch without getting on a bike.I've managed to vehemently deny getting stiffer with age, challenging friends who suggest It's just part of menopause" until suddenly - what on earth? - I can't touch my toes and I'm hobbling to the loo in the wee hours, hunched and grumbling to myself about why the hell at 53, I'm hobbling. Continue reading...

Bill is being considered a week after Ohioans voted to enshrine abortion rights in state constitutionA week after Ohioans voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, members of the state legislature are considering a bill that would give tax credits for donations to anti-abortion facilities.On Tuesday, the Ohio senate finance committee discussed a bill from the state senator Sandra O'Brien, a Republican, who proposed that individuals who give to qualifying pregnancy resource centers" may be eligible for tax credits, at a cost of up to $10m to Ohio. Continue reading...

High-income Americans also almost as likely to defer healthcare over cost as people with low or average incomes in other countriesHigh-income Americans are almost as likely to defer healthcare because of cost as people with low or average incomes in eight other developed countries, a new survey brief by the Commonwealth Fund finds.The survey findings also show that nearly half of American adults (46%) faced a problem with a medical bill in the last year, and almost half with low or average incomes (46%) skipped or delayed needed care because of price - the highest rate in any of nine countries analyzed. Continue reading...

The quarterback has been guilty of sloppy play this season but the front office has failed to build a solid team around him

Their cod legalese and baffling histrionics have us rolling in the aisles - but what are these wacky no-confidence letters trying to distract us from?So Andrea Jenkyns's letter to Graham Brady calling for Rishi Sunak to go was, it turns out, just the warm-up missive of no confidence. Our democratically elected leader Boris Johnson," she wrote, who bravely fought for Brexit when parliament was in deadlock. Yes Boris, the man who won the Conservative Party a massive majority, was unforgivable enough."It seemed like the main event to me: clumsy syntax, pantomime histrionics, Jackanory cadence, ham-fisted recapping for the gerontocracy; could a Conservative sound any dumber? Well, happily, yes. Later in the same letter, Jenkyns warned of Keir Starmer and his imminent socialist cabal" in Downing Street, and the who-are-these-idiots bingo card was complete.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

So much guilt, so much admin ... Life is far easier when you're a kid and don't have to worry about where you'll be pulling crackersWho is going to be where and with whom over Christmas? At either end of our lives, things become simpler because the decision tends to be made for us. It's in midlife when the arrangements are at peak complexity. In your early days, if - and it's a big if - you're not split between two parents, then you have Christmas at home or, in a foretaste of tricky stuff to come, at one or other set of grandparents. Then you grow up and, should you partner up with someone, there will have to be a discussion as to whose family you go to. Throw children into the mix and the pressure ratchets up a notch or two. Because Christmas is all about the children, as we established when we were children ourselves, therefore everyone's preferred option is to be with the bairns, and they can't be everywhere.Come midlife, you have adult children - and possibly their children! - to think about as well as your aged parents. Throw in a divorce or two in one or more of these generations and it all gets positively byzantine. There are your siblings, too, and their families to factor into your plans. Or you may be factored into their plans. Competing plans may clash, causing the logistics computer in your brain to crash. A reboot and rethink will be necessary.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The US and Chinese leaders agreed on sidelines of Apec summit to re-establish military communications and curb fentanyl production

To fight the ravages of poverty this winter, we urgently need a new social contract between companies and charitiesA few weeks ago, a father walked into a charity warehouse, dumped his distraught 16-year-old son and walked away for good, saying he could no longer afford to keep him.The distress of that teenager cannot be dismissed as an isolated incident: the Lancet, the medical journal, has reported that poverty, as distinct from neglect, parental addictions or domestic violence, is now a principal cause of children being forced into care. Indeed, in a survey of low-income families in Fife, 11% of parents reported that without essential goods provided by local charities, their children might already be in care. By 2025, according to the County Councils Network, there could be as many as 100,000 in care in England alone.Gordon Brown was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010 Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Read our full story at the link below:

Account of the summit from China's foreign ministry was mixed, portraying Xi as having taken a tough line, telling Biden to stop arming TaiwanJoe Biden has claimed that his summit meeting with Xi Jinping has brought substantial progress, including agreements on limiting narcotics trafficking, restoring militaries lines of communication, and to start talking about the global risks posed by artificial intelligence.However, it was clear that after more than four hours of talks in a mansion outside San Francisco, the meeting had not brought the US and China any closer on the fate of Taiwan, which Xi reportedly told Biden was the biggest, most potentially dangerous issue in US-China relations". Continue reading...

More than 1,000 people gather in the rain, shutting down a stretch of Hollywood BoulevardHundreds of demonstrators in Los Angeles shut down a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon in a protest demanding Joe Biden and US lawmakers call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.In the heart of Hollywood, along the palm tree-lined streets near Ripley's Believe It or Not! and the Walk of Fame, protesters waved Palestinian flags and held signs - not in our name" and let Gaza live". More than 1,000 people gathered in the rain, including a group that staged a sit-in at the intersection with flowers in hand and shirts reading Jews say ceasefire now" as tourists watched. Continue reading...

Tribe says city has been breaking federal law by continuing to ticket Native Americans within sovereign boundariesThe Muscogee (Creek) Nation filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, arguing that police are continuing to ticket Native American drivers within the tribe's reservation boundaries, despite a recent federal appeals court ruling they lacked jurisdiction to do so.The tribe filed the lawsuit in federal court in Tulsa against the city; the mayor, GT Bynum; the chief of police, Wendell Franklin; and the city attorney, Jack Blair. Continue reading...

US and Chinese presidents meet in San Francisco to discuss the economy, climate, military relations and TaiwanJoe Biden and Xi Jinping met in California on Wednesday, exchanging handshakes and smiles as they embarked on face-to-face dialogues that both sides hope will stabilise US-China relations.The US president opened his remarks by saying that tensions between the two countries should not veer into conflict". Continue reading...

Resolution calls for release of hostages held by Hamas and for humanitarian corridors across the Gaza StripSix weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, the UN security council has come together to back a resolution calling for urgent extended humanitarian pauses for [a] sufficient number of days to allow aid access" to the embattled territory.The vote late on Wednesday overcame an impasse which saw four unsuccessful attempts to adopt a resolution. Continue reading...

Extremist Republican says in book not one Democrat was willing to stay to defend the chamber' but claim rejected as patently false'In a new book, the extremist Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene claims no Democrats stayed in the House chamber on January 6 to help defend it against rioters sent by Donald Trump to block the certification of Joe Biden's election win - a claim one Democrat who did stay labeled patently false".Greene's book, MTG, will be published next week. The Guardian obtained a copy. Continue reading...

Workers say outdoor gear retailer retaliated against employees, restructured jobs without union input and stalled bargainingREI, the camping and outdoor sports equipment retailer, was accused on Wednesday of dozens of violations of US labor law at eight retail stores that have unionized since last year.Workers at stores in New York, California, Chicago and Boston, among others, filed a total of 80 complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to force the company to bargain with their unions. Continue reading...

National Transportation Safety Board begins work looking for cameras and other evidence from five vehicles involved in crashA National Transportation Safety Board team was planning to start work on Wednesday at the scene of a deadly highway crash in Ohio involving a charter bus filled with high school students that left six people dead and 18 injured.Jennifer Homendy, the NTSB chair, said the team would be looking for cameras and other evidence from the five vehicles involved in Tuesday's crash on westbound Interstate 70 in Licking county, about 26 miles (42km) east of Columbus. Homendy said the team will likely be in the area for five to seven days and a preliminary report would likely be issued within the next few weeks. Continue reading...

Independent reviewers cite problems with FAA including shortages of air traffic controllers and lack of fundingAn independent US aviation review team called on Wednesday for urgent action" to prevent plane crashes, and made a series of recommendations to boost safety after a series of close calls involving passenger jets.The panel, named by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), released a 52-page report citing problems that included shortages of air traffic controllers, technology issues, outdated systems and dramatic funding needs. Since January, the National Transportation Safety Board has opened seven investigations into near-miss incidents, including some that could have been catastrophic. Continue reading...

Earthquake occurred in town of Standard, and was felt in parts of Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana, US Geological Survey saysA magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattled northern Illinois and parts of three other states early on Wednesday, awakening some residents and spurring reports to 911 about homes shaking, the US Geological Survey and police said.The small earthquake was detected about 4.41am local time and was centered about sixth-tenths of a mile (1km) south-south-east of Standard, Illinois, a town that is about 100 miles (161km) south-west of downtown Chicago, the federal agency said. Continue reading...

Former president's lawyers allege overwhelming bias' from Judge Arthur Engoron's bench but long-shot legal bid destined to failDonald Trump has filed a motion for a mistrial in a New York court, alleging the judge overseeing the $250m fraud case is biased.Trump's lawyers are asking the New York judge Arthur Engoron for a mistrial given bias" and improper co-judging" on the bench. Continue reading...

Boeing 747 cargo plane turns back after horse becomes untethered in flight and pilot says We cannot get the horse back secured'A cargo plane heading for Belgium was forced to return to New York City after a horse escaped from its crate on board.The horse became loose on the Boeing 747 cargo plane within 30 minutes of the plane's initial takeoff, according to the audio clips from air traffic control that were reconstructed on YouTube, ABC News reported. Continue reading...

New legislation, heading to Greg Abbott's desk, to make crossing into state from another country without documentation a crimeThe Texas governor, Greg Abbott, is expected to sign a bill that would make crossing into the state without documentation a crime, one of the harshest immigration policies in the US to date.The bill, SB 4, was passed by the Texas house and is awaiting final approval from Abbott. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Twenty-four representatives led by Ocasio-Cortez, Pocan and McCollum express deep concern about intensifying war' in letterTwenty-four Democrats in Congress have urged Joe Biden to end grave violations of children's rights" by pushing for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.In a letter to the US president seen by the Guardian, representatives led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Mark Pocan of Wisconsin and Betty McCollum of Minnesota say at least 4,500 children have been killed and at least 1,700 reported missing during Israel's withering offensive. Continue reading...

Republican House speaker needed Democratic support to avoid shutdown, just as Kevin McCarthy did before being ejected by his partyA leading member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus indicated trouble ahead for Mike Johnson, the new speaker, after the House on Tuesday passed a bill to avert a government shutdown.Chip Roy, of Texas, told reporters the bill was precisely what was put down on [Saturday 1 October], that then resulted in the motion to vacate against Kevin that following Tuesday, and here we are. We're doing the same thing". Continue reading...

Attempts to upsell me on treatments for my little lad include medicines, supplements and even post-castration minerals. It's MBA-level marketing zealotryIf you want a terrifying insight into what privatised primary healthcare could look like, get a pet and find a vet. It is not just that veterinary care is expensive - it is all the upselling that comes with it. As with private human healthcare, you sense that the gravitational pull is towards selling you as much treatment as possible rather than the minimum that is sensible or necessary.My dog celebrated his third birthday this week. Well, he didn't technically celebrate anything because he didn't know it was his birthday because he's a dog. Though he may have had a vague notion that something positive for him was in the air because my mum snuck him a handful of sliced ham, which is not something she normally does, however long and however imploringly he gazes at her.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Some 32% of respondents said US should support Israel', down from 41% who said the US should back Israel in an October poll

Republican Markwayne Mullin accused of acting like a 12-year-old' by Teamsters leader Sean O'Brien during Senate confrontationThe Republican senator Markwayne Mullin claimed that by offering to fight a union leader at a congressional hearing, he was merely representing Oklahoma values".Told by the Fox News host Sean Hannity any other response" to Sean O'Brien of the Teamsters would have been a little gutless", Mullin said: I would agree. I mean, wouldn't people want me to do that? Continue reading...

The devastation caused by the hurricane offers a opportunity to put right the effects of decades of poor urban planning and social and political conflictOn 25 October, Hurricane Otis, one of the strongest - if not the strongest - storms to hit Mexican harbours, devastated the beach city of Acapulco, leaving an official death toll of at least 48, with dozens more reported missing.The degree of destruction of the city is unparalleled with that caused by other natural disasters in Mexico. At the moment, the future of Acapulco - once a playground for the international elite and now a place diminished by poor urban planning, corruption and violence - is an open question. Continue reading...

Documents submitted to US court in case over allegations founder duped HP into overpaying for software firmHewlett-Packard disputed with its auditors whether $5bn (4bn) of a writedown in value of the software firm Autonomy could be blamed on fraud allegedly engineered by the tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, according to documents filed to a US court.Lynch, a billionaire founder once lauded as the UK's answer to Bill Gates, was extradited to the US in May to face criminal fraud charges over allegations that he duped HP into overpaying when it struck an $11bn deal for Autonomy in 2011. Continue reading...

Tim Burchett calls former speaker pathetic' after Capitol confrontation witnessed by NPR reporter Claudia GrisalesA US radio reporter witnessed a remarkable altercation at the US Capitol on Tuesday, between Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican speaker eight rightwingers including Burchett ejected from the role last month.Claudia Grisales, of NPR, said: Have NEVER seen this on Capitol Hill: while talking to Tim Burchett after the GOP conference meeting, former speaker McCarthy walked by with his detail and McCarthy shoved Burchett. Burchett lunged towards me. I thought it was a joke, it was not. And a chase ensued." Continue reading...

President says comment from predecessor at New Hampshire rally echoes language you heard in Nazi Germany in the 30s'Joe Biden has attacked Donald Trump for using the word vermin" to refer to his political enemies, saying it echoed the language of Nazi Germany.At a recent rally in New Hampshire, Trump repeated his false claim that fraud cost him the 2020 presidential election and told the crowd he would root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections". Continue reading...

Christian nationalist House speaker bemoans misunderstanding' of one of US's founding principlesThe speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has delivered his verdict on the separation of church and state: it is a misnomer".The second-in-line to the presidency informed Americans on Tuesday that their time-honored conception of one of the founding principles of the country was a misunderstanding". Speaking to CNBC's Squawk Box, he tried to turn the conventional wisdom about the founders' intentions on its head and claimed what they really wanted was to stop government interfering with religion, not the other way around. Continue reading...

Sherman school district votes unanimously to reinstate Max Hightower, 17, to production of Oklahoma! and issue apologyA Texas school district has apologized and reversed a decision that ousted a transgender student from a part in the musical Oklahoma!The school board in Sherman voted unanimously on Monday to reinstate the original show and cast after a meeting in which dozens criticized them and spoke in support the 17-year-old transgender boy who had lost his role in the production because of a new policy. Continue reading...

After initial concern when fire engulfed Los Angeles interstate, residents set their alarms and got to work ... earlyWhen the news broke that a weekend fire had damaged a mile of one of the most heavily trafficked freeways in Los Angeles, the reaction across much of the country was alarm.Los Angeles is a city defined by its car culture, and officials estimated that 300,000 cars a day had traveled along the now shut-down stretch of Interstate 10. How would Los Angeles function, for an unknown amount of time, without a key piece of its highway? Continue reading...

Anti-government activist fell foul of court after not attending hearings in relation to $52.5m defamation ruling against himA judge in Idaho has issued a $250,000 arrest warrant for Ammon Bundy, the anti-government activist, after he repeatedly failed to show up in court.The 48-year-old son of the controversial Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, and organiser of a takeover of an Oregon wildlife reserve that left one of his supporters dead, fell foul of the court after not attending hearings in relation to a $52.5m defamation ruling against him and his political organisation. Continue reading...

When the texts came through, I wish they had not. Children of friends killed; my own young relatives traumatisedOver the past week, I attempted to reach out to my family and friends in Gaza, but my calls went unanswered. A few days ago, they finally contacted me, and I only wish they hadn't.From the mouths of babes comes truth, so the saying goes. In Khan Younis refugee camp, Shahd, my four-year-old niece, asked my sister-in-law: Mom, is it painful to die? What is less painful, to die from a rocket or a tank shell?" Continue reading...

World Health Organization extremely worried' for health workers and patients. Plus, rare stamp sells for record-setting $2m

An unholy coming together of F1 and golf was purely about entertainment in a city that loves a showLas Vegas loves a show, so in the week that Formula One descends on the city an unholy mash-up of golf and F1 was sport as entertainment writ large and with the emphasis on entertainment.The streaming platform Netflix staged an unlikely tournament - So, we have the F1 series and the golf series, right? Well how about we put the two together in our first ever live sport broadcast" is perhaps how the pitch went - at the golf course at the Wynn casino overlooking the curcuit where the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be held on Saturday. Continue reading...

Hayes will leave Chelsea at the end of the WSL season to take the USWNT job, leaving her just four games to prepare before the 2024 OlympicsThe only hesitation anyone at US Soccer could've had over the hiring of Emma Hayes to coach the women's national team would be the timing.Hayes will remain at Chelsea through the end of the club season. Then she'll have only four games in charge before the 2024 Olympics. Continue reading...

Sports leagues across the world are in thrall to the gambling industrial complex. Punishing individual players keeps our eyes off the bigger fixNewcastle United officials were quick to declare their dismay after star signing Sandro Tonali was handed a 10-month ban from competitive football last month for breaching Italian betting regulations. It was a massive shock, a massive surprise," Magpies sporting director Dan Ashworth told the BBC. Dealing with it was new to all of us. It came from nowhere."Tonali's ban relates to infractions committed during his time playing in Italy; it's not yet clear whether he had also begun betting on games in England after making his high-profile summer move to the Premier League. But to claim that any of this came from nowhere" is surely a reach. Soccer across Europe is saturated with gambling now - and increasingly it's the norm in US sports too, as more states move to legalize a practice that was until fairly recently prohibited. Continue reading...

The LA crowd favorite reflects on his journey from rural Arkansas to sharing top billing with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the NBA's glitziest market and featuring on Team USAGo win the ball game, AR! Go win the ball game!" LeBron James is shouting in Austin Reaves' ear as he speaks to a reporter for a walk-off interview. It is just moments after the Lakers' scintillating overtime win against the Clippers on their shared home turf in Los Angeles, marking their first win against their Crypto.com Arena co-tenants in a dozen tries. Reaves, of course, didn't single-handedly secure the victory. It was a true team effort, led by James himself setting the record for most points ever (35) by a player in their 21st season.But James is emphasizing the conclusion to which everyone in the organization (and many more in the NBA at large) have already arrived: Reaves is - as he bellowed after sinking a half-court buzzer-beater against the Golden State Warriors during last year's playoffs - him. Continue reading...

Of the many cases against the presidential hopeful, a civil trial that threatens his image as a tycoon is likely to hit him hardestWe have been here before countless times: prematurely anticipating the end of Donald Trump on the basis of actions or implications that, for anyone else, would have proven fatal long ago. Quick recap: the former president is facing four separate criminal cases, involving 91 felony counts, in four separate states; plus a civil fraud case currently being heard in Manhattan; plus a second defamation suit brought by the writer E Jean Carroll, whom earlier this year Trump was found guilty of sexually assaulting and defaming and ordered to pay $5m. Plus a clutch of broken gag orders and the resultant fines.The question in all of these cases is less whether Trump will be found guilty than whether there is any outcome whatsoever that would be capable of preventing him from standing for president next year, or - the more depressing calculation, in some ways - of damaging his chances, if not. Trump voters have, historically, proven even more resistant than the rest of us to changing their minds when the evidence changes. And Trump himself has an almost preternatural gift for turning the most unpromising situations to his advantage. Even so, there may, within the detail of these extremely wide-ranging cases, be some aspects that are more harmful to Trump than others.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Whether acting as tributes to her accomplishments or signalling dissent concerning an increasingly conservative court, the Notorious RBG's neckpieces always made a powerful statement, says a new book Continue reading...

Now, a country can be aligned with the US on security while cosying up to Russia on energy and China on tradeAs the leaders of the world's two superpowers, the US and China, hold a summit meeting in San Francisco, many observers hark back to grand bipolar simplicities. A new cold war! The west versus the rest! Democracy versus autocracy! Let's woo the global south! But the great Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt warned us always to beware of the terribles simplificateurs, the frightful simplifiers. The beginning of wisdom is to understand that we now live in a world fragmented between multiple great and middle powers who do not divide simply into two camps.The results of an ambitious round of global polling, released today, help us to understand this new world disorder. Conducted for the European Council on Foreign Relations and an Oxford University research project on Europe in a Changing World that I co-direct, this is the second time we have surveyed what we call in shorthand the Citrus countries: China, India, Turkey, Russia and the United States. This autumn we added to them five other major non-European countries - Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Africa, Brazil and South Korea - as well as covering 11 European countries. Continue reading...