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Republican accused of making tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on credit cards belonging to campaign donorsUS congressman George Santos pleaded not guilty on Friday to revised charges accusing him of several frauds, including making tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on credit cards belonging to some of his campaign donors.The New York Republican appeared at a courthouse on Long Island to enter a plea to the new allegations. He had already pleaded not guilty to other charges, first filed in May, accusing him of lying to Congress about his wealth, applying for and receiving unemployment benefits, even though he had a job, and using campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses like designer clothing. Continue reading...

This isn't a contest of heroes and villains - but two peoples in deep pain, fated to share the same landThis is not a football match. Though the way some spectators behave, watching from afar, you could be forgiven for making that mistake. At Wednesday's game against Atletico Madrid, Celtic supporters defied a Uefa ban on political symbols by flying the Palestinian flag, expressing a long-established solidarity that has become part of the club's identity. So strong is the allegiance to their chosen side - their team - that at a home game on the afternoon of 7 October, hours after the men of Hamas had begun their massacre of civilians in southern Israel, and while the torture and murder of families in their homes was still under way, a group of Celtic fans unfurled a banner. It read: Victory to the resistance!!"The club is trying to manage the situation, but it won't be easy. Not least because this is a phenomenon that goes far beyond Celtic Park. Many millions around the world watch the Israel-Palestine conflict in the same way: as a binary contest in which you can root for only one team, and where any losses suffered by your opponent - your enemy - feel like a win.Jonathan Freedland 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...

Maine's public safety department said authorities were 'continuing to do searches at the Just-In-Time bowling alley and the Schemengees bar where the shootings took place, 18 people were killed while 13 more were injured on Wednesday.In a press briefing on Friday morning, Maine's public safety commissioner, Mike Sauschuck, said it would also be 'putting divers in the water along the Androscoggin River'.Law enforcement officials have instructed Maine residents to continue sheltering in place as the hunt for the Lewiston shooting suspect, 40-year-old Robert Card, stretches across the region

Decision by little known Minnesota representative has led to criticism from many of his colleaguesThe little-known Democratic congressman Dean Phillips has launched a campaign to challenge sitting President Joe Biden, leaving many of his supporters and colleagues confused, if not outright upset.After weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes manoeuvreing, Phillips finally publicly announced he's running in an interview on CBS. Continue reading...

Florida governor receives pushback for falsely declaring he worked with Israel's consul general in Miami to send weaponsRon DeSantis is receiving pushback from Israeli diplomats, Florida Democrats and the White House after he falsely claimed credit for a gun-running operation to assist Israel's military operations in Gaza.The Florida governor and 2024 presidential hopeful declared on Thursday that he had worked with Israel's consul general in Miami to send military equipment, including drones, body armor and helmets. Continue reading...

A number of Trump's lackeys and consiglieres have been swept up in criminal prosecutions. And most are falling like dominoesIt happened the way Ernest Hemingway, in The Sun Also Rises, described going bankrupt: Gradually, then suddenly." Last month in Georgia, Scott Graham Hall, an obscure bail bondsman and Trump supporter, took a plea. Hall had been indicted in Fulton county prosecutor Fani Willis's Georgia election fraud case on charges of helping Trump surrogates steal election data from voting machines in rural Coffee country. Hall bargained his felony conspiracy and racketeering charges down to misdemeanors, for which he would pay nominal fees and serve no jail time. To many of his 18 co-defendants in the Georgia case, it must have looked like an appealing deal.Hall was a small fish in the Georgia scheme, just a minor player in what Willis had charged as a sprawling conspiracy. But the bizarre excursion to Coffee county that he had agreed to testify about was central to the charges against a much bigger fish: Sidney Powell, a Trump lawyer who pursued the most bizarre and brazen of the president's post-election lies. Last week, she flipped too. Powell, who was facing multiple felonies, accepted probation and restitution fees in place of jail time - conditioned, of course, on her willingness to testify against her co-defendants. Continue reading...

Utah senator calls former president a whack job' after Trump called book much like him - boring, horrible and predictable'Confronted with Donald Trump's abuse, the Utah senator and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said: Ha, ha, ha. He's such a whack job."Romney's view of the former president and current Republican presidential frontrunner was communicated to McKay Coppins, author of a new biography, Romney: A Reckoning, written in co-operation with its subject. Continue reading...

Police still looking for suspected gunman who killed 18 people, with no sign of his whereabouts - or even if he is dead or aliveHomes and businesses in Lewiston and surrounding counties in Maine have closed their doors and the streets are almost devoid of people. It is an eerie and surreal scene as the hunt for the suspected gunman who killed 18 people continues with no sign of his current whereabouts - or even if he is dead or alive.A sense of dread pervades the area and comes as various shelter-in-place orders remain in effect. Law enforcement patrol in armored vehicles, helicopters and drones buzz in the sky. The Coast Guard has searched the Kennebec River. And all in pursuit of 40-year-old Robert Card, named Thursday as murder suspect in eight of the killings with a further ten charges sure to follow. Continue reading...

Rather than racing to extract natural gas, those who caused the climate crisis should help Africa harness its wind and sun

Republican House speaker, who has advanced extreme views as attorney and legislator, says I am a Bible-believing Christian'Questioned about comments and actions deemed by many to be homophobic, the new Republican US House speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, told Fox News his worldview was: Go pick up a Bible."Speaking on Thursday, Johnson said he genuinely love[d] all people regardless of their lifestyle choices. Continue reading...

Crispin Blunt has denied claims against him, but why are we always asked to think of the fallout for the PM, not the alleged victims?Another week, another arrest on suspicion of sexual assault for a member of parliament - Britain's grimmest workplace. Even the nightclub bouncer community has been arrested fewer times this year. This week it's Reigate MP Crispin Blunt, who resembles an off-brand Terence Stamp, and was interviewed by Surrey police for the second time this month over allegations of rape and possession of controlled substances. He denies the allegations.With the supremely practised efficiency of an F1 pit crew, the Conservative party is once again rolling out the suspected-scumbag protocol. Blunt has had the whip withdrawn - a piece of arcane styling that always makes it sound like the person in question has merely breached some in-group etiquette - and been told to stay away from the parliamentary estate, which is physically crumbling but otherwise increasingly feels like a fine example of a bail hostel in the gothic style.Marina Hyde 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...

The search for a US army reservist suspected of carrying out a mass shooting in the US state of Maine has entered its second day after officials executed search warrants in the town where he lived. Robert Card, 40, is suspected of killing 18 people and wounding 13 others in shootings at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston. On Thursday, police surrounded a rural home owned by Card's family in neighbouring Bowdoin for more than two hours, with an FBI agent issuing orders to 'come out with your hands up', but apparently nobody was inside

Airstrikes on two locations in eastern Syria signal a new willingness in Washington to engage directly in the Middle East crisis. Plus: the search continues for the Maine gunman

The prospect of something so valuable becoming just another strip-mined corporate wreck inspires genuine griefIt's hard to overstate how genuinely beloved the music retailer Bandcamp was by music fans before this week. The site was a place where music was valued for its ambition and artistic merit, not its commercial potential; a place where artists could sell directly to fans with minimal overhead (and, on Fridays since the beginning of the pandemic, none at all); and home to a thriving editorial department, whose contributors wrote from a place of passion and knowledge about the music they loved. The site represented some measure of hope for musicians looking to realize any sort of value for their work, given the pittance that streaming sites pay: setting aside payment processing fees, every dollar realized from a Bandcamp Friday sale represents 31,250 average Spotify streams.All that went up in flames with the news that Bandcamp's parent company - Epic Games, which only acquired Bandcamp in May this year, a sale that itself raised concerns for the site's future - was selling the company. The purchaser was something called Songtradr, which issued a statement announcing that 50% of Bandcamp employees have accepted offers to join Songtradr". (As Bandcamp editorial contributor Marc Masters noted drily, this is quite a way to say you laid off half your staff".)Tom Hawking is a Melbourne-born writer based in New York City whose work examines the intersections of politics and culture Continue reading...

The state does not allow police to remove guns temporarily from people whose behavior may be a riskAs the fallout deepens from the catastrophic mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, that left at least 18 people dead and many wounded, questions are being asked about how an army reservist who had threatened violence and was kept under observation this summer for erratic behavior was allowed to be in possession of a deadly semi-automatic rifle.Robert Card, 40, remained on the run on Thursday amid a massive manhunt. He was named as the suspect in the double shooting on Wednesday evening at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, a town of 40,000 people. Continue reading...

Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman among those who may have to go to trial, people close to the matter saySome of Donald Trump's top co-defendants charged with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia have not yet been offered plea deals since they were indicted, people close to the matter said, raising the stakes and fueling expectation that they will go to trial.The co-defendants without offers include the former US president himself, former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and former Trump lawyers John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani, the people said - individuals who played leading roles in the alleged conspiracies. Continue reading...

Republicans' legislative majorities are virtually impenetrable thanks to district lines - but that could change if the current maps are overturnedLynn Carey, a retired nurse with a double lung transplant, has spent years trying to get Wisconsin lawmakers to improve healthcare. Carey organized voters in support of the Affordable Care Act back in 2009. Since its passage, she has pushed to get her Republican representatives in the state legislature to expand Medicaid coverage to its poorest residents.The idea has been overwhelmingly popular in Wisconsin: a 2019 poll showed 70% of voters in the state supported it. But Medicaid expansion hasn't gone anywhere - even after Democrats won back Wisconsin's governorship in 2018. Continue reading...

The 119th World Series begins on Friday night as Arizona and Texas meet for baseball's biggest prize in a matchup that would have seemed all but impossible six weeks agoIf you wanted to place a bet in early September that the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks would be the contestants in World Series, you could have gotten fantastic odds. On 8 September, Arizona's chance to reach the postseason - not even the World Series, just the playoffs - was 46.2%, according to FanGraphs. Texas's chance was a lowly 38.6%. The D-Backs had cooled considerably after a hot start and looked to be circling the drain in the National League wildcard race. The Rangers, in a matter of days, would lose prized trade deadline acquisition Max Scherzer to the injured list with a strained shoulder, and he would not return until October. Both clubs were Fall Classic afterthoughts, expected to miss the postseason or exit early.How drastically things have changed. The Rangers and Diamondbacks will indeed play for baseball's ultimate prize after their parallel tracks took wild turns for the better in October. Both teams swept their wildcard series two games to none, then beat 100-win juggernauts in a three-game division series sweeps. Both went down three games to two in their respective league championship series, and both won their final two games on the road, to punch their World Series tickets. The Rangers dispatched their in-state rival Houston Astros; the Diamondbacks shocked the Philadelphia Phillies. And so when the World Series begins on Friday night in Arlington, Texas, the teams with a chance to win it will be a pair of underdogs who won 84 and 90 regular-season games, respectively. Continue reading...

After a gunman killed 18 people in Maine this week, the Democratic representative, Jared Golden, said he was changing his stance on gun legislation and would now support banning assault weapons. At a news conference in Lewiston, where the mass shooting occurred, Golden said he had previously opposed a ban on what he described as 'deadly weapons of war' out of fear for the lives of his family members. Announcing his new position, Golden said he would work with any colleague to achieve gun legislation during his time left in Congress

Harvey Lewis, a 47-year-old Ohio ultramarathoner, won the last-man-standing Big Dog's Backyard Ultra race after running the approximate distance between San Francisco to LAThe pleasures of winning a world championship can sometimes be small, but immediate. The evidence is plain in the smile of ultrarunner Harvey Lewis at 6.59pm on Wednesday 25 October. Lewis has just won the 2023 Backyard Ultra World Championship, but what appears to be of greater immediate relief is that after 450 miles, and for the first time in 108 hours (four and a half days), Lewis will not have to run four and one sixth miles (6.7km) at the start of the next hour.Ultrarunners like Lewis compete in ultramarathons, or ultras. Any footrace longer than a traditional marathon (26.2 miles, or 42.2 km) is considered an ultra, although within that designation there exist multitudes - in New York City alone, ultras can range from pop culture-themed 28-mile events to epic journeys thousands of miles in length. Continue reading...

As Las Vegas shifts its attention to more reputable sports frontiers, the Gulf states are ready to seize the opportunity and claim their place as the new epicenter of boxing and MMAThe glittering neon lights of Las Vegas have long symbolized the epicenter of fight sports.It is the place where an aging Muhammad Ali lost his splendor, where Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear (twice), and where Floyd Mayweather showcased his decade of dominance. It is also the place where Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters like Conor McGregor became household names. Continue reading...

There is a growing admission that existing guidelines are inadequate, with no single body to adjudicate the gross violation of children's rightsChildren do not start wars or plan acts of terrorism, but too often they are their greatest victims, as the conflict engulfing Israel and Gaza so painfully demonstrates.This is a struggle fought out on a battlefield with no distinction between civilian and military theatres, and which is now taking place mostly in Gaza, where Hamas is embedded in towns and villages and where a million young people under 18 form nearly half the population. There are few wars in history in which children have constituted such a high proportion of the people most at risk. Continue reading...

He may be a gifted orator, but his rhetoric of rage and revolution is deepening divisions in France. It is time to dump himIf you want to know the deep values that drive someone, sometimes you have to look at who they admire, who they throw under the bus and who they refuse to unreservedly condemn. For the French far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, it should by now be clear. After all, the head of the leftwing opposition alliance has been in politics for four decades, and a senator since 1986. He stood as a radical left alternative to Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in the 2022 presidential elections and almost got through to the second round. But while Melenchon may have attracted many young voters to his campaign, he is no Bernie Sanders: his refusal to evolve from cold war-era reflexive anti-Americanism and his desire to pursue a revolutionary" brand of opposition have dragged the French left into unelectability and moral confusion.As late as 2019, long after Venezuela had ceased to be a democracy and had become, instead, Latin America's primary source of political and economic refugees, Melenchon was still publicly expressing admiration for the late Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro.Alexander Hurst is a Guardian columnist. He is a France-based writer and an adjunct lecturer at Sciences Po, the Paris Institute of Political Studies Continue reading...

Palestinians and Israelis are bound together in suffering. Seeking to untangle this, as the UN has, should not be seen as making excuses for HamasNever again. When the United Nations was originally founded from the ashes of the second world war, it was at least in part to give more solid meaning to those words. The first treaty it ever adopted, thanks to the efforts of a Polish Jew named Raphael Lemkin who had lost more than 40 members of his family in the Holocaust, was the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide. From Rwanda to Srebrenica, the UN itself admits it hasn't always lived up to Lemkin's ideals. Its founding mission remains, however, to learn from history, not to repeat it. But whose history, exactly?This week Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the UN, furiously accused the organisation of becoming a stain on humanity" after its secretary general, Antonio Guterres, declared that while nothing could justify the 7 October massacre perpetrated by Hamas, the attacks did not happen in a vacuum". They had, Guterres said, followed 56 years of suffocating occupation" and vanishing hopes of a political solution to Palestinians' plight. History, in other words, matters; perhaps especially so in the Middle East, where some trace the roots of conflict back to the Bible, and every modern war unfolds in the psychological shadow of the last. Continue reading...

Defence secretary Lloyd Austin says strikes were in response to attacks on US troops, and warns others against action that would lead to broader regional conflict'

In an MLS season dominated by Lionel Messi, another Argentinian midfielder is set to be named league MVPThe best player in Major League Soccer this season has been an Argentine, but not that Argentine. While 2023 will forever be remembered as the year Lionel Messi changed the American soccer landscape by joining Inter Miami, compatriot Luciano Acosta has shone brightest of all for the best team in the league.FC Cincinnati finished dead last in each of their first three seasons as an MLS franchise. Their improvement since then, however, has been dramatic. Acosta has been the central component around which Pat Noonan's Supporters' Shield-winning team revolves. His 17 goals and 10 assists are should earn the 29-year-old this year's MVP award. Continue reading...

Police say there's a chance' Robert Card is inside, while media wait across meadow with helicopters and drones flying overheadMass-shooting suspect Robert Card may be holed up in a family-owned farmhouse in Bowdoin, Maine, several miles from where he is alleged to have carried out a massacre on Wednesday evening.The FBI and Maine state police have been staking out the property since the afternoon without offering clarity on the situation. Continue reading...

The CEO of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX is charged with seven counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to launder moneySam Bankman-Fried did not make a scheduled appearance before the jury in his crypto fraud trial on Thursday, in a surprise decision that tamped the anticipation swirling around the high-profile case.The former FTX executive instead testified without the jury present, so that the judge overseeing the case, Lewis Kaplan, could first decide what portions of his testimony are admissible. Continue reading...

At least 18 people were killed and 13 injured after a gunman opened fire in two locations in Lewiston, Maine. This blog is now closed; please read the following story for more information.

Brass from the statue of the Confederate general will be used for a public art installation in Virginia cityAt a foundry last weekend, with fire blazing and anti-racist activists watching, the statue of the Confederate general Robert E Lee that sparked the deadly 2017 Charlottesville white nationalist riot was cut into pieces and melted down to liquid brass.It felt like an execution," said Jalane Schmidt, co-founder of Charlottesville Black Lives Matter and a professor at the University of Virginia. Continue reading...

Minnesota representative has voted for majority of Biden's legislative agenda but says it's time for next generation of leadersDean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota who is relatively unknown on the national US stage, is set to launch a long-shot campaign to primary Joe Biden in New Hampshire on Friday.The New Hampshire secretary of state's office confirmed Phillips is scheduled to file paperwork to get on the ballot there on Friday morning. Continue reading...

Eighteen people were killed in Wednesday's shooting, the largest mass shooting of 2023 so far

Milton Martin, 56, of First Pentecostal Church of Chalmette, accused of abuse of girl, now 28, who was member of congregationAuthorities in Louisiana have charged a Pentecostal pastor with sexually molesting a teenage girl who was a member of his church.Milton O Martin III, 56, faces one charge each of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile - colloquially referred to as statutory rape - and of indecent behavior with a minor, records obtained by the Guardian show. Continue reading...

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In small town ready for Halloween, every resident seems to know someone injured or killed in Wednesday massacreHalloween decorations for spooky season were up in the Maine city of Lewiston but the community's streets were mostly quiet on Thursday, a day after a gunman killed 18 people at a local bowling alley and nearby bar in an act of horror that was all too real.Police roadblocks prevented access to some areas of the town - part of a partial lockdown announced after the 40-year-old murder suspect, Robert Card, fled the scene, leaving his car several miles away near a boat dock. He is still on the run as hundreds of police search for him. Continue reading...

Special counsel says ex-president trying to send threatening message to a foreseeable witness' in election interference caseThe special counsel Jack Smith accused Donald Trump of trying to send an unmistakable and threatening message to a foreseeable witness" in the federal election interference case against him, after it was reported that Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows had been granted immunity.The claim from Smith came in a court filing late on Wednesday seeking a limited gag order. The judge in the case, Tanya Chutkan, issued such an order last week but suspended it when lawyers for Trump appealed. Continue reading...

Mike Johnson represented Kentucky project said to have used Christian beliefs as a litmus test for hiring decisions'Mike Johnson, the newly elected Republican speaker of the US House, won taxpayer funding for a Noah's Ark amusement park while working as a lawyer, in a graphic illustration of his uncompromising rightwing Christian beliefs.Working for Freedom Guard, a non-profit proclaiming a commitment to defending religious liberty, Johnson was hired by Answers in Genesis, a creationist ministry, in 2015, after the state of Kentucky rescinded an offer of tourism tax incentives for the project in Williamstown, citing discrimination against non-Christians. Continue reading...

Decision regarding congressional and state legislative maps could result in an additional Democratic seat in CongressGeorgia Republicans must redraw congressional and state legislative maps to give Black voters in the state a fair shot at electing the candidate of their choice, a federal judge ruled on Thursday in a decision that could result in an additional Democratic seat in Congress.When Georgia Republicans drew the state's 14 congressional districts last year, they placed the lines in such a way that they weakened the influence of Black voters in the west metro-Atlanta area, violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Judge Steve Jones ruled on Thursday. Continue reading...

Democrat pleads guilty to misdemeanour charge for pulling fire alarm in congressional building as crucial funding vote loomedPleading guilty to a misdemeanour charge and pledging to pay a fine for pulling a fire alarm in a congressional building as a crucial vote loomed, the Democratic New York congressman Jamaal Bowman hit out at Republicans for making crazy" comparisons to rioters who attacked Congress on January 6.That's crazy," Bowman told reporters outside court in Washington on Thursday, laughing as he did so. Continue reading...

The governor of Maine, Janet Mills, says 18 people have been killed and 13 injured in the Lewiston shootings during a press conference on Thursday, warning the suspected gunman is still large. Addressing reporters, Mills said: 'Maine state police have issued a shelter in place order for Lewiston, Lisbon and Bowdoin, as the manhunt for that person of interest, Robert Card of Bowdoin, continues.' William Ross, a colonel at Maine state police, added that the suspected gunman 'should be considered armed and dangerous', adding: 'We believe this is someone that should not be approached'

Officials hunt for army reservist, 40, suspected of killing 18 people as America confronts yet another mass shooting

As her state mourns 18 dead in latest shooting spree, Susan Collins is now facing criticism for her votes against gun control lawsThe Republican senator Susan Collins is facing sharp criticism for her previous voting record on gun control after a mass shooting in her home state of Maine that killed 18 people and injured more than a dozen.Collins, a US senator for Maine since 1997, received backlash to a statement she posted after a mass shooting on Wednesday in Lewiston, in the south of Maine. The attack happened when a gunman opened fire at a local bowling alley and restaurant. Continue reading...

Maine senator says he is deeply sad' while advocacy groups demand stricter gun control lawsPoliticians and advocates reacted with outrage, anger and despair on Thursday after yet another mass shooting, with at least 16 people killed and many injured at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine.A gunman, who on Thursday morning was still at large, opened fire on Wednesday evening in the city in southern Maine, about an hour outside Portland. Police issued a shelter-in-place order and named a person of interest. Continue reading...

Republicans have elected an obscure and extreme Trumpist, Mike Johnson, as speaker of the HouseOn Wednesday, House Republicans rallied around Mike Johnson, a little-known Trump-loving congressman, and propelled him into the speakership. The Magafication of the congressional Republican delegation is complete.After three weeks of infighting and internal bloodletting, so-called Republican moderates waved the white flag of surrender. The line between Republican and neo-Confederate grows dimmer by the day.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

Mike Johnson of Louisiana has continued to champion anti-abortion bills even as some in his party beware US voter backlashThe day after the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in June last year, Mike Johnson of Louisiana celebrated his home state's new penalties for abortion providers. The right to life has now been RESTORED!" the Republican crowed on X, formerly known as Twitter, on 25 June. Perform an abortion and get imprisoned at hard labor for 1-10 yrs & fined $10K-$100K."Opposition to abortion is virtually a job requirement for Republicans these days. But Johnson, the newly minted speaker of the House, is a committed abortion opponent even by the standards of his fellow conservative colleagues. Continue reading...