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Pitcher who played for three major league teams before becoming Port Authority officer, was going to work at 9/11 ceremony in ManhattanAnthony Varvaro, a former US Major League Baseball pitcher who retired in 2016 to become a police officer in the New York City area, was killed in a car accident Sunday morning on his way to work at the September 11 memorial ceremony in Manhattan, according to police officials and his former teams.Varvaro, 37, was an officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He played baseball at St John’s University in New York before a six-year career in the majors as a relief pitcher with the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox. Continue reading...

Vice-president warns that the elections will determine whether ‘age-old sanctity’ of right to vote would be protectedKamala Harris warned on Sunday that the midterm elections in November would determine whether the “age-old sanctity” of the right to vote would be protected in the US or whether “so-called extremist leaders around the country” would continue to restrict access to the ballot box.With just 56 days to go until the elections, and with the paper-thin Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress, the vice-president said that “everything is on the line in these elections”. Continue reading...

Democrat says clarification from judge urgently needed and the mishandling of state secrets could have disastrous consequencesThe Democratic chair of the US Senate intelligence committee has demanded that a federal judge allows the committee to be briefed on the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago and the potential damage caused by Donald Trump hoarding top secret documents at his private club.Mark Warner, the US senator from Virginia, said that there was confusion over whether the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the FBI were allowed to brief the Senate committee on their review of classified documents held at the former president’s club-resort and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Continue reading...

Chief justice warns against linking contentious decisions with court legitimacy as vice-president attacks ‘activist court’US supreme court chief justice John Roberts has defended his conservative-leaning bench from attacks over its decision in June to overturn federal abortion rights, as US vice-president Kamala Harris launched a fierce attack on what she called today’s “activist court”.Roberts, in his first public appearance since the bombshell ruling to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision, warned against linking contentious decisions with court legitimacy, saying at an event on Friday night: “The court has always decided controversial cases and decisions have always been subject to intense criticism, and that is entirely appropriate.” Continue reading...

US Open triumph showed the supremely talented 21-year-old playing with a newfound grit – and she may yet get even betterIn the final week of last season, Iga Swiatek’s reward for a solid year was a place among the very best at the WTA Finals in Guadalajara. After the highs of winning the French Open late in 2020 and the adjustments she made as her whole world changed, Swiatek had enjoyed a good full season as a champion. But in Mexico she struggled badly. Swiatek lost her first two matches, quickly exiting the event in the group stages.Back then, it still felt like the improvements needed for her to command the hard courts as she had done clay would take some time. Instead, almost a year later, she is a different player. Continue reading...

Former US secretary of state makes an impassioned attack on turn towards extremism and divisiveness in American politicsHillary Clinton seized the opportunity presented by Sunday’s 21stanniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington to make a thinly-veiled attack on the extremism and divisiveness stoked by Donald Trump, as she called for a return to national unity.The former US secretary of state and first lady invoked the bipartisan mood of the country in the wake of the 9/11 attack in which almost 3,000 people were killed. Continue reading...

If the democratic experiment called America continues to unravel because of what Republicans did or failed to do, they will live in infamyI have a serious question for people who have power in America, and who continue to deny the outcome of the 2020 election and enable Trump’s big lie: what are you saying to yourself in private? How are you justifying yourself in your own mind?I don’t mean to be snide or snarky. I’m genuinely curious.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is 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 new 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.com. Continue reading...

She was the embodiment of an infallible nation, but in this new era we will speak of our imperfectionsIn Britain, there has been a whiff of decline in the air for a long time, temporarily masked by the cheap synthetic scent of Boris Johnson’s cheerleader government. But it is now unmistakable. When people used to say the Queen was to be admired because “she does the job so well”, I never quite understood what that meant. As far as I could see, her job was simply to turn up, go through protocols and not go off script. But the truth is that what others saw was a display of confidence, coherence and continuity, when the country she ruled over had little of these. Hers was a sanitising presence against a backdrop of wars, economic crises, Brexit and Covid.That’s what a good head of state is meant to do, we are told: be there for moral support in times of national emergency, and stay out of it in moments of political upheaval. But the less she said, or the more she didn’t say, the more she enveloped the country in a sleepy, warm embrace of unreality. That is gone now.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour peer calls on US president to follow UK in banning firm over misconduct in South AfricaJoe Biden should follow the UK in banning the global management consultancy firm Bain & Company from future government contracts, the Labour peer Peter Hain has said.In a letter shared with the Guardian, the former minister and anti-apartheid campaigner urged the US president to “act on this matter and establish a clear precedent that will signal to all US global companies, consultancies, lawyers, auditors and financial advisers that collusion with corrupt politicians and their business cronies in other countries will not be tolerated”. Continue reading...

Incident occurred amid growing tension as Republican states bus thousands of asylum seekers to Democratic citiesAn asylum seeker was hit in the face, pinned down and Tased by law enforcement officers in a New York homeless shelter, prompting criticism at conditions facing migrants, especially those recently arrived in the city after crossing the US-Mexico border, amid partisan disagreement over their placement.Meiver Martinez, 21, an asylum seeker from Venezuela, was struck in the face early Wednesday by a city Department of Homeless Services (DHS) officer at the Brooklyn-based Atlantic Armory shelter. Continue reading...

As the final grand slam of 2022 draws to a close, we take a look at some of our favourite images from Flushing Meadows Continue reading...

The off-grid bandits accused of killing Adam Simjee appear to be followers of Rashad Jamal, a controversial guruTwo college students set out on a leisurely drive along an isolated Alabama forest road last month, but only one returned alive.Adam Simjee and his girlfriend, Mikayla Paulus, had no idea that their trip would end, according to authorities, in a sudden and deadly shootout with bandits living in the nearby woods. Continue reading...

Having a positive role model in the classroom plays its part, but the effects last a lifetimeIt’s common to say that everyone remembers a great teacher, although I’ve always found that the stupendously bad ones also stick in the memory. What is certainly true is that what happens in our school years does have lasting effects, for good or ill.New research into rural schooling in 1930s and 1940s America makes the case for teachers as role models as well as educators. At a time when girls saw few women in professional roles, it found that those with disproportionately female teachers at primary school achieved better educational outcomes. Maybe that’s not surprising, but the researchers went on to show that the impact continued long after they had left the classroom. Women who had more female teachers earned more, and even lived longer, than those without.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

The ex-president’s cries of a witch hunt by law enforcement, echoed by his allies, have imperiled officers’ physical safetyDonald Trump’s non-stop drive to paint the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago to recover classified documents as a political witch hunt is drawing rebukes from ex-justice department and FBI officials who warn such attacks can spur violence and pose a real threat to the physical safety of law enforcement.But the concerns have not deterred Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy and other Trump allies from making inflammatory remarks echoing the former US president. Continue reading...

At a time when men still wielded all the power, the young Elizabeth was a vital role model. It meant, at least, one female in official photographsThe past is sometimes less of a foreign country than you might imagine. On Friday morning, when my husband wondered aloud if we should get a new television “for the funeral” (ours is comically small), my mind turned not to the John Lewis website, but to the coronation, the generations connected, even now, by the allure of an outside broadcast.In 1953, the question of how and where events at Westminster Abbey might be watched was, for most of the population, somewhat pressing. As the year began, fewer than two million people owned a television set. Continue reading...

Leonard Francis, who pleaded guilty to fraud, is on the run, leaving questions about the role of military contractors in his wakeLeonard Glenn Francis, known as “Fat Leonard”, skipped house arrest on Monday and has, in all probability, crossed the US-Mexico border and is trying to make his way to Asia.Francis, who was due to be sentenced after pleading guilty to a decades-long military contractor fraud scheme, has left behind a headache for the US navy, and for the military broadly, in mounting foreign operations. Continue reading...

The Queen knew how to earn trust and respect around the world. Liz Truss should follow her example

Ty Cobb served during the ex-president’s administration and claimed it was one of his two toxic traits dictating his actionsA former lawyer who served in the White House during Donald Trump’s administration, said the ex-president is a “deeply wounded narcissist”, claiming that’s one of the two toxic traits that dictate his actions and decision making.Ty Cobb, who stepped down in 2018 because of Trump’s disapproval of his “conciliatory” approach, also said Trump is “incapable of acting other than in his perceived self-interest or for revenge”. Continue reading...

You don’t need to be productive as a kid and it feels good to revel in the joy of simpler things, silly or saneAs an only child, I am used to entertaining myself. Not only am I used to it, I am probably hardwired to enjoy it. And back in 2020, in between the toilet paper wars and the crushing weight of the pandemic becoming a reality, I sank into the ultimate form of nostalgia for comfort – I rediscovered activities from my childhood.There is less pressure to be productive as a kid. Your craft projects made out of sticky tape and cardboard don’t have to be a masterpieces and time in the kitchen can be spent baking things that can’t go wrong, like chocolate crackles or cakes made out of sand. Continue reading...

Medical advocates across the country are now pushing for 1m more transplants with increasing number of patients seeking procedureMedical advocates across the United States have launched a new push for 1m more organ transplants, after the milestone figure of the 1 millionth transplant in the US was met at the end of last week.Since the first kidney transplant was performed in 1954, the US has surpassed over 1m transplants. Nevertheless, with more patients seeking the procedure than ever before, the demand for organ donors has grown significantly. Continue reading...

A new ISO-approved measure will also allow sharing of suspicious purchases with law enforcementCredit card purchases of firearms in the US can now be tracked and purchases deemed suspicious can even be shared with law enforcement, according to a new measure approved by an organization that sets parameters for business transactions.The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) voted in favor of creating a merchant code for firearms stores, according to Reuters. Continue reading...

The 19-year-old Spaniard would be youngest ever men’s world No 1 if he can beat another emerging star in Norway’s RuudOver the course of an intense, chaotic and wildly entertaining US Open semi-final between Carlos Alcaraz and Frances Tiafoe, as their combined creativity, athleticism and joy merged to create entertainment in its purest form, Alcaraz absorbed so many blows. He conceded a difficult first set tiebreak with a double fault, then after establishing his dominance, he couldn’t hold on. Alcaraz continually lost his serve, failed to take a match point and found himself in a fifth set.There were so many moments when the momentum could have dangerously shifted, but no matter how the match twisted, he maintained his intensity until the end. Across the three consecutive five-set battles that have led him to the final, this resilience has been his defining characteristic. It will make him so hard to put away as he faces Casper Ruud for the men’s US Open title on Sunday. Continue reading...

Fire crews make progress on massive Fairview fire, as storm set to bring cooler temperatures but possible floodingSouthern Californians welcomed cooler temperatures and spotty rain Saturday from a tropical storm veering off the Pacific coast days after a relentless heat wave nearly overwhelmed the state’s electrical grid.Officials braced for flooding in coastal and mountain areas from the storm and feared powerful winds could expand the massive Fairview Fire about 75 miles (121 km) south-east of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

It’s precisely at times of transition that we should take the chance to interrogate hereditary powerKing Charles III. As soon as one monarch dies, another takes her place. It is a seamless transition that, for many, is both necessary and reassuring, helping sustain the myth of monarchy that, while kings and queens may pass on, the institution endures. It is also for that very reason that the seamlessness is troubling.At moments such as these, republicans are faced with a dilemma. “We are saddened to hear the news of the Queen’s death and we wish to express our condolences to the royal family,” tweeted the campaign group Republic. “There will be plenty of time to debate the monarchy’s future. For now, we must respect the family’s personal loss and allow them and others to mourn the loss of a mother, grandmother and great grandmother.” Continue reading...

Stephen Miller and Brian Jack were summoned as authorities investigate funds related to the Save America Pac, currently sitting at $100mTwo of Donald Trump’s top officials are facing subpoenas for an investigation against him regarding fund-raisers following the 2020 elections that aimed to undermine the results of the election.Stephen Miller, once one of the former US president’s most senior aides, and Brian Jack, his former director of political affairs at the White House, were part of a large group of Trump’s officials and allies who were subpoenaed by the grand jury this week, the New York Times reported. Continue reading...

Public official Robert Telles arrested over death of Jeff German, who had reported bullying and favoritism in Telles’s departmentIn four decades of writing about the Las Vegas criminal underworld and government corruption, investigative reporter Jeff German took on plenty of powerful and dangerous people.The hard-bitten newsman was once punched by an organized crime associate and received veiled threats from mobsters. Continue reading...

New Mexico police say bike-builder Dillen Maurer cut off his foot with a chainsaw and did not suffer amputation in ATV accidentA prominent figure in America’s outdoor and cycling scene has lost a foot in circumstances that remain mysterious, as local police say he cut his foot off with a chainsaw, while he and his spouse maintain the amputation happened during a hit-and-run accident.The story was detailed in a GoFundMe post by Dillen Maurer’s wife, Jenn Maurer, who recounted how her husband – an established frame-maker at Baphomet Bicycles in New Mexico – lost his foot several inches above the ankle over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Continue reading...

The cable network’s CEO dramatic hiring and firing of on-air talent seems designed to woo the Fox News crowdCNN wants to be the new Fox News and it’s not even trying to hide it. Earlier this year Chris Licht became the new CEO of the cable network and immediately made it clear that he was going to change the network’s direction. One of Licht’s first moves was to embark on what Axios described as a “Capitol Hill diplomacy tour” and others described as a Republican boot-licking tour. Licht met with key lawmakers who had become wary of cable news and promised them that CNN was moving away from “alarmist” programming towards more neutral, objective reporting. Continue reading...

The president’s speech last week was a testament to the extraordinary danger democracy is facingPresident Biden’s speech in Philadelphia last week, on the imminent threat to democracy, marks an important moment in US history.The president was precise and direct about why democracy is under threat, and from whom. Throughout his speech, he made sure to distinguish between what he called “mainstream Republicans” on one side and extremist “Maga Republicans” on the other. But Biden also left no doubt that the extremist forces are not simply fringe phenomena, that today’s Republican party is “dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the Maga Republicans”.Thomas Zimmer is a visiting professor at Georgetown University, focused on the history of democracy and its discontents in the United States, and a Guardian US contributing opinion writer Continue reading...

American commentators, academics and others are calling into reconsideration of monarchy’s lasting influencesThe death of Queen Elizabeth II revived longstanding criticism in the US over the monarchy’s enrichment from the British empire’s violent colonization of African, Asian and Caribbean nations and their diasporas.Since her death on Thursday, American commentators, academics, and a former US diplomat, among others, took to social media and elsewhere to call for fully wrestling with the British monarchy’s lasting influence in light of the monarch’s death. Continue reading...

After 20 years as a fan, I can’t justify supporting the ongoing carnage in football. As a sociologist who studies violence, gender and labor in sports, perhaps it was just a matter of timeOn Sunday, the NFL season will kick off in earnest. Sports news websites, team message boards and social media are already awash in coverage. To the unbridled joy of many, football is back. But for the first time in almost 20 years, I won’t be following.This summer, I decided I’m out – done with football. I can’t justify supporting the ongoing carnage in the sport. As a sociologist who studies violence, gender and labor in sports, perhaps it was just a matter of time. Continue reading...

Communication between player and coach has been seen as a benign infraction for years. But in New York this year it has become legalTo the casual tennis fan, there’s likely a sense that the US Open has looked and felt different this fortnight from prior years. And that impression would be entirely accurate. Aside from the return of full attendance in Flushing Meadows following the Covid intrusion upon all live events in 2020 and 2021, several rule changes implemented over the last 13 months have changed the look, action and rhythm of the competition.In 2020, Novak Djokovic was defaulted in the first set in his fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta when, in a moment of intense frustration, he smacked a ball away, hitting a lineswoman in the neck. His tournament came to an immediate halt. Continue reading...

Extreme temperatures, especially in the state’s interiors, has left the vulnerable population reeling from the heat’s effectsWhen temperatures soar over 100F in Fresno, California, Kathleen Dortland sometimes has to choose: the air conditioner or the oxygen machine?The small AC unit in the bedroom of the fifth-wheel trailer she shares with her four cats doesn’t cool much of the house, but without it her home is uninhabitable. She also needs the oxygen that she has relied on since cancer weakened her lungs. This week as California faced a punishing heatwave, Dortland had to run both devices at the same time and she was painfully aware of what that would cost her. Continue reading...

Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal held for more than a year after being stopped while hiking along Iraqi border in 2009Three Americans who were jailed by Iran for more than a year and accused of being spies while hiking along the border with Iraq are suing their former captors, hoping to persuade a judge to award them damages for the torture they say they endured.The lawsuit being pursued by Sarah Shourd, her ex-husband and fellow journalist Shane Bauer, and their friend Josh Fattal is being overseen by federal judge Richard Leon in Washington, who in 2019 ordered Iran to pay Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian $180m for imprisoning him for more than a year on false espionage charges. Continue reading...

One longtime Bannon watcher says it’s too early to count him out – even a prison term could enhance his status among the Maga crowdWhen Steve Bannon heard that he was, after all, going to face charges last week for allegedly ripping off contributors to a multimillion-dollar fund to build a wall on the Mexican border, he claimed it was a sign of his success.Donald Trump’s former strategist said his arrest on Thursday was an attempt to shut down his War Room pod and video cast because it is driving grassroots support for the former president’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and reshaping the Republican party ahead of the midterm elections. Continue reading...

Ex-adviser says president in 2020 agreed that his son-in-law had to be replaced by Steve Bannon but did not dare try to fire himIn June 2020, less than five months before polling day, Donald Trump agreed to a “coup d’état” to remove his son-in-law Jared Kushner from control of his presidential re-election campaign and replace him with the far-right provocateur Steve Bannon.The coup had support from Donald Trump Jr but according to a new book by the former Trump aide Peter Navarro it did not work, after Trump refused to give Kushner the bad news himself. Continue reading...

The Republican candidate for Pennsylvania’s governor spoke during a video call hosted by a Christian nationalist group memberA week before the Capitol attack, on a video call organised by a member of a Christian nationalist group, a Pennsylvania state senator who is the Republican candidate for governor in the battleground state prayed that supporters of Donald Trump would “seize the power” on 6 January 2021.Doug Mastriano attended the pro-Trump rally in Washington that day, after which supporters, told by Trump to “fight like hell” to overturn his election defeat, stormed Congress in an attempt to stop certification of Joe Biden’s victory. Continue reading...

The ex-president keeps dropping hints he will run again without taking the plunge – and finance as well as politics may be a factorIn Tennessee in June, he asked a crowd: “Would anybody like me to run for president?” Then in Nevada in July he remarked: “We have a president who ran twice, won twice and may have to do it a third time. Can you believe it?”In Pennsylvania earlier this month, he vowed that “in 2024, most importantly, we are going to take back our magnificent White House”. Continue reading...

District judge to assess candidates put forward, as well as disagreements over the powers a special master would have to review retrieved documentsThe US justice department and lawyers for Donald Trump were unable to agree Friday night on who to have as the so-called special master to review for potential privilege protections the materials that the FBI seized from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort earlier this month.The justice department and Trump met a deadline to submit a joint filing but failed to reach consensus on most of the key issues at stake: not only the identity of the special master but also the scope of the work, and who should pay for the added expense. Continue reading...

We somehow imagined she could stay with us forever – an indestructible force that always bounced back from adversities both personal and nationalI suspect Queen Elizabeth II’s death has struck so hard for many for two main reasons.The first is that the Queen was a constant and rock-solid presence for almost the entire postwar era – there was a sense of certainty and strength in the values she brought to public office, in an age whose only certainty seemed to be change itself. Continue reading...

The fierce weather comes with a risk of flash floods and gusts that could fuel wildfires burning across the stateA tropical storm surging up the California coast brought fierce winds on Friday that threatened to fuel ferocious wildfires already burning across the state.After days of record-breaking heat that tested California’s energy capacity, baked moisture out of the drought-stricken landscapes and spurred the spread of deadly fires , the arrival of Tropical Storm Kay produced heavy rains that caused flash floods and threatened more trouble for the state’s electric grid. Continue reading...

The vice-president blasts the supreme court’s conservative majority over abortion rights in an interview with NBCKamala Harris has excoriated the US supreme court for being an “activist” institution after stripping away nationwide abortion rights earlier this year.The vice-president’s remarks criticizing the supreme court’s conservative majority for its decision in June to reverse the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that established the federal right to an abortion came during an interview with Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet the Press. Continue reading...