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DoJ says Washington Trust engaged in redlining, the racist policy of banks blocking people of color from getting mortgagesWashington Trust, the oldest community bank in the US, has agreed to pay $9m to resolve allegations that it engaged in lending discrimination against homebuyers in majority Black and Latino neighborhoods, the Department of Justice has announced.Since the company was founded in 1800 in Rhode Island, the bank has never offered its home loan services at a branch location in a majority-Black or Latino neighborhood throughout the state, including in the state capital of Providence, where the vast majority of the state's Black and Latino population live. Continue reading...

Small parcel of land beneath a Hawaiin Electric Co power line could be the site where the devastating fire reignitedMelted remains of an old car tire. Two burned trees. A stump of an abandoned utility pole.These are among the pieces of evidence investigators are examining as they seek to solve the mystery of last month's Maui wildfire: how did a small fire sparked by downed power lines and declared extinguished flare up again hours later into a devastating inferno? Continue reading...

Trump is effectively out of business' in New York, Michael Cohen says, after judge rules business fortune built on rampant fraud

Seven candidates faced off at Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley, California, with Republican frontrunner again choosing to skipThe absence of Donald Trump played a central role in the second Republican primary debate of the 2024 election season, as seven White House hopefuls tried and mostly failed to shake up a race in which the former president remains the clear frontrunner.Two of Trump's rivals attempted to capitalize on his absence by criticizing him for skipping the debate, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in Simi Valley, California. DeSantis mocked Trump as missing in action", saying, He should be on this stage tonight. He owes it to you to defend his record." Continue reading...

Senate majority leader says fellow Democrat has fallen way short' of senatorial standards but stops short of calling for resignationThe Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said on Wednesday he was disturbed" by the fraud indictment against his fellow Democratic Senator, Bob Menendez, and that the New Jersey lawmaker has fallen way short" of senatorial standards.Menendez pleaded not guilty earlier in the day to charges of taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, as calls for his resignation from his fellow Democrats escalated. Continue reading...

Moderate New York Republican Mike Lawler said members of the GOP blocking efforts to keep the federal government from going into shutdown before a Saturday deadline are stuck on stupid' in an interview with CNN.Criticising members of his party, Lawler said: Some of my colleagues have, frankly, been stuck on stupid and refused to do what we were elected to do, against the vast majority of the conference, who have been working to avoid a shutdown'

While far from universally loved, the American is a guaranteed attention-grabber in a sport which finds itself in turmoilBrooks Koepka doesn't like you. Perhaps Brooks Koepka doesn't strictly know you yet, but for a man of Koepka's unbendable principles this point would be a mere formality. Perhaps at this early stage of your enmity it is more correct to say he disapproves of you. You are the autograph hunter hassling him after practice. You are the person who left the irritating comment on Instagram. You are the driver who cut him up on I-95. Maybe not you specifically, but someone like you. And let's be real, it probably will be you one day. Best give him a wide berth just to be safe.You don't even need to interact directly with Koepka to get on his wrong side. Earlier this year he was at a Florida Panthers ice hockey game when he became exasperated at one of the home team's defenders. Ekblad, you suck!" Koepka shouted from the stands in a video that was lighting up the internet within minutes. Fucking traffic cone!" Continue reading...

Canadian researchers show unhoused people don't waste money on temptation goods' - and hope to alter public opinionIn 2002, the then San Francisco supervisor Gavin Newsom proposed legislation to cut welfare assistance to nearly 3,000 homeless people living in the city from $395 a month to $59 a month, and divert the budgetary savings toward shelters and other services. It was promoted with the name Care Not Cash".

Several senior officials have conspicuously vanished. But it is ordinary people, especially Uyghurs, who are most vulnerableIn 1971, Lin Biao, hailed by China as Mao Zedong's successor, fell from grace, fled the country and was killed in an aircrash in Mongolia. Despite his prominence, it was weeks before the public was told of his death, and months before any explanation was offered. The recent spate of disappearances from China's top echelons is hardly as seismic. They have happened in calmer political waters, far from the Cultural Revolution's turmoil. But they speak to the way that politics still operates in Beijing. The glaring absences of senior officials are eventually followed by a belated narrative of their downfall in the rumour mill and then state media.When Qin Gang, the foreign minister, vanished from public view in June, it was particularly conspicuous given his diplomatic role. It was almost a month before authorities confirmed that he had been removed from his post. A few weeks later, China's defence minister, Li Shangfu, also failed to appear at scheduled meetings with foreign officials. Reuters has reported that he is being investigated over corruption in military procurement. The two most senior generals overseeing nuclear and conventional land-based missiles had already been replaced at the beginning of August. One was reportedly taken away by corruption investigators. Continue reading...

Two-thirds say news about Black people is more negative than news about other racial and ethnic groups, Pew survey findsA majority of Black Americans say that their communities are unfairly depicted in news coverage, according to a sweeping new survey on Wednesday.Nearly two-thirds of respondents observed that their community received more negative coverage than other racial and ethnic groups, the Pew Research Center survey found. Roughly four in 10 surveyed said that the media not only stereotyped Black people but also felt that they saw racist and racially insensitive coverage sometimes or fairly often. Continue reading...

Many say US failed to prevent crisis, which has left 120,000 ethnic Armenians in limbo as Azerbaijan moves to take control of Nagorno-Karabakh regionThe night before the Republican presidential debate, hundreds of Armenian Americans demonstrated outside of the California debate location, calling on GOP candidates to speak out about what they called a current genocide happening in Nagorno-Karabakh.Across southern California, which has one of the largest Armenian diaspora populations in the world, residents expressed heartbreak and anger over what they saw as the failure of the US and Europe to prevent the current crisis, which has left the futures of an estimated 120,000 ethnic Armenians in limbo as Azerbaijan moves to take full control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Continue reading...

Mike Lawler, New York Republican, says colleagues refuse to do what we were elected to do' as shutdown loomsRepublicans pushing for a federal government shutdown are stuck on stupid", a party moderate said shortly before one rightwinger reported that the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, would not hold a vote on a bipartisan Senate plan advanced as a way to keep the government open.The American people elected a House Republican majority to serve as a check and balance and be able to govern," Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, a heavily Democratic state, told CNN. Continue reading...

Prisoners are bigger due to steroids. Spice turns inmates into zombies. And with social media they might know where we liveWorking in a prison is like going through a meat grinder. You come out at the end of a shift with your head feeling completely mashed. One of the first incidents I remember is a prisoner sitting in his cell cutting his arm because he wanted me to get him a cigarette. He knew exactly what to do without putting his life at risk.Things in prisons have changed a lot since then. Prisoners are much bigger than they were 30 years ago due to use of steroids inside. And they are more likely to be in gangs.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Request also made for four dress shirts, three ties, one belt, four pairs of socks, two pairs of shoes and appropriate undergarments'Sam Bankman-Fried, the jailed former cryptocurrency billionaire known for his casual appearance, has asked a US judge for permission to dress up for his forthcoming fraud trial.In a Tuesday night court filing, Bankman-Fried's lawyers asked a judge to order US marshals and Brooklyn jail officials to provide their client with three suit jackets and pairs of slacks to wear in the courtroom. Continue reading...

The All-Star match is a chance for golf to tap into its dedicated celebrity following and fans' insatiable thirst for contentIt's an immutable truth that inside every elite sportsman lives a frustrated professional golfer. While the rest of us dream about belting the winner in the Champions League final, clinching the men's singles at Wimbledon with a backhand down the line, or scoring the opening touchdown in the Super Bowl, the people who have actually been and done all those things seem, often as not, to simply want to spend a little more time out on the course fantasising about how many majors they'd have now if they'd only made different choices when they had the chance.Wednesday at the Ryder Cup is All-Star day, an event designed, in the large part, to give the TV companies something to screen in the run-up. This year's roster ran the full celebrity spectrum from A to Z. At one end, Novak Djokovic, the most successful male tennis player in history. And at the other Garrett Hilbert, who dwells at that awkward level of fame where the organisers felt unable to mention his name without immediately adding an explanation of who he is, what he does, and how many fans he has, as if it was the best way to cover the inevitable awkward pause. Continue reading...

Bank reaches settlements with US Virgin Islands and Jes Staley to resolve lawsuits over sex trafficking by EpsteinJPMorgan Chase reached settlements with the US Virgin Islands (USVI) and former executive Jes Staley to resolve lawsuits over sex trafficking by the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, largely resolving a scandal that has weighed on the largest US bank for months.The settlements conclude the final pieces of litigation in a saga involving women who said Epstein sexually abused them, and which embroiled some of the world's most powerful figures in finance and business. Continue reading...

Former president will address 500 workers in key election state in attempt to upstage Biden's appeal to autoworkers on TuesdayDonald Trump will attempt to woo blue-collar workers in Michigan tonight in an intensifying political tug-of-war with Joe Biden a day after the sitting president visited a picket line in the state to declare support for a trade union strike against the US's three flagship carmakers.Targeting working class voters in the key battleground, the former president will attempt to upstage yesterday's appeal by Biden to union members in the front line of the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike, which is turning into a proxy struggle for next year's presidential election. Continue reading...

Two sides were still far apart' after months of negotiations with the largest three gaming companies in Las VegasHospitality workers in Las Vegas, Nevada, have voted to authorize a strike if their union does not reach a contract deal with dozens of hotels on the Las Vegas strip.Thousands of workers attended the strike vote on 26 September at the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV) campus with the union slogan headlining the event: One job should be enough." Continue reading...

State bill would address trauma by amending housing, labor and education codes to explicitly prohibit discrimination, leaders sayCalifornia could soon become the first state to ban discrimination on the basis of caste, propelling a growing civil rights movement to its biggest stage yet.In recent years, efforts to ban caste discrimination have become increasingly widespread. Pending approval from Governor Gavin Newsom, the ban in California would follow the likes of Seattle and dozens of college campuses nationwide - including the 23-school California state university system - to explicitly define caste" and add it to a list of protected identities. Continue reading...

Marty Baron says Trump's son-in-law leaned on Post publisher to withdraw support of Russia election interference investigationDonald Trump's son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, tried to persuade the publisher of the Washington Post to fire its editor over coverage of the Russia investigation, that editor, Marty Baron, writes in a new book.With no delay and without pause during his four years as president," Baron writes, Trump and his team would go after the Post and everyone else in the media who didn't bend to his wishes. Continue reading...

Republican presidential debate is being held at the 40th president's library, but some say Reagan's party is no longer recognizableTourists posed for photos beside the presidential seal, peered inside the cockpit, studied the nuclear football and gazed at a desk where a Ronald Reagan" jacket slung over the chair, page of handwritten notes and jelly bean jar made it appear as if the 40th US president could saunter back at any moment.Air Force One is the star attraction at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. But on Wednesday it is competing for attention with a curving Starship Enterprise-style stage set featuring seven lecterns and microphones for the second Republican presidential primary debate. Continue reading...

Settlement closes books on case that produced criminal conviction - and allegations of attempted hush money coverupThe estate of a wealthy Catholic deacon who admitted molesting a child and then died earlier this year has now paid his victim after he had previously tried to back out of a $1m agreement to settle a contentious lawsuit between them.It's believed to be one of the largest individual sexual abuse settlements ever paid in a case involving a cleric who served in the archdiocese of New Orleans during the organization's decades-old sexual molestation crisis, though the crime to which the deacon pleaded guilty occurred before his ordination. Continue reading...

The company is calling it a de facto' ban - and it could reshape the housing market in residents' favourNew York City's crackdown on Airbnb, which was enforced earlier this month, has been described as a de facto ban" by the company. The tough restrictions, designed to bring back thousands of rental properties to the housing market for city residents to live in, will be closely scrutinised by politicians in cities worldwide. Many argue that Airbnb's exponential growth - it is now valued at close to $100bn - is a key factor behind the soaring inflation in property prices and rents that is fuelling a global housing crisis. They will be hoping that interventions like New York's will show them a way to take back cities across mainland Europe and the UK for people who actually live in them.With more than 6m properties in 100,000 cities rented out through Airbnb, many politicians are beginning to recognise that the huge number of homes lost to short-term lets booked on digital platforms is inextricably linked to the housing crisis. It is further pushing up already unaffordable rents for people living in cities and in tourist areas with large numbers of second homes that are rented out.Anna Minton is the author of Big Capital: Who is London for? and reader in architecture at the University of East London Continue reading...

Uniformed officer treated by medics after being bitten by president's German shepherd at White HouseJoe Biden's dog Commander has bitten another US Secret Service employee, the agency said.A uniformed division officer was bitten by the president's German shepherd at about 8pm on Monday at the White House, and was treated on-site by medical personnel, said the Secret Service's chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi. Continue reading...

Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit accusing former US president of inflating assets and net worthGood morning.Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House, a New York judge ruled yesterday in a strongly worded rejection of the former president's bid to throw out a civil lawsuit against him.What did Trump say? Alina Habba, Trump's general counsel, described the Trump Organization as an American success story" and called the judge's ruling fundamentally flawed". She added that they intended to appeal immediately against the decision because President Trump and his family, like every American business owner, is entitled to their day in court".When will TV and film production resume? Late-night and daytime television are expected to return to the air quickly. But most TV and film production cannot yet resume as the actors' strike is still under way, and the strikes have already affected the production and release schedules for the coming months. Continue reading...

Adult workers are demanding a fairer slice of corporate profits - so child labor is a way to increase and undercut the labor poolThis July the body of 16-year-old Duvan Tomas Perez became entangled" in meat processing machinery, according to a statement from Mar-Jac Poultry, the company where the boy was working. Perez was too young to be working there, according to Mar-Jac, which blamed an outside staffing company for failing to verify Perez's age and identity. Perez was not the first worker to die at the plant in recent years, and he was not the first 16-year-old to die at work in the US this summer.American legislators should be working to crack down on child labor, here and abroad, but instead, politicians - including Democrats - in at least 11 states have introduced or passed bills that weaken child labor laws. At a time when adult workers are demanding a fairer slice of the increasingly behemoth pie of corporate profits, child labor is a capitalist work-around to increase the labor pool and lower the wages of all those who have to work for a living.

One in five of us is reluctant to make flattering remarks. After an awkward moment with a stranger, I am among themHad I read the findings of a new survey about people's reluctance to give compliments before last week, I might have despaired of my fellow humans. One in five of us, apparently, fears bestowing compliments, particularly concerning a person's looks, dress sense or work achievements.What have we come to that we are scared to brighten someone else's day with our admiration? But, like I said, that was before. As in, before the other day when I had the unedifying experience of having a compliment to a stranger backfire on me.Anita Chaudhuri is a freelance journalist Continue reading...

The author has returned to the Murdoch empire for his latest book, after a bestselling trilogy on Trump. He discusses power, politics, the media and why a person can be a moron and a geniusImmediately before Michael Wolff published The Fall: The End of the Murdoch Empire, the emperor himself, driver of its expansion and its bitter divisions, stepped aside. Last week, Rupert Murdoch announced he was anointing his eldest son, Lachlan, as his successor, which per Wolff's narrative will have been a bitter blow to everyone, including Lachlan.Wolff's latest book joins an oeuvre that is remarkable for its access: in 2008, he wrote a biography of Murdoch, The Man Who Owns the News, for which the mogul gave him 50 hours of interviews. Never mind that it's the longest Murdoch has ever spoken to a journalist, it's probably the longest he's ever spoken to a friend. We really got along. He's inexhaustible on the subject of the media, and I, too, am inexhaustible on that subject. We had a very good time," says Wolff. So long as they were doing business or gossip, that is. He's very hard to talk to personally; he can't reflect on his own past and his own experience. He can talk about his family; he was weirdly transparent about his children. But about himself, what he might be feeling, no." Continue reading...

The Oakland A's are closing in on 110 losses this season. But when the franchise was on the east coast they made defeat an art formIt's been a demoralizing season for fans of the Oakland Athletics. The team announced its intention to leave for Las Vegas, and on the field, the A's are wrapping up a historically bad year, playing barely over .300.But this isn't the worst A's team in history. More than a century ago, playing nearly 3,000 miles away, the Philadelphia Athletics had not only the worst record in franchise history, but the worst record of any Major League Baseball team in the modern era. Continue reading...

Preparing for a record 15th edition, the Yorkshireman talks Darren Clarke, Seve Ballesteros and the absence of Lee WestwoodNobody has been involved in more Ryder Cup matches than Billy Foster. One stands out.Darren Clarke's participation in 2006 had been in serious doubt following the death of his wife, Heather, just six weeks earlier. Ask Foster, the esteemed caddie, whether it is hard to pick a memorable moment from a Ryder Cup connection stretching back to 1987 and the answer is immediate. Continue reading...

Germany is more resilient to populism than its neighbours. But parties such as Alternative fur Deutschland are testing it to the limitThe Germans have a term for what holds them together: Wehrhafte Demokratie. It roughly translates as fortified democracy, but that does not fully render its meaning. In essence, it refers to the idea that the state has the right to act against those who threaten the liberal democratic order.Another guarantor of German stability was the postwar constitutional settlement that founded three Volksparteien, big-tent citizens' parties" operating along carefully regulated parameters, encompassing centre-left, centre and centre-right. None would enjoy absolute power, which required coalitions, compromise and consensus at national and regional levels. As a further safety net, parties with less than 5% of the vote couldn't join parliament, excluding fringe groups.John Kampfner is the author of In Search of Berlin, published by Atlantic Books on 5 October. Continue reading...

The former president's image has always been more about illusion than reality, though no revelation seems to shake the Trump faithfulFor years Donald Trump was the host of The Apprentice, a reality TV show in which contestants vied for a management job within his organisation and he would deliver the verdict: You're fired!"It cemented the image of Trump as an assertive chief executive who had conquered New York, an image that still proves seductive to millions of voters who want him to run America like a business. But like much else about the 45th US president, it was all a lie. Continue reading...

Judge refuses to dismiss a lawsuit accusing former US president of illegally inflating assets and net worth, as his lawyers say they'll appealDonald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House, a New York judge ruled on Tuesday in a strongly worded rejection of the former president's bid to throw out a civil lawsuit against him.Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump and executives from his company, including his sons Eric and Donald Jr, routinely and repeatedly deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork. Continue reading...

New York judge ruled the ex-president had inflated the value of his assets and ordered a cancellation of business certificatesA New York judge ruled Tuesday that Donald Trump committed financial fraud by overstating the value of his assets to broker deals and obtain financing.The ruling is an acceleration of the case the New York attorney general Letitia James has been building against Trump since 2019, that the former president fudged financial statements and inflated his net worth up to $2.2bn more than the actual figure. Continue reading...

Stopgap deal reached Tuesday is a big step forward, but hard-right House Republicans still show little sign of relenting on budgetThe Senate took a significant step on Tuesday to extend government funding beyond the end of the month, with just days left to avoid a shutdown that could force millions of federal employees to go without pay.In a vote of 77 to 19, the Senate advanced a shell bill that will become a stopgap measure to fund the government through 17 November while directing roughly $6bn toward Ukraine's war efforts and another $6bn toward disaster relief. Continue reading...

The 79-page stopgap spending bill would not include any border security measures, a major sticking point for House RepublicansIn a major blow to Bob Menendez's support, Cory Booker, his fellow Democratic senator from New Jersey, says he should resign following his indictment on corruption charges last week.I believe stepping down is best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving," said Booker, who supported Menendez when he previously faced corruption charges in 2015. Continue reading...

Gavin Newsom, the governor, signed a law that adds an 11% state fee to the existing federal taxes for arms salesCalifornia will double the taxes on guns and ammunition and use the money to pay for more security at public schools and various violence prevention programs under a new law Gavin Newsom, the governor, signed on Tuesday.The federal government already taxes the sale of guns and ammunition at either 10% or 11%, depending on the type of gun. The law Newsom signed adds another 11% tax on top of that - making it the only state with its own tax on guns and ammunition, according to the gun control advocacy group Brady. Continue reading...

Documents show immigration agency Ice and BI Inc gather more information on those in Isap program and store it for longerA US immigration enforcement program that tracks nearly 200,000 migrants is collecting far more data on the people it surveils than officials previously shared, and storing that data for far longer than was previously known, the Guardian can reveal.Newly released documents show that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (Ice) stores some personal information the program collects on migrants through smartphone apps, ankle monitors and smartwatches for up to 75 years. Continue reading...

In Fort Wayne, Michigan, union autoworkers react to Biden showing up to pledge his support and to Trump avoiding themOn a damp and windy day, members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) picketed outside a sprawling Ford plant in Wayne, Michigan, burning logs in barrels for warmth.The plant makes the Ford Bronco, and workers there were among the first to strike when union contract negotiations between the UAW and the car companies collapsed earlier this month. Continue reading...

The US president became the first sitting president to address striking workers by joining a protest outside a Michigan car plant in solidarity with members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.During a speech on Tuesday, Biden told the workers they deserve 'a hell of a lot more than they get paid now', thanking them for 'saving' the auto industry

The idea behind Mehran's Steak House might have been cribbed from an earlier faux opening in London six years agoA fake steakhouse" that started as an elaborate joke" between a group of tech industry friends has gone viral after putting on its first sitting, for 140 people and members of the media, in New York City.Mehran's Steak House, which had previously only existed as a Google Maps listing created by the roommates of Mehran Jalali, the 21-year-old founder of an AI startup, drew diners to its first - and last - night on Saturday. Continue reading...

Fellow New Jersey Democratic senator says Bob Menendez should step down in significant blowIn a significant blow to Bob Menendez's hopes of staying in the US Senate while under indictment for corruption, Cory Booker - his fellow New Jersey Democrat - joined calls for the senator to resign.The details of the allegations against Senator Menendez are of such a nature that the faith and trust of New Jerseyans as well as those he must work with in order to be effective have been shaken to the core," Booker said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

President makes historic solidarity visit to Detroit-area plant day before Donald Trump amid dispute between union and carmakersJoe Biden became the first sitting US president to appear on a picket line on Tuesday, joining a protest outside a Michigan car plant in solidarity with striking members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which is locked in an escalating dispute with America's three biggest carmakers.The UAW president, Shawn Fain, was the first to greet Biden after he arrived in Michigan on Air Force One, and he joined him in the presidential limousine for a ride to the picket line. Continue reading...

Ballesteros is still inspiring Europe, and Patrick Cantlay plays down perceived criticism from US teammate Brooks KoepkaIn the Eternal City, the spirit of Seve Ballesteros lives on. Luke Donald's chosen tribute to the European Ryder Cup legend is a subtle one. On the inside of the shirts donned by Europe's players this week, on the reverse of the Ryder Cup badge and therefore against the heart, is an unmistakable motif of Ballesteros. The Spanish golfer died in 2011, aged 54, but has been a constant source of reference for Ryder Cup captains. Ballesteros's compatriot and longtime Ryder Cup partner Jose Maria Olazabal is one of Donald's vice-captains here. Continue reading...

Trump lawyer has boasted of accessing data from external hard drive linked to president's son's laptop computerHunter Biden has sued Rudy Giuliani and his lawyer, alleging total annihilation" of his digital privacy through attempts to tie his legal and personal problems to his father, President Joe Biden, through claims about an infamous laptop and hard drive.Filed in US district court in California, where Hunter Biden lives, the suit says the former New York mayor turned Donald Trump attorney and his own lawyer, Robert Costello, are among those ... primarily responsible for what has been described as the total annihilation' of [Hunter Biden's] digital privacy. Continue reading...