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The prospect of defeat has liberated the party to lurch further to the right. Shame on the centrists who encourage this rabbleI want to scare the shit out of you," Frank Luntz, a focus-grouper to the US right, proclaimed to the Tory party audience. He hardly needed to. You know the average age of the Labour voter? 38-40. The average age of the Tory voter? Deceased." Nervous laughs. At every whither the future" event, speakers quote the YouGov poll showing only 1% of 18-24s back their party. For under-50s, it's barely better. The very word Conservative" is poison and young cohorts are staying with Labour as they age.Tory afflictions will fill Labour with glee this week. So many fractions of factions and so many contenders jostling for a bald man's comb, amid wails of the wiser who know it's almost all over. Like the ancient mariner, they pluck the sleeve of any passing journo to spill their tales of woe, no holding back.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Jackpot is fourth largest in Powerball history, with one in 292.1m odds, after 32 consecutive drawings without winnerAn estimated $1.04bn Powerball jackpot will be up for grabs on Monday night, tempting players to spend a couple dollars on a long shot chance at instant riches.The prize is the world's ninth-largest lottery prize behind earlier drawings of Powerball and Mega Millions, the other nearly nationwide lottery game. The jackpot is the fourth largest in the history of Powerball. Continue reading...

Robert Wayne Lee, 40, made contact online with suspected pedophiles and record videos of in-person confrontationsA man who gained a sizable social media following by posing as a child online to lure out alleged sexual predators was shot to death late last week during a confrontation at a restaurant in Michigan.Two men have been arrested in connection with the killing of 40-year-old Robert Wayne Lee, also known to his followers as Boopac Shakur. Continue reading...

Half of the Premier teams are part- or fully-owned by Americans or US companies. Fans' suspicions are understandable

Trump and his adult sons could lose business licenses and face up to $250m in penalties - even as he rises in the pollsDonald Trump laps the Republican field and leads Joe Biden, but the judiciary is unimpressed. Since Tuesday, the 45th president went zero-for-three in New York and DC courtrooms. After all the smoke cleared, his financial assets and personal freedom remain in jeopardy.On Monday, his latest trial begins in Manhattan. He and his adult sons face civil fraud charges. Last Tuesday a New York trial judge found that Trump had defrauded his lenders and insurers. In hindsight, The Art of the Deal bordered on the art of the steal.Lloyd Green is an attorney in New York and served in the US Department of Justice from 1990 to 1992 Continue reading...

From Max Homa's brilliance in a lost cause to Rory McIlroy's car park incident, our team share their best moments from ItalyPlayer of the tournament Rory Rocky" McIlroy was due a massive Ryder Cup, and he delivered one. McIlroy was Europe's top points scorer for the first time. Beyond bare statistics, his off-course influence galvanised the winners. Continue reading...

The Duchess of Sussex for California senator? Now where could they possibly have got that idea?The Duchess of Sussex is not, following the death of Dianne Feinstein, going to be the new senator for California. No, she was never in the frame, and no, her ultimate aim is not the White House. The ink was barely dry on the story in the MailOnline, and assorted rightwing titles globally, that Meghan was the long shot", before the real candidate, Laphonza Butler, was announced.Butler, incidentally, is a politician with a hinterland, a former union leader, once adviser to Kamala Harris, and currently president of Emily's List, a scheme to get more Democratic pro-choice women elected. What kind of mad hubris, outrageous self-regard, would lead an ersatz princess and failed podcaster to think she was better suited to the role? Well, none, necessarily. Meghan occupies a peculiar place in the international media imagination, where they can say almost anything about her, stick in a few sources say" and speculations", and their evergreen story is ready to go, a tale of the prideful wokerati, oversharing, overprivileged, hypocritical. She is like an avatar for the ultimate, in-your-grill liberal.Zoe Williams 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...

For the most part, the US newspapers gave Europe credit for their comprehensive victory in Rome as they regained the titleFor triumphant European golf fans, the galling thing about America's relationship with the Ryder Cup is that much of the US simply does not care about the tournament. On Sunday most sport fans in the States were discussing Taylor Swift's appearance at an NFL game, the final day of the MLB regular season or Jrue Holiday's trade to the Boston Celtics.But that's not to say that no one cares. And, for the most part, the US press gave Europe credit for a comprehensive victory. Europe's Ryder Cup triumph was down to meticulous planning, clever leadership and a strategy of drawing on the competition's history," wrote Tom Hamilton and Mark Schlabach of ESPN. They also complimented Europe captain Luke Donald and his vice-captain, Edoardo Molinari. Continue reading...

Watchdog group says entities backed by Leonard Leo have invested over $9m in dark web' of special interest groupsThe rightwing activist Leonard Leo has helped fund a network of groups involved in a crucial US supreme court case that could fundamentally weaken the federal government's ability to hold corporations to account, a leading watchdog said as the conservative-dominated court prepared for its new term.Leonard Leo spent years stacking the court with ideological kindred spirits," said Caroline Ciccone, president of Accountable.US. Now he's funding a dark web of special interest groups to push an extreme agenda." Continue reading...

Monsoon season usually brings summer thunderstorms for about three months each year starting in JuneAfter a summer of extreme heat, Arizona's most populous city is in the record books again. This time Phoenix is notching a record for dry heat.The National Weather Service said Sunday that the monsoon season this year in the arid south-west dropped only 0.15 inches (.38 centimeters) of rainfall from 15 June to 30 September. That's the driest since the agency began keeping records in 1895. The previous mark was 0.35 inches in 1924. Continue reading...

Association of Flight Attendants accuses airline of fostering anti-union culture, including illegal company unions'Flight attendants at the largest regional airline in the US, SkyWest, are seeking to unionize the airline, taking on what they claim is an illegal company union and pushing back on alleged retaliatory firings of two flight attendants who were leaders of an organizing campaign.Flight attendants at SkyWest, which operates flights for Delta, United, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines, are currently represented by the SkyWest Inflight Association (SIA), a work group that does not purport to be a union and is supported and funded by the airline itself, according to a handbook for SIA representatives. Continue reading...

The European team celebrated wildly after securing an outstanding 16-11 victory over the US at the Ryder Cup. They chanted and sang as they took in their win. Celebrations went on until the early hours of the morning Continue reading...

After losing my parents, I've become a caregiver for my aunts, uncles and older friends. I love it - aside from all the tech support, of courseIt's 4.30pm and I'm cutting up prosciutto for my 89-year-old uncle so he can take his evening pills with something in his stomach. Something other than the orgy of Mini Magnum ice-cream bars that he and my aunt just wolfed down while I was intercepting the pizza delivery guy.What kind of a midlife fool do they take me for? As if I wouldn't notice the sticky aftermath smeared all over their guilty faces. Not to mention hearing their entire covert" operation when I came back into the house. Busted. They forgot to turn on their hearing aids and couldn't hear a thing they were doing, or how loudly they were doing it - the freezer drawer slamming, the wrappers crackling, the gleeful squeals and smacking lips. Those sly dogs. Continue reading...

New York attorney general will argue Trump owes at least $250m in profits made from false financial statements. Plus, climate scientist Michael Mann on our last chance to save the planetGood morning.Just a few miles south of Trump Tower in New York City, a judge today will hear allegations of fraud within the Trump Organization in a trial that could lead to Donald Trump and his family business paying hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and that has already threatened to end his business career in the city where it started.What has Trump said about the trial? Trump said he would appear in court today. I'm going to court tomorrow morning to fight for my name and reputation," he said on his Truth Social account on Sunday.Will there be a jury? No. The trial is a bench trial, meaning there will be no jury. The New York supreme court justice Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over the case, will be the sole decider. Because this is a civil trial, Trump will not be sent to prison if he's found guilty nor does he have to make an appearance in court.What did Biden say? The president said: We cannot under any circumstances allow America's support for Ukraine to be interrupted. I fully expect the speaker to keep his commitment to secure the passage and support needed to help Ukraine as they defend themselves against aggression and brutality." Continue reading...

Nasrat Ahmadyar worked with US forces in his home country. He was killed while driving for Lyft in JulyIt was three hours to midnight on a hot Virginia evening in early July when Nasrat Ahmadyar returned to the two-bedroom apartment he shared with his wife and four children. He'd just finished a game of volleyball, but the night was not over.Ahmadyar, 31, was struggling to pay rent, behind on his car payments, and constantly preoccupied with the situation in Afghanistan, the country he'd fled not two years earlier after the Taliban took over. Had he stayed, he was certain he would have been killed because of the years he spent helping American special forces in their long and ultimately fruitless campaign to stop the hardline Islamist movement from returning to power. Continue reading...

Florida governor strips schools' funding alleging ties to Chinese communist party and at GOP debate vows to go tough on ChinaIt was a desperately needed moment of grandeur for Ron DeSantis: the Florida governor's strongman act over China briefly lifting his stuttering presidential campaign during last week's Republican primary debate in California.But what DeSantis left unsaid as he railed against China's growing global influence, while promising a hard power" approach to Beijing should he win the White House, was how his posturing was hurting students and families back in his home state. Continue reading...

The senator was sometimes brave and ahead of her time, and sometimes stifled by the desire to not make wavesFlags are at half mast in San Francisco's city hall for a woman who was born here and died in Washington DC at the end of a remarkable life. It was inside that building that the most dramatic and pivotal event of Dianne Feinstein's political career took place, when a murderer made her mayor, the mayor who would become one of the country's strongest leaders in response to the Aids crisis. That role gave her the visibility to run for the US senate in 1992, and she held onto that seat to her dying day, showing up on Thursday to cast a vote in the budget battle, hours before her death at 90.Senator Feinstein began her political career being ahead of her society and ended it by being behind it. This is not surprising for a public life in politics that stretched through 60 years of dramatic social and political change. But it may be hard to perceive for those who don't know she was early on a champion for women's rights - including her own just to participate, at a time when that was groundbreaking - and for rights and recognition for queer people at a time when most politicians would only mention them to demand punishment and ostracization for them.Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell's Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility

A new study shows how verbal abuse impacts children - and sows the seeds for long-term issues like self-harm and anxietySticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is a phrase often repeated to children in the hope that they will learn that they cannot be hurt by name-calling or verbal abuse. In fact, words are humans' most powerful tools, and harsh language used against children can damage them for the rest of their life.It is natural to respond to a naughty" child by shouting - and children are forgiving of, and are surprisingly empathic in relation to, parental stress. But let us not deceive ourselves that verbal intimidation such as shouting, yelling or screaming at children leaves no scars. Or that being humiliated and ridiculed leaves children unaffected. Continue reading...

The former No 1 overall pick looked like he was set for a career on the bench. But he has found a renaissance of sorts in TampaWhen Tom Brady finally retired, the NFC South was set to be wide open. After all, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to replace perhaps the best player in NFL history with Baker Mayfield, best known for his disappointing stint with the Cleveland Browns, which ended with his teammates' dads weighing in on his faults and faint praise for his comic acting chops. The Bucs' divisional rivals, the New Orleans Saints, were among the teams looking to take advantage of Brady's retirement.Heading into the teams' first meeting of the year, the 2-1 Saints could take first place by defeating the Buccaneers, who were also 2-1 after a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. In theory, New Orleans had the advantage at quarterback, having signed four-time Pro Bowler Derek Carr. Carr did not have a single touchdown pass during Sunday's 26-9 Tampa Bay victory. In contrast, Mayfield went 25-for-32 and threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns. Continue reading...

As more than 100,000 people flee to avoid rule by Azerbaijan, it's time for the EU to consider the prospect of membership for ArmeniaThe president of the self-declared Republic of Artsakh", Samvel Shahramanyan, has dissolved all institutions of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh and almost all Karabakh Armenians are now thought to fled the enclave being reintegrated into Azerbaijan. What lessons can be drawn from the tragic epilogue of this three decades-long secessionist conflict in Europe?The images of long queues of cars escaping mountainous Karabakh to neighbouring Armenia bring back dark memories of ethnic cleansing that Europe thought had been relegated to its past. Just as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with its imperial follies, trenches and wanton destruction, catapulted Europe back into the harrowing days of the world wars, the flight of ethnic Armenians rewinds us to the Balkans of the 1990s - or even further back, to the end of the Ottoman empire during the first world war.Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian columnist. She is director of the Italian Institute of International Affairs and an honorary professor at the University of Tubingen Continue reading...

Boys and young men are increasingly being drawn into online forums that denigrate, objectify and slut-shame' women. How can we effectively address it?It was not so much a rabbit hole I found myself down, but in a whole warren of sexist content when I began researching a story on Kenya's manosphere" - a loosely connected network of websites and social media platforms that promote misogyny online.What I saw was disturbing: scores of tweets, posts and video content that denigrated, objectified and slut-shamed" women, or encouraged men to exercise coercive control. Continue reading...

US president Joe Biden said that aid to Ukraine must keep flowing after a deal to avert a government shutdown dropped assistance for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion. The president lambasted Republicans for holding up government spending talks and assured Ukraine that US support and aid were unwavering. 'We cannot under any circumstances allow American for Ukraine to be interrupted,' Biden said

Laurie Allen is now among the at least 98 people who died when a blaze destroyed the historic Hawaii town in AugustA woman who escaped a wildfire that destroyed Hawaii community by running through a burning field has died after spending more than seven weeks in a hospital burn unit.Laurie Allen died Friday at Straub Medical Center in Honolulu, according to a GoFundMe page set up for her and her husband, Perry Allen. Continue reading...

Team clearing hurricane debris uncovered skeletal remains that police believe are of man who went missing on road trip to FloridaA decades-old car, a battered Sam's Club membership card and human remains found in the water during a clean-up in Florida from Hurricane Idalia might have solved a cold case missing persons mystery, say authorities.Crews clearing storm debris from the Steinhatchee River in Dixie county, close to where the 125mph cyclone struck the coast in August, made the grim discovery last week as they removed a damaged boat dock from a ramp. Continue reading...

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defends Democrat who set off fire alarm as key vote loomed, citing charges against New York opponentRepublicans calling for action against the New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman for triggering a fire alarm in a congressional office building as a vote loomed on a deal to avoid a government shutdown should check their own values", Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, citing the lack of action against a GOP New Yorker, George Santos, after he was indicted for fraud.They are protecting someone who has lied to the American people, lied to the United States House of Representatives, lied to congressional investigators," Ocasio-Cortez, widely known as AOC, told CNN's State of the Union. Continue reading...

Europe's convincing Ryder Cup victory in Rome was the culmination of months of detailed preparationIn those moments of sweet pandemonium after Tommy Fleetwood had sealed Europe's Ryder Cup victory, it all got a little wild at the Marco Simone Country Club. The crowd on the 18th hole asked Rory McIlroy for a song. He responded by swinging his cap around his head like a battleax before leading a chant of Raise your hands!" to the tune of the Cranberries' Zombie. Then he sprinted 100 metres to bearhug Shane Lowry, even though his teammate was still playing. It was that sort of afternoon.Before long thousands of fans were also breaking through the ring of steel around the final green to celebrate. At least three ended up falling in a bunker. Meanwhile Luke Donald's team were hugging and high-fiving, telling jokes and sinking bottles of beer and champagne. Continue reading...

World No 2 calmed himself down with some philosophy after his Saturday night spat and then won his singlesRory McIlroy went to bed on Saturday night in one hell of a strop. He'd lost his fourball match that afternoon, but that wasn't the real issue.The Americans had celebrated by exuberantly waving their caps in solidarity with Patrick Cantlay, but that wasn't the problem either. What had really enraged him was the antics of Cantlay's caddie Joe LaCava, getting in McIlroy's face and whipping up the crowd just as he was about to line up a matchsaving putt. McIlroy left that 18th green angrier than he had ever been on a golf course and he was still in a blind rage when he returned to his chauffeured transport a little while later. Continue reading...

Ten years after their first appearance in London, the Jaguars were inspired to a Wembley win by Trevor LawrenceOn the 10th birthday of Jacksonville's love affair with London it took their impressive defence forcing a less than stellar visit from the Atlanta Falcons to finally make their decade-long entanglement feel worthwhile on the field rather than just their back pocket.The linebacker Josh Allen's three sacks and a forced fumble led his team's fierce defensive effort while back-to-back opening half interceptions were crucial to a 23-7 win as they look ahead to next week's meeting with the Buffalo Bills, another landmark as Jacksonville play back-to-back clashes in the capital for the first time. Continue reading...

Hardline Republican Matt Gaetz says he will move to eject House speaker over deal with Democrats to avert shutdownThe Republican US House of Representatives speaker, Kevin McCarthy, faces an attempt by members of his own party to oust him because he passed a stopgap funding measure with Democratic support to avoid a government shutdown. Representative Matt Gaetz, a hardline Republican lawmaker, said he would file what's called the motion to vacate". Continue reading...

Far-right congressman says he will move to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker over deal to avert shutdown to rip the Bandaid off'Simmering hostility between Republicans over the bipartisan deal that averted a government shutdown descended into open political warfare on Sunday, a rightwing congressman saying he would move to oust Kevin McCarthy and the embattled House speaker insisting he would survive.We need to rip off the Bandaid. We need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy," the Florida representative Matt Gaetz told CNN's State of the Union, saying he would file a motion to vacate" in the next few days. Continue reading...

Patrick Cantlay took jeers and jokes in his stride to play his part as USA's positive spark on a disappointing weekendThe thermometers read 30C in Rome on Sunday, but it felt a hell of a lot hotter out on the parched grass of the Marco Simone Country Club. The sky was pitilessly clear, there wasn't enough breeze to ruffle the leaves, and bare hills gave precious little shade, so the spectators were all pressed together in the lee of the pine trees.Beyond the shadows it was weather for mad dogs and Englishmen out there, and even they were wearing protection: baseball caps, baggy caps, bucket hats, berets, bandanas, panamas, stetsons, trilbys, even the odd gladiator's helmet. Continue reading...

Trailblazer for women in politics who served in the US Senate for more than 30 years and took on the CIA and gun lobbyThe US senator Dianne Feinstein, who has died aged 90, was long cherished by the CIA and others in the defence and intelligence community as someone whose staunch support they could rely on. Until one day they could not: on 11 March 2009 she launched an investigation into the CIA's torture of detainees post-9/11.That investigation by the Senate intelligence committee, which she chaired, turned into a bitter struggle with the agency and it tried to block it. She did not buckle and finally, in December 2014, she published her report, revealing the scale and brutality of what the CIA had done and its repeated attempts to mislead Congress and the White House. On top of all that, the report found the torture had proved counter-productive in obtaining valuable intelligence. Continue reading...

California Democrat says loss of Feinstein may have focused politicians on, Let's get the job done to keep government open'The death of the California senator Dianne Feinstein may have helped inspire US lawmakers to avoid a federal government shutdown, the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said.Speaking on Sunday, to CNN's State of the Union, the California Democrat mourned the loss of Feinstein and said: Some of the senators said that maybe her departure and the sadness that went with us focused people more on, Let's get the job done to keep government open for the people.'" Continue reading...

Europe came through a fraught Singles Sunday to regain the Ryder CupThe US team aren't wearing their caps on the 1st tee today, in a performative show of solidarity with the under-fire and perma-hatless Patrick Cantlay. The man himself returns the favour by firing his approach at 1 to five feet. Patty Ice - a play on Matty Ice, the nickname of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, and a reference to his unflappable demeanour - betrays his monicker by pulling the birdie putt nervously. Anything to do with his nemesis Rory McIlroy's name being announced back on the tee, and the accompanying roar reaching the green as he made his backstroke? The plot thickens!1UP Rahm v Scheffler (2)

The New Jersey senator says he won't resign but a federal indictment lays out a lurid scheme of alleged corruptionWhen federal prosecutors raided Bob Menendez's home in the summer of 2022, they found a staggering haul.The US senator for New Jersey, one of the most influential and powerful Democrats in the country, had almost $500,000 in cash stuffed into jacket pockets, closets and a safe, along with 13 gold bars, two of them marked as 1kg in weight. Continue reading...

Trump installed three conservative justices, tilting the court 6-3 to the right, which delivered significant victories for conservativesJoe Biden worries that the extreme" US supreme court, dominated by rightwing justices, cannot be relied upon to uphold the rule of law.I worry," the president told ProPublica in interview published on Sunday. Because I know that if the other team, the Maga Republicans, win, they don't want to uphold the rule of law." Continue reading...

Alarm prompted building evacuation and triggered outcry from Republicans, who vow to prosecute himThe New York Democratic congressman Jamaal Bowman denied that he pulled a fire alarm in a Capitol office building to delay a vote on the stopgap measure that ultimately stopped a government shutdown.In a statement on Saturday evening, the New Yorker said he mistakenly thought the alarm, which prompted the Cannon House office building to be evacuated, would open a door. Continue reading...

The drink is derided as basic', in terms that often veer into sexism. But are those who ridicule it just missing out on all the fun?

Accolades include messages from world leaders and pop culture figures, many focusing on his four decades of humanitarian workThe former US president Jimmy Carter will celebrate his 99th birthday on Sunday by putting off watching church services online and instead celebrating with his wife, Rosalynn, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Plains, Georgia.The gathering will take place in the same one-story house where the Carters lived before he was elected to the Georgia Senate in 1962. Continue reading...

House Republican speaker passed a bill extending government funding at the risk of alienating hard right party membersIn more normal political times, the successful prevention of a government shutdown might be cause for celebration. For Kevin McCarthy, it may instead mark the beginning of the end of his speakership.After failing to pass a more conservative stopgap spending bill on Friday, the House Republican speaker introduced a different proposal extending government funding for 45 days and allocating $16bn for disaster relief aid. That bill the House on Saturday in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 335 to 91, with 209 Democrats joining 126 Republicans in supporting the legislation. Continue reading...

There will be no more trials of Second World War criminals, but we can apply the lessons to modern conflictsIn February 1987, I was sitting in a Jerusalem courtroom, listening to the most harrowing testimony imaginable from survivors of the Nazi death camp at Treblinka, in Poland, where an estimated 700,000-900,000 people were murdered in 1942-43.The survivors, elderly and frail, were giving evidence in the trial of John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian-American alleged to have been a notorious camp guard known as Ivan the Terrible". He was the one, they said, who operated the engines that pumped the gas into the gas chambers. Continue reading...