Rights groups to rally outside event, calling on corporations to cut ties with American Legislative Exchange CouncilA broad coalition of opponents to the rightwing corporate agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) will hold a rally on Wednesday night outside a glitzy gala event to celebrate the secretive group's 50th anniversary.Environmentalists, gun reform campaigners, union leaders and voting rights activists will protest outside the $750-a-ticket event at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, calling on corporations to cut ties with Alec - a tax-exempt group behind a slew of regressive state laws including the stand your ground gun legislation, right-to-work labor policies and so-called critical infrastructure protections that criminalize protest against fossil fuel polluters. Continue reading...

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40-year-old law is in jeopardy after weeks of debate about city's obligation to protect 100,000 migrants sent from the US borderIn a late Tuesday night email, the administration of New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, asked a New York supreme court justice to allow it to ignore the state's longstanding right to shelter" law in certain circumstances.Dating back to the Depression, a provision of the New York state constitution stated that aid, care and support of the needy are public concerns". A consent decree resolving the 1981 case Callahan v Carey and various lawsuits built on that foundation. Now anyone in New York City can access guaranteed shelter with required minimum standards like 3ft between beds, access to lockers and showers, and basic toiletries. But that 40-year-old law is in jeopardy, amid a push from the city's executive. Continue reading...

Biden says he believes Republicans are committed to working in a bipartisan fashion'; Trump denies having a hand in removal

Top executives are terrible at reading the room and unions are stronger when workers stick together. Now let's sign that contractThis year was supposed to have been a showbiz love fest. Disney, Warner Brothers and the boosters of the world-famous Hollywood sign had planned to celebrate their centennials, with a special thanks to the storytellers who have sparked the joy" of movies.There were so many actors, writers and other workers buzzing around the soundstages in Burbank, Studio City and Culver City that you could practically hear the hum of a $134bn TV-and-film hive.Kathleen Sharp is the author of Mr & Mrs Hollywood: Edie and Lew Wasserman and Their Entertainment Empire which has been optioned Continue reading...

He's $300m shy of the cutoff, according to the magazine, though with an estimated $2.6bn he's got plenty of pocket changeDonald Trump has dropped off the Forbes 400 ranking of the wealthiest people in the US for the second time in three years, the magazine announced on Wednesday as the former president's business fraud trial continued in New York.Donald Trump is no longer rich enough for the country's most exclusive club," Forbes said. Continue reading...

Hardline conservatives confirm intentions to run for the top House job a day after Kevin McCarthy was ousted by his own party

Officials said the sanctions and indictments against Chinese and Canadian firms target a major China-based syndicate'The US has announced sanctions and indictments against 14 Chinese and Canadian firms for importing fentanyl, one of the most sweeping actions yet to target trafficking of the powerful synthetic opiate.Officials from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies announced the actions on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Verdict from overseas will probably range from hilarity to derision as second northern leg is scrapped

Kaiser Permanente workers start three-day strike, demanding wage increases and better staffing, after union contracts expireMore than 75,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente have started a three-day strike on Wednesday in the largest demonstration of its kind by healthcare workers in US history.The workers, represented by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, are currently bargaining for new union contracts after their current contracts expired on 1 October. Workers are demanding significant wage increases and substantive improvements to what they say have been severe understaffing in healthcare facilities that worsened throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading...

The party is beholden to a base that it has fed misinformation and trained to view politics as high-stakes entertainmentThe worst job in America has just become available. On Tuesday, after a weeks-long struggle with his caucus to fund the government and avert a government shutdown had proved fruitless and Kevin McCarthy had at last conceded to compromise with the Democrats, Republicans, led by Florida's Matt Gaetz and other members of the far right, Trumpist Freedom Caucus, voted McCarthy out of the House speakership.He is the first speaker of the House to ever be removed from his post by a vote - a technique that was only possible because McCarthy had made so many procedural concessions to get the speakership in the first place. It took McCarthy 15 votes to achieve the speakership when the Republicans took control of the House back in January; it took him 269 days to lose it. Now, the job will be someone else's problem. Continue reading...

Former Americans file lawsuit against US government, alleging renunciation fee' of $2,350 is arbitrary, capricious and illegal'Former Americans who have renounced their citizenship have launched a class-action lawsuit suing the US government for what they argue are exorbitant and unconstitutional costs of relinquishing their passports.The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday by four renounced US citizens in a federal court in Washington DC, accuses the US of wrongfully profiting from the astronomical" fee it charges those who voluntarily cease to be Americans. Since 2014, Americans abroad who no longer wish to remain citizens, or who can no longer afford to meet the notoriously onerous US tax demands, have been forced to pay a renunciation fee" of $2,350. Continue reading...

After the death of Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks has called time. There is an art to timing it right - just look at the BeatlesThough Stevie Nicks has only now called time on Fleetwood Mac - there's no point in continuing after the death of Christine McVie, she told Vulture - this is a band that has been on the brink of ending for more than 50 years. They might have called it a day when their leader, Peter Green, left in 1970. Or when their sublime guitarists Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan left in 1971 and 1972. Or when the group's three main writers - Nicks, McVie and Lindsey Buckingham - wanted to pursue solo work in the early 80s. Or when Buckingham left for the first time in 1987. Or when McVie departed in 1998. Or when Buckingham was sacked in 2018. But every time they found a reason to carry on.Hey," wrote Steve Albini in the sleeve notes to his group Big Black's final album in 1987, breaking up is an idea that has occurred to far too few groups, sometimes to the wrong ones." That sentence - written as a fan as much as a musician - captures the tension between the observer, who wants their favourite musician to leave a perfect legacy, and the performer, for whom making records and touring is their job - the thing that puts food on the table and is often the only thing they actually know how to do. Continue reading...

Attorneys for Le'Keian Woods, seen on video being beaten by Jacksonville police officers, say client has ruptured kidneyAttorneys for Le'Keian Woods, a 24-year-old Black man from Florida whose violent arrest was captured in viral video footage, said he was in excruciating pain.Footage of the arrest, on Friday 29 September, showed Woods being beaten by officers with the Jacksonville sheriff's office. Continue reading...

Troy Nehls, from Texas, calls Trump the greatest president of my lifetime' and says he will nominate him to replace Kevin McCarthy

In one of first acts after the removal of Kevin McCarthy, Democratic predecessor is ordered out of hideaway' spaceThe former House speaker Nancy Pelosi lamented a sharp departure from tradition", after the Republican Patrick McHenry ejected her from her office while she was away for the funeral of a friend.With all of the important decisions that the new Republican leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new speaker pro tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol," Pelosi said in a statement on Tuesday night. Continue reading...

Vote marks first time in US history a speaker of the House has been removed from office; plus, why is country music so resistant to diversity? Continue reading...

Advocates say corporate strategy known as Texas two-step' is being used as menu choice' to avoid paying compensationBefore his retirement in 2009, Peter Bergrud was, for decades, a construction worker, laying cement, water and sewage pipes in trenches around Seattle. Bergrud often did the handling, cutting and laying of the cement pipe himself because he was so skilled.In early 2018, he started having problems breathing, and became quickly out of breath. In February that year, he was diagnosed with two forms of mesothelioma, and told these types of cancer were only caused by asbestos exposure. Doctors told him and his family he would not survive surgery or chemotherapy. Continue reading...

In an open letter, the leaders of the group allege the Democratic National Committee is taking away people's choice in 2024 electionThe centrist group No Labels accused the Democratic National Committee of waging war" against it, fearing the impact of a potential third candidate in a putative 2024 election rematch between the president and Donald Trump.In an open letter entitled Defending the Soul of the Nation' and Ending the War on No Labels, the former Connecticut senator and vice-presidential nominee, Joe Lieberman, the former Missouri governor Jay Nixon and the civil rights leader Benjamin Chavis accused the DNC of a heavy-handed effort to limit Americans' choices in the 2024 election". Continue reading...

His menacing words toward Mark Milley and Letitia James should not be shrugged offTwice in the past two weeks, Donald Trump has suggested violent consequences for those who dare to cross him.Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, deserves to be executed, Trump charged. Milley's backchannel communications, intended to reassure Chinese military leaders before and after the 2020 election, amounted to a treasonous act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!" Continue reading...

The humdrum era is here - but the prices remain as outrageous as everLeafing through Grazia magazine's autumn fashion special, amid the adverts for Cartier panther rings, power suits and slinky boots, I was stopped in my tracks by the following headline: Is your wardrobe boring enough?"Apparently, this season's catwalk shows were teeming with hoodies worn under drab coats combined with leggings, trainers and cross-body bags. It's me! At last, the capsule wardrobe I have painstakingly curated over many years is bang on trend. (Well, maybe not my cashmere hoodie which has served as a free buffet for all the moths in north London since I last wore it, but that's a mere detail.)Anita Chaudhuri is a freelance journalistDo 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...

Christians, Muslims and Jews have starred in the league. But even those without a faith can benefit from spiritual practiceBefore every game, Bob Hill brought his teams together for a moment of silence. Hill, who coached in places like New York, Indianapolis, San Antonio and Seattle, didn't insist on any particular message. It was simply a moment of togetherness before the start of another NBA battle. But it was in 1994 when he got to San Antonio, where David Robinson starred, that Hill was exposed to a more pointed pregame process. During a preseason game against the Knicks, Robinson, a born-again Christian, began to lead the team in prayer. Then, before the next game, the 7ft 1in center did so again. It got to be such a big part of the team's ritual that pregame prayer became the norm - fitting, Hill says, for a roster that included Terry Cummings, an ordained minister, and Avery Johnson, who was also a born-again Christian.I didn't have anything to do with it. This was all them," says Hill, remembering the season when the Spurs went 62-20. The culture of the team was spiritually motivated because of David, Terry and Avery. It was that way all year long." Continue reading...

Anyone watching the historic' or unprecedented' turns in recent US politics will not be surprisedIn the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside." These words, delivered at the US Capitol by president John F Kennedy in his 1961 inaugural address, seemed particularly apt on Tuesday.Kevin McCarthy's ousting as speaker of the House of Representatives was a personal tragedy foretold. The first seeds of destruction had been planted when, days after declaring Donald Trump responsible for the January 6 insurrection, McCarthy went grovelling at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and made his pact with the devil. Continue reading...

The election of the pro-Kremlin nationalist Robert Fico reveals a country in crisis - and one that young people like my sons will leaveWhen the Polish writer Witold Szabowski tried, at an event in London we both attended earlier this year, to describe the feeling shared by many people in countries bordering Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, he reached for the image of a hen house being circled by a fox. It was an apt metaphor: the fox quietly huffing and puffing, prowling menacingly, tightening the noose. Beyond the fence, the house of our neighbours lies ransacked; we watch from a distance, our own houses still quiet. But the tension and restlessness inside them has mounted like a pressure cooker.Ahead of Slovakia's election last Saturday, the unease among pro-democracy voters was intense. Now the results are in and we watch in sadness, as parties sympathetic to Russia set about trying to form a coalition government.Monika Kompanikova is a Slovakian writer and books editor at Dennik N. Her 2010 novel Boat Number Five was made into the movie Little HarbourDo 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...

New report airs arguments for and against nuclear-powered submarine sale to Australia

Anger is still seen as admirable in men but unacceptable in women. It's time to end the tyranny of gendered emotionsWhen the captain of the Indian women's cricket team was banned for two matches and fined for smashing the stumps with her bat in an angry outburst in July, the social media reaction was swift and harsh: Harmanpreet Kaur was called pathetic" for her anger on the pitch, and labelled disgusting and stupid".This is in stark contrast to the way people respond to male aggression in the sport. A quick search of the web will find numerous discussion forums and articles lauding the angry men of Indian cricket that you wouldn't want to mess with", and cricketers such as Virat Kohli, who has been nicknamed the Hulk" because he is angry all the time". Continue reading...

Victims reportedly receive non-life-threatening injuries, with city council member saying it is believed three people fired into a crowdAt least four people were wounded, none critically, in a shooting at Morgan State University in Baltimore on Tuesday, according to authorities.Baltimore police initially said officers were on the scene of an active shooter situation". Police kept the campus on lockdown for hours, telling people to shelter in place and avoid the area. The address given for the shooting appeared to match a residential building on the same block as a city police station. Continue reading...

An inside look at the House chamber during the unprecedented, bipartisan vote to remove the speakerA grim-faced Kevin McCarthy clenched the armrest of his seat in the House chamber as he was ousted from the speakership on Tuesday, the knuckles of his right hand turning whiter with every vote that assured he would lose the gavel in a move without precedent in modern US history.The person who had orchestrated his removal, the far-right Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, was seated about 20 feet behind him, at times leaning forward in anticipation and apparent excitement. Continue reading...

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McCarthy was ousted by hard-right members of his own Republican party, eight of which voted with 208 Democrats to remove him from office. 'Chaos is Speaker McCarthy. Chaos is somebody who we cannot trust with their word,' said Florida Republican congressman Matt Gaetz, who tabled the motion to vacate the chair that led to McCarthy being removed after nine months in the role.

Now-former speaker confirms he will not run again as Republicans plan to hold a vote for a new speaker next Wednesday

Chaos' erupts after McCarthy is removed from the post nine months after he secured the gavel through 15 rounds of votingThe US House of Representatives voted to remove Kevin McCarthy from the speaker's chair on Tuesday, making McCarthy the first speaker of the House in US history to be removed from the job.McCarthy, who had only been in the post for nine months, set the wheels in motion for his removal last weekend when he collaborated with Democrats in an effort to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. That move prompted the hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida to introduce a motion on Monday night to oust him. Continue reading...

At least half of fake electors have already reached deals with district attorney's office for immunity in exchange for assistanceFulton county prosecutors in Georgia have approached several defendants about plea agreements in the sprawling criminal racketeering case dealing with Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 election, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Tuesday.Plea agreements are common in such cases accusing defendants of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Act, where prosecutors will often try and get individuals at the lower level of a criminal enterprise to flip" and assist the prosecution in exchange for a lighter sentence or immunity. The district attorney's office has already reached immunity plea agreements with at least half of the fake set of electors in Georgia. Continue reading...

More than 100 of 148 recorded deaths in El Paso sector were recorded between May and September when heat topped 100FScorching summer temperatures caused the number of deaths along one of the busiest migrant routes into the US to more than double in the 2023 fiscal year that closed on Sunday, according to data from the US border patrol.More than 100 of the 148 recorded deaths in the patrol's El Paso sector were recorded between May and September when temperatures were at or above 100F (37.7C) for 44 consecutive days, the El Paso Times said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

A Trump loyalist, Gaetz is being investigated by the House ethics committee for sexual misconduct and misuse of funds

US House speaker was removed from office after making deal with Democrats to avert shutdown

Republican, who some say could replace Kevin McCarthy, has had reported associations with ex-Ku Klux Klan grand wizardSteve Scalise, the Louisiana Republican who some in his party reportedly want to elect as speaker of the US House of Representatives after the stunning and historic removal of Kevin McCarthy, was once reported to have called himself David Duke without the baggage".Duke, 73, is a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, an avowed white supremacist who has run for Louisiana governor, the US House and Senate and for president and who in 2003 was sentenced to 15 months in jail for mail and tax fraud.This article was amended on 3 October 2023 to correct who Matt Gaetz said might be good choices for House Speaker. Continue reading...

Vote expected on Tuesday afternoon after hard-right Florida congressman Matt Gaetz files motion to vacate

Potentially wide-ranging agreement could be unachievable due to British objections to lower animal welfare standardsThe US is pushing for Britain to open up its agricultural markets to US traders as part of a new economic agreement that would fall just short of a free trade agreement.Washington and London have begun negotiations over a foundational trade partnership", which would cover subjects such as digital trade, labour protections and agriculture, according to documents seen by the Guardian and first revealed by Politico. Continue reading...

Police arrest suspect in abduction of Charlotte Sena, whose disappearance from upstate New York park prompted more than 100 to searchDrones, bloodhounds and an airboat were used in the search for a missing nine-year-old girl who had been camping with her family in upstate New York, officials said Sunday.Charlotte Sena was last seen bicycling on Saturday evening in Moreau Lake state park, about 35 miles (60km) north of Albany, and police said it was possible she was abducted. Continue reading...

Victory for a Putin-friendly populist has given Viktor Orban an ally and the rest of Europe a problemElections in Slovakia, a country of 5.5 million people on the eurozone's eastern flank, do not normally generate global headlines. But these are not normal times. Amid fears of growing cracks in western unity over Russia's war in Ukraine, the victory over the weekend of a pro-Putin populist committed to ending military aid to Kyiv sent an ominous signal.Slovakia has bigger problems than Ukraine," said Robert Fico, in the wake of a win that will have been a cause for satisfaction in the Kremlin. His Smer-SD party, which ran a campaign targeting irregular migrants, LGBTQ+ rights and support for Kyiv, will now seek to lead a coalition government. For Mr Fico, who has been the subject of corruption allegations, and was ousted as leader in 2018 in toxic circumstances, this was a remarkable comeback. For most of Europe, it is one with worrying implications on a number of levels.Do 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...

After winning the European title for the first time, the British women's team take on the might of the USA in AntwerpGreat Britain arrived at the Tokyo Olympics two years ago as heavy underdogs with low expectations. Not only were they a young and inexperienced group but they had to ignore ample criticism about the team composition after the omission of Becky Downie. At the end of a chaotic, unforgettable night in the team final, though, they held their nerve and emerged as surprise bronze medallists.The British team have continued to be the revelation Gymnasts can sometimes struggle to replicate such lofty successes, but a year later, they won a first world team silver medal on home soil in Liverpool. This year, they became European champions for the first time and finishing second in qualifying here showed they have not let up. Continue reading...

Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, 68, victim of carjacking in Navy Yard neighborhood on Monday night but was not physically hurtThe US congressman Henry Cuellar was robbed of his car at gunpoint on Monday evening in Washington, but he was not physically harmed, according to his office.A statement from Cuellar's chief of staff said the 68-year-old Texas Democrat was parking his car when three armed assailants approached him and stole the vehicle, his phone, his computer tablet and his sushi dinner. Continue reading...

Two months after wildfires devastated West Maui, officials announce phased' reopening as residents struggle to surviveTwo months after a deadly wildfire tore through Maui, Hawaii, government officials said the western region of the island - the epicenter of the disaster - will reopen to tourists on 8 October.At a Maui county council meeting last week, hundreds of West Maui residents begged for more time to recover. Continue reading...

Ex-chief of staff confirms Trump's contempt for wounded or killed US soldiers and says: What can I add that hasn't already been said?'Going on record to confirm stories of Donald Trump's contempt for wounded and killed US soldiers and their families, and commenting on the former president's suggestion a top general should be killed, the former marines general and White House chief of staff John Kelly took in Trump's commanding lead in the Republican primary and said: God help us."What can I add that has not already been said?" Kelly, who was also homeland security secretary under Trump, told CNN on Monday. Continue reading...