The Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park will get a cut for selling the winning ticket of the second-largest Powerball drawing everJanea Herrera, a clerk at a southern California convenience store, first thought it was a joke when she was told that a winning lottery ticket was sold at the store. And it wasn't just any ticket. It was the winning ticket for the $1.765bn Powerball, which someone had bought at the Midway Market & Liquor in Frazier Park, a small town north of Los Angeles.After 30 years of selling those tickets, we need a winner. I'm just happy for my customers," Nidal Khalil, the store's co-owner told the LA Times on Thursday. Khalil, 54, co-owns the shop with his brother and said they received congratulatory calls from across the state as well as from Syria, where they are from. Continue reading...

At least 22 Americans have died and 14 are missing - and officials are scrambling to determine whether the latter are still aliveAs US officials work to determine the whereabouts of 14 US citizens unaccounted for since last Saturday's deadly Hamas assault on Israel, US families of the dead or missing are describing their loss.At least 22 Americans are known to have died in last Saturday's attacks, and officials have said they are working to determine whether those missing have been killed or taken hostage. Continue reading...

Antoinette Frank, the only woman on Louisiana's death row, was convicted in the 1995 death of a fellow officer and two othersA New Orleans ex-police officer awaiting execution for the murders of a fellow officer and two other people during a 1995 restaurant robbery lost a chance at clemency Friday during a meeting of Louisiana's pardon board.Antoinette Frank's bid for a clemency hearing failed on a 2-2 vote after emotional testimony. Continue reading...

Congressman, endorsed by Trump and McCarthy, defeated surprise candidate Austin Scott, who had barely campaignedRepublicans in the US House of Representatives scrambled to find a new speaker on Friday as Congressman Jim Jordan won an internal vote but with a margin that suggests the disarray is far from over.Jordan, endorsed by former president Donald Trump and ex-speaker Kevin McCarthy, defeated a surprise candidate, Austin Scott of Georgia, who had barely campaigned. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ashley Caswell, one of a growing number of jailed pregnant women in Etowah county, is suing officials after she was denied careIn March 2021, sheriffs in Etowah county, Alabama, arrested Ashley Caswell on accusations that she'd tested positive for methamphetamine while pregnant and was endangering" her fetus.Caswell, who was two months pregnant at the time, became one of a growing number of women imprisoned in the county in the name of protecting their unborn children". Continue reading...

Knox had been found guilty of defamation for wrongly accusing Patrick Lumumba of murdering Meredith KercherItaly's top court has ordered a retrial after Amanda Knox appealed for the dropping of the slander conviction she received for wrongly accusing a bar owner of murdering the British student Meredith Kercher.Knox, an American who, along with her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, spent four years in prison after initially being convicted of the murder, made the request on the basis of a ruling by the European court of human rights in 2019 that found that her defence rights had been violated during police questioning in 2007. Continue reading...

Former president praises Biden for standing with Israel and says Netanyahu has got to do what he's got to do' after Hamas attacksThe US must support Israel no ands, ifs or buts", the former US president George W Bush said as he advocated for tough action in response to violence by Hamas which many observers have likened to the 9/11 attacks on US soil, after which Bush led his country and much of the Middle East into 20 years of war that cost millions of lives.In an interview with the historian Mark Updegrove, reported by Axios, the 43rd president, now 77, was asked for his thoughts on the attacks that have killed more than 1,100, prompting Israeli air strikes that have killed more than 1,500 in Gaza amid expectations of a ground invasion, with more than 100 Israeli hostages taken. Continue reading...

The autoworker union president, Shawn Fain, says the stand-up' strike will intensify unless the big three car companies pony up'United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain threatened to escalate the union's strike actions on Friday as talks with the US's biggest auto manufacturers appeared to have stalled.The strike is in its fourth week and Fain has been updating members on progress and new strike actions each Friday. Fain said Ford, Stellantis and General Motors have used that timetable to hold back negotiations until late in the week. From now on, strikes can be called at any time, he said. Continue reading...

Israel was already deeply rightwing. But after this horror, even hardcore leftwingers, full of rage, will slide towards the right Continue reading...

The toppling of prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq and ensuing rule of the shah directly led to the 1979 Islamic RevolutionThe CIA has for the first time acknowledged that the 1953 coup it backed in Iran that overthrew its prime minister and cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was undemocratic.The admission came in a new podcast revealing details about one of the most famed CIA operations of all times - the effort to spirit six American diplomats out of Iran under the guise of a Hollywood movie production. Continue reading...

FBI reports calls for global action' Friday, following attack by Hamas on Israel and Israel's subsequent retaliation on GazaMajor US cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC have stepped up security for residents, especially around Jewish and Muslim places of worship, ahead of expected protests on Friday and any threats of violence over the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East.Leave has been canceled for police officers in several major cities, with security heightened around sites such as synagogues, schools and the Israeli embassy in Washington. Protests are expected in the Middle East and the US on Friday after Khaled Mashal, Hamas' former leader, called for a global day of anger" to send a message of rage to Zionists and to America". Continue reading...

The strike, which ran for three days, marked the largest work stoppage to date in the healthcare sectorKaiser Permanente's healthcare workers unions have reached a tentative agreement with the company, the union said in a social media post on Friday.The California-based care consortium and the union representing healthcare workers resumed negotiations on Thursday, more than a week after contract talks broke off at the start of a 72-hour strike by 75,000 nurses, medical technicians and support staff. Continue reading...

This week's events make me wonder how long I can keep stalling. Plus, Keir Starmer's Jason Bourne momentOne of my children, aged eight, is reading a novel set during the second world war; a book that was sent home from school on Monday with a message from the teacher to put it aside if it was too dark. Set in 1944 on Long Island, New York, the book touches tangentially on the Holocaust in a way that seemed to me to be done in a sensitive and age-appropriate way. Coming as it does this week, however, amid horrific images and stories emerging from Israel, it did make me think more generally about how and when we talk to our children about the very worst things. Continue reading...

There is no moral justification for killing, kidnapping and torturing innocent civilians. We must say a clear no'I am weeping with my Jewish brothers and sisters, both in Israel and around the world, as they mourn the horrific acts of terror in Israel this past weekend. The stories of civilians murdered and families kidnapped are gut-wrenching. In grief, we are wrapped in darkness, and there are no words to express the weight we feel.Yet in the public square, words abound that both compound the grief of many and have the potential to precipitate more violence. So I must rise from the silence of mourning to speak. Continue reading...

The horror unleashed by Hamas has brought tragedy to Israel and devastation to Gaza - and fear to Jews across the worldThe word pogrom was not meant to exist in Hebrew. In the new Israel, the very idea of Jews being murdered en masse, their children butchered before their eyes, was meant to have been banished to the realm of bitter memory. It was only in the eastern Europe of exile that Jews would have to flee from tormentors bent on killing them, only there that they would hide in the dark, trying to stifle their breath lest they make a betraying sound. Once they had a state of their own, where they could defend themselves at last, there would be no need to speak of pogroms, except in the history books.But it was a pogrom that came to Israel last weekend, multiple pogroms in fact, as lethal as any that cut down the Yiddish-speaking Jews of the early last century or, in repeating patterns, the centuries before. Jews still remember the Kishinev pogrom of 1903, a calamity recalled in poetry recited to this day. At Kishinev, 49 Jews were murdered. Last Saturday, at least 1,200 were put to death, many of them in ways too sadistic to be recounted in a newspaper.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

In the US, gun violence and shared trauma is normalized for young people - which could be why many are open to firearm ownershipWhen MaryAnn Alvarado asks her students if they know how to get a gun, their response always takes her aback. Everyone raises their hand," she said.Alvarado, 36, runs Teens on Target, a program operated by YouthAlive! in Oakland, California, that trains middle- and high-schoolers to become violence prevention advocates in their own communities. For many of the teens she sees, especially those coming from underserved neighborhoods, gun violence is normalized, she explained, or they believe that stopping gun violence is impossible. Others feel like gun ownership is okay to protect their family. I've heard youth say, I feel like everybody owns a gun here,'" she said. Continue reading...

UN says order affecting 1.1 million people will spark devastating humanitarian consequences' amid likely Israeli ground assault. Plus, how criminalisation is being used to silence climate activists around the worldDon't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Hamas has called on Palestinians to stay in their homes after Israel issued sweeping evacuation orders for almost half of Gaza's more than 2.3 million people ahead of an expected ground offensive.What is the US doing to help Israel? The US pledged to send more arms to Israel yesterday ahead of the ground offensive. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, pledged his country's support for Israel today, tomorrow, every day". He told the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on a visit to the region that Israel may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself but, as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side."What are the rules of war - and how do they apply to the Israel-Gaza conflict? After the horror of Hamas's attacks on Israel and the response by the Israeli military in Gaza, there have been calls for both sides to abide by international law amid accusations of breaches. Here's an explainer on the framework of international laws that is supposed to govern war or armed conflicts. Continue reading...

The US government has taken some steps to block Chinese imports made with forced labor. Britain and the EU have done shamefully littleLast month, Chinese diplomats sent letters - really threats - to discourage attendance at an event on the sidelines of the UN general assembly spotlighting Beijing's persecution of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims in China's Xinjiang region. The childish tactic backfired, heightening media interest, but it highlighted the lengths to which Beijing will go to cover up its repression. A recent expose on the persecution of Uyghurs should reinforce our determination to address these crimes against humanity.A four-year investigation by the Outlaw Ocean Project pulls back the curtain on the massive use of forced labor in the Chinese government-backed fishing industry. Much of the study focused on people coercively kept on China's distant-water fishing fleet, which holds workers at sea for months at a time in appalling conditions, often with lethal neglect. But the study also showed that seafood-processing facilities inside China are deploying Uyghur forced labor on a large scale.Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, is a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs Continue reading...

Allegations against Dr Derrick Todd in Boston adds to spate of cases involving US physicians reported to have violated patientsIn the weeks since his dismissal from a Boston hospital, the number of women accusing Dr Derrick Todd of sexually abusive medical exams has surpassed 80, adding to a spate of cases involving US physicians reported to have violated patients in their most vulnerable moments.At least 82 women have joined a class-action lawsuit that was filed against Todd in a Massachusetts state court Wednesday, the plaintiffs' attorney Drew Meyer told the Boston Globe. Continue reading...

The Olympics are on the horizon but US Soccer has yet to appoint a replacement for Vlatko Andonovski. The search is not a simple oneUncertainty is an uncommon feeling for the United States women's national team. The program has four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals to its name, each of which is a record. Until August, the US had never been ranked below No 2 in the world and never finished worse than third at a World Cup.Change arrived quickly, however. A historic exit from the 2023 World Cup in the round of 16 evoked existential questions about the program's future as other top nations surpassed it. Former head coach Vlatko Andonovski also resigned in the immediate aftermath of the tournament, leaving the US without a coach. Continue reading...

The world's agreement to protect civilians was never perfect. But that's no excuse for leaders in Russia, the US and the UK to row back from itHamas's murder of Jewish civilians in the Kfar Aza kibbutz on 7 October was without doubt a war crime", the BBC's Jeremy Bowen concluded in his report from southern Israel this week. But what, Bowen then asked, about the lives of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, who now face bombing and siege - and possibly an imminent ground war - as Israel retaliates.Bowen asked a fundamental wartime question. In response, the Israeli commander in Kfar Aza, Maj Gen Itai Veruv, gave him an impeccable and restrained reply. You fight with [your] values and you keep your values at the same time," he replied. I know we will be very aggressive and very strong, but we will keep our morals and values."Martin Kettle 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...

House unable to govern, with next steps uncertain, after Louisiana congressman fails to secure his party's supportThe Republican congressman Steve Scalise is ending his bid to become the US House speaker after failing to secure enough votes to win the gavel.I just shared with my colleagues that I'm withdrawing my name as a candidate for speaker-designee," Scalise said as he emerged from the closed-door meeting at the Capitol, where he first informed fellow Republican colleagues of his decision. Continue reading...

Congressional business at a standstill as House majority leader drops out of speaker race on Thursday

System intended to rectify disproportionate number of abducted and sex-trafficked Black children overlooked as runaways'California has become the first state to create an alert system specifically geared towards finding missing Black women and girls. Senate bill 673 was signed by Gavin Newsom earlier this week amid a wave of bills that have come across the governor's desk and were either approved or vetoed.Ebony alerts would allow the California highway patrol to trigger emergency notifications on phones and road signs - similar to Amber and Feather alerts - to let people know that a Black person between the ages of 12 and 25 is missing in the area. Continue reading...

Frustrated US district judge Aileen Cannon shuts down conflict-of-interest hearing after lawyers make surprise requestThe federal judge in the criminal case about Donald Trump's retention of classified documents rebuked prosecutors for wasting the court's time" on Thursday with their sudden request to partly restrict the lawyer for one of Trump's co-defendants.US district judge Aileen Cannon abruptly postponed the hearing after getting the request - which came after prosecutors had first said they would not seek disqualification. Continue reading...

The 23-year-old Black man was stopped as he was walking home from a store, placed in a neck hold and injected with ketamineA jury has convicted one Colorado police officer and acquitted another for the 2019 homicide of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old whose death at the hands of law enforcement while on a walk home sparked international outrage and years of protests.A jury found Randy Roedema, an Aurora police department (APD) officer, guilty of criminally negligent homicide and third-degree assault on Thursday. A second officer, Jason Rosenblatt, was found not guilty of manslaughter and assault. Both had held him on the ground and ignored his cries saying he couldn't breathe. A third officer, who was the first to approach McClain, is also facing charges and has an upcoming trial. Continue reading...

Ground forces are gathering near the border, as UN says that Gaza is dangerously close to running out of food and water

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Report comes amid pressure for Biden to deny Iran revenues amid speculation over how big a role Tehran played in Hamas attackA contentious deal to unfreeze $6bn of Iranian oil revenues has been plunged into uncertainty amid reports that the Biden administration has persuaded Qatar to withhold the funds in breach of a previous agreement following the devastating attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel.There has been mounting pressure from both Democrats and Republicans for the White House to deny Iran access to the revenues in the face of speculation over how big a role Iran played in the weekend's attack by Hamas, Tehran's close ally and proxy. Continue reading...

Judge asks Bankman-Fried's lawyer to have a word with him' after prosecutors complain of possible intimidationSam Bankman-Fried scoffed" as his former paramour and business partner, Caroline Ellison, testified against him in his Manhattan federal court crypto fraud trial, prosecutors alleged.This accusation against Bankman-Fried - who faces seven counts related to the collapse of FTX - came during a sidebar between lawyers and judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday that was neither audible to the courtroom gallery nor jury. Transcripts of the trial published Thursday detailed the exchange. Continue reading...

Obstacles include Uygur's overseas birth in Istanbul that seemingly renders him unqualified under the US constitutionCenk Uygur, founder and outspoken host of the progressive Young Turks TV show, said he could win the Democratic nomination for president despite obstacles including his own overseas birth in Istanbul seemingly rendering him unqualified under the US constitution.Joe Biden is not going to win", Uygur, 53, said on his show on Wednesday, announcing his extremely long-shot primary campaign to challenge the sitting president. Continue reading...

New Jersey Democratic senator has resisted calls for his resignation in the middle of a corruption scandalFederal prosecutors on Thursday filed a superseding indictment against the Democratic senator Bob Menendez, charging him with being an unregistered agent of the Egyptian government, a court filing showed.The New Jersey senator has thus far resisted calls for his resignation. His trial on corruption charges will begin next May. Continue reading...

Feared defender of the Chicago Bears NFL team, who later acted on television and in filmsIn 1986, when the Super Bowl champions the Chicago Bears sold out Wembley Stadium, Britain's favourite players were the silky smooth runner Walter Sweetness" Payton and the lovable lineman William the Refrigerator" Perry. But that belied the American football team's historical identity, born in the 30s when Bronko Nagurski led the feared Monsters of the Midway". And no Bear was more of a monster than Dick Butkus, who has died aged 80.In 2009 the NFL proclaimed Butkus the most feared tackler of all-time. Tackling wasn't good enough ... Dick loved to crush people," said his teammate Ed O'Bradovich. Deacon Jones, a Hall of Fame defender for the Los Angeles Rams, called Butkus a well-conditioned animal. A stone maniac. Every time he hit you he tried to put you in the cemetery, not the hospital." Steve Sabol, with typical NFL Films hyperbole, described Butkus as his favourite player. His career was the most sustained work of devastation ever committed, anywhere ... he mauled and tore ball-carriers apart." Continue reading...

2024 Republican frontrunner called Hezbollah militant group very smart', prompting a stern reaction from the White House

Adam Aron duped into sending explicit photos to Mia', fake ballet dancer created by US woman who pleaded guilty to cyberstalkingThe boss of the world's largest movie theatre chain sent sexually explicit messages and photos to a woman who then tried to blackmail him for hundreds of thousands of dollars.Adam Aron, the chief executive of AMC Entertainment, which also owns the Odeon chain in Europe, exchanged messages for weeks last spring with an individual he believed was a ballet dancer with whom he had previously been in a romantic relationship. Continue reading...

LA have been the most consistently successful regular season team in the National League for years. But they stumbled in the postseason once againThe Los Angeles Dodgers achieved a special kind of baseball ignominy on Wednesday night, in the third game of their National League Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the third inning, Dodgers pitcher Lance Lynn became a successful launching pad for four Arizona home runs. It was the first time a team had homered that many times in a single playoff inning, made more preposterous by another would-be home run flying just outside the foul pole. The next pitch became a real home run, and Arizona's four runs in the inning stood up in a 4-2 final score and three-game sweep for the D-backs. The Dodgers, winners of 100 regular-season games, won none in the postseason.For Los Angeles, the manner of the defeat was brutal, but the end outcome was typical. The Dodgers are the most consistent franchise in the National League and one of the game's financial juggernauts. They've cleared that 100-win plateau five times in seven years and were paced to do so again in 2020's pandemic-shortened season. They managed a World Series win in that Covid-addled year, giving their fans some salvation. Otherwise, postseason torture has come to define this era of Dodger baseball. Continue reading...

Republicans scramble to find a replacement for the ousted Kevin McCarthy as world events demand the attention of the US Congress

Antony Blinken has visited Israel in a show of solidarity after the Hamas attacks and said the US would 'always be there' for its ally. In a joint statement with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the US secretary of state said Washington was working closely with Israel to secure the release of people taken hostage by Hamas. The war has already claimed at least 2,600 lives on both sides

US secretary of state appears with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and says Washington working to secure release of hostagesAt least 25 Americans have been killed in the attack by Hamas militants in Israel, Antony Blinken said on Thursday, during a visit to show solidarity with Israel.In a joint statement with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the US secretary of state said Washington was working closely with Israel to secure the release of people taken hostage by Hamas. Continue reading...

Bank to cancel almost 18m in pay and bonuses due former CEO, who also faces potential FCA fine of 1.8mThe former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley has been banned from holding any senior City role and is set to miss out on nearly 18m in pay and bonuses after the UK's financial watchdog ruled he had misled it over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.The Financial Conduct Authority said it would also fine Staley 1.8m for failing to disclose the extent of his close personal relationship" with the late sex offender. Continue reading...

Official data shows consumer price index up to 3.7% as central bank keeps watchful eye on latest inflation figuresPrice growth held steady in the United States last month as the Federal Reserve mulls the next stage of its battle against inflation.The consumer price index rose at an annual pace of 3.7% in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was in line with August's 3.7% reading. Continue reading...

Trump son-in-law says his mother called him to say top Democrat upset her with remarks to our friends on the Upper East Side'Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the US Senate, upset Jared Kushner's mother by telling her friends her son would go to jail over his ties to Russia, Kushner said on Wednesday.My poor mom, I told her to stop, you know, reading whatever. I said, I promise you, we didn't do anything wrong, it's good,'" Kushner told the Lex Fridman Podcast. But you know, she'd call me [to] say ... Our friends on the Upper East Side were talking with Chuck Schumer, who says Jared's going to jail.'" Continue reading...

My company in Germany has demanded my swift return from climate-change fieldwork near Papua New Guinea. I can't do itTwo weeks ago, my employer presented me with a stark ultimatum: return to my offices in Kiel, Germany, within five days, or lose my job. I am a climate researcher and since March 2023, I have been completing vital fieldwork into the social impact of climate change almost 24,000km away by overland routes, on the island of Bougainville off the coast of Papua New Guinea.My fieldwork had been mired in unforeseeable problems, from natural disasters to security threats, and my employer was, unsurprisingly, unhappy that my return had been delayed by many weeks. The urgency of their request to return meant I would have to jump on a plane if I was to meet the deadline; but for me, this was not an option. I have been practising conscientious objection to flying for more than 10 years. My employer has supported me on a slow trip" in the past. I do not boycott flying altogether, but I will only catch a plane when no other alternative exists.Gianluca Grimalda, formerly senior researcher at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, is a social scientist interested in social cohesion and adaptation to climate change Continue reading...

Frankie Dettori has put plans to retire later this year on hold to continue his racing career in the United States. The 52-year-old jockey, who has ridden more than 3,300 winners, will move to California later this year, and will also race in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.He revealed: "I've still got the fire inside me that I want to do it a little bit more" but said he would stick to his word and would ride his "final race in front of a big crowd like Ascot" later this month.

Investigation raises questions about transparency and governance of $1bn citizenship by investment scheme