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Five hundred job cuts announced to staff with reductions to leave Peloton with roughly 3,800 employees globallyPeloton is planning to cut about 12% of its workforce in its fourth round of layoffs so far this year, the company announced on Thursday.The 500 job cuts will leave the maker of high-end exercise-equipment plans with roughly 3,800 employees globally, less than half the number of people the company employed at its peak last year. Continue reading...

Ray Murphy, mayor of Fort Myers Beach, says: ‘It was not directed at anybody. It was just two guys talking. It didn’t faze me one bit’The Florida mayor to whom Joe Biden uttered a profanity captured by a live microphone, sparking a minor viral fuss, said the presidential swearword did not bother him in the slightest.The two men met on Wednesday, as Biden visited areas of Florida hit by Hurricane Ian. The president was heard to say: “Nobody fucks with a Biden.” Continue reading...

If the court upholds the rogue ‘Independent State Legislature’ theory, it would put the US squarely on path to authoritarianismIt is well-known that intense competition between democracy, authoritarianism, and fascism is playing out across the globe in a variety of ways – including in the United States. This year’s US supreme court term, which started this week, is a vivid illustration of how the situation is actually worse than most people understand.A supermajority of six, unelected ultraconservatives justices – five of which were put on the bench by presidents who did not win the popular vote – have aggressively grabbed yet another batch of cases that will allow them to move American law to the extreme right and threaten US democracy in the process. The leading example of this disturbing shift is a little-known case called Moore v Harper, which could lock in rightwing control of the United States for generations.Steven Donziger is a human rights lawyer and environmental justice advocate. He is also a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Senior figures see decision as slight on US and sign that oil producers’ club is aligning with Russia. Plus, can brown noise help you concentrate?

Trussonomics is the sharp end. But other, structural factors are also driving a systemic assault on working peopleThe Truss government is waging an uncoordinated class war. The Truss tax cuts, the largest in 50 years, were designed to redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich.Although the government has since scrapped its proposal to cut the 45% top rate of income tax paid by those earning more than £150,000, all other details of its “mini-budget” remain: there has been no increase in corporation tax, the cap on bankers’ bonuses has been axed and the government has launched a fresh attack on trade unions. These are ideological measures disguised under the banner of a discredited “trickle-down” growth strategy.Daniela Gabor is professor of economics and macrofinance at UWE Bristol Continue reading...

He’s spent his life sniping from the sidelines. Now he has the power to make radical environmental reforms to the monarchySo King Charles won’t be going to Cop27, by order of Liz Truss; an inauspicious start for a monarch with pretensions to remain an influencer and be known as the first “green” king.But he should take heart: Truss may not be long for No10, and Charles may look at recent events and conclude that no-one listens to her anyway. If so, there are plenty of opportunities now for him to turn the archaic House of Windsor into an institution fit for an age of climate breakdown, poverty and deep inequalities.John Vidal is a former Guardian environment editorDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 300 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at guardian.letters@theguardian.com Continue reading...

Prisoners refuse to work for no pay in prison service jobs in food service, laundry and maintenanceThe inmate does not want to give their name for fear of being retaliated against, but they do not hold back when it comes to describing the awful conditions that have prompted a widespread jail strike in Alabama’s brutal prisons.“This is a humanitarian crisis,” said the inmate currently incarcerated at Limestone correctional facility in Harvest, Alabama. “They’re not providing us with any adequate medical treatment [or] mental health treatment. We’re not getting proper diets, we’re not getting any kind of rehabilitation in these places.” Continue reading...

So widespread is racist abuse from the stands that ignoring it is seen as part of a college athlete’s job“I just remember that there was like a consistent chant of ‘stand up, N-words’ during the anthem and right after. And when brought to the attention of the BYU coaching staff there was no real response or sense of, like, alarm.”That’s what a women’s soccer player told us she and her teammates experienced in 2021 at Brigham Young University when they knelt for the national anthem to protest racist police brutality before a game. Four other teammates independently confirmed that they heard the comments in a story published in the Guardian last week. After complaints from the players, an announcement was made reminding fans to respect the athletes, but no further action was taken until BYU said this week that it was investigating the incident following the Guardian’s reporting. Continue reading...

The 43-year-old military veteran is confident he can defeat Trumpist Dan Cox and become the state’s first black governorWes Moore will in all likelihood be the next governor of Maryland. A month before election day, one poll gave him a 32-point lead over his Republican opponent, Dan Cox.If successful, Moore will be the state’s first Black governor – and only the third Black governor of any state. He stresses the need for bipartisan support in a time of divide. Continue reading...

The French teenager has an 8ft wingspan and can shoot like a point guard. And he will be testing himself against the best in the world very soonA throng of around 200 NBA scouts and decision-makers descended on Las Vegas Tuesday night for a glimpse of the future.The G League Ignite, an NBA developmental team based in Nevada, hosted the French club Metropolitans 92 in the first of two exhibition games. Sterling ‘Scoot’ Henderson, an expected top pick in next year’s draft, shone at point guard for Ignite, posting 28 points and nine assists in a 122-115 win. Continue reading...

A new community created as a counter to Russian aggression could help to bring EU countries closer to the rest of EuropeImagine it’s 2030. You can freely reside in and seek employment across the UK, the EU, Ukraine, Turkey, the western Balkans and a handful of other flourishing democracies. You cross open borders on integrated high-speed rail connections, powered by jointly financed green hydrogen infrastructure and integrated energy grids.You feel secure as these countries ensure equitable supplies of life-saving vaccines and maintain a joint fast-response taskforce for climate disasters.Lorenzo Marsili is a philosopher, activist and founder of European Alternatives and Fondazione Studio Rizoma. He is the author of Planetary Politics: a Manifesto

Plenty of teams have got off to horrible starts but there is still time to recover. We look at how likely the strugglers are to turn things aroundA lot can change over the course of an 18-week NFL season. This time last year, there were 10 teams with one win or fewer. Three went on to make the postseason: the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. This year, there are nine teams below the .500 mark entering Week 5. At least one is still likely to make the playoffs – let’s grade who has the strongest shot. Continue reading...

Environmental issues in low-income areas have long been ignored by activists who fail to grasp the importance of equity

Defending champions New Zealand have shown a return to form but England will start as favourites to win the tournament Continue reading...

Georgia in focus: Warnock’s fundraising is impressive, though the Democratic senator lacks the name recognition his scandal-prone opponentWhen Democrat Raphael Warnock won his election last year, he celebrated his success as a reflection of America’s promise.Only in this country could the son of a Black woman who once spent her summers picking cotton experience such a dramatic rise, becoming the first African American to represent Georgia in the US Senate, Warnock told his supporters. He implored his new constituents,in the wake of a historically divisive campaign season, to embrace the values that made his win possible. Continue reading...

Our system has worked for over 100 years. But what to do when ministers fetishise ideology over objectivity and honesty?If you’re finding the past couple of weeks bewildering, can you imagine what it’s like having – in the words of the celebrated civil service Twitter hero of 2020 – to actually work with these truth-twisters?Pity, in particular, the tormented ring-wraiths of His Majesty’s Treasury. They will continue to be shackled to their gilded laptops until they come up with a narrative that a rattled prime minister and her brutalised chancellor can use to resolve their trilemma. In other words, to dream up an explanation of their plans that can somehow placate the ravening hyenas of the parliamentary Conservative party, the billionaire non-dom owners of the Daily Mail and the gatekeepers of the global financial markets.The author works for the UK civil service

Scrubs and Californication producer accused of using ‘his Hollywood credentials’ to sexually assault women during photo shootsEric Weinberg, a veteran television producer and writer who worked on shows including Scrubs and Californication, has been arrested and charged with 18 counts including rape, sexual battery and false imprisonment by violence.The 61-year-old was initially arrested at his Los Angeles home in July and released on $3.2m bond. On Tuesday, he was arrested again and later released on $5m bond. Continue reading...

Joe Biden has been caught on a live mic while visiting parts of Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. Biden was recorded speaking with Fort Meyers Beach mayor Ray Murphy saying, 'No one fucks with a Biden.' The president presented a united front with vocal critic and Florida's Republican governor Ron DeSantis, as they surveyed damage from the hurricane

Daca is expected to go to the US supreme court for a third timeA ruling by a US appeals court has again thrown into question the future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, which prevents the deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought into the United States as children.The fifth US circuit court of appeals decided on Wednesday that a federal district judge in Texas who last year declared Daca illegal, should take another look at the program, following revisions the Biden administration adopted in August. Continue reading...

Senior figures see decision as a slight on the US and a sign that the oil producers club is aligning with RussiaThe Biden administration and its supporters have reacted angrily to the Opec+ decision to cut oil production, seeing it as a rebuff to the US president’s efforts to improve relations with Saudi Arabia.The White House made clear that it viewed the decision by the oil production cartel, in which the plus sign represents the inclusion of Russia, to reduce daily production by 2m barrels, as a geopolitical move, and a slight to Biden who is seeking to cut Russian revenues and keep the petrol price down before November’s congressional elections. Continue reading...

A man abducted an 8-month-old girl, her parents and her uncle from a trucking company office in Merced on MondayRelatives of a family kidnapped at gunpoint from their trucking business in central California pleaded for help Wednesday in the search for an 8-month-old girl, her mother, father and uncle.Authorities at a news conference Wednesday showed surveillance video of a man kidnapping the baby, Aroohi Dheri; the child’s mother, Jasleen Kaur, 27; father Jasdeep Singh, 36; and uncle Amandeep Singh, 39 from their Merced business on Monday. Continue reading...

President puts up ostensibly united front with Ron DeSantis as duo see recovery effort but comments contrast with governor’s viewJoe Biden has urged action to tackle the climate crisis after surveying by helicopter the devastation wrought in Florida by Hurricane Ian, one of the fiercest storms in American history.Visiting Fort Myers, which bore the brunt of the damage, the US president shook hands and ostensibly put up a united front with Ron DeSantis, the rightwing Florida governor touted as a potential challenger in the 2024 election. Continue reading...

Agency says murders increased by 4.3% in 2021 after a 30% surge in 2020, but new data tracking system excludes some major citiesThe FBI’s annual crime data released on Wednesday suggested a slight increase in homicides in the US in 2021, but officials warned that the statistics were incomplete and excluded some major cities due to a new data tracking system.The agency said that homicides increased by 4.3% in 2021, following a nearly 30% surge in homicides in 2020, which marked the largest single-year increase since the FBI began keeping count in the 1960s. But the murder rate still remained below the historic highs of 1991. Continue reading...

Halyna Hutchins shot dead with prop gun during filming of western as Santa Fe DA says criminal charges could yet be broughtAlec Baldwin has agreed to a settlement with the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins who was killed on the set of the western Rust she was filming in New Mexico in 2021 when she was shot with a prop gun the US actor was using.The parties reached an undisclosed settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in February against the actor and other defendants. Continue reading...

Congressional group writes letter urging Biden to extend WTO agreement aimed at easing generic vaccine exportsUS recovery from the Covid pandemic is in “jeopardy” unless the Biden administration supports making treatment and testing for the disease more readily available to low-income countries, a powerful congressional group has warned Joe Biden.In a letter to Joe Biden led by congressman Earl Blumenauer, chairman of the subcommittee on trade, the group urged the president to extend a June World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement aimed at easing exports of generic vaccines to treatments and therapeutics. Continue reading...

Nishelle Harris-Miles, a mother of four from Ohio, was staying in a rental with friends when the hurricane hitA mother who traveled to Fort Myers, Florida, for her birthday celebration was among the victims who died after Hurricane Ian hit the state last week.Nishelle Harris-Miles, a mother of four from Dayton, Ohio, traveled to Florida with her friends and family to celebrate her 40th birthday when the hurricane made landfall, according to an Ohio news outlet. Continue reading...

Sister of new monarch enjoys tourist staple after visiting National Lighthouse Museum to unveil figurine of Needles LighthousePrincess Anne took a ride on a quintessential New York tourist attraction and commuter staple – the Staten Island ferry that plies the harbor – during a visit to city this week, just under a month since the death of Queen Elizabeth, her mother and Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.Anne, now sister to the new monarch, King Charles III, was ushered to the ferry’s pilothouse as the ship crossed the harbor on Tuesday, sailing towards the skyscrapers of Manhattan and some of the city’s most well-known landmarks such as the Empire State Building and One World Trade, which replaced the twin towers of the World Trade Centre after they were destroyed in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Continue reading...

Democrats write CEO Howard Shultz to look into chain’s anti-union expenditures and alleged ‘weaponizing’ of benefits and payFour US senators have asked Starbucks to disclose how much the coffee chain has spent on lawyers and consulting fees to counter the growing union membership efforts at hundreds of its locations in the US.Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal, all Democrats, and independent Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, sent their request in a letter late on Tuesday to Starbucks’ chief executive, Howard Schultz, and the company’s board of directors. Continue reading...

Republican Ken Paxton allegedly escaped home and jumped into truck driven by his wife to avoid being served by subpoenaThe Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, must testify in court in an abortion lawsuit after a federal judge reversed his decision to quash a subpoena filed by pro-choice interests.Reproductive rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit against Paxton’s office in August in an attempt to stop possible prosecution of abortion funds that help women seek the procedure outside Texas, which has banned almost all abortion. Continue reading...

Talk of nuclear escalation or attacks on pipelines may be far-fetched at present, but Moscow has other levers at its disposalEvery human being liberated from Russia’s savage occupation represents a victory for Ukraine. But the continuing liberation of occupied territories is vitally important outside Ukraine too. The ejection of Russian forces sends vital messages to Moscow, Washington and Brussels as well, and Ukraine’s advances will have broader impacts that are far more significant than the immediate tactical gains.First, as with the Ukrainian autumn offensive overall, they are a clear demonstration to Kyiv’s western backers that the war is not static. Earlier in the year fears of a protracted stalemate were causing hesitation and doubt over whether Ukraine and its supporters could stay the course. Now, Ukraine has removed that doubt by seizing the initiative and maintaining it far longer than most outside observers thought possible. That can only stiffen western resolve to stand firm with Kyiv. In particular it has pulled the rug from under the persistent argument that Ukraine should “make concessions” to end the fighting – concessions that in many cases are indistinguishable from surrender.Keir Giles works with the Russia and Eurasia programme of Chatham House; he is the author of Russia’s War on Everybody Continue reading...

Georgia in focus: Since Biden carried the state with the support of Black voters, thousands of people’s eligibility has been disputedAbout a year ago, Lee McWhorter joined a group of people in the Atlanta suburbs who were concerned about the integrity of elections in Georgia. They prayed over what they should do, and eventually started scrutinizing the voter rolls in Gwinnett county, one of the most populous and most diverse in the US. The group started checking addresses, comparing voter information in different states, and perusing property records. They brought in data experts to help them compare voter information and began to collect affidavits to back up claims that ineligible voters were on the rolls.In early September, the group, which has since grown to 80 people and does not have a formal name, challenged the eligibility of tens of thousands of people. The challenges were filed with the backing of VoterGA, whose founder has questioned the raised questions about the 2020 election results. The group has received backing from The America Project, which was founded by Michael Flynn and Patrick Byrne, who have promoted serial misinformation about the 2020 election. Continue reading...

Anthony Rapp alleges Spacey acted to gratify sexual desire during an encounter in 1986, when he was 14 and the Oscar winner was 26 or 27Actor Kevin Spacey faces the first of a series of sexual abuse claims dating back decades on Thursday in New York in a civil trial that may come to overshadow a glittering career on stage and screen that included two Oscars and numerous other top awards.The case against the 63-year-old American focuses on accusations by Anthony Rapp, a star of the Broadway musical Rent, who five years ago publicly accused Spacey of sexual assault when he was a teenager. Continue reading...

Tory MPs stayed away, blaming rail strikes. Members perked up at Greenpeace activists, feeling protective of lame-duck leader

The PM is plugging on while the Tory party implodes around her. It might be funny if we weren’t about to feel the aftershocksWatching the Conservative party self-destruct after 12 years of near-untouchable power while the economy tanks is akin to seeing your racist neighbour’s house flood with sewage. It’s delightful schadenfreude – until you realise that stink is heading straight for you. If there is one positive to the Tory party conference this week, it is that these people have been at least temporarily contained. A kind of Alcatraz for Eton alumni. I would say “how much damage can they do?” locked in a conference hall in Birmingham; but based on the last few days, this group would see that less as a question and more as an active challenge.Enter the levelling up secretary, Simon Clarke, who kicked off conference by touting a new age of austerity in the middle of a cost of living crisis. Britain had, Clarke said, been in a “fool’s paradise” for too long with a “very large welfare state”, which must come as news to the people queueing in the utopia of their local food bank. Early figures suggest public services will see cuts of up to £18bn a year, while benefits are being lined up for real-term cuts.Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

While Lynn claimed not to be a ‘big fan of women’s liberation’, her songs told a different story, documenting female pleasure, pain and physicalityIf you wanted to pick a single Loretta Lynn song to encapsulate the country star’s life, career, spirit and the particular way she wove all three together, the choice would not be easy. You might reach for Coal Miner’s Daughter, her signature track, which told of her upbringing in Butcher Hollow, a mining community in Appalachian Kentucky – its poverty, love, perseverance. This was, after all, the root of her storytelling, and that famed vibrato that long carried a backwoods flavour. Or you might lean toward her first No 1 hit, 1966’s Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind), that cemented some of the singer’s presiding themes – relationships, and how a woman might handle her wayward husband’s boozing.But there would be strong argument to choose an outlier: the title track from her final album, last year’s Still Woman Enough. Accompanied by fellow country stars Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood, Lynn sang of a long life of struggle, determination and triumph. “I know how to love, lose and survive,” the lyrics ran. “Ain’t much I ain’t seen and I ain’t tried.” The song made a companion piece to one of her most famous hits, You Ain’t Woman Enough (to Take My Man). Released in 1966, it was a response to a love rival, feather-spitting in its defiance: “Sometimes a man’s caught lookin’ at things he don’t need / He took a second look at you, but he’s in love with me.” Its sister song of 2021 had lost none of the original’s smarts. Continue reading...

Walker would hardly be the first Republican to think abortion is ‘OK for me, evil for thee’Herschel Walker is a former NFL football player turned Republican candidate who is running for a crucial Senate seat in Georgia and has extremely hardline views on abortion. He supports a ban on the procedure with no exceptions for rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger – circumstances he describes as “excuses”. He has also repeatedly likened abortion to murder.All of that is somewhat awkward because it turns out that, by Herschel’s own definition, he may be an accessory to murder and should probably hand himself into the police immediately, if recent allegations are to be believed. On Monday the Daily Beast reported that Walker allegedly paid for an ex-girlfriend’s abortion in 2009. The woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, provided the outlet with evidence supporting her claims, including a $575 receipt from the abortion clinic, an image of a signed personal check for $700 from Walker, and a “get well” card allegedly signed by Walker. The card had “a drawing of a steaming cup of tea” on the front and instructed the recipient to “Rest, Relax, Recover.”Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The prime minister addressed the Tory conference as leader for the first time. What are the chances that it could be her last?Irony appears to be lost on our new prime minister.Mick Lynch is the secretary-general of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Continue reading...

Appellate court ruling prevented special master from examining 100 files seized from Mar-a-Lago. Plus, a record-breaking pumpkinGood morning.Donald Trump asked the US supreme court yesterday to partly reverse an appellate court decision that prevented the special master, reviewing for privilege protections materials seized by the FBI from his Mar-a-Lago resort in August, from examining 100 documents with classification markings.What else has emerged about the documents? A lawyer for Donald Trump refused to report to the National Archives that the former president had turned over all Oval Office documents as required out of concern that the claim was a lie, the Washington Post is reporting.What have we learned from Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman? The former president really doesn’t like Mitch McConnell, and he apparently relentlessly mocked Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and adviser and made many many diplomatic faux pas. Here are the key takeaways.What else is happening? Here’s what we know on day 224 of the invasion. Continue reading...

The Bills are becoming a case study in how property deals get struck between power brokers and politicians, laying bare the question of what, if anything, a team owes its communityThe Buffalo Bills are among the favorites to win the Super Bowl in February but Dennice Barr has other priorities as winter approaches.Barr is a community leader in the Fruit Belt, an historic but deprived majority African American area near downtown Buffalo. With a median household income of under $28,000, a ticket to an NFL game is out of reach for many residents. As the cost of living soars and the weather worsens they are more focused on access to food and heating. Continue reading...

The devastating storm hit Florida’s high population of seniors hard and some are now reconsidering their future in the stateJoy McCormack had just retired and moved to a mobile park in Fort Myers near the Sanibel Island causeway before Hurricane Ian hit Florida last week. Her entire community was wiped out and her mobile home is still flooded.She had managed to evacuate before Ian arrived with just her car and a few belongings, spending the night in a two-story office building inland. “You don’t expect it to be anything, because we’ve never been hit that hard,” said McCormack. Continue reading...

You know the type. These people talk the talk – but for them, getting any actual work done is strictly an afterthoughtIn recent weeks, there has been an avalanche of discussion about “quiet quitters”. These are people who have grown disillusioned with their workplaces and given up putting in additional effort; no monitoring their emails during the weekend or working on a pressing project during the evening. Quiet quitters have retreated into their job description, trying to preserve their sanity by limiting what they do.Yet the discussion about quiet quitters has entirely overlooked their noisier cousins: the “loud labourers”. If you have had a colleague who spends more time talking about work than actually doing it, then you have witnessed a loud labourer first-hand. These are employees who see their core task as telling everyone what they have done. For these individuals, the actual work is a distant afterthought. They graft for the ‘gram, toil for the tweets, and labour for the LinkedIn likes. Actually getting anything done is just an afterthought.André Spicer is professor of organisational behaviour at the Bayes Business School at City, University of London Continue reading...

As millions of Floridians can confirm, there are better places for homes than wetland in a hurricane zoneRemember when Donald Trump reportedly suggested that we nuke hurricanes in order to stop them hitting the United States? That idea was obviously ludicrous and got rightly ridiculed. Ultimately, however, Trump’s ideas weren’t much more absurd than the accepted status quo in the US – which is to build large amounts of housing on land vulnerable to natural disasters. Fantasies of nuking hurricanes are ultimately just as ridiculous as fantasies that millions of people can move on to paved-over swampland in the most hurricane-ravaged state in the US without disaster striking.I’m talking about Florida, of course. In 1960, about five million people lived in the Sunshine State. Now, that number is about 22 million. During the past few decades, Florida has seen a construction and population boom, with millions of people occupying land that is wholly unsuitable for settling on. “The story of Florida is the story of development happening at times and places where it probably shouldn’t,” a member of Florida Conservation Voters, a non-profit organisation that focuses on environmental issues, recently told Politico. Continue reading...