by Ramon Antonio Vargas and David Hammer of WWL Louis on (#6ZWK1)
The increase from an initial guarantee of $180m is enough to persuade certain attorneys who were opposed to striking a deal to instead favor settlingJust as the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans was beginning to ask victims of clergy sexual abuse to approve a settlement plan assuring them of $180m, the church has now guaranteed $230m - enough to persuade certain attorneys who were opposed to striking a deal to instead favor settling.The church's largest insurer, Travelers, for now has evidently held out against a settlement. However, the Guardian and local reporting partner WWL Louisiana understand that the insurer is in active talks to contribute an amount of money that could substantially increase the worth of the proposed settlement. Continue reading...
Group of men in 20s found in Catskill Mountains by forest rangers, who later hiked up to retrieve one man's keysFour hikers who had consumed psychedelic mushrooms - including one experiencing a debilitating high" - had to be rescued from New York's Catskill Mountains after they got lost there, according to state authorities.In a news release, forest rangers from the the New York state department of environmental conservation (DEC) said that they were alerted to the situation at about 5pm on 29 August after the receipt of a satellite text. Continue reading...
Request is fraught as department would have to confront appearance it dropped case in order to shield Navarro after he was tapped as Trump's senior adviser
House speaker made baffling claim that president worked with FBI to take down Epstein before later backing awayIn a matter of days, the US House speaker, Mike Johnson, claimed that Donald Trump was an FBI informant who was working to try to take down the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein - then backed away from the confusing statement.Johnson made the baffling claim on Thursday speaking to reporters at the US Capitol. He was an FBI informant to try and take this stuff down," Johnson said of Trump. Continue reading...
Powerball players overcame astronomical odds to end three-month drought without a big winner for the nationwide gamePowerball players in Missouri and Texas won the nearly $1.8bn jackpot on Saturday, the US's second largest lottery prize ever.They overcame astronomical odds to end a three-month drought without a big winner for the nationwide lottery game.Guardian staff contributed reporting Continue reading...
by Andrew Lawrence at Flushing Meadows on (#6ZWAG)
The president's appearance at the men's final was met with pushback. But his visit was always about distraction, even if it exposed his flawsIt was just the authoritarian image Donald Trump hoped to project at the US Open: the president himself, looming from Arthur Ashe Stadium's giant screens like Chairman Mao at Tiananmen Gate, as he stood at attention for the national anthem. But there was no denying that, while the picture was there, the sound clashed. The burst of cheers that went up for his stiff salute on Sunday was quickly drowned out by a chorus of boos made louder from the Ashe roof being closed for rain - perhaps fitting given that many fans had been left to stand in the wet and endure the long security lines that resulted from his attendance. In that awkward five-second moment, as the Stars and Stripes was unfurled on center court, the president smirked at the negative reaction. It surely rang so familiar.Trump's presence at the US Open men's final wasn't just intended as a soft power grab, the kind of routine stunt Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un and the other despots he admires pull all the time at sports events - except with recruitment ads for Ice playing across the US. No, Trump's presence was intended as a distraction. Not distraction. for him; lord knows, he couldn't care less about the actual match, a fact that was reinforced when Trump left his luxury box seat to step inside and kibitz with a phalanx of suck-ups. No, Trump's visit was dropped like a flash bang to divert attention from klaxoning recession indicators, rumbling speculation about his health and, naturally, those files about that guy whose name must not be mentioned. Continue reading...
Sale opponents say private equity's profit-seeking is at odds with reasonable rates and state's goal to decarbonizeA bid by financial giant BlackRock to acquire a Minnesota electric utility could push up already-soaring utility bills, opponents warn.The private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners, a division of BlackRock, announced a $6.2bn deal last year to take over the parent company of a Duluth-based electric utility which serves more than 150,000 customers, if the state's public utilities commission gives the green light. Continue reading...
Show, ending in May 2026 after CBS's controversial decision, won Creative Arts award for directing in a variety seriesThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert won its first-ever Emmy on Sunday, less than two months after news of its cancellation elicited a gleeful reaction from Donald Trump.Colbert's program won at Sunday's Creative Arts Emmys in the category of outstanding directing for a variety series for an episode featuring actors David Oyelowo, Finn Wolfhard and Alan Cumming as well as a musical performance by the rock band OK Go. Continue reading...
The FDA is allowing the vaccine for people 65 and older, but younger people need to have an underlying conditionFor many Americans, the new Covid vaccine guidelines from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), spearheaded by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his highly controversial Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, have added another layer of stress to an increasingly inaccessible healthcare system.The agency authorized Covid vaccines for people 65 and older, who are known to be more at risk from serious illnesses from Covid infections, but younger people will only be eligible if they have an underlying medical condition that makes them particularly vulnerable. Continue reading...
His grandparents survived the Nakba and he fled Assad's Syria. Khalil is no stranger to political persecution, but not even Trump's crackdown can silence himWhen a history of resistance to the lurching authoritarianism of Donald Trump's second presidency is written, it could well begin on 11 April 2025, inside a small immigration courtroom in remote, central Louisiana.It was there, in the early afternoon, that a slight young man dressed in a blue uniform jumpsuit spoke calmly but directly to the new administration - away from the gaze of television cameras and 1,000 miles (1,610km) from his friends and family. Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and Palestinian organiser, had been arrested a month earlier - snatched from the lobby of his Manhattan apartment building as he returned home with his wife. Now, detained in the small town of Jena, he sat before a judge who had just ruled that he was eligible to be deported from the United States purely for his political views. Continue reading...
The agency celebrates the US and the president as aggressor, conqueror and unrestrained international lawbreakerOn Friday, Donald Trump signed an executive order restoring the Department of Defense to its original name, the Department of War.That name had a stronger sound", Trump told reporters in August. As Department of War we won everything," he added, and I think we're going to have to go back to that." In June, at the Nato summit, he called Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, his secretary of war".Judith Levine is a Brooklyn journalist and essayist, a contributing writer to the Intercept and the author of five books Continue reading...
Growing divide across US as membership increasing - and wages higher - in states that protect workers' rightsAdd another growing split to the increasingly divided United States: union membership.US states that protect unions' collective bargaining rights have experienced an increase in new union members, while states with anti-union right to work" laws are responsible for declines in union members, a new report reveals. Continue reading...
The US will face a tall test against another East Asian power - this one with ambitions to make World Cup history in 2026Not even the most blinkered South Korean fan would deny that Japan present the United States with the strongest test that Asia has to offer. The Samurai Blue may not have a player like Christian Pulisic who has played regularly at elite clubs, but the roster is full of talents playing at high level, and they were the first team other than the hosts to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Continue reading...
A House committee will receive the late sex offender's will and contacts from his black book', among other filesThe release of records from Jeffrey Epstein's estate to US lawmakers this week, as well as potentially suspicious transaction reports, could offer a roadmap to where the scandal swirling around the late convicted sex trafficker goes next.Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed full transparency around Epstein and his links to a wide circle of powerful, rich and famous associates. But instead, the administration has been accused of foot-dragging and a cover-up, and has faced intense scrutiny over the extent of Trump's own social contact with Epstein. Continue reading...
Trump has been an enabler of war, famine, disease and deathDonald Trump's thuggish campaign to bully his way to the Nobel peace prize should not be the cause for the committee to reject him. There are many more substantial grounds that render him patently unqualified to receive the award.Among the numerous reasons that make him one of the least deserving people in the world who should be honored, he has single-handedly destroyed the United States Agency for International Development, which has saved hundreds of millions of people from hunger and disease, and promoted democracy and the rule of law around the world. In an executive order issued on his inauguration day, 20 January, Trump slandered USAID as not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values" and claimed that its workers serve to destabilize world peace".Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
The Indiana Fever have shut down their star for the rest of 2025. And the toxic elements of her fanbase have lost a culture-war totemCaitlin Clark's season is over. The Indiana Fever confirmed on Thursday night what many suspected, when the 2024 rookie of the year announced on social media that she would not be returning this year from the groin injury that has limited her to 13 games.I had hoped to share a better update, but I will not be returning to play this season," she wrote. Disappointed isn't a big enough word ... This has been incredibly frustrating, but even in the bad, there is good. The way the fans continued to show up ... brought me so much joy and perspective." Continue reading...
The new Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback required a bit of luck to win on his debut but there were signs he can be an effective weapon for his teamAs revenge games go, this one was pretty sweet. Aaron Rodgers led the Steelers to a 34-32 win over the Jets, his former team, and over a coaching staff that fired him before they had the decency to check out his crystal collection.I was happy to beat everybody associated with the Jets," Rodgers said on Sunday, after throwing for 244 yards and four touchdowns in his Pittsburgh debut. Continue reading...
South Korea has said that 300 of its nationals detained during the immigration raid would be flown home. Key US politics stories from Sunday 7 September at a glanceDonald Trump has told foreign companies that they must hire and train American workers and respect immigration laws, after a raid at a Hyundai Motor manufacturing facility in Georgia saw about 300 South Koreans detained.Nearly 500 workers in total were detained in the raid on Thursday, with US authorities releasing footage showing them restrained in handcuffs and ankle chains, loaded on to buses. Continue reading...
President says the Israelis have accepted my terms' and urges release of hostages to secure peace agreementDonald Trump on Sunday issued what he called his last warning" to Hamas, urging the Palestinian militant group to accept a deal to release hostages from Gaza.The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!" Continue reading...
Governor Gavin Newsom hails towering figure' who stood up for working class and nurtured many political careersThe former US congressman John Burton, a salty-tongued and unabashedly liberal San Francisco Democrat who stood up for the working class and nurtured countless political careers, including that of Nancy Pelosi, died Sunday. He was 92.Burton died in San Francisco of natural causes, his family said in a statement. Continue reading...
Health department says vaccines for polio, measles and other diseases will still be mandatory unless updated through legislation'Florida's plan to drop school vaccine mandates likely won't take effect for 90 days and would include only chickenpox and a few other illnesses unless lawmakers decide to extend it to other diseases, like polio and measles, the health department said on Sunday.The department responded to a request for details, four days after Florida's surgeon general, Dr Joseph Ladapo, said the state would become the first to make vaccinations voluntary and let families decide whether to inoculate their children. Continue reading...
A fantastic performance from Carlos Alcaraz set him up to win his second US Open and sixth grand slam titleMore from Bryan.An hour before Sunday's US Open men's final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, the boardwalk from the Mets-Willets Point subway to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was quiet, punctuated only by bursts of fans spilling out of the No 7 train every few minutes.
Billionaire Scott Bessent dismisses concerns about president's levies and predicts acceleration' in US economyUS treasury secretary Scott Bessent has refused to acknowledge that the sweeping trade tariffs imposed by Donald Trump around the world are taxes on Americans.In a new interview on Sunday with NBC host Kristen Welker, Bessent, a former billionaire hedge fund manager, dismissed concerns from major American companies including John Deere, Nike and Black and Decker who have all said that Trump's tariffs policy will cost them billions of dollars annually. Continue reading...
Residents told to stay connected to family and tell people their whereabouts as city readies for expected crackdownThe Rev Marshall Hatch urged congregants of a prominent Black church on Chicago's West Side to carry identification, stay connected to family and protest as the city readied for an expected federal intervention.You need to start telling people about your whereabouts, so you don't disappear," Hatch said during services at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist church. We're not going to despair. We're not going to feel threatened. We're not going to give up and give in to fascism and authoritarianism." Continue reading...
by Tumaini Carayol at Flushing Meadows on (#6ZVVS)
World No 1 has proved she can control her emotions to become one of the most consistent big tournament playersAryna Sabalenka thought she had everything figured out. She believed she had done all the work necessary, harnessing successfully her once uncontrollable power into consistent excellence. After overcoming so many hurdles en route to becoming the best player in the world, she felt ready for anything. Sabalenka was convinced she could handle any challenge that came her way.It was not until her excruciating French Open final defeat against Coco Gauff that Sabalenka understood this was not true. As she struggled with her nerves under such significant pressure and punishing windy conditions, the 27-year-old was outplayed by a tireless, gutsier opponent in Gauff who broke her down by forcing her to work hard for every single point. Continue reading...
The strike on a speedboat allegedly containing Venezuelan drug traffickers may be performative, but sets a frightening precedentMore than five decades ago, Richard Nixon launched awar on drugs". The drugs won. Now Donald Trump is turning a failed metaphor into a worse reality.On Tuesday the US president claimed that the military had killed 11 drug traffickers from Venezuela, posting footage of the strike that US officials said took place on a speedboat in international waters in the Caribbean. The administration supplied no evidence for its claim that the boat contained Tren de Aragua members, or drugs, and gave varying accounts of its destination. It also warned that there was more to come, with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, arguing that intercepting boats had not curbed the drugs problem: What will stop them is when you blow them up." Earlier this year, Mr Trump secretly ordered the use of military force against cartels internationally. Continue reading...
Rand Paul decries thoughtless' comment after vice-president defends strike against alleged drug traffickersThe Republican senator who heads the homeland security committee has criticized JD Vance for despicable" comments apparently in support of extrajudicial military killings.Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military," the vice-president said in an X post on Saturday, in defense of Tuesday's US military strike against a Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean Sea, which killed 11 people the administration alleged were drug traffickers. Continue reading...
Jarvis McKenzie says he was shot at by a white man in a car with a rifle while waiting to go to workA Black man from South Carolina is calling for hate crime laws to be enacted in the state, one of only two states in the US that do not have them, after being targeted at in a racist attack.Jarvis McKenzie said that on 17 July, while waiting to go to work, a white man in a car picked up a rifle, fired over his head and shouted you better get running, boy!", according to the Associated Press. McKenzie reportedly escaped behind a brick wall and police later arrested Jonathan Felkel, 34, in the shooting, according to WIS 10. Continue reading...
The de minimis suspension is another change worrying small business owners, but the concern is misdirectedEarlier this month the Trump administration moved forward with eliminating a loophole that allowed businesses to avoid tariffs if making purchases under $800. Some experts say that the de minimis" exemption will hit many, many" small businesses hard.The de minimis suspension ending is yet another change that has forced every American small business owner to become an accidental trade policy expert overnight," Jacob Bennett, CEO and co-founder of small business banking platform Crux Analytics, told Forbes. There's this whiplash effect that many, many small business owners are now feeling which is leading to growing uncertainty and concern about how they're going to continue running their business." Continue reading...
The Eagles thrashed Samoa but missed the quarter-finals on points differential. Nonetheless, a joyful display was fitting for a team showing encouraging signsThe US Eagles exited the World Cup on Saturday after beating Samoa 60-0 in York but seeing Australia hold England to 47-7 in Brighton, enough for the Wallaroos to reach the quarter-finals on points differential.Kate Zackary's team will be disappointed to miss a last-eight date with Canada, knowing they might well have made it had a few things gone differently.Martin Pengelly writes on Substack at The National Maul, on rugby in the US Continue reading...
Democrat Analise Ortiz shared post warning of Ice activity near school; critics say she endangered federal agentsA Democratic lawmaker in Arizona who is facing calls for expulsion for resharing an Instagram post warning of immigration enforcement activity near an elementary school said that state senate Republicans absolutely are trying to make an example out of me".Analise Ortiz, a Democratic state senator in Arizona, shared an Instagram post from a community organization that warned, in text only, that immigration enforcement agents were near a local elementary school. Continue reading...
by Bryan Armen Graham at Flushing Meadows on (#6ZVNV)
By asking broadcasters not to show any protest against Donald Trump at Sunday's final, the governing body has caved to fear while contradicting its own history of spectacleWhen the dust finally settles in the days after Sunday's eagerly awaited US Open men's final, the United States Tennis Association will issue its annual victory-lap press release. It will tout another record-setting Open: more than a million fans through the gates, unprecedented social-media engagement, double-digit growth in food and beverage sales, and hundreds of celebrities packed into suites from Rolex to Ralph Lauren. It will beam about growing the game, championing diversity and turning Flushing Meadows into a pop-culture destination.But for all the milestones the USTA is preparing to celebrate, this year's tournament will be remembered for a different kind of first: the governing body's lamentable decision to ask broadcasters not to show dissent against Donald Trump. In making that pre-emptive concession, the USTA has committed an unforced error that can't be undone: sacrificing authenticity and credibility in order to shield a politician - any politician, regardless of party, ideology or affiliation - from the sound of public disapproval. Continue reading...
Former officials and experts say Bill Pulte's request for inquiry into Fed governor's alleged fraud is unusual'The head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency embraced a highly unusual process to accuse Lisa Cook, a Federal Reserve governor, of committing mortgage fraud, former officials and experts have said. One former high-ranking official called the director's involvement in a criminal referral bizarre".William Pulte, a businessman and major GOP donor whom Donald Trump appointed to head the powerful housing agency earlier this year, has accused Cook of committing mortgage fraud by misrepresenting her homes as a primary residence, potentially securing more favorable mortgage rates. The justice department formally opened a criminal investigation into whether Cook committed fraud and has issued subpoenas related to the transaction. Cook's lawyers have called the discrepancies a clerical error" and she has denied any wrongdoing. Continue reading...
Sources say Prince, whose firm's contractors committed 2007 Iraq massacre, eager to get into valuable drone sectorAmid reports that Donald Trump's administration is considering using US private military contractors in a postwar Ukraine, multiple sources tell the Guardian one high-profile and controversial American from the war on terror" era is already circling for business.In the streets of Kyiv, military hawks and defense privateers have described how Erik Prince, Maga disciple and founder of the now-defunct mercenary company Blackwater, has been aggressively pitching his services and looking to buy. Continue reading...
Twelve months since Brian Niccol took the top job and promised change, the union and CEO are still at loggerheadsIt's been a year since Brian Niccol took the top job at Starbucks and promised change after years of bitter fighting with the company's burgeoning union.I deeply respect the right of partners to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union," Niccol wrote in a letter to the union last September. If our partners choose to be represented, I am committed to making sure we engage constructively and in good faith with the union and the partners it represents." Continue reading...
LGBTQ+ people in the US contemplate heading north as they wrestle with the president's assault on the communityThe number of LGBTQ+ Americans inquiring about moving to Canada has soared since Donald Trump's re-election, campaigners have said, as people across the US wrestle with the fallout of rising anti-gay rhetoric, anti-trans executive orders, and the more than 600 bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights.So much is happening in the US right now and a lot of it is terrifying," said Latoya Nugent of Rainbow Railroad, a North American charity that helps LGBTQI+ individuals escape violence and persecution in their home countries. Continue reading...
by Bryan Armen Graham at Flushing Meadows on (#6ZVHM)
Once prided as the people's slam', New York's major now doubles as a lifestyle carnival where attending is no longer just about watching, but being seen watchingEvery August, the US Open rolls into Queens with its ever-expanding rituals of consumption. Fans don't just buy in, they perform it: the $23 Honey Deuce held aloft for Instagram, the $40 lobster roll posted before the first serve, the $100 caviar-topped chicken nuggets bought as much for the flex as the flavor. The tennis has never been the cheapest day out, but lately the sticker shock feel less like a barrier than the point. The price tags are festival markers, proof that what was once a tournament with posh accents has morphed into a cultural happening. In what seems like a remarkably short time, New York's major has become less sporting event than aspirational brand.The final grand slam tournament of the season, which concludes Sunday with a mouth-watering men's final between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, has never completely shied from its tony roots as part of the New York social season", but its latest evolution has taken it past a major sporting event into a festival economy. The sport is still there - highlight-reel shots, lung-busting rallies, after-midnight thrillers - but the real main draw are cocktails priced like small bond issues, influencer blocs in branded bucket hats and a dating show filmed courtside. The spectacle isn't Sinner's thunderbolt serve or Aryna Sabalenka's power-baseline game but whether Chloe Malle is Anna Wintour's plus-one or Kareem Rahma of Subway Takes posts his courtside selfie before or after the Honey Deuce runs dry. That libation, once just a cute themed lemonade and vodka in a souvenir cup, has mutated into an inflation-defying fetish object with its own merch line. Entire kiosks now sell Honey Deuce shirts and trucker hats in pastel colorways, so you can broadcast your melon-ball allegiance long after the hard-won hangover fades. It's less a drink than a franchise, an alcoholic Funko Pop, proof that you didn't just attend the Open: you consumed it, posted it, stacked it, wore it and recycled it into personal branding. Continue reading...
Pair met with thunderous applause at town hall in Brooklyn as part of senator's Fighting Oligarchy tourZohran Mamdani, the New York City mayoral frontrunner and Democratic nominee, joined the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in a rousing town hall in Brooklyn on Saturday evening where the two addressed the growing threat of oligarchic control across the US and how to fight it.The event, held at Sanders' alma mater Brooklyn College, drew an audience of about 1,700 people. Mamdani and Sanders co-hosted the town hall as part of Sanders' Fighting Oligarchy tour, which has included rallies in 20 states. Throughout the tour, the senator has been actively supporting and recruiting progressive candidates to run for office. Continue reading...
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