Two games at a packed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will allow the city to get reacquainted with live top-level American football for the first time since before the pandemicThe NFL’s return to London after a two-year hiatus because of Covid-19 looks as well-timed as a Tom Brady flea flicker. With no Premier League matches due to the international break, the biggest sports crowd in Britain on Sunday – about 60,000 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – will be hollering away when the Atlanta Falcons take on the New York Jets.Next weekend, another sell-out crowd will revel in the pompom-waving, XXL-jersey-over-hoodie-wearing, lite beer-slurping experience all over again when the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins come to town. Continue reading...

Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder faced off one final time ahead of their third heavyweight championship showdown in 34 months when they came together at Friday afternoon’s weigh-ins at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.“The weight just came on, I wanted to look sexy and feel sexy,” Wilder said. “I taste sexy as well. I’m bench-pressing a little over 350, so there won’t be no rushing me and putting his weight on me and things like that.”

The ex-president once had a direct line to 8 million followers – now he’s suing to get back on the platform he made his ownIt was just like old times. On Wednesday alone, Donald Trump issued pronouncements on a potential war with China, what Congress should do about the debt ceiling, false claims of a stolen election and his Fox News ally “the great Sean Hannity”.But how many people noticed? Continue reading...

The left of the party is celebrating holding firm on insisting on both parts of Biden’s domestic agenda over centrist objectionsWhen House Democrats were forced to delay their planned vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill earlier this month, the reaction from progressives was a bit surprising considering it is a key part of Joe Biden’s domestic agenda.Rather than lamenting the delay of the vote, progressive groups praised the Democratic lawmakers who had demanded the scheduling change. Continue reading...

For 30 years, politicians have ducked hard questions about our economy. Now the Tories promise to magic the problems awayBoris Johnson’s latest wheeze is classical political economy. Faced with the chaos of petrol shortages, empty supermarket shelves and surging gas prices, Johnson offered an audacious response this week: this was all part of the plan. Britain, he explained, was merely transitioning out of a broken economic “model”, based around low pay and high immigration, and into a new one, based around high productivity and high-wage job creation.His conference speech was immediately criticised by the right, on the basis that by celebrating tighter labour markets it appeared to be actively inviting inflation. But on the basic gut level, to which Johnson only ever speaks, he appears to have got away with it. Britain’s most exasperating economic policy riddle of recent decades – its sluggish productivity growth – was simply going to be magicked away, he announced.William Davies is a sociologist and political economist. His latest book is This is Not Normal: The Collapse of Liberal Britain Continue reading...

A New Orleans-based appeals court quickly granted the state’s request to set aside a suspension until the case is reviewedA federal appeals court on Friday night allowed Texas to temporarily resume banning most abortions, just one day after clinics across the state began rushing to serve patients again for the first time since early September.Abortion providers in Texas had been bracing for the 5th US court of appeals to act quickly, even as they booked new appointments and reopened their doors during a brief reprieve from the law known as Senate Bill 8, which bans abortions once cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks. Continue reading...

The National Archives told to give documents to House committee despite ex-president’s attempt assert executive privilegeJoe Biden has blocked an attempt by former US president Donald Trump to withhold documents from Congress related to the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol.Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Biden authorized the National Archives, a government agency that holds records from Trump’s time in office, to turn over an initial batch of documents requested by a House of Representatives select committee investigating the riot. Continue reading...

Rusten Sheskey, a white police officer, shot Jacob Blake, who is Black, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last yearFederal prosecutors will not file charges against a white police officer who shot and paralyzed a Black man, Jacob Blake, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake during a domestic disturbance in August 2020. The shooting, which left Blake paralyzed from the waist down, sparked several nights of protests. Continue reading...

Legislation would force trust companies, lawyers and middlemen to investigate wealthy clients seeking to move money into USUS lawmakers are proposing legislation that would force trust companies, lawyers and other financial middlemen to investigate foreign clients seeking to move money and assets into the American financial system.The bipartisan bill was proposed in the wake of the Pandora papers, a leak of 11.9m files from 14 different offshore services providers around the world that revealed how the global elite use tax havens to legally avoid paying billions in taxes, and how they are increasingly taking advantage of the US’s liberal trust laws. Continue reading...

Good literature is fundamental to young people’s development. We must not devalue itGood children’s literature is a serious business. Not serious as in boring or “improving”, but serious in attention and ambition, serious about beauty and wonder, about engaging the brain but also the heart, about sadness and difficulty, but also about silliness and joy. Above all, it is serious about the legitimacy of a child’s world – which is a world away from being child-ish.Good children’s books, from picture books to 500-page novels, can be seriously hard to write. Mark Haddon published 17 books before The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. His wise and beautiful The Sea of Tranquility took two years and 50 drafts, 50,000 words becoming 500. “Which seems,” he has written, “like a fair trade. If kids like a picture book, they’re going to read it at least 50 times, and their parents are going to have to read it with them. Read anything that often and even minor imperfections start to feel like gravel in the bed.” Continue reading...

House Democrats say deception about hotel, which became a place for Republicans to do business, was detailed in documentsDonald Trump hid losses of more than $70m at his eponymous Washington DC hotel while he was in the White House, House Democrats said on Friday.The House oversight committee said the deception was detailed in documents released by the General Services Administration (GSA), which leased the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue to the Trump Organization in 2011 and which signed off on its operation of the hotel after Trump entered the White House, just steps away. Continue reading...

Despite the evidence of its own research and former staff, the company can’t be trusted to stop the harm its products causeWill we one day think of Facebook the way we now think of cigarettes? Or is the company more akin to the gun lobby? Perhaps the alcohol industry is the closer fit. As we shall see, there’s merit in all three comparisons, given the lethal harm this company is inflicting. Except those parallels actually understate the problem.For none of them quite gets at the sheer scale and power of this single corporation. That reality was made especially vivid this week, when a six-hour outage confirmed that 3 billion people around the globe have come to depend on Facebook, along with its properties WhatsApp and Instagram, as the place to do business and find out about the world. Facebook might like to pretend that it’s simply a place where friends and family can “connect”, but it’s much bigger than that – and far more dangerous.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Republicans claim cap must be lifted to pay for Biden’s economic agenda – a sign of party’s approach to once non-partisan issuesTop Republicans in the Senate are advancing a campaign of disinformation over the debt ceiling as they seek to distort the reasons for needing to raise the nation’s borrowing cap, after they dropped their blockade on averting a US debt default in a bipartisan manner.The Senate on Thursday passed a bill to allow the debt ceiling to be raised by $480bn through early December, which the treasury department estimates will be enough to allow the government to temporarily avert an unprecedented default on $28tn of debt obligations. Continue reading...

Tales of book-world disputes blow up so reliably online that they could be a new genre, subtitled ‘the thrill of being mean’The dignified thing, if you have to read it at all, is to read it and move on without comment. But, bored at our desks and seeking distraction, most of us can’t find self-denial with both hands. I feel sheepish writing this; clearly some things are best left to Twitter, and it breaks that old rule of travel journalism: why spend time telling someone not to go somewhere they weren’t going anyway? Or in the case of Who Is the Bad Art Friend?, the jumbo piece that ran in the New York Times this week, delineating a scandal in a tiny corner of the book world and instantly blowing up social media: here are some people you’ve never heard of – and, guess what, they’re awful!It happens every few months, somewhere or other, with a reliability approaching a new genre. Someone, usually working for a large media company, devotes considerable resources to excavating an obscure story of relatively low public interest. It may be organised around a local dispute, as in the huge New York magazine story of February about a woman in New York and her difficult tenant. It may feature a somewhat well known figure, as in the New Yorker’s investigation into the thriller writer Dan Mallory and his dubious claims about himself. Crucially, it must have no real implications beyond its own parameters, and a lot of “fancy that” energy, so that, over the course of the thousands of words spent unpicking the story, the reader may be simultaneously gripped and provoked to wonder: what am I doing with my life?Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Past bouts suggest Tyson Fury will triumph but with neither man having fought for 19 months nothing can be ruled outTyson Fury was so dominant when he dismantled and then knocked out Deontay Wilder the last time they stepped into the ring, in February 2020, that all logical thinking points to another decisive victory for the WBC world heavyweight champion when they meet for a third time on Saturday night in Las Vegas. But logic and heavyweight boxing are often barely on nodding terms and a Wilder victory, with a brutal stoppage offering his best hope, cannot be dismissed. Yet it would be a shock and offer proof that there is little sense and rational thinking left in boxing’s strangest division.Fury’s absolute authority last year, and his bold strategy of taking the fight to Wilder to show that he could beat up rather than just outbox the previously undefeated American, seemed to have settled a long and simmering rivalry. Their first world title bout, in Los Angeles in December 2018, had been a riveting affair. Fury was the far superior boxer and he built a clear advantage on points despite being dropped twice by Wilder. Continue reading...

The Build Back Better agenda creates more options for working people. Conservatives calling such measures antithetical to freedom have things the wrong way aroundPolitics is not just talk, but no major political project can do without someone crafting persuasive language. Democrats have done a singularly bad job at making the case for what is still only known as “the $3.5tn bill”. They have advanced neither symbols nor even comprehensible concepts for what this supposed monster piece of legislation is really about. As a consequence, it has become all too easy to discredit the bill as an incoherent progressive wishlist from which items can be arbitrarily subtracted. What’s worse, the right has been able to portray the bill as inherently un-American, since it supposedly erects a – God forbid – European-style “cradle-to-grave” nanny state. It might sound counterintuitive, but the Democrats should ground their plans in the very value conservatives love to claim for themselves: freedom.The fact that the bill is so large and combines what is now commonly described as strengthening the social safety net and tackling the climate emergency is not just due to Democrat’s strategic failures: it is partly dictated by the constraints of the reconciliation process. But putting together two seemingly disjointed agendas has also made it easy to portray the legislation as incoherent; it has provided self-described “centrists” (mostly self-centered, rather than offering any principled notion of a “center”) with a politically costless way of calling for cuts to what they characterize as a bloated bill. Similarly, the hefty price tag is a chance for what lazy journalists still keep describing as “moderates” to prove their fiscal rectitude and adherence to a zombie ethos of bipartisan “responsibility”.Jan-Werner Müller teaches politics at Princeton University. His book Democracy Rules was published in July by Allen Lane Continue reading...

Senators voted 50-48 in favour of raising the borrowing limit. Plus, ‘upgrading’ your marriage

Police say investigation remains open as former law enforcement members claim to have identified killerThe case of the Zodiac killer took another twist this week after a team of investigators claimed they had unmasked the man who has fixated the public and amateur sleuths for decades.But the apparent breakthrough was not so clear-cut. Continue reading...

The former president and his chief of staff pressed top department of justice deputies to probe allegations of fraud in the 2020 electionA 394-page Senate report released Thursday offers some of the most alarming details to date of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.For weeks after the November election, Trump and Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, pressed acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and top Department of Justice deputies to probe fanciful allegations of election fraud, according to the report. Continue reading...

Pandemic housing crisis brought new attention to need for eviction protection and affordable housingEver since Faith Plank’s family was evicted from North Fork mobile home park in Morehead, Kentucky in March, the 17-year-old has been balancing school and work to help her mom afford the $825 increase in rent at their new apartment.In late September, the teenager’s packed schedule grew to include another pressure-filled event: she chaired a meeting with the White House about pandemic evictions as part of a tenant delegation in Washington. Continue reading...

A new Netflix series explores one man’s twin addictions to racing and drug trafficking. And how his double life eventually caught up to himHere it was, the escape hatch that never fails to present itself in crime films: a chance to get away with it, an opportunity to go legit. Except when this all-too-real turning point arrived 37 years ago, Randy Lanier was deep into an unlikely double life as an endurance car racer and marijuana smuggler – and was convinced the feds were closing in on him. But to his great relief, the suspicious-looking suits who had been shadowing him at the track late in the 1984 IMSA endurance racing season weren’t FBI agents; they were representatives from Ford. And once they finally approached Lanier, he couldn’t believe what they were offering: a sit-down in Detroit to discuss him joining their factory team. In essence, it meant he wouldn’t have to smuggle weed to keep Blue Thunder – his racing team – punching well above its weight, and KO’ing some of the biggest dogs in the sport.But did Lanier take the meeting? “My mind was already made up,” Lanier says. “I wanted to keep Blue Thunder together. That’s what friends do.” Continue reading...

In Memphis on Saturday, the best US men’s and women’s rugby players will kick-off a pro competition for the shortened gameMidway through our conversation, Perry Baker greets a friend not seen in a while. The other party to the post-pandemic reunion is Tai Enosa, another US Eagle who Baker will face on the field on Saturday.Fourteen US Olympians, men and women, will play in the first event staged by Premier Rugby Sevens, the first games kicking off at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee at 9am local time, the day capped with televised finals in the early evening. Continue reading...

Agreement would extend US borrowing authority into December but larger disputes remainThe US Senate has approved a deal to extend the government’s borrowing authority into December. The compromise between Republican and Democratic leaders would temporarily avert an unprecedented federal default that experts say would have devastated the economy.With a 50-48 vote, senators agreed to increase the borrowing limit by $480bn, sufficient to prevent the US government from defaulting by keeping debt payments up until 3 December. Continue reading...

Attack class submarine USS Connecticut hit an unknown object on routine operations and is in a ‘safe and stable’ condition, US navy saysA nuclear powered US navy attack submarine has struck an object while submerged in international waters in the South China Sea, officials have said.Eleven sailors were hurt – two suffered moderate injuries and the rest had minor scrapes and bruises, officials said. All were treated on the sub. Continue reading...

President to expand sites shrunk under Trump, in win for environmental advocates and Indigenous leadersJoe Biden will expand two sprawling national monuments in Utah that were downsized significantly under Donald Trump, the state’s governor said on Thursday.The move marks a victory for environmental advocates and indigenous leaders who had fought for years to restore protections for the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments. Continue reading...

Investigators seek documents and testimony from Trump allies and organization that backed rallyThe House select committee investigating the Capitol attack on Thursday issued new subpoenas to allies of Donald Trump as well as the organization affiliated with the “Stop the Steal” rally that deteriorated into the 6 January insurrection.The third tranche of subpoenas reflects the select committee’s overarching focus on the extent of Trump White House involvement in planning the Capitol attack, as they target entities connected to top executive branch officials and members of Congress. Continue reading...

Exclusive: the British boxer on his third fight with Deontay Wilder and why speaking out on mental health was one of his finest achievementsIt’s all smiles in dressing room four in the bowels of the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where Tyson Fury is only days away from defending his WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder. It’s a scene that would have been unthinkable a few years ago, when Fury’s career appeared over after he left the sport for more than two years amid public battles with addiction and mental illness.“I’m not overconfident,” Fury says. “I’m not going in there thinking I’m just going to knock this guy out. I’ve prepared hard, I’ve prepared well. No injuries. So I’m giving Wilder the respect he needs and deserves for this fight.” Continue reading...

Bizarre request made ahead of immigration hearing for Manning, whose previous attempts to enter Canada have been deniedCanadian government lawyers recently invited US whistleblower Chelsea Manning to travel to a hearing in Montreal – so that border agents could then physically remove her from the country.The bizarre request, which was eventually denied by an adjudicator, was made ahead of an immigration hearing set to begin on Thursday for Manning, whose previous attempts to enter Canada have been denied.This article was amended on 7 October 2021 to correct a city name that was misspelled. Continue reading...

Reproductive rights groups and Democrats welcome federal judge’s decision but warn its impact could be temporaryTexas’s near-total abortion ban has been temporarily blocked after a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that it violated the constitutional right to an abortion. Reproductive rights groups and Democrats have welcomed the decision, while warning its impact could be temporary.“From the moment SB 8 went into effect, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the constitution,” Judge Robert Pitman wrote as part of a 113-page opinion, granting an emergency request from the justice department. Continue reading...

Tyson Fury labelled Deontay Wilder “weak” before a blazing argument erupted between the heavyweights at their final pre-fight press conference, leading to the traditional staredown being scrapped.Fury defends his WBC title on Saturday against a fighter he defeated to become champion, and it was the outcome of that bout 20 months ago – and Wilder’s unfounded allegations of cheating – that was the catalyst for a heated row.

Arizona officials looked under the hood and found no evidence of wrongdoing. But some people will never accept the resultHello, and happy Thursday,Back in May, I spent some time with a small group of people who had gathered outside of Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix to express their support for the investigation into the election results in Maricopa county, the largest county in Arizona. Continue reading...

Extraordinary demands on troops from Covid and militarization at the southern border were cited in mistakes that led to the disasterAn investigation by the US marine corps found that pandemic burnout and intensive troop commitments played a central role in the drowning of nine US service members last July during a pre-deployment training session off the California coast.The report, released Wednesday, investigated the formation of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and scrutinized the various demands placed on commanders, staff, and troops before the sinking of a 26-ton amphibious assault vehicle. Continue reading...

Efforts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Texas to review last year’s results are ‘delegitimizing democracy’, critics sayRepublicans in several states are advancing partisan reviews of the 2020 election results, underscoring how deeply the GOP has embraced the myth of a stolen election since 2020.The investigations in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Texas are advancing even after an extensive similar effort in Arizona, championed by Donald Trump and allies, failed to produce evidence of fraud. All three inquiries come as Trump has called out top Republicans in each state and pressured them to review the 2020 race. He is also backing several candidates who have embraced the myth in their races for statewide offices in which they would oversee elections. Continue reading...