Two-thirds of US workers will be required to get vaccinated. Plus: Muslim Americans on the toll of 9/11Good morning.Two-thirds of American workers will be required to get vaccinated against Covid-19 under fresh mandates announced by Joe Biden on Thursday. Continue reading...

The legal carte blanche signed days after the 2001 attacks is still used to authorise military action – just one way US society has been shaped, or corroded, by its backlash to terrorOver the past few weeks, the Biden administration has launched drone strikes against suspected terrorist targets in Somalia and Afghanistan, based on congressional authority dating to September 2001. This week, five terror suspects have been in court for pre-trial hearings now entering their ninth year in Guantánamo Bay, which opened its prison gates in January 2002.The aftershocks of 9/11 are everywhere. The families of the nearly 3,000 victims are still struggling with the justice department to lift the secrecy over the FBI investigation into the attacks and the possible complicity of Saudi officials. Last week they asked the department’s inspector general to look into FBI claims to have lost critical evidence, including pictures and video footage. Continue reading...

Mark Cuban has spent years sparring with opponents, both imagined and real. But he has been strangely quiet on a new ruling in TexasAs a Texas law that amounts to a near-total ban on abortion continues to make shockwaves around the world, another measure in the state goes largely unnoticed. Effective as of last Wednesday, it requires any Texas professional sports team that receives state funding to play the national anthem during games. That measure, which began life in February with bipartisan support, has been dubbed the Star Spangled Banner Protection Act. But basketball fans may soon come to know it by another name – the Mark Cuban Rule.In November 2020 the Dallas Mavericks owner quietly made the decision to stop playing the anthem before his team’s home games in solidarity with the player-led social justice movement. And for the better part of four months, no one noticed until the Athletic’s Tim Cato brought it up. Right-wingers were incredulous. Continue reading...

Ultimate and disc golf emerged from the pandemic stronger than ever. Now they are looking to move into TV and gamesWatch for flying discs.No, not on a college quad. On your TV. In a Major League Soccer stadium. On your gaming console. Amid your options for gambling. Maybe even in the Olympics one day. Continue reading...

The case of the self-promoting Theranos chief charged with fraud is a thrilling US drama tinged with schadenfreudeThe end point of unbridled self-belief went on trial in San Jose in California this week, as Elizabeth Holmes – founder of defunct health tech company Theranos, and former world’s “youngest self-made billionaire” – appeared in court accused of fraud.After dropping out of Stanford at the age of 19, Holmes built a company that was valued, at its height, at $9bn (£6.5bn), and appeared on the cover of every news magazine in the land. On Wednesday, she sat with her legal team as an assistant US attorney accused her of being a liar and a cheat. It was a thrilling end to the kind of American drama that makes the non-billionaires among us feel good. Continue reading...

US president Joe Biden has announced new vaccination mandates for 100 million workers as he looks to stop the surge of Covid-19 across the country. Biden said said the Department of Labor is developing an emergency temporary standard that will require all employers with more than 100 employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly. 'Many of us are frustrated with the nearly 80 million Americans who are still not vaccinated even though the vaccine is safe, effective and free'.

We should have engaged with the Taliban 20 years ago, but we thought the winner takes all. It undermined our own armed forces

In the years that followed the terrorist attacks, Muslim Americans faced intense suspicion and discrimination. Here, Kausam Salam, Zainab Johnson, Sabiha Hussain, Mehdi Hasan and Jaime 'Mujahid' Fletcher reflect on the events of that day – and how stereotypes, disinformation and the 'war on terror' changed their everyday lives Continue reading...

Muslim Americans in the arts, politics, healthcare, education and media reflect on the past 20 yearsTwenty years ago, 19 men flew commercial planes into New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon in Washington DC. A total of 2,977 people died and several thousand others were injured. The world watched as the United States was attacked on its own soil by hijackers with the singular mission of ending human life.

The last time the teenagers met they were playing in the second round of the Wimbledon girls’ singles. On Saturday they will play for the US Open titleThere’s unexpected and there’s this: a US Open final between two teenagers ranked 73rd and 150th in the world.That’s where things stand after Thursday’s extraordinary women’s semi-final twin bill at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the latest shocking development at the season-ending grand slam which, despite the absence of some of the sport’s brightest stars, continues to unfold in the most unpredictable of ways. Continue reading...

For two decades, we have been saddled with a double image in service of the ‘war on terror’. No other version of Islam seems legible to the publicOn 17 September 2001, days after horrific terrorist attacks had hit the nation, George W Bush paid a well-publicized visit to the Islamic Center of Washington. At the time, vigilante violence was raining hard on Muslims and Sikhs around the country, with hate crimes already numbering in the hundreds. These included brutal physical assaults, several mosque burnings and at least two murders.Bush came to the Washington mosque, it has often been reported, to stem the spread of such hate, and over the years Bush’s visit has been repeatedly invoked with near mystical reverence. In 2002, the New York Times called the visit “another anniversary worth honoring”. In 2016, Foreign Policy magazine labeled it “a show of leadership and support for tolerance”. In 2020, a former aide in Bush’s White House, writing on NBCNews.com, described it as a moment of “solidarity with Muslim Americans”. Continue reading...

LA Unified becomes by far the largest school district with a vaccine mandateThe Los Angeles school district will require students 12 and older to be vaccinated against the coronavirus if they attend in-person classes in the nation’s second-largest school district.Related: Covid cases among children are surging in the US as students head back to school Continue reading...

The US attorney general has announced that the Biden administration is suing Texas over the state’s 'clearly unconstitutional' abortion law, which amounts to a near-total ban on abortion. Senate Bill 8 bans abortion around six weeks after a pregnancy starts, and is enforced by private citizens being invited to report any woman seeking an abortion after this time, with a prize of $10,000 (£72,000) for each report.Merrick Garland said the law that came into effect at the beginning of September was one 'all Americans should fear' because it opened the possibility for other constitutional rights to be put in danger by 'bounty hunting' private citizens

A hot, dry landscape combined with strong winds and no rain increase the risk of new ignitions in a region already battling flamesOminous weather is again threatening areas of California as dozens of fires continue to burn, with hot, dry conditions and forecasted thunderstorms prompting officials to issue warnings through parts of the state’s north-west.Higher risks of new ignitions remain through Friday, with the possibility of dry lighting and gusty winds further complicating the containment efforts of thousands of firefighters who have battled large blazes for weeks. Continue reading...

State would be first in US to ban practice, allowing victims to sue perpetratorsCalifornia is expected to outlaw “stealthing”, becoming the first state to make it illegal to remove a condom without verbal consent during sex.Legislators have sent a bill to the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, that would add the act to California’s civil definition of sexual battery. The bill would amend the civil code, allowing victims to sue perpetrators for damages, but would not change the criminal code to make it a crime that would send perpetrators to jail. Continue reading...

John Ramirez, who said state was violating his religious freedom, granted stay of execution after supreme court interventionA Texas death row inmate won a reprieve from execution after claiming the state was violating his religious freedom by not letting his pastor lay hands on him at the time of his lethal injection.Related: ‘It’s part of my faith’: Death row inmate calls for pastor to lay hands on him during execution Continue reading...

Grisham, also a former top aide to Melania Trump, to publish memoir containing ‘surprising new scandals’ in OctoberThe former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, also a former top aide to former first lady Melania Trump, will release a memoir in October.Related: ‘Bring it’: Liz Cheney throws down gauntlet after Trump endorses primary challenger Continue reading...

The man who shattered Djokovic’s Olympic dream could stop him winning a calendar-year grand slam at the US Open, tooTwo more matches. Six more sets. Those are the only remaining obstacles separating Novak Djokovic from becoming the first male player to win the calendar-year grand slam since Rod Laver in 1969 while also winning his 21st grand slam title, breaking his tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. But as he rounds on his final hurdles, standing before him are the most difficult tasks to come. On Friday he will face the surging Alexander Zverev in the semi-final, and if he wins possibly Daniil Medvedev, the second seed, in the final.Over the course of the summer, Zverev, the fourth seed, has come to represent the biggest source of friction in Djokovic’s historic season. Just over a month ago, the Serb was seemingly powering towards his elusive Olympic gold medal and he led Zverev 6-1, 3-2 in the semi-final with a break of serve. But then, in a flash, it was gone. He lost 10 of the next 11 games and after starting the match with a 22-match winning streak, he lost three matches, two each in singles and one in mixed doubles, within 24 hours, as well as pulling out of the mixed doubles bronze-medal match. He left Tokyo exhausted. “I played great, great tennis. Then unfortunately [my] game fell apart. It happens,” he said on Wednesday about the loss against Zverev, after his four-set win over Matteo Berrettini. Continue reading...

• David Chipman is 25-year veteran of federal firearms agency• NRA hails withdrawal of nomination as ‘critical win’Joe Biden said in a Thursday afternoon statement that he was no longer proposing David Chipman, a 25-year veteran of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) who has worked to tighten gun laws, as the agency’s next director, confirming an earlier Washington Post report.The gun reform group Brady says Biden’s decision to bow to National Rifle Association (NRA) pressure and withdraw his nominee, a strong gun control advocate, to lead the agency enforcing federal firearms laws is “a shameful day for our country”. Continue reading...

Republican congresswoman signals she is ready for a fight after former president endorses rival Harriet HagemanRepublican congresswoman Liz Cheney had a short answer for Donald Trump on Thursday, after the former US president endorsed a challenger for her seat in Wyoming.Related: Republicans in crosshairs of 6 January panel begin campaign of intimidation Continue reading...

Until cases dip to 10,000 a day, we are still in full ‘pandemic mode’, infectious disease expert saysThe US has far too many cases of the coronavirus to see an end to the pandemic, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Axios in an interview published on Thursday.“The endgame is to suppress the virus,” Fauci said. “Right now, we’re still in pandemic mode, because we have 160,000 new infections a day.” Continue reading...

Let’s hope Richmond makes its removal more than an empty gestureWhen they lifted the enormous statue of the Confederate general Robert E Lee from his pedestal and set him on the ground in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday, it was symbolically huge to me. On high, he was undeservedly venerated.And for years of walking under him on Monument Avenue, going about my day, I always felt the city was in an embarrassing time warp, unable to completely shake its status as the former capital of the Confederacy. Continue reading...

The US Open semi-finalists are finding success in a predominantly white sport while also representing the make-up of their countryA few months ago, Leylah Annie Fernandez was far from a household name in Canada. But after a series of stunning performances at the US Open, she is the toast of the town – french toast with extra maple syrup, to be precise.The 19-year-old from Quebec celebrated her birthday just days ago and she joins her fellow Montrealer, 21-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime, in the semi-finals of the US Open. The pair play the men’s and women’s world No 2s in their respective semi-finals: Auger-Aliassime against Daniil Medvedev on Friday night while Fernandez faces Aryna Sabalenka under the Arthur Ashe lights on Thursday. Continue reading...

Minnesota attorney says he won’t pursue cases in aim to reduce ‘unnecessary’ encounters between police and people of color that can turn fatalA Minnesota prosecutor who filed manslaughter charges against a police officer who shot and killed the black motorist Philando Castile in a 2016 stop for a broken tail light says he will no longer pursue cases involving minor traffic infractions.The aim, according to the Ramsey county attorney John Choi, is to reduce the number of “unnecessary” encounters between police and people of color that can, as in Castile’s confrontation with officer Jeronimo Yanez, turn fatal. Continue reading...

An erratic start in the journey towards Qatar 2022 leaves room for improvement for manager Gregg Berhalter and his talented but inexperienced squadIn isolation, Wednesday night’s 4-1 away win for the US against Honduras was a brilliant result.

Online casino business signals intention to keep bookmaker’s shops as part of a foray into bricks and mortarThe online casino company 888 Holdings has confirmed its £2.2bn purchase of William Hill International and signalled its intent to keep the bookmaker’s 1,400 shops as part of a foray into bricks-and-mortar betting.William Hill has been owned by the Las Vegas casino company Caesars since last year, when shareholders accepted a $3.7bn (£2.7bn) takeover bid, but the American firm was open about its lack of interest in the British company’s 87-year-old brand, its high-street bookmaking shops and its non-US online operations. Continue reading...

Demographic shifts in places like Fort Bend mean the GOP is desperate to pass its extreme agenda while it canHappy Thursday, Continue reading...

As state police reel from the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, an AP investigation reveals it is part of a pattern of violence

White House confirms that 11 Trump appointees were asked to step down – or be fired – including Conway and SpicerThe Biden administration has removed 18 Trump appointees to military service academy boards, among them the former press secretary Sean Spicer and adviser Kellyanne Conway.The White House said on Wednesday that the 18 people were asked to step down by 6pm on Wednesday or be fired, prompting deep upset among the Trump appointees. Continue reading...

Many registered nurses see vaccination as their ‘moral responsibility’ and want everyone else to get theirs tooCharlaine was skeptical of the vaccines at first. She wondered how they were created so quickly, and she was wary of the long history of medical experimentation and disregard for Black people like her in the United States.But then Charlaine, a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, thought about the disparate health outcomes for people of color in the pandemic – and knew that she might not receive the same level of care as others if she got sick. Continue reading...

New York and other major cities will need to spend billions of dollars fortifying themselves for extreme weather. Even neighborhoods above sea level aren’t safeIn New York City last week, more than three inches of rain fell in one hour, shattering all previous records. Busy streets and highways turned into rivers. The subway was inundated, temporarily shutting down. At least 13 people died, most of them drowning in basement apartments. The devastation brought back chilling memories of Superstorm Sandy, which flooded large swaths of the city 11 years ago.The death and destruction that Hurricane Ida just inflicted on New York is a reminder that the climate crisis isn’t coming. It’s here. There will be more fierce hurricanes and flooding, the kind of weather events that can destabilize a society. Continue reading...

We would like to hear your experiences from the day and how you will be marking the anniversaryAs we approach the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America on September 11, we would like to hear your experiences of where you were when it happened and how you were affected. Wherever you are in the world, we also want to hear how you will be marking twenty years since the day. Continue reading...

I was the sole member of Congress to vote against the war in Afghanistan. Congress has yet to stand up against endless militarismOn 11 September 2001, the world witnessed a terrible attack against our nation that took thousands of lives and changed millions more lives forever. The events of that day fundamentally changed the way we view American national security. But the decision to plunge the US into a state of perpetual war was taken rashly, without the debate that such a momentous decision demanded.Twenty years on, the US and the world are much worse off for this failure of leadership. It is time to turn the page on two decades of endless war with a vague and ever-shifting mission. While this begins with removing the 2001 and 2002 authorizations for use of military force from the law books, it will also require decisive changes in our foreign policy decision processes and resource allocation. Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands of children in the US are testing positive for Covid-19, the highest rate since the start of the pandemic. Plus, Joe Biden asks former Trump associates to step down from advisory roles.• Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.While many parents might be relieved to be sending their children off to school this week, health experts are highlighting a troubling trend: hundreds of thousands of them are testing positive for Covid. Continue reading...

Flood of unvaccinated patients prompts comparisons to New York and Italy early in the pandemicThere was a time earlier this summer when April Rivera and the staff at the drive-through Covid testing site in southern Oregon where she worked had considered closing their doors because demand was so low.Now, hundreds of patients are lining up at the Asante Rogue regional medical center’s testing site in Medford every day, filling the temporary drive-through in a strip mall parking lot. Even the national guard has been called in to help. Some patients are arriving so sick they’ve been taken away in ambulances while still in line.

A humanitarian crisis looms unless Americans and Europeans continue to fund the projects keeping Afghans from oblivionLeaving is the easy bit. It’s the looking back that hurts. There was – as Joe Biden pointed out when announcing America’s defeat at the hands of the Taliban on 31 August – nothing “low-grade or low-risk or low-cost” about a 20-year deployment that cost the United States more than $1tn and thousands of service personnel their lives, their limbs or their peace of mind. But it is disingenuous to claim, as the president also did, that closing the door on Afghanistan will miraculously free the US to deal with more pressing concerns such as China and Russia.A humanitarian crisis looms over the country, caused in part by the abrupt halting of international aid after the Taliban takeover. Even now, despite the US retreat and the announcement by the regime, on Tuesday, of an interim cabinet that gives scant representation to the country’s different ethnic groups and none at all to women or Shias, Afghanistan can’t be forgotten. Its people’s needs, and the country’s capacity to send out ripples of instability, will continue to demand attention. Continue reading...

This week’s roundup also includes Premier League classics, teenage grand slam winners and Curtly Ambrose at his best1) On this day in 1973, Jackie Stewart clinched his third and final Formula One drivers’ title with a spectacular recovery drive at Monza. Stewart retired at the end of the season, with his final grand prix victory coming at the fearsome Nürburgring – here’s a frankly terrifying on-board clip of Stewart racing a lap. Five years later, he took a spin around Brands Hatch, with on-board commentary.2) Leona Maguire was Europe’s star as they upset the USA to win the Solheim Cup this week, her rise having been long telegraphed. Here’s a documentary about Leona and her sister Lisa, then aged 13. And back in the present, her proud father Declan gives his verdict on her stunning victory over Jennifer Kupcho in Toledo. Continue reading...

The blunt-edged, security-oriented approach allows little space to tackle the root causes of violence and find resolution

The NFL kicks off on Thursday. Will Kansas City steamroller the league? Which of the rookies will shine? And who will win MVP?The rookie quarterback. The five first-rounders have already dominated the preseason discourse and that is likely carry over into the regular one. Mac Jones and Justin Fields will both start for playoff-caliber teams, while Kyle Shanahan has plans to get all sorts of funky with the Niners’ use of Trey Lance, utilizing a two-quarterback system. Chuck in Zach Wilson as the Jets’ latest savior and Trevor Lawrence, who just so happens to be the most gifted of the bunch, and it sets up for a historic year. OC Continue reading...

Thomas Kean on conspiracy theories, intelligence sharing and a scarred nation“Tuesday, September 11, 2001, dawned temperate and nearly cloudless in the eastern United States,” begins the 9/11 Commission Report in limpid prose. “Millions of men and women readied themselves for work.”Thomas Kean, however, had spent a rough night with an aching jaw. “I was recovering from a dentist appointment,” he recalls by phone, “and my dentist called to see how I was feeling and he said, ‘Turn on the television. There’s something happening at the World Trade Center.’ So I turned it on and kept it on until the second plane came in.” Continue reading...

As a woman in her 30s worried the pandemic is swallowing the last of my youth, it’s a gift to see middle-aged women thriveIn a now legendary Real Housewives of New York scene, then 49-year-old Luann de Lesseps is hungover and unapologetic. On a girls trip to Turks and Caicos, a wild night of partying has ended with a naked man asleep in the group’s rented villa, much to the dismay of castmate Heather Thompson. “Be cool,” an unbothered de Lesseps tells Thompson, strutting around their lavish accommodation dressed only in a bikini, robe and dark glasses. “Don’t be all like, uncool.”At home in Sydney, I gleefully watched this drama unfold while horizontal on my couch. Ten-odd weeks into another lockdown, there has not been much to do besides inhale episode after episode of reality television. Boredom and cabin fever has been a fixture of my Covid experience, as I’m sure it has for everyone else. But as a woman in her early 30s, I’ve also contended with the bubbling anxiety that the pandemic is swallowing the last of my youth, and with it the final gasps of both possibility and my relevance to society. (Yes, I am prone to dramatics.) Continue reading...