Europe took a three-point lead after a dramatic and controversial first day12.18am BSTHere is Ewan Murray’s report.Related: Controversy over Nelly Korda’s ball mars opening of Solheim Cup11.39pm BSTHonours even in the afternoon, which seems about right on balance, though the rules furore regarding the Overhanging Ball of Doom and Madelene Sagstrom’s quickfire concession will most likely dominate the column inches. But what a first day. Anna Nordqvist, Georgia Hall, Leona Maguire and Matilda Castren were Europe’s pick, while the USA will be thankful to the never-say-die brilliance of Lizette Salas and Jennifer Kupcho. It’s all set up for a super Sunday! Hope you’ll enjoy it with us. Thanks for reading this blog, and see you tomorrow!1UP N Korda/Ewing v Koerstz Madsen/Sagstrom

Transport secretary says ‘Chasten and I are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg to our family’Pete Buttigieg and his husband have announced the birth of adopted twins.Related: Trump reportedly nears DC hotel rights sale as ally says ‘I think he’s gonna run’ Continue reading...

Congressman Markwayne Mullin, criticized for rogue rescue effort, says he would do it again ‘without hesitation’The Oklahoma Republican congressman Markwayne Mullin has said he has no regrets about trying to enter Afghanistan on a rescue mission last month, saying that though he is “not Rambo” he would make such an attempt again “without even hesitation”.Related: Afghanistan: militia endure ‘heavy assaults’ from Taliban in Panjshir Valley Continue reading...

The Theranos saga is depressing, but there is one silver lining: the preoccupation with the #girlboss is dead, and Holmes helped kill itA brown man made her do it! Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of blood-testing startup Theranos, was once seen as a maverick thinker and a fearless feminist icon. Now that she is standing trial for fraud, however, she’s set to argue that she bears no responsibility for her actions: she was completely under the control of her ex-boyfriend and former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani. According to court filings, Holmes’s lawyers will argue that Balwani, who was almost 20 years older than Holmes, emotionally and sexually abused her. Holmes’s lawyers write in the court filings that she was the victim of a “pattern of abuse and coercive control” that essentially “erased her capacity to make decisions”. Continue reading...

After an emotional discussion, we decided it’s too risky to spend more summers there. I feel the loss viscerally, like Eve being cast out of EdenIt’s not the Ritz-Carlton. The remote cabin my family has rented in South Lake Tahoe for the past 10 years is small, buggy, mouse-infested and surrounded by dirt. There’s no turndown service – there’s not even cellphone or internet service. Amenities include a river, beavers that emerge at sundown and an overwhelming sense of peace.Now our little piece of paradise is threatened by the massive Caldor fire as the entire Tahoe region becomes the latest flashpoint in the global climate crisis. Years of drought and rising temperatures have created California’s worst fire season on record. The images are horrific: giant walls of flames descending mountain sides. Orange skies. Homes scorched to ash. The entire town of South Lake Tahoe, which includes 22,000 year-round residents and many more summer visitors, has been evacuated. Continue reading...

Nine Guardian readers share their thoughts on the ruling that bans most abortions – and what it means for reproductive rightsThe US supreme court voted 5-4 to allow a Texas law banning most abortions to remain in force. The law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before most women know they’re pregnant.Nine people share their reaction to the ruling and what they think it means for women’s rights. Continue reading...

Why has the effective end of Roe v Wade been met with shock by so many corners of political life?This was predictable. In fact, it was predicted. The end of Roe v Wade and nationwide protections for abortion rights became likely in 2016, the night that Donald Trump was elected. It became inevitable in 2018, when Anthony Kennedy, the fifth pro-choice vote, retired and handed his seat to Trump to fill. But the end of nationwide legal abortion in America has been coming for decades, and there has been no ambiguity about the appetite for Roe’s overturn on the American right. And crucially, feminists have been sounding the alarm for decades, warning in increasingly desperate terms that gradual erosions of Roe’s protections in the law had led to a rapid and widespread loss of abortion access on the ground.Related: Republicans seethe with violence and lies. Texas is part of a bigger war they’re waging | Rebecca Solnit Continue reading...

As Canada prepare to take on the US in a vital qualifier this weekend, their English coach believes his team can reach QatarIn the thick of a national election that nobody asked for, John Herdman appears to be the only Canadian leader harnessing the power of youth.Prime minister Justin Trudeau’s gamble in calling a pandemic-weary nation to the polls for a snap referendum on his leadership could backfire spectacularly as Canadian voters’ sigh a collective “could we just…not?” Young voters seem as uninspired by six years of Trudeau’s ‘sunny ways’ as they are by the alternatives. Overpromising and underdelivering has never been the best way of bringing youth into politics. Continue reading...

That your life becomes entirely about your kids once you have them is not proof that’s how life should beI am of an age when most of my social group is in their late 30s and early 40s, and, as has always been the case, the majority of my friends are women. So I find myself increasingly having this conversation – usually with a friend, but sometimes with a nice woman I bond with at a party or somesuch – and it goes like this: she always assumed she would have kids, but she didn’t meet the right partner in her 30s, and actually it was fine because she was so busy with her career, and who can afford kids anyway? But now she’s 40 and while she’s not desperate to have kids, she’s also not that keen on losing the option. It kinda sucks being the only one among her friends without kids, when the WhatsApps are full of Hey Duggee chat, and what will happen to her when she’s old? Will she be all alone? So should she have a baby now? I look her right in the eyes and I tell her what I always tell women in these circumstances: don’t bother.I need to clarify two things here. First, this is in no way a reflection of my feelings about my own children, whom I genuinely cannot imagine my life without, even though I lived for almost 40 years without them. That your life becomes entirely about your kids once you have them is not proof that’s how life should be – it’s a reflection of what kids are like. It’s strange how often people confuse the cause and effect here. I can only assume it’s done mainly by parents who are trying to reassure themselves that they definitely made the right life choices when they realise that, for the next eight years, their weekends will no longer be about seeing their friends, but consist entirely and only of shepherding their kids to playdates and making awkward small chat with random people who just happened to have had kids around the same time as you. Continue reading...

Climate of fear descends on state for clinic workers, patients and others after the supreme court’s conservative majority decision on WednesdayAnti-abortion bounty hunters began calling Amy Hagstrom Miller’s chain of four independent abortion clinics in Texas just hours after the supreme court issued a two-paragraph order that effectively ended access to 85% of abortion services in the state.Related: After the Texas abortion ban, clinics in nearby states brace for demand Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers, many immigrants or people of color, live in basements vulnerable to extreme weatherMost people killed in New York City in a record-breaking storm this week lived in basement apartments. Walls of water crashed into their homes, trapping them inside and blocking efforts to help.Related: ‘People did extraordinary things’: Ida rescuers lauded for heroic efforts Continue reading...

After a hellish month, the president wants to focus on domestic matters – but Republicans won’t let Afghanistan drop from the radarOnce again Joe Biden found himself talking about nation-building, the fragility of democracy and the threat that religious extremists pose to women’s rights.But the president’s interventions on Thursday were focused on America, not Afghanistan, as domestic events gave him an unexpected assist in his effort to turn the page on the ignominious retreat from Kabul. Continue reading...

The outcome of the state’s upcoming election could be decided by voters who are exhausted over the prospect of choosing a candidateWith California’s gubernatorial recall election just a week away, the most populous US state is poised for a potential political upheaval.But just a 45-minute drive south of the governor’s office in Sacramento, at a quiet coffee shop in downtown Stockton, Mike Sicari and Esther Taylor had gathered over a game of chess and tried to mostly put politics out of mind. Continue reading...

Hurricane hit heavily industrialized region hard shortly after it was revealed a nearby steel plant pumped sulphur gas in atmosphere for six yearsAs Myrtle Felton’s roof took flight from her home, with Hurricane Ida pounding the walls, she thought about the steel plant next door.Related: ‘I feel abandoned’: New Orleanians swelter through days without power Continue reading...

• Order responds to call by victims’ families suing Riyadh• Full record to be released over six months after reviewJoe Biden has announced the wholesale review and declassification of files from the investigation into the 9/11 attack, in response to intense pressure from Congress and victims’ families currently suing Saudi Arabia.Related: ‘A horn blew when human remains were found’: Wim Wenders’ six hours in the hell of Ground Zero Continue reading...

Actor and activist says her experiences made her realise importance of children’s rightsAngelina Jolie has told the Guardian she feared for the safety of her family during her marriage to Brad Pitt and criticised the US government for not doing more to protect the rights of minors.In an interview with Weekend magazine, the actor and activist said her experiences in her relationship with Pitt made her realise the importance of children’s rights, which she is supporting with a new book, Know Your Rights. Continue reading...

Jacob Chansley, of Phoenix, Arizona, pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding when he took part in insurrectionThe man who was photographed inside the US Capitol during the 6 January insurrection shirtless, wearing a horned headdress and furs, and heavily tattooed, pleaded guilty on Friday to obstructing an official proceeding when he took part in the assault by extremist supporters of then president Donald Trump.Related: Capitol riot inquiry to investigate whether Trump’s White House was involved in attack Continue reading...

• August’s 5,721 deaths were highest since start of pandemic• Governor wants to ban mask mandates in schoolsThe battle over mask requirements in Florida schools is headed for a new legal phase following an appeal by the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, of a judge’s ruling that a blanket ban on mask mandates exceeds the state’s authority.The case heads next to the 15 judges on the 1st district court of appeal in the state capital, Tallahassee. Continue reading...

The young British player has raced to the third round in New York but faces a formidable opponent in the world No 41Emma Raducanu was in the process of tearing through yet another higher ranked opponent on Thursday, establishing a 6-2, 4-0 lead against Zhang Shuai in the second round of the US Open, when the experienced Chinese player began to pull her back down to earth. As Zhang landed blows and harassed the Raducanu forehand, the rallies lengthened and the intensity became more pronounced.It was at Wimbledon two months ago that the match intensity against another top-100 player, Ajla Tomljanovic, proved too much for Raducanu, leading to her retirement from their fourth round match due to breathing problems. But here she adjusted well and closed off the match 6-2, 6-4, clinching match point by winning the final attritional exchange. Continue reading...

McCarrick is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14Former Roman Catholic cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-powerful American prelate who was expelled from the priesthood for sexual abuse, pleaded not guilty Friday to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts nearly 50 years ago.McCarrick, 91, wore a mask against the spread of Covid-19 and entered suburban Boston’s Dedham district court hunched over a walker. Continue reading...

It was a fascinating day in Tokyo, where Great Britain became the first country in history to win medals in 16 sports at one Paralympics2.33pm BSTIt has been another great day in Tokyo. Thanks for your company. We will be back tomorrow for what could be a very big day – perhaps even a Super Saturday – for ParalympicsGB.Hannah Cockroft defends her 800m title and Kadeena Cox, Aled Davies and Libby Clegg will also be hoping to win medals. It could be a busy day for Amy Truesdale in the taekwondo. See you tomorrow2.27pm BSTWheelchair tennis: Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett won a silver medal for Great Britain earlier today, but they were devastated not to go one better. Here’s our full report:Related: Heartbreak for ParalympicsGB’s Hewett and Reid as France win gold in thriller Continue reading...

The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, made an earnest retort to a journalist questioning Joe Biden's support for abortion. The US president condemned the supreme court decision not to consider a Texas law that in effect bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.'It's a woman's body and it's her choice. I know you've never faced those choices, nor have you ever been pregnant,' said Psaki adding that the president believed a woman's choices should be respected

Heavy rain, flooding and tornadoes swept through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland, bringing death and destruction

Bishop Sycamore’s appearance on television – and actual existence – has come under scrutiny. It also raises questions about the rise of high school sportsBack when I was a speedy but numb-footed backup striker on the St Ignatius varsity team, media exposure meant the Chicago Tribune occasionally printing our score in their sports pages – major ink for a striving school team in the late 90s. It wasn’t until I left the big city for the hinterlands of Missouri that I got hip to the far loftier pretensions of high school sports across much of the rest of America.The first time I was dispatched to cover a high school basketball game, with a request from my University of Missouri sports editor to interview the top scorer, it took everything in me to hold back from replying: “About what? His favorite color Gatorade?” As a naïf reporter, I marveled at how the newsroom fax machine was often jammed with results not from the NFL or the NBA but high schools. It was much the same when I joined Sports Illustrated and saw the reams of submissions to Faces in the Crowd, a section dedicated to the achievements of everyday sports people – the bulk of them under 18. And with every magazine story, Netflix doc or prospect guide that describes a high school athlete like a luxury commodity rather than a teenager it seems the line separating the amateurs from the pros goes from barely noticed to completely missed. Continue reading...

Texas is the result of a decades-long effort to undermine the women’s equality movement in the name of saving the US from God’s judgmentThanks to the supreme court’s refusal to act on a new Texas law, American evangelicals are now one step closer to achieving a goal they have pursued for generations: the end of legal abortion in the United States. They believe that stopping abortion is central to keeping the United States a holy and righteous nation, staving off the judgments of God, and surviving the coming apocalypse.Abortion has not always been controversial among American Protestants. Since colonial times, most Protestants in the United States saw abortion as a legitimate form of birth control. They did not make a clear distinction between terminating a pregnancy and preventing one. Those who believed that contraception was an appropriate practice often had few qualms about abortion when the procedure was performed before “quickening” (the time when a woman begins to feel the fetus move). Continue reading...

This extremist vigilante abortion law is of a piece with everything else Republicans are doing: overturning democracy itselfThe American right has been drunk on its freedom from two kinds of inhibition since Donald Trump appeared to guide them into the promised land of their unleashed ids. One is the inhibition from lies, the other from violence. Both are ways members of civil society normally limit their own actions out of respect for the rights of others and the collective good. Those already strained limits have snapped for leading Republican figures, from Tucker Carlson on Fox News to Ted Cruz in the Senate and for their followers. We’ve watched those followers gulp down delusions from Pizzagate to Qanon to covid-denialism to Trump’s election lies. And rough up journalists, crash vehicles into and wave weapons at Black Lives Matter and other antiracist protestors at least since Charlottesville, menace statehouses, issue threats to doctors and school boards testifying about public health, and plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, for imposing Covid-prevention protocols.The Texas abortion law that the rightwing supreme court just smiled upon, despite its violation of precedent, seethes with both violence and lies. The very language of the law is a lie, a familiar one in which six-week embryos are called fetuses and a heartbeat is attributed to the cluster of cells that is not yet a heart not yet powering a circulatory system. Behind it are other lies, in which women have abortions because they are reckless, wanton, and callous, rather than, in the great number of cases, because of the failure of birth control, or coercive sex, or medical problems, including threats to the health of the mother or a non-viable pregnancy, and financial problems, including responsibility for existing children. Continue reading...

Without gerrymandering, Cawthorn would just be another loudmouth Twitter troll. With it, he’s issuing a blood-soaked call to armsThe congressman from North Carolina brandished a gun as he addressed a Macon county Republican event last weekend. “We all need to be storing up some ammunition,” Madison Cawthorn warned the crowd, as he embraced the big lie about the 2020 presidential race and insisted that “we all know it was a stolen election”.Related: The Guardian view on the Texas abortion ban: this is not the end | Editorial Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of firefighters are working across the US west – but extreme conditions are making wildfires exponentially worseBefore the ravenous Caldor fire laid siege to South Lake Tahoe, California’s top firefighting priority lay just to the north, where the Dixie fire scorched more land than any other single fire in state history. Together, the two behemoths have already blackened more than 1m acres (4,000 sq km) along the Sierra Nevada range. And fire season in the American west is just heating up.The climate crisis has helped create extreme fire emergencies, with huge, rapid-moving blazes tearing through a hot, parched landscape at lightning speed. Fires have hopped granite summits firefighters had hoped would slow their spread. Blazes have displayed erratic burn behavior, making their movements hard to predict. Continue reading...

John Shoop was a veteran of NFL and college coaching rooms. But when he started to question the status quo he found himself out in the coldEvery evening, in the dying twilight, a football coach without a team to call his own yanks on his boots and heads to the stable.He shovels Chief and Traveler’s manure, changes their water and restocks their hay. He brushes the horses’ hair. He takes deep breaths, and he sits, and he tries to reconcile his activism with all it has cost him. He is not grooming the horses. The horses are grooming him. Continue reading...

Workers are often given no safety equipment and no training for dangerous jobs, but a new law would provide protectionsFor years, nonunion labor brokers in the New York City construction industry have targeted workers who have recently been released from prison and are under parole supervision or other court surveillance programs, in a move that many say ensures low wages and poses a serious safety risk for employees.Known as “body shops”, these labor brokers hire and pay workers to perform work for third party companies, profiting by taking a cut of the wages paid by the company. The labor brokers end up competing in a race to drive down labor costs through wage suppression and cutting corners on training and safety. Continue reading...

The reforms at the Spring Creek prison show what can be done when people are treated humanely and prepared for life on the outsideHaving spent two and a half years in prison by the time I was 26, I never thought I’d be invited to Alaska’s only maximum-security prison 10 years later. But on 20 September 2019, I received a phone call from Spring Creek correctional center that would change my perspective forever.My path brought me from experiencing trauma, addiction and federal incarceration to attaining sobriety, graduating from law school and interning in the Obama White House. Now I work on criminal legal system reforms at the state and national levels. Continue reading...

While individual countries try to do what they can for those caught up in the mayhem, international pressure is lackingWhen Beheshta Arghand questioned a Taliban spokesman live on Afghan television two weeks ago, the very fact that he was prepared to answer a woman led to hopes that the Islamist group had changed. Within a week, we now learn, the young journalist had left Afghanistan.She is not alone. Despite Taliban promises to protect the rights of women to go to school and work, few on the ground appear to believe them. Even as their spokesman spoke of respect for human rights, the Taliban had already taken two female state broadcasters off air and attacked and beaten many journalists. Continue reading...

Military adventurism has long appealed to western politicians – even those who say they will not meddle in others’ affairsJoe Biden declares an end to “an era of major military operations to remake other countries”. A president’s job, he says, is to protect and defend the “fundamental national security interest of the United States of America”. That does not include trying to construct new nations in foreign states.Quite so. But Biden isn’t the first president to make such claims. Each of his recent predecessors won power as non-interventionists, but tried to hold on to it by waging war. Bill Clinton said America’s mission abroad was “not about fighting a war”, it was about bringing people to the peace table. He ended up bombing Iraq and Yugoslavia. At first, George Bush agreed with Clinton’s sentiment. On coming to office, Bush’s aide, Condoleezza Rice, emphasised his opposition to foreign adventures. “We don’t need to have the 82nd Airborne escorting kids to kindergarten,” she told the media. Yet the Bush doctrine had soon proclaimed an American crusade for “the expansion of freedom in all the world … with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny”. Continue reading...

Biden administration’s options are limited and filibuster poses roadblock to federal legislationJoe Biden and top Democrats are scrambling for a strategy to counter Republican restrictions on women’s reproductive rights amid the fallout from a Texas statute that has banned abortions in the state from as early as six weeks into pregnancy – but the options available to the administration are thin.The conservative-dominated supreme court in a night-time ruling refused an emergency request to block the Texas law from taking effect, in a decision that amounted to a crushing defeat for reproductive rights and threatened major ramifications in other states nationwide. Continue reading...