• Novak Djokovic, chasing grand slam, will play a qualifier• Champion Naomi Osaka could face Kerber in third roundAndy Murray may be hoping to build some rhythm and establish a run of matches at the US Open this year, but he will start with one of the toughest first-round draws possible as he faces Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.The pair have never faced each other. Tsitsipas, seeded third and beaten in the French Open final in June by Novak Djokovic, is part of the second tier of tournament favourites, behind the Serb. Continue reading...

• Roger Stone also named in suit by six officers in federal court• Ex-president worked with others to ‘commit acts of … terrorism’Capitol police officers who were attacked and beaten during the insurrection at the US Congress on 6 January by extremist supporters of Donald Trump filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the former Republican president, his ally Roger Stone and members of far-right extremist groups.The officers accused them of intentionally sending a violent mob to disrupt the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 election. Continue reading...

CDC study shows people without the vaccine are 29 times more likely to end up in hospital than those fully vaccinatedThe number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 in the US has risen above 100,000 for the first time since January, when the mass vaccination campaign was just getting under way.Figures from the US Department of Health and Human Services show that 100,317 inpatient hospital beds are now occupied by Covid patients. Continue reading...

• Leading Democratic senator calls for end of ‘disgraceful policy’• Supreme court ruled Biden must revive MPP programDemocratic lawmakers and immigration advocates are pressing Joe Biden to take new steps to end an immigration policy begun by his predecessor, Donald Trump, after the US supreme court ordered that the controversial “Remain in Mexico” program be reinstated.The policy put in place by Trump, forced thousands of asylum seekers to stay in Mexico to await US hearings, instead of being allowed to cross the US-Mexico border and follow their legal process, which can take years to play out, on American soil. Continue reading...

Attorneys who alleged widespread election fraud presented unsubstantiated claims and abused the justice system, judge rulesA federal judge in Michigan has sanctioned a team of nine pro-Trump lawyers, including Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, who sought to overturn the state’s 2020 elections as part of a sweeping effort across the nation to challenge Joe Biden’s presidential victory via court action.In a 110-page ruling released on Wednesday, judge Linda Parker of the federal district court in Detroit ruled that the attorneys who alleged widespread election fraud in Michigan presented unsubstantiated claims and abused the justice system. Continue reading...

Politicians can use sophisticated mapmaking software to their advantage but experts think the results are not inevitableHappy Thursday,In state capitals all across the United States, mapmakers are quietly beginning the hugely consequential process of drawing the political boundaries that will be in place for the next decade. Continue reading...

The sport continued in Tokyo with plenty of medals up for grabs3.26pm BSTRelated: Afghanistan war veteran Jaco Van Gass wins cycling gold for ParalympicsGBRelated: Kearney and Summers-Newton smash world records to claim Paralympic goldRelated: Anastasia Pagonis cheers USA – and her 2m TikTok followers – with Paralympic goldRelated: Power ballads and powerlifting: Newson misses Paralympic hat-trick | Paul MacInnesRelated: ‘Love has to prevail’: Pearson sends LGBTQ+ message of support after gold2.59pm BSTThanks for your company today. I hope you’ve enjoyed the action as much as we have. We’ll be back again tomorrow. See you then. Continue reading...

Since 2013, officers in Columbus, Ohio, have killed children at a higher rate than most other US police forces – but they lack any real accountabilityOn 20 April, millions held their breath as they waited for a judge to read the verdict that the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had been found guilty of the murder of George Floyd. About 20 minutes before the verdict, Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old foster child, was fatally shot by a police officer a few hundred miles away in Columbus, Ohio.Related: Police killed their sons. Their unmovable friendship uncovered a system of lies Continue reading...

Fort Lauderdale’s vice-mayor says the footballer’s team played foul by building its facility, then stiffing the city on the parkDavid Beckham’s Florida soccer club has been accused of reneging on a promise to build community sports facilities and a recreational park on public land around its $160m stadium in Fort Lauderdale.A 2019 deal between the city and Miami Beckham United, the owners of the former England captain’s Major Soccer League team Inter Miami CF, required the club to construct the facilities “in the most expeditious manner” alongside the stadium in return for a 50-year rent-free lease. Continue reading...

There are signs the NCAA’s cartel is cracking and the 115-year-old monopolistic grip is looseningThe first intercollegiate sporting event in the United States was staged in 1852, when the recently formed rowing clubs from Yale and Harvard Universities met in New Hampshire for a boat race. That it was sponsored by a New England railroad executive was both a sign of things to come and, looking back, a reminder that profit motive has been embedded in college sports from the very start.It’s unlikely that anyone on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee that August day could have imagined that he or she was witnessing the seedling of a uniquely American phenomenon: that so many of the world’s leading research and teaching institutions would come to operate commercialized sports programs that today generate upwards of $8bn in annual revenue. Continue reading...

This week’s roundup also features Tour Championship magic, Paralympic power and Kelly Holmes among sporting doubles1) Ted Dexter, the former England cricket captain, has died at the age of 86. “Lord Ted” was inducted into the ICC hall of fame earlier this summer: here’s their video tribute. And here’s some archive footage of Dexter batting alongside Colin Cowdrey against New Zealand, and hitting a silky 70 against the Windies at Lord’s in 1963 – plus a later clip of the captain reflecting on one of the greatest ever Test matches.2) Romelu Lukaku fired in a second-debut goal for Chelsea at Arsenal last weekend although the £97.5m man may find Liverpool trickier opponents on Saturday. Lukaku has only managed one goal at Anfield – in victory for West Brom in 2013 – while Mohamed Salah’s vast collection of strikes includes this bullet against Chelsea in 2019. Plenty of other memorable strikes to enjoy too in this montage of classic Liverpool-Chelsea goals. Here’s Luis García’s infamous “ghost goal” from the 2005 Champions League semi-final. But was it any more over the line than Andy Carroll’s late header when Chelsea beat the Reds in the 2011 FA Cup final? Continue reading...

The 2010 earthquake response was riddled with failure. Haitians cannot afford another catastropheThe latest statistics from Haiti’s August 14 earthquake are stark: at least 2,207 people have been confirmed dead and more than 12,000 injured. More than 130,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Aftershocks continue, and new landslides in the wake of the follow-on Tropical Storm Grace mean those numbers are expected to rise in the coming weeks.But the most dispiriting number is 11. That is the number of years that passed between Haiti’s last major earthquake and this one – years in which corruption has hollowed out the state, armed gangs have expanded their territorial control, and political turmoil has intensified, culminating in the assassination of the president, Jovenel Moïse, in July. Continue reading...

Far-right Proud Boys regularly carry handguns and other groups have adopted less lethal weaponsA gunfight in Portland, Oregon, last week is intensifying concerns over escalating violence during contentious rallies in the city, as far-right demonstrators and anti-fascist counter-protesters have repeatedly faced off.The Portland police bureau charged a 65-year-old man from Gresham, Oregon, over a gunfight in the city’s downtown during violent clashes on Sunday. Authorities say Dennis Anderson drew a concealed handgun and shot at a group of anti-fascists who were trying to expel him from the area. At least one of the anti-fascists shot back, according to authorities, with seven shots exchanged between the two sides. Continue reading...

With perhaps 1,500 of its civilians left in Afghanistan, US tells people to stay away from airport• Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.The United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand are warning crowds trying to access Kabul airport to leave the area, and are asking people no longer to attempt to travel to the airport, citing a “high threat” of a terrorist attack and unspecified security threats. Continue reading...

Nearly a year ago, a fire upended their lives. Now the Oregon residents find themselves stuck in limboIf you were to drive through Medford, a small city in southern Oregon, you’d pass by an unremarkable motel. You’d see guests sitting out on their balconies, smoking cigarettes, walking their dogs across the small patch of lawn, and watching the kids laugh and play in the pool.But these people aren’t typical hotel guests. They are 159 fire refugees, displaced after losing their homes during one of the worst fire seasons the west coast has ever experienced. As the climate crisis causes higher-than-normal temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds, Oregon and California are facing more intense blazes than ever before. This new breed of fires is destroying entire communities – the 8 September 2020 conflagration known as the Almeda fire, for instance, decimated two towns in southern Oregon, torched 2,700 houses and displaced 3,000 people. Continue reading...

• Ty Garbin gets six and a quarter years after pleading guilty• Five others remain charged with plot to seize Gretchen WhitmerA man upset over state-ordered coronavirus restrictions was sentenced to just over six years in prison on Wednesday for planning to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.Ty Garbin admitted his role in the alleged scheme weeks after his arrest last fall. He is among six men charged in federal court but the only one to plead guilty so far. It was an important victory for prosecutors as they try to prove the other five men were involved in the astonishing plot. Continue reading...

The pristine setting of Lake Tahoe, on the California-Nevada border, was obscured by thick plumes of smoke as thousands of firefighters worked to contain the nearby Caldor fire, which has burned more than 120,000 acres. Tourists wore masks outdoors and ducked into cafes and casinos to escape the haze and the smell Continue reading...

• Orange county changes stance after surge in Covid-19 cases• School boards defy Governor Ron DeSantis’s banJust over half of Florida’s 2.8 million public school students are now required to wear masks in classrooms as a courtroom battle continues over efforts by Governor Ron DeSantis to leave such decisions up to parents.A majority of school board members in Orange county told the superintendent on Tuesday to require most students to wear masks, and agreed with her recommendation to keep the mandate through 30 October. Continue reading...

• House select committee writes to multiple government agencies• Chairman says panel plans to contact ‘several hundred’ peopleThe House select committee tasked with investigating the 6 January attacks on the Capitol has issued its first round of sweeping demands for records from multiple US government agencies.In a statement released on Wednesday, the committee revealed that it has sent its initial demands to various executive branch agencies including the National Archives and Records Administration, the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Interior and Justice, the FBI, National Counterterrorism Center and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Continue reading...

Jerome Powell seen as less likely to announce cut to stimulus due to Delta variant affecting growthThe resort of Jackson Hole in the Grand Tetons will be the focus of intense financial market interest on Friday as the head of the US central bank, Jerome Powell, gives his update on the health of the world’s biggest economy.Expectations that Powell will provide a timetable for the scaling back of the Federal Reserve’s colossal support programme have faded in recent days due to signs that rising case numbers of the Delta variant of coronavirus are leading to slower growth. Continue reading...

Investigators found significant problems with every part of the Orange county department’s use of force policies and practicesOver the past year, as employees of the scandal-plagued Orange county sheriff’s department received their official use-of-force training, independent investigators from the county were sitting in.Their goal was to identify problems that might lead to unnecessary killings or headline-grabbing cases of law enforcement violence. And, as a new report documents, they found plenty. Continue reading...

Starting 12 September, any US employee who is not fully vaccinated will be required to take a Covid test each weekDelta Airlines will impose a $200 monthly fee on employees unvaccinated against Covid-19, the airline announced on Wednesday.In a new memo sent to Delta employees, CEO Ed Bastian announced that unvaccinated employees enrolled in Delta’s account-based healthcare plan will be subject to a $200 monthly surcharge starting 1 November. Continue reading...

A prolonged malaise caused by deep-seated structural problems has prevented a full economic recovery post-2007Every year since 1978 the world’s central bankers have gathered to chew the fat at Jackson Hole in the Grand Tetons. This year’s star attraction is the most influential central banker of them all – Jerome Powell – and financial markets will hang on every word from the chairman of the US Federal Reserve.Powell won’t reveal much and for good reason: he doesn’t have all that much to say. He is worried about inflation but there are also signs the US economy is slowing as coronavirus infection rates rise. The pace of recovery is moderating in the UK, Germany, China and pretty much everywhere else as well. There are shortages of materials and labour. In a world of lockdowns, quarantines and travel restrictions, it is proving harder to sustain a model built around frictionless movement of people, parts and finance. Global supply chains are under pressure. Continue reading...

Ban on travellers from Europe stacks the odds even further in favour of Steve Stricker’s team at Whistling StraitsThe vast array of superlatives attached to the Ryder Cup ignore the recent propensity for predictable outcomes. Since Europe trounced the United States in Michigan, 17 years ago, there has been just a single away victory. When that transpired, at Medinah, we all saw fit to brand it a “miracle”. The past three Ryder Cups have been won by the length of a par five.Related: R&A scrap ‘no-readmission’ policy at Open tournament from 2022 Continue reading...

It was an exciting opening to the Games with some surprises along the way2.53pm BSTThanks for reading everyone. Lots to enjoy on day one and we’ll be back again tomorrow.2.48pm BSTWheelchair basketball: And that’s it. In the final action of day one, Spain score a 63-53 victory over Korea thanks to a dominant final quarter (22-13). Continue reading...

Teams bet big on young quarterbacks in this year’s draft. And the NFL has shown a willingness to test young talent early in recent seasonsIt’s an unusual year for rookie quarterbacks. Ordinarily, when a first-round quarterback steps into an organization, they do so in the midst of some sort of rebuild. The rookie is drafted to kick off a new cycle.And that’s the case for two of this year’s five first-round draft choices: Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville and Zach Wilson with the New York Jets. But the three other first-rounders are stepping into more settled situations, for teams with legitimate playoff expectations. Continue reading...

Granddaughters of mobster selling a collection of artwork, letters, pocket watch and his personal Colt .45 pistolThe life of the notorious mobster Al Capone is under scrutiny more than seven decades after his death with an online auction in California of some of his most personal effects.The three living granddaughters of the Prohibition-era gangster known as Scarface are selling a collection of artwork, letters, a diamond encrusted pocket watch and even Capone’s personal Colt .45 pistol among a 174-lot inventory valued at up to $715,000 (£520,810). Continue reading...

For many American parents struggling to make ends meet during the Covid crisis, Biden’s child tax credit has already made a huge differenceFour weeks ago the Biden administration officially began implementing the child tax credit in what was hailed by Columbia University as an initiative that could “cut child poverty in half in the US”. Most eligible families have received just one monthly installment so far – but for many American parents struggling to make ends meet during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, it has already made a huge difference.The American Rescue Plan – passed in March – included expanded credit payments, which increased from $2,000 in 2020 to $3,600 for each child under age six, and $3,000 for children ages six through 17, this year. The funds are distributed in monthly payments of either $250 or $300 for each child. Continue reading...

President cites growing threat of a terrorist attack as he resolves to end evacuation effort by 31 AugustGood morning.Joe Biden is standing by his 31 August deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan, rejecting the pleas of domestic and international allies to keep troops there for evacuation efforts beyond the end of the month. Continue reading...

Bond amounts increased under Trump, and government lawyers are still asking immigrants to pay tens of thousands of dollars to be releasedThe cost of bonds – the payment used to secure the release of an immigrant from federal authorities – is out of reach for many people and straps many who borrow money to pay them with enormous debts.It’s among the Trump-era policies that could be easily changed by the Biden administration through a simple memo, but in the past six months, bond amounts ordered by the Department of Homeland Security and issued by immigration judges have remained high. Continue reading...

Since 1979, the Black August holiday has honored Black freedom fighters. Today, we can celebrate the occasion by demanding the release of prisonersWhile the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has increased the profile of holidays like Juneteenth and Black History Month, there is one important Black celebration that remains at the margins of American popular consciousness. Black August is a month-long commemoration dedicated to freedom fighters lost in the struggle for Black liberation, particularly those who were killed by US authorities or who perished behind bars.Celebrants of Black August view crimes committed by some of these revolutionaries as acts of war against a system already at war with them. With the release of movies like Shaka King’s biopic of the assassinated Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton and data showing that a large number of Americans now see individual acts of police violence as part of a larger racist system, the politics and culture behind Black August are becoming increasingly mainstream. If new generations of Americans can understand the war that was waged against Black radicals, and against Black Americans as a whole, they should honor Black August by demanding the release of the radicals still incarcerated in a racist system. Continue reading...

Gavin Newsom remains popular but Democrats appear far less likely than Republicans to vote in the electionWhen Gavin Newsom first elected governor of California in 2018, he captured a greater share of the vote than any other Democrat in state history. And he has remained broadly popular, despite a global pandemic, economic catastrophe, and a scandalously ill-timed visit to the Michelin-starred restaurant the French Laundry.But with California’s gubernatorial recall election under way, Newsom is fighting for his political life. The Democratic governor of a deep blue state could narrowly lose his seat to a fringe rightwing radio host – in large part due to inertia and apathy among voters. Continue reading...

Our climate is in crisis, but authoritarians and technocrats don’t have the answersWhat the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report confirmed this month is that the stable climate many of us grew up with is gone and has been replaced by a fundamentally unstable one. Sea levels will almost certainly rise and storms will get more intense. Amid a drumbeat of depressing news and decades of inaction, there’s a sort of folk wisdom emerging that liberal democracy might just be too slow to tackle a problem as urgent and massive as the climate crisis. It’s an enticing vision: that governments can forgo the messy, deliberative work of politics in favour of a benign dictatorship of green technocrats who will get emissions down by brute force. With a punishingly tiny budget of just 400 gigatonnes of CO2 left to make a decent shot of staying below 1.5C of warming, is it time to give something less democratic a try?It would be easy to look at the longstanding stalemate around climate policy in the US, the world’s second biggest emitter and embattled superpower, as evidence that something more top-down is needed. Yet the failure isn’t one of too much democracy but too little. The US Senate empowers West Virginia’s Joe Manchin – a man elected by fewer than 300,000 people – to block the agenda of a president elected by more than 80 million. Climate-sceptical Republicans, backed by corporate interests, have attempted to gerrymander their way to electoral dominance, halting progressive climate action in its tracks. The fossil fuel industry can engulf lawmakers with lobbyists and virtually unlimited campaign donations to sway their votes. And as the Republican party’s leading lights flirt with authoritarians like Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, comprehensive bipartisan climate action remains a pipe dream. Continue reading...

Joe Biden says the US is 'on pace' to finish its Afghanistan evacuation efforts by 31 August, despite pleas of domestic and international allies to keep troops on the ground. The president cited a growing terrorist threat as a reason to continue its mass evacuation. 'The sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops,' he said

Today the media are looking for scapegoats, but 20 years ago they helped facilitate the disastrous interventionEveryone is to blame for the catastrophe in Afghanistan, except the people who started it. Yes, Joe Biden screwed up by rushing out so chaotically. Yes, Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab failed to make adequate and timely provisions for the evacuation of vulnerable people. But there is a frantic determination in the media to ensure that none of the blame is attached to those who began this open-ended war without realistic aims or an exit plan, then waged it with little concern for the lives and rights of the Afghan people: the then US president, George W Bush, the British prime minister Tony Blair and their entourages.Indeed, Blair’s self-exoneration and transfer of blame to Biden last weekend was front-page news, while those who opposed his disastrous war 20 years ago remain cancelled across most of the media. Why? Because to acknowledge the mistakes of the men who prosecuted this war would be to expose the media’s role in facilitating it. Continue reading...

US’s completion of evacuations by 31 August is contingent on Taliban allowing access to the airport, president says

Bill that requires places with history of discrimination to be under federal supervision passes 219-212 – but could fail in the SenateThe US House of Representatives has passed an update to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, restoring a critical provision of the landmark civil rights law that requires places with a history of voting discrimination to be under federal supervision.The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act passed 219-212 on a party-line vote. Continue reading...

Inspector general’s report offers new details into shortcomings by law enforcement during 6 January insurrectionUS Capitol police (USCP) didn’t adequately respond to frantic calls for help from officers when they pressed panic buttons on their radios seeking immediate backup as scores of pro-Trump rioters beat officers with bats, poles and other weapons, an inspector general’s report found.Related: US Capitol police clear officer who shot dead 6 January rioter Ashli Babbitt Continue reading...

Press secretary says assessment of safety of vice-president was carried out and she continued her journeyUS vice-president Kamala Harris’ trip from Singapore to Vietnam was delayed by several hours on Tuesday by an investigation into two possible cases of the so-called Havana syndrome in Hanoi, administration officials said.The investigation was in its early stages and officials deemed it safe for Harris to make her scheduled stop in Vietnam, which is part of her trip across Asia meant to reassure allies about American foreign policy amid the tumultuous evacuation of US forces from Afghanistan. Continue reading...

US president acknowledges that completing airlift by 31 August depends on Taliban continuing to cooperateJoe Biden has rejected the pleas of domestic and international allies to keep troops in Afghanistan for evacuation efforts beyond the end of the month, citing the growing threat of a terrorist attack.In a move likely to fuel criticism that America is abandoning Afghan partners to the Taliban, the US president made clear that he is resolved to withdraw forces from Kabul airport by next Tuesday’s deadline. Continue reading...

David Ige addresses would-be visitors amid climbing hospitalizations but stops short of banning travelHawaii’s governor has pleaded with tourists not to travel to the islands as the state struggles to control Covid-19 amid the growing spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.It’s “a risky time to be traveling right now,” David Ige warned on Monday, asking visitors and residents to limit their travel to essential businesses only. “I encourage everyone to restrict and curtail travel to Hawaii. It’s not a good time to travel to the islands,” he said. Continue reading...

Emily Claire Hari was found guilty last year related to the 2017 attack of a mosque in Bloomington, in which no one was injuredA militia leader convicted of orchestrating the bombing of a Minnesota mosque has asked a judge to legally acknowledge her transgender identity.Emily Claire Hari was found guilty last year of civil rights and hate crime charges related to the bombing of the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington in August 2017. Continue reading...

The shelves are empty. Yet leavers, though no longer triumphant, can usually blame the problems on the EUBritain was not expelled from the European Union, although some of the dismay at the consequences of Brexit would make more sense in that scenario. Customs checks at the border are likened to a blockade. Rules that apply to all non-EU countries are described as punishment beatings. The expectation that Boris Johnson uphold the treaty he signed is cast as unreasonable spite.This is all consistent with the sacred rule of English Euroscepticism, according to which “Europe” must always be understood in terms of things done to us by them; never things we do to ourselves. Continue reading...

A Taliban spokesman has said in a press conference that the 31 August deadline for US evacuations from the country will remain, adding the Taliban are 'not in favour' of allowing skilled Afghans to leave the country and would regard a delay in US withdrawal as contrary to the US agreement with the Taliban.Zabihullah Mujahid also made clear that the Taliban would take 'a different stance' regarding the presence of US troops beyond 31 August