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RJ Mitte, actor best known for Breaking Bad, dies aged 34

13 October 2026 at 02:21

Actor who played Walter White Jr and who advocated for disability representation is remembered by Bryan Cranston as ‘my sweet son’

The actor RJ Mitte, whose personal experience living with cerebral palsy informed his role as Walter White Jr in the television series Breaking Bad, has died aged 34 in Brownsville, Texas.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of beloved actor, philanthropist, and passionate disability rights advocate RJ Mitte,” Mitte’s representatives said in a statement. “Drawing from his own experience living with cerebral palsy, Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion.”

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© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

© Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Archbishop of US military condemns Pentagon plans to livestream execution

12 October 2026 at 16:33

Timothy Broglio says Catholics on army firing squad should ask to be excused since it clashes with church teachings

The archbishop who oversees the spiritual care of Catholics serving in the US military condemned the Pentagon’s proposed plans to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan later this year.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio also stipulated in a Monday statement that any Catholic soldier assigned to the US army firing squad should ask to be excused from that duty, which he described as contrary to the teachings of the church. He joins other Catholic leaders in speaking out against the death penalty and the live stream plans.

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© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

© Photograph: José Luis Magaña/AP

Selma Blair charged with assault of police officer and nurse after allegedly attacking flight attendants

Actor, who allegedly punched one Delta attendant, bit another and tried to open plane door, was charged for two separate assaults after the plane landed

The actor Selma Blair was arrested on Sunday at John F Kennedy airport in New York after she allegedly attacked two flight attendants on a Delta Air Lines flight, and separately charged with two counts of assault for allegedly kicking a police officer and a nurse after landing.

Blair’s arrest happened at about 11pm, after Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials said they responded to a call “about a physically abusive passenger aboard Delta Air Lines flight 938 which was parked at the gate” at JFK after arriving from Los Angeles.

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© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

© Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Zelenskyy vows to retaliate if Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid continue

Ukrainian leader says he was surprised by Trump’s ‘energy ceasefire’ announcement, posted as Russian drones hit Kyiv

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to respond to Russia’s continuing attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as European leaders rally around Kyiv amid a feud with Donald Trump over Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries.

Speaking to a gathering of European security officials in Warsaw on Monday, the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would retaliate if strikes on its power grid continued: “If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire this winter, we will respond.”

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© Photograph: Andrii Marienko/AP

© Photograph: Andrii Marienko/AP

© Photograph: Andrii Marienko/AP

Ilhan Omar says she will not be silenced after federal agents raid her home

12 October 2026 at 12:20

Trump and key allies have accused Omar of immigration fraud, and have called to expel her from the country

Federal agents searched Representative Ilhan Omar’s home on Monday morning as part of a criminal investigation, according to the Department of Justice and reports in the Associated Press and Fox News.

In a social media post later on Monday, Omar criticized the raid as an attempt by the Trump administration “to target political enemies and weaponize law enforcement” and said she would “not be silenced”.

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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Alex Gibney says Universal ‘wavered’ over releasing Elon Musk documentary

12 October 2026 at 10:38

The revelation comes after the four-hour film’s Venice premiere drew a string of criticisms and insults from the founder of SpaceXAI

Alex Gibney, director of the new four-hour documentary about Elon Musk, said that Universal, owners of the film’s international distribution rights “wavered” over releasing the film outside North America.

Gibney was speaking to the New York Times as the film opened in the US (where it is being released by the independent distributor Bleecker Street), and appeared to confirm a story in the Hollywood Reporter that Universal, which had acquired the international rights to the film in 2023, had got cold feet. Asked by the New York Times, “Did Universal Pictures waver in setting up its international release plans?” Gibney replied: “Yes.”

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

Nobel Prize for economics awarded to Hall and Woodford for work on ‘smoothing’ crises

12 October 2026 at 10:20

US economists developed models that help central bankers and finance ministers to stabilise their economies

Two US economists have won the 2026 Nobel economics prize for their work developing models that help central bankers and finance ministers to stabilise their countries, avoiding long recessions and runaway inflation.

Robert Hall of Stanford University, California, and Michael Woodford of Columbia University, New York, were recognised for developing the “microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic stabilisation”, giving policymakers better tools to smooth out the peaks and troughs of their economies.

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© Photograph: Tom Little/Reuters

© Photograph: Tom Little/Reuters

© Photograph: Tom Little/Reuters

Is it a plane or a tree? Amelia Earhart expedition aims to solve mystery of disappearance

12 October 2026 at 09:37

Researchers will head to remote Pacific atoll, but sceptics say satellite images unlikely to be of her aircraft

A team of US researchers is approaching a remote Pacific atoll where they suspect the famed aviator Amelia Earhart crash-landed in 1937, in the latest attempt to crack one of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century.

The 17-person expedition was inspired by satellite images taken over several years showing a submerged object in the uninhabited island’s sandy lagoon – evidence dismissed by other longtime Earhart sleuths who say it is probably a fallen tree.

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© Photograph: Albert Bresnik/AP

© Photograph: Albert Bresnik/AP

© Photograph: Albert Bresnik/AP

Time to tell US raider Saba Capital to get lost – again | Nils Pratley

12 October 2026 at 09:14

Boaz Weinstein’s hedge fund is waging an aggressive campaign against the FTSE 250’s Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust

Here we go again: another episode in the Saba saga, the story of a New York hedge fund causing havoc in the UK investment trust sector by taking big stakes in funds and then demanding change, often in only vague terms.

The best that can be said about Saba Capital (and it’s not much) is that its belligerent boss, Boaz Weinstein, has disturbed the complacency that used to infect corners of the UK investment trust world, meaning companies that invest in other companies. It is now harder for a board to do nothing if the share price sits at a wide discount to the value of the underlying assets for long periods.

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© Photograph: Richard Brian/Reuters

© Photograph: Richard Brian/Reuters

© Photograph: Richard Brian/Reuters

Digger on course for $245m loss after box office collapse

12 October 2026 at 08:51

Estimates suggest the eco satire starring Tom Cruise could join the list of top turkeys, including Cutthroat Island and The Marvels

Digger, the ambitious eco-fable starring Tom Cruise and directed by Alejandro G Iñárritu, is heading for an even worse financial outcome than previously thought, with reports suggesting it will lose around $245m (£185m), placing it among the biggest disasters in movie history.

According to a report in Variety, Digger’s estimated second weekend revenue in North America of $3.2m is a 60% drop on its opening weekend figure of $8m, meaning its current domestic gross is $14.4m, for a global total of $35.3m, with a projected final box office total of around $50m worldwide.

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© Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy

© Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy

© Photograph: Everett Collection Inc/Alamy

Send us your questions on how the US economy is shaping the midterm elections

8 October 2026 at 10:45

Our business, labor and consumer rights reporters will answer your questions in a live Q&A on Thursday 15 October

The US economy is top of voters’ minds ahead of the November midterms with food and gas prices remaining high, the job market unstable, consumers angrier than ever, and a new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, in place.

We’ll be hosting a live midterm election Q&A on Thursday 15 October 2026 at 12pm EDT on the Guardian US site with a panel of our business, labor and consumer rights reporters: Lauren Aratani, Michael Sainato, Heather Timmons and Gaya Gupta. The team will cover cost of living challenges, tariffs, inflation and new federal policy proposals from local candidates.

Will the Iran war cost Trump in the US midterm elections? Your questions answered

Who are the groups financially backing the candidates in the midterms?

The makeup of the Democratic party, plus key races to watch

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© Illustration: Teresa Lo/Guardian Design

© Illustration: Teresa Lo/Guardian Design

© Illustration: Teresa Lo/Guardian Design

Marco Rubio is promoting troubling ideas about ‘Western civilization’ | Ted Widmer

12 October 2026 at 06:00

In a recent visit to Greece, the secretary of state suggested that Europe must rediscover the values of conquest and expansion

They had obviously worked hard on the backdrop – and it was magnificent. On 7 October, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, delivered a major speech in Athens, outdoors, with the Acropolis behind him. The sun was setting, bathing the ancient scene, including the Parthenon, in the light of the golden hour.

The golden hour, but yet not quite the golden age. This was not Pericles defending democracy. Instead, Rubio offered a haunting vision of the choices facing the west, arguing that the US and Europe must rediscover the values of exploration and conquest that once drove centuries of expansion, or face decline and irrelevance.

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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/Pool AP/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/Pool AP/AP

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/Pool AP/AP

‘We’re in a brotherhood now’: the Bill Pickett rodeo – photo essay

12 October 2026 at 02:00

For several years, Chloe Kerleroux has been photographing African American cowboy communities in the southern US. Her work has mainly focused on trail rides: large gatherings where horses, music, dancing, family and community life come together. This year, she explored rodeo culture including at the Bill Pickett invitational in Atlanta

The image of the cowboy widely portrayed in westerns and popular culture has long been almost exclusively white. Yet Black cowboys hold an important place in the history of the American west. After the civil war and the abolition of slavery, many African Americans found work on ranches and on the great cattle drives westward. By the late 19th century, historians estimate about one in four cowboys were Black.

Among the Black figures who shaped this history was Bill Pickett. Born in Texas in 1870, he became one of the most celebrated Black cowboys and rodeo performers of his time, known in particular for popularising bulldogging, which would eventually give rise to modern steer wrestling.

After the national anthem, Josh, a member of the Outlaws Most Wanted, rides around the arena to a pounding hip-hop track as his teammates cheer him on at the Bill Pickett invitational rodeo in Conyers, near Atlanta, Georgia, on 2 August 2026

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© Photograph: Chloe Kerleroux

© Photograph: Chloe Kerleroux

© Photograph: Chloe Kerleroux

Trump and Rubio weigh firing Kimberly Guilfoyle after reports of improper conduct

11 October 2026 at 14:34

Senior official says president and US secretary of state are ‘extremely pissed off’ by conduct of US envoy to Greece

Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, are considering firing US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.

A senior US official said Sunday that Trump and Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct and would likely decide on what action to take this week after Monday’s federal holiday.

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© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AFP/Getty Images

The Guardian view on the US, Russia and the international criminal court: Trump’s assault on the rule of law intensifies | Editorial

11 October 2026 at 12:25

A fuel deal with Vladimir Putin, and sanctions against the legal institution, ram home the president’s belief that might is right

On Friday, Donald Trump drove home his belief that might is right and the rule of law is an obstacle rather than an essential foundation stone of international order. First came the escalated assault on the international criminal court (ICC), sanctioning the body itself. Then he announced a deal with Russia to buy diesel.

The US has long chafed at the notion of being bound by the rule of law that it espoused publicly. That hypocrisy now appears as a lesser vice. The president has declared that “my own morality” is all that constrains him. His brazen flouting of the law, embrace of dictators and rhetorical attacks all undermine global standards.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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© Photograph: Daryna Naumova/EPA

© Photograph: Daryna Naumova/EPA

© Photograph: Daryna Naumova/EPA

Zelenskyy rejects Trump claim of Ukraine and Russia ‘energy ceasefire’ – live updates

11 October 2026 at 11:26

Ukraine’s president reportedly says Kyiv would accept a deal if Moscow does after US president posts announcement with no detail on social media

A senior Ukrainian official has also reportedly told the FT that Ukraine had no information about Trump’s proclaimed ceasefire deal.

The official was quoted as saying: “Just now our repair teams are restoring electricity and water supplies in Kyiv” following Russian strikes. “Nobody has heard [of the ceasefire].”

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© Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Vladyslav Musiienko/AFP/Getty Images

ICE agent strikes man with vehicle during pursuit in Texas, officials say

11 October 2026 at 10:54

Parra-Hernandez suffered a broken leg and taken to a hospital after being hit by car during an ICE operation

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent driving a vehicle struck a man on Saturday while trying to pursue him and someone else in the Houston area, according to authorities.

The federal agency had been trying to pull over and arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes in north-west Harris county, Texas, when he and the victim, Miguel Parra-Hernandez, exited the vehicle, officials said.

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© Photograph: Olga Fedorova/EPA

© Photograph: Olga Fedorova/EPA

© Photograph: Olga Fedorova/EPA

Wildwood review – Laika’s pleasingly old fashioned stop-motion magic-forest odyssey

11 October 2026 at 09:21

The makers of Coraline return with their distinctive animation style in a magical tale of a secret world of strange beasts, talking animals and evil governesses

Here is an engaging family movie from the Portland-based Laika studio that created Coraline. It is a fantasy adventure in Laika’s distinctively crafted stop-motion animation, written by Chris Butler from the bestseller of the same title by Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy, the latter being a band member of The Decemberists, one of whose tour posters we duly glimpse in this film. The director is Laika’s lead animator Travis Knight. It’s a forthright, exuberant, good-natured and old-fashioned children’s tale which CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien might have recognised, a story about the mysterious glory of going on a quest and the terrible fear and wish-fulfilment euphoria of being called upon to confront secret forces that the grownups know nothing about.

The setting is modern-day Portland, Oregon, a groovy city whose hipster-ish stores (there’s a coffee shop actually called Dripster) and Woke 1.0 signage are affectionately mocked. But most of all, the film is aware of a huge forest park next to the city, a place here mythologised as the impassable wilderness or “wildwood” where strange creatures, fairytale nobility and wisecracking talking animals reputedly dwell, of which the city-dwelling humans are entirely ignorant. Prue (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is a 12-year-old girl whose parents (voiced by Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine) are a couple of amiable hippies who believe in natural forces and benign magic. They have another child, Prue’s baby brother Mac, who Prue has to look after one day, pushing him in his stroller around the city and having to endure a certain classmate of hers tagging along. This is nerdy Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) who has a crush on her.

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© Photograph: Album/Alamy

© Photograph: Album/Alamy

© Photograph: Album/Alamy

‘Deeply concerning’: Democratic congressional candidate rebukes ICE’s presence in New York

11 October 2026 at 07:00

Darializa Avila Chevalier criticizes NYPD’s ‘inaction’ in protecting Marble Hill protesters after ICE shot a man

Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier believes that the New York police departments’ conduct towards protesters after an ICE agent shot and wounded a man in the district she is running to represent violated “the spirit, if not the letter” of the city’s sanctuary laws.

These rules ban local police from helping federal immigration authorities in civil immigration enforcement operations.

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© Photograph: Olga Fedorova/EPA

© Photograph: Olga Fedorova/EPA

© Photograph: Olga Fedorova/EPA

Fixated on AI, the world has forgotten what is staring it in the face: nuclear annihilation | Simon Tisdall

11 October 2026 at 05:00

This is no scoffing matter. The accelerating proliferation of advanced nuclear weapons is bringing ‘end times’ closer by the day

Humankind has fearfully and sometimes joyfully anticipated the end of the world ever since it began. The Bible’s Book of Revelation speaks of “end times”, a period of tribulation, war, famine, plague, floods and environmental catastrophe that may seem a less absurd prospect today than perhaps it once did. Islam, too, posits a fateful day of judgment or day of reckoning. Christian evangelicals believe that, in the final rapture, a chosen few – the righteous or the “elect” – will be saved while sinners burn. It’s a minority view. Matthew’s gospel predicts most people will defy, ignore or ridicule warnings of imminent Armageddon. Peter, another of Jesus’s disciples, agreed: “In the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” Yet such worldly scepticism does not mean a universal cataclysm is less likely. It may make it more probable.

Donald Trump’s blanket denials of the dangers ostensibly posed by artificial intelligence, whose uncontrolled development is seen by some as the latest harbinger of apocalypse, could be interpreted as fulfilling Peter’s prophecy. This US president, the nearest thing the world has to a one-man doomsday machine, is a great one for scoffing and evil desires. In Robert Harris’s 2019 novel, The Second Sleep, a worried scientist lists half a dozen ways the world might end. They include devastating climate change, pandemic disease, a giant asteroid collision with Earth, or some other overwhelming calamity. Few heed the fictional scientist’s fears. In the event, what destroys him and almost everybody else is a disturbingly plausible cyber crash – a global digital and internet meltdown.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

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© Photograph: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP/Getty Images

After RAF Fairford incident, how big a threat to the UK is Iran?

Although there is scepticism about Tehran’s capabilities, it has become clear it wants Britain to feel it poses a risk

Britain may have been only peripherally involved in the bombing of Iran that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu started, but in the past fortnight it has become clear that Tehran wants to pose a threat inside the UK in response.

In the aftermath of the confused incident near RAF Fairford, western officials are weighing up whether to warn publicly that Iran now has US military targets in Europe on its mind, such as the air force base in Gloucestershire.

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© Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

© Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

© Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

‘Under tremendous strain’: CIA analyst turned spy novelist on a fraying US-UK alliance

11 October 2026 at 04:00

David McCloskey’s new book depicts a calamitous collapse of the ‘special relationship’ – could things get darker still?

The “special relationship”, the time-honored emotional bond between the US and Britain that has sustained through war and peace, is in trouble.

The ties of history, culture and language that have bridged an ocean and bound the two countries politically for generations are fraying as perhaps never before – strained relentlessly by Donald Trump, who has gleefully sacrificed traditional alliances and diplomatic niceties on the altar of his “America first” agenda.

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© Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

‘You have a meeting’: the calendar phishing scam growing exponentially

11 October 2026 at 02:00

Appointment or renewal reminder appears in victims’ calendar to lure them into logging in to fake Google, Microsoft or PayPal page

You’re preparing for the week ahead and take a look at your Google calendar. There’s an entry for a meeting that you must have completely forgotten. The note that pops up when you click on it says you’ll be reviewing a project and includes a link to more details. Confused, you follow it to find out more; the website you land on asks for logon details, and you provide them.

Unfortunately, this was not a failure of your memory but a calendar phishing scam. You have handed your name and password to fraudsters who will sell it on in a batch with other people’s details, use it to break into your work email, or to persuade you that they are contacting you from your bank, or another institution.

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© Photograph: grinvalds/Getty Images

© Photograph: grinvalds/Getty Images

© Photograph: grinvalds/Getty Images

Capital punishment is surging in the US – but after Christa Pike’s botched execution, what is its future?

11 October 2026 at 01:00

Trump has used the full might of the presidency to supercharge executions, but an avalanche of mishaps has put the system’s flaws in the spotlight

It took more than an hour to establish the two intravenous lines through which Christa Pike would be injected with a giant and normally lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital, and in that time she did everything she could to assist those who were attempting to kill her.

“Please try here,” she said over and over again to Tennessee’s execution team, pointing to specific parts of her body where she thought they might find a vein as they repeatedly stabbed her with needles. “Please try here, I think it will be OK. Please try up on my shoulder, higher.”

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© Illustration: Guardian Design/AP Photo/The Tennessean/Lisa Nipp

© Illustration: Guardian Design/AP Photo/The Tennessean/Lisa Nipp

© Illustration: Guardian Design/AP Photo/The Tennessean/Lisa Nipp

Five people shot and killed in apparent murder-suicide, Georgia police say

10 October 2026 at 20:01

Deceased were all members of the same family, officials say, and one of victims placed the initial emergency call

Five people were shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide at a residence in Georgia on Friday, authorities say.

The deceased were family members who lived at the home in Douglas, a city in south Georgia.

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© Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

Four dead as Isaias weakens to post-tropical cyclone after striking Florida panhandle

Some of deaths came from falling trees as half a million people without power and rain and flooding still a concern

At least four people were reported dead on Saturday amid Isaias after it made landfall late on Friday on Florida’s panhandle as a category 2 hurricane, according to authorities.

The storm also took down trees, knocked out electricity for hundreds of thousands and flooded highways – but as Saturday evening approached, the region was reopening.

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© Photograph: Dan Anderson/EPA

© Photograph: Dan Anderson/EPA

© Photograph: Dan Anderson/EPA

Despair after 200-year-old ‘grandmother’ tree toppled for Trump’s border wall: ‘It crushes your heart’

10 October 2026 at 16:57

Protesters spent months occupying an ancient cottonwood. Then a tense standoff with US border patrol came to a head

A 200-year-old cottonwood tree near the US-Mexico border, known as the “grandmother”, has been destroyed to make way for the construction of Donald Trump’s border wall, despite a months-long effort by protesters trying to save it.

In late July, land defenders began a tree-sit in the ghost town of Lochiel, Arizona, taking turns occupying a platform high in the tree’s canopy. The group remained there for more than 70 days.

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© Photograph: Rebecca Noble/Reuters

© Photograph: Rebecca Noble/Reuters

© Photograph: Rebecca Noble/Reuters

US man shoots off-duty ICE agent who allegedly attacked him and daughter

10 October 2026 at 15:03

ICE official, who was sleeping on man’s lawn and appeared ‘intoxicated’, faces felony charges, California police say

A 72-year-old man shot an off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official in California early on Friday morning after the “intoxicated and agitated” official assaulted him and his daughter on their property, local authorities allege.

The Fresno police department said that the ICE official was receiving medical care after being shot in the midsection. The official, identified as David Gonzalez, is facing felony charges for assaulting the father-daughter duo, Fresno police said.

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© Photograph: Blake Fagan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Blake Fagan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Blake Fagan/AFP/Getty Images

Trump says Ukraine needs a new leader after diesel deal with Russia

10 October 2026 at 16:42

US president suggests Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not done enough to end war

Donald Trump has said Ukraine needs “a new leader”, a day after making a deal with Vladimir Putin to buy large quantities of Russian diesel.

The US president suggested Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not done enough to end the war with Russia and blamed him for high diesel prices in the US.

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

Man with gun kills one Philadelphia police officer and injures another

10-year police veteran Shane Seiber was killed after responding to a report of a man with a gun

A Philadelphia police officer was fatally shot and another was wounded on Saturday after responding to a report of a man with a gun, authorities said.

Shane Seiber, 40, was killed early on Saturday morning in West Philadelphia, according to the city’s police commissioner, Kevin Bethel.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Christa Pike out of hospital and back in prison after botched execution attempt

10 October 2026 at 13:10

Pike’s lawyers said she is back in same prison she’s lived in for last 30 years and will continue to receive medical care

Christa Pike has been discharged from the hospital after surviving Tennessee’s botched 30 September attempt to execute her by lethal injection and is back in prison, her lawyers said on Saturday.

Pike, 50, returned to the Deborah K Johnson rehabilitation center, where she has been imprisoned for the last three decades, her attorneys, Stephen Ferrell, Luke Ihnen, Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason, said in a statement.

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© Photograph: WBIR-TV/AP

© Photograph: WBIR-TV/AP

© Photograph: WBIR-TV/AP

Nine people, including children, dead after mass shooting in Pennsylvania

10 October 2026 at 11:45

Authorities say suspect among dead in house after standoff with police in Erie and there is no ongoing threat

Nine people, including children, died in a mass murder on Friday in Erie, Pennsylvania, after a gun-wielding attacker opened fire outside a home and then entered the property, according to authorities.

The suspected attacker was also found among the dead as police responded to the deadly violence, which triggered a standoff involving Erie police officers and tactical teams.

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© Photograph: Matt Barnum/WJET/AP

© Photograph: Matt Barnum/WJET/AP

© Photograph: Matt Barnum/WJET/AP

A replica of Donald Trump’s Oval Office goes for the gold in Washington DC

10 October 2026 at 11:00

The tourist attraction just unveiled an elaborate, full-scale overhaul to match Trump’s second-term aesthetic

Sitting behind a replica Resolute Desk, nine-year-old Sydney Wright posed for the camera like a future US president. “I love it,” she smiled. And what about the dazzling gold appliqués, gold leaf and gold trim surrounding her? “It’s cool.”

Sydney was among a steady stream of visitors on Thursday to The People’s House: A White House Experience, an interactive museum – with an orientation film narrated by The West Wing star Martin Sheen – at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, just 150 yards from the real thing.

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© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

© Photograph: AP

The Jane Doe in the Cornell seven case is getting threats | Arwa Mahdawi

10 October 2026 at 09:00

Every time a story about a woman being raped becomes headline news, the same pattern repeats without fail

If she really was raped, why didn’t she speak up earlier? Why did she get drunk? Why was she wearing such a short skirt? Why did she walk home by herself?

God, it’s exhausting, isn’t it? Every time a story about a woman being raped becomes headline news, the same pattern repeats without fail. People accuse the woman of asking for it. They question her motives; they scrutinize her looks; they attack her character. And without fail, she is punished for speaking up.

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© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters

© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters

© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters

Six men on how they plan to stand up against rape culture

10 October 2026 at 08:00

While most of the crowd at a Stop Sexual Violence rally in New York City was women, men of all ages were in attendance too

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered at city halls and college campuses across the country on Thursday to demand an end to sexual violence. The nationwide rallies followed weeks of public outcry over the mishandling of campus sexual assault cases at Cornell University and Louisiana State University.

The protest organizers – including Women’s March, Feminist Generation and Me Too International – demanded justice for Jane Doe, who said she was drugged and gang-raped by seven students at a Cornell frat party; Kendall Francis, who said she was raped by an LSU football player; and all survivors harmed “from the frat house to the White House”. They also called for reform of Title IX, a set of protections for sexual misconduct victims and LGBTQ+ students that the Trump administration has slowly stripped away.

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© Photograph: Gina M Randazzo/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Gina M Randazzo/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Gina M Randazzo/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Edge Control: the art exhibition using hidden camera images to explore race and beauty

10 October 2026 at 08:00

Artist Deana Lawson uses beauty supply store surveillance images to analyze power and personhood in her exhibition at the Gagosian in New York City

In her essay The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators, writer and philosopher bell hooks explains that the relationship between Black people and the act of “looking” has been traumatic since slavery. Black people, many of whom are still subject to the constant surveillance that originated during enslavement, have historically been punished with severe consequences, such as lynching, for looking back at those who subjugate them. Despite these risks, hooks writes, they rebelled by secretly looking at white people, as well as their surroundings, rejecting the white gaze as the singular framework of reality. We can, as bell hooks writes, “interrogate the gaze of the Other but also look back, and at one another, naming what we see”.

I thought of this analysis when I visited Edge Control, artist Deana Lawson’s latest photography exhibition at the Gagosian gallery in New York City. Edge control refers to the gels and pomades that slick the hairs along the edges of a Black woman’s hairline, but in Lawson’s exhibit, the phrase takes on an additional meaning. It’s at once a styling product for Black haircare devotees as well as a tool to examine the beauty industry, consumerism and how surveillance and race intersect.

Edge Control is on view at the Gagosian in New York City until 24 October

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© Photograph: Deana Lawson/Courtesy Gagosian

© Photograph: Deana Lawson/Courtesy Gagosian

© Photograph: Deana Lawson/Courtesy Gagosian

In three years, Israel's war on Gaza hasn't just changed the Middle East, it's changed the world | Steve Bloomfield

10 October 2026 at 08:00

A whirlpool of violence has engulfed everywhere from Lebanon to Yemen. Meanwhile, the west has destroyed any political authority it once had

There was a world before 7 October, 2023, and now there is a world after. For Gaza, for Israel, for the wider Middle East, and for everyone else too. Not all hinge points in history are obvious at the time. Three years on from the day it began, and precisely one year since a supposed ceasefire was agreed, this one is now impossible to ignore.

The before-and-after pictures tell part of the story. An update to Google Maps, released last week, underscores just what three years of relentless Israeli military onslaught has done to Gaza. Satellite images show how entire towns have been reduced to rubble. Mosques and hospitals, visible three years ago, have now disappeared. Meanwhile the once-empty shoreline is now crammed with tents. This is what it looks like when an attempt has been made to destroy a people.

Steve Bloomfield is the former international editor of the Observer

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© Photograph: Tariq Mohammad/APAImages/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tariq Mohammad/APAImages/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Tariq Mohammad/APAImages/Shutterstock

Hurricane Isaias latest updates: at least four people dead and hundreds of thousands without power

First Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season makes landfall in the US as officials warn of ‘spinoff tornadoes’

Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, said no requests for search and rescue assistance had been received following Isaias, which he described as “cautiously, a good sign”.

Speaking to Fox News, he said:

I think that may be a sign that people heeded the warnings, took proper precautions. We sure would love to say we have not gotten a report of a fatality yet, and we’ll see what happens.

There’s also a lot of hazards post-storm that people should be careful of, but so far we’ve had a lot of assets in place that have not been called on, which is a good sign. I’d rather be over-prepared, and not have to use them, than not have what you need.”

Hurricane Isaias has weakened to a post-tropical cyclone early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, after it made landfall in Florida and lashed the US Gulf coast with heavy rain and fierce winds.

The category 2 hurricane hit the coast near Destin, Florida, late on Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 105mph.

The storm is expected to move across Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley, the NHC added, with maximum sustained winds decreased to near 35mph.

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© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

‘Like a drill going into my eye’: why the mystery over Havana syndrome refuses to die

10 October 2026 at 01:00

Dozens of CIA officers have been afflicted by debilitating symptoms over the past decade. Are they the result of ‘mass hysteria’? Or are they from attacks with an energy weapon and, if so, who is responsible? And has there been a cover-up?

Shortly after 1am one night in April 2019, a CIA officer on a work trip to London was jolted awake in his hotel room by the most intense head pain he had ever experienced. His body was soaked with sweat and he felt like his eyes were spinning in their sockets. He manoeuvred his way out of bed, hoping to make it to the bathroom to vomit, but found his sense of balance had deserted him. Eventually, he fell back into a fitful, shallow sleep.

The next day, arriving at the work meeting he had travelled for, the officer found he could not remember the names of colleagues in the room, people he knew well. As the meeting got under way, he could barely follow the discussion. Initially, he chalked it up to a terrible – if rather odd – case of food poisoning. But over subsequent weeks, worrying symptoms persisted: brain fog, loss of balance and increasingly harsh tinnitus.

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© Composite: Alex Mellon for the Guardian : Getty Images

© Composite: Alex Mellon for the Guardian : Getty Images

© Composite: Alex Mellon for the Guardian : Getty Images

Hurricane Isaias makes landfall in Florida and hammers Gulf coast

Governors of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida declare states of emergency as a downsized Fema faces first major test

Hurricane Isaias crashed into the US Gulf coast on Friday as a dangerous category 2 storm, hammering communities in Alabama and the Florida panhandle with damaging winds, heavy rain, flooding and life-threatening storm surges.

The first hurricane of the Atlantic season made landfall near Destin, Florida, the National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (169 kph). The storm weakened to just below major hurricane status before it came ashore.

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© Photograph: Jen Golbeck/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Jen Golbeck/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Jen Golbeck/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

Zelenskyy furious as Trump announces deal to buy Russian diesel

US president says agreement needed to lower American fuel prices, but move likely to create fresh crisis with Ukraine and Nato allies

Donald Trump was on a fresh collision course with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European allies after a stunning agreement to buy Russian diesel, upending years of US and western pressure on the Kremlin to end its four-and-a-half year war against Ukraine.

Zelenskyy reacted furiously to Trump’s announcement of the deal with Vladimir Putin, calling it “absolutely terrible” and “not fair and not honest”.

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© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

Trump says he picked ‘devoted fan’ Katie Zacharia to be next press secretary

Zacharia will replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the role at the end of August after giving birth to her second child

Donald Trump on Friday announced that he had picked Katie Zacharia to be the next White House press secretary, lining up a conservative commentator he called a “devoted fan” to be his most prominent spokesperson.

Zacharia will replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the role at the end of August after the birth to her second child.

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© Photograph: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for 2521 Entertainment and Angel Studios

© Photograph: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for 2521 Entertainment and Angel Studios

© Photograph: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for 2521 Entertainment and Angel Studios

AI surveillance startup Flock to cut several hundred jobs amid backlash, sources say

9 October 2026 at 15:46

Company, which grown rapidly in recent years, has been under scrutiny as privacy concerns grow

Flock Safety plans to shed about 18% of its employees, people with direct ⁠knowledge of the plans said on Thursday, as the maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras and license-plate readers faces mounting opposition to its products from communities and ⁠lawmakers.

The people said the job ⁠cuts came after ​a voluntary buyout program and were expected to affect roughly 270 employees at Flock, a surveillance technology startup that has seen rapid growth in recent ⁠years. Employees will leave the company at the end of the month.

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© Photograph: Albany Times Union/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

© Photograph: Albany Times Union/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

© Photograph: Albany Times Union/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

‘Abolish ICE’: Mamdani, AOC and other Democrats urge action after New York shooting

Immigration officer shot man in car where five-year-old child was sitting, sparking fierce protests

Leading New York Democrats expressed anger and demanded curbs on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence after a federal officer shot a man driving a car in which his five-year-old son was sitting, sparking fierce protests.

At least seven shots were reportedly fired and the man was hit in the neck late on Thursday afternoon as children were coming home from school in the busy Marble Hill neighborhood of New York City. Marble Hill is considered part of Manhattan, but is physically located in the Bronx.

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© Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters

© Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters

© Photograph: David Dee Delgado/Reuters

Florida execution called off after DeSantis withdraws death warrant for first time

9 October 2026 at 13:32

Governor halts execution of William Lee Thompson, after Christa Pike survived failed lethal injections

Ron DeSantis cancelled a planned execution in the state on Friday, days before a 74-year-old man was due to be killed by lethal injection.

The move – the first time Florida’s governor has withdrawn a death warrant in his nearly eight years in office – comes just over a week after the botched execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee.

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© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: US plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation

Pentagon said execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, would be broadcast live

The US is facing worldwide condemnation over a “barbaric” plan to execute a disabled man by firing squad and livestream it to the public, with critics comparing the Trump administration to dictatorships in Iran and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, would be livestreamed on 3 December.

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© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

US imposes new sanctions on international criminal court

9 October 2026 at 12:13

Trump administration says US ‘doesn’t need’ ICC after accusing court of unfairly targeting Americans for war crime charges

The United States was accused of launching “an assault” on the world’s legal order after imposing more sanctions on the international criminal court (ICC).

Unveiling the Trump administration’s latest escalation against the court, which it has accused of politicization and unfairly targeting Americans for war crime charges, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, declared: “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.”

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© Photograph: Remko de Waal/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Remko de Waal/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Remko de Waal/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

UN says Pentagon plan to livestream execution of Fort Hood shooter would amount to torture – US politics live

Condemnation comes amid fierce backlash from US lawmakers who branded the move ‘grotesque’ and compared it to actions of some terror groups and oppressive governments

While there has been bipartisan backlash to Pete Hegseth’s announcement that the Department of Defense plans to livestream Nidal Hasan’s execution in December – some hard-right Republicans have welcomed the news.

“Public execution is what this terrorist deserves,” said Andy Ogles, a GOP congressman from Tennessee. “We will be watching.”

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© Photograph: Eric Lee/Reuters

© Photograph: Eric Lee/Reuters

© Photograph: Eric Lee/Reuters

A national verdict on Trump 2.0 is coming. Nine midterm voters share where they stand

From cost of living to the Iran war, these are the issues that matter most to US voters across the political spectrum

US voters are about to deliver their first national verdict on the second presidency of Donald Trump. On 3 November, millions of Americans will vote in midterm elections to decide control of the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the governorships in 36 states. The results could have a huge impact on Trump’s final two years in office.

Today, the Guardian launches its 2026 midterm voter panel. Our reporters have interviewed nine voters across the country and the political spectrum about the issues that matter to them, from the cost of living, immigration and healthcare to the war in Iran and whether they trust their political leaders.

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© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Caleb Davis/David Ferrari/Sally Rasmussen/Patti Fucci/Justin Daniels/Sharon Anderson/Scott Akridge/Yajaira Martinez

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Caleb Davis/David Ferrari/Sally Rasmussen/Patti Fucci/Justin Daniels/Sharon Anderson/Scott Akridge/Yajaira Martinez

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Caleb Davis/David Ferrari/Sally Rasmussen/Patti Fucci/Justin Daniels/Sharon Anderson/Scott Akridge/Yajaira Martinez

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