U.S.

US businesswoman and TV personality objects that she granted director RJ Cutler ‘total access’ but he focused too heavily on her trial and didn’t put Snoop Dogg on the soundtrackThe businesswoman and TV personality Martha Stewart has taken issue with a major new documentary about her life and work, which has premiered on Netflix.Stewart, 83, one of the highest-profile media personalities in the US, criticises the production, focus and editing of RJ Cutler’s Martha. She cooperated in the making of the film, and contributed extensive contemporary interviews. Continue reading...

New figures could strengthen Harris’s pitch for presidency, even though half of voters believe US to be in recessionA closely watched measure of US inflation has slipped to its lowest level since 2021, within striking distance of policymakers’ target, after the Federal Reserve scrambled to bring down price growth from its highest level in a generation.The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index rose at an annual rate of 2.1% last month, down from 2.2% in August and in line with economists’ expectations. Continue reading...

Trends in online chatter mirror patterns observed in the lead-up to 2020 elections and January 6 Capitol attackThere could be a potential surge in political violence following the upcoming US election, and pro-Trump rightwing vigilante “poll watchers” might surveil ballot drop boxes as Americans cast their votes, experts warned this week.A new report from the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) highlighted alarming trends in online chatter, mirroring patterns observed in the lead-up to the 2020 election and the January 6 Capitol insurrection.Don’t miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alerts Continue reading...

At least 95 people have been killed as more rain is forecast for the flood-hit region of ValenciaDeath toll expected to rise amid anger over preparednessPeople in Spain: have you been affected by flooding?Experts have been giving their reaction to yesterday’s disaster - sounding a warning about our preparedness and ability to cope.Extreme weather events are becoming more intense, are lasting longer and are occurring more frequently as a result of human-induced climate change, scientists say. Continue reading...

Among the areas facing evacuation is Rashidieh camp, which houses thousands of Palestinian refugeesReuters reports that the Israeli military said on Thursday it had shot down a drone smuggling weapons from Egyptian territory to Israel on Wednesday.No other information was provided. We will update the blog as more details come in.Rafael and Lala Goliev … residents of Lod, were arrested after they carried out tasks on behalf of an Iranian cell that recruits Israelis from the Caucasus countries in Israel.” Continue reading...

Billboards with Harris’s face wishing her good luck erected across sleepy village and daily prayers held at local templeKamala Harris may never have visited Thulasendrapuram, a sleepy village in south India, but its residents claim to be some of her most devoted fans.It was here, in among the verdant rice paddies and groundnut farms of rural Tamil Nadu, that Harris’s grandfather PV Gopalan was born. Though more than a century has passed since then, residents have proudly claimed Harris as a “daughter of the land”. Continue reading...

Law firm AS&H Clifford Chance failed to include alleged abuse of migrant workers in assessment for Fifa 2034 bid, say rights groupsA report by the Saudi arm of a global law firm on Saudi Arabia’s 2034 Fifa World Cup bid has “whitewashed” the Gulf kingdom’s record of exploiting and suppressing the rights of migrant workers, rights groups have claimed.AS&H Clifford Chance was commissioned to independently assess the human rights implications of the bid, but the report “contains no substantive discussion of extensive and relevant abuses in Saudi Arabia”, according to a statement released by 11 organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Continue reading...

People warned to stay inside because of high risk of landslides, storm surges, destructive winds and floodingTaiwan has shut down work, school and transport as the biggest typhoon to hit the island in decades made landfall on its east coast.Kong-rey has been declared a “strong typhoon” by Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA), which said it was expected to be the largest storm to hit Taiwan since 1996. Continue reading...

From abortion to international issues, people share what issues and outcome worries them as election day nearsHundreds of US voters from across the country shared with the Guardian how they are coping with the stress of the looming election, and which issues and possible outcomes make them the most anxious or concerned.Here are six of them. Continue reading...

Fears raised that biodiversity summit not addressing countries’ failure to meet a single target to stem destruction of natural worldGovernments risk another decade of failure on biodiversity loss, due to the slow implementation of an international agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, experts have warned.Less than two years ago, the world reached a historic agreement at the Cop15 summit in Montreal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on our planet. The deal included targets to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade (30x30), reform $500bn (then £410bn) of environmentally damaging subsidies, and begin restoring 30% of the planet’s degraded ecosystems. Continue reading...