Once the midterms are over, Trump will be free to pursue vendetta politics. But with will and diplomacy, he can be reined in

As another Iran catastrophe looms, one question matters more than any other: how to stop it before it’s too late? Whatever the eventual outcome of Israel’s election and next week’s US midterm polls, Donald Trump, playing the Lone Ranger, and Benjamin Netanyahu, his badass Tonto, appear hell-bent on resuming the illegal war of choice they began in June last year and expanded in February. Like a Shakespearean tragedy moving inexorably to a bloody denouement, the worst is yet to come. And yet three things seem certain: the US and Israel will again fail to totally destroy Iran’s largely hypothetical nuclear capabilities; its regime will survive; and millions of ordinary people, there and around the world, will pay the price for this unjustified, reckless aggression.

Ducking and weaving, Trump is desperate to dodge the blame for the Republicans’ anticipated midterm meltdown, largely triggered by war-related fuel and consumer price inflation. He claimed Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries were responsible, but that didn’t wash. He cut a treacherous diesel deal with Vladimir Putin but, as usual, Russia’s smirking mafioso conned him. He urged US allies to tap their strategic reserves but, unsurprisingly, vilified and sidelined European leaders, who view his war as an unmitigated disaster and declined to bail him out. Trump also reportedly rebuffed last-gasp, electorally driven pressure from Netanyahu to hit Iran this month, fearful it would unleash a Democratic tsunami.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator

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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast, co-hosts Reged Ahmad and Jonathan Yerushalmy talk about Barack Obama’s war of words with Donald Trump, after the former president spoke at a campaign rally in Ohio and compared Trump’s White House changes to the Cheesecake Factory. But how effective is Obama on the Democratic party campaign trail? What are the risks around personal attacks? And how much does Obama’s legacy help or hinder when it comes to the midterms?

Reged and Jonathan also look at the backlash over an attack ad from the campaign of Republican nominee for governor of Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy, and why some are saying it’s a new low for US politics. Finally, how has the perception of corruption in government become such a key issue for voters on both sides of the aisle?

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© Composite: Jacob Taylor/The Guardian

© Composite: Jacob Taylor/The Guardian

© Composite: Jacob Taylor/The Guardian

• Tampa Bay force Game 5 with extra-innings rally

• Milwaukee denied first World Series championship

• Brewers still hold 3-1 lead in best-of-seven series

Jonny DeLuca and pinch-hitter Ben Williamson singled home runs in a stunning 12th-inning rally, and the Tampa Bay Rays staved off World Series elimination with a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night that forced Game 5.

Cooper Pratt hit a tiebreaking home run off Ian Seymour in the top of the 12th for his fourth hit of the game as Milwaukee neared a sweep and their first World Series title.

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© Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images

© Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images

© Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images

It was a showdown of sorts in western Texas as James Talarico and Ken Paxton appeared at dueling rallies on either side of a prairie-dog-filled city park.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

• Four-time All-Star needs arthroscopic procedure on knee

• Edwards averaging 33.3 points through first four games

• Absence could rule Wolves star out of awards contention

Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards needs an arthroscopic procedure to alleviate issues with his right knee and will miss several weeks, a person with knowledge of the matter said Tuesday.

The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Timberwolves had yet to make any public announcements of Edwards’ plan to have the operation. A more precise timetable for Edwards’ return will be known after surgery, the person said.

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© Photograph: Issac Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images

© Photograph: Issac Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images

Critics warn of climate danger as president in Texas claims change will save companies and consumers billions

Donald Trump announced his administration is “terminating” Biden-era regulations holding oil and gas companies accountable for large leaks of planet-warming methane during a rally in Lubbock, Texas, on Tuesday evening.

Trump said during a campaign rally in Texas that the change would save consumers and energy producers $45bn and unlock 210 million barrels of oil – equivalent to about 10 days of US petroleum consumption. “Tonight, I’m officially terminating Biden’s expensive and unnecessary methane regulations to save consumers and energy producers,” Trump said, lifting what he called “crippling regulations on methane that caused prices to skyrocket” for small oil and gas operators.

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© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

The estimate through Oct. 16 shows that bombs, missiles and other munitions accounted for more than 60 percent of expenses.

© Ed Ou/Reuters

In the legal tangle between the Justice Department and California, a federal judge on Tuesday deferred a ruling but said the government already had a remedy it could use after the election.

© Philip Cheung for The New York Times

Bill Essayli, a former GOP lawmaker and ally of president, has not been confirmed by the Senate in his role

A US judge ruled on Tuesday that Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in southern California, was “unlawfully serving” as the head of the US attorney’s office and was disqualified from overseeing two criminal prosecutions.

The order, however, will not immediately go into effect, and the Department of Justice (DoJ) has said it intends to appeal.

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© Photograph: Daniel Cole/Reuters

© Photograph: Daniel Cole/Reuters

© Photograph: Daniel Cole/Reuters

State Senator Brent Taylor, the Republican nominee for a U.S. House seat, responded to a Nashville outlet’s report that he had sent “an unsolicited nude picture.”

© George Walker IV/Associated Press

A regional coalition convened as part of a U.S. military effort to disrupt and combat drug traffickers that officials have compared to the campaign against the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

© Enea Lebrun/Reuters

In court testimony, the agent outlined the willingness of Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, to take orders from President Trump to investigate his perceived enemies.

© Alex Kent/The New York Times

Hazardous storm conditions delayed recovery efforts on mountain that has proved to be a perilous hiking spot

The body of a missing California hiker, blanketed in a layer of snow, was recovered on Mount Whitney on Sunday after a blustery storm delayed retrieval operations for five days.

The Inyo county sheriff’s office extended its condolences to the loved ones and family of the hiker, who has not been publicly identified, in a Monday statement.

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© Photograph: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

© Photograph: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

© Photograph: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Susan and Michael Pretti say they have been ‘ignored and misled’ in quest for justice over son’s killing by US agents

The parents of Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old nurse killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year, accused federal officials of stonewalling them and shielding their son’s killers.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Michael and Susan Pretti made their first public remarks since their son’s death in January, calling for the Department of Justice to hold those involved in their son’s death accountable. The federal government has not provided them with meaningful information about the case, they said.

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© Photograph: Steven Garcia/Reuters

© Photograph: Steven Garcia/Reuters

© Photograph: Steven Garcia/Reuters

Recent developments in a similar case and advances in forensic science linked the death of Melissa Ann Smith, 17, to one of the nation’s most notorious serial killers, officials said.

© Associated Press

President at Texas campaign rally hails deal struck with post-Maduro government as ‘greatest oil victory in history’

Donald Trump suggested Venezuela would become the 51st state of the United States on Tuesday as the president showed off a tanker he claimed had “one million barrels of oil on it” from the country, nine months after deposing its president.

At a campaign rally in Corpus Christ, Texas, Trump touted a US oil deal with Venezuela, which the US attacked in January, capturing its long-serving leader Nicolás Maduro.

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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Cassidy Hutchinson had implicated Donald Trump in US Capitol attack during testimony before House committee

The justice department on Tuesday failed to secure a grand jury indictment against a former White House staffer who provided dramatic but disputed testimony against Donald Trump before a House committee investigating the 6 January 2021 US Capitol insurrection, according to two people familiar with the matter.

A grand jury in Washington rejected prosecutors’ request to return an indictment charging Cassidy Hutchinson, said the people, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case. It’s the latest setback in the justice department’s efforts to charge perceived adversaries of the Republican president.

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© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

The rejection of the indictment was the latest extraordinary setback in President Trump’s wide-ranging campaign to go after his political opponents.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

Should a candidate light the world on fire, or is being a little bit boring actually a secret weapon?

© Maddie McGarvey for The New York Times

Discovery comes months after Utah county detectives confirmed that Bundy had killed another Utah girl that year

The notorious serial killer Ted Bundy has been found responsible, through DNA evidence, for the murder of a 17-year-old Utah girl who went missing in 1974 before her nude body was found days later, state authorities announced at a Tuesday news conference.

The breakthrough in the investigation of Melissa Ann Smith’s death comes months after Utah county detectives confirmed in April that Bundy had killed another Utah girl, 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime, in 1974.

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© Photograph: Ken Hawkins/Alamy

© Photograph: Ken Hawkins/Alamy

© Photograph: Ken Hawkins/Alamy

Coastal communities across California were preparing for days of flooding amid potentially 'record-breaking tides' this week, as water levels began rising on Monday.

• Coastal California braces for flooding amid forecast of ‘record-breaking tides’

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

Sale makes ‘Jodi’, a smaller relative of T rex, the ‘second most valuable dinosaur ever sold at auction’, Sotheby’s says

A rare skeleton of a Nanotyrannus, a smaller relative of the Tyrannosaurus rex, sold at auction in New York this week for $47.3m, making it one of the world’s most expensive fossils.

The skeleton, named “Jodi” after the person who found the remains in 2019, sold at Sotheby’s on Tuesday for $47.3m, “after a twelve-minute bidding battle that saw six bidders compete online and over the phones, before ultimately selling on the phone”, Sotheby’s said in a statement.

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© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

Vice-president tries to link El-Sayed to Paris protests and claims he would lead rioters in ‘burning down’ Detroit

JD Vance has escalated his inflammatory attacks on Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for US Senate in Michigan who has faced an onslaught of Islamophobia, claiming he would lead rioters in “burning down” Detroit.

El-Sayed, who would become the country’s first Muslim senator if he wins next week’s election, has been branded a “jihadist” by Donald Trump, the US president.

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© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

© Photograph: Getty Images

Oren, Alon and Tal Alexander sentenced to prison in New York after being convicted in sex trafficking case

Three Florida brothers who exploited the wealth and influence of their family’s luxury real estate business to drug and rape dozens of women were each sentenced to 30 years in prison in New York on Tuesday for sex trafficking.

Twins Oren and Alon Alexander, 39, and Tal Alexander, 40, were convicted in March on multiple charges after a five-week trial heard details of years of sexual assaults committed in Miami, New York and other high-end locations including the Hamptons; Aspen, Colorado; and on a Caribbean cruise.

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© Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

© Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

© Photograph: Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

Eight-bedroom mansion listed at $18.5m sold for $28.5m and has a private garden and three-car garage

A San Francisco estate sold for $10m above its listing price this month in a new record for the city as the artificial intelligence boom continues to drive up real estate prices.

Located in the city’s tony Presidio Heights neighborhood, the eight-bedroom mansion was listed at $18.5m on 2 October and ultimately sold for $28.5m on 22 October, according to the property’s listing.

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© Photograph: Google Maps

© Photograph: Google Maps

© Photograph: Google Maps

Jay Clayton is pushing his office back to more traditional functions, reshuffling or firing some officials, and halting projects to build a dining room and firing range.

© Alex Kent/The New York Times

• 30-year-old is an eight-time Pro Bowl selection

• Indianapolis fired GM Ballard last week amid skid

The Indianapolis Colts have traded All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson to the Seattle Seahawks, a person with knowledge of the deal told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

The person requested anonymity because the deal had not been announced by either team and said the Colts would receive a third-round draft pick and a fifth-round pick in return for the eight-time Pro Bowler.

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© Photograph: Adam Bettcher/AP

© Photograph: Adam Bettcher/AP

© Photograph: Adam Bettcher/AP

Recent presidential election polls have overestimated Democrats, but midterm polls are far less consistent state by state. The differences could matter quite a bit.

© Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

If ever enacted, proposals by Marine Le Pen and the AfD leader, Alice Weidel, to hollow out EU institutions would be a continental act of self-harm

Following the Brexit referendum in 2016, Marine Le Pen was in a predictably celebratory mood. Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, she told one interviewer, was the first breach in the “Brussels Wall”. Ms Le Pen’s Front National party was at that point committed to taking France down the same path, given the chance. But as the UK’s self-inflicted economic wounds became a cautionary tale for the rest of Europe, the notion of Frexit was put on ice.

Instead, Ms Le Pen now hopes to lead far-right allies in hollowing out the EU from within. This month, both she and the leader of Alternative für Deutschland, Alice Weidel, outlined their visions of a “Europe of nations” in which EU institutions would be stripped of both cash and power. Ms Weidel’s “new deal for Europe” would abolish elections to the European parliament, and seek German opt-outs in areas such as migration, defence and common borrowing. Ms Le Pen’s party, now called National Rally, proposes slashing French contributions to the EU budget by 60% over a five-year presidential term, and ending the role of Brussels in proposing common policies for the 27 member states.

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: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

© Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

© Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA

In some cases, court paperwork bears unmistakable signs of urgency — typos, unorthodox tactics and the signatures of the department’s senior political leadership.

© Steve Helber/Associated Press

Reports of an uptick in operations, alongside a push to root out alleged noncitizen voting, have unnerved immigrant communities ahead of next week’s election.

© Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times

The Texas attorney general has been silent about his relationship with Tracy Duhon, a New Orleans woman who has built a personal brand around faith and redemption.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times; Frederick Breedon/Getty Images for Pure Flix

US military says it carried out an airstrike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat in latest attack in region

The US ⁠military ⁠said on ​Tuesday ⁠it killed ⁠five ​people ‌after ‌an airstrike on a ‌suspected drug-trafficking vessel in ​the ⁠eastern Pacific.

Tuesday’s strike was among more than 70 such attacks since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidency, according to media tallies. Collectively, they have killed more than 240 people.

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© Photograph: US Southern Command via X

© Photograph: US Southern Command via X

© Photograph: US Southern Command via X

The move would be the latest U.S. concession to Moscow as President Trump pursues economic incentives he hopes will secure an end to war in Ukraine.

© Ramil Sitdikov/Reuters

The patient was at a facility in Minneola, Florida, while the surgeon operated remotely from another facility

A Florida surgeon has performed the first telerobotic operation between two US hospitals, removing the prostate of a man with cancer from 35 miles away, according to officials.

Dr Vipul Patel, founder and medical director of the Global Robotics Institute at AdventHealth Celebration in suburban Orlando, on Sunday performed an investigational robotic prostatectomy on a 66-year-old prostate cancer patient who volunteered for a clinical study evaluating a robotic telesurgery system.

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© Photograph: Advent Health

© Photograph: Advent Health

© Photograph: Advent Health

Home of wealthy developer Stephen Cloobeck searched in connection to sexual misconduct inquiry into Swalwell

Federal law enforcement agents searched a home in suburban Los Angeles early on Tuesday as part of an investigation into Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress amid a wave of sexual misconduct allegations, a law enforcement official and two people familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press.

Agents searched the Beverly Hills home of the wealthy developer and Swalwell donor Stephen Cloobeck, where the Democratic ex-congressman spent time before resigning from office in April, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation.

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© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas had waged an unusually public campaign against the denomination’s demands for control.

© Desiree Rios for The New York Times

Stumping for the Republican Senate nominee in Michigan, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claimed that Arabs did not win global awards for science and “don’t produce literature.”

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

Immigrant advocates called the agreement “collusion” and had asked the justices to reinstate a Biden-era policy that gave immigration judges discretion.

© Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times

The administration had filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent certification of the election if the Republican incumbent narrowly loses.

© Ash Adams for The New York Times

More than elsewhere in the country, U.S. policy toward Israel is at the forefront of the race between Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed.

© Rosem Morton for The New York Times

Voters have a chance to break America’s two-tiered system of justice and hold powerful people accountable

Welcome back to How We Win, a Guardian opinion series with leading thinkers, offering bold ideas for America’s political future. Last week, Guardian US columnist Rebecca Solnit wrote about the GOP’s alignment with the tech overlords. Today’s edition was written by Katie Phang, an independent journalist, trial lawyer and political analyst. Sign up for future editions here.

When Americans go to the polls a week from now, accountability will be front and center.

Instead of enforcing the law, the attorney general of the United States has been busy subverting it

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© Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

The T. Rex cousin is the latest dinosaur fossil to fetch a high price at an auction, this time at Sotheby’s.

© Matthew Sherman

Jennifer Shuford is expected to leave her post after midterm elections ‘to spend more time with my family’

The deputy director and chief medical officer of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will resign after six months on the job, according to an agency email obtained by the Guardian.

Dr Jennifer Shuford was appointed by Donald Trump in April as part of a four-person senior leadership team.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Little known a year ago, she is a Democratic Socialist drawing comparisons to New York’s Zohran Mamdani. She has mounted a strong challenge to the incumbent, Karen Bass.

© Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times

The parents of the Minneapolis nurse who was fatally shot by federal agents in January said on Tuesday that the government had ignored and misled them.

© Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

We want to hear from gen Z voters about the issues that will decide your vote in the midterm elections

The US midterm elections that will decide control of the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the governorships in 36 states, are just one week away. The results could have a huge impact on Donald Trump’s final two years in office.

Nearly 50 million people aged 18 to 29 are eligible to vote in the midterms but nearly half are either not registered or civically engaged, according to US Census Bureau data.

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© Photograph: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

© Photograph: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

© Photograph: Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Matthew Unglesbee admitted to sending the letters to four unidentified politicians, officials say

An Illinois man accused of sending letters containing suspicious white powder to four members of Congress has been arrested after he allegedly wrote his own name and return address on the envelopes, according to authorities.

Matthew Unglesbee, 36, of Quincy, remained in the custody of US marshals on Tuesday on federal charges of perpetrating a hoax and sending threatening communications through the mail.

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© Photograph: Finn Gomez/Getty Images

© Photograph: Finn Gomez/Getty Images

© Photograph: Finn Gomez/Getty Images

We’d like to hear from Americans across the political spectrum about voting priorities in the midterm elections

On 3 November, millions of Americans will vote in the midterm elections to decide control of the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as the governorships in 36 states.

In an October poll by the New York Times/Siena College, Donald Trump’s approval rating sank to 36%, with most respondents expressing frustration over his handling of the US economy, the cost of living and the Iran war.

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© Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

© Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

© Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

Security footage shows Jacob Morley escaping in his prison uniform, investigators describe

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Tennessee authorities on Tuesday were still searching for a convicted murderer who, investigators say, escaped a state prison by slipping through a fence and fleeing in a stolen truck.

The state department of correction (TDOC) said in a statement that officials realized Jacob Morley, 28, was unaccounted for at about 11.30pm on Sunday at the Northwest correctional complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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© Photograph: Hornbreak Fire Department

© Photograph: Hornbreak Fire Department

© Photograph: Hornbreak Fire Department