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Golden State Valkyries one win from WNBA title after Game 5 win over Atlanta Dream

  • WNBA finals Game 5: Dream 55-64 Valkyries

  • Golden State lead best-of-seven series 3-2

  • Valkyries could win title in second WNBA season

Kiah Stokes kept swatting shots on the interior, while Veronica Burton disrupted the Dream with her own quick hands to alter shots.

And that crazed, violet-clad “Ballhalla” home crowd roared at every chance – watching the Golden State Valkyries move one win away from a championship in their second season with a 64-55 victory against Atlanta in Game 5 of the WNBA finals on Monday night.

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© Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

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Jay-Z picks headliner for 2027 Super Bowl half-time show … Jay-Z

Rapper who has helped produce the Super Bowl show for years is stepping up to perform himself, at SoFi Stadium in California

After years of producing the Super Bowl half-time show, Jay-Z has announced that the 2027 headline act will be none other than himself.

After days of speculation, the NFL, Apple Music and Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation announced on Monday night that the rapper will be the featured performer for the half-time festivities at the Super Bowl LXI on 14 February at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

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© Photograph: ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: ABACA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: ABACA/Shutterstock

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Trump administration asks Washington to set aside hundreds of ballots from suspected noncitizen voters

Move is latest attempt to challenge states with competitive midterm races that could determine control of Congress

The Trump administration on Monday asked Washington state to set aside any ballots received from more than 400 people it alleges are registered to vote without US citizenship, less than two weeks after making a similar demand in California.

The announcement is the latest sign of the administration’s attempts to sow doubts about the election or its outcome in states with races that will help determine control of the US Senate and House.

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© Photograph: Paul Christian Gordon/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Paul Christian Gordon/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Paul Christian Gordon/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

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FTC and 20 states sue Dollar General, accusing bargain chain of overcharging customers

Suit that cites 2025 Guardian investigation alleges ‘pattern of inaccurate pricing’ that ‘affects millions of purchases’

The Federal Trade Commission and 20 states have sued Dollar General, the nation’s largest dollar-store chain, for persistently overcharging customers at its more than 20,000 stores across the United States.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Nashville, cites a Guardian investigation published last December.

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© Photograph: Cornell Watson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Cornell Watson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Cornell Watson/The Guardian

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Court blocks bid by Trump DoJ to stop California from counting mail-in ballots

Newsom accuses Trump of ‘assault on democracy’ as DoJ claims 20,000 registered voters in state are non-citizens

A US federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s move to block California from counting the ballots of 20,000 registered voters that the justice department claims are non-citizens.

The court on Monday ruled 2-1 against Donald ⁠Trump’s ​justice department in the dispute, denying the administration’s demand that election officials segregate the thousands of ballots until people on the list could verify their citizenship. The justice department had given the California secretary of state 48 hours to carry out the order, which state election officials refused – leading to the lawsuit.

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© Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA

© Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA

© Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA

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Massachusetts lesbian bar makes frantic effort to find new owners after relaxing masking policy

Last Ditch bar announced it would ‘soft close’ after it went viral following a story on its attempt to relax Covid rules

A Massachusetts lesbian bar that went viral for loosening its Covid mask policy last month announced plans to “soft close” on Monday as it seeks new ownership.

The Last Ditch bar, in the small city of Greenfield, said in an Instagram post that it was searching for co-owners, new owners or a full sale, and that it would “soft close effective immediately”, with “only booked events” continuing while it closes this winter. It had opened just last year as a bar for “dykes, transsexuals, gender freaks, workers, and their friends”.

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© Photograph: Sophie Park/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sophie Park/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sophie Park/The Guardian

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Trump dangles $1m reward for reporting voter fraud in past or upcoming elections

Par : Maya Yang

President’s comments come ahead of November midterm elections and follow his claims of widespread voter fraud

Donald Trump has announced a $1m reward for reports of voter fraud in past elections and the upcoming midterm elections, with payment contingent on the arrest and conviction of those responsible.

In a Truth Social post on Monday, the president wrote: “Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

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© Photograph: John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock

© Photograph: John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstock

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Justice department charges ex-FBI director James Comey for third time

Comey, an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, accused of leaking information related to US national defense

The justice department charged former FBI director James Comey on Monday with two counts of leaking information related to national defense, the third time the Trump administration has filed criminal charges against one of Donald Trump’s most despised foes.

The charges, filed in federal court in Washington DC, provide few details about what Comey is alleged to have leaked. The government alleges that the former FBI director leaked the information in 2016 and conspired with an unnamed person to give the information to a national news outlet.

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© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

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Ex-South Carolina governors endorse Democrat Annie Andrews in Senate race

Republican and Democrat come together for a rare joint endorsement of candidate in unexpected competitive race

Two South Carolina former governors, David Beasley and Jim Hodges, a Republican and Democrat respectively, have come together for a rare joint endorsement for Democrat Annie Andrews’s Senate bid.

Andrews, a pediatrician, is looking to flip the seat, currently held by Darline Graham, the Trump-endorsed sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham, in what has become an unexpectedly competitive race for the usually reliably red state.

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© Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

© Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

© Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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NFL today: How to watch Cowboys v Eagles, TV channels & live stream Monday 26 October

How will Dallas and Philadelphia fare today? Here is what to know, including kick-off time, TV channels and live stream options

There is “reeling”, and then there is whatever the Eagles are doing heading into Monday Night Football against the Cowboys. Philadelphia have lost four games in a row to fall within a whisker of last place in the NFC East. Jalen Hurts’s blood clots rapidly escalated and have probably knocked the franchise QB out for the season. Backup Tanner McKee has inherited a legitimate crisis. And it’s not as if all was hunky-dory before Hurts went out. The Eagles had already blown a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to the Rams and let the Jaguars come back on them in shocking fashion in London before the Hurts news.

The Cowboys have their own enormous issues. Former Eagles assistant Christian Parker joined up as defensive coordinator, aiming to fix a bad unit, but the Cowboys are still struggling to keep teams from racking up big point and yardage totals. Facing the Cowboys defense has been a salve for struggling offenses, as when a Packers team who couldn’t convert a third down for their life suddenly converted nine of their first 10 against Big D last weekend.

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© Photograph: Sam Hodde/AP

© Photograph: Sam Hodde/AP

© Photograph: Sam Hodde/AP

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Potential WNBA finals decider to be played at 12.30pm on a Thursday

  • Valkyries-Dream Game 6 to tip at 9.30am on west coast

  • Game moved to larger State Farm Arena in Atlanta

  • Hawks’ NBA game on same day could not be moved

Game 6 of the WNBA finals between the Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries will be played at State Farm Arena on Thursday at 12.30pm ET, the league has announced. That means Valkyries fans in California will be watching the game at 9.30am local time.

Dream guard Allisha Gray said it didn’t matter what time the game was played.

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© Photograph: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

© Photograph: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

© Photograph: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

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

Residents of coastal towns told to avoid beaches during high tides and keep further away from the ocean than usual

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

The National Weather Service warned that significant coastal flooding was expected in San Diego and Orange counties through Thursday that could close roads and inundate homes, businesses and critical infrastructure. A wide swath of the coast from San Luis Obispo county to Los Angeles county could see “minor to moderate” coastal flooding with tides as high as 8ft. Further north in the Bay Area, officials advised there could be as much as 2.1ft of inundation, primarily in low-lying coastal areas.

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© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Father pays tribute to son, six, killed by truck on Kansas soccer field

At funeral service Chris Adrian remembers son Cole as ‘capturing the heart’ of everyone, after tragedy killing two

The father of Cole Adrian, a six-year-old boy killed when a woman drove through a soccer game at a park in Wichita, Kansas, on 17 October, paid an emotional tribute to his son at his funeral service on Monday.

Chris Adrian, of McPherson, Kansas, spoke through tears while he remembered Cole as an energetic, fun-loving child who loved life and “captured the heart” of everyone he met.

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© Photograph: McPherson Free Methodist Church via YouTube

© Photograph: McPherson Free Methodist Church via YouTube

© Photograph: McPherson Free Methodist Church via YouTube

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Manhunt under way in Tennessee after convicted murderer escapes prison

Par : Maya Yang

Officials say Jacob Morley, who is serving a life sentence for a 2022 murder, escaped from a facility in Tiptonville

Tennessee officials have mounted a manhunt after a convicted murderer’s escape from prison on Sunday evening.

The Tennessee department or correction (TDOC) on Monday announced that Jacob Morley, 28, escaped from the Northwest correctional complex in the community of Tiptonville. Local outlets reported that staff noticed Morley was unaccounted for at about 11.30pm on Sunday.

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© Photograph: Tennessee Department of Correction

© Photograph: Tennessee Department of Correction

© Photograph: Tennessee Department of Correction

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Maurene Comey was illegally fired as federal prosecutor, judge rules

Daughter of ex-FBI director James Comey, a Trump foe, was dismissed in 2025 despite her work being widely praised

Maurene Comey, the daughter of the former FBI director James Comey, was unlawfully fired from her job as a federal prosecutor in New York last year, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

Judge Jesse Furman said that Comey, who was an assistant US attorney for a decade, was illegally fired in July 2025 despite her work on some of the nation’s highest-profile cases and consistently receiving “the highest accolades from supervisors and peers alike”.

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© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

© Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

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Trump calls Bill Maher a ‘total loser’ in 1,300-word Truth Social rant

Trump lashes out on Maher after the host interviewed former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt

Donald Trump launched a 1,300-word social media rant against the late-night US TV host Bill Maher on Sunday evening, calling him a “TOTAL LOSER” in a fresh assault on the media.

“Let’s talk about this COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER, Bill Maher,” the US president wrote. “He’s got a Low Rated Show on equally Low Rated HBO, which was once, long ago, a Network of Quality and Excitement – But that’s all gone.”

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© Photograph: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

© Photograph: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

© Photograph: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

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Fifteen-year-old arrested in shooting near Florida university that injured 12

All but one of the victims sustained gunshot wounds as boy faces 11 charges of attempted second-degree murder

A 15-year-old boy was remanded into secure detention in Florida on Monday charged with 11 counts of attempted murder following a mass shooting at a college homecoming party on Saturday.

Six adults and six minors were injured, all but one with gunshot wounds, in the gunfire near the Florida Agricultural + Mechanical University campus in Tallahassee.

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© Photograph: Tallahassee Police Department

© Photograph: Tallahassee Police Department

© Photograph: Tallahassee Police Department

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Lula miraculously beat the Brazilian far right and Donald Trump. But have no doubt: the region is still in peril | Jordana Timmerman

After the rejoicing, it will be vital to learn the lessons. The rightward shift is neither inevitable nor irreversible, but progressives cannot rest for a moment

The impossible happened. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a fourth term in Sunday’s runoff election in Brazil, overturning Flávio Bolsonaro’s first-round lead in a historic comeback. No candidate has ever lost the first round and won the second, until now. Grassroots mobilisation, alongside social welfare policies, helped turn the contest into a referendum on Brazilian democracy, rallying voters against a candidate seeking to restore the legacy of his father, Jair Bolsonaro, imprisoned for plotting a coup after his 2022 defeat. Lula’s victory suggests that defending democracy can still be a powerful electoral argument against the ascendant right.

Having already consolidated most of the leftwing vote, Lula had limited room to attract supporters of other candidates after his first-round defeat. His best chance lay in mobilising abstainers and reconnecting with working-class voters. The Workers’ party intensified its grassroots and digital campaigns, using social media influencers and messaging networks to reach supporters. Nearly 3 million more Brazilians voted in the runoff, and Lula gained ground across the country, particularly in major cities and his north-eastern strongholds. He also appealed to voters’ immediate economic concerns, drawing on a record of reducing poverty and inequality, and increasing benefits under Bolsa Família, the landmark welfare programme he launched in 2003. Lula framed the election as a choice between protecting social gains and democratic institutions, or returning to the Bolsonaro family’s attacks on both, warning that his opponent would compromise Brazil’s sovereignty by aligning himself with Donald Trump.

Jordana Timerman is a journalist based in Buenos Aires. She is the managing editor of The Ideas Letter and compiles the Latin America Daily Briefing

The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips will be answering your questions about the election and the future of Brazil from 1500 GMT on Tuesday 27 October as part of our Conversations series. Email questions to conversations@theguardian.com.

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© Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

© Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

© Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

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Catholic bishops accuse Trump White House of turning prayer into campaign photo op

Two bishops express regret after the White House posts photos and video of a prayer with them in the Oval Office

Two Catholic bishops who bowed their heads with Donald Trump in the Oval Office now say they regret it, accusing the White House of turning a private prayer into a campaign photo opportunity before next week’s US elections.

Archbishop Jeffrey Grob of Milwaukee and Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, who were among the 12 bishops who met administration officials last Thursday, issued separate statements of regret over the weekend.

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© Photograph: @MargoMartin47 via X

© Photograph: @MargoMartin47 via X

© Photograph: @MargoMartin47 via X

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The horse that ushered in Manchester United’s tragic arc | Jonathan Wilson

There’s plenty of blame to go around at Old Trafford. Like all downfalls it started with a seemingly small, unconnected moment

And so here we are again, at that point as the nights draw in and Manchester United prepare to sack a manager. Autumn: season of mists, mellow fruitfulness and a crisis at Old Trafford. Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth, coming on the back of last week’s 4-1 reverse against Como, made clear what many had feared from the moment Michael Carrick was given the job on a permanent basis: that he isn’t up to it.

But then, who could be? When you’ve burned through a long list of managers in 13 years, it’s perhaps worth considering whether the manager is really the problem. Could some blame perhaps go to the director of football, Jason Wilcox, or the chief executive, Omar Berrada, the people making the appointments? Or perhaps to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the cost-cutting tax exile and minority shareholder with responsibility for sporting operations? Or to the Glazer family, who plunged the club into debt with a leveraged buyout in 2005 and have since made calamitous decision after calamitous decision, reducing the most successful club in English league history to a mid-table laughing stock with a roof that leaks symbolically?

This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here.

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© Composite: Guardian Design, Getty Images

© Composite: Guardian Design, Getty Images

© Composite: Guardian Design, Getty Images

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First Thing: Brazil re-elects Lula in comeback rebuke for Bolsonaro and far right

Leftwing incumbent becomes first candidate to reverse first-round defeat, but far-right son of former president rejects result. Plus, interviews with two legendary songwriters

Good morning. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has staged a dramatic election fightback, defeating his far-right opponent, Flávio Bolsonaro, to claim a historic fourth term as Brazil’s president. Bolsonaro has refused to concede defeat and asked for the results to be annulled.

Following in the footsteps of his father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who four years ago also refused to acknowledge his defeat to Lula – before attempting a coup and being convicted for it – Flávio Bolsonaro cited a supreme court justice’s decision to extend voting hours as the alleged reason for wanting to cancel the result.

What does this result mean for Brazil now? My colleagues Libby Brooks in London and Tom Phillips and São Paulo spoke overnight. Phillips said: “The Bolsonaro response is exactly as I feared, but I don’t think it will mean very much. All these world leaders are now recognising Lula’s win, and I don’t think Bolsonaro has a hope of overturning this result. [For Lula] this is the crescendo of an incredible, if sometimes controversial, 50-year political career. The first elected working-class leader of Brazil, who has helped millions of people escape poverty.”

You can find the full results of the election here, and our ongoing live coverage here.

What has Hebron’s mayor said? Yousef al-Jabari accused the Israeli state of “collective punishment”, saying: “They have dragged people from their houses, and they have prevented the media from getting into the district … Netanyahu and his gang are using Palestinian land to displace Palestinian people, closing the city, closing the mosque, in order to achieve their political goals.”

How has a 21-year-old photographer described being the target of an Israeli attack? Zeinab Faraj found herself buried under rubble beside a dying colleague while reporting in Lebanon. “My heart stopped” as she heard a drone descending towards them, she said. “I’ve never heard anything like it in my life … It was terrifying.” The Israeli military later justified their attack, saying they had identified saboteurs violating the ceasefire. Human rights groups called it a war crime.

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© Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

© Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

© Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

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Pennsylvania ‘lookback’ bill for child sexual assault survivors again stalled

Law would open two-year window for child sexual abuse victims to file lawsuits beyond statute of limitations

Child sexual assault survivors in Pennsylvania are on the verge of being denied the opportunity to sue their attackers after a bill to temporarily waive filing deadlines stalled again in the state’s legislature.

Democrats have accused the Republican senate majority of playing politics with the bipartisan move to amend the state constitution and open a two-year window for victims to file molestation claims from years ago.

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© Photograph: Amy Sparwasser/Getty Images

© Photograph: Amy Sparwasser/Getty Images

© Photograph: Amy Sparwasser/Getty Images

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Democratic candidates like Abdul El-Sayed are embracing universal healthcare – could it win them US elections?

Democrats in the midterms are finally backing Medicare for All as a campaign issue amid a rising tide of voter support

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic US Senate candidate, starts this day on the campaign trail in Escanaba, Michigan, where nearby Wisconsin dairy country spills into dense forests and the sandy shores of Green Bay.

This is the upper peninsula – the “UP” – a rural slash of land north of Michigan’s mitt. Electorally, it’s crimson. Donald Trump won some districts near Escanaba by more than 41%. But at the county fairgrounds, past sheds labeled “Beef” and “Swine”, hundreds of locals on the political left have gathered in the hangar-size 4H Club meeting hall to hear El-Sayed speak.

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© Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

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Peta releases video showing experiments on infant monkeys at University of Washington

Animal-rights group released video footage that shows distressed baby macaques undergoing lab experiments

Footage released by the animal-rights group Peta reveals, for the first time, filmed experiments at the University of Washington’s National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC), in which newborn monkeys were separated from their mothers and subjected to neurological tests after prenatal exposure to a neurotoxin.

Records show that the infant monkeys, some just two days old, were used in research on domoic acid, a toxin produced by marine algae that accumulates in shellfish and can cause illness in humans. The experiments were part of a project that ran for six years until 2020.

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© Photograph: PETA

© Photograph: PETA

© Photograph: PETA

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Sunlight at night: US startup’s demonstration of lighting Earth from space draws critcism

Company imitates reflection of sun from mirrors, prompting pushback from some scientists, environmentalists and California locals

Locals in a rural area of California were recently startled to see dazzlingly bright light shining down from nearby mountains at night, illuminating a swathe of the desert below.

Unbeknown to them, the strange nocturnal illumination was the latest step in a company’s plan to erect thousands of giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight on to the Earth during night-time.

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© Photograph: Reflect Orbital

© Photograph: Reflect Orbital

© Photograph: Reflect Orbital

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Donald Trump has been a disaster for rural America | Steven Greenhouse

The president’s policies have taken such a toll on farmers that Republicans face trouble in deep-red states

Donald Trump’s policies have been a disaster for the nation’s farmers, so much so that a near electoral miracle may soon happen: Kansas, one of the deepest red, most rural states, may elect its first Democratic senator in nearly a century.

Since Trump won farm country handily in 2024, many rural voters in Kansas, Iowa and elsewhere have soured on him because the price of diesel fuel, a key input for farming, has soared by nearly 70%, because farm bankruptcies have surged and because Trump’s trade wars have significantly reduced agricultural exports.

Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labor and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues

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© Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP

© Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP

© Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP

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Trump continues midterm campaign blitz in Mississippi amid outcry over racist, Islamophobic attacks – as it happened

This live blog is now closed.

In a post to social media on Monday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was facing dwindling stocks of Patriot interceptor missiles after Pete Hegseth, Trump’s defense secretary, had delayed authorizing new supplies.

“We have been waiting for nearly a month for Mr. Hegseth to sign off on missiles for Patriots and NASAMS,” Zelenskyy wrote. “I instructed our team to raise this with the American side once again. Conversations with other countries are also ongoing.”

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© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

© Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

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Discontent with Trump buoys Democrats in Ohio: ‘People are disgusted by the corruption’

In a reliably red state, candidates say dissatisfied voters tell them they’re planning to vote Democrat for the first time

Democrat Kim McCarthy is canvassing in a middle-class Ohio neighborhood of four-bedroom, three-bathroom homes. There are $70,000 trucks in the driveways and robot lawnmowers at work.

“This is a neighborhood of two incomes and young families; people working hard,” says McCarthy, who is running against a three-time Republican incumbent for a seat in Ohio’s house of representatives.

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© Photograph: Kim McCarthy for Ohio House District 70

© Photograph: Kim McCarthy for Ohio House District 70

© Photograph: Kim McCarthy for Ohio House District 70

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‘We don’t have inflation’? Five charts show the US economic reality of Trump’s second term so far

As the US midterm elections approach, we take a look at data to see a true picture of the US economy under Trump

With the midterm elections fast approaching, many Americans have the economy on their minds.

US voters are exhausted by years of higher prices. Donald Trump won the presidency in 2024 on promises to lower inflation and undo the damage he said the Biden administration had inflicted on the economy.

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© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

© Illustration: Guardian Design / Getty Images

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‘It’s a mess right now’: RFK’s sweeping changes place new vaccines in limbo

Health secretary’s effort to alter makeup of ACIP panel means no new recommendations coming – even as new vaccines are approved

US vaccine recommendations are in limbo, access to vaccines is suffering, and some of the uncertainty may continue for years following major blows to vaccination by the Trump administration, experts say.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has made sweeping changes to vaccination policy, cutting childhood immunization recommendations by a third and replacing experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with his own handpicked allies.

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© Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

© Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

© Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

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Three roles and a goal: USMNT’s ‘super player’ Alex Freeman is breaking out for Villarreal

The Orlando City product scored his first goal in La Liga, playing three positions in a comeback win over Valencia

While most of La Liga’s oxygen was consumed by the first el clásico since José Mourinho’s return to Real Madrid this weekend, another rivalry put Alex Freeman in the spotlight position.

Or quite a few positions, as it turned out.

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© Photograph: Ana Escobar/EPA

© Photograph: Ana Escobar/EPA

© Photograph: Ana Escobar/EPA

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If Democrats win big, will they learn the right lessons from their victory? | Jan-Werner Mueller

No election outcome ever interprets itself. So how will Democrats interpret these results once they are known?

Whichever metaphor one prefers – landslide, earthquake, wave – it seems increasingly like the Democrats can expect a significant victory in the midterms.

As the joke goes, every gas station display of prices has become an ad for Democrats; what’s more, some of them have managed to connect the relatively abstract issue of corruption to the daily misery of many Americans.

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© Photograph: Robin Buckson/Detroit News/AP

© Photograph: Robin Buckson/Detroit News/AP

© Photograph: Robin Buckson/Detroit News/AP

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What are the races to watch in the US midterm elections and why do they matter?

US voters will decide whether Republicans will retain control of Congress or whether Democrats will rise up to stymie Trump’s agenda

Donald Trump will still be US president on the morning of 4 November. But he could be facing a very different political landscape, depending on the results of the US midterm elections held the previous day.

As the name implies, midterm elections fall nearly halfway through a president’s term. They are often a telling referendum on the sitting president’s performance, something Trump is actively encouraging by telling voters “pretend I’m on the ballot”. In this case, voters will decide whether Trump’s Republican party can retain its grip on Congress.

All 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Republicans are defending a narrow majority, with Democrats needing a net gain of four seats to take control.

35 seats in the Senate. Thirty-three seats are up in regular elections, along with two special elections in Florida and Ohio to fill the remainder of terms that were vacated early. Republicans currently hold 53 seats, against 47 held by Democrats and independents who caucus with them. Democrats need to gain four seats to secure a majority.

39 governorships. Voters will choose governors in 36 states and three US territories.

Thousands of state legislative seats, as well as local offices, judicial contests and ballot measures on issues including taxes, abortion rights and voting rules.

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© Illustration: Ben Denzer/The Guardian

© Illustration: Ben Denzer/The Guardian

© Illustration: Ben Denzer/The Guardian

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Creaking, smug … and a contender? Aaron Rodgers may yet get his Super Bowl farewell

The 42-year-old remains a polarizing figure. But the Steelers have a formidable defense and a quarterback who has seen it all before

Aaron Rodgers is nowhere near this NFL season’s MVP conversation. At times in his second season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the almost-43-year-old has shown glimpses of the player he was in his prime, slinging the ball with zest and precision, able to suss out any coverage. Other times he has looked like, well, a guy in his 40s playing a young man’s game.

Rodgers looked more like prime Rodgers in the Steelers’ gritty 16-10 win over the New Orleans Saints in Paris. He wasn’t satisfied with his side of the ball, telling reporter Molly McGrath, “I don’t think we played very good on offense today.” But Rodgers did enough to secure the win, including a 51-yard strike to DK Metcalf in the second quarter. He later scrambled for a first down on third-and-six to secure the win.

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© Photograph: Aurélien Morissard/AP

© Photograph: Aurélien Morissard/AP

© Photograph: Aurélien Morissard/AP

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