In his letter, the vice president suggested an immediate resumption of comprehensive talks, including about Iran’s nuclear program.

© Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times

In his letter, the vice president suggested an immediate resumption of comprehensive talks, including about Iran’s nuclear program.

© Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times

The White House has been rocked by turnover and anxiety over the midterms. The president, who is tightening his inner circle, has lashed out at critics, held meandering rallies and feasted on a diet of news clips and “A.I. slop,” as one aide put it.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

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

The basketball star seems proud to leave the job to his partner. That’s so last century

Nobody can accuse the basketball star LaMelo Ball of being bad at his job. That said, the Minnesota Timberwolves point guard doesn’t seem to be a huge fan of dribbling.

Ball has a nine-month-old son, LaOne, with his partner Ana Montana (real name: Analicia Chaves) and is apparently uninterested in dealing with all the body fluids that come with a baby.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist

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© Photograph: Matt Krohn/AP

© Photograph: Matt Krohn/AP

© Photograph: Matt Krohn/AP

The fallout from Vivek Ramaswamy’s brutal spot targeting his Democratic rival in the Ohio governor’s race showed that even in the Trump era, a political attack can be seen as going too far.

© Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

The Democratic presidential primary race appears to be wide open, while JD Vance and Marco Rubio led among Republican voters, a New York Times/Siena survey found.

© Jillian Vordick/The New York Times

Vice-president’s visibility has risen as Trump’s popularity wanes, but path to inherit Maga throne is more complicated than it may seem

A day after JD Vance suggested Donald Trump would endorse him if he runs for president, the vice-president shifted awkwardly in the Oval Office as his boss was asked about the remark.

“He’s a very talented person, and he’s a very good person,” Trump said of the man standing behind him, with a forced smile this week. “But we’ve literally – I don’t think we’ve ever talked about,” the president claimed, leaving the assertion unconfirmed.

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© Photograph: Cheney Orr/Reuters

© Photograph: Cheney Orr/Reuters

© Photograph: Cheney Orr/Reuters

Despite distraction and distortion, voters know what issues will be informing their votes in this election

• This was originally published in The Stakes 2026, a newsletter about the midterm elections. Sign up to get it in your inbox

Elections too often get pigeonholed. The hot take, or simplistic analysis, would have it that just one issue – often the issue the source so happens to be most animated about – will decide the entire result.

Tens of millions of Americans will go to the polls next month. Will they be galvanized by affordability? Maybe it’s Iran. Or healthcare? Taxes, perhaps. Or crime.

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© Photograph: Allison Robbert/AP

© Photograph: Allison Robbert/AP

© Photograph: Allison Robbert/AP

JD Vance, the vice-president, criticized Republicans who have spoken out against a controversial campaign ad from Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The ad features the mother of his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton, calling her daughter a liar. In a Tuesday statement, Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, said his sister was estranged from her mother, who had married a man that sexually abused Acton when she was 12. He said his mother, Donna Arthur, remained in the marriage after her husband was arrested and her children were taken away from her

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

The vice president backed an advertisement featuring Democrat Amy Acton’s mother, who has been estranged from Dr. Acton since her stepfather was charged with child rape.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

From Roman-era political potboilers to stories of Catholic priests struggling to impose their authority, what could the reading list of vice-president JD Vance’s wife be trying to tell us?

Usha Vance, a very clever woman with dubious taste in men, likes to keep herself busy. While lesser mortals (me) waste their one wild and precious life watching Love Is Blind, the second lady has various self-improvement projects on the go. She’s brushing up on her German! She’s hosting a literacy podcast! She’s rereading the classics! And, of course, she’s juggling four young children and the demands of being the vice-president’s spouse.

How does she do it all? With the help of taxpayer dollars, I suspect. Easier to get some reading done when you’re being helicoptered everywhere and, as JD Vance has boasted: “People go to the grocery store for me.”

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© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

© Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The president’s swing is taking him to states including South Carolina and Kansas that were not seen as competitive just a few months ago.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

The schedule is especially packed in New Hampshire, an early presidential nominating state where there is a competitive Senate race Democrats are flocking to this month.

© John Tully/Getty Images

The US vice-president is following the Donald Trump playbook, attacking the Democrats, attempting to make jokes and even swearing more. Jonathan Freedland talks to Arwa Mahdawi about why Vance is making such an effort to court voters

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© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

© Photograph: Reuters

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in a swath of Michigan including areas won by President Trump, making a progressive pitch in a key Senate race.

© Zbigniew Bzdak for The New York Times

The president said only immediate families of the victims of the mass shooting in 2009 would witness the execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

At a rally in Texas, the vice president suggested the Democratic Senate nominee is gay, a comment criticized as homophobic.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

After years of investigation, the Justice Department appears to be intensifying a criminal inquiry into the immigration history of Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, and her family.

© Tim Evans/Reuters

A Ukrainian drone sergeant who volunteered for the infantry held a frontline position for six months, ArmyInform reported. He saved three soldiers in that time, and in one fight he stopped a Russian advance after contact with command was lost. The agency did not say where or when.

Senior Sergeant Dmytro, call sign Berezen “March”, spent 20 years as a television director before the invasion. In the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade, he served as chief sergeant of a drone platoon, worked with three crews, and trained soldiers. When the need arose to reinforce the infantry, he volunteered to switch. ArmyInform did not say what created that need.

“I didn’t come here to a sanatorium. I’m in my third year of fighting, I know what this is. It was my choice,” Dmytro said

Two wounded, one firefight

One comrade was hit by a mine and lost a leg. As Dmytro treated him, Russian troops began moving toward the position. Another wounded soldier was trying to reach them, and contact with command was lost. He killed two Russian soldiers and halted their advance, ArmyInform reported. He said he barely thought about himself, because a breakthrough could have hurt the soldiers holding positions behind him.

Not everyone could be saved. One wounded comrade was about 200 meters away. Dmytro heard his voice on the radio but could not leave his position mid-fight. Over the six months, he saved three soldiers. Two left the position with him, and the third was evacuated wounded. No money, he said, is worth blood.