Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Football, Champions League, Sport, Carabao Cup
Title – Liverpool v Atlético Madrid, PSG v Slovan Bratislava, Chelsea v Leeds United – live | Football | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/danielharris
Link – Liverpool v Atlético Madrid, PSG v Slovan Bratislava, Chelsea v Leeds United – live | Football | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T18:07:15.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/sep/09/liverpool-atletico-madrid-psg-slovan-bratislava-chelsea-leeds-united-live

Nope, the Feyenoord goal has been chalked off for offside, early in the move.

Right, let’s get the teams in our 8pm games – though Feyenoord have just pulled a goal back.

Ah, Raphinha has scored his second and Barca’s third – Pedri with the classy assist, a ball rolled through the middle exactly where he wants it, enabling him to move it away form the defender. That’s eight goals he’s got so far this season, in five games, and he’s looking like quite the centre-forward.

In our early games, Barcelona are 2-0 up at home to Feyenoord and and Stuttgart lead Viking 3-1.

Preamble

Sometimes, what a game shows is more important than what a game’s worth, and that might be so for Liverpool tonight. After a dreadful season under Arne Slot, they’ve gone into this with the same holes in the team unaddressed, an entirely new system to learn, and a manager inexperienced at elite level. It is not, therefore, surprising that they’ve made a spotty start to the season.

They do, though, boast a serious array of attacking talent that looked like it was starting to click at the weekend. Problem being, there’s a difference between looking good against Ipswich Town and looking good against even this version of Atlético Madrid, a team specifically constructed to ruin anything pleasant an opponent might attempt.

Nor is that the extent of them. In Julian Álvarez, they’ve an all-purpose forward of wit and technique, while Lee Kang-in is a very smart acquisition; both might fancy a go at Liverpool’s defence. And as such, though Andoni Iraola’s men could wear a defeat tonight, were they to win, it’d tell Europe – and even more importantly, themselves – that they’re not to be messed with.

If that was all we had going on, it’d be plenty, but it’s far from the case. PSG begin their quest for a third consecutive Big Ears against Slovan Bratislava, and we will of course, be updating from Napoli v Arsenal and Sporting v Galatasaray.

And, in the Rumbelows, we’ll be following a grudge match with violent roots, as Leeds visit Chelsea, which is to say we’ve another blinding night of our beloved football in prospect.

Kick-offs: 8pm BST

Keyword – Football
Trefwoorden – Champions League, Football, Sport, Napoli, Arsenal, European club football
Title – Napoli v Arsenal: Champions League – live | Champions League | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/scottmurray
Link – Napoli v Arsenal: Champions League – live | Champions League | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T18:02:11.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2026/sep/09/napoli-v-arsenal-champions-league-live-updates

Arsenal make four changes to their starting XI following the 2-1 victory over Chelsea. Typically, having just posted a large picture of Kai Havertz, he’s one of four players stood down, along with Myles Lewis-Skelly, Christos Tzolis and the increasingly influential Riccardo Calafiori. Piero Hincapié, Eberechi Eze, Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyökeres – the latter making his first start of the season – are in.

Napoli have a few faces familiar to Premier League fans in their starting XI. Billy Gilmour, formerly of Chelsea, Norwich and Brighton; Manchester City legend Kevin De Bruyne; and erstwhile Manchester United striker Rasmus Højlund. Scott McTominay, also once of Old Trafford, is out, having recently had successful surgery to treat an irregular heartbeat.

The teams

Napoli: Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Marin, Olivera, Gilmour, Lobotka, De Bruyne, Politano, Hojlund, Alisson Santos. Subs: Contini, Milinkovic-Savic, Favasuli, Badiashile, Neres, Lucca, Vergara, Beukema, Spinazzola.

Arsenal: Raya, White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie, Merino, Rice, Saka, Odegaard, Eze, Gyokeres. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Meslier, Tzolis, Madueke, Havertz, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Salmon.

Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)

Worry not, people. While this …

… meant this happened …

… Arsenal are in the house. As proof, here’s Kai Havertz arriving at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Not 100 percent sure the Louis Vuitton bag pairs well with the Adidas clobber. The lanyard definitely clashes.

Preamble

Arsenal came so close last time round. But now they’ve got that Premier League monkey off their back, perhaps this season will finally be their moment to fill that conspicuous big-eared gap on their roll of honour. Because having slaked their domestic thirst, they’ve spent the first few games of this campaign with supreme confidence, swanning around like they own the place, which at the moment they kind of do. Spirits are at an all-time high …

… and that’s before taking into consideration that near miss last season. Because while Arsenal’s 2025-26 Champions League tilt ended in despair, the bare facts are nevertheless something to take pride in: a 100-percent record in the league phase, unbeaten in regular time over the whole piece with a W11 D4 record, and the best defensive record (just seven goals conceded, nine clean sheets) of everyone. And having gone toe to toe with PSG, the best team in Europe, there’s little left to fear. Apart from perhaps another penalty shootout, that is, but that’s a bridge to cross sometime in the future.

Napoli by contrast have won just two of their last ten games in the Champions League, and failed to get past the league phase last year. They’ve lost their last three Champions League matches against English teams, and three of their four previous fixtures against Arsenal. And while the Gunners have started their domestic campaign thrillingly, Gli Azzurri have begun Serie A miserably, following up a home defeat to Como by frittering away a two-goal lead against Inter and coming away with nothing.

So all signs point to an opening victory for last year’s runners-up. And yet Mikel Arteta won’t be taking anything for granted, partly because that’s just not how he rolls, but mainly because he’s already tasted defeat in Naples as a player, getting himself sent off in the process . Oh Mikel! Kick-off at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona is at 8pm BST, 9pm local. It’s on!

Keyword – Science
Trefwoorden – Science, Palaeontology, Drugs, Indonesia, World news, Asia Pacific, Research, Higher education
Title – Indonesian foragers may have sucked on mind-altering nuts 25,000 years ago, research finds | Science | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/iansample
Link – Indonesian foragers may have sucked on mind-altering nuts 25,000 years ago, research finds | Science | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T18:00:02.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/sep/09/indonesian-foragers-mind-altering-nuts-research-finds

What may be the earliest known evidence for human drug taking has been traced to ancient Indonesian foragers who sucked on mind-altering nuts as long as 25,000 years ago.

Analysis of two exceptionally rare skeletons from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi revealed dramatic tooth wear and traces of a psychoactive substance in the individuals’ remaining teeth, suggesting they routinely sucked on hard, abrasive betel nuts.

Although little known in western societies, betel nuts are the world’s fourth most widely used psychoactive substance after alcohol, caffeine and nicotine, with an estimated tenth of the global population chewing the seeds.

“We’ve found evidence for how this very common drug use habit, which is found throughout a lot of the Asia-Pacific region today, might have evolved,” said Prof Adam Brumm at Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution in Brisbane.

The work began when the team examined skeletal remains of two pre-agricultural foragers unearthed at two different sites on the island. One was dated to about 7,000 years old, the other more ancient at 16,000 to 25,000 to years old.

Writing in Science Advances , the researchers describe how both adults had deep, rounded grooves in their teeth. Some went so deep they would have exposed the dental pulp. “I was thinking, what the hell were these people doing? It’s like someone had a drill head shaped like a gobstopper and wore away the inner part of the tooth,” said Brumm.

Betel nuts are actually the seeds of the Areca catechu palm, but are misnamed because they are often wrapped in betel vine leaves for chewing. Today, the nuts are typically chewed after being mixed with slaked lime made by grinding burnt shells to form a “quid”.

Brumm suspected the bizarre tooth wear was caused by the foragers holding hard, round and abrasive objects in their mouth, but what sort of object? “Imagine you kept a stone in your mouth and you moved it from one part of your mouth to another, and if you did that day after day, hour after hour. Eventually it would wear down your extremely hard dental tissue to form these grooves,” he said.

The team wondered whether the grooves were the result of foragers sucking on betel nuts before people realised that mixing the nuts with slaked lime helped release more of the psychoactive drug and intensify the “high”.

To test the hunch, the scientists soaked betel nuts in artificial saliva and found that it soon contained enough of the psychoactive compound arecoline to induce a high, albeit a milder one than when the nut is chewed. Analysis of the foragers’ teeth found traces of arecoline in the tissues.

“I’ve sucked on a nut as an experiment and it’s a really bitter, astringent taste. It makes your mouth go numb and I think that’s what they were interested in,” Brumm said.

“This might have been a traditional remedy for toothache, but if they did it for too long, sucking on the nut wore down their teeth so badly that it actually created much worse dental pain in the long term. These individuals were seemingly caught in a self-perpetuating cycle where they were continually sucking on the nuts to treat the tooth pain caused by this nut-sucking habit.”

While humans probably began using mind-altering plants as soon as they encountered them, the oldest traditions of psychoactive drug use are thought to have arisen about 13,000 years ago with fermented drinks such as barley beer.

Dr Elisa Guerra-Doce, an associate professor in European prehistory at the University of Valladolid in Spain, said the study provided “direct evidence of the antiquity of human drug use”.

“These findings not only represent the earliest known evidence to date of the use of psychoactive plants anywhere in the world, but also demonstrate that the consumption of Areca nuts is a millennia-old tradition dating back to prehistoric times,” she added.

Keyword – Sport
Trefwoorden – US Open Tennis 2026, Tennis, Coco Gauff, US Open tennis, Sport, US sports
Title – US Open 2026: Rybakina beats Zheng to take world No 1 spot, Andreeva v Gauff coming up – live | US Open Tennis 2026 | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/niall-mcveigh,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/katymurrells
Link – US Open 2026: Rybakina beats Zheng to take world No 1 spot, Andreeva v Gauff coming up – live | US Open Tennis 2026 | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T17:59:12.000Z
Category – Sport
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2026/sep/09/us-open-tennis-2026-quarter-finals-rybakina-zheng-andreeva-gauff-blockx-khachanov-live

Elena Rybakina beats Zheng Qinwen to become world No 1

Rybakina blasts through the first two points, but there is a twitch at 30-0 as she misfires into the net. A huge serve out wide proves unreturnable, though. Rybakina has two match points – and she claims victory, and the world No 1 ranking, when Zheng nets!

Final score: Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 4-6 Rybakina.

Rybakina breaks! Third set: Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 4-5 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

Having dug herself out of that hole, Zheng hits a wild effort out of court – and then a double fault as she is forced to be aggressive on second serve. It’s a real shame if Zheng goes out like that, but Rybakina will have new balls to serve this out.

Third set: Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 4-4 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

Now it’s Zheng’s turn to wobble, Rybakina’s vicious returns claiming the first two points – and she has three break points when Zheng nets. But Zheng saves all three, the last with a forehand winner down the line! Deuce …

Third set: *Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 4-4 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

If Zheng can break here, she would get the opportunity to serve out in the next game – and she earns a break point with a looping, two-handed backhand winner down the line! Zheng gets a look at a similar shot with Rybakina up at the net – but it lands inches long. From deuce, Rybakina powers through and we’re level again.

Third set: Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 4-3 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

An easier hold for Zheng here, the first serve firing with more accuracy. She holds to 15 when Rybakina can’t keep a cross-court effort in bounds.

Third set: *Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 3-3 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

Rybakina rattles through another quick hold to keep the pressure on Zheng; the No 2 seed is getting through her service games in this set at an average of two minutes.

Third set: Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 3-2 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

At 30-all, Zheng goes all-in with a ripping forehand that clips the baseline, but Rybakina hits back with a one-two punch, and Zheng offers up a break point as an overcooked shot drifts long. Rybakina gets her chance but misses the outside line with a floaty forehand. Zheng carves out the hold with a bit of serve-and-volley; she’s under more pressure on serve but is holding on.

Third set: *Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 2-2 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

Rybakina is back to her calm, controlled default mode and rolls through this service hold with little fuss.

There are six women left in the US Open draw, and they are ranked world Nos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 … and 121. But Zheng is, of course, much better than her injury-affected ranking suggests. Rybakina will become the new world No 1 if she wins this match but if she loses, and Gauff beats Andreeva, she’ll be in the strange position of hoping Zheng goes all the way in New York, in order to keep Sabalenka, Pegula or Gauff from taking top spot.

Third set: Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 2-1 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

Rybakina punishes a slightly mishit Zheng backhand with a ruthless winner down the line, but Zheng finds enough first-serve power to hold from 30-all.

Third set: *Zheng 6-3, 1-6, 1-1 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

An untimely double-fault at 30-0 up is the only blemish on Rybakina’s serve, as she holds with an ace.

Thanks, Katy. After Tuesday’s high drama, we’ve got another deciding set on our hands. Zheng needs to get a game on the board, and she does so by holding to 15.

Rybakina wins the second set 6-1

So Rybakina is serving for the set … she’s under pressure at 30-all … but is still able to swing freely as she crushes a cross-court forehand winner … and the set is secured with a serve out wide! Rybakina has responded to going a set down, and this match, as all four of yesterday’s quarter-finals did, is going. The. Distance. And Niall is here to guide you through the decider …

Rybakina breaks: Zheng 6-3, 1-5 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

So Rybakina holds on to her break – and is pushing and probing for a double break at 15-30 on Zheng’s serve. The pair trade a few moon balls before Rybakina injects more power and elicits the error. 15-40. Zheng finds a big first serve when it matters to fend off the first break point – before Rybakina strikes on the second, dealing with a net cord well to drill an unreturned forehand deep to Zheng’s left!

Second set: Zheng* 6-3, 1-4 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

Perhaps I am jumping the gun, because Zheng has a break-back point at 30-40 after Rybakina misses five first serves in a row … but Zheng doesn’t take it. Rybakina is back in a serving groove as she takes a short, sharp point at deuce and then crunches down a serve that Zheng can only frame towards the stands.

Second set: Zheng 6-3, 1-3 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

Alas, we won’t see another comeback from 5-0 down, because Zheng holds to love. Not getting too ahead of ourselves, but these two have already played two three-setters against each other this year, with Rybakina triumphing in both, on the clay in Madrid and the hard courts in Doha. But those were when Zheng was earlier in her return from elbow surgery. The former world No 4 has far more momentum on her side this time … but how much energy does she have left having played seven matches already as a qualifier?

Second set: Zheng* 6-3, 0-3 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

After their almost flawness numbers for the first half of the opening set, both players’ first-serve percentages has dropped below 50%. But Rybakina still finds a way to 40-15 in this game, before coughing up a third double fault and then balancing that out with an ace. Rybakina consolidates the break to lead 3-0 … but Zheng is probably enjoying this, hoping it’ll become 5-0 so she can do what she does best.

Rybakina breaks: Zheng 6-3, 0-2 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

I wonder if the fact that the world No 1 ranking is on the line today added to Rybakina’s agitation in that first set. As I said, it’s so unusual for her to show so much frustration on court. Zheng looks comfortable in this game at 40-15, but Rybakina comes back at her for deuce. Zheng is yet to be broken, but she’s having to work harder and harder for the holds, and it seems only a matter of time before Rybakina does secure a breakthrough. And it comes with a flat forehand bullet down the line … followed by another forehand winner, as Rybakina rips away the short ball! Game on.

Second set: Zheng* 6-3, 0-1 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

Zheng is in slightly unfamiliar territory here, having been the frontrunner throughout so far, rather than having to pull off any escape acts from 5-0 down . But Rybakina is serving first in the second set, and she doesn’t mess around, whizzing through to love and pinging away two aces in the process.

Zheng grabs an energy drink, munches on a banana, before taking her leave and walking off court. Rybakina, meanwhile, having lost her first set this tournament, is having a heated discussion with her coach. She doesn’t seem to agree with what he’s telling her to do. But she wasn’t far off in that set; she had five break points in that final game after all.

Zheng wins the first set 6-3!

… Rybakina, whose face hardly ever betrays any emotion on court, is now chuntering to herself and her coaching team … but it rouses her into action, as she saves another set point with a clean winner! But soon enough Zheng has set point No 4 … and the game is secured after 14 minutes (!!) – and with it the set – as Rybakina can’t get Zheng’s stinging serve down the T back into play! That game definitely matched yesterday’s drama.

The break means Zheng is serving for the first set … but her first serve deserts her. At 0-30 down she slides a timely second-serve ace out wide, but Rybakina pulls off the pass for two break-back points at 15-40. The first is fought off with an ace … and the second with a backhand bullet down the line! That was clutch hitting from Zheng. Deuce. Advantage Zheng, a first set point. Deuce, advantage Rybakina, a third BP. Deuce, advantage Rybakina, a fourth BP. My computer clearly can’t handle the pressure because it briefly freezes. When it starts behaving again, it’s BP No 5 … which Rybakina doesn’t take either …

Zheng breaks: Zheng* 5-3 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

Rybakina has won every point when she’s landed her first serve (Zheng has won all but one), and that record continues on the opening point, before Rybakina’s rhythm stutters, party because of a missed drive volley, and soon it’s 30-all. Zheng then zooms forward to the short ball, having worked so hard to wrest control in the rally after a serve that put her on the back foot, and it’s the first break point of this quarter-final at 30-40! Zheng inexplicably misses a backhand return off a second serve … but quickly puts aside that setback to create another break point … and this one she takes when Rybakina snatches at a forehand! Rybakina, so peerless on serve during this tournament, has been broken!

First set: Zheng 4-3 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

15-0, 30-0, 40-0, game. A second successive hold to love for Zheng, as the servers’ supremacy continues. Over on Court 12, Britain’s Andy Lapthorne has lost 6-2, 6-1 in the quad wheelchair singles after a tough first-round draw against the top seed and winner of all three grand slams so far this year, Niels Vink.

First set: Zheng* 3-3 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

The early proof in this match – if we needed it after Zheng’s wins over Keys and Swiatek in the previous two rounds – is that the 23-year-old is most definitely back in the mix, after her elbow surgery last year. So that’s great news for the women’s game – which is already so stacked at the top. And with Sabalenka, Rybakina, Pegula, Gauff and Andreeva remaining in the running for the title in New York, the world’s top five are still standing, in contrast to the men, with only Zverev and Shelton left from the top 10. Rybakina holds to 15 to level once more.

First set: Zheng 3-2 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

Zheng, now in the sun, puts Rybakina firmly in the shade as she zooms to 40-0. Make that game. Five games and no break points so far. Both are locked in on serve and, the way this opening set is going, it could well come down to just the one break – or a tie-break. Though they’ll be going some to match the drama of all of yesterday’s breakers.

First set: Zheng* 2-2 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

Rybakina won 90% of her first-serve points in her 6-1, 6-4 demolition of Osaka and she’s yet to drop a point on serve in this quarter-final, gliding to 30-0. A netted forehand in response to Zheng’s return, however, ends the Russian-born Kazakhstani’s perfect record … and perhaps that’s on her mind on the next point, because she throws in her first double fault. Zheng can’t capitalise on the 30-all opportunity, conceding the rally cheaply when she blinks on her backhand, and another errant strike beyond the baseline allows Rybakina to hold.

First set: Zheng 2-1 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

Rybakina possesses the superior serve – it’s arguably the best in the business – but Zheng can match Rybakina’s easy power from the back of the court, which she does to get to 40-15. With Zheng’s half of the court entirely in the shade and Rybakina’s in the sun, it’s hard to follow the course of the ball on television, but no such problems for Zheng on court, as she asserts her authority from deuce for another hold.

First set: Zheng* 1-1 Rybakina (*denotes next server)

Zheng shaded the support in the opening game; the Chinese player is so popular wherever she goes. So the crowd is a little quieter as Rybakina races through her first service game to love. Both these players are used to the big stage and they’ve settled in quickly here.

First set: Zheng 1-0 Rybakina* (*denotes next server)

There are no signs of any early stage fright from Zheng – who’s appearing in her third consecutive US Open quarter-final (surprisingly it’s a first for Rybakina) – as she zips to 30-0 on serve. She’s then smart to Rybakina’s short, angled backhand on the third point … as she sprints forward and dispatches a backhand winner down the line. And she claims an assured opening hold to love when Rybakina rams a forehand just long.

Rybakina made quite a statement in the last 16 too , when she was virtually flawless against Naomi Osaka, and she has the double motivation today of wanting to break new ground by reaching the US Open semi-finals and securing the world No 1 ranking. Beat Zheng and Rybakina is guaranteed to knock Aryna Sabalenka off the summit and claim the top spot for the first time in her career.

Rybakina has won four of her five meetings with Zheng, including two three-set victories this year . But Zheng was earlier in her comeback from elbow surgery then, the 2024 Olympic champion is a totally different proposition now, carrying the momentum of seven successive match wins in New York having come through qualifying – and the belief she can turn around any deficit after coming from 5-0 down in sets against both Madison Keys in the third round and Iga Swiatek in the last 16.

Here come Zheng and Rybakina , Zheng stepping on to court wearing headphones, not that there’s much noise to drown out yet at 11.35am New York time. Both already look extremely focused with their game faces on.

Already today: Britain’s Gregory Slade and Andy Lapthorne are under way in the wheelchair quad singles first round, with Slade an early break down, 2-0, against Argentina’s Gonzalo Lazarte and Lapthorne on serve at 2-2 against the top seed Niels Vink. Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid play later, as do several Brits in the men’s doubles: Henry Patten with Finland’s Harri Heliovaara (the Wimbledon champs), Joe Salisbury with the American Rajeev Ram, and Neal Skupski with another American, Christian Harrison. And Skupski (last year’s runner-up) and Harrison get to close the schedule on Arthur Ashe tonight.

Plus yesterday’s other reports:

And Andrew Lawrence’s view from Flushing Meadows too:

Here’s Tumaini’s take on the match, which he probably wrote with matchsticks propping up his eyelids:

As for Shelton, the greatest win of his career leaves him with a semi-final against his friend/Big Foe. If he can recharge for Friday – and it’s a big if – he has the weapons to outgun Tiafoe, with an American finalist guaranteed. Come Sunday, perhaps we’ll even stop talking about Andy Roddick in 2003 and that Great American Drought for the men.

So where does Alcaraz’s dethroning leave him? Given it was his first tournament in four and a half months, and he was able to play without any pain in his right wrist, he’s still viewing it as a successful fortnight that he can build on. “As I said before the tournament, my expectation was to go there, compete, play in these kind of matches for me being healthy,” he said after his defeat. “It was close. So I’m not going to be disappointed about don’t getting the win at the end. I’m just happy, proud about myself, about how I fought. I leave the court with a smile, healthy, and this is what I needed.” And that’s good news for tennis – because it just hasn’t been the same without him this summer.

Today’s order of play – Arthur Ashe

11.30am New York/4.30pm BST

Women’s singles quarter-final Zheng Qinwen (Chn) v Elena Rybakina (Kaz, 2)

Women’s singles quarter-final Mirra Andreeva (5) v Coco Gauff (US, 4)

Men’s singles quarter-final Karen Khachanov v Alexander Blockx (Bel, 28)

7.30pm New York/12.30am BST

Men’s singles quarter-final Alexander Zverev (Ger, 1) v Botic van de Zandschulp (Ned)

Men’s doubles quarter-final Simone Bolelli (It, 4) and Andrea Vavassori (It, 4) v Christian Harrison (US, 5) and Neal Skupski (GB, 5)

Preamble

Hello and welcome to our coverage of the US Open day 11 – which begins less than eight hours after Ben Shelton struck his final ace to take out Carlos Alcaraz on day 10. Are you ready for some more tennis? Of course you are!

This may be the city that never sleeps but the 3.33am finish – the latest in the tournament’s history and the fourth time this fortnight that play stretched beyond 2am – once again raises questions about the demands tennis places on its athletes. But organisers could not have foreseen the day’s extraordinary drama, with all four quarter-finals on Arthur Ashe going the distance, lasting a combined total of nearly 14 hours, and three being decided in a final-set tie-break. From Aryna Sabalenka’s high-quality win over the Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, to the two American derbies as Frances Tiafoe came back from two sets down against Alex Michelsen and Jessica Pegula pulled off a recovery of her own against Emma Navarro, to that climax as Alcaraz’s title defence came to an end, the spectacle never let up. I can’t remember another day of tennis quite like it.

And now here we go again, with another compelling cast list and plenty of sub plots. Elena Rybakina faces Zheng Qinwen knowing she must never, ever take a 5-0 lead over the Olympic champion if she wants to secure the quarter-final win that will wrest the world No 1 ranking from Sabalenka; Coco Gauff takes on Mirra Andreeva in the battle of the former prodigies turned grand slam champions (if you can call Andreeva a former prodigy at the age of 19); Alexander Blockx , the new kid on the, erm, block, plays the resurgent Russian Karen Khachanov – though there are concerns about Blockx’s fitness after a painful rib injury in the last 16; and Alexander Zverev will be working the night session once more, with Botic van de Zandschulp , but the French Open champ does have the comfort of knowing that for the second time in three slams he won’t have to come up against an Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner-shaped wall if he’s to win the title.

Play gets under way: at 11.30am New York time/4.30pm BST. So you’ve just about got time to prepare 23 coffees and then let’s do this!

Keyword – Politics
Trefwoorden – Foreign policy, West Bank, Judaism, Politics, Religion, UK news, World news, Israel, Palestine
Title – Senior UK rabbis come out in support of sanctions on Israeli settlements | Foreign policy | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/aamna-mohdin
Link – Senior UK rabbis come out in support of sanctions on Israeli settlements | Foreign policy | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T17:57:14.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/09/senior-uk-rabbis-come-out-in-support-of-sanctions-on-israeli-settlements

Prominent British rabbis have backed Ed Miliband’s sanctions on Israeli settlements, warning that the time for inaction on settler violence must come to an end.

The intervention comes after the UK’s chief rabbi, the spiritual leader of mainstream Orthodox Jews in the UK, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, described UK sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories as a “dark day for British Jews” and warned they could embolden people who “use hatred as a weapon against Jews”.

The sanctions were also condemned by the Board of Deputies of British Jews and The Jewish Leadership council.

But other senior rabbis, many from the progressive wing of the community, have since come forward to stress the diversity of views within the British Jewish community, with some backing Miliband’s sanctions, while others warned that concern about the measures should not become an excuse for ignoring settler violence and expansion, and others calling for the government to go further.

Jonathan Wittenberg, a senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism , said he was in the Palestinian village of Umm al Khair while Miliband was delivering his speech, and had seen the results of settler violence “with my own eyes”.

“What is taking place today in the West Bank is a Chillul HaShem, a violation of God’s name of the worst order. We cannot stay silent. This is terrible for Palestinian people who want to get on with their lives in peace. It is terrible for Israel,” he said.

Wittenberg added: “We must speak out. We must do so out of deep concern for what is human and just, and for the sake of Israel and Judaism. We cannot turn away.”

While he acknowledged that the British Jewish community does not have to agree with everything the British government chooses to do, he said: “The time is for action.”

Rabbi Alexandra Wright from The Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London, and vice-chair of the British Friends of Rabbis for Human Rights, said while not everyone in the community will support the sanctions, action was needed as “the occupation and escalating violence are harming Palestinians and Israelis”.

She said: “The sanctions are the UK’s commitment to a two-state solution. The Anglo-Jewish community is committed to a Jewish state that is founded, not on oppression and violence, but, in the words of Israel’s declaration of independence, ‘on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel’.”

Wright, who had also recently visited the Palestinian village Umm al-Khair, which has faced relentless attacks by Israeli settlers, called on the Jewish community to “not hold back any progression towards a two-state solution”.

Jeremy Gordon, the rabbi of New London Synagogue, who came out in favour of Miliband’s sanctions, said: “It is wrong to argue for silence, inaction or ‘the use of carrots’ – appeasement – before the settler movement and those who support it. The playbook of these settlers is predicated on the notion that they will be appeased or ignored, and that well-meaning Jews the world over overlook their illegal and criminal actions.”

Lev Taylor, rabbi of Kingston Liberal Synagogue in London, described the sanctions as a sign “the government is moving in the right direction”. He added: “Some of my Israeli members have been campaigning for sanctions exactly like this … The Judaism in which I believe repudiates this brutal occupation.”

He pointed to the statements from Israeli member of the Knesset Gilad Kariv, who said: “The blame for the European countries’ announcement of sanctions falls squarely on the shoulders of Netanyahu, Smotrich, Katz, and Sa’ar.”

There is also some consternation within the Orthodox community at the suggestion that British Jews are uniformly opposed to the sanctions.

Miliband, the foreign secretary announced sweeping sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday, with the government taking the position that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory was unlawful.

The measures were coordinated with France, Canada and nine other countries that were also introducing sanctions on Israel over the increasing expansion of settlements, which the UK government says is threatening the future of a Palestinian state.

Jonathan Boyd, executive director for Institute for Jewish Policy Research, explained there are no robust survey data on whether British Jews support sanctions on Israeli settlements specifically. “However, the available evidence shows that views on Israeli government policy and the conflict are quite diverse, varying by age, denomination and political outlook.

“At the same time, they also show that most British Jews feel a strong emotional attachment to Israel and have become increasingly concerned about antisemitism in Britain since October 7.”

Rabbi Charley Baginsky and Rabbi Josh Levy, co-leaders of Progressive Judaism, which represents about one-third of Jews affiliated to synagogues and estimates the same proportion of non-affiliated Jews share its values, described sanctions as a “clumsy tool” that could have unintended consequences. They warned that “measures directed at Israeli settlements are not the same as an attack on Jews. We should take care not to collapse the distinction between them.”

They called on those against sanctions to offer more than statements condemning violence, adding, “inaction is not neutral. It too is a political and moral choice.”

Wittenberg, Baginsky and Levy all asserted their opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and welcomed Miliband’s stance against it.

Tuesday’s sanctions announcement prompted a swift backlash from Israel, which ordered the closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem and banned 12 British MPs and activists from entering Israel.

Washington’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, threatened that the US could take retaliatory action over trade, but the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said the US would “obviously” not follow the UK government’s actions but did not want to see the West Bank destabilised.

The UK foreign secretary said he regretted what the Israeli government had announced but was “proud of what we did yesterday and it was the right thing to do”.

Miliband accepted the closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem would be “damaging” but said the government had “weighed up the costs and benefits in advance of this”.

Keyword – UK news
Trefwoorden – Immigration and asylum, Migration, Refugees, Charities, Far right, UK news, Portsmouth, Voluntary sector
Title – Police working to protect RNLI in Dorset amid opposition to small boat rescues | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/stevenmorris
Link – Police working to protect RNLI in Dorset amid opposition to small boat rescues | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T17:56:13.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/09/their-boat-was-sinking-rnli-vows-to-keep-rescuing-asylum-seekers-despite-attacks

Three police forces on the south coast of England are working to protect lifeboat volunteers, staff and buildings from rightwing activists who blame the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for helping asylum seekers to land on the British coast.

Dozens of Dorset officers were posted outside the charity’s headquarters in Poole on Wednesday evening as about 50 people gathered to protest against the RNLI’s involvement in the small boats crisis.

Hampshire police were patrolling RNLI sites amid fears that people and assets may be targeted, while the Sussex force was investigating “offensive and threatening” remarks made on social media.

The RNLI has vowed to continue to rescue asylum seekers in the Channel despite attacks from rightwing activists after its involvement in a rescue on Sunday in which a dinghy carrying asylum seekers was brought into Portsmouth.

RNLI bosses said workers had been subjected to online and physical abuse and there had been “baseless” rumours that the charity had housed asylum seekers or moved them to secret locations after helping them to shore.

The charity emphasised that responding to small boats was only a tiny percentage of its work and updated its webpage explaining its work in the Channel , which includes powerful testimonies from volunteers involved in the operations.

The protest outside the RNLI’s headquarters was attended by groups including the Poole Patriots and Hampshire Resistance.

Leaders handed out rape alarms to women, claiming they were at risk from men brought into the UK by the RNLI, and called for people to stop donating to the charity.

Mandy Ward, a member of Hampshire Resistance, claimed the RNLI was being compromised by its work with small boats in the Channel. “They are acting as a taxi service to people who are not in distress at all.”

Marianne said she had donated to the RNLI for decades but had cancelled her subscription. “It breaks my heart to do that but I’m disgusted that the government is using the RNLI like this. It’s not what the RNLI is there to do.”

Steve, a former soldier, said: “I’m urging people to stop funding them. It’s a shame – we need the lifeboats but we must stop this invasion.”

Images of some RNLI crew members who were apparently involved in the operation on Sunday have been published on social media with the accusation that they were complicit in an “invasion” of the UK.

Sussex police said: “We are aware of offensive and threatening commentary towards RNLI volunteers circulating on social media. We are proactively supporting our partners in the RNLI regarding the safety of their staff and volunteers. Investigations are ongoing to establish if there are any criminal offences in the social media content.”

An RNLI staff member in Poole, who asked not to be named, said security had been stepped up. “I think it’s fair to say that lots of people who work and volunteer for the RNLI are feeling nervous at the moment. Most people who work here believe in what the RNLI stands for and it’s upsetting to see our work attacked by a few people.”

A second said: “There’s also been lots of support and promises of donations from people who want to make the point that they think we are doing the right thing.”

Peter Sparkes, the RNLI chief executive, said that for more than 200 years the RNLI had rescued people without judgment, fear or favour. “Yet [staff and volunteers] and their families are being threatened by those who would hide behind a balaclava or a keyboard. Their action, in contrast, is wholly unacceptable in a civilised society.”

Sparkes said rumours that the RNLI housed asylum seekers on its premises, or that there were RNLI missions to move migrants to secret locations were “completely baseless and untrue”.

The charity said RNLI lifeboats launched 9,058 times in 2025 but only 109 of those were to small boats in the Channel, representing 1.2% of its rescue work.

It said almost 95% of those who crossed the Channel in small boats last year were picked up by the UK Border Force.

One of the testimonies on the RNLI’s small boats webpage came from Dan, a volunteer helm at Walmer lifeboat station in Kent. He said: “One thing I would like people to understand is that these people genuinely need our help.”

Speaking about one rescue in the Channel, he said: “We launched to an overcrowded, unseaworthy small boat that was taking on water. One family was so scared. They were screaming. Their boat was sinking in front of their eyes. It was a horrible, horrible situation.

“We managed to rescue that family. We stopped them from drowning. There was a little girl on the boat. She looked me straight in the eye and said: ‘I love you, thank you.’ As a father, that went straight to my heart. That rescue cemented in my head that what we are doing as an organisation is exactly the right thing.”

Paula, a volunteer lifeboat crew member at Dover, described another Channel rescue: “When I arrived on scene, it was a shock. There were people in the water, some disappearing under the water.

“There was this man holding on to the edge of the boat. He had no strength left. I leant over, lay on my front and I grabbed his arms, and he had no strength to hold me. I looked into his face and his eyes were wide, his face was grey. He was so scared.

“I just knew that if I let him go, he wouldn’t be there. I also knew that there was absolutely no way I was going to let him go. I held on to him and I called for help from my colleagues, and together we pulled him to safety.”

The charity said it responded to small boats in the Channel when HM Coastguard reported that people might be in danger at sea.

It continued: “International maritime law outlines that any vessel that becomes aware of people in distress at sea, must take all reasonable measures to assist. All small boats crossing the Channel are classed as being in distress.

“The RNLI is one of several declared search and rescue capability providers and, under long-established procedures, RNLI volunteer crews respond to anyone at risk of drowning, regardless of who they are or how they came to be in difficulty.

“The men, women and children who find themselves in distress and sinking in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes are no exception. Our crews will go to their aid today when tasked, just like generations of lifeboat crews have done before them, in wartime and peace.

The charity rejected the accusation that it was a “taxi service” for asylum seekers. “We are not. HM Coastguard coordinates maritime search and rescue operations around the UK. Our lifeboat crews are tasked to assist people who are in difficulty, both in the Channel and around the coast of the UK.

“RNLI crews launch to the rescue, doing everything they can to save lives, without any thought to where the people they rescue are travelling from, nor their migrant status.”

The febrile atmosphere on the south coast was illustrated when rightwing activists arrived at a hotel in Portsmouth on Tuesday believing that asylum seekers were being housed there, only to find they were a cricket team from Pakistan.

Keyword – World news
Trefwoorden – Uganda, Invictus Games, Prince Harry, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, Africa, Sport, World news, Monarchy, UK news
Title – Uganda to withdraw from Invictus Games ‘out of respect for King Charles’, says military chief | Uganda | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/carolinedavies
Link – Uganda to withdraw from Invictus Games ‘out of respect for King Charles’, says military chief | Uganda | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T17:51:59.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/09/uganda-withdraws-invictus-games-out-of-respect-king-charles

Uganda is withdrawing from the Duke of Sussex’s Invictus Games , the country’s military chief said, out of respect for King Charles amid division over the “Harry-Meghan nonsense”.

Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, son of the Ugandan president, made the surprise announcement in a post on X on Wednesday.

Kainerugaba wrote: “In order not to be construed as being opposed to His Majesty King Charles III of the United Kingdom, whom we deeply revere, Uganda hereby withdraws from the Invictus Games. We shall not participate in anything that does not have His Majesty’s approval.”

The timing of the post suggests it may be in response to an official letter to UK senior government and military officials on behalf of Charles which reiterated the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not working royals and would not use their HRH styles.

When asked by the Times about what had motivated the move, Kainerugaba is reported to have said: “I have factions in the Ministry of Defence that support that Harry-Meghan nonsense. I had to quash it straight away. I support the monarch. Period.”

The news, first reported by Uganda Pulse news website, will undoubtedly be a blow to Harry, who two months ago stood alongside Uganda’s defence minister, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, at an Invictus Games event in London to announce that the East African nation would be the 26th country to enter the multi-sport event for wounded service personnel.

At the time, Kiwanuka credited President Museveni for his “visionary leadership” and Kainerugaba, a Sandhurst graduate, for “championing our teams entry” adding their support “marks a new chapter for our service men and women.”

The decision to withdraw may be an unintended consequence of the official letter, issued on Monday by head of the royal household , the lord chamberlain, Richard Benyon, at Charles’s behest, and clarifying the position of the Sussexes after their return to the UK two weeks ago.

The letter directed that the couple were “no longer working members of the royal family”, that their charitable work “is a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity,” and “their position is akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.”

Kainerugaba was appointed army chief in 2024, and is widely seen as his 81-year-old father’s successor to the presidency. He has made several provocative posts on X, including threats to invade neighbouring Kenya, demands that Jay-Z hand over his wife Beyoncé so he could marry her, and threats against Bobi Wine, Museveni’s principal political rival.

The Invictus Games and representatives for the Duke of Sussex have been approached for comment.

Keyword – US news
Trefwoorden – US news, Donald Trump, Republicans, US politics, JD Vance, US midterm elections 2026
Title – Trump center stage at midterm convention as Democrats accuse Republicans of ‘working to rig’ election – live | US news | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/tom-ambrose,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/lucy-campbell,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/christopher-hippensteel,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/oliver-milman,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/davidsmith,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/victoria-namkung
Link – Trump center stage at midterm convention as Democrats accuse Republicans of ‘working to rig’ election – live | US news | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T17:50:24.000Z
Category – News
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/sep/09/donald-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-jd-vance-midterms-latest-news-updates

Democrats accuse Republicans of ‘working to rig’ midterms

JB Pritzker has taken the microphone a few more times for the Democrats in Texas, fielding questions from reporters. He’s accused Republicans stumping for Trump of “bootlicking”, and alleged that Trump’s efforts to enact restriction on mail-in voting amount to a promise to end fair elections in the future.

“If Democrats don’t win, if they don’t win in this election, we may not have other elections,” Pritzker said. “Or certainly we’re going to have future elections, every single one of which will be rigged.”

Pritzker leveled a similar allegation earlier in the press conference. Republicans, he said, are seeking other ways to win the midterms to compensate for waning voter support for President Trump and his policies.

“Republicans know that they can’t win on the merits of their unpopular policies, so they’re working to rig the 2026 election,”

Elsewhere this morning, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro , made it clear that she does not want to talk about the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool .

The former Fox News host was taking questions at a justice department news conference announcing enforcement actions taken against a Chinese scam marketplace. The reporter had barely begun asking his question about the reflecting pool before Pirro shut him down.

NO! … No, and no. Who wants to know about this? How many times do I have to say no? I am not talking about that. Anyone want to talk about this case?

You can watch the clip here .

In the last few months, Pirro butted heads with Donald Trump over the apparently never-ending reflecting pool drama .

After Trump repeatedly accused “vandals” of damaging the pool, Pirro’s office accused former US Olympian David Hearn of vandalism, but later dropped the charges after investigators found the damage was actually the result of shoddy construction work, not vandalism.

The whole affair irritated Trump, who publicly criticized Pirro for “folding like an umbrella”. He said he was “really disappointed in her” and suggested that he hadn’t made a decision on whether to remove her from her post.

Texas Republican in race for key House seat under fire for derogatory comments

A Republican candidate for a key congressional district in Texas has come under scrutiny over a series of derogatory comments made about women in his social media posts and videos.

Brandon Herrera , who is the GOP candidate for Texas’s 23rd congressional district, has made a string of insults while fashioning a rightwing online persona as the “AK Guy”, and hosts a YouTube channel with more than 4 million subscribers that tests and reviews firearms.

The comments, first reported by CNN , include Herrera taking aim at people he opposes politically, and women. In a 2023 video, he said that a gun range dummy’s empty head was “full of mush – much like the average Austin feminist”, and in a separate 2024 video, he likened the weight of “angry blue-haired” feminists to that of orca whales and elephants.

In 2020, Herrera filmed himself firing a gun at bottles of ranch dressing and, after they exploded, rubbing the condiment on to himself and declaring that this would “make me irresistible to the fat bitches”. While discussing the merits of a car on X in 2023, Herrera opined that “4 doors means more whores”.

Other groups have also been the focus of Herrera’s online content. In 2020, while firing a gun at a ham , Herrera said that while purchasing a ham for target practice was expensive, it was “still cheaper than a homeless person”.

This isn’t the first time that Herrera has come under scrutiny. In 2024, during a run for Congress, Herrera said: “I am not, nor have I never [sic] been, a neo-Nazi” after describing a Nazi-era gun as “the original ghetto blaster”. The Republican Jewish Coalition condemned him at the time as “a goose-stepping extremist”.

Herrera said that all these comments were jokes, and took aim at his opponent in this November’s midterm election, Democrat Katy Padilla Stout . “It’s disappointing that CNN would allow someone to allege that jokes about feminism lead to violence when Stout is fighting to return children to the parent convicted of abusing them,” Herrera said in a statement to CNN, referring to a case in which Stout was appointed as a defense attorney for a father seeking to restore parental rights after a domestic abuse allegation.

Asked to comment on his previous statements made online, Herrera said via his campaign that it was “disappointing” that “alleged journalists” would “ignore” the Stout case. He did not reference his own past statements.

The past comments could add to Republicans’ challenge of holding on to the US House of Representatives seat. Herrera is attempting to replace Tony Gonzales , a Republican lawmaker who resigned in April amid a House ethics committee investigation into his relationship with a former aide.

While Democrats have not prevailed in this district since 2015, the party has recently added it to its target list and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has sent funding to Stout, a former teacher and attorney, in what is expected to be a strong year for Democrats amid rising voter dissatisfaction with Donald Trump .

Donald Trump often brings up September 11 , the devastating al-Qaida attack that struck his home town New York City almost 25 years ago.

His recollections of that day have repeatedly included exaggerations and falsehoods – including this week, when he shared an anecdote at a White House event commemorating the attacks that appears to be untrue.

Ahead of the anniversary on Friday, my colleague Chris Stein has compiled some of the ways Trump has stretched the truth about September 11, beginning shortly after the attacks and continuing into his second presidential term:

A final outtake from the Democrats’ press conference ahead of the GOP midterm convention: Kendall Scudder, the chairman of the Texas Democrats, made an impassioned defense of Jasmine Crockett, the Texas congresswoman who lost the party’s Senate primary. Some Democrats have said Crockett isn’t doing enough to rally voters around the current Democratic Senate nominee, James Talarico, who bested Crockett in that contest.

“I think y’all need to get off Congresswoman Crockett’s case, OK,” Scudder told a reporter in the crowd. “The day after the election, she endorsed James Talarico. She is a phenomenal team player as a member of our delegation while we’re able to have her, and she has been a team player for years.”

Pressed on a timeline for a potential decision to run for president, Pritzker kept things vague.

“First of all, I’m running for re-election as governor, and I do want to serve as governor of the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “And any decisions that get made after that are going to be about whatever’s best for the people of our state.”

Democrats accuse Republicans of ‘working to rig’ midterms

JB Pritzker has taken the microphone a few more times for the Democrats in Texas, fielding questions from reporters. He’s accused Republicans stumping for Trump of “bootlicking”, and alleged that Trump’s efforts to enact restriction on mail-in voting amount to a promise to end fair elections in the future.

“If Democrats don’t win, if they don’t win in this election, we may not have other elections,” Pritzker said. “Or certainly we’re going to have future elections, every single one of which will be rigged.”

Pritzker leveled a similar allegation earlier in the press conference. Republicans, he said, are seeking other ways to win the midterms to compensate for waning voter support for President Trump and his policies.

“Republicans know that they can’t win on the merits of their unpopular policies, so they’re working to rig the 2026 election,”

A leading Democratic organiser in Texas has called on Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett to “get on the team” and support James Talarico in the election for the US Senate. Wendy Davis, president of Blueprint Texas, a political action committee that aims to flip down-ballot races, told a Bloomberg roundtable in Dallas on Wednesday that “there will need to be work done” to ensure that Black and Latino voters turn out in November. Democrats are struggling to reunite after Talarico, who is white, defeated Crockett, who is African American, in a hard-fought Senate primary election earlier this year. Talarico now faces the scandal-haunted Republican Ken Paxton. Davis said: “I wish it were the case that Jasmine Crockett had come out strongly for James and campaigned for him. “I think that could have a very beneficial impact for him but it’s not just about him; it’s about the state and we need to be all hands on deck to make sure that our candidates have the best chance to succeed. I don’t know if she’ll do that as we come into these final weeks but I certainly hope so because she has a lot of respect and people pay attention to her opinions and positions. I just hope she’ll get on the team and help make that happen.” Asked why she believes Crockett has not yet fully joined the effort, Davis, a former state senator, replied: “I don’t know; I can’t answer for her; I’ve never had a tough primary. That was a tough primary and I think there was some bruising along the way. I’m sure there has been some pain associated with that. I don’t know what her process has been to work through that but there’s likely some difficulties that remain as a consequence of that. Just guessing.”

Local Texas Democrats speaking to reporters in Dallas have repeatedly brought up Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting push, which Donald Trump heavily pushed for, as an example of presidential overreach. That move saw the state’s congressional maps redrawn in 2025 to make district lines more favorable to the GOP, likely securing the party extra seats in the midterms.

The redistricting effort in Texas was the first shot in a redistricting war that has seen congressional maps redrawn across the country, with both Democrats and Republicans carving up districts in an effort to win more seats.

Illinois governor attacks Republican party as ‘self-dealing, racist, misogynist grifters’

Democrats are holding a press conference in Texas ahead of the GOP’s Dallas-based midterm convention.

JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, was just speaking to the assembled reporters. He lambasted the Trump administration for, in his words, launching a war on Iran that worsened inflation, for trying to undermine voting rights, and for engaging in corruption and self-dealing – lines of attack we can expect to hear frequently through the midterms.

“Republicans are lying, and they’re corrupt,” Pritzker said.

He continued: “I’m done pretending that these self-dealing, racist, misogynist grifters are an aberration of the Republican party. They are the mainstream of the Republican party now.”

Pritzker, a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, notably faced off with Trump when the President sent a legion of ICE agents – and later the national guard – to target to the city in a mass deportation operation in 2025.

What to expect at tonight’s GOP convention in Dallas

Republicans are descending on Dallas today to prepare for an unconventional midterm convention, convened at Donald Trump’s request, to try to rally the party ahead of a testy midterm election. The US president himself is slated to take the stage twice during the convention’s two-day run, as well as JD Vance, top congressional Republicans and several members of Trump’s cabinet.

The convention’s first night will kick off at 3pm, local time. Among the speakers on deck are Steve Scalise, the House majority leader; Mehmet Oz, the television personality turned head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; the Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton; and Scott Bessent, Trump’s treasury secretary. Expect plenty of breaks in between for music and hype videos.

All of it will build up to Trump’s keynote address, scheduled for after 8pm.

Americares, a non-profit that delivers medical supplies and other aid to poverty- and disaster-stricken parts of the world, received a record $50m donation in light of cuts to US foreign aid programs.

Donald Trump has taken a hatchet to US-funded foreign aid programs in his second term, including the dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development. Those cuts have left non-profits scrambling to make up for canceled funds and programs covering food and medical aid, in addition to other kinds of assistance, around the world.

The $50m donation, announced on Wednesday, is the largest in Americares’ history, the organization said in a statement. It will go toward expanding access to critical medicines in the countries Americares serves.

Nebraska’s governor, a backer of Trump’s immigration crackdown, employed undocumented immigrants, report finds

Nebraska’s Republican governor, a staunch conservative who has backed Trump’s mass deportation campaign, has employed undocumented immigrants in his massive pork production business, a report published by the Flatwater Free Press and the New York Times found.

The governor, Jim Pillen, rose to prominence as the founder of Pillen Family Farms, now one of the country’s biggest pork producers. He won Nebraska’s governorship in 2022, and more recently he has embraced and aided Trump’s deportation crackdown.

But according to the Times and Flatwater Free Press’ reporting, at least 20 hog farms under Pillen Family Farms relied on labor from the same undocumented workers Trump is pushing to deport en masse.

Pillen has echoed Trump’s rhetoric on immigration as he runs for re-election, facing off against Democratic nominee Lynne Walz.

Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Brexit, European Union, Politics, UK news, Nigel Farage, Reform UK, Andy Burnham, Labour, Europe, Trade policy
Title – The Guardian view on UK-EU relations: voters would reward greater ambition | Editorial | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/editorial
Link – The Guardian view on UK-EU relations: voters would reward greater ambition | Editorial | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T17:40:47.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/09/the-guardian-view-on-uk-eu-relations-voters-would-reward-greater-ambition

Modesty is not a trait commonly associated with Nigel Farage. Something else must explain the Reform UK leader’s reluctance to talk about what is undoubtedly his biggest achievement.

Few individuals can boast of having influenced British politics as drastically as Mr Farage, with his record of campaigning for Brexit before that word was even coined. He will for ever be associated with the demand for emancipation from Brussels, but is rarely heard celebrating its completion. It barely earned a mention in speeches at his party’s annual conference last week. The simple reason is that none of the promises made about the benefits of life outside the EU have been fulfilled. Leaving made the country poorer , and voters know it.

Opinion polls routinely show that a majority are dissatisfied with the way Brexit has turned out. In a survey published this week by the thinktank British Future, 57% of respondents judged it to be “more a failure than a success”. Only 21% took the opposite view. There were also clear majorities in favour of closer ties when it comes to trade, defence and even health policy; 57% support a youth-mobility scheme for 18- to 30-year-olds, restoring some of the opportunities to live and work abroad that were curtailed by departure from the EU.

Those attitudes should not be confused with appetite for a complete reversal, still less a referendum to make it happen. Memories of a divisive campaign and exit process are a powerful deterrent against relitigating the question all over again.

But the balance of public opinion is skewed against the enterprise that defined Mr Farage’s political ascent and was enacted with fervour by the Conservative party. The ideological parents of Brexit are understandably embarrassed by their progeny.

That presents Andy Burnham with an opportunity. The prime minister has said he wants to be “ bolder ” in pursuing a closer EU relationship. He has permission from the electorate to do just that. He inherited a European “reset” from his predecessor, but it was advancing slowly. The scope of potential agreement was also limited by Labour’s 2024 election manifesto, ruling out single market and customs union membership.

Mr Burnham inherits that mandate too, and has indicated his intention to adhere to it. A UK-EU summit to advance cooperation in a range of areas – trade in agricultural goods, energy, defence and security, youth mobility – was due in July. Sir Keir’s departure led to a postponement . It has not yet been rescheduled. Technical negotiations have continued under the new government, but there is not much sense of political urgency coming from either side. That must change.

A new prime minister’s in-tray is always busy. The EU is a slow-moving apparatus. There are few incentives to grant favours to the UK when the terms of the existing Brexit deal are skewed in Brussels’ favour. Without infusions of political will from No 10, inertia will prevail.

Meanwhile, the case for closer UK-EU cooperation gets ever more compelling with each act of vandalism perpetrated by Donald Trump against the transatlantic alliance and international trading system . This strategic imperative is something the public can understand and that ideological Brexiters refuse to see. If Mr Burnham has the imagination and courage to outline an ambitious new model of UK-EU relations, he will have the majority of British voters on his side.

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Keyword – Opinion
Trefwoorden – Venezuela, Trump administration, Donald Trump, Oil, Delcy Rodríguez, US foreign policy, Americas, US news, World news
Title – The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s oil deal: Venezuela pays for his vanity | Editorial | The Guardian
Author – https://www.theguardian.com/profile/editorial
Link – The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s oil deal: Venezuela pays for his vanity | Editorial | The Guardian
Publish date – 2026-09-09T17:39:43.000Z
Category – Opinion
URL – https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/09/the-guardian-view-on-donald-trumps-oil-deal-venezuela-pays-for-his-vanity

I mperialism does not require a flag to be planted or a governor dispatched. It can be a powerful nation deciding who governs a smaller, weaker country, and on what terms and for whose benefit its resources will be developed. Donald Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, putting his deputy – Delcy Rodríguez – in his place as president, and then her signing a deal handing a fifth of the country’s proven oil reserves to the US , amount to a modern version of 19th-century gunboat diplomacy. Regime change supplied America’s commercial concession.

This won’t bother Mr Trump. But it should. The US president has oversold his neocolonial spoils. The additional production Venezuela is supposed to bring online might bring down oil prices eventually, but not anytime soon. Crucially, what Mr Trump calls “t he biggest oil deal in history ” won’t cause the price at the pump to fall before November’s midterms. When so many American voters are struggling to pay energy bills , it’s hard to see how unrealised Orinoco Belt riches are going to help Republican candidates.

The US president also promotes the idea that he is transforming the US’s industrial landscape through fossil fuels. Although the Venezuela oil grab might be highly profitable for a few selected companies , the windfall is dwarfed by the size of the US economy. Mr Trump is not getting cheap energy but a spectacle of American power. That may be enough for him.

Before Mr Maduro was captured, Mr Trump had decided that Venezuela’s oil belonged to the US. The Venezuelan strongman was offered exile if he gave Washington want it wanted. When he dithered, a US armada assembled off Venezuela’s coast. Yet Mr Trump did not replace Mr Maduro with María Corina Machado from the democratic opposition. He instead backed the authoritarian regime that could secure the oilfields from ambitious army generals and spare the costs of occupation.

The US doesn’t rule Venezuela directly, but it is exercising power through a lifelong socialist, Ms Rodríguez. She is remaking Chavismo, the revolutionary movement launched by Hugo Chávez, in her image – enraging some leftists . Ms Rodríguez has granted North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep) concessions to 17 oilfields in Venezuela for decades to come. Nabep’s boss, Alejandro Betancourt, a controversial Venezuelan oil billionaire, popped up in Caracas for this week’s visit by the US energy secretary, Chris Wright. Nabep has in turn granted the Pentagon a 35% equity stake at no cost to the US taxpayer.

The charge of “Yankee imperialism” was often dismissed as kneejerk anti-Americanism. Mr Trump has turned it into an American boast. Ms Rodríguez argues that she is no puppet. Cooperation with Mr Trump, she says, will bring Venezuela investment and could generate $200bn in oil revenues. Unequal bargains have often benefited local rulers and intermediaries. The question is: what kind of economy and social order will that revenue produce? Oil cash is not the same as sovereign development.

Mr Trump is a playground bully handed the world’s most powerful military. He mistakes coercion for greatness and sovereign nations for toys. He uses US power to feed his bottomless ego – recently claiming himself to be a bigger historical figure than Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin and Mao. When he departs the stage, others will have to rebuild what he has squandered: the US’s authority, its alliances and its reputation.

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