© Kevin Bell Jr, via Associated Press
© Pete Marovich for The New York Times
Wildfires in and around Spokane have stretched ability of federal and local agencies to fight blazes
Wildfires in eastern Washington state forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area while destroying at least 600 homes, businesses and other structures, authorities said on Sunday.
The fires in and around Spokane, the state’s second largest city, burned about 8.2 sq miles (about 21 sq km), but they were among dozens across the western US that stretched the ability of federal, state and local agencies to fight them. A total of about 390 sq miles have burned across the state, and some of the fires, including those in the Spokane area, have not been contained.
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© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters
© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters
© Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters
Twin Falls police chief believes Chad Williams, 24, was alone in Saturday attack that killed three people
Authorities say the man accused of opening fire at a fast-food restaurant in Idaho is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, as investigators say quick action by an off-duty law enforcement officer and an armed bystander helped prevent even more bloodshed.
Speaking on Sunday, Matthew Hicks, the Twin Falls police chief, said investigators are confident 24-year-old Chad Williams carried out Saturday’s attack alone.
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© Photograph: Abc Affiliate Kivi/Reuters
© Photograph: Abc Affiliate Kivi/Reuters
© Photograph: Abc Affiliate Kivi/Reuters
Toledo police say Ohio Democrat is active and alert after two-vehicle hit-and-run collision on Sunday
Marcy Kaptur is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries after a car crash in Toledo, Ohio, on Sunday, the Democratic US representative’s office said.
Kaptur, 80, was a passenger in the vehicle and on her way to church, her office said. Toledo police did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment.
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© Photograph: Carlos Osorio/AP
© Photograph: Carlos Osorio/AP
© Photograph: Carlos Osorio/AP
© John Stember for The New York Times
Health secretary, longtime vaccination skeptic, spent years boosting misinformation about vaccines including MMR
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, on Sunday told American parents that they should get their children vaccinated against measles, as the surge in infections has reached numbers not seen in the past 35 years.
Kennedy, a leading vaccination skeptic who has spent years amplifying misinformation about vaccines, including the shot that protects against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), made his call in the course of a contentious interview with CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning.
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© Photograph: Daniel Heuer/Reuters
© Photograph: Daniel Heuer/Reuters
© Photograph: Daniel Heuer/Reuters
Senator Bernie Moreno says congressman and former son-in-law should step down after ex-wife’s allegations
Republican senator Bernie Moreno on Sunday publicly called for Representative Max Miller, his ex son-in-law, to step down from Congress amid allegations of domestic and child abuse.
As recently as Friday, the Ohio senator had avoided giving his opinion directly on accusations made by his daughter, Emily Moreno, against the congressman.
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© Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
© Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
© Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Donald Trump may reject the negotiations, but he cannot veto a global effort to make multinational companies answer to governments
Governments are told that public services must shrink because money is tight. Yet a new Tax Justice Network report says that countries could capture an extra $500bn a year without raising corporate tax rates. The answer is to tax multinational profits where real economic activity happens – known as unitary taxation. No new profit is created. Revenue simply shifts from tax havens where profits are “booked” to the countries where workers produce and customers spend.
Making that principle a global tax standard depends on UN talks opening in New York on Monday. Modelled on the UN climate regime, a fiscal framework convention would create the governing body and procedures, with protocols providing detailed rules. The UN wants agreement by late 2027. Donald Trump’s US walked out last year and urged others to follow. None did.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
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© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
© Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
© Eric Lee for The New York Times
© WABC-TV
US president claims delay is also in response to requests from Iran and other countries in the region
Donald Trump has said he cancelled planned military strikes against Iran on the basis of “rapidly” reaching a deal on its nuclear programme and the full reopening of the strait of Hormuz.
The US president paused the strikes in expectation of a breakthrough and in response to requests from Iran and other countries in the region, he claimed on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.
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© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
© Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
© Vincent Alban/Reuters
Defending champions send prospects to Tigers
Cy Young-winning Skubal joins stacked rotation in LA
The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired the biggest prize on the trade deadline market, getting two-time reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night.
Skubal got the news during the Tigers’ 8-6 win over the Athletics and was emotional after the game as he prepared to leave the team that drafted him in 2018 and developed him into a star to join the two-time defending World Series champions.
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© Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP
© Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP
© Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP
© Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
Our new book tracks the growth over nearly eight decades, of the most powerful foreign policy lobby in US history
In 1948, with war raging in Palestine, Harry Truman found himself trapped.
On one side were Zionist lobbyists and the president’s domestic political advisers, who were urging him to support the establishment of a Jewish state in as much of Palestine as possible. On the other were his top foreign policy and national security officials, led by the secretary of state, George C Marshall. Their unanimous recommendation was to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state, which they believed would trigger war in the Middle East and endanger the future of US relations with the Arab and Muslim world.
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© Illustration: Jordan Bohannon/The Guardian
© Illustration: Jordan Bohannon/The Guardian
© Illustration: Jordan Bohannon/The Guardian
Convicted killer seeks to withdraw guilty plea and go to trial – but that could put death penalty sentence back in play
Could Bryan Kohberger, convicted 13 months ago of the murders of four University of Idaho students, now find himself on death row? That’s one potential outcome of a perplexing petition he filed last week in which he claimed he was misled by his defense attorneys into pleading guilty.
A new trial could grant the wishes of family members who hoped to see the 31-year doctoral criminology student convicted by a jury in open court and sentenced to death. Or is Kohberger simply following the example of many mass murderers in attempting to gain control of the narrative and extend the suffering of his victims’ families?
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© Photograph: Getty Images
© Photograph: Getty Images
© Photograph: Getty Images
The president’s minions have trawled the statutes to restore roadblocks to trade. The invocation of Smoot-Hawley looks especially dangerous
Donald Trump may have found the killer weapon to punish countries at will: by imposing tariffs on their exports to the United States.
The president has been looking for a new tool since February, when the supreme court struck down tariffs he slapped on virtually all of America’s trading partners based on the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, or IEEPA, on the spurious grounds that the US faced a variety of national emergencies. It’s become a parlor game among policy wonks to predict what new legal justification he would deploy to replace them.
Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack
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© Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Tariffs are annoying and disruptive, but this round is less impactful – and business owners are taking them in their stride
Rebounding from his defeat at the supreme court in February, Donald Trump has recently announced a new round of tariffs, invoking sections of various trade acts to levy amounts on industries and countries based on reasons ranging from “forced labor” to “excess capacity”.
And how are small and medium-sized businesses in the US reacting? One word: snoozefest.
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© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images
© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images
© Photograph: Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images
Food costs have soared but existing businesses fear unfair competition and programs elsewhere yielded mixed results
Carlos Collado, a Dominican immigrant who owns five independent grocery stores in the Bronx and Manhattan, has succeeded over the last three decades despite obstacles that he blames on local and state governance.
His stores have faced an increase in shoplifting, he said. The city has provided tax benefits to big corporations that opened grocery stores and took business away from his.
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© Photograph: Ryan Murphy/AP
© Photograph: Ryan Murphy/AP
© Photograph: Ryan Murphy/AP
The president has blundered into a ‘forever war’ with Iran he can’t win, but refuses to end. Such hubris has a long history
It’s five years this month since the chaotic retreat of US forces from Kabul. The Nato-backed invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, launched after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC, is now widely regarded as a failure. It cost the lives of more than 2,400 US and 450 British troops, and tens of thousands of civilians (the exact number is unknown). Although al-Qaida terrorists were routed, their Taliban hosts reimposed repressive, misogynistic Islamist rule after regaining power in 2021. Afghanistan became a byword for ill-considered western interventionism and nation-building. It was the archetypal “forever war”, a phrase first coined during Vietnam.
If this cautionary tale had any lasting value, it was as a deterrent to politicians and generals tempted to rashly embark on open-ended conflicts without just cause, defined, achievable aims, and an exit strategy. Dismayingly, the forever war lesson had to be learned all over again in Iraq, which the US and UK invaded in 2003 and departed, having caused huge harm for scant benefit, in 2011. “Never again!” was the passionate cry at the time and since. And yet, it seems, the same disastrous pattern is now repeating after Donald Trump’s incomprehensibly foolish decision to attack Iran. A war he termed a “little excursion” is entering its sixth month and has been escalating rapidly. It, too, has a forever feel.
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© Photograph: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
© Photograph: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
© Photograph: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images
Poland striker scores double on his home MLS debut
Messi returns as Inter Miami draw 2-2 with Columbus
Robert Lewandowski scored two goals on his home debut as the Chicago Fire eked out a 2-1 victory over Charlotte FC on Saturday. The win is Chicago’s first in Major League Soccer since the end of the international break.
Lewandowski, signed in late June as a free agent, produced a vintage performance to help the Fire (9-6-2, 29 points) close an ever-narrowing gap with the Eastern Conference’s top three clubs. Charlotte (7-7-4, 25pts) has now lost four of its last five road matches.
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© Photograph: Harry Figiel/ISI Photos/Getty Images
© Photograph: Harry Figiel/ISI Photos/Getty Images
© Photograph: Harry Figiel/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Authorities in Delaware tackle cluster with vaccination and contract tracing – but field has been weakened by cuts
Measles outbreaks are igniting throughout the United States as the nation passes the highest case count in 30 years – putting greater pressure on state and local health departments and highlighting the importance of early identification and quick action.
The US has officially surpassed last year’s tally of measles cases, reaching 2,371 confirmed infections by the end of July. Those numbers have been driven by clusters in Arizona, South Carolina, and Utah – but in times of high transmission, outbreaks elsewhere become more likely. And with decreasing vaccination rates across the country, these sparks are falling on increasingly dry timber.
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© Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images
© Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images
© Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images
We joined a recent bus tour of 30 judges, lawyers and advocates fighting not for any partisan aim, but for the rule of law itself
Last October, US lawyers, judges and rule-of-law advocates traveled to Warsaw as guests of the Carter Center. Neither of us was among them. But when our colleagues returned, their stories inspired us.
They told us about judges and lawyers across central Europe who had been surveilled, smeared, prosecuted and sometimes jailed for standing between political power and courts meant to remain independent.
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© Photograph: Brian Jackson/Alamy
© Photograph: Brian Jackson/Alamy
© Photograph: Brian Jackson/Alamy
Three people were killed and seven more injured, some critically, in a shooting at an In-N-Out Burger restaurant in southern Idaho on Saturday afternoon. The Twin Falls police chief, Matthew Hicks, said on Saturday that police were working to determine the shooter’s identity and motive, and interviewing witnesses
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© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
© Photograph: Reuters
Voters are faced with the thorny question of electability: who can win this purple state in November and potentially push Democrats toward a US Senate majority?
At Chad Green’s house in Davison, Michigan, a brood of baby chicks roamed around the idyllic green lawn as US senators pitched a couple dozen voters on why they should turn out for the hopeful one, Abdul El-Sayed.
Green, a retired federal firefighter, hosted a similar small gathering for Mallory McMorrow, who was running for the US Senate before she dropped out of the race in early July, narrowing the contest to El-Sayed, a progressive insurgent campaigning for universal healthcare, and US representative Haley Stevens, who has branded herself as a workhorse.
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© Composite: Robin Buckson/The Detroit News via AP
© Composite: Robin Buckson/The Detroit News via AP
© Composite: Robin Buckson/The Detroit News via AP
Exclusive: Daphy Michel, from Haiti, was dropped off in Pittsburgh in 20F temperatures wearing summer clothes
The family of a Haitian immigrant who froze to death in early March at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh after she was dropped off in the city by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is poised to file a lawsuit this month against the United States and “multiple other governmental and non-governmental entities”, the Guardian has learned.
Daphy Michel, 31, had been in county jail for six months after a reported mental health crisis and street incident, and then was arrested by ICE before being released with a ankle monitor.
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© Photograph: Michel Family/AP
© Photograph: Michel Family/AP
© Photograph: Michel Family/AP
Haitian immigrant with mental illness found dead after ICE released her in 20F weather wearing summer clothes
On the night of 26 February this year, the Michel family in Pennsylvania expected to see their loved one, Daphy, again very soon.
After she had spent six months in jail, a judge had dismissed criminal charges against her and one of her brothers was told she would be released soon, probably the next day.
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© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Michel Family
© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Michel Family
© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Michel Family
© Emily Elconin for The New York Times; Nick Hagen for The New York Times
© Andrew Kelly/Reuters
© Zack Wittman for The New York Times
© Mark Harris
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