It was the latest mixed messaging from President Trump, who regularly votes by mail, but has made baseless claims that the practice is “inherently corrupt.”

© Nick Hagen for The New York Times

Nicole Linton was found guilty of six counts of second-degree murder, which included the death of an unborn child, related to a 2022 crash in Los Angeles.

© Pool photo by Frederick M. Brown

In a new ad, the wife of Ken Paxton, who is divorcing him for alleged adultery, tells Texas voters to focus on the “whole team,” not “individual players.”

© Desiree Rios for The New York Times

Roger Fortson was shot by deputy when he opened door with gun in hand after a false domestic disturbance call

A Florida jury recently found former sheriff’s deputy Eddie Duran not guilty of manslaughter with a firearm in the fatal shooting of Roger Fortson, a Black US air force airman who was killed inside his apartment after authorities responded to an unfounded report of a domestic disturbance.

An Okaloosa county jury acquitted Duran, 38, on Thursday after about two hours of deliberations. He had faced up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

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© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

© Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP

Ukraine has stopped paying veterans to go to the gym because of the economic crisis looming in the country, the war, Russian strikes, and the lack of reforms needed to receive extra funds from the EU. The Veteran Sports program, which provided veterans and combat participants with about $33 per quarter toward a nearly monthly gym membership, was suspended on 1 October after the state found no funds for it, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs said.

The suspension is a telling sign of Ukraine's budget squeeze, and the ministry puts it plainly: defense comes first, so the money for everything else runs short. It fits a wider government decision to freeze non-essential spending and fund only the army, pensions, and public wages.

The program proved far more popular than planned, drawing more than 800,000 users and costing over double its budget.

Defense takes the money

"The main priority of state spending remains the country's defense. Under these conditions, the state budget's ability to finance other areas is limited," the ministry said.

Launched in 2026 with about $13 million for an expected 100,000 recipients per quarter, and roughly 300,000 applications over three, the program instead saw more than 800,000 uses. Payments passed $27 million, more than twice what was set aside.

The crisis runs deeper

The squeeze has two main drivers. Russia's intensifying strikes on Ukraine's energy and infrastructure are pushing the war's cost higher and battering the economy.

War is costing Ukraine $155 billion per year. With Western aid running late, Kyiv is freezing everything but army, pensions, and public wages

And billions in Western money sit on hold: Kyiv has struggled to complete the reforms the EU set out before releasing roughly $20 billion in aid, and the prime minister has admitted that part of it is late because Ukraine missed commitments to its partners.

The ministry plans a 2027 restart

Ukraine intends to bring the program back in 2027, this time for good, said Deputy Veterans Minister Ruslan Prykhodko.

"We have to account for real demand, fix the shortcomings we saw this year, and make the use of funds more targeted," he said.

In next year's budget, Ukraine would provide significantly more funds, he added. In the meantime, the ministry says it is talking to the sports community and businesses about covering the gap for veterans, with concrete proposals to come.

Hundreds of schools will suspend some or all classes on Monday, the education minister said, as students protest conditions in the education system. Thousands of protesters have been arrested and hundreds of people injured.

© Lou Benoist/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Four people were rescued after being adrift in a life raft in the South Pacific. One of them said he thought he had a better chance of winning the lottery than of being hit by a whale.

© Royal New Zealand Air Force

It was unclear what background checks had been carried out before he was allowed to fly to Israel.

© Jack Guez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Fuel costs are biting for crop growers, trucking firms and a host of other industries as Iran war stokes record prices

Joe Hamilton farms corn and soybeans on 2,500 acres in Indiana’s Delaware county. Next week, when his soybean harvest kicks off, four tractors, two combine harvesters and five semi-trucks will roar to life.

And with that, a record bill for about 9,000 gallons of diesel awaits him.

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© Photograph: Sarah Rice/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sarah Rice/Getty Images

© Photograph: Sarah Rice/Getty Images

The violent midair assault on a FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv has deepened concerns about the safety of Israelis traveling abroad.

© Ammar Awad/Reuters

Tukaram Mundhe’s surprise raids of Mumbai kitchens have made him an unlikely celebrity and set off a conversation about food standards in India.

© Zishaan A Latif for The New York Times

John Steinbeck’s hometown of Salinas is the least affordable city in the US for the middle class, a recent Brookings Institution analysis found

Nestled between two mountain ranges at the crook of central California’s coastline sits a valley known as the “salad bowl of the world”.

Farm workers stoop over neatly lined rows of crops off Highway 101 to harvest more than half of the nation’s supply of lettuce and nearly a third of its strawberries. The soil here is so rich that author John Steinbeck made the Salinas valley the promised land in his literary depictions of people chasing the American dream: immigrants, farm workers, westward-moving hopefuls, hungering for a better life.

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© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

© Composite: Rita Liu/The Guardian/Getty Images/Monterey County

Our reporting revealed how Mexican criminal groups are relying on teenagers and young adults in border states like Arizona to help supply their weapons.

© Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

Drawn by money and status, teenagers in Arizona are buying, stealing and selling weapons destined for criminal groups in Mexico.

© Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

President Trump personally directed the use of taxpayer money for ads praising his presidency, according to people familiar with the matter. Our White House correspondent, Maggie Haberman, explains.

Judge unseals bodycam footage from officers who responded to 911 from McDonald’s in Pennsylvania

Police bodycam footage released Friday shows the moment officers located and arrested Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s in connection with the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan.

In one video, officers ask Mangione to lower the face mask he was wearing to hide his identity.

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© Photograph: Altoona Police Department/AP

© Photograph: Altoona Police Department/AP

© Photograph: Altoona Police Department/AP

Newly released police bodycam footage shows officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, approaching, searching and arresting Luigi Mangione at a McDonald's on 9 December 2024 in connection with the shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The Guardian has edited the video from multiple cameras to show the moments of the arrest

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© Photograph: Atloona Police Department via AP

© Photograph: Atloona Police Department via AP

© Photograph: Atloona Police Department via AP

The government-funded ads show just how much President Trump has been able to use federal money for his own aims.

© via YouTube

Health screenings and criminal background checks may go only so far in identifying pilots who have become radicalized or try to hide their mental health issues, experts said.

© Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The country was shaken after nearly 30 people were killed in two separate mass shootings. South Africans are demanding greater government intervention.

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Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority are now considering setting trained falcons on the urban birds

The mass transit authorities in the greater Boston region are clawing around for ways to mitigate the excessive local pigeon population – or more graphically, pigeon poo all over stations – and have swooped on the possibility of setting trained falcons on them.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the public system commonly known as “the T”, issued a “request for information” (RFI) last month from falconry experts on the potential use of birds of prey, such as falcons, to control the crowds of urban birds widely considered a public nuisance.

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© Photograph: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

© Photograph: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

© Photograph: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Prosecutors want remote testimony for witnesses unable or unwilling to travel to Guantánamo. The defense wants jurors to be told that, guilty or innocent, the defendant will not go free.

© Marisa Schwartz Taylor/The New York Times

After the co-pilot stabbed the captain, two pilots who were seated in the cabin intervened alongside passengers and safely landed the Boeing 737 in Saudi Arabia.

© Erik Marmor/Getty Images

Support for 37-year-old Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins could upend the governor’s race in the heavily Republican state

This July, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins spent four days and 450 miles (725km) wending his way down the Yukon River in a 24ft Alweld skiff, a flat-bottomed aluminum boat built for shallow Alaska rivers.

Starting in Koyukon Athabascan country, he passed through Indigenous Deg Hit’an communities like Anvik, before ending among the Yup’ik villages of the lower river, Russian Mission and Pilot Station among them. The boat carried him through 11 villages – some only reachable by water or small plane, and most with fewer than 300 residents, and fewer still who could recall the last time they had seen a candidate for Alaska governor, Republican, Democrat or independent.

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© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

© Photograph: Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins for Alaska

As the Republicans try to hold their majority, the Senate Leadership Fund is diverting resources to Kansas, which has become a growing concern for the party.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Economies in Latin America and Europe rely on American diesel. Stopping exports could tip some countries into recession, hurting trade with the United States.

© Diego Vara/Reuters

A badly wounded Indian pilot managed to unlock the cockpit door. Four Israeli men teamed up to overwhelm an attacker and avert disaster.

© Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press

The Senate Leadership Fund is diverting money to Kansas, which has become a growing concern for the party as it seeks to hold its majority.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

The Group of 7, which includes Britain, France and Japan, announced the release of 100 million barrels over four months, effective immediately.

© Hilary Swift for The New York Times

The government had proposed more protections for tenants after outrage at the eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

© Anadolu, via Getty Images

The Coast Guard has intercepted two small boats it says were carrying illegal fuel to Cuba as the United States enforces a fuel blockade aimed at Cuba’s Communist government.

© Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

As LeBron James and other NBA stars wholeheartedly embrace the murk of betting and prediction markets, the San Antonio Spurs’ 22-year-old cornerstone has drawn a refreshing line

If the song from LeBron James’s agonizing Polymarket ad is as stuck in your head as mine thanks to the commercial playing during every YouTube video and HBO show (all I wanted to do was rewatch The Leftovers), let Victor Wembanyama be your antidote. At the Spurs’ practice on Thursday, San Antonio Express-News columnist Mike Finger asked Wembanyama if he would ever partner with a sports betting firm. It couldn’t have been easier for the 22-year-old to say yes. The NBA displays ads for both FanDuel and DraftKings, in addition to hawking betting odds on its broadcasts. Until the streaming service met its end a few months ago, plenty of NBA games streamed exclusively on FanDuel Sports Network. Then there are Wembanyama’s legendary peers: James is the new face of Polymarket; Kevin Durant reads FanDuel odds and invests in Kalshi; Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Kalshi shareholder.

“Absolutely not,” Wembanyama said instead. “I will never do that. Honestly, I think it’s very sad to see some players promote it. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”

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© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Capt. Smit Machchhar, who was stabbed by his co-pilot midair between Dubai and Tel Aviv, said he “had to act” to prevent a crash despite serious injuries.

© Israel's Foreign Ministry, via Associated Press

The attack, on a flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, halted the only direct service between the two cities since the war in Iran disrupted air traffic.

© Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows the danger of using AI in warfare. Humans must remain at the center of wartime decisions

As tech leaders warn about the threats of artificial intelligence, most conjure up images of AI agents running amok, such as hacking systems used to run our critical infrastructure, banks or even militaries. Yet one serious danger is mentioned less frequently – the threat posed by AI–empowered lethal weapons. Fully autonomous versions of these weapons are colloquially known as killer robots.

Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows that, in an important respect, such AI weapon systems are already here. An algorithm has been deciding who lives and who dies.

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© Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

© Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

© Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

In effort to avoid panic at pumps, Keir Mather insists supply of fuel to Britain is ‘inherently resilient’

• UK diesel price hits record high of £2 a litre

• Business live – latest updates

The government has sought to avert panic at the pumps, insisting that the UK is not facing a diesel shortage after Donald Trump threatened to cut off US supplies of the fuel.

The transport minister Keir Mather said on Friday that the UK has a wide range of sources of the fuel and is in talks with other European countries over the potential release of emergency diesel stockpiles.

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© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

© Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Truckers are among the hardest hit by the soaring cost of diesel fuel. High prices are forcing some to stay on the road for months and others to park their rigs.

© Hilary Swift for The New York Times

Earl Caldwell was staying at the Memphis hotel where the civil rights leader was killed.

© Barney Sellers/ZUMA Press Wire, via Reuters Connect. Illustration by Matt Dorfman

Iran has been launching drones and missiles at commercial ships in the waterway each week, though it has often failed to strike its targets, according to a Western security official.

© Tomas Munita for The New York Times

Ukraine showed European partners what it said were intercepted Russian plans to cut off major cities from power, heat and water this winter.

Officials in Wyoming had called notion to host game in Grand Teton national park ‘deeply unwelcome’

Major League Baseball (MLB) leadership is no longer considering holding a game inside a national park, according to a letter commissioner Robert Manfred sent to officials in Teton county, Wyoming, on Thursday in what could be the league’s biggest swing-and-a-miss off the diamond.

On 26 September, the Washington Post reported that MLB had reached out to the White House about staging a one-day game at Grand Teton national park in Wyoming. Teton county describes itself as a “a year-round resort community” and sits within the Jackson Hole valley. It’s also a habitat for grizzly bears, osprey, bison and more.

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© Photograph: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Ronen Tivony/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said the co-pilot who set upon the pilot had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination” but did not elaborate.

© Ammar Awad/Reuters

More politicians have stopped talking about the climate, but the green transition is still moving forward.

© Toby Melville/Reuters

No one was hurt in what the police described as a shocking episode that was captured on video inside a day care center in Canton, Mich., on Monday.

The Nigerian secured office space in a federal building, opened bank accounts and even held meetings with foreign diplomats. He says he is innocent.

© Marvellous Durowaiye/Reuters

The events evoked days decades ago when Israel was widely admired for its plucky survival against the odds and for taking on hijackers.

© Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated Press

House Democrats say officials may have illegally misused public funds to pay for president’s ‘narcissistic ego trips’

The Trump administration is facing growing questions over whether it illegally used taxpayer money to air television ads promoting Donald Trump five weeks before the US midterm elections.

Two congressional Democrats, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and George Whitesides of California, have asked federal watchdogs to investigate the ads.

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© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

The Russian government has submitted a draft federal budget for 2027–2029 to the State Duma, Meduza reported on 30 September, citing TASS. In all three years, Russia's expenditures will exceed its revenues, the outlet noted.

Russia's finances have been eroding since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. To keep paying for the war, the Kremlin has drained its reserves, borrowed more, and pushed tax burdens onto residents and businesses, while the wider economy stalls.

The government listed social obligations, including aid to those who fought in its war against Ukraine and their families, along with defense needs among the budget's priorities, while its press release left out the planned cuts to social spending and the rise in military spending, Meduza noted, citing The Bell.

Spending will exceed revenue by about 2% of GDP a year

Russia's federal budget for 2027 sets spending at 48.8 trillion rubles ($585 billion) and revenue at 43.3 trillion ($519 billion), the Russian government stated, leaving a deficit of 5.5 trillion rubles ($66 billion). It claimed the draft is "balanced" and that healthcare spending will rise compared with 2026.

Deficits of 5.1 trillion rubles ($61 billion) in 2028 and 5.3 trillion ($64 billion) in 2029 are also planned, about 2% of GDP a year, Meduza noted.

This year's deficit is now set to reach a record 7.345 trillion rubles ($88 billion), nearly double the previous forecast of 3.785 trillion ($45 billion), The Moscow Times reported on 1 October. To help close the gap, Moscow plans an array of tax hikes for 2027–2029 to fund military spending. Already by May, its four-month deficit had run 50% above what it had planned for the whole year.

Even as the deficit widens, Russia plans its highest defense spending since the full-scale invasion began: 17.1 trillion rubles ($202.58 billion) in 2027, 27% more than the 13.5 trillion originally planned.

Only 2.3 trillion rubles ($28 billion) of that sum is itemized in public documents, and 34.9% of all 2027 spending will be classified, the highest share in at least 12 years, exiled outlet Vyorstka reported. The Duma is expected to hold the first of three readings on 29 October, the date proposed by Budget Committee chairman Andrei Makarov, Interfax reported.

The Swedish American actress, who died in 1990, was brought back in a A.I.-generated ad for a manufacturing company.

© The New York Times

Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled nearly 90 years ago, Lake Powell also at a historic low

It was 42C (108F) degrees as we motored across Nevada’s Lake Mead in our rented pontoon boat. Colby Pellegrino with the Southern Nevada Water Authority wanted to show us something we shouldn’t have been able to see. She pointed toward a rock island where a large metal pipe was sticking out of the water.

“That is the first intake that was built to bring municipal water into the valley in 1970,” Pellegrino said.

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© Photograph: Ian Maule/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ian Maule/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ian Maule/AFP/Getty Images