Russian court sentences 72-year-old American for fighting for Ukraine

Steven James Hubbard given six years and 10 months in prison, but family cast doubt on his reported confession

A Russian court has sentenced a 72-year-old American citizen, Stephen James Hubbard, to six years and 10 months in prison after convicting him in a closed-door trial of fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine.

Investigators said Hubbard, a native of Michigan, was paid $1,000 (£760) a month to serve in a Ukrainian territorial defence unit in the eastern city of Izyum, where he had been living since 2014.

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Weather tracker: tail end of Hurricane Kirk to bring gusts and rain to Europe

Hurricane activity is strong in Atlantic while months of below-average rainfall in South America leads to drought

Hurricane Kirk is heading towards Europe. At its peak strength in the mid-Atlantic, Kirk reached category 4 status with maximum wind speeds of 145mph. As Kirk tracks north-east towards Europe, leaving the warm seas behind, it is expected to be downgraded to a category 1 hurricane by Monday.

Over the next few days, Kirk will undergo extratropical transition, becoming an ex-hurricane by the time it reaches Europe’s shores on Tuesday or Wednesday. Although there remains some model differences in the exact path of extratropical cyclone Kirk, it is projected to track across northern Europe with France, Belgium, the Netherlands and then northern Germany having the strongest winds and heaviest rain. Southernmost parts of the UK may experience some heavy rainfall if the system tracks ever so slightly further north.

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US cities and campuses on high alert over 7 October anniversary events

Rallies and vigils planned across the country to mark Hamas attacks on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza

Demonstrations and memorials marking the anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza are to take place around the US, with cities and campuses on high alert for any unrest as the threat of a full-scale war in the Middle East looms.

Dozens of rallies, marches and other events are planned on Monday in protest against the Israeli offensive, which was sparked by the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and resulted in another 250 being taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory war has killed more than 41,000 people in the besieged territory.

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Al Pacino reveals he almost died of Covid – and delivers his verdict on the afterlife

The 84-year-old actor speaks about contracting the virus in 2020, saying he ‘didn’t have a pulse’ and came to with six paramedics in his house

Al Pacino has revealed he almost died from Covid-19 in 2020, saying he “didn’t have a pulse” for several minutes.

In interviews with the New York Times and People magazine published on the weekend, the 84-year-old Godfather and Scarface actor detailed his experience with the virus, which he contracted in 2020 before a vaccine was available.

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Black bear with three cubs attacks man after breaking into Colorado home

Animals crash through glass door of 74-year-old man’s home and claw at him when he tried to get them to leave

A 74-year-old Colorado man was injured after a black bear with three cubs crashed in through his sliding glass door and he was unable to get them to leave, the Colorado parks and wildlife department said.

Residents of the home were startled by a loud crash at about 8.30pm Thursday night and saw the bears coming in through the sliding door which had been left ajar.

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Still reeling from Helene, Florida braces for Hurricane Milton as it gains strength

State official urges people to prepare for ‘largest evacuation that we have seen most likely since 2017 Hurricane Irma’

Florida has expanded its state of emergency as it braces for a major storm expect to pummel the state’s western peninsula by midweek, after Tropical Storm Milton gathered strength and was declared a category 1 hurricane on Sunday.

The impending landfall of Milton comes days after Hurricane Helene caused devastation and destruction through large swaths of Florida and other parts of the south-east of the US including North Carolina. The death toll stands at 230 people, and is expected to rise.

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Harris talks abortion rights on Call Her Daddy podcast while bashing Trump’s ‘protector’ of women claim – as it happened

This blog is now closed. Read more from our politics coverage here

During an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Arizona senator Mark Kelly criticized Elon Musk for supporting Donald Trump.

On Saturday, Musk joined Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and made the baseless claim that if Trump’s supporters fail to turn out, “this will be the last election”.

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Harris says federal aid for Hurricane Helene relief ‘here for the long term’

Vice-president pledges ongoing support during second trip in four days to North Carolina disaster zone

Kamala Harris pledged ongoing federal support and praised the “heroes among us” during a swing through hurricane-hit North Carolina on Saturday, her second trip in four days to the disaster zone.

The vice-president began her visit by attending a briefing with state and local officials in Charlotte, where she thanked “those who are in the room and those who are out there right now working around the clock” in the post-Helene rescue effort.

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Trump repeats false anti-immigrant claims at Pennsylvania rally as Musk urges everyone to vote – live

Ex-president addresses crowd in Butler less than three months after assassination attempt there on 13 July

As the Trump and Harris campaigns host events across the country today – now one month before the 5 November election – the Guardian US is averaging national and state polls to see how the two candidates are faring. We will update our averages once a week, or more if there is major news.

As the Guardian’s Sam Levine writes today:

With her highest national polling average since July, Harris is now leading in five of seven key swing states. Nationally, the Guardian’s tracker shows Harris with 49.3% of the vote, compared with 46% for Trump. The election is a month away, and already an estimated 1.4 million Americans have voted as of midday on Friday.

The race is still extremely close. The simplest path to collecting the 270 electoral votes needed to win is still the blue wall of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. While Harris leads Trump in all three according to the Guardian’s analysis (Pennsylvania by 1.2 points, Michigan by 0.1 points and Wisconsin by 2.2 points), those advantages are quite slim.

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White House blasts false claims about Hurricane Helene and relief aid

Statement comes as president urges Congress to pass disaster-relief package as costs soar amid devastation

The White House moved Saturday to quash claims that government officials control the weather, including a far-fetched rumor circulating on social media that Hurricane Helene was an engineered storm to allow corporations to mine regional lithium deposits.

“We have seen a large increase in false information circulating online related to the federal response to Hurricane Helene,” a statement said, pointing to a “number of scam artists, bad-faith actors, and others who want to sow chaos because they think it helps their political interests are promoting disinformation about the recovery effort.”

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Tropical Storm Milton expected to wallop Florida days after Helene

Latest system forms in Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, with forecasters expecting upgrade to hurricane in a few days

Florida is expected to get walloped by another hurricane next week, just 10 days after it was hit by Hurricane Helene, which caused widespread storm surge and wind damage before it moved inland to cause devastating flooding.

The latest system, Tropical Storm Milton, formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday. Forecasters expect the storm to quickly strengthen into a hurricane and rush toward Florida in the next few days.

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Trump to attend rally at site of July assassination attempt in Pennsylvania

Former president will appear with ‘quadruple’ the security, and also honor firefighter killed during shooting

Donald Trump plans to return on Saturday to the site where a gunman tried to assassinate him in July, as the former president sets aside what are now near-constant worries for his physical safety in order to fulfill a promise – “really an obligation”, he said recently – to the people of Butler, Pennsylvania.

“I’ll probably start off by saying, ‘As I was saying ... ’,” the Republican presidential nominee has joked, in a bit of black humor about a speech cut short when a bullet struck Trump’s ear and he was whisked off stage – fist aloft – with blood dripping across his face.

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Former New York governor and stepson attacked and injured on city street

David Paterson, 70, and Anthony Sliwa, 20, were on Upper East Side when a verbal altercation with five people escalated

David Paterson, the former New York governor, and his stepson were attacked and injured on New York City’s Upper East Side on Friday night, the city police department said.

Paterson, 70, and his stepson, Anthony Sliwa, 20, had been walking in the upscale neighborhood at about 8.30pm when they were attacked after a verbal altercation with five people, according to the police.

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Escalation with Iran could be risky: Israel is more vulnerable than it seems

Intelligence analysis of Tehran’s attack suggests that much-touted Israeli missile defences are not, in fact, impregnable

In the aftermath of Iran’s attack on Israel on Tuesday night, Israeli officials claimed their defences had stood firm. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Iran had launched more than 180 missiles, but few details about the damage were released and the US’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the attack “appears to have been defeated and ineffective”.

But as Israel prepares its retaliation, analysts believe those initial reports could have been misleading – and could change the calculus of Israel’s response if it fears getting into a bout of protracted “missile ping-pong” with Iran, especially should Tehran choose softer targets in the future.

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Harris and Trump neck-and-neck in polls with early voting under way

More than 1.4 million have already voted in the presidential election, as battleground state polls show no clear frontrunner

More than 1.4 million people have now voted in the presidential election, as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue to crisscross the country in the final stretch of a neck-and-neck campaign.

Their vice-presidential picks, JD Vance and Tim Walz, also faced off this week in the only vice-presidential debate of this cycle. But initial polls suggested voters saw the debate as a draw, without clear impact on the race.

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‘Good girl and true hero’: dog saves owner by leading US officer to her home

Gita, 13, sat down in middle of road in Washington state after owner hurt his leg, fell and couldn’t get up

A dog saved her owner – who hurt his leg at home in rural Washington state, fell and couldn’t get up for hours – by walking to a road, sitting in the middle of it until a local sheriff’s deputy stopped, and leading the officer to him, according to authorities.

Gita’s ability to be “a good girl and true hero” in her 84-year-old owner’s moment of need after his injury at their cabin on 25 September led to her “saving his life that day”, the Stevens county sheriff’s office said in a statement.

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Donald Glover cancels Childish Gambino tour dates because of ‘ailment’

American musician and actor will not play his UK and Ireland dates as he recovers from scheduled surgery

Donald Glover has cancelled the remaining dates on his Childish Gambino tour after scheduling surgery for an “ailment”.

The American actor, rapper and singer was due to head to the UK in November and early December to perform in Manchester, Glasgow, London and Birmingham, as well as Dublin in Ireland. Glover had already postponed the remainder of his North American tour to focus on his “physical health”.

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Trump falsely touts endorsement from JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon

Bank representative confirms Dimon has not endorsed Trump or any other candidate in the 2024 race

Donald Trump’s social media post that showed a purported endorsement for the presidency from the JP Morgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon, among the most influential investment bankers on Wall Street, is false, a representative confirmed on Friday.

The Truth Social post – what appears to be a screenshot of a tweet with a siren emoji and text claiming Dimon had endorsed Trump, with a photo of Dimon – appeared at 1.56pm ET on Friday, as Trump was flying to Augusta, Georgia, for a campaign event.

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Buttigieg counters Musk claim of Fema blocking Starlink from hurricane relief

The billionaire’s accusations about his satellite internet company are, Fema and transportation secretary say

Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, shot down criticism by Elon Musk on the government’s handling of Hurricane Helene relief efforts, accusing the SpaceX CEO of spreading misinformation.

Musk accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) of blocking his satellite internet company, Starlink, from delivering to parts of North Carolina decimated by the hurricane, a claim both Fema and Buttigieg said was false.

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Biden issues terse words to Netanyahu over peace deal and election influence

President says he does not know whether Israeli PM is delaying peace deal in order to influence US election

Joe Biden had terse words at the White House on Friday for Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he didn’t know whether the Israeli prime minister was holding up a peace deal in the Middle East – where Israel is at war with Hamas in Gaza and on a military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon – in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election.

“No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None, none. And I think Bibi should remember that,” Biden said, using Netanyahu’s nickname. He added: “And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know – but I’m not counting on that.”

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