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Voters are turning against the Republicans. But the clearest possible message is needed to safeguard democracy

The psychologist Jennifer Freyd identified a pattern often used by perpetrators: deny, accuse, and reverse victim and offender. More than one observer has noted that Donald Trump employs that pattern politically. With polls suggesting Republicans are likely to lose the House and perhaps the Senate too in the midterms, the man who refused to accept Americans’ democratic verdict in 2020 is hawking a narrative of cheating Democrats who will steal seats via illegitimate votes.

The January 6 insurrection showed how acute the peril to American democracy had become. It is more so now. This time, Republican efforts to undermine the results began well in advance. In 2020, Mr Trump’s vice-president, Mike Pence, the attorney general, William Barr, and others refused his most outrageous demands; now the justice department is supine. And the supreme court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act, which safeguarded against the worst kinds of racial discrimination, means that states no longer require pre-approval for decisions that could well tilt a race. Districts have already been redrawn.

Andreas Almgren of Sweden won the men's race of the New York City Marathon in his debut in the event while Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won the women's race on Sunday for the second time.

(Image credit: Angelina Katsanis)

• Lions hand Vikings their first loss with 19-15 win

• Email Graham here

SACK! Vikings 0-0 Lions 9:28, 1st quarter

The Lions are punting after a pair of sacks from Andrew van Ginkel and Eric Wilson. Minnesota take over from their 10-yard line.

J Allen one yard rush

Kremlin says Kyiv is ‘simply ignoring’ US wishes days before midterm elections after reported strikes on two oil sites

Ukraine has resumed its attacks on Russian oil refineries in defiance of pressure from Donald Trump ahead of the US midterm elections, as a ceasefire in the occupied town of Oleshky ended on Sunday night.

Russian state media said on Sunday Ukrainian long-range drones had set fire to the Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod oblast overnight, soon after a major strike against another big refinery in Samara oblast, owned by the Russian state energy giant Rosneft.

The Covid pandemic shed an unforgiving light on health and social care inequalities. The lessons have yet to be absorbed

The fear that so many felt as the death toll rose during the Covid pandemic was magnified for Fiona Walker. “I know from experience they wouldn’t have valued my life,” she says, in a new report on the treatment of people with learning disabilities during the crisis.

The 1.5 million people in the UK with learning disabilities, and their families, had reason for concern. Death rates in England were four to six times higher than average for people with learning disabilities. As is now well established, the pandemic did not create inequalities; it exposed and intensified them. People with learning disabilities die on average 19.5 years earlier than people without, and deaths are almost twice as likely to be classed as avoidable.

Arrests come ahead of Wednesday’s supreme court challenge to the ban on the direct action group

Police have said they arrested 325 people on Saturday at a demonstration outside the US embassy in London against the proscription of Palestine Action.

In updated arrest figures released on Sunday, the Metropolitan police said 320 people were detained outside the building in Battersea, south London, for allegedly expressing support for an organisation banned under the Terrorism Act.

Kremlin says Kyiv is ‘simply ignoring’ US wishes days before midterm elections after reported strikes on two oil sites

Ukraine has resumed its attacks on Russian oil refineries in defiance of pressure from Donald Trump ahead of the US midterm elections, as a ceasefire in the occupied town of Oleshky ended on Sunday night.

Russian state media said on Sunday Ukrainian long-range drones had set fire to the Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod oblast overnight, soon after a major strike against another big refinery in Samara oblast, owned by the Russian state energy giant Rosneft.

Residents of Menomonie mounted a successful protest against a huge campus in the city as national resistance to the AI boom grows

In the spring of 2025, Sydney Brennan was riding high. The 22-year-old was finishing college and was a newly elected councilwoman in Menomonie, a city of about 17,000 in the lush plains of north-western Wisconsin.

Weeks into the new job, she was invited to a meeting with consultants pitching a $1.6bn AI hyperscale datacenter campus that an undisclosed big tech company wanted to build just outside of town. The project’s numbers were eye-opening: a 320-acre site that would use an estimated 75,000 gallons of water per day, making it the most significant development in Menomonie’s nearly 150-year history.

New electricity generating capacity would enable north-east to attract investment for large-scale AI infrastructure

National Grid has taken a step towards building Britain’s biggest electricity substation on Teesside, which could supply power to a vast neighbouring datacentre as the UK races to expand its AI infrastructure.

Last week, the company agreed to purchase 29.5 hectares (73 acres) of land at Dorman Point on a site owned by Teesworks, a local private-public partnership. The deal was first reported by Sky News.

Exclusive: Plan to allow students from bloc pay same fees as Britons contingent on entry to industrial programme, officials say

Ministers are prepared to spend as much as £450m a year to give students from the EU discounted university fees, the Guardian has learned, but only if Brussels allows the UK access to its Made in Europe industrial programme.

The UK government has drawn up plans to allow students arriving from the continent pay the same fees as British students, sources say, and is willing to spend hundreds of millions of pounds compensating universities to do so.

Exclusive: Plan to allow students from bloc pay same fees as Britons contingent on entry to industrial programme, officials say

Ministers are prepared to spend as much as £450m a year to give students from the EU discounted university fees, the Guardian has learned, but only if Brussels allows the UK access to its Made in Europe industrial programme.

The UK government has drawn up plans to allow students arriving from the continent pay the same fees as British students, sources say, and is willing to spend hundreds of millions of pounds compensating universities to do so.

Новейший тренд в технологиях машинного обучения — так называемые «персональные ассистенты», AI-агенты вроде Muse от Meta* и Dots от OpenAI. Это вторая волна подобных программ, после первой волны ассистентов, включая OpenClaw, Instinct и проч. Агенты нового поколения приходят на смену чатботам прошлого, не имеющим продвинутой памяти и доступа к персональным данным пользователя.

К сожалению, сбор данных со стороны крупных IT-корпораций увеличивает риски для приватности пользователей. И первый мониторинг активности AI-агентов подтвердил худшие опасения.

Mann taken to hospital with superficial injury after weapon accidentally discharged while holstered

The Hollywood director Michael Mann has been taken to the hospital following an apparently accidental shooting at a Los Angeles gun range, according to the Associated Press.

Mann, 83, reportedly shot himself in the leg while at The Range LA. The news was first reported on the celebrity website TMZ. He sustained what his representative described as a superficial injury after a weapon accidentally discharged while holstered.

Goals from Khadija Shaw and Lauren Hemp helped Manchester City to escape from Bromley with three points after a thrilling encounter with London City Lionesses. It was a statement performance from the home team, despite the defeat delivering a blow to any title ambitions they may have been quietly holding on to before kick-off.

The gap between the hosts and the champions is now six points, after Hemp restored City’s lead following Jana Fernández’s equaliser. But that London City had even played their way into conversations about this season’s title contenders in their second season has been impressive.

• Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui wins second women’s title

• USA’s Jessica Jessica McClain finishes in second

• Sweden’s Andreas Almgren wins men’s race on debut

Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya won the women’s race of the New York City Marathon on Sunday for the second time, while Sweden’s Andreas Almgren claimed the men’s title in his first ever race over the distance.

Almgren was making his debut at 26.2 miles after a successful career running half marathons and the 10,000m. He pulled away from Yemaneberhan Crippa of Italy in the final mile to take the victory in two hours, six minutes and one second. Crippa finished 13 seconds behind. Kamohelo Mofolo of Lesotho was third, edging out defending champion Benson Kipruto.

Mann taken to hospital with superficial injury after weapon accidentally discharged while holstered

Hollywood director Michael Mann has been taken to the hospital following an apparently accidental shooting at a Los Angeles gun range, according to the Associated Press.

Mann, 83, reportedly shot himself in the leg while at the The Range LA. The news was first reported on celebrity website TMZ. He sustained what his representative described as a superficial injury after a weapon accidentally discharged while holstered.

Я тимлид, который умеет нанимать, но не умеет искать работу. Поэтому я нанял для этого ИИ-агента: он живёт в моём браузере, мониторит вакансии, пишет сопроводительные письма и пинает меня по расписанию. Дневник первой недели эксперимента — что получилось, где агент сел в лужу и почему финальное «отправить» всё равно остаётся за человеком.

Youth-led protests end with street violence in cities across France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal and Albania

French officials have opened an investigation into the attempted murder of a police officer and Germany’s interior minister has called for harsh penalties after peaceful and mainly youth-led protests across Europe ended in violence.

In Portugal, police – some with dogs – cleared protest camps with baton charges, while security forces in Switzerland were attacked with paving stones.