The Guardian

The Guardianpage 117

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Victim families say it has ‘taken way too long’ to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for alleged support on 9/11

Terry Strada, whose husband was killed in the attacks, says she remains hopeful for justice as a lawsuit alleging Saudi support for the hijackers moves toward trial The leader of one group of 9/11 victims’ families says it has “taken way too long” to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged support of the terrorists who carried out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, whose 25th anniversary was observed across the US on Friday. As that grim milestone approached, Terry Strada – the national chair of 9/11 Families United – said she felt as if it had “been several lifetimes” for there to be progress in the effort “to achieve a modicum of justice through our court system” in connection with the deadliest act of terror against the US. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianRamon Antonio Vargas10 Sept

US home sales slowest in more than a year as mortgage rates and prices climb

Housing market has been stymied by borrowing costs, as Iran war pushed mortgage rates higher Sales of previously occupied US homes declined in August to their slowest annual pace in more than a year as home shoppers grappled with rising mortgage rates and home prices. Existing home sales fell 2% last month from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98m units, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday. This is the third straight monthly decline. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianAssociated Press10 Sept

Angine de Poitrine review – mind-boggling math rock mastery from freaky Québécois duo

Le Poisson Rouge, New York The brilliantly strange experimental band’s live show is a must-see spectacle powered by glorious noise and wild flair Their masks light up now. To the extent there was a hard news event from Wednesday’s exhilarating sold-out New York debut of Angine de Poitrine , that was it. The Québécois duo went viral in corners of the internet earlier this year thanks in part to their microtonal, odd-metered take on hard-driving rock, but also because of those ostentatious costumes and masks – black and white polka dot tunics and jumpsuits with oversized papier-mache faces and exaggerated features, originally featuring golden glittery eyes and signature pyramid accoutrements. The new ones have all those same things but with the added ability to light up in a bright yellow at key moments. A small detail, to be sure, but one got the sense that the weeknight crowd was reveling in it and many others at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) – an appropriately French-named venue given the band’s home province. Wednesday was the first of the band’s two shows at the 700-capacity basement venue renowned for its sound system and commitment to adventurous programming. Both Angine shows had been sold out for many months, ever since a video of them playing in a French studio was uploaded to KEXP’s YouTube channel and went viral. At time of writing, the video is closing in on 20m views – a remarkable tally given that the music, by mass-appeal standards, is so magnificently odd. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianAlexander Abnos10 Sept

Ministers face backlash from hospitality industry over ‘tourist tax’ plans

Many mayors welcome power to impose tourist tax but industry warns of ‘irreparable harm’ and job losses Ministers are facing a backlash from the hospitality industry after they announced mayors in England would be given sweeping powers to levy taxes on holiday accommodation such as hotels and Airbnbs. The plan, presented on Thursday by Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, will allow mayors to impose a “tourist tax” without a cap on how much they can charge and with few controls on how they can spend it. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianKiran Stacey, Josh Halliday, Alexandra Topping and Rob Davies10 Sept

Ministers face backlash from hospitality industry over ‘tourist tax’ plans

Many mayors welcome power to impose tourist tax but industry warns of ‘irreparable harm’ and job losses Ministers are facing a backlash from the hospitality industry after they announced mayors in England would be given sweeping powers to levy taxes on holiday accommodation such as hotels and Airbnbs. The plan, presented on Thursday by Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, will allow mayors to impose a “tourist tax” without a cap on how much they can charge and with few controls on how they can spend it. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianKiran Stacey, Josh Halliday, Alexandra Topping and Rob Davies10 Sept

Ministers face backlash from hospitality industry over ‘tourist tax’ plans

Many mayors welcome power to impose tourist tax but industry warns of ‘irreparable harm’ and job losses Ministers are facing a backlash from the hospitality industry after they announced mayors in England would be given sweeping powers to levy taxes on holiday accommodation such as hotels and Airbnbs. The plan, presented on Thursday by Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, will allow mayors to impose a “tourist tax” without a cap on how much they can charge and with few controls on how they can spend it. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianKiran Stacey, Josh Halliday, Alexandra Topping and Rob Davies10 Sept

Ministers face backlash from hospitality industry over ‘tourist tax’ plans

Many mayors welcome power to impose tourist tax but industry warns of ‘irreparable harm’ and job losses Ministers are facing a backlash from the hospitality industry after they announced mayors in England would be given sweeping powers to levy taxes on holiday accommodation such as hotels and Airbnbs. The plan, presented on Thursday by Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, will allow mayors to impose a “tourist tax” without a cap on how much they can charge and with few controls on how they can spend it. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianKiran Stacey, Josh Halliday, Alexandra Topping and Rob Davies10 Sept

Ministers face backlash from hospitality industry over ‘tourist tax’ plans

Many mayors welcome power to impose tourist tax but industry warns of ‘irreparable harm’ and job losses Ministers are facing a backlash from the hospitality industry after they announced mayors in England would be given sweeping powers to levy taxes on holiday accommodation such as hotels and Airbnbs. The plan, presented on Thursday by Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, will allow mayors to impose a “tourist tax” without a cap on how much they can charge and with few controls on how they can spend it. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianKiran Stacey, Josh Halliday, Alexandra Topping and Rob Davies10 Sept

Ministers face backlash from hospitality industry over ‘tourist tax’ plans

Many mayors welcome power to impose tourist tax but industry warns of ‘irreparable harm’ and job losses Ministers are facing a backlash from the hospitality industry after they announced mayors in England would be given sweeping powers to levy taxes on holiday accommodation such as hotels and Airbnbs. The plan, presented on Thursday by Angela Rayner, the local government secretary, will allow mayors to impose a “tourist tax” without a cap on how much they can charge and with few controls on how they can spend it. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianKiran Stacey, Josh Halliday, Alexandra Topping and Rob Davies10 Sept

‘It was all hands on deck’: how the CIA responded to 9/11

Veterans recall chaos and confusion as the attacks unfolded – followed by a ‘war on terror’ that left agency with a tarnished reputation A generation of spies had lost an enemy but not yet found a role. Then came 9/11. A decade after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, al-Qaida’s devastating attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 announced to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that the long era of battling communism, for which it had been founded, was officially at an end. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianRobert Tait in Washington10 Sept

Global bond sell-off resumes as surging oil prices stoke fears about inflation

Crude jumps above $107 a barrel amid concerns over Middle East conflict and out-of-control government borrowing Nervous investors across big economies have been dumping government bonds, driving up the cost of borrowing, as surging oil prices amplified fears about rising inflation. The cost of a barrel of oil jumped 6% to above $107 on Thursday amid concerns that advances by Houthi rebels along the Red Sea coast in Yemen could choke off Saudi crude exports. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianHeather Stewart and Phillip Inman10 Sept

Ollie Robinson’s feats against Pakistan have yet to convince England’s old guard | Andy Bull

Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson have praised the bowler’s exploits this summer, but question whether he can do it against better teams on flatter pitches There was a Pakistan fan walking around Edgbaston carrying a small blackboard on the second day . “Free Imran Khan …” he’d written on it, “and get him in the team.” He stopped to talk about it with a couple of the police officers standing guard around the back of the pavilion. “I’d like to report a crime,” he told them, “by the 11 players out there on the field.” The officers chuckled. “Not much I can do about that for you, sorry.” Even their supporters seemed to have reached the point where they just want this tour to be over. With dismal inevitability, the weather had turned by the time Pakistan actually got out to bat in their second innings and the bright sunshine that lit up England’s batting through the afternoon had been occluded by a bank of heavy grey cloud that had blown up from the south-west. They turned the floodlights on just in time for Saim Ayub and Azan Awais to go out and face up to another new-ball burst from Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer. The lights didn’t help anyone, if anything they only made it easier to see what was coming. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianAndy Bull at Edgbaston10 Sept

Somerset return to summit after dog stops play: county cricket, day three – as it happened

Somerset eased to a 377-run win over Leicestershire to go top of Division One while Notts were caught cold by Hampshire’s attack Lancashire’s off-on-off wicketkeeper – sent to Essex on loan – collects 50, he and Akhter frustrating Yorkshire with an unbroken eighth-wicket partnership of 60. Essex 157 for seven, still 233 behind. A wave to the Guardian’s Will Unwin who rang the five-minute bell today at Old Trafford, asked by a unwary steward who didn’t know the red rose fury within. Dhariwal and Taylor have now stretched the lead to 215, which feels enough already although conditions are looking easier. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianTanya Aldred at Old Trafford10 Sept

China’s Huawei branded a criminal enterprise as tech firm’s US trial opens

The defense says: ‘It’s about competition, not conspiracy’ A US prosecutor described China ’s Huawei as a criminal enterprise that stole from US companies to build its telecommunications empire, as ⁠the trial against the tech company kicked off in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. “Theft, lies, cover-up,” Taylor Stout, a trial attorney from the US Department of Justice, said in the government’s opening statement. “For 20 years, that’s how Huawei, a massive Chinese telecommunications company, victimized American companies ⁠and abused the American financial system, all ⁠in an effort to dominate the telecommunications ​industry around the world.” Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianReuters10 Sept

The Guardian view on the prisons crisis: moving men into women’s jails is not the answer | Editorial

Kneejerk reactions to overcrowding will do more harm than good. Ministers should focus on probation It is not hard to see why ministers are considering converting parts of the women’s prison estate for use by men. While Andy Burnham’s decision to narrow the early-release scheme was born of political necessity, it has made an already acute capacity problem worse. Excluding manslaughter and further sexual offences cut projected early releases from 6,000 to 4,500 . The family of PC Andrew Harper, who was killed on duty in 2019, welcomed the assurance that his killers would not be released early. But the change left overcrowded English and Welsh jails with even less room. The government is trying to innovate. Last week it was announced that £110m will be spent on creating new cells in existing jails, by converting underused spaces such as storage and laundry areas. Deportations are to be speeded up, if foreign governments can be persuaded to cooperate. There is an overdue and welcome commitment to examine how indeterminate imprisonment for public protection sentences can be phased out. 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 . Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianEditorial10 Sept

Forgetful Farage shares rose-tinted memories of Reform’s party conference | John Crace

Oops, Nige’s round-robin email skipped over the most embarrassing and dark details – let’s set the record straight Which one of us has not dreamed of getting a personal email from Nigel Farage? So imagine the excitement that Reform supporters must have felt when a message from their leader dropped into their inboxes late on Wednesday night. And mine. Could he also be about to offer everyone in the country £5,000 in return for electing a Reform government? Sadly not. Even Honest Bob’s planned welfare cuts won’t cover that. Instead, Nige was treating us all to his reflections on his party conference that had just ended. The only drawback was that there appeared to be some gaps in his memory. Let’s be kind and assume he was pushed for space. So let’s help him fill in the blanks. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianJohn Crace10 Sept

World Rugby float plans for Six Nations match in US but England unlikely to participate

Governing body floating staging Ireland v Italy in US World Rugby eyes commercial value in American fixtures World Rugby wants a Six Nations match to be staged in the US and has offered financial incentives to the unions to do so – but England have effectively ruled themselves out on the grounds that fixtures at Twickenham are too lucrative. The US will stage the 2031 World Cup and World Rugby is seeking to capitalise commercially despite mounting fears over the parlous state of rugby union in the host country. As a result, the governing body is desperate to raise interest in the sport’s profile by staging high-profile matches Stateside, with Baltimore hosting the fourth Test between South Africa and New Zealand on Saturday. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianGerard Meagher10 Sept

Glowing javelins and a $10m prize fund usher in a brave new world for track and field

The Ultimate Championship aims to revolutionise the sport with promises of bigger prize money and a greater role for athletes Track and field’s brave new world begins in Budapest on Friday night. The action will be fast-paced and slick, with augmented reality showing athletes’ win percentages and javelins and hammers that glow, making them easier to see on a black infield. In the space of 48 hours, a top sprinter could earn $337,500 (£250,000) for just over a minute’s work. It is all part of the new World Athletics Ultimate Championship, a three-day event with a prize fund of $10m which is designed to pit the best against the best, and kick off a minor revolution in the sport. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe GuardianSean Ingle in Budapest10 Sept