Catnapped bodega cat in Brooklyn reunited with owner after intense grassroots campaign

Three-month-old Jabal was returned to Park Slope bodega after community rallied to rescue purloined kitty

The owner of a New York City bodega on Tuesday was reunited with the store’s cat after a couple passing by the establishment five days earlier appeared to abduct the feline in plain view of a surveillance camera and ignited an intense grassroots search effort.

The plight of three-month-old Jabal began on Thursday morning in Brooklyn, when he went just outside the Eighth Street Mini Market where he lives as it opened for the day. A man walking alongside a woman passed the Park Slope market then picked up Jabal, and the pair took off as the kitten visibly squirmed, according to store surveillance video which the bodega’s owner, Imad “Jimmy” Innab, reviewed after he noticed the cat had gone missing.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/15/stolen-new-york-city-bodega-cat

DHS officers raise concerns over potentially illegal voter searches and unreliable data, whistleblower says

Officers were instructed to search state voter databases and create federal records on suspected non-citizen voters despite concerns over the process

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyers told officers investigating voter fraud they would not be held responsible for violating state laws around accessing voter registration information, an anonymous whistleblower revealed on Monday. DHS officers also had concerns about the reliability of the data they were working with, the whistleblower said.

The Trump administration has ramped up its investigation into noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. Noncitizen voting is extremely rare and the effort has only turned up a handful of cases so far.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/14/dhs-voter-data-whistleblower

Mitch McConnell returns to Senate after months-long absence

The 84-year-old said he was prepared to cast his first vote after rampant speculation about his health

Mitch McConnell, the former Republican Senate majority leader, returned to the Capitol on Monday and cast his first vote after a months‑long absence that fueled rampant speculation about his health.

The 84-year-old senator has been away from the Senate since mid-June, following what his office said was a fall that left him hospitalized. He was discharged from a rehabilitation center last month.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/14/mitch-mcconnell-return-senate

US ends limits on coal and gas plant emissions, removing key tool to battle climate crisis

Trump’s EPA strips itself of regulation ability, gutting Clean Air Act in what experts say is a gift to planet polluters

On the heels of the hottest summer ever recorded in the US, the Trump administration has said it will erase any limits on emissions from coal and gas plants that are dangerously heating up our planet.

The US Environmental Protection Agency said it will strip itself of its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions coming from power plants under the Clean Air Act, removing a key tool to address the climate crisis.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/sep/14/trump-epa-repeal-pollution-standards-power-plants

New Charlie Kirk statue vandalized at Turning Point USA headquarters

The 8ft statue, installed in Phoenix last week to mark one year since Kirk’s killing, was found painted red

A newly unveiled statue of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk was vandalized at the Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona.

The statue was found with red spray-paint. A nearby poster memorial in front of the statue was vandalized with red paint as well.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/13/charlie-kirk-statue-vandalized-tpusa-arizona

Best friends for decades - until a DNA test revealed they were sisters

Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen were adopted from orphanages in Mumbai in the 1980s and grew up in the Netherlands.

OpenAI IPO will not happen in 2026 amid AI safety fears, Sam Altman says

OpenAI’s decision comes after dire warnings about rapidly progressing technology and lawmakers’ calls for new rules

OpenAI will not go public in 2026, Sam Altman said in a Fortune interview published on Saturday, citing safety concerns over artificial intelligence.

“I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don’t feel pressure on that,” Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, told Fortune.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/12/openai-delays-ipo-sam-altman-ai-safety-concerns