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Received — 17 October 2026 ⏭ El País - English

Abdul El‑Sayed, the Democrats’ riskiest bet for the midterms: ‘We will have to hold Trump accountable for all the harm he has done’

17 October 2026 at 05:00

There is still over an hour before the protagonist appears, but the line already wraps around the block. Dozens of people wait patiently for their turn to see the man who has become the great hope of the Democratic left wing. When he begins to speak, pandemonium breaks out: “My name is Abdul El‑Sayed and I am going to be your next senator in Washington.” Over the next hour, the hundreds gathered in this venue will applaud, laugh, and cheer every word from the mouth of the new star of American politics, who has already made a fitted black T‑shirt and jeans his trademark look. We are in Lansing, Michigan’s capital, where one of the most gripping battles of the midterm elections — just over two weeks away — is being fought.

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© Paul Sancya (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Abdul El‑Sayed, Democratic candidate for U.S. senator from Michigan, last Thursday after debating Republican Mike Rogers in Grand Rapids, United States.

The midterms in maps: A guide to the key Senate, House and governor races

17 October 2026 at 05:00
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On November 3, voters will head to the polls for the midterm elections, which will determine whether Donald Trump’s Republicans retain a friendly Congress or whether Democrats take control of one or both chambers, enabling them to mount a more aggressive opposition by blocking legislation, budgets and appointments during the final two years of his term.

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Thomas Piketty: 'The future billionaires are preparing for us is dystopian'

17 October 2026 at 05:00

Most of the planet with incomes equivalent to €5,000 a month (nearly $5,600) by 2100. Average temperatures only 1.8 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Less meat, industry and mining. More health care and education. And who would lose out? The world’s Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellisons and Elon Musks. A tiny group of billionaires representing 0.001% of the population would see their share of global wealth fall from the current 6.4% to 0.05%, while the poorest 50% of the planet would rise from holding just 2% to 30%.

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© Edgar Sapiña Manchado (EFE) (EL PAÍS)

French economist Thomas Piketty in Paris.

Venezuelan women continue to have secret abortions as Colombia threatens to close its borders to them

17 October 2026 at 05:00
A doctor takes a woman’s blood pressure at Domingo Luciani Hospital in Caracas, Venezuela, in March 2022.

It is 2022. In a neighborhood in western Caracas, Yolanda (a fictitious name) walks through a checkpoint manned by hooded police officers. In her pocket, she carries a small transparent bag containing several misoprostol pills – the second part of the treatment recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for a safe medical abortion.

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 The owner of this pair of pants had an abortion two months before the photo was taken, but was still bleeding. Caracas, Venezuela, March 26, 2023.A companion embraces a woman undergoing an abortion in a low-income neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, on August 26, 2022. The procedure lasted about four hours. As she moaned in pain inside the bathroom, the companion held her and said, “You are strong, you can get through this. I'm right here.”A companion asks a woman undergoing a medical abortion if she can enter the bathroom, in order to hold her hair and body while she vomits and sits on the toilet. Photo taken in a house located in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, on August 25, 2022. Near this house, police forces are stopping everyone entering the neighborhood at a makeshift checkpoint.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

A mother nurses her child while she walks towards a Red Cross camp in La Parada, on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, on September 17, 2018.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño (EL PAÍS)

A woman taking misoprostol pills in a low-income neighborhood in western Caracas, Venezuela, on August 25, 2022.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño (EL PAÍS)

A protest against femicides in the historic center of Caracas, Venezuela, on March 11, 2023.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

A pregnant 14-year-old shows the tattoo on her belly, standing on the Simón Bolívar International Bridge on September 17, 2018.

Pregnant Venezuelan women waiting to be seen at the Erasmo Meoz University Hospital in Cúcuta, Colombia, on September 17, 2018.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño (EL PAÍS)

A woman in bed next to the altar she made for her fetus' sonogram, at her house in Caracas, on March 26, 2023.

© Andrea Hernandez Briceno

An activist for the feminist organization Comadres Púrpuras marches on the Day of Global Action for Safe and Legal Abortions in Caracas, on September 28, 2022.

© Andrea Hernández Briceño

A woman leading a dance group during a protest march by a Christian coalition against sexual and reproductive health education in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 13, 2023.

The story of Billy Childish, a tormented British punk icon: ‘Professional art kills art’

17 October 2026 at 05:00

He has a noose tattooed on his left arm. He paints pictures of gallows. He named his publishing house and record label “Hangman.” And he has songs titled One Day You Die (2007) and You Make Me Die (1986). But there’s nothing macabre about him. In fact, he laughs at everything… and at everyone.

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© Marc Broussely (Redferns/Getty)

Billy Childish, with The Musicians Of The British Empire, performs at the Blues Kitchen during the opening day of The Camden Crawl on May 1, 2010, in London.

Alistair Boxall: ‘We know rivers are heavily contaminated by chemical substances and I’m surprised we do nothing about it’

17 October 2026 at 05:00
Professor Alistair Boxall, from the University of York, in Vitoria, in early September.

Alistair Boxall, 58, is a chemist and professor of environmental science at the University of York. In 2022, he helped lead the largest study ever conducted on pharmaceutical pollution in rivers around the world. Boxall is now leading a new monitoring project covering 93 rivers in 31 European countries. Among them are the Manzanares, Jarama, Henares and Pantueña streams in the Madrid region, as well as the Zadorra and Nervión rivers in Álava.

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Mediums, horoscopes, tarot... how much does modern mysticism have to do with neoliberal individualism?

17 October 2026 at 05:00

Anyone on social media will find infinite references to horoscopes, mediums, tarot and other practices. This seems to contrast with the era in which we live which is hyperconnected and technologically advanced.

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© Cooperphoto (Getty Images)

Tarot is a regular refuge for those in search of spiritual meaning.

Medellín went green in order to stay cool, but the heat is catching up 

17 October 2026 at 05:00

At midday in the summer, Avenida Oriental — a central boulevard in Medellín — is usually congested in both directions. The sidewalks are crowded with street vendors, hawking food and clothing. Amidst the heat, drivers and pedestrians seek shade under the trees that form three long rows along the sides and down the center of this avenue, which is one of the main streets in the downtown core.

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© CHELO CAMACHO

A view of Zone 1, Northeast, in Medellín, on October 6, 2025.
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