As Colombia approaches presidential elections next year, the US decision to decertify the country in the war on drugs plays into the hands of its allies on the political right, writes NICK MacWILLIAM

THIS coming Tuesday evening, Democratic US voters will face a choice: whether to settle in front of their televisions with a large mug of strong coffee or a triple vodka tonic.
To watch or not to watch? That is indeed the question on November 5, when our own version of gunpowder, treason and plot could unfold, plunging the country into chaos and fascism should Republican Donald Trump defeat Democrat Kamala Harris and take back the White House.
Is it nobler to stay awake, optimistic in the belief that what passes for US democracy will survive? Or would it be better to sink quickly into alcohol-induced oblivion and hope that when dawn breaks — and despite the hangover — a vulgar, racist felon isn’t president and Harris is?

Women opponents of the Trump regime fear his misogynist, racist and anti-immigrant views are taking hold in Britain, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER, as protests against his visit hit London’s streets

But the beneath the racism and misogyny of the far right lies a shared grievance with the left — Starmer’s complete betrayal of working people, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Still the only black man to win the US Open tennis title, a statue of the legendary champion, Arthur Ashe, is now the only one remaining on Monument Avenue in his Richmond, Virginia hometown, where confederate leaders of the Civil War were also once displayed, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Danni Perry’s flag display at the Royal Opera House sparked 182 performers to sign a solidarity letter that cancelled the Tel Aviv Tosca production, while Leonardo DiCaprio invests in Tel Aviv hotels, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER