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First lady to preside over meeting on children, technology and education in conflict' in New York next month

The far-right activist's trip came amid calls for the US to be included in a probe into foreign interference in UK politicsThe hosting of Tommy Robinson by the Trump administration has been condemned by British MPs amid calls for the US to be included in a probe into foreign interference in UK politics.The far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is being feted in the US, where he met figures including a political appointee at the Department of State in Washington DC and a congressman. Continue reading...

Robert De Niro has called for people to take to the streets peacefully against Donald Trump, who this week called him 'extremely low IQ' on social media.The Guardian reporter Joseph Gedeon sat down with the Hollywood star to discuss hope, his longstanding feud with Trump - and how America can unseat him Continue reading...

This year's crop of tops draw on Venus flytraps, cherry blossoms and classic soccer jersey designs - to varying degrees of successThe 2026 NWSL season is upon us, and so are its kits.All 16 of the league's clubs got new kits ahead of this season, and for the first time the league gave select clubs the opportunity to design third kits. The resulting collection, which includes initial home and away looks for debutants Boston Legacy and Denver Summit, is a mixed bag. Continue reading...

Court documents from Los Angeles county describe the artist, 20, as the target in legal case over death of teen girlMore than six months after the body of a teenage girl was found in his abandoned Tesla, it emerged this week that the singer D4vd is the target of a Los Angeles county grand jury investigation.In previously sealed subpoenas issued last month and recently obtained by the Associated Press, prosecutors described the 20-year-old artist, who is popular for hits such as Romantic Homicide, as the target in the legal case over the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Continue reading...

Photograph shows conservative activist handing slip to Darin McCann and Marlene Brady holding a similar paperControversy has engulfed Wyoming's state legislature after a conservative activist was photographed handing checks to Republican lawmakers on the state house floor, in an incident that has highlighted intra-conservative divisions and the role of money in the Cowboy state's politics.The political storm started on 9 February, when Karlee Provenza, a Democratic lawmaker, took a photo showing Rebecca Bextel, a conservative activist and committeewoman for the Teton county Republican party, handing a check to Darin McCann, a Republican representative, on the legislative floor. Marlene Brady, another Republican representative, stands in the photo's background, a similar piece of paper pinched between her fingers. Continue reading...

Exclusive: DHS chose firm with ties to Corey Lewandowski after demanding partisan loyalty, in departure from federal procurement guidelinesThe US Department of Homeland Security has awarded a $250,000 public relations contract to a Republican political consulting firm led by former Trump campaign officials with connections to Corey Lewandowski, a senior adviser to DHS secretary Kristi Noem, according to federal records reviewed by the Guardian.On 26 September 2025, DHS posted an opportunity for public affairs consulting services", specifying that the successful applicant would provide strategic counsel" to top officials at the department including Noem. The work would also include ensuring that media outlets in alignment with DHS priorities" were present at appearances with Noem, as well as drafting position papers and devising negotiation strategies tailored to DHS's priorities in border security, immigration enforcement, and cyber defense". Continue reading...

Internal email outlines how to handle misconduct claims as expansion raises concerns about background checksImmigration and Customs Enforcement is struggling to keep pace with vetting new hires during its historic recruitment push and is laying out a process to deal with allegations of past misconduct among recruits, the agency said in an internal email this week, underscoring concerns about ICE's rapid expansion.The email, sent to supervisors with ICE's enforcement and removal operations (ERO) division and seen by Reuters, said the high volume of new hires" and stalled background checks could create uncertainty for field offices when allegations arise related to actions before joining the federal agency, and that allegations should be referred to the internal integrity investigations unit (IIU). Continue reading...

For decades, the Valero refinery shaped Benicia's economy, politics and health. Now the city has become a reluctant test case of whether an oil town can reinvent itselfLess than 40 miles north of San Francisco, the city of Benicia has the quaint ambience of an American small town, where a white gazebo and sign for a community crab bake mark the approach to a vibrant downtown stretch of restaurants, cafes and antique shops.From many vantage points, it's easy to forget the city is home to a massive 900-acre oil refinery, its imposing sprawl of stacks, holding tanks and billowing steam hidden from view. But for nearly 60 years, the refinery has loomed over every aspect of life in Benicia, exerting outsized influence on its economy and politics, while posing serious risks to public health. Continue reading...

Before arrest at US House chamber Tuesday, Aliya Rahman had only a month earlier been dragged from her car by ICEWhen Aliya Rahman accepted Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar's invitation to attend the State of the Union address, she said she had no intention of disrupting Donald Trump's high-profile speech.It is a locus of people gathering and an opportunity to talk to legislators and to be in DC and try to understand - for someone like me, that doesn't work in politics, who is not involved in policy work and organizing - what is the texture of this stuff here?" Rahman told the Guardian. Continue reading...

While some who have lived their entire lives under democracy seem willing to forsake it, many who have experienced life under autocracy want outThere is plenty to worry about in the global contest between democracy and autocracy. Iran's violent repression of antigovernment protests in January crushed the latest effort to challenge a ruthless regime. In many European countries, including Britain, Germany and France, far-right parties seem ascendant. And Donald Trump is doing what he can to undermine democracy in the United States.Yet a closer analysis shows that autocrats are often running scared of their people. And surprisingly, democracy these days seems sometimes to be held in higher esteem in the global south than in the democratic heartland of the west. Continue reading...

It took Ellen Baum about 16 hours to finish clearing one section of hair ties, condoms and tissues woven into the fencingOn a blisteringly cold day earlier this month, Ellen Baum was not in the best mood as she walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to meet some friends in Manhattan.I had read particularly horrible news that morning about, you know, the general state of the world," said Baum, who is 37 and works in tech. And then there was the garbage. Baum stared at the dirty tissues, hair ties, trash bags, and socks affixed to the suspension bridge's frame - sometimes she even sees condoms and tampons woven into the fencing - and had a thought. I can't do anything about some of these big problems that the world and the city are facing. But I can do one modicum of something nice." Continue reading...

MLS coaches' reputation abroad won't get any better after two disastrous appointments by desperate clubsThe shipment of Eric Ramsay's possessions must have hardly made it to the West Midlands in time. After leaving Minnesota United this MLS offseason, his era in charge of West Bromwich Albion lasted just 44 days, during which time the Baggies played nine games, and won none. The club couldn't afford to be patient; not while perched just one point above the drop zone in the Championship. Ramsay was sacked on Tuesday.In one sense, this is business as usual in the English system's second tier. Ramsay is the 11th coach to be sacked, to resign, or part by mutual consent since the 2025-26 season commenced, and the league's 12th mid-season change when counting Rob Edwards' move to Wolves. One level below, League One has seen nine such changes; League Two has undergone seven. As Ramsay himself said a year ago: getting managers sacked is a bit of a national sport." Continue reading...

Tehran insists deal is possible if Trump abides by preconditions agreed with Witkoff. Plus, will Andrew bring down the British monarchy?Good morning.Iran enters critical talks on its nuclear program with the US in Geneva today, insisting a deal is possible as long as Washington sticks by three preconditions: to concede Iran's symbolic right to enrich uranium, allow Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and not impose controls on Iran's ballistic missile programme.What do we know about Trump's position? In his State of the Union speech, Trump veered sharply away from the negotiating path adopted by Witkoff when he warned about Iran's ballistic missiles reaching Europe, accused Iran of being the number one sponsor of terrorism and again claimed Iran had not promised to forgo nuclear weapons. He also claimed 32,000 demonstrators had been killed by the Iranian authorities in recent protests.This is a developing story. Follow our live coverage here.How have Democrats responded? This has nothing to do with fraud," Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, said on X. The agents Trump allegedly sent to investigate fraud are shooting protesters and arresting children. His DoJ is gutting the US Attorney's Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week Trump pardons another fraudster." Continue reading...

The club's chief executive, Paul Lakin, explains how they reached the top so quickly and what it will take to stay thereBy No Helmets RequiredWhen Hull Kingston Rovers play Leeds Rhinos in Las Vegas on Saturday night, they will do so as domestic treble winners and world club champions. The club's chief executive, Paul Lakin, explains how they made it this far and what they want to achieve next.Leeds say they will struggle to break even on Vegas as the Super League teams have to pay all their own costs. So how difficult a decision was it to give up a home game to go? It was a big decision and one that we didn't take lightly. Part of our strategy is to constantly raise our profile and when you looked at the results from a marketing and audience perspective for Wigan v Warrington in Vegas last year, the eyeballs on that were incredible. You don't get given a pot of money: you have to generate your own money through ticket sales. But like Leeds, we felt that we have a big enough fanbase to financially support our ability to go out there. It's an incredibly tough schedule but to put ourselves on that stage was too big an opportunity to turn down. A year ago we said: What if we won the Grand Final? It'll be the World Club Challenge and straight into Vegas.' We just decided to worry about it when it happens. And now it's happened!" Continue reading...

An exit from Soldier Field could lead the Bears across state lines. But it could help revive a once thriving area and the team would still be in most fans' orbitYou think you're locked out of the housing market? The Chicago Bears have been renting since Warren G Harding was president.They started out in the NFL as tenants at Wrigley Field, sharing the baseball cathedral with the Cubs for 50 seasons before the league insisted all teams play in a stadium with a capacity of at least 50,000. So in 1971, the Bears decamped to Soldier Field, where they've been ever since - save for a season-long road trip" in 2002 to the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium during renovations. Soldier Field is prime football real estate: neoclassical, on the downtown lakefront, with sweeping views of one of America's most sumptuous skylines. But the lease terms are crazy, the city park district (which owns the stadium) is a borderline slumlord, and the Bears - star-crossed to play in the league's oldest and smallest stadium while representing its third-largest market - have outgrown the place. Continue reading...

Will US intelligence learn its lessons from the Iraq war, and just how badly their legitimacy has been undermined?Four years ago, on 24 February 2022, the Russian military began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, having already occupied Crimea since 2014. Tensions between Ukraine's government and western leaders on one side and the Kremlin on the other had been escalating for years, but war did not seem like a foregone conclusion, at least not to key European politicians and even to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president.Zelenskyy hadn't even packed an emergency suitcase, though talk of war was everywhere. All that changed at 4.50am that Thursday morning. Russian missiles rained down on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and Russian troops invaded the eastern flank of the country on three different fronts. Zelenskyy and his family fled to an undisclosed location amid threats of Russian assassination squads. What has become the largest war on European soil since the second world war, what Putin has blandly called a special military operation", had begun.Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of the award-winning books How Does It Feel To Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America and This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror. He is Professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York Continue reading...

Dismissals follow revelations that FBI subpoenaed records of Patel and Susie Wiles before Trump returned to officeAt least 10 FBI employees connected to an investigation of Donald Trump have reportedly been dismissed following revelations that the agency subpoenaed personal records of current FBI director Kash Patel and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in the years before Trump returned to office.The ousters, reported by CBS News and CNN, were linked to the federal investigation led by former justice department special counsel Jack Smith into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents that were found at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort after his first term. Continue reading...

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US president faced more scathing criticism, a day after his address. Key US politics stories from Wednesday 25 February at a glanceDonald Trump continued to face scathing criticism for his State of the Union on Wednesday, with senior Democrats accusing him of failing to protect Americans.The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said Democrats were right to remain seated when Trump called on the audience to stand if they believed in protecting US citizens over undocumented immigrants. Continue reading...

Vice-president makes announcement with Mehmet Oz, who says other states will be next after MinnesotaJD Vance announced on Wednesday that the Trump administration would temporarily halt" more than a quarter-billion dollars in Medicaid reimbursements to the state of Minnesota, escalating Donald Trump's newly announced war on fraud".Vance said the action was to ensure Minnesota was a good steward of the American people's tax money", part of its crackdown on the state following a fraud scandal linked to residents of the Somali community in Minneapolis, which prompted the administration to send thousands of federal immigration agents into Minneapolis and that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens and widespread protests. Continue reading...

Killing of Ruben Ray Martinez on 15 March 2025 in Texas was not disclosed by the department until media reported itA grand jury on Wednesday rejected indictments over the fatal shooting last year of a US citizen by a federal immigration agent during a traffic encounter in Texas, prosecutors said.The shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez on 15 March 2025 by a Homeland Security investigations agent wasn't publicly disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security until the Associated Press and other media outlets reported it last week. Continue reading...

Proposed settlement would pay users of glyphosate-based weedkiller who have non-Hodgkin lymphoma $10,000 to $165,000A group of 14 law firms representing nearly 20,000 plaintiffs is seeking to intervene in Bayer's proposed class action settlement of Roundup litigation, citing concerns that the deal will not be fair to cancer sufferers.The group filed both a motion to intervene and a motion for an extension of time for court preliminary approval of the deal in St Louis city circuit court in Missouri late on February 24.This story is co-published with the New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group Continue reading...

Investigation under way after man was dropped off five miles from home but family wasn't notified, officials sayA nearly blind Burmese refugee who was abandoned by border patrol agents has been found dead in Buffalo, New York, city officials confirmed.Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, had been missing since 19 February, when he was dropped off by border patrol following his release from Erie county holding center, according to the Investigative Post. Continue reading...

Department commissioner will be Erin Dalton, who conducted outreach in Pennsylvania among unhoused communitiesZohran Mamdani, New York's mayor, has hired Erin Dalton as a new commissioner of the city's department of social services.The hire comes as the new mayor has faced scrutiny over the city's handling of its unhoused population following the deaths of at least 20 people who were found outdoors during an especially cold winter. Continue reading...

Critics concerned as Casey Means, aligned with RFK Jr on vaccine stance, does not have active medical licenseCasey Means, Donald Trump's controversial nominee for US surgeon general, appeared before the Senate health committee on Wednesday for a twohour hearing in which she defended her medical credentials, side-stepped direct questions on vaccine guidance, and blamed the country's chronicdisease burden on ultraprocessed foods, industrial chemical exposure, lack of physical activity, chronic stress and loneliness, and overmedicalization".As the nation's prospective top doctor, Means would be responsible for communicating federal publichealth guidance. In her opening remarks, she said Americans were angry, exhausted and hurting from preventable diseases" and called for a great national healing". Her hearing was postponed in October, after she went into labor hours before she was scheduled to testify. Continue reading...

Federal officials search district chief Alberto Carvalho's home, but allegations being examined remain unclearThe FBI raided the headquarters of the Los Angeles unified school district, the second largest school district in the US, as well as the home of Alberto Carvalho, the district's superintendent, federal officials confirmed on Wednesday.An unnamed source familiar with the investigation told the Associated Press that authorities served warrants that were part of an ongoing investigation". Continue reading...

Aliya Rahman, who was dragged out of her car in January by agents, arrested for refusing to obey orders' to sit downA guest of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, was arrested by Capitol police during the State of the Union address.Omar had invited Aliya Rahman, a US citizen and Minneapolis resident who in January was removed from her car and dragged by immigration agents in the city as part of the Trump administration's increased efforts to arrest and deport alleged undocumented immigrants. The officers had been shouting at her to move. Continue reading...

Organizers scramble for new venue after University of Southern Maine cites sanctions over Francesca Albanese's virtual talkThe University of Southern Maine abruptly revoked access to an on-campus venue days before a conference about Palestine was to take place there, citing the participation in the program of an individual under US sanctions and following pressure from local legislators.More than 300 participants have registered to attend the Consequence of Palestine" conference, which was slated to include remote participation from Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, who has been under sanction by the Trump administration since last year. Continue reading...

Drivers of SUV and pickup truck emerge unscathed from incident in trendy section of Nebraska citySurveillance video captured the dramatic moment a sinkhole opened up on a busy intersection in south-central Omaha, Nebraska, swallowing up two vehicles.The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon in a trendy section of the midwest city, when a sport utility vehicle and a pickup truck waiting at a traffic light dropped into a hole several feet deep as the pavement under them suddenly gave way. Neither driver was injured, police said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Jamie Raskin, top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, asks for justice department briefing

The State of the Union address has been in decline for decade as a TV spectacle, and Trump probably hastened that trendIn fulfillment of clause 1 of section 3 in article II of the US constitution, Donald Trump duly gave Congress Information of the State of the Union" last night.Information ... and more information. At an hour and 47 minutes, this was the longest State of the Union address in history. As he has so often done in the past, Trump bobbed and weaved impressively (the weave" is his own term for his meandering speaking style). He zigged and zagged, taunting Democrats for much of the speech (he called Zohran Mamdani a communist" and took pot shots at Democrats throughout the night), while claiming to be a unifier when the mood struck. Continue reading...

Democrats accuse president's address of litany of lies as Republicans hail his bullish claims about year back in office

Nobel laureate Richard Axel announced resignation as co-director of Columbia University's neuroscience instituteDr Richard Axel, a molecular biologist and Nobel laureate, has announced that he is stepping down as the leader of a prestigious neuroscience institute at Columbia University over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.Axel, who has taught at Columbia for 53 years, said in a statement on Tuesday that he would be leaving his post as co-director of the university's Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute to focus on research and teaching in my lab". Continue reading...

States call move an illegal threat to public health and argue CDC puts children's lives at risk with new guidanceMore than a dozen states, including California, sued the Trump administration over its rollback of vaccine recommendations for children, calling the move an illegal threat to public health.The states argue that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put children's lives at risk when it announced last month that it would stop recommending all children get immunized against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. Under the new guidance, which was met with criticism from medical experts, protections against those diseases are recommended only for certain groups deemed high risk or when doctors recommend them in what's called shared decision-making." Continue reading...

Microsoft co-founder admits affairs and calls meetings huge mistake' but denies involvement in Epstein's crimes

With Republicans facing grim poll figures, Trump promised action to influence the vote citing debunked fraud claimsDonald Trump once again railed against imagined fraud in America's elections on Tuesday during the State of the Union address.They want to cheat," he said of Democrats. They have cheated. And their policy is so bad that their only way to get elected is to cheat. And we're going to stop it." Continue reading...

Man, 32, shot dead by deputy after stabbing attack was the subject of domestic violence protection orders

Jamieson Greer warns tariffs may climb from 10% after Trump imposed global levy amid US supreme court setbackThe US tariff rate for some countries will go up to 15% or higher from the newly-imposed 10%, Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, said on Wednesday, without naming any specific trading partners or other details.Right now, we have the 10% tariff. It'll go up to 15 [%] for some and then it may go higher for others, and I think it will be in line with the types of tariffs we've been seeing," Greer said in an interview on Fox Business Network's Mornings with Maria program. Continue reading...

Milwaukee city council member calls for inquiry into Uline's previous shuttle program' to bring in Mexican workersA Milwaukee city council member has called for an investigation into the immigration policies at Uline, the office supply company owned by Liz and Richard Uihlein, two of the biggest donors to Maga Republicans in the 2024 election.The statement by JoCasta Zamarripa, who is running for the Democratic nomination for Wisconsin secretary of state ahead of November's election, follows an investigation by the Guardian into Uline's previous use of a so-called shuttle program". It involved the company bringing workers from its facilities in Mexico to staff warehouses at its headquarters in Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania, for weeks and even months at a time, using visas that are meant for workers who are being trained - not working regular full-time jobs. Continue reading...

The newly crowned Olympic champions were warmly greeted by both Republicans and Democrats. They were also used as props by the presidentDuring Tuesday's State of the Union, Donald Trump welcomed members of the US men's national hockey team to the House gallery to chants of U-S-A, U-S-A!". Trump revealed that Team USA's goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. What special champions you are," Trump told the players, who had beaten Canada on Sunday in the final of the Winter Olympics.In Trump's America, proximity is never neutral. Continue reading...

The Democratic congressman Al Green has addressed his protest at Donald Trump's State of the Union speech, in which Green held up a handwritten sign that read 'Black people aren't apes!'. The sign referenced a racist depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama that the president had shared on social media. After being ejected from the event, Green told journalists he had wanted to take a stand against the president doing 'these dastardly things with impunity'

International conference circuit gives worldwide right wing opportunities to share ideas and learn from each otherThe president of the New York Young Republican Club (NYYRC) is a featured speaker at a conference this week in Pretoria, South Africa, hosted by an Afrikaner nationalist group whose founder was instrumental in persuading the American right that white South African farmers face systematic attacks.Stefano Forte, also the executive director of the billionaire-funded 1776 Project Pac, will speak at the Lex Libertas Future of Nations conference on 25 February alongside leading figures from the Afrikaner Solidarity Movement, members of Belgium's far-right Vlaams Belang - whose predecessor was outlawed for racism - and a political analyst from a thinktank wholly funded by the regime of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban. Continue reading...

McDonald's and other food industry players accuse the big beef packers of collusion and price-gouging. The packers deny these allegationsOn 21 November, at the end of the first shift at the Tyson Foods beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska, all workers were called to the lunchroom and told they no longer had jobs. Many gathered afterward in the gravel parking lot. Some wailed and cried out.It's a terrible thing to know that we won't be able to pay rent, won't be able to pay the electricity, our cars - all the bills coming our way," said Constancio Perales, a 64-year-old worker born in Durango, Mexico, who has worked at the plant since 1996 - the last 25 years cutting the bone out of chuck steaks. It's very sad that they would fire us like that - just telling us there's no more work, as if to say go away." Continue reading...

In his new memoir, Art Manteris recalls raucous times in Nevada, and explains why the explosion of sports betting in the US presents serious risksForty years ago, the New England Patriots played in their first Super Bowl. It ended disastrously for New England, who lost 46-10 to the Chicago Bears. The Bears' mammoth defensive tackle, William The Refrigerator" Perry, even got involved in the scoring with a touchdown.That moment looked like it would cause serious problems for Art Manteris, who at the time ran the sportsbook at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Under Manteris, Caesars had offered odds on whether Perry would score during the game - and, as fans scrambled to back the popular player, the house stood to lose a significant sum if he did. When Perry ran into the end zone, gamblers collected handsomely, to the tune of $250,000. The next day, Manteris was summoned to meet the boss of Caesars, Henry Gluck. Continue reading...

Timing and luck often dictate a team's success at tournaments. And the co-hosts have players coming into form at just the right timeBruce Arena once said that if his United States men's national team had contested the 2006 World Cup a year earlier, the Americans would have done much better than the joyless, winless group stage elimination they suffered through. That team, he felt, had peaked during qualifiers and were past their best - despite being ranked an absurd fourth in the world by Fifa - when the World Cup kicked off.Four years earlier, when the USMNT stunned the 2002 World Cup by nearly reaching the semi-finals, his side benefited from time's relentless march, Arena argued. The Americans, cohesive and energized then, upset a golden Portugal generation that had already lost its sheen, 3-2, to spark their run. Continue reading...

Texas Democrat removed for holding Black people aren't apes' sign as colleagues stay seated while Republicans cheerAs dozens of their colleagues boycotted Trump's State of the Union address, several of the Democrats in the House chamber on Tuesday night made their opposition to the president's remarks clear.Congressman Al Green was ejected from the speech almost immediately, marking the second year in a row he has been removed from the annual event. After being ordered out by House speaker Mike Johnson during last year's speech for yelling responses as the president spoke, this year's protest from the Texas representative was silent but pointed. Continue reading...