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Potential presidential hopeful running for re-election in Georgia intensifies White House feud after remarks about Natalie' drew ire of president and alliesThe Democratic senator Jon Ossoff called Donald Trump a draft-dodging, crook president" while defending the senator Mark Kelly as a hero during a Tuesday campaign appearance in Georgia, escalating his public feud with the US president.I don't think anything illustrates the times more aptly than that the draft-dodging, crook president, who has plunged our nation recklessly into a war he knows not how to end or to win, tried to imprison this man, who embodies American heroism," Ossoff said while appearing alongside Kelly and his wife, the former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Continue reading...

Police report shows Brian Hickerson and his brother, Zach Hickerson, were at Greenville, South Carolina, residenceHayden Panettiere's on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother, Zach Hickerson, were at the South Carolina apartment where the actor died over the weekend, according to a police report released on Tuesday.A Greenville police officer who responded to the residence on Sunday afternoon was met by the brothers and then observed paramedics performing CPR on an unresponsive woman, the report states. Continue reading...

US supreme court declined to halt execution of William Frances Silvia, and state has two executions next monthA Florida man convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and wounding his mother-in-law was executed on Tuesday, continuing the state's aggressive use of the death penalty in the final term of the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.William Frances Silvia, 61, was pronounced dead at 6.11pm after receiving a three-drug injection at the Florida state prison near Starke. Continue reading...

National Trust for Historic Preservation filing comes after president made emergency bid for construction to continueA historic preservation group that sued to block construction of Donald Trump's White House ballroom urged the US supreme court on Tuesday to suspend the project while it considers whether the work can continue.The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed its request less than a week after the Trump administration asked the nation's highest court to allow the White House to continue construction on its $400m ballroom project during the appeals process. Continue reading...

Larry Montes, already facing state charges, allegedly attacked 63-year-old woman and security guard on FridayThe man accused of attacking a woman and security guard at a New York City synagogue during Shabbat services Friday has been charged with hate crimes in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors said.Larry Montes, who is already facing state-level hate crime charges, allegedly struck a 63-year-old woman as security was trying to boot him from Central synagogue. He allegedly spat at, and head-butted, a security team member and damaged synagogue property, authorities said. Continue reading...

Almost 45m acres of national forests could be potentially opened to road construction, drilling and loggingThe Trump administration said on Tuesday it plans to rescind the roadless rule" that has protected old-growth forests in the US for 25 years, potentially opening up almost 45m acres of national forests to road construction, drilling and logging.Conservationists had feared the announcement was coming since last summer after Brooke Rollins, Trump's secretary of agriculture, targeted a rule brought in by Bill Clinton's administration, describing it as overly restrictive" and an absurd obstacle" to development. Continue reading...

Harvard, Yale, Stanford and others face directive to review and cut alliances Pentagon deems national security riskThirty US universities could lose federal funding unless they review and cut foreign academic partnerships the Pentagon considers a national security risk within the next two weeks, under a Pentagon directive aimed largely at ties to Chinese institutions.Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and Cornell are among the institutions ordered to conduct and report the reviews - and end partnerships deemed problematic - by 31 August, according to a US official who provided the full list to the Guardian. Continue reading...

Riley English said she was in the grips of a mental health crisis and abusing drugs, and that she planned to kill Scott BessentA Massachusetts woman who told police that she brought homemade firebombs to the US Capitol to kill Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, was sentenced on Tuesday to just over six years in prison.Riley English, a 26-year-old transgender woman, said she was in the grips of a mental health crisis and abusing drugs when she drove to Washington in January 2025 and told Capitol police that she was there to kill Bessent on the day of his Senate confirmation. Continue reading...

Minnesota attorney general sues Texas governor in case of ICE agent charged with wounding a man in MinneapolisMinnesota's attorney general has sued the governor of Texas to force him to extradite an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent charged with wounding a man and then lying to justify the shooting during the US agency's controversial crackdown in Minneapolis.Keith Ellison, Minnesota's attorney general, is asking a federal judge to bar the sheriff in Cameron county, Texas, from releasing ICE agent Christian Castro, and to order Greg Abbott, Texas's governor, to sign his extradition warrant so that Minnesota officers can take custody. Continue reading...

Rodney Greer accused of securing unauthorized prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs and selling them to customersAn Illinois man who allegedly impersonated doctors - and evidently referred to himself online as $hotboy1" - is facing criminal charges that he secured unauthorized prescriptions for Ozempic and Mounjaro, pharmaceutical drugs that facilitate weight loss and are taken by some people for cosmetic rather than legitimate medical reasons.Rodney Greer purportedly launched the alleged scheme in early 2023, according to court filings from federal prosecutors and a US justice department news release issued on Monday. Continue reading...

Jacque St Ann, 17, and his friends broke into Plaza Tower and he fell as they were descending an interior staircaseA high school student recently fell to his death after entering an abandoned high-rise tower in downtown New Orleans with his friends - in an apparent case of urban exploration highlighting the dangers of unaddressed city blight.New Orleans police said Jacque St Ann, 17, and his friends, of the nearby community of Belle Chasse, Louisiana, traveled into the city and broke into the fenced-off, 45-story Plaza Tower in the central business district, which has stood derelict for years. Continue reading...

Network alleges FCC is trying to send chilling message' in retaliation for content the administration disapproves ofABC has sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), arguing that it is being retaliated against for content-based reasons in a move it warns threatens the independence of the press.The network filed the lawsuit on Tuesday after being forced to apply early to renew its license to broadcast on the eight local television stations it owns. It is waiting to hear whether the Brendan Carr-led FCC approves its renewal requests, or, more likely, holds a hearing on their merits. Continue reading...

Attorneys for Abrego, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, say the DoJ's appeal was flat wrong'The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to reinstate criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia that were dismissed in May by a judge who said the prosecution of the man who unwittingly became a symbol of the White House's mass deportation campaign was vindictive in nature".In a filing to the US sixth circuit court of appeals, the justice department insisted that human smuggling allegations against Abrego are genuine - and not retaliation for challenging his wrongful deportation to El Salvador in March 2025. Continue reading...

Funding boost worth $100,000 has recently materialized in form of new marmot-themed cryptocurrencyScientists who turned to OnlyFans to help save long-running research into marmots have raised more than $100,000 after harnessing the support of another, very modern, funding avenue - cryptocurrency.The 60-year project of continuous study of marmots - stout, ground-dwelling rodents that are the largest members of the squirrel family - across the US west was facing termination following science funding cuts imposed by Donald Trump's administration. Continue reading...

Edward Zimbardi, 59, who had fled US, will appear in court in Los Angeles on wire fraud and money-laundering chargesA man from Flowery Branch, Georgia, has been deported from Fiji to face charges in his home state accusing him of defrauding more than 6,000 investors and causing more than $165m of losses in a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, the US attorney in Atlanta said on Monday.Edward Zimbardi, 59, was indicted on 12 counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of money laundering and one count of money-laundering conspiracy. Continue reading...

Brent crude rises above $90 a barrel for the first time since 30 July after US president tells Tehran to surrender

Several US states have accused Instagram and Facebook's parent company of deliberately causing young people harm with its products. Plus: the Italian nuns fighting to keep control of their spot in the sun

Officials have had to remove thousands of tons of sargassum from Florida's beaches amid the climate crisisDealing with seaweed is the bulk of Chris Bumpus's job during the summer. As chief of conservation for Miami-Dade county's parks, recreation and open spaces department, Bumpus is in charge of cleaning sargassum off 17 miles (27km) of county beaches. But some days, the odds are stacked against him and his team.More and more sargassum, a kind of floating brown algae, has been washing up on the beaches of south Florida, west Africa, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. Continue reading...

Health data appears to be most affected by administration's attempt to wipe findings that don't align with its priorities, tracker showsA database of federal law enforcement officer misconduct records. A survey measuring physical, sexual and emotional violence against children and youth. Real-time pollution readings collected by air quality monitors from US embassies around the world.These are among the hundreds of federal datasets that the Trump administration has taken down or altered as part of its aggressive campaign to wipe all mentions of data findings that do not align with the administration's priorities. Continue reading...

Politics that worked for Democratic candidates in New York, Minnesota, Michigan won't cut it in red Florida, analysts sayIf primary elections elsewhere this summer were tussles between progressives and moderates for the direction of the Democratic party's political future, Tuesday's contests in Florida could not be more different.In a former swing state that has in recent years become reliably red, moderate Democratic candidates Alex Vindman and David Jolly are heavily favored to become the party's nominees for November's Senate and governor's race, respectively. Continue reading...

Authorities blamed Nanner for knocking over a heat fixture, but Brittany Jacobs contends it was trying to escape blazeThe snake didn't start the fire. So says a Virginia science teacher who owns a python that was found outside its enclosure in a middle school classroom that caught fire recently.Authorities, meanwhile, have publicly blamed the fire on the snake, named Nanner, alleging the python knocked over a heat fixture in her owner's classroom, igniting a blaze that caused damage at Bedford county's Forest middle school and killed a tortoise there. Continue reading...

The former Dallas Cowboys star is on indefinite leave after being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. His future in a competitive business is now in doubtAfter Tony Romo's arrest last month, TMZ published a 31-minute extended cut" of the body-camera footage from the Wisconsin police officer who arrested CBS Sports' star NFL analyst on suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence.It's an uncanny watch. The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback's familiar goofy geniality collides with the gravity and stilted formality of an encounter with law enforcement. The video of a disoriented Romo struggling to answer basic questions and failing a field sobriety test, and his rictus-grinning, disheveled, head-askew mug-shot, form a glaring contrast with his smart-suited look a year earlier: beaming as he posed in the spotlight with his play-by-play partner, Jim Nantz, at the network's preseason media preview. Continue reading...

CNN says attack beneath the office' after Kristen Holmes asked president about Jon Ossoff's comments on key aideThe White House launched a personal attack against a CNN reporter on Monday with a social media post that mentioned her children and accused her of asking a disgusting and inhumane question".A White House post targeted Kristen Holmes, a senior White House correspondent for the network, after she asked Donald Trump to respond to a widely shared comment by Democratic senator Jon Ossoff in a speech on Sunday. Continue reading...

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President, who has decried mail-in ballots amid false claims of election fraud, issued March order to curb voting by mailDonald Trump voted by mail in Florida's Republican primary, Politico reports, citing Palm Beach county voting records. The White House has confirmed the president's mail-in vote, according to the New York Times, which added that this is at least the third time the president has mailed his ballot.In March, the president signed an executive order restricting the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of US Congress. Trump has repeatedly criticized mail-in voting, calling for restrictions on the policy for years and falsely claiming that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voter fraud. Continue reading...

Shasta county, hotbed of US election denialism movement, set to appoint ex-Colorado clerk who served prison termA northern California county that has become a hotbed of activism for those who sow doubts about the reliability of voting machines plans to hire Tina Peters, the prominent Colorado election denier recently released from prison, to work on elections.Clint Curtis, the top election official in Shasta county, told the Guardian he plans to hire Peters as a consultant to replace Brent Turner, his top deputy, who has been on medical leave. He said Peters would not have access to the county's voting system and did not directly respond when asked what her responsibilities would be. Plans to hire Peters, who is still on parole and must receive permission to travel outside of Colorado, were first reported by Action News Now. Continue reading...

President hosts Nathanial Rai and lifeguard Ryder Williams at White House after video of California rescue went viralNathanial Rai had been swept off his feet along the California coast, was rescued by a 16-year-old lifeguard - and was now sitting in the Oval Office with Donald Trump.Of the rescuer, Ryder Williams, Trump said to Nathanial: He's a real hero. I don't know if I'd do it. Continue reading...

Paula Musgrove stated her daughter had said medications were destroying' her mind and she was becoming paranoid'The defense in the Lindsay Clancy filicide case called the defendant's mother as one of its first witnesses Monday, after three weeks of prosecution evidence laid out, in often harrowing detail, events surrounding Clancy's killing of her three children.Under questioning from defense attorney David Reddington, Clancy's mother, Paula Musgrove, testified that her daughter's statements and actions had unsettled her in the months leading up to 24 January 2023. Continue reading...

Donald Trump berated a CNN reporter at a press availability, insisting that she 'be quiet' after she asked about a reduction in US military exercises with South Korea. The CNN correspondent, Kristen Holmes, pressed Trump on whether Kim Jong-un had requested a reduction in military activities. When another reporter asked about the extensive accounts of deteriorating living conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln during its lengthy deployment in the strait of Hormuz, the president dismissed the complaints: 'It was fake news reporting from CNN'

Lawyers seek dismissal of state charges after Mangione pleaded guilty in federal case over Brian Thompson killingA New York state judge on Monday effectively postponed Luigi Mangione's trial on murder and weapons charges over the 2024 killing of a health insurance company CEO, after Mangione pleaded guilty last week to separate federal charges.The trial had previously been scheduled to begin on September 8. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the state charges. Mangione's lawyers on Friday asked New York state justice Gregory Carro, who is overseeing the state case, to dismiss the charges. Continue reading...

USS Benfold lost power after engineering casualty' leaving sailors without galley services, toilets and air conditioningA US guided-missile destroyer reportedly spent four days adrift and without power in the South China Sea in July, furthering concerns about strain being placed on deployed military members.The USS Benfold, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer which had been sailing with the George Washington carrier strike group, was reported to have been towed to Subic Bay in the Philippines, according to the US Naval Institute News, an independent military publication. Continue reading...

Storm that brought heavy rains and winds damaged at least 100 homes and bridges and left over 100,000 without powerHawaii residents began to clean up after tropical storm Lala blew past the Big Island, leaving more than 100,000 without power and damaging at least 100 homes and bridges.Lala was downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it grazed the islands, but it brought heavy rains and winds to the Big Island. Hawaii's total rainfall over 48 hours topped 3.5ft in some areas, according to AccuWeather. The rising floodwaters damaged or swept away about 100 homes in the area, along with six bridges. Continue reading...

When 18-year-old Nolan Wells went missing, his story immediately touched a nerve in Black families. He was last seen while hanging out with a group of white friends, at a popular beach near Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Wells never came home from the trip, and he was found dead days later. Many questions about how he died remain unanswered publicly. And the mystery surrounding his death has revived an old conversation within Black communities: are we ever truly safe in white-dominated spaces? Who will feel responsible for our children's safety when we send them out into a world where Black life is not valued? Host Kai Wright talks with historian Stacey Patton and writer Ashley Stoney about why Wells' story has captured so much attention - and sparked so much anxiety - among Black parents, in particular. What does our collective reaction to Wells' disappearance and death reveal about the limits of interracial society today? Continue reading...

President says US carrier is beautifully maintained' and calls CNN fake news' over reports of poor conditionsDonald Trump claimed he had third-hand reports that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is beautifully maintained" despite extensive accounts of deteriorating living conditions during its lengthy deployment in the strait of Hormuz.At the White House on Monday, Trump berated a CNN reporter at a press availability, insisting that she be quiet" and describing the reporting as fake news. Continue reading...

Controversial project has faced bipartisan opposition by critics who say it mars pristine environmental area in TexasConstruction on a US-Mexico border project in Big Bend national park has halted, the Trump administration said Monday, as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) evaluates the controversial project in Texas.CBP is pausing all construction activity in Big Bend National Park while I visit and conduct a personal, on-the-ground evaluation," CBP's head, Rodney Scott, wrote in a social media post. Continue reading...

Democratic senator Jon Ossoff attacked Donald Trump andthe defense secretary, Pete Hegseth,over the Iran war, saying they lied 'the nation into a war'. Ossoff, who is running for re-election in Georgia in November, made the comments while speaking at a rally in midtown Atlanta on Sunday afternoon

Decision leaves intact $5m civil judgment against Trump after jury found him liable for sexually abusing writerThe US supreme court has rejected for a second time Donald Trump's attempt to overturn a jury verdict in 2023 that found him liable for sexually abusing writer E Jean Carroll, and later defaming her.The court announced the decision in an unsigned order on Monday, without providing an explanation of their decision. The order just listed the US president's petition, along with several other petitions, under rehearings denied". Continue reading...

Georgia Democratic senator has stoked speculation for 2028 presidency bid by delivering stinging attacks on TrumpDemocratic senator Jon Ossoff has attacked Donald Trump's uniquely despicable" handling of the US-Israel war on Iran, accusing the US president of re-rigging" a corrupt system for himself in an excoriating speech.Ossoff, who is running for re-election in Georgia in November, has repeatedly stoked speculation that he is laying the ground for a bid for the US presidency in 2028 by delivering a series of stinging attacks on Trump and his administration. Continue reading...

Authorities say man, 50, shot wife in Louisiana and put her body in car before driving and being stopped in TennesseeA man in Louisiana killed his wife and then took her body on a driving tour through several states before he was arrested in Tennessee, authorities allege.The suspect's macabre purported odyssey began in Baton Rouge when, according to Louisiana investigators, Tyronne Brazille, 50, shot dead his wife, Lanessa Bradford, also 50, during an argument at the city's Independence Community Park. Continue reading...

Energy prices have been high since the US-Israel war with Iran began and the strait of Hormuz was blockedUS gas prices this month are so far the highest ever recorded for August as peace talks between the US and Iran have stalled and Donald Trump launched fresh threats against Oman.The national average price of gas was $4.06 per gallon on Monday, according to data from AAA, $0.05 higher than last week and $1 more expensive than a year ago. In California and Hawaii, averages hit about $5.50 a gallon. Continue reading...

Concern over impact of Iran war pushes up government bond yields in US, UK, France, Germany and JapanGovernment borrowing costs in several advanced economies hit their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, or even earlier, on Monday as investors feared the Middle East crisis would keep inflation persistently high.Concerns over rising prices and government spending pushed up the cost of debt issued by Paris, Berlin, Washington DC, Tokyo and London as investors fretted that rising prices would push up interest rates. Continue reading...

Trump's son-in-law and envoy held rare meeting with Hamas chief in Egypt in push for progress on ceasefireDonald Trump's son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, held a rare meeting with Hamas's political chief on Sunday in Egypt, in a new diplomatic effort to make progress in the stalled Gaza ceasefire. Kushner will meet on Monday with Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure after rejecting the new 15-point, US-backed road map.The talks aim to salvage the plan for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territory shattered by war. Continue reading...

Sixteen-year-old dead and four others wounded including two children at community celebration in LexingtonAuthorities in Kentucky charged an 18-year-old man with murder and several counts of assault after a shooting in Lexington park left a teenager dead and four others injured - one of multiple similar cases around the US over the weekend.Jametrius Griffin was arrested less than 24 hours after Saturday night's mass shooting at Charles Young Park in the city's downtown. According to the Lexington police department, officers responded to reports of gunfire in the park at about 7pm and found five people shot, including two adults, a 14-year-old and a four-year-old. Continue reading...

I understand gen Z's concerns about the cost of romance. But anything can be a date if you want it to beA couple of months ago, I wrote a column imploring young people to keep trying to find love, to not become cynical about romance and avoid the temptation of the accursed loneliness influencers" peddling antisocial behavior as some sort of newfangled experiment that no one had thought of before. I stand here today saying, hey, I can't be right all the time. Maybe it is better to be alone, since it costs a hell of a lot less.Apparently, young people across the country are forgoing dating because it's too damn expensive. Or at least, I think they are, based on the multiple newspaper articles saying so that came out in the last two weeks. As the New York Times put it, the prospect of a tab of $150 or more for two entrees, two drinks, an appetizer and tip" is too pricey for many gen Z singles. I say, only $150? Where are you going, Chili's? I went on a date with (shameful brag incoming) a very famous political figure from the late 90s and spent twice that amount, sending my bank account into cardiac arrest. I practically begged her to get dessert, even though it was clear our decade of age difference and general lack of chemistry meant I was better off going home and journaling about it. I paid for the whole thing, and in return, I got an amazing story to tell at parties. Continue reading...

Grant cancellations at leading research institutions appear to target study of impacts of racism on brain healthA new round of scientific grant cancellations has hit brain health and Alzheimer's disease research at two leading research institutions, Emory University and the University of Pittsburgh.The latest cancellations are the Trump administration's most recent effort to remove disfavored topics from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) $47bn scientific portfolio - and appear to target the study of the impacts of racism. Continue reading...

Hi-tech cameras orbiting Earth and on the ground, along with AI, help firefighters extinguish blazes before they spreadThe fires in Spokane, Washington, this summer are the latest reminder that when a wildfire is detected can be just as important as where it starts. A blaze found within minutes can often be contained before it spreads. Wait too long, and a small spark can become a major disaster.A new effort to shorten that timeline began in July when a SpaceX rocket carried the first three FireSat satellites into orbit. The trio is the first part of a planned network of 50 satellites built solely to spot wildfires while they are still small enough to stop. Continue reading...

Four-year-old boy, three men and three women among fatalities since storms began on 11 August, officials sayDays of storms and flooding in Indiana left at least seven people dead as floodwaters peaked in Indianapolis's White River - and rains were expected to ease in the state capital region and other parts of the state on Sunday.A four-year-old boy, three men and three women were among those who had died since the storms began on 11 August, state homeland security department spokesperson Liz Woods said. Continue reading...