Donna Hughes-Brown, who has lived in US since 1977 and wrote cheque a decade ago, being held in isolation by IceAn Irish grandmother who has lived in the US for most of her life and holds a green card is facing deportation because she wrote a bad cheque for $25 in 2015.Donna Hughes-Brown, 58, was detained in July after landing in Chicago on a flight from Dublin and is being held in isolation in a detention centre in Kentucky. She has lived in the US since 1977, has five children and grandchildren, and ran a horse farm in Troy, Missouri. Continue reading...
Survey puts Democratic nominee at 43% and independent Andrew Cuomo at 28%, in line with recent pollingZohran Mamdani continues to hold a commanding lead in the race for New York City mayor, with a new poll released on Wednesday showing the Democratic nominee 15 points ahead of former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate.The new poll, conducted by Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill, shows Mamdani with 43% support among New York City registered voters, compared with 28% for Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June. Continue reading...
DC being under attack is a problem for American democracy,' says leader of group fighting for city's rightsWhen a protest against Donald Trump'smilitarized crackdown in Washington DC reached the White House last Saturday after a mile-and-a-half march, the thousands-strong crowd shouted a simple, two-word chant: Free DC."It's a slogan with a long history in the federal district that has again become prominent after an activist group formed this year specifically to respond to the president's threats of meddling took it as their name. Arguing that the struggle for the city's rights is part of the larger fight for the country's democracy, Free DC has galvanized thousands of district residents against the president's attempts to interfere in Washington DC - a cause that came into focus last month when the president took over the police department and sent the national guard and federal agents on to city streets. Continue reading...
We'd like to hear from US job seekers how their search for a new position has been going, as well as from employees who decided to stay put, and whyThe US added 911,000 fewer jobs than first estimated for the year through March 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has announced, highlighting recent concerns about the health of America's labor market.The revision comes after a lackluster August jobs report, with only 22,000 jobs added in the US. Continue reading...
Texas A&M also removes two senior administrators from roles after student's video sparked Republican pressureA children's literature professor at Texas A&M was fired on Tuesday after a video showing a student objecting to course material about gender identity and sexuality went viral.Both the dean of the school's college of arts and science and the head of department were also removed from their roles, the university president, Mark Welsh III, said in a statement. Continue reading...
44,000 immigrants, 1,700 flights, 100 days: a Guardian investigation of leaked flight data and government detention data reveals the inhumane journey of immigrants shuttled around and outside the USThe Trump administration is shuttling immigrants around the US in irregular and unprecedented ways, according to the findings of a Guardian investigation, effectively vanishing people into a purgatory" that denies them constitutionally-protected rights.A review of leaked flight records and passenger manifests from Global Crossing Airlines (GlobalX), the charter company that operates the majority of deportation flights for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), has provided a rare look at the winding journeys of more than 44,000 immigrants detained or deported by the Trump administration. Continue reading...
Kent Broussard joined Louisiana State University's famed Golden Band from Tigerland after retiring as an accountantSome dreams live on in time forever, says the summer Olympics anthem considered by many to be the greatest - and living proof of that is a retired accountant who recently enrolled as a freshman at Louisiana State University in his mid-60s to fulfill his lifelong ambition of playing for the school's famed marching band.Kent Broussard drew nationwide media attention after being shown on ESPN's broadcast of the LSU football team's victory at home against in-state rival Louisiana Tech on 6 September. Continue reading...
The deployment of troops has led to arrests for low-level crime, indiscriminate detention and a rise in racial profilingIn the 30 days since Donald Trump took control of Washington DC's police department and deployed national guard troops, the city has seen the indiscriminate detention of immigrants, the rise of racial profiling and the arrests of large numbers of people for low-level crimes.The US president claimed the takeover, which began on 11 August, was necessary because of violent crime in the country's capital, especially after the attempted carjacking and assault of a former Doge staffer. Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people," he said during a news conference at the White House at the time. Continue reading...
PM says operation followed repeated violations of Polish airspace'. Plus, New Mexico to be first state to offer free universal childcareGood morning.Polish and Nato air defenses shot down several drones that entered its airspace on Wednesday morning, as Russia's attack on Ukraine spread to Nato territory in the most significant way since the war began.Is this a first? A stray Ukrainian missile struck a southern Polish village in 2022, killing two people, but there have previously been no reports of Polish or other Nato defence forces destroying drones.Could it be an accident? The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, does not think so owing to the number of drones that entered Polish airspace. In his view Moscow is always testing the limits of the possible, and if it does not meet a strong reaction, moves to a new level of escalation".Stay up to date with our live blog.How significant is this? A Georgia-based immigration attorney based said it was outrageous" and emphasised that it was illegal to detain a valid visa-holder in this way.Are there others? Attorneys working on the case had already claimed that immigrants with a valid working status were swept up alongside the people allegedly working unlawfully, and placed in removal proceedings. That view was backed up by an agency official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive government matters. Continue reading...
Ben Bergquam was with Ice agents during a raid on Sunday and yelled at protesters that they were the enemy within'A rightwing influencer accompanied officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in Chicago on Sunday as the agency ramps up arrests in the city. Ice agents arrested four people on the city's south-west side.Ben Bergquam, the rightwing internet personality, was with agents, filming and making content as well as getting into altercations with local residents along the way, according to a video the Guardian viewed on X. In the video, he appears to be in the car with Ice agents and nearby as they arrest people; later on he yells at a group of Chicagoans who are gathered to prevent Ice operations that they are the enemy within". Continue reading...
Research comparing chronic illness in vaccinated and non-vaccinated kids had never been peer-reviewed, nor is any of its data availableA congressional hearing on Tuesday titled How the Corruption of Science Has Impacted Public Perception and Policies Regarding Vaccines" largely consisted of a debate over an unpublished study comparing chronic illnesses in children who received vaccines with those who didn't.The study was lead-authored by Marcus Zervos of Henry Ford Health, completed in 2020, and never submitted for publication, according to testimony during the hearing. Senator Ron Johnson, the chair of the subcommittee for the hearing, and the witness Aaron Siri, a lawyer who has represented RFK Jr and the anti-vaccination non-profit Informed Consent Action Network, both claimed the study was not submitted because the authors would lose their jobs were it to be published. Continue reading...
Exclusive: critics accuse Ice of outrageous' and unlawful' detention of Korean manAt least one of the Korean workers swept up in a massive immigration raid on a Hyundai Motor factory site in Georgia last week was living and working legally in the US, according to an internal federal government document obtained by the Guardian.Officials then mandated" that he agree to be removed from the US despite not having violated his visa. Continue reading...
Mamdani, who was born in Uganda, has faced backlash in the US over his identity - but in Kampala, Ugandans of Indian descent are unquestioningly considered AfricanAmid the trees clustered with jackfruit and the boda boda motorcycles weaving precariously around Kampala's congested roads earlier this year was a campaign poster for Katongole Singh, an immaculately coiffed candidate who positively beamed alongside the president, Yoweri Museveni.With a Sikh Indian surname and an indigenous Ugandan first name, Singh is no rarity in the Ugandan capital, where people of Indian descent have lived for more than 125 years. Many people here boast a multi-hyphenated African Indian" identity - as indeed does the Zohran Kwame Mamdani, the 33-year-old running for mayor of New York City. Continue reading...
Protesters heckled the US president with pro-Palestinian slogans after he arrived at a restaurant in Washington DC. They chanted 'Free Palestine. Trump is the Hitler of our time' before they were escorted out of the restaurant Continue reading...
Agency governor is legally challenging Trump after he sought to remove her, citing unconfirmed mortgage fraud allegationsA federal judge has ruled that Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook can stay in her post while suing Donald Trump over his unprecedented bid to fire her.Cook is legally challenging the US president after he sought to remove her, citing unconfirmed allegations of mortgage fraud, amid an extraordinary campaign by his administration to strengthen its control over the US central bank. Continue reading...
by Robert Mackey, Shrai Popat; Lucy Campbell and Tom on (#6ZX25)
White House press secretary denies that president wrote Epstein a card that included the outline of a woman's body for the sex trafficker's 50th birthday. This blog is now closed.
Mauricio Pochettino made big changes to the US setup, and the moves paid off with the team's most complete performance in a long whileThis United States' international window once looked like it could be disastrous. Now, it has been upgraded to strangely uneven.A much-improved US got goals from Alejandro Zendejas and Folarin Balogun to beat a heavily rotated Japan side 2-0 at Lower.com Field in Columbus. The result lends some credence to Mauricio Pochettino's insistence that the US's recent subpar results were all part of a plan with a single target: arriving at the World Cup in peak form. Continue reading...
Trump, who was friends with Epstein before becoming president but had a falling out with the former financier, has denied giving him a letter. Key US politics stories from 9 September 2025The White House has said it would support a forensic analysis of the signature on a letter purportedly given by Donald Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that Trump's aides say is not the president's.Trump, who was friends with Epstein before becoming president but had a falling out with the former financier years before his death, has denied giving him a letter that appears in a birthday book for Epstein with the sketch of a woman's body and a note about secrets. Continue reading...
Charge for Decarlos B Jr, accused of killing Iryna Zarutska in apparent random attack on train, could carry death penaltyThe justice department on Tuesday charged a man accused of fatally stabbing a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train last month with a federal crime that could carry the death penalty.The federal charge comes amid growing questions about why Decarlos Brown Jr was on the street despite 14 prior criminal arrests before he was accused of pulling out a knife and killing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in an apparently random attack captured on video. Continue reading...
Move is expansion of existing program that has helped lift tens of thousands of people out of povertyNew Mexico will become the first state to offer free universal childcare, the governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced this week, an expansion of an existing program that has helped lift tens of thousands of people out of poverty.Beginning 1 November, the state will guarantee no-cost childcare to all residents, regardless of their income level in what the governor's office described as a groundbreaking new initiative". Continue reading...
Typically full of brio and swagger, the White House is scrambling because Trump is behaving so out of characterIt took Trump chronicler Maggie Haberman to cut to the chase: if Trump didn't sign the birthday card or other documents released by Jeffrey Epstein's estate, the reporter asked in a quiet yet insistent tone, what's the working theory as to why he's in there?The president has one of the most famous signatures in the world," Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, replied on Tuesday. The president did not write that letter. He did not sign those documents." Continue reading...
Trump had stopped foreign aid funds by use of pocket rescission'; aid groups now have until Friday to respondThe US supreme court on Tuesday temporarily halted a lower court's order that the Trump administration spend nearly $5bn in congressionally appropriated foreign aid money that it is seeking to cancel.The order from the conservative chief justice, John Roberts, comes amid legal wrangling over Donald Trump's moves to aggressively downsize US support of global development and emergency response, which has resulted in the dismantling of USAID. Continue reading...
In State of the State speech, governor hails California's resilience and criticizes federal government's onslaught'California's governor, Gavin Newsom, used his State of the State address on Tuesday to celebrate California's achievements on its 175th anniversary of statehood but also to criticize Donald Trump for targeting our state" as it battled wildfires this year, accusing the president of a relentless, unhinged California obsession".The Democratic governor delivered his annual message in the form of a letter to the state legislature, and a video, instead of an address. Newsom, widely seen as a potential presidential contender for 2028, also criticized the president and his policies for bringing chaos and disruption to California, without mentioning Trump by name. Continue reading...
Report omits limiting pesticides and ultra-processed foods even as RFK Jr pledges to fight against childhood obesityThe Trump administration released its second Make America Healthy Again (Maha) report, this time on chronic illnesses in children, confirming a leaked report from last month that the administration would stop short of proposing direct restrictions on pesticides and ultra-processed foods.On Tuesday, the Make America Healthy Again commission published a 20-page report that attempts a balance for the priorities of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr's supporters with the interests of influential farming corporations. It also urges an overhaul of the nation's vaccine injury system and tighter oversight of certain prescriptions. Continue reading...
Elizabeth Tsurkov, who entered Iraq to do research for Princeton, had gone missing in Iraq in early 2023Israeli-Russian academic and Princeton student Elizabeth Tsurkov has been released after being kidnapped by Kata'ib Hezbollah and spending more than two years in captivity, Donald Trump said in a post on social media.I am pleased to report that Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton Student, whose sister is an American Citizen, was just released by Kata'ib Hezbollah (MILITANT Hezbollah), and is now safely in the American Embassy in Iraq after being tortured for many months. I will always fight for JUSTICE, and never give up. HAMAS, RELEASE THE HOSTAGES, NOW!" the US president wrote in a TruthSocial post on Tuesday. Continue reading...
US southern-style restaurant chain was met with outrage for changing branding to more minimalist styleCracker Barrel announced on Tuesday that it's suspending plans to remodel its restaurants just weeks after reversing a logo change that ignited a political firestorm.The 56-year-old restaurant chain, known for southern-style cooking and country-store aesthetic, faced intense backlash last month after unveiling a rebranding effort aimed at modernizing its image. The company rolled out a new minimalist logo and plans for more contemporary interiors, and it updated menu items. Continue reading...
Judge says sufficient evidence of intent wasn't given against those who signed files claiming Trump won 2020 electionA judge in Michigan dismissed the felony charges against a slate of electors who falsely signed on to documents claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election in the latest blow to efforts to hold the president and his allies accountable for attempting to overturn the results of the White House race he lost to Joe Biden.Sixteen people were initially charged with eight felonies each related to forgery and conspiracy by the Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, in 2023, though one of them had his charges dropped after he agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. The fake electors in Michigan will not go to trial. Continue reading...
Figures including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the UK ambassador to US, Peter Mandelson, apparently contributedDemocratic politicians have released a 238-page scrapbook given to Jeffrey Epstein as a present on his 50th birthday, with contributions attributed to high-profile figures including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the current UK ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson.Much of the book seems to be a collection of flattering and celebratory letters - often highly sexualised - from people who knew Epstein. They include photos of him embracing women in bikinis whose faces were redacted, and others showing scenes featuring wild animals having sex. Continue reading...
Whatever happened between the pair, questions about their relationship are not going away. This enigma is ageing like raw milkYou have to keep this hush-hush, OK? I have top-secret information to share. You know Donald Trump has been reluctant to release the Epstein files? Well, it's not because there's anything nefarious going on. Trump may be an adjudicated sexual predator accused of sexual misconduct by at least 27 women (all of which he denies), who publicly boasted in 2002 about how his terrific" pal Jeffrey Epstein liked women on the younger side", but you shouldn't read too much into all that. Nor should you overanalyse a Wall Street Journal report claiming White House officials told Trump in May that his name appeared multiple times in the files. Or that House Democrats have now released a sexually suggestive letter and drawing sent to Epstein in 2003 for his birthday that appears to show Trump's signature, the same note the president has denied writing. Nor should you worry yourself with the photo that has been released showing Epstein holding a novelty check signed by Trump with the suggestion that Epstein sold" him a woman for $22,500.No, the real reason Trump is being weird about Epstein is ... drum roll, please ... because the president may or may not have been covertly operating as an FBI informant and investigating the disgraced financier. Continue reading...
Prosecutors say Michael James Pratt used force, fraud and coercion to recruit hundreds of women for adult videosThe founder of a California-based pornography empire that recruited women with false modeling offers was sentenced on Monday to 27 years in federal prison for sex trafficking.Michael James Pratt pleaded guilty in June in federal court in San Diego. Federal prosecutors said Pratt and his co-defendants used force, fraud and coercion to recruit hundreds of women, many of whom were in their late teens, for their adult videos. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Ari Emanuel, whose entertainment agency owns UFC and WWE, looks to buy TodayTix GroupHollywood power broker Ari Emanuel is poised to acquire the parent company of Secret Cinema, the London-based immersive film and TV business that has put on shows themed on movies such as Star Wars and Stranger Things.Emanuel, who co-founded US entertainment group Endeavor and now runs the company behind World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is to buy TodayTix Group, the Guardian understands. Continue reading...
Trump's view of the prerogatives of husbands towards their wives mirror his own sense of his entitlements as president towards his abused countrySpeaking at a Christian museum on Monday, Donald Trump claimed, falsely, that his deployment of national guard troops to invade the nation's capital has eliminated crime in Washington. He complained, however, that domestic violence was being counted in the crime statistics, which he claimed meant that the influence of his policy was not being seen as significant enough. They said, Crime's down 87%,'" the president claimed, not explaining who they" were. I said, no, no, no. It's more than 87%, virtually nothing. And much lesser things, things that take place in the home they call crime. You know, they'll do anything they can to find something. If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime. See? So now I can't claim 100%, but we are. We are a safe city."If Trump wanted to endorse domestic violence decriminalization, he may take some comfort in the status quo: as it is, about 24% of adult American women have been the victims of severe physical violence" by an intimate partner, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline; the Centers for Disease Control, meanwhile, puts the proportion of women who have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner" at 41%. and many of those incidents are not reported or not prosecuted - meaning that the perpetrators are free, and that their assaults have not been treated as fully criminal".Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
US Democrats have made public a 238-page scrapbook given to Jeffrey Epstein as a present on his 50th birthday. The letters repeatedly reference the sex offender's lecherous reputation Continue reading...
Jonathan Braun of New York faces up to five years after he was arrested and charged in connection to recent crimesA convicted New York drug dealer whose federal prison sentence was commuted by Donald Trump during Trump's first presidency has been found guilty of violating the terms of his release after being arrested and charged in connection with several recent crimes.Jonathan Braun now faces up to five years in prison during a sentencing hearing tentatively scheduled for 9 October. Continue reading...
Innovations in MSHS were adopted by the broader Head Start programs, and possible enrollment eligibility changes would affect allIt has been a challenging year for Head Start.The Trump administration first froze funding and cut staff, forcing many centers to close temporarily or permanently. It then asked Congress to eliminate the early childhood education program in a leaked budget proposal (the White House ultimately reversed course). Continue reading...
As president ramps up immigration takeover in Chicago, here are limitations of Ice officers and what can be expectedThe Department of Homeland Security ramped up immigration raids in Illinois on Monday afternoon in an operation they dubbed Midway Blitz," a continuation of military-themed rhetoric promoting Donald Trump's larger crackdown on sanctuary cities. Chicagoans have turned out by the thousands in protest suggestions that the president would attempt to send national guard troops into the city, and in opposition to similar acts that courts have rules as illegal or unconstitutional.This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets," DHS said on X today. President Trump and Secretary Noem stand with the victims of illegal alien crime while Governor Pritzker stands with criminal illegal aliens." Continue reading...
The 18-year-old US international marked her debut in France with a goal - continuing her fast start to life as a professionalLily Yohannes wastes no time. The 18-year-old scored on her international debut for the US at age 16 last year, having become a starter for Ajax before that. Now, with a move to European power OL Lyonnes over the summer, Yohannes scored a goal and was named player of the match in her debut for the club, a 3-1 win over Olympique Marseille.Born in Springfield, Virginia, to Eritrean parents, Yohannes was 10 when she moved to Europe after her father accepted a job in Amsterdam. She played on an amateur boys' team and quickly earned the attention of Ajax, who signed her to their youth academy at 13 years old. Continue reading...
Beverly Daniel Tatum on antisemitism, the hardest in the US', and DEI as the White House targets higher educationWhen Beverly Daniel Tatum told a friend that she was writing a book about higher education, he replied: I think being a college president has to be the hardest job in America." Indeed, the academic year 2023-24 was an annus horribilis for college presidents", according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.And that was before Donald Trump returned to the White House and sought to bend them to his will. Continue reading...
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