US news | The Guardian

International friendly updates, kick-off at 3.30pm ET

Marta Kostyuk dismissed four-time champion Iga Swiatek, while there were also wins for Rafael Jodar, Elina Svitolina and Alexander ZverevTerrific return from Kostyuk, a backhand hooked on to the sideline for a winner ... ruined by a forehand looped long; 15-all. A double follows, the misses by far enough to intimate nerves and reinforced by a wild forehand that donates two break-back points. And Kostyuk only needs one, a decent return forcing Swiatek to net, and she looks encouraged - rightly so, that felt like a tightening. It's 5-5 in the first, and this might just mature into an epic.Every point is good, every point is high quality," kvells Chrissy in commentary as murderous shots are traded from the back, Kostyuk overhitting to cede 15-40. But from there, she recovers to deuce, competing like an equal; for maybe the first time, she believes she can do this, a service winner raising advantage, but then she's fractionally late on a backhand down the line and it's just a little wide, Swiatek - whose return was good - nowhere near it. And from there, the birthday girl dominates the next point with forehands, making advantage, then elicits the error for the third break in row. At 5-4, she'll now serve for the first set - just as Cirstea is at 5-3 in our other match, a netted volley ceding deuce. Continue reading...

Doug Burgum complains some musicians segmented their audiences' after artists back out of 250th anniversary eventThe Trump administration's interior secretary, Doug Burgum, complained on Sunday that some musicians seem to have segmented their audiences" after artists bailed on participating in a concert series planned for the 250th anniversary of the US's independence.In the interview on CNN's State of the Union, Burgum also dismissed calls to publicly identified who had made donations for the concert series - and maintained it was a nonpartisan" event despite Donald Trump referring to it as a rally. Continue reading...

Attack comes after Friday's strike that killed three men as well, pushing death toll to more than 200 since last yearThe US military said on Saturday it had carried out a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific killing three men, the second strike in as many days.Officials with the US Southern Command said in a post on X that intelligence had confirmed that the vessel was transiting along narco-trafficking" routes in the eastern Pacific and engaged in narco-trafficking" operations. Continue reading...

Town of Social Circle's complaint invokes public nuisance' law that scholars say could have impact for other localitiesA small Georgia town's federal lawsuit opposing the Trump administration's plans to turn a warehouse into one of the largest immigration detention centers in the US has the potential to create a wide impact as it uses novel legal arguments, experts said.The town of Social Circle's complaint goes further than other recently filed lawsuits around the same issues, which assert that the US federal government has not carried out environmental impact assessments for proposed detention centers, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa). Continue reading...

The reigning champions were beaten in an epic series by the San Antonio Spurs. There's no reason to believe they won't challenge for years to come thoughThroughout the Western Conference finals, the San Antonio Spurs hoped that Victor Wembanyama could work enough magic while he was on the court to make up for the Oklahoma City Thunder annihilating them while he was off of it. Late in Game 7 on Saturday night, the Thunder must have been licking their chops. Wembanyama picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter. The Spurs led by six at the next break in play, a lead that could disappear in minutes with Wembanyama's backup, Luke Kornet, on the floor. But there was no choice - Wembanyama checked out rather than risk fouling out.Immediately, Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein picked off a pass and bolted down the floor to lay the ball in. That would have cut the Spurs' lead to four, but more importantly may well have set into motion a trend we had seen throughout the series: When Wembanyama sits, the Thunder feast. Continue reading...

Frontrunner Adam Hamawy has gone from political nobody to endorsements from Bernie Sanders, AOC and Ilhan OmarKnocking on strangers' doors on a warm May afternoon in Trenton, New Jersey, Adam Hamawy did not seem fazed when more than a few went unanswered.It's his first time running for office, but this is an area where he has experience. After returning from a medical mission in Gaza in 2024, Hamawy went to Washington to describe the crisis - which he viewed as a US-funded genocide - to lawmakers, only to encounter too many doors that were closed, that didn't even want to listen". Continue reading...

Democrats are determined to flip the 22nd district blue. But which vision for the future will prevail?When Jasmeet Bains first announced she was running for Congress, some Democratic powerbrokers saw her candidacy as downright providential in their quest to flip a crucial House seat that had been in Republican hands for years.As a doctor in California's agriculture-heavy Central valley, living and working in one of the poorest districts in the US, Bains could speak with singular authority about the devastating impact of cuts to healthcare enacted in Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Continue reading...

Driver faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Friday crash that killed five and injured more than 40 othersThe driver of a motor coach bus that killed five people and injured more than 40 others after crashing in Virginia on Friday morning has been criminally charged.Jing S Dong, 48, faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter, with additional charges likely, according to Virginia state police.The AP contributed reporting Continue reading...

Two had been confirmed dead after tank containing white liquor' used in making paper pulp imploded last weekThe death toll from a chemical tank rupture in the US state of Washington climbed to 11 as crews recovered the bodies of all nine missing people, authorities said on Saturday.Two fatalities had been confirmed after the tank containing white liquor" - a chemical solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide used in making paper pulp - imploded at a Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility on Tuesday. Continue reading...

The Texas senator was emblematic of the era between Reagan and Trump, as Republicans shifted from the party of business to a cult of personalityThe defeat of John Cornyn is a milestone in the downfall of the Republican party. His virtue for decades as a steady conservative institutionalist", as the New York Times described him, became his terminal liability. His expenditure of $92m, the greatest amount ever dropped by a candidate in a Senate primary, could not forestall his humiliation at the hands of the scoundrel Ken Paxton, with his lengthy rap sheet of allegations of bribery, abuse of office, felony securities fraud and impeachment by the Republican-controlled Texas House, along with his hostile divorce by his wife on biblical grounds". Despite Cornyn's blast of TV ads against Crooked Ken", the Home Wrecker", Paxton, carrying the imprimatur of Donald Trump, trounced him by 28 points. Immediately after the primary, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Cornyn had once led, set about scrubbing the ads as if there had been no Cornyn campaign at all and the villainous Paxton was the rightful successor to hold the Senate seat Cornyn had occupied for 24 years. The Orwellian erasure was a further measure of the relentless Trump effort to stamp out of existence the remnants of the old party and to build on its ashes his golden idol.Cornyn's ignominious rejection is not his alone. His loss represents the ongoing shattering of the Republican party whose foundations were laid by Ronald Reagan, laboriously built in Texas by the Bushes, both father and son, with their operative Karl Rove, and, within the Senate, where Cornyn arrived in 2002, the ruling Republican structure established by Mitch McConnell. Cornyn rode on the Reagan wave that swept aside Democrats in Texas, to be raised up as a factotum of the Bush operation, and serve as the indispensable conduit of funds from the oil and gas industry to fuel McConnell's dark money machine that financed Republican candidates, destroyed campaign finance reform, and secured the conservative majority on the supreme court.Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, has published three books of a projected five-volume political life of Abraham Lincoln: A Self-Made Man, Wrestling With His Angel and All the Powers of Earth. He is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Tragedy in Washington and near-miss in California cast in sharp relief the risk of chemical spills and explosionsFor several tense days last week, tens of thousands of southern California residents were left wondering whether a 7,000-gallon chemical storage tank would either explode or spill out into the streets.The episode cast in sharp relief the risk of chemical spills and explosions that lurk behind every corner of modern life. The methyl methacrylate that recently left the city of Garden Grove teetering on the edge of disaster is just one of many toxic chemicals commonly found in American cities. Continue reading...

The two hatreds have rarely been seen as related dangers. But they overlap even as Muslim and Jewish communities are pitted against each otherThe shooting at a mosque and school in San Diego has forced Muslim Americans to ask themselves painful questions. After the killing of three people in an armed attack last week, they now wonder if other places of worship will be targeted next, whether they can still send children to school and trust that they will return home unharmed, and whether they can still safely walk the streets as people identifiable by their faith.These are also questions that Jewish communities are reckoning with, most recently after the stabbings in London's Golders Green neighborhood. Over the past three years, against the backdrop of wars in the Middle East, antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate have flared across the west, with each rising to record levels. But these two hatreds have rarely been seen as related dangers, let alone confronted as a common threat to societies. Continue reading...

Three-page memo released by White House provides overview of 79-year-old president's medical checkup - key US politics stories from Saturday, 30 May at a glanceUS President Donald Trump's doctor said he was in excellent health" but has advised him to lose weight, according to a memo released by the White House after the 79-year-old underwent a routine medical check.President Trump remains in excellent health, demonstrating strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall physical function," said Trump's doctor, US Navy captain Sean Barbabella. Continue reading...

On Saturday posting spree, US president also decries judge's ruling on Kennedy Center and praises progress on poolIn a spree of posts made to his Truth Social account on Saturday, Donald Trump lauded his administration's efforts to turn the National Mall's reflecting pool blue, denounced a judge's ruling removing his name from the Kennedy Center and announced he will hold an America Is Back" rally next month to replace a concert series after a number of performers backed out.After arriving at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, at 11.08am, Trump posted to his social media platform 25 times in the next two hours. The president's posts included a series of apparently AI-generated images, including one of him playing for the New York Knicks and dunking over New York's governor, Kathy Hochul; another of him riding a horse alongside George Washington and a Trump-branded race car tearing up the White House lawn; and one depicting the Obama presidential library" as a huge garbage can holding a giant trash bag. Continue reading...

Amy Gertner, wife of Democratic Senate candidate in Maine, says she is hurt' ex-political director exposed textsSenate hopeful Graham Platner of Maine exchanged sexually explicit texts with other women during his marriage, according to information his wife shared with his campaign last year, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported.Platner, an oyster farmer and former US marine, is Maine's presumptive Democratic nominee for the US Senate after his main competitor, Janet Mills, suspended her campaign last month. He's vying to unseat five-term Republican senator Susan Collins in a campaign that's captured viral progressive attention, while also facing controversy related to dredged-up racist, sexist and homophobic online posts - and a now-covered-up tattoo of a Totenkopf, widely recognized as a Nazi symbol. Continue reading...

At US's largest immigration center, Texas's Camp East Montana, plaintiffs allege dangerous and abusive' situationThe first lawsuit relating to the largest immigration detention facility in the US was filed early on Saturday against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), accusing the agency of dire" conditions that severely violate the human and constitutional rights of those locked up at the camp in Texas.A clutch of legal organizations is suing via a class-action complaint, listing four detainees as plaintiffs for themselves and on behalf of all those currently held as civil detainees at Camp East Montana or who will be held there in the future.[a]bhorrent medical and mental health care";inappropriate use of force";indiscriminate use of solitary confinement";terrible, rotten, spoiled and inadequate" food;outbreaks of disease";unsanitary living conditions";sexual harassment by guards". Continue reading...

A Newark detention center has been at the forefront of anti-ICE protests - and now counterprotestsProtests continued on Saturday in front of the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, as a hunger and labor strike inside reached its ninth day, with detained immigrants demanding improved conditions and medical care.On Saturday morning, a small group of rightwing counterprotesters in Trump hats began demonstrating outside the facility waving signs and chanting slogans in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The protesters supporting the detained immigrants and the counterprotesters supporting ICE yelled at each other across barricades set up by state police. Continue reading...

Investigation to establish whether anti-weaponization' fund is product of collusion and itself a fraud'A federal judge has reopened Donald Trump's $10bn case against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), after receiving a third-party motion asserting that the settlement, which lacks detail, is a product of collusion and is itself a fraud on the court".The ruling, issued by the Miami judge Kathleen Williams, revives a lawsuit brought by the president and his sons against the IRS after their personal and business tax returns were leaked by a former contractor. Continue reading...

Anthony Odiong was convicted of sexually abusing congregants; a chapel he helped found is distancing itselfAt the suburban New Orleans healing chapel he once helped build in his role as a Roman Catholic priest, Anthony Odiong's name had already been removed hours after he had been convicted in Texas on Friday of criminal clergy sexual assault.What remained inscribed among lists of hundreds of benefactors outside the Our Lady of Guadalupe chapel in Luling, Louisiana, were the names of two women whom Waco, Texas, prosecutors revealed were part of a broader group whom Odiong victimized before his conviction on charges of illicitly exploiting his spiritual authority as a clergyman to pursue sex with devout female parishioners. Continue reading...

There is little sign of clarity in the closing stretch of a campaign season for governor, Congress and LA mayorCalifornians are frustrated and underwhelmed heading into Tuesday's primary election, where voters will eliminate all but two candidates in the volatile race for governor, the messy battle for Los Angeles mayor and a series of congressional contests that could determine control of the US House in November.With days left before the 2 June primary, there is little sign of the clarity that typically emerges in the closing stretch of a contested California campaign season. The race to succeed term-limited Democratic governor Gavin Newsom appears to have settled into a tight three-way contest among Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton, while voters in Los Angeles remain divided over whether to stand by embattled mayor Karen Bass or entertain a challenger. Continue reading...

As long as you remain angry at the city, you can ignore the candidate's lack of experience or inability to articulate actual policyI vote by mail in every election these days, as is my right as a mostly lazy natural-born American citizen. Fill in a few bubbles with black ink, chuck the thing into the nearest dropbox, and consider myself a functioning member of society for a brief moment. Now that my son is old enough to ask me coherent questions about my daily life, he was highly interested in what the hell I was doing as I marked the form. I'm voting," I said tersely, lest I divert my attention fully from the bubble-filling. Don't vote for Spencer Pratt, daddy," he responded. I hear he's a jerk." The word seems to be spreading.Every local TV station and streaming app is turgid and bloated with political ads these days. My son might be old enough to ask me who I'm voting for, but he's not old enough to understand why. That doesn't stop campaigns from serving him countless commercials pleading with him to consider (or reconsider) a certain candidate. He's now nominally aware of allegations of sexual misconduct against LA city controller Kenneth Mejia (which Mejia has denied) and the Orange County congressman Ken Calvert's run-in with a sex worker. What a joy it is to be a parent in 2026.Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist Continue reading...

With three top stadiums, Inglewood is remaking itself as a host of world-class events - and while some locals love the transformation, others feel left behindMelisa Arnold's morning walks around the neighborhood are orchestrated by the staccato beat of jackhammers and the roar of airplanes pointed to and from Los Angeles international airport. This is Inglewood, she says, and its soundscape.After retiring from her human resources and payroll job last year, Arnold, 66, walks for miles around the city she has called home since 1985. Her route takes her past the sports and entertainment hub, which includes the remodeled Kia Forum and the new Intuit Dome. She walks by SoFi Stadium, which will soon host World Cup games. Next year, the Super Bowl is scheduled to return. And in 2028, Olympic events will arrive. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed.

Three men killed in third attack this week amid Trump administration's campaign against alleged drug boatsThe US military said it had carried out another strike Friday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the third attack this week and pushing the overall death toll above 200 people.US Southern Command announced the latest strike in the months-long campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific with its usual language that the vessel was engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence. Continue reading...

Order bars government from taking other further action' in the creation or operation of the fund so a case challenging it can continue - key US politics stories from Friday, 29 May at a glanceA federal judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the Trump administration from transferring any money into a secretive and loosely controlled $1.8bn fund while a legal challenge proceeds.The order from US district judge Leonie Brinkema on Friday bars the government from taking other further action" in the creation or operation of the fund while legal arguments in a case challenging the fund continue. The order is intended to ensure no funds are irreversibly disbursed from the Anti-Weaponization Fund", Brinkema wrote. Continue reading...

Discovery brings death toll from chemical tank rupture in Longview to nine, with two workers still unaccounted forCrews on Friday recovered the remains of one more victim of a massive chemical tank rupture at a paper mill in Washington state, bringing the death toll to nine people and leaving two workers still unaccounted for.Among the 11 workers presumed killed in the disaster were two brothers who worked there together, a trivia champ and an electrician who would help his farmer neighbors cut hay. Continue reading...

Executive order recognizes health department assessment as guide for federal government for childhood vaccinesAn executive order signed by Donald Trump with little fanfare on Friday could have a huge impact on the health of US children, as it instructs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to cut the number of recommended childhood vaccines almost in half.The vague language of the order, which refers to a scientific assessment that compared United States childhood immunization recommendations with those of peer nations" published in January by anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy's health and human services department, does not explicitly state that the new recommendation removes vaccines against seven diseases from the schedule.hepatitis Ahepatitis BmeningitisrotavirusinfluenzaCovid-19 Continue reading...

Announcement coincides with reports of influx of federal agents to Delaney Hall, site of protests and hunger strikeTop New Jersey officials announced on Friday that the state police will be taking over policing functions from federal immigration officers outside the contentious Delaney Hall facility, as reports surface of an influx of federal agents making their way to the area.As part of the state police's takeover of public safety operations" at the site, they will establish a peaceful protected zone" for demonstrators and will have protesters move there today", according to New Jersey's governor, Mikie Sherrill, and attorney general, Jennifer Davenport. Continue reading...

Anthony Odiong was charged with exploiting his status to pursue sex with women he was giving spiritual direction toA jury in Texas has convicted a Roman Catholic priest charged with illegally exploiting his status as a clergyman to pursue sex with women to whom he was providing spiritual direction.Eight women and four men found Anthony Odiong, 57, guilty of one charge of sexual assault in the first degree and two such counts in the second degree involving two women, each of whom testified during a trial that began with jury selection on Tuesday in Waco.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...

The policy memo issued last week requires many foreigners to obtain green cards through their home countriesA new policy memo issued last week by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), requiring many foreigners in the US to leave the country and obtain green cards through their home countries, has sparked confusion and fear among hundreds of thousands of visa holders and families, as well as immigration advocates and lawyers.Multiple Guardian readers, speaking anonymously out of fear, said the memo threatens to upend lives they have spent years building in the US - from careers and homes to marriages and long-term plans for stability. Continue reading...

Christian Castro charged with assault and falsely reporting a crime after video emerged of non-fatal shooting in January

Ex-attorney general tells House committee she did not lead every aspect' of effort but rather delegated to Todd Blanche

Russian strikes in Kyiv, the Ebola outbreak, Eid al-Adha in Gaza and Sinner at the French Open - the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists Continue reading...

Judge rules that Washington DC performing arts venue cannot be renamed without an act of CongressA judge on Friday ordered the removal of Donald Trump's name from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, ruling that the iconic Washington DC venue cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.US district judge Christopher Cooper in Washington directed the Trump administration to take down all physical signage bearing Trump's name and to eliminate any references to a Trump Kennedy Center" from official materials within 14 days. Continue reading...

Brandon Johnson, a progressive Democrat, applauded the pope for pushing back against Trump's policies in meetingBrandon Johnson, the Chicago mayor, cast Pope Leo XIV as a powerful global ally on social justice, migration and reparations after meeting the Chicago-born pontiff at the Vatican, saying their shared roots and priorities could help amplify efforts to protect vulnerable communities.We are incredibly elated and proud of him," Johnson told the Associated Press in an interview on Friday, a day after the meeting with the American pope in a private audience. Continue reading...

Case involving June 2025 protest is escalation in Trump officials' attack on first amendment rights, say expertsA federal jury has found three protesters, including a US military veteran of the war in Afghanistan, guilty on felony conspiracy charges on Thursday for their part in a June 2025 protest against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).Legal experts have said the Spokane, Washington, case marked a serious escalation in the Trump administration's attack on first amendment rights. The demonstrators now face potential sentences of up to six years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Continue reading...

The GOP-friendly map approved by state lawmakers now goes to Republican governor who is expected to sign it

David Rush's trial for allegedly taking 303 gold bars and $2m in foreign currency from agency was pushed to next week

The National Spelling Bee, which concluded with Thursday's nationally televised championship finals, invited 247 spellers to compete for a $52,500 cash prize and orthographic immortality

He's always looking out for Number One

Upper East Side residents fighting Maison Estelle's plan for venue with roof terrace next to nice townhouses'The New York City elite are growing irritated by a proliferation of private members' clubs from London's Mayfair opening branches on their doorsteps.Over the last year, London clubs have started popping up like unexpected guests in the US city. The entrepreneur Robin Birley, who owns 5 Hertford Street - where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly had their first date - and Oswald's in Mayfair, has opened Maxime's on New York's Upper East Side. The Grosvenor Square newcomer The Twenty Two has now opened its NYC outpost and others are swiftly following, including the Mayfair stalwart Annabel's, which plans to open a site in the downtown meatpacking district. Continue reading...

Order blocks White House from taking any further action' on settlement fund until further legal arguments heard

Group was unharmed after dangling for almost four hours on ride that malfunctioned at Pleasure Pier in GalvestonEight students were rescued unharmed after dangling for hours at the top of a rollercoaster ride that became stuck in Texas.Pictures and news footage of the incident showed a rollercoaster car stalled at the peak of a huge almost vertical drop on the Iron Shark rollercoaster overlooking the Gulf of Mexico at the Pleasure Pier in Galveston. Continue reading...

Amtrak car caught fire in Hudson River tunnel resulting in overhead wire damage, according to New Jersey TransitA fire in a rail yard train car near New York's Penn Station injured five people and disrupted service for many commuters early on Friday, authorities said.The fire resulted in train delays on the New Jersey Transit and Amtrak rail services into New York and briefly suspended Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service, more than a week after a strike had shut down that system. Continue reading...

Republicans increasingly avoid doctors and vaccines, widening health gaps with Democrats, researchers sayGrowing Republican mistrust in the healthcare system has widened health disparities between liberals and conservatives, who are more likely to avoid vaccines and the medical system in general, according to a new study.Neil O'Brian, a political science professor at the University of Carolina, Chapel Hill and one of the authors of the study published in Nature Human Behaviour, said that his team saw two phases to the phenomenon. Continue reading...

Americans spend 18% of our economy on healthcare, nearly twice the average of comparable nations, for worse resultsThe Commonwealth Fund published its 2026 report card on US healthcare this week, measuring the United States against 19 other wealthy countries. It runs the most expensive system on earth, and it buys some of the worst results in the developed world. I have spent more than four decades in the medical intensive care unit at UCLA, and I do not read those numbers as statistics. I read them as the people I admit.We spend 18% of our economy on healthcare, nearly twice the average of comparable nations, and $12,649 a person, roughly 10 times what Mexico spends. For that fortune, American life expectancy peaked at 79 years, more than two years below our peers and third from the bottom of the group, above only Mexico and Turkey. Our rate of deaths that good care should have prevented is the second worst in the developed world. Only Mexico does worse. Continue reading...