US news | The Guardian

Thursday's arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort demonstrate the administration's lawless crusade against routine journalismTwo federal courts reviewed the government's evidence against journalist Don Lemon and declined to approve his arrest last week. But nevertheless, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, persisted, desperate to please her authoritarian boss no matter what the constitution and law say or what her ethical obligations as an attorney require.Thursday's arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort - like the recent raid on the Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson - demonstrate the administration's lawless crusade against routine journalism. In normal times the expectation is that even when a journalist's conduct might technically fit the legal elements of a crime - jaywalking to get footage of a protest, for example - prosecutors will exercise their discretion and judgment to not apply the law in a manner that chills the free press.Seth Stern is the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation and a first amendment lawyer Continue reading...

Lemon and three others charged with civil rights crimes, says DoJ, as White House celebrates arrest on social mediaDon Lemon, the former CNN anchor, was arrested late on Thursday on charges that he violated federal law during a protest at a church in Minnesota earlier this month.The justice department charged Lemon and three others with civil rights crimes, saying they interfered with the exercise of religious freedom at a place of worship and conspired to do so. Continue reading...

Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said at a press conference that to protect victims the department 'redacted every woman depicted in any image or video, with the exception of [Ghislaine] Maxwell'. Blanche expressed sympathy for Epstein's victims, saying that they 'have gone through unspeakable pain ... I hope that the work that the men and women within this department have done over the past two months is able to bring closure.' He also added that 'with a production of this magnitude, mistakes are inevitable' and invited 'victims to reach us directly to correct redactions and any concerns when appropriate' Continue reading...

Killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good prompted Democrats to block passage of a measure funding DHS

Group advised Kathy Hochul, Zohran Mamdani, and city and state comptrollers of legal obligations' not to abet crimesA human rights group has warned New York state and local officials that investment of public funds in bonds issued by Israel violates both international law and fiduciary duties and may expose officials and beneficiaries alike to substantial legal, ethical and financial risks".The warning, from the human rights group Dawn, was sent on Friday along with a 26-page memo to the New York governor, Kathy Hochul; the state's attorney general, Letitia James; New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani; and the state and city comptrollers, Tom DiNapoli and Mark Levine, respectively. It calls on them to immediately cease new purchases and divest any current holdings in Israeli bonds, arguing the investments violate legal obligations not to aid and abet Israeli crimes and their fiduciary duties to taxpayers", Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Dawn, said in a statement. Continue reading...

The arrest of the 59-year-old anchor, who once stood at the apex of news media, has thrust him back into the spotlight

Nurses gathered outside a Veterans Affairs hospital in Manhattan to mourn Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis Continue reading...

Arctic air moving into region will also freeze Tennessee, as 230,000 households still remain without power in areaFreezing weather that will reach deep into Florida was moving across the south-eastern US on Friday as millions braced for another weekend blast of winter storms following last week's deadly assault that killed at least 85 people.Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in southern states were without power for a sixth day on Friday as the next onslaught of blizzards, ice and biting cold winds approached. Continue reading...

Continue reading...

Lindsey Vonn crashed out of the final World Cup downhill before the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday, leaving the American skiing great limping and clutching her left knee as organisers abandoned the race amid worsening conditions.The 41-year-old lost control after landing a jump on the upper section of the course in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, skidding sideways into the safety netting as snow fell steadily and visibility deteriorated.She was later airlifted from the finish area by helicopter, suspended by a rope as she was transported away across the Swiss Alps.

Following in a long American tradition of identifying fascists, a network of leftists has set out to name and shame Trump's immigration agentsLast week a photographer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune filmed a border patrol agent approach a protester, lying prone in the street, and aim a canister of pepper spray at his eyes. The protester was already detained, three other agents pressing his body into the pavement, but the agent can nevertheless be seen spraying the orange chemical irritant, which causes excruciating pain, at point-blank range.The agent likely thought he would enjoy anonymity for this bit of brutality. The federal police terrorizing Minneapolis remain largely nameless as they dole out horrifying - and in two cases, fatal - violence against anyone opposing Operation Metro Surge. But within two hours of the Star Tribune posting the footage to social media, a group called Pacific Antifascist Research Collective claimed to have identified him. Continue reading...

The world of soccer throws up no shortage of questions. In today's column, we endeavor to answer three of themOne narrative has been set: Arsenal are bottling it. Last weekend's home loss to Manchester United confirmed what the Gunners' biggest doubters always suspected: that Mikel Arteta and his players don't have it in them to win the Premier League title. Arsenal's haters already started their victory lap. Continue reading...

The first lady's premiere was marked by conspicuous absences. It turns out chumminess with the president might just come at a costWho wasn't on the red carpet at the official Melania documentary premiere in Washington DC was so much more intriguing than who was. No offence to defence secretary Pete Hegseth, but if I wanted to see formalwear struggling to contain Crusades tattoos, I'd hang around outside the Spartak Moscow Christmas party. Not that it was a red carpet, because the carpet at the Trump-Kennedy" Center was black. No one bothers hiding the grift any more, with the movie's own producer openly explaining that this aesthetic was all about supporting this luxury brand that [Melania's] creating". They should have dressed the event like a colon, since Donald's is effectively where it was being held.Anyway: arrivals. There was Melania and Donald Trump - she finally got him out of hair and makeup - who were holding hands, a coincidentally convenient way to cover his skin if his glam squad didn't truck in enough concealer. In recent months, Trump has had terrible bruises on the tops of his hands and even more terrible excuses for why they keep appearing. Aspirin, Swiss furniture, shaking lots of hands - the list of things that aren't cannula sites grows longer every week.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Agreement spins off Department of Homeland Security spending bill as Democrats demand changes to immigration enforcement. Plus, US leads global surge in gas-fired power

Mobile Fortify lets agents obtain vast amounts of information on anyone by scanning their faceThe lethal force Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is meting out on American streets is rightly drawing loud condemnations from politicians and editorial boards across the nation and around the world. Now is the time we must start paying attention to another highly damaging part of ICE's arsenal: the agency's deployment of mass surveillance.I'm referring specifically to Mobile Fortify, a specialized app ICE has been using at least since May 2025. (Usage of the app was first reported last June by 404Media.) What is Mobile Fortify? It's an app for facial recognition that can additionally take contactless fingerprints" of someone simply by snapping a picture of a person's fingers. The app has been used more than 100,000 times, including on children, as alleged in a lawsuit filed by the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago. And it's dangerous.Moustafa Bayoumi is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Uline employee says she can no longer work for people who helped America descend into fascism'When Laura Wittmann decided this week to submit her resignation from Uline, the giant office supply company owned by two of the biggest donors to Donald Trump's 2024 election and other Maga Republicans, she did not hold back.As America descends rapidly into fascism," Wittmann wrote in a two-page company-wide email sent on Wednesday, I can no longer work to grow the personal fortunes of people who helped make it so." Continue reading...

The network's editor-in-chief unveiled a curious list of 19 people to be paid contributors across different platformsA focus on wellness, nutrition, longevity and cosmology, mixed with more than a sprinkling of conservative ideology, appears to represent Bari Weiss's vision to revitalize CBS News, and regain the trust of the network's lost viewers and employees.Editor-in-chief Weiss on Tuesday unveiled a curious list of 19 individuals - including podcasters, influencers, restaurateurs, climate deniers and a number of other opinionated writers - who will be paid contributors offering their wealth of wisdom and insight that will help CBS become, in her words, fit for purpose in the 21st century". Continue reading...

Raid on Fulton county election office is part of the Trump administration's wider US push to fuel false claims of fraudThe FBI raid on the Fulton county election office Wednesday was an aggressive new front in Donald Trump's effort to use his 2020 election loss to continue to sow doubt about American elections ahead of the 2026 midterms.As Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election, false claims of malfeasance during ballot-counting in Atlanta became a key part of the big lie about a stolen election. Misleading surveillance video showing ballots being retrieved from suitcases became the basis for a myth that fraudulent ballots were included in the tally. Rudy Giuliani, the president's lawyer and a close ally at the time, was ordered to pay $148.1m to the election workers as part of a libel suit for spreading lies about them. He later settled. Continue reading...

It took six years to identify the condition that caused my chronic pain: a blood sugar dysregulation conditionSeven years ago, when I was 27, I got my first-ever migraine. Ten months later, it was still there.Even after the 10-month migraine ended, frequent weeks-long migraine attacks and bouts of stabbing icepick" headaches kept me in pain more often than not. I was a software engineer at Facebook, but had to take leave from work because looking at my laptop screen made my head scream in revolt. I would never go back.Natalie Mead publishes a Substack called Oops, My Brain about life with chronic illness and recovery. She is also working on a memoir about the tension between love and caregiving in chronic illness Continue reading...

What is happening in Minnesota is proof that racist ideas lead to racist policies - and it produces bad, dangerous governanceMinneapolis is in a state of chaos. Since federal immigration agents flooded the region weeks ago, daily life has been destabilized in ways residents say feel unprecedented.The president's super-sized immigration force has now killed two people in the Minneapolis metro area since Operation Metro Surge" began in December. Nearly three weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot Renee Nicole Good in the face, armed federal authorities on 24 January killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Veterans Affairs nurse, who witnesses say was trying to intervene after seeing agents treat another person harshly.Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

When bubbles burst, what comes next can be better, if we build it differentlyIt was December 1999. Tech investors were riding high, convinced that a website and a Super Bowl ad were all it took to get rich quick. Spending was mistaken for growth; marketing was mistaken for a business model. In just a few months, the dot-com boom would go bust: $1.7tn in market value vanished, and the broader economy took a $5tn hit.Yet something remarkable emerged from the wreckage. The post-crash internet wasn't defined by speculation, but by creation: the rise of web 2.0 and open-source software - and the birth of platforms like Firefox and Wikipedia. The lesson is simple: when bubbles burst, what comes next can be better, if we build it differently.Mark Surman is the president of Mozilla Continue reading...

Millions told to stay home in US and more than a million are left without power, while Australia faces record heatwaveCold weather across a vast swathe of the eastern US has been the likely cause of at least 49 deaths in the past week.At one point, about 213 million people were under some sort of winter weather warnings, affecting areas from New Mexico to New England - a spread of about 2,000 miles (3,200km). Millions were told to stay at home, and at one point there were more than a million people without power. As of Wednesday night, there were still 312,000 outages, mostly across Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed.

Agencies accused of failing to take precautions to stop former contractor leaking returns to leftist media outlets'Donald Trump on Thursday sued the US treasury department and Internal Revenue Service for $10bn over the disclosure of his tax returns to the media in 2019 and 2020.In a complaint filed in Miami federal court, Trump, his adult sons, and his namesake company said the agencies failed to take mandatory precautions" to prevent former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn from leaking their tax returns to leftist media outlets", including the New York Times and ProPublica. Continue reading...

Iran's foreign minister to travel to Ankara for talks aimed at preventing a US attack - key US politics stories from 29 January at a glanceNo formal direct talks have been held between the US and Iran for a decade. Now, as Donald Trump continues to threaten direct military attacks against the regime, Turkey is stepping in as a last-ditch mediator.Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will travel to Ankara for talks aimed at preventing a US attack, as Turkish diplomats seek to convince Tehran it must offer concessions over its nuclear programme, if it is to avert a potentially devastating conflict. Continue reading...

White House cites Cuba's ties to hostile powers as order ratchets up Trump's pressure to topple its governmentDonald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday laying the groundwork to slap tariffs on goods from countries that provide oil to Cuba, the White House said.The order, which ratchets up Trump's pressure to topple the Communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for the US secretaries of state and commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to the island nation. The White House has yet to specify tariff rates for violating its new policy of blocking Cuba from buying oil. Continue reading...

Deal calls for splitting a funding bill for DHS from a package of other funding billsSenators have reached a deal to advance a major package of spending bills to avert a partial government shutdown that was set to begin on Saturday.The office of Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, confirmed the deal calls for splitting a funding bill for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from a package of other funding bills, and that the deal would fund DHS for two weeks at its current levels. Continue reading...

Democratic senators question national intelligence head's fitness for office after overt, unexplained appearanceDemocratic lawmakers are raising questions about why Tulsi Gabbard, the president's director of national intelligence, was lurking" in Fulton county on Wednesday while FBI agents carted off boxes of 2020 election documents.Gabbard visited an elections hub in Fulton county, home to Atlanta, on Wednesday as the FBI executed a search warrant for records related to the 2020 election. The warrant sought all ballots from the 2020 election in the county, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls, according to a warrant obtained by the Guardian. Continue reading...

LAFD's non-profit, which raised large sums after 2025 fires, hired firm amid growing criticism over handling of disasterThe official non-profit for the Los Angeles fire department has acknowledged that it had paid $65,000 to hire a leading communications agency to represent the agency last year.The move came as the department was facing growing criticism over its handling of the Palisades fire. Continue reading...

Jacob Frey accused the Trump administration of pursuing a might is right' policy and staging an invasion' of his cityJacob Frey, the embattled mayor of Minneapolis, has warned fellow mayors that their city will be next in line to be targeted by federal immigration agents unless they speak out against Donald Trump's aggressive deployments.Addressing the US conference of mayors in Washington DC, Frey won loud applause as he accused the Trump administration of staging an invasion" of his city and pursuing a might makes right" philosophy, which he said was championed by Stephen Miller, Trump's most powerful aide. Continue reading...

The former tech entrepreneur joins a sprawling but stagnant field to succeed Gavin NewsomMatt Mahan, the centrist Democrat and mayor of San Jose, announced on Thursday that he would run for governor of California, joining a sprawling but stagnant field to succeed Gavin Newsom.Mahan, 43, is a former tech entrepreneur who was first elected mayor of Silicon Valley's largest city in 2022. Continue reading...

Tom Homan acknowledges immigration enforcement needs certain improvements', without offering any details

Anthony Kazmierczak faces federal assault charges after he appeared to spray the congresswoman with liquid from a syringeThe Department of Justice has filed federal charges against the man accused of attacking Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar at a town hall in Minneapolis on Tuesday. In newly filed court documents, a close associate" told investigators that the alleged attacker previously said that someone should kill" the Minnesota lawmaker.Local police arrested and booked Anthony James Kazmierczak, 55, for third-degree assault after he appeared to spray Omar with an acidic-smelling liquid from a syringe as she addressed constituents from a lectern. Continue reading...

Lawmaker from Estonia says photo celebrates the greatest war criminal of the 21st century'Donald Trump has apparently added a framed photo of himself standing with Vladimir Putin to the White House decor, prompting criticism from a senator, members of the media and beyond.Newly surfaced photos from the Palm Room, which connects the West Wing to the executive residence, show a framed image of the US president and the Russian president at their summit in Alaska last August. Notably, that event marked the first in-person meeting between US and Russian leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. The meeting drew complaints from Democrats who accused him of cozying up" to Putin, and rolling out the red carpet" for the Russian leader instead of standing with Ukraine and our allies". Continue reading...

Protesters need support following the bloody crackdown by a zombie' regime - not wild threats or worse from the US presidentThe brutality of Iran's crackdown on protesters is almost unfathomable. Despite the authorities cutting off communications and destroying evidence, it is clear that a regime never reluctant to shed its citizens' blood has done so with unprecedented zeal, sensing an unprecedented threat from unrest across the country, challenging not only its policies but its very existence.Officials have reported 3,000 deaths, but human rights groups have tallied many more, and a network of medical professionals has estimated that 30,000 could have been killed. Security forces shot people dead as they fled a fire and are arresting doctors for helping the wounded. Continue reading...

International sporting events don't often see teams refuse to participate for a cause - but when it's happened, it hasn't been effectiveIt was probably fitting that the first call from someone with genuine power should emanate from Germany, long one of soccer's moral centers. The time has definitely come," German soccer federation vice-president Oke Gottlich told the Hamburger Morgenpost, to seriously consider and discuss" a boycott of the 2026 World Cup.What were the justifications for the boycotts of the Olympic Games in the 1980s?" added Gottlich, who is also the president of FC St. Pauli, Hamburg's earnestly countercultural club. By my reckoning, the potential threat is greater now than it was then. We need to have this discussion." Continue reading...

Alberta activists' covert meetings with US officials revealed, outlining group's increasingly emboldened effortsCovert meetings between separatist activists in the Canadian province of Alberta and members of Donald Trump's administration amount to treason", the premier of British Columbia said on Thursday.To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there's an old-fashioned word for that - and that word is treason," David Eby told reporters. Continue reading...

Donald Trump says time is running out' for Iran as the threat of war appears to loom closer. A huge US armada is being moved towards the country and is seen as the starkest indication yet that Trump intends to strike. The US president had called on the Iranian regime to negotiate a deal on the future of its nuclear programme, only weeks after he promised Iranian protesters help was on the way' before backtracking days later. Nosheen Iqbal talks to the Guardian's deputy head of international news, Devika Bhat, about what Trump could do next Continue reading...

Hundreds of actions are set to take place across the country on 30 and 31 January to protest against ICE violenceA strike and hundreds of protests are set to take place across the country on 30 and 31 January, as grassroots organizers take action against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in their communities.After the deaths of at least eight people in connection to ICE since the start of the year - including the high-profile killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis - activists are demanding the permanent removal of ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from towns and cities across the US. Continue reading...

Sean Grayson receives maximum possible sentence for second-degree murder conviction in 2024 fatal shootingA former Illinois sheriff's deputy was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Sonya Massey, who had dialed 911 to report a possible prowler outside her Springfield home.Sean Grayson, 31, was convicted in October. Grayson, who is white, received the maximum possible sentence. He has been incarcerated since he was charged in the killing. Continue reading...

The departure of Greg Bovino has not quelled ICE's raids - and hope that tensions are easing feels distantWhen the belligerent border patrol official Gregory Bovino finally left the Twin Cities this week, there was hope that the tension in the region would dissipate. But in the wake of the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, residents say they are still dealing with immigration raids and threats to their safety - and fear the shock waves will be felt for a very long time.In St Paul, city council member Molly Coleman is still taking shifts to watch for ICE agents at her son's daycare. People are really guarding against false optimism," she said. I don't think anybody in Minnesota is under any illusions that we are suddenly safer than we were this time last week - that constitutional observers are safer, that immigrants are safer, that anybody who looks brown or Black on the streets is safer." Continue reading...

The future Hall of Famer was given a warm welcome against the team where he began his career. But Wednesday's game felt particularly poignantA 60-second tribute video honoring LeBron James has become routine over the past eight years whenever he returns to Cleveland, the city where his NBA journey began.But Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse was different - and it felt that way long before James's Los Angeles Lakers fell, 129-99 to the Cavaliers in a nationally televised game. Continue reading...

Despite an estimated outlay of $6bn since 2022, LIV appears to be far away from establishing itself in the the manner of PIF projects in other sportsIn one sense, it is difficult to detect anything warm and cuddly in all of this. Elite golfers, who were already obscenely rich, take the bounty on offer from a Saudi Arabian-backed disruption model before shuffling back whence they came - essentially for a trivial penalty - when the novelty wears off. This is hardly sport at its purest. Instead, an admission by Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed that they blundered in believing the fairways were greener on the LIV side. The PGA Tour, desperate to portray itself as the big boy in the playground, welcomes one-time pariahs back with open arms. Other golfers who spurned LIV's fluttering eyelashes scratch their heads, wondering why they bothered.There is, however, an underlying and endearing point. All the petroleum pounds in the world are no substitute for legacy. Trying to match the achievements of Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy carries significance. LIV golf has no relevance beyond its own domain. Saudi Arabia has made inroads into various sports but, in golf, the kingdom is unquestionably doomed. LIV is on the road towards oblivion, far earlier than most had anticipated. Only those who will gain financially from its continuation can try to spin an alternative story. Continue reading...