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Volunteers offer moral and legal support, and document ICE actions with the aim of holding people accountableAs ICE operations ramped up across the US over the past year, vans emblazoned with imagery of the Statue of Liberty have been deployed in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and most recently, Minneapolis. Liberty Vans, or camioneta de la libertad in Spanish, are on a mission to defend vulnerable communities in the crosshairs of federal enforcement.Volunteers in the small fleet of three vans - which are named for the second world war Liberty ships that delivered supplies to Allied forces - offer moral and legal support, stand in visible solidarity with families and document ICE operations so people can see the human impact of the military-style raids that have become a daily part of American life. Continue reading...

Businesses are vying for a refund, with nearly $175bn on the line, but customers are unlikely to benefit from reversalAt 8am, two hours before the US supreme court officially slapped down Donald Trump's liberation day" tariffs on 20 February, Joseph Spraragen's phone was already ringing off the hook.The seasoned New York-based attorney and his 40-strong specialised trade team at Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt (GDLSK) had spent months filing hundreds of lawsuits for heavy-hitter clients, including luxury brands Prada and Dolce & Gabbana, in protest of the US president's decision to impose sweeping import taxes last April. Continue reading...

With David Ellison's Paramount Skydance poised to buy Warner Bros Discovery, the president is tightening his grip on the US mediaFor many years, Donald Trump has trashed CNN and has taught his loyal followers to do the same.During the 2016 presidential campaign, angry chants of CNN sucks!" reverberated at his campaign rallies, and he still jumps at every opportunity to disparage star CNN journalists such as Kaitlan Collins. Continue reading...

The question of who owns and authorizes the month holds particular relevance amid attacks on Black history in the USThere is a myth that persists about Black History Month that can be heard in the common gripe: They gave us the shortest month of the year" (they, the unnamed powers that be). Jarvis Givens, the author of I'll Make Me a World: The 100-Year Journey of Black History Month, hates it. Every time I hear that backhanded comment it doesn't seem right," said Givens, an associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. If you know anything about the basic origins of Black History Month then you know that we weren't given' anything."The question of who owns and authorizes Black History Month holds particular relevance now, in its centennial year, and at a time when efforts to celebrate, preserve, and acknowledge Black people's past in this country are under attack. Official recognition of Black American resistance to centuries of racial injustice is being challenged by local, state, and national efforts to restrict, ban and possibly criminalize such information in public schools, universities and other institutions. So the sentiment that Black history can be quite literally given or taken away by state officials is valid.Saida Grundy is an associate professor of sociology and African American studies at Boston University, and the author of Respectable: Politics and Paradox in Making the Morehouse Man Continue reading...

Democrats hope to capture the House, but the Senate could be a heavier lift in November's midterm electionsOn the first Tuesday of November, Americans will decide whether to keep Congress under Donald Trump's control, or hand power to the Democrats. The first national elections since the 2024 polls that brought Trump back to the White House, the 3 November midterms will be a crucial test of whether the president's handling of top issues such as the economy and immigration have met Americans' expectations. On Tuesday, voters will cast ballots in initial state primaries, with more to follow in the months ahead.Up for grabs in November are all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 seats in the Senate, and if Republicans lose their majorities in either chamber, it will alter the course of Trump's presidency. Should Democrats take the House, they will gain the power to issue subpoenas as they investigate his administration, and can block the president's legislative agenda. Should they wrest control of the Senate from the GOP, Democrats could stop Trump from appointing nominees to cabinet positions and the federal judiciary, including the supreme court. Continue reading...

Israel and the US launched strikes against Iran as Donald Trump declared the start of 'major combat operations' and called on Iranians to rise up against their government. The US president's comments came soon after explosions were heard across central Tehran. One apparent strike hit near the offices of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran was preparing a 'crushing retaliation', an Iranian official told Reuters

Donald Trump said the US had begun 'major combat operations' in Iran, warning that there may be US casualties. The strikes, which the US president said were aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and annihilating its navy, follow repeated US-Israeli warnings that they would strike Iran again if it pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. Trump told members of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's armed forces, to lay down their weapons, promising they would be granted immunity. The other option, according to Trump, was 'certain death'

He's the Democratic politician with movie-star looks and a picture-perfect family, dogged by accusations of being a smoothtalking elitist. Can he really unite the American left and win the most powerful office in the world?When you think of the politician Donald Trumpisn't, when you think of the norm he broke, the archetype he shattered, you might well picture aman who looks alot like Gavin Newsom. Tall and handsome, hair coiffed just so, with a blond wife and four photogenic kids at his side, Newsom, who has been the governor of California since 2019 and is often described as the frontrunner to be the Democratic nominee for the White House in 2028, looks the way professional politicians, and especially presidential candidates, look in the movies.It's dogged Newsom for years, that look of his, perennially suggesting that he is, in the words of one California newspaper, too ambitious, too slickly handsome, and too patrician-seeming", especially for a populist age that cherishes the authentic and has no truck with anything either phoney or elite". The elite tag especially has hung around Newsom's neck for decades, thanks to the fact that his ascent to the top of California politics has seemed smooth and unbroken, apparently eased by a childhood spent in the orbit of the Getty family, when that name was a byword for astronomical wealth. Continue reading...

DoJ says it will not ask US supreme court to rehear tariffs case despite president's complaint on Truth SocialThe Trump administration said refunds of tariffs struck down by the US supreme court will take time", according to court documents filed by the Department of Justice.Businesses including FedEx have lined up to demand reimbursement for US tariffs they have paid but that the court last week deemed were imposed illegally, prompting heavy criticism from Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Hours after exclusion of Anthropic, OpenAI announces fresh Pentagon deal, but says it will maintain same safety guardrails at the heart of the dispute

I know what I did, and more importantly, what I didn't do,' former US president says after six-hour depositionBill Clinton told a congressional committee on Friday he had no idea of the crimes" Jeffrey Epstein was committing and insisted he did nothing wrong" in his relationship with the convicted sex trafficker.The former president's remarks came in his opening statement in a deposition to the House of Representatives' oversight committee, a day after his wife, Hillary Clinton, appeared before the same body and called the proceedings partisan political theater" and an insult to the American people". Continue reading...

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Judge slashed a $667m damages award to Energy Transfer over Greenpeace's role in Dakota Access Pipeline protestsA North Dakota judge on Friday finalized a $345m judgment against Greenpeace in a lawsuit pursued by pipeline company Energy Transfer (ET.N) over the environmental group's role in protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.The final judgment by judge James Gion was in line with a decision he issued in October, in which he slashed by almost half a damages award of about $667m that a jury had awarded Energy Transfer in March. Continue reading...

Anthropic has resisted allowing its Claude AI system to be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems - key US politics stories from Friday, 27 February at a glanceDonald Trump said Friday he will direct all federal agencies to IMMEDIATELY CEASE" all use of artificial intelligence technology from Anthropic.The US Department of Defense and Anthropic hit an impasse with neither side backing down as a deadline for an agreement lapsed on Friday afternoon. The Pentagon had demanded the AI company loosen ethical guidelines on its systems or face severe consequences. Continue reading...

Neither president nor anyone in administration has reached out after Good was killed by immigration officer, says familyThe family of Renee Good, an unarmed US citizen and mother who was killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis last month, said in an interview with NBC News that neither Donald Trump nor anyone in his administration has contacted them since her death.There's a reason that we hired our own investigators - to make sure that the truth is transparent and available, to make sure that this is really taken seriously, and to make sure that we know what occurred," Brent Ganger, Good's brother, told NBC News. Continue reading...

Trustees unanimously voted to place Alberto Carvalho on leave and appointed Andres Chait in the interimTwo days after the FBI searched the headquarters of the Los Angeles unified school district and the home of its superintendent, the district board of education placed Alberto Carvalho on administrative leave.The board met in closed session meetings for several hours on Thursday and Friday to discuss Carvalho's employment with the nation's second largest school district. The trustees unanimously voted Friday to place Carvalho on paid leave, and appointed another high ranking district official, Andres Chait, to serve as interim superintendent. Continue reading...

Trump administration's unlawful policy turns refugees' American Dream into a dystopian nightmare', judge saysA federal judge has blocked a Trump administration policy that allowed immigration authorities to arrest and detain certain refugees in Minnesota, ruling that the government relied on an incorrect interpretation of federal law and unlawfully targeted people who had already been admitted to the US.In an order on Friday, the court said the administration's approach had effectively been terrorizing" refugees by subjecting them to arrest and potentially indefinite detention despite their lawful status. The judge concluded that federal immigration law does not give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to detain refugees simply because more than one year has passed since their arrival in the country. Continue reading...

By mid-afternoon, it was 91F (33C) in downtown LA, according to the National Weather ServiceAfter a week of heavy downpours that left parts of Los Angeles flooded, the city is now facing unusually high temperatures for late February.By mid-afternoon Friday, it was 91F (33C) in downtown Los Angeles, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). That breaks the daily record for 27 February, which was 88F (31C), set last year. Continue reading...

Streamer said deal no longer financially attractive' at price required to match offer by David Ellison's firmParamount Skydance has beaten Netflix to take over Warner Bros Discovery's storied Hollywood studios and streaming business after the streaming giant refused to increase its bid.The $110bn deal ends a high-stakes bidding war between the two media companies, but the takeover still faces regulatory hurdles and a backlash from critics worried about a rightward tilt in US media. Continue reading...

Trump commerce secretary - who lived next door to Epstein in New York - urged to testify about extent of relationship

US retailer's decision comes as RFK Jr and Maha movement increase pressure on food industry to drop dyes like red 40The big-box US retailer Target announced on Friday that by 31 May it will only sell breakfast cereals made without certified synthetic food colors.The company is introducing the restriction amid increased pressure on the food industry from the Trump administration and the Make America healthy again" (Maha) movement to stop using such ingredients, which they see as dangerous. Continue reading...

Exclusive: memo came after Mike Huckabee's remarks about Israel sparked alarm inside White House

Russian airstrikes in Kyiv, Ramadan in Gaza, Trump's State of the Union address and snow in New York City - the past seven days as captured by the world's leading photojournalists Continue reading...

Police chief accused of caving to Republican demands by reversing decision to fire implicated duoA Detroit police department decision to reverse course on firing two officers who allegedly violated local law by coordinating an arrest with federal immigration agents has ignited outrage and accusations that the chief caved to Republican demands.It has also played into a debate in the US around the role of local law enforcement amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown as many police departments - especially in large Democratic-run cities such as Detroit - have a policy of not co-operating with federal immigration operations. Continue reading...

The supreme court has deferred to executive power for decades. Its decision on tariffs is a long-overdue warningAfter two decades of deferring to executive authority and eroding anti-bribery laws, the supreme court has suddenly limited presidential power in a way that could make one ugly form of political influence a bit more difficult to pull off. Last week's ruling did not merely strip one president of his executive power to unilaterally impose levies across broad swaths of the economy - it makes it harder for any president to transform tariffs from a broad economic policy into a personal political cudgel that muzzles criticism and enforces fealty.A Supreme Court otherwise inclined to endlessly expand Trump's authority just restricted his go-to tool, ruling that U.S. presidents do not have the power to unilaterally deploy tariffs and dole out punishment and favor to specific companies and economic sectors, friends and family, and entire countries," said Lori Wallach of Rethink Trade.The Washington Post reported that Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, dumped $1m into Trump's inauguration, cultivated relationships with Trump officials, and refrained from publicly criticizing the president or his policies on national television" - just before securing tariff exemptions for his company's products.ProPublica reported that the administration approved a tariff exemption for a thermoplastic made by a company owned by a pair of brothers who have donated millions of dollars to Republican causes".A tariff exemption for electronics conveniently benefited Tesla and, by extension, its CEO, Elon Musk, who bankrolled a multimillion-dollar campaign to re-elect Trump.The sugar behemoth Florida Crystals, which has lobbied on tariff policy, gave $2m to the main pro-Trump Super Pac, Maga Inc, ahead of Trump slapping tariffs on imported sugar. Reynolds American likewise delivered $2m to the same Super Pac while successfully pushing Trump to crack down on imports of Chinese tobacco products.Trump relaxed export controls on the microchip maker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) after the company gave $1million to Maga Inc.Trump reduced tariffs on Vietnam and removed that country from the United States's export controls list after the Hanoi government approved his family business's $1.5bn golf course and real estate project. Continue reading...

Second time in two weeks military used laser to attack what it mistakenly thought was a threat, disrupting air traffic

Scientists say crackdown on gender-affirming care could have impact on healthcare of all AmericansAs more health systems end gender-affirming care for patients amid a crackdown from the Trump administration, scientists and advocates say the science of sex and gender is being misrepresented - and will have major repercussions for the healthcare for all Americans.Trump officials don't actually understand the science at all", said Jey McCreight, who is the founder of Beyond X&Y and has a doctoral degree in human genomics. McCreight, who uses they/them pronouns, added that using misinformation to limit who can seek healthcare is a warning for all patients. Continue reading...

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Media Matters over critical coverage. It's just one example of the administration's approachThe Trump administration is embracing an intimidation strategy to silence critical media coverage. Here's how it works: a federal agency launches a pretextual investigation into a perceived enemy, keeps the investigation open to coerce compliance, and resists any effort to have a court review the lawfulness of the agency's actions.There's no better example than the Federal Trade Commission's retaliatory investigation of Media Matters for America for its critical coverage of one of the Trump administration's most powerful allies.David Bralow is counsel to the Intercept Continue reading...

As a potential 2027 stoppage looms, MLB owners argue a wage cap is vital for parity. In truth, it's just another way to boost their assets and fleece fansBaseball should be on a high. Spring training has begun and a record-breaking winter makes the games especially welcome - baseball means the good weather is coming soon. Injuries marred the NBA playoffs and the Super Bowl was a dud, but no sport settled its championship last year better than baseball, as the Los Angeles Dodgers barely and thrillingly defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in a seven-game epic that ranks among the greatest World Series ever played.Instead of basking in the afterglow, however, the game is spending this abundance of capital preparing for war: a 2027 work stoppage portends to be the most catastrophic since the summer of 1994, when the players went on strike and the owners responded by cancelling the World Series for the first time in 90 years. Continue reading...

Union-backed pledge urges fast food employers to protect workers' rights as immigration raids fuel fear and walkoutsFast food workers in California are demanding employers sign a pledge reaffirming workers' rights amid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids at workplaces across the US.The California Fast Food Workers Union, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, drafted a Constitutional Pledge to California Workers' Rights for workplaces to sign that affirms a commitment to protecting workers and keep ICE from going where they are not allowed". Continue reading...

Former secretary of state says hearing is an attempt to deflect attention from Trump. Plus, the textile artist weaving patterns to inspire the labor movement Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Hillary Clinton rebuked a congressional committee investigating her supposed links to Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, accusing its Republican members of embarking on a fishing expedition" intended to distract attention from President Trump's actions".How did we get here? The Clintons reluctantly agreed to appear in response to a subpoena from the committee's Republican chair, James Comer, after being threatened with contempt of Congress charges. Both Clintons have previously complained that they are being singled out unfairly to distract public attention from Trump, who had a long friendship with Epstein before breaking with him.What happens next? Bill Clinton, a former president, will testify later today, also in a closed-door session.What stage are the bills at? None have been signed into law, and they may face legal challenges. The bills, nonetheless, underscore the determination by Democratic state lawmakers in New Jersey, California, Maryland and Washington state, to undermine Trump's hardline immigration policy.How did immigration enforcement get so many resources? The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, approved by the Republicans along party lines in Congress, allocated nearly $30bn to hire and train new ICE agents. The agency embarked on a hiring spree that often used xenophobic slogans in recruitment ads, as well as incentives such as signing bonuses as high as $50,000. Continue reading...

Despite claims, polls and economists say tariffs and structural pressures keep US households under strainThe affordability crisis is over, Donald Trump told the US on Tuesday. The president's state of the union address put the blame for soaring prices squarely on the dirty, rotten" lies of the Democrats and claimed prices were now plummeting downward".Soon you will see numbers that few people would think were possible to achieve just a short time ago," Trump said. Continue reading...

The US spent months promoting a false case for the invasion of Iraq. This time, we're in the dark about Washington's goalsIn October 2002, George W Bush laid out his case for taking the US to war against Iraq in a half-hour speech televised around the world. Bush warned that Saddam Hussein's regime could attack the US on any given day" with chemical or biological weapons, including anthrax, mustard gas or the nerve agent sarin. He argued Iraq was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and could develop a bomb in less than a year. And if those warnings weren't enough to terrify the US public, Bush invoked the ultimate fear of an unprovoked nuclear attack: Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."The world soon learned that Bush's rationale for invading Iraq was based on manipulated intelligence and outright lies; the Iraqi regime no longer had any weapons of mass destruction and was not developing them. But the administration's relentless campaign to convince Americans that Saddam was a threat had paid off by generating significant support. As the invasion got under way in March 2003, many polls showed public approval of the war at more than 70%. Bush's own approval rating hovered around a similar high, underscoring that war can boost the popularity of America's commander-in-chief as few other things can. Continue reading...

Winter Storm Hernando, which struck north-eastern regions this week, described as a bomb cyclone'Winter Storm Hernando swept across the north-eastern US on Sunday and into the start of the week, unleashing blizzard conditions across much of the region as heavy snowfall combined with gale-force winds. Blizzard warnings were issued for several cities including New York City, Portland and Boston. More than 10,000 flights were cancelled, and schools closed in many states.The storm intensified rapidly through Sunday. Coastal areas of Massachusetts and Rhode Island recorded gusts of about 70mph, and Montauk Point in New York reporting stronger gusts of 84mph. Continue reading...

The president and his allies have never been interested in helping or elevating female athletes. His true feelings were exposed on SundayThis past week Team USA won gold in both the women's and men's ice hockey at the Winter Olympics, presenting Donald Trump with a golden opportunity. Instead of seizing the easy political points, he embraced his chance to ingratiate himself with the boys by inviting them to the State of the Union address. He followed up his offer of a military jet shuttle to Washington DC with a lament that he would have to also invite the women's team. It was a bit that lit up the locker room with laughter.The women's gold medal had been a prime opportunity for Trump to live up to his stated commitment to protect opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports", a claim made last February when he sought to position himself as the figure saving women's sports. Instead, he decided to make a joke at the expense of Olympic champions. Continue reading...

Zimbabwe refuses to sign agreement and Kenya faces a court case over data sharing as new aid deals come under scrutinyA series of bilateral health agreements being negotiated between African countries and the administration of President Donald Trump have been labelled clearly lop-sided" and immoral" amid growing outrage at US demands, including countries being forced to share biological resources and data.It emerged this week that Zimbabwe had halted negotiations with the US for $350m (258m) of health funding, saying the proposals risked undermining its sovereignty and independence. Continue reading...

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The former US secretary of state urged Republicans to question Donald Trump directly under oath' about his ties with the convicted sex offenderHillary Clinton appeared before a congressional committee investigating her supposed links to Jeffrey Epstein - and accused its Republican members of targeting her in a bid to distract from Donald Trump's involvement with the convicted sex offender.The former US secretary of state answered questions for hours during a closed-door session on Thursday, a day before her husband, the former US president Bill Clinton, was also due to appear. Continue reading...

Iranian foreign minister claimed good progress' made and further talks expected - key US politics stories from Thursday, 26 February at a glanceHigh-stakes talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran's nuclear programme ended on Thursday without a deal, as the White House weighs a military operation that would mark its largest intervention in the Middle East in decades.The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, claimed good progress" had been made at the talks and Omani mediators predicted negotiations would reconvene at a technical level next week in Vienna. Araghchi later confirmed that further contacts would take place in less than a week. Continue reading...

Federal Aviation Administration bars flights around Fort Hancock after reported use of anti-drone military laserThe Federal Aviation Administration barred flights on Thursday in an area around Fort Hancock, Texas, after congressional aides told Reuters a military laser-based anti-drone system was believed to have accidentally shot down a US government drone.The FAA and Pentagon did not immediately comment but the FAA cited special security reasons" in its notice about the restrictions on the airspace near the Mexican border posted on its Notam alert system, shorthand for Notice to Air Missions". Continue reading...

Optional textbook contains factual and punctuation errors, and images with licensing or copyright issuesA Bible-infused curriculum that Texas approved for public schools over pushback in 2024 will undergo corrections to fix hundreds of errors caught by teachers and education officials after the material was introduced to classrooms.The curriculum in what is known as the Bluebonnet" textbook is among Republican-led efforts in the US to incorporate more religious teaching into classrooms. Designed by the state's public education agency, it is optional for schools to adopt, though they receive additional funding if they do so. Continue reading...

Clinton delivers withering rebuke and says hearing is an attempt to deflect attention from Trump's actions

Department of Justice did not release FBI memos when it uploaded millions of pages of files beginning in DecemberThree memos that describe four interviews conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2019 contain explicit but unsubstantiated claims that Donald Trump sexually abused a woman when she was a minor in the early 1980s with the assistance of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Guardian review of those documents.The Department of Justice did not release those records when it uploaded millions of pages of files related to Epstein beginning in December. The existence of the missing documents was first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and subsequently confirmed by NPR, causing outrage in Washington and sparking an investigation from congressional Democrats. Continue reading...

New York mayor proposes 12,000-unit housing project to real estate developer turned presidentZohran Mamdani met with Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, during an unannounced trip to the nation's capital.The New York mayor said he had a productive" meeting with the US president and he was looking forward to building more housing in New York City" in a post on X. Continue reading...

About 30 seals had died as of Thursday, nearly all of them weaned pups, amid the rise of avian influenzaAn outbreak of a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has killed more than two dozen elephant seal pups in California, leading to the temporary closure of seal-viewing areas at a popular Bay Area park.California's Ano Nuevo state park is home to an elephant seal colony with about 5,000 seals during the marine mammals' breeding season, which runs from mid-December through March. Researchers said about 30 seals had died as of Thursday, nearly all of them weaned pups, amid the rise of avian influenza. Continue reading...