US news | The Guardian

Latest incidents include death threats against Zohran Mamdani in New York and a purported road rage attack on Max Miller in OhioA fresh wave of violent threats and incidents targeting elected officials broke out in the US this week, prompting more urgent calls for increased security measures just days after the killing of a Minnesota state legislator and the shooting of another.Amid a series of attacks involving federal and local officials, the latest incidents included death threats against Zohran Mamdani, the New York mayoral candidate, a purported road rage attack on Max Miller, the Ohio congressman, and an alleged kidnapping attempt targeting Paul Young, the mayor of Memphis. Continue reading...

Senator from Massachusetts questions state department's redirection of $500m to troubled organization

Court votes to back challenge to state waiver that allows it to set tougher car emission standards than federal limitsFossil fuel companies are able to challenge California's ability to set stricter standards reducing the amount of polluting coming from cars, the US supreme court has ruled in a case that is set to unravel one of the key tools used to curb planet-heating emissions in recent years.The conservative-dominated supreme court voted by seven to two to back a challenge by oil and gas companies, along with 17 Republican-led states, to a waiver that California has received periodically from the federal government since 1967 that allows it to set tougher standards than national rules limiting pollution from cars. The state has separately stipulated that only zero-emission cars will be able to sold there by 2035. Continue reading...

States that enact stricter gun control measures show a decrease in the leading cause of death of US childrenGuns have been the leading cause of death among US children since 2020. A new study shows a clear path to addressing this scourge and saving kids' lives: state gun control laws.The study, published this month in Jama Pediatrics, reveals that states which enacted stricter gun control measures following the 2010 McDonald v Chicago supreme court ruling - a landmark decision that struck down Chicago's ban on handguns and, in effect, expanded the second amendment nationwide - have seen a relative decrease in firearm deaths among children aged up to 17. By contrast, states that expanded gun freedoms have seen a notable increase in kids' deaths from gun violence, including by homicide, by suicide and from accidents. Continue reading...

Emerson Colindres had no criminal record and was attending appointment with Ice when detainedA teenage student and soccer stand-out was arrested by immigration authorities four days after his high school graduation ceremony in Ohio earlier this month, and deported to Honduras this week, his family has said.Emerson Colindres, 19, had no criminal record and was attending a regularly scheduled appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in Cincinnati when he was detained on 4 June, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Continue reading...

However, the president did take to social media to complain about too many non-working holidays'Donald Trump failed to mark Juneteenth, commemorating the ending of slavery in the US, until he posted on Thursday night that there are too many non-working holidays" in the country.The US president has put out statements previously as president and even tried to take credit for boosting awareness of the significance of 19 June before it became a federal holiday under the Biden administration. Continue reading...

Appeals court extends pause on district judge ruling that president called troops into federal service unlawfully

With misinformation and murky details on bird flu and measles outbreaks, experts worry about the next pandemicAmid controversial dismissals for independent advisers and staff at health agencies, alongside lackluster responses to the bird flu and measles outbreaks, experts fear the US is now in worse shape to respond to a pandemic than before 2020.H5N1, which has received less attention under the Trump administration than from Biden's team, is not the only influenza virus or even the only variant of bird flu with the potential to spark a pandemic. But a subpar response to the ongoing US outbreak signals a larger issue: America is not ready for whatever pathogen will sweep through next. Continue reading...

Britain's driving force on EuroBasket prospects, playing alongside Caitlin Clark and the importance of a team mentality at the highest levelIt's great to be back with Great Britain," Temi Fagbenle says, her voice carrying the quiet confidence of a seasoned international basketball player. I come from the WNBA but I'm glad I was able to make both work." For the captain of GB's women's basketball team, balancing the demands of the world's premier league with national team duties is a familiar tightrope walk. I'm thankful teams see European competition as a priority for some of us. They've accommodated where they could."EuroBasket, a biennial competition, is one of the biggest international tournaments in the game. It is also a qualifying metric for the Women's World Cup and the Olympics. With the 2025 edition under way, Fagbenle's presence is crucial as one of the leading WNBA players choosing to play in an international tournament during the season. Continue reading...

In the diverse Iranian hub of west LA, a sense of dread over the escalating conflict is permeating the cafes and bakeriesIn uncertain times in Persian Square, in the Iranian enclave on the west side of Los Angeles, there is always hope - and ice cream.Farbod Freddy" Papen is happy to dole out scoops of cucumber ice cream at Saffron and Rose, just as his grandfather once did in the same neighborhood affectionately known by many nicknames: Little Tehran, Tehrangeles, or Little Persia. Continue reading...

If the United States joins Israel's fight to try to finish Israel's job, it will enter into a war of unknowable scope against a country of 90 million peopleTwo decades ago, as Americans debated whether their country should invade Iraq, one question loomed the largest: did Saddam Hussein possess weapons of mass destruction? If so, the implication was that the United States should disarm and overthrow his regime by military force. If not, Washington could keep that option in reserve and continue to contain Saddam through economic sanctions and routine bombings.In time, the implications of the Iraq war far exceeded the boundaries of the original debate. Saddam, it turned out, had no weapons of mass destruction. But suppose he had possessed the chemical and biological agents that the war's advocates claimed. Invading his country to destroy his regime would have given him the greatest possible incentive to use the worst weapons at his disposal. The war would have been just as mistaken - more so, in fact.Stephen Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Continue reading...

As Americans, we need to know what's happening so we can act. But that doesn't mean constant online immersionThe threat of a world war. Political assassinations. Federal raids on unsuspecting migrants.There seems to be no end to terrifying news these days. In fact, it comes at us so unceasingly that numbness can set in. Or even depression or melancholy, like a black cloud over every part of our lives. Continue reading...

Friday's meeting comes a day after Trump said he would decide whether to attack Iran within two weeks'. Plus, Los Angeles Dodgers say they denied Ice agents entry to stadium

The Lakers' record sale underscores how owning elite sports franchises is increasingly beyond even the wealthiest individuals, shifting power toward corporate consortiumsThe sale of the Los Angeles Lakers is many things.First of all, it is a record. The glitziest team in basketball is changing hands at a valuation of $10bn, the biggest ever for a sports franchise. Second, it is probably an excellent deal for the buyer, even at that astonishing valuation. And third, the shift in majority ownership from the Buss family to an investment group led by Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, is something else: inevitable. Continue reading...

With the group stage approaching halfway, it is time to take stock of key issues surrounding the expanded tournamentThe Club World Cup is into the second round of games in the group stage, with matches across the United States showing off all that was hotly anticipated about this newly expanded tournament, as well as a few concerns.Here's a breakdown of five major storylines we were keeping track of before the games, and where we stand. Continue reading...

LA was once a conservative stronghold; now the military is occupying it. Liberal cities have become targets for politicians looking to stir up their voters elsewhereFrom Los Angeles to London, Istanbul to Warsaw, cities are making rightwing populists angry. Their liberal elites, immigrants, net zero policies, leftwing activists, globalised businesses, expensive transport infrastructure and outspoken municipal leaders - all are provocations to populist politicians whose support often comes from more conservative, less privileged places.Three years ago the founders of national conservatism, the transatlantic ideology on which much of modern rightwing populism is based, published a statement of principles. One of these, surprisingly little noticed at the time, declared with some menace: In those [places] in which law and justice have been manifestly corrupted, or in which lawlessness, immorality, and dissolution reign, national government must intervene energetically to restore order."Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Trump has signalled that he wants two weeks to decide whether or not to strike Iran - key US politics stories from 19 JuneWill he or won't he? That's the question manyare asking regarding whether Donald Trump will join Israel's attacks on Iran and take out one of its most difficult targets: the Fordow nuclear enrichment site.But another question has arisen. Can he? Continue reading...

Baseball team says Ice agents were denied permission to access parking lots but agency claims agents were never there'The Los Angeles Dodgers said on Thursday they denied US immigration enforcement agents access to the parking lot at Dodger Stadium earlier in the day.This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots," the baseball team said in a post on X. Continue reading...

States argued US transportation secretary lacks authority to impose conditions on funding appropriated by CongressA federal judge on Thursday blocked Donald Trump's administration from forcing 20 Democratic-led states to cooperate with immigration enforcement in order to receive billions of dollars in transportation grant funding.Chief US District Judge John McConnell in Providence, Rhode Island, granted the states' request for an injunction barring the Department of Transportation's policy, saying the states were likely to succeed on the merits of some or all of their claims. Continue reading...

Messi hit a trademark free-kick for the winning goal in the second half as Miami topped the Portuguese giants in Atlanta. Read our minute-by-minute report4 min: Messi involved again, this time latching on to a bouncing ball in midfield, slotting a through ball for Suarez that has just a bit too much on it, allowing Ramos to gather it easily.2 min: A chance! Already! Lionel Messi finds a spot in the right half-space, and lofts a perfect diagonal ball over the backline to Luis Suarez. Suarez's attempt is saved, and he is later called offside. An early statement from Miami. Continue reading...

President denies report in Wall Street Journal and says newspaper has no idea' of his plans for Israel and Iran

Federal prosecutors reverse course in case of Jose Manuel Mojica, who came forward to Guardian to say he was brutally attacked by agentsFederal prosecutors in California have moved to dismiss charges against a Los Angeles protester accused of assaulting border patrol agents, a major victory for the demonstrator who said he himself was brutally attacked by law enforcement.US attorney Bill Essayli, a Donald Trump appointee, filed a motion on Wednesday to dismiss a complaint against Jose Manuel Mojica, a 30-year-old Los Angeles resident who was present at one of the first major protests of immigration raids in southern California this month. Mojica, a father of four born in LA, came forward last week to the Guardian, which published footage of his arrest by a group of officers. Continue reading...

Election officials told to give 72 hours' notice before visiting immigration facilities, with some sites completely off limitsThe US Department of Homeland Security is now requiring lawmakers to provide 72 hours of notice before visiting detention centers, according to new guidance.The guidance comes after a slew of tense visits from Democratic lawmakers to detention centers amid Donald Trump's crackdowns in immigrant communities across the country. Many Democratic lawmakers in recent weeks have either been turned away, arrested or manhandled by law enforcement officers at the facilities, leading to public condemnation towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (Ice) handling of such visits. Continue reading...

Emmanuel Mwamba and Fiona Mulaisho respond to an editorial on US aid cuts to Zambia and huge sums taken out of the country by multinationalsYour editorial (The Guardian view on Zambia's Trumpian predicament: US aid cuts are dwarfed by a far bigger heist, 10 January) highlights research by Prof Andrew Fischer, and the exploitation of Zambia's commodity resources via illicit financial schemes. Many Zambians have raised the issue of this looting for years, but have met coordinated resistance. Consequently, Zambia's treasury loses billions of dollars in revenue. These losses are driven by well-known multinationals working in concert with certain insiders closeto the Zambian state.Your editorial also says: The US decision to cut $50m a year in aid to Zambia ... is dreadful, and the reason given, corruption, rings hollow." Alas, I disagree and wish to place this in context. Continue reading...

Messaging request for holiday marking Black emancipation comes as Trump administration wages anti-DEI campaignThe office of the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, requested a passive approach to Juneteenth messaging," according to an exclusive Rolling Stone report citing a Pentagon email.This messaging request for Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free, was transmitted by the Pentagon's office of the chief of public affairs. This office said it was not poised to publish web content related to Juneteenth, Rolling Stone said. Continue reading...

The mayor - a community organizer at the time of the 1992 LA uprising - has won praise for her response to Trump's immigration raids, the latest flashpoint in her termIn the mid-1990s, Karen Bass was in the streets of Los Angeles, protesting alongside Latino activists against new laws that targeted undocumented immigrants and were expected to land more young men of color in prison.These days, Bass is monitoring the status of protests against US immigration agents from a helicopter, as the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Embedded in their communities, educators are becoming the biggest advocates and resource distributors for studentsOne morning earlier this month, Melanie woke up to the news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) had detained more than 40 migrant workers at a garment factory, as part of a series of raids across Los Angeles. Her high school, located downtown, is not too far away from where the arrests took place. She didn't want to go to school - but still drove there to complete her final exams.

Candlelight vigil honoring Melissa Hortman and husband at state capitol was attended by Tim Walz and couple's sonHundreds gathered at the Minnesota capitol on Wednesday night to honor the state Democratic representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, who were killed at their home on Saturday night in what authorities have described as a political assassination".Some mourners reportedly brought flowers to place in front of this memorial, while others held candles. Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, grew teary at the vigil, and consoled attenders, as a brass band from the Minnesota Orchestra performed, according to the Associated Press. Continue reading...

Five months after the president closed the border, many who planned to enter US legally don't know where to turnDonald Trump's crackdown on immigration upended lives on inauguration day when he abruptly closed the border for many who were just on the Mexican side of the border planning to cross into the US legally. Five months on, some hold on to hope, others are giving up.A family from El Salvador seeking asylum was left stranded at the border within sight of Texas only three days into the second Trump administration. A grandfather, his daughter, his niece, her husband and two of his grandchildren had done things the right way", by requesting one of the highly limited appointments with US Border Patrol, from the Mexican side using the Biden-era mobile phone app called CBPOne. But on January 20, Trump signed an executive order cancelling all scheduled appointments, including theirs on 23 January at noon. Continue reading...

Witch trials, Radio Free Europe and Green Day were all fair game for middle- and high-school competitors, who got their hands dirty for the sake of learning a full history -thorns and allIt only took 10 minutes for the trio of eighth-grade girls to recount the life story of Carol Ruckdeschel, the alligator-wrestling environmental activist sometimes called the Jane Goodall of sea turtles".Inside the student union at the University of Maryland, about a 20-minute drive from Washington DC, and armed with papier-mache reptiles, they embarked on a performance that included a litany of costume changes and a pony-tailed rendition of the late president Jimmy Carter, an ally of the 83-year-old Ruckdeschel's work. Continue reading...

Food poisoning outbreak has killed three and resulted in one pregnancy loss across 13 states over past yearA listeria food poisoning outbreak that has killed three people and led to one pregnancy loss is linked to newly recalled heat-and-eat chicken fettuccine Alfredo products sold at Kroger and Walmart stores, federal health officials said late on Tuesday.The outbreak, which includes at least 17 people in 13 states, began last July, officials said. At least 16 people have been hospitalized.32.8oz trays of Marketside Grilled Chicken Alfredo with Fettuccine Tender Pasta with Creamy Alfredo Sauce, White Meat Chicken and Shaved Parmesan Cheese with best-by dates of 27 June or earlier.12.3oz trays of Marketside Grilled Chicken Alfredo with Fettuccine Tender Pasta with Creamy Alfredo Sauce, White Meat Chicken, Broccoli and Shaved Parmesan Cheese with best-by dates of 26 June or earlier.12.5oz trays of Home Chef Heat & Eat Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with Pasta, Grilled White Meat Chicken and Parmesan Cheese, with best-by dates of 19 June or earlier. Continue reading...

With World Cup 2026 on the horizon, the team has been reluctant to weigh in publicly as one of their pillars is politicizedLos Angeles will be in the spotlight during the 2026 World Cup. It's where the US men's national team will begin their World Cup campaign, and it's where they'll wrap up the group stage. It's a city in the news lately due to the Trump administration's deployment of Ice and the national guard, but it's also a metro area synonymous with diversity. This US men's national team, more than ever, reflects that diversity.It's not that there's a record or anything of how many minorities have been on the national team before, but I feel like this has been the most diverse generation of national team," said center back Chris Richards, who is poised to be a leader along the backline for the US next year. Continue reading...

Mike Lee knows better than to turn tragedy into disinformation. But outrageousness has become the name of the gameNational tragedy used to bring national unity. If only momentarily, partisanship was put aside, and people of all political persuasions came together.No more. The nation received a startling reminder of that sad fact on Sunday when Republican senator Mike Lee went online to share his reaction to the weekend's horrible shooting of two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses.Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell professor of jurisprudence and political science at Amherst College, is the author or editor of more than 100 books, including Gruesome Spectacles: Botched Executions and America's Death Penalty Continue reading...

Antwon Wilson was with his two children at a Fort Lauderdale beach when he saw them in distress in the waterA Florida dad has lost his life after helping save his daughter from drowning in the ocean on Father's Day.That was the tragic story coming out of Fort Lauderdale on Sunday, when 33-year-old Antwon Wilson died while his daughter and another adult were hospitalized, according to authorities. Continue reading...

Brad Lander was manhandled and marched out of the courthouse after trying to shield a man from arrest - but, he tells the Guardian, he's not backing downAs New York city comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was hauled away by masked Ice agents on Tuesday, all he could think about was whether there was anything more he could do for the man he was trying to help, an immigrant New Yorker named Edgardo.Both men ended up detained, but unlike Edgardo's, Lander's ordeal was over after a few hours. By the time New York governor Katy Hochul marched him out of the courthouse - after proclaiming, of his arrest: This is bullshit" - videos and photos of the officers manhandling him had gone viral. The arrest of yet another elected official prompted widespread condemnation of another sign of the US's steady slide into authoritarianism. A host of New York politicians, along with a swelling crowd of angry New Yorkers, awaited Lander outside the courthouse in downtown Manhattan. (Andrew Cuomo, the former governor and mayoral race frontrunner, was a notable absence, though he did condemn the arrest.) Continue reading...

Friends and family of Moises Sotelo disappointed and disgusted' after respected industry fixture detained outside churchIn the early morning hours of 12 June, Moises Sotelo woke up to go to work in the rolling hills of Oregon's Willamette Valley wine country, a place he has called home for decades.But this morning was not business as usual. A car tailed Sotelo as soon as he left his driveway, according to an account from his coworker. Trucks surrounded him just outside of St Michael's Episcopal church, where he was detained by federal immigration agents. By the end of the day, Sotelo was in an Ice detention facility. Continue reading...

Efficiency' cuts across offices have left teams understaffed, firefighters underpaid and uninsured, and without adequate equipmentSummer temperatures are rising and the US is bracing for another hot, dry and hectic wildfire season. But with the promise of extreme conditions in the months to come, federal fire crews are also growing concerned that a series of changes brought on by the Trump administration have left them underprepared.Severe cuts to budgets and staff have hamstrung the agencies that manage roughly 640m acres of the nation's public lands, leaving significant gaps in a workforce that supports wildfire mitigation and suppression. The administration's crackdown on climate science and the dismantling of departments that provided world-class research and weather forecasting, may also undermine early warning systems, slowing response and strategic planning. Continue reading...

Experts say free speech under attack in ways not seen since Nixon - and critics of president's agenda are being targetedA cornerstone of the Maga movement during the Biden administration was to accuse a mixture of the so-called woke left" and the justice department of forcing America into the grips of a free speech crisis.Common complaints were that nobody can say anything any more" without being canceled or arrested for extremism. In the same breath, Maga broadly described the January 6 insurrection, which killed a police officer, as peaceful, accusing the Democrats of a communist conspiracy. Continue reading...

Depending on who you ask, between four and six million people showed up - and according to one theory, this could be a turning pointThe scale of last weekend's No Kings" protests is now becoming clearer, with one estimate suggesting that Saturday was among the biggest ever single-day protests in US history.Working out exactly where the protest ranks compared to similar recent events has been a project of G Elliott Morris, a data journalist who runs the Substack Strength in Numbers, calculated turnout between four million and six million, which would be 1.2-1.8% of the US population. This could exceed the previous record in recent history, when between 3.3 million and 5.6 million people showed up at the 2017 Women's March to rally against Trump's misogynistic rhetoric. Continue reading...

Israeli defence minister acknowledges goal of war is to attack symbols of the regime'. Plus, only two years left to meet 1.5C warming targetGood morning.Israel's defence minister has said he ordered increased attacks on government targets in Iran to undermine the regime", while an Iranian missile evaded Israeli air defences to hit a hospital in the country's south.How is Israel's military strategy shifting? When Israel launched its first strikes, Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered a strategic operation targeting Iran's nuclear programme, although the Israeli prime minister has made no secret of his hopes that the government in Tehran would fall. After the initial focus on military and nuclear sites, Israel recently attacked targets with no links to the nuclear project, but which Katz described as symbols of the regime", including the state broadcaster.What is the latest on the conflict? Israel attacked Iran's Arak heavy-water reactor early on Thursday, Iranian state television reported. In Israel, Soroka hospital in Beersheba was hit by a ballistic missile, Israeli officials said, after Iran launched its latest wave of retaliatory airstrikes. Read our live blog here. Continue reading...