by Presented by Lucy Hough with Julian Borger ; produ on (#74S4Y)
Donald Trump says the US will bomb Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran fails to meet his latest deadline to reopen the strait of Hormuz. The US president says he is not at all' concerned that such attacks on civilian infrastructure could amount to war crimes and a whole civilisation will die tonight' if Iran doesn't agree to a deal.But will Trump follow through on the threat? And what could it mean for the war in the Middle East? Lucy Hough is joined by senior international correspondent Julian Borger Continue reading...
Upgrade to Brent Spence Bridge linking Kentucky and Ohio clouded by concerns about cost overruns, pollution and housingConnecting manufacturers in the industrial north to booming southern cities in Georgia and beyond in the south, the Brent Spence Bridge that spans the Ohio River is a debacle to all who know it.Built and designed in the early 1960s to accommodate a maximum of 85,000 vehicles a day, today twice as many cars and trucks traverse it along the Interstate-75, a 1,785-mile (2,873km) route that stretches from the border with Canada in the north to the Florida Keys. Its narrow lanes, curved approaches and absence of emergency access lanes meant that, following frequent accidents, drivers could find themselves stuck for hours. Continue reading...
The US constitution should make it possible to remove a president who's not fit for office. But we're going to need another way outFor the past few months, I have been waging a cold war with a neighbour who constantly puts out their rubbish on the wrong day. And by cold war" I mean complaining incessantly to my longsuffering wife while the neighbour goes about their business blissfully unaware that we are mortal enemies. But enough is enough. Last week I decided to end this situation via a strongly worded letter. Tuesday will be Explosions Day in your house, neighbour!" I wrote. There will be nothing like it!!! Put out your Fuckin' Rubbish properly, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah."I am sorry to drag Allah into this obviously imaginary exchange, but I'm just channelling the US president. I'm sure you've already seen Donald Trump's profanity-laden Easter Sunday warning to Iran, where he threatened to carry out the mass bombing of civilian infrastructure - but if you haven't, then go read it and weep. The days where Trump's outbursts were amusing (remember covfefe"?) are long gone. There is nothing funny about endless stream-of-consciousness screeds from a seemingly unwell man who is not just destroying the US, but dragging the whole world down with it. If a civilian acted like the president routinely does, they'd find themselves fired or institutionalised very quickly. Continue reading...
City released video of January shooting after charges against two Venezuelan men involved were droppedThe city of Minneapolis released a video on Monday that undermined the initial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) account of a shooting involving an agency officer and two Venezuelan men in January.The video, from a city-owned security camera, captured federal officers chasing one of the men to his residence. Another Venezuelan man who lives there was shot during the confrontation, which eventually led to the suspensions of two federal officers involved in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota, the so-called Operation Metro Surge. Continue reading...
Lawmakers led by Elizabeth Warren in scathing letter say system used to track detainees increasingly unreliable'A group of 36 lawmakers says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has created disappearances" on US soil, due to the increasingly unreliable" online system used to track people detained by immigration authorities, according to a letter shared with the Guardian.The lawmakers, led by Senators Elizabeth Warren, are urging that the DHS inspector general's office open an investigation into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) online detainee locator system" (ODLS), which has been used for years by family members, attorneys and journalists to track people in the federal immigration detention system. Continue reading...
The Trump library' and an attack on the Presidential Records Act have more in common than it might seemLast week, the Trump administration proudly published two pieces of news which, at first sight, could not be more different: one a dry 52-page legal opinion from the justice department declaring the 1978 Presidential Records Act unconstitutional; the other an AI-generated clip of Trump's planned presidential library", a waterfront skyscraper in Miami. Both sent the same message, though: the legal opinion - authored by a jurist heavily involved in attempts to overturn the 2020 election - leaves Trump free to destroy evidence of wrongdoing; the building envisaged for Biscayne Bay appears to be less of a library than a hotel complex. As the president reassured anyone suspecting that he might fill a glitzy edifice with boring papers and books: I don't believe in building libraries or museums." These are clear signals about wanting to avoid accountability; it is not too early to devise strategies to counter politically motivated amnesia.In what jurists widely saw as an opinion of breathtakingly bad faith, T Elliot Gaiser, the Ohio-based election denier and a former clerk of Samuel Alito, asserted that Congress had no right to ask the president to preserve records; the imperative to create and keep documents served no legislative purpose" and could impede" the day-to-day performance" of the head of the executive. The act had been crafted in the wake of the misdeeds of Richard Nixon, who had wanted discretion over which of his tapes and papers to destroy; in response, Congress first passed the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act in 1974, making the government take custody of Nixon's materials. Nixon sued; the supreme court rejected the view that the separation of powers had been violated; the justices also took the occasion to affirm the importance of the American people's ability to reconstruct and come to terms with their history". Congress then passed the more general Presidential Records Act, which no one up until Trump appeared to have experienced as remotely burdensome.Jan-Werner Muller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University Continue reading...
Liberals see chance to strengthen majority in state where Trump and allies could try to overturn election resultsWisconsin voters on Tuesday will select a state supreme court judge to replace an outgoing conservative in a race that could further solidify the liberal majority on the bench ahead of the midterms, when Trump and his allies could try to overturn election results again.Justice Rebecca Bradley, a conservative, is retiring, giving liberals a chance to further consolidate their hold on the high court ahead of the next presidential election, when the swing state is sure to see challenges to election results. Continue reading...
The astronauts of Artemis II flew further from Earth than any human beings before them, breaking Apollo 13's distance record at 1.57pm ET on Monday.Across a six-hour flyby, on the sixth day of a lunar mission that has reinvigorated Nasa's space exploration programme, the crew of the Orion spacecraft captured views of the moon's far side that have never been seen before
No phones, no littering, no cheering bad shots - patrons' face strict rules at Augusta, but what a contrast to last year's disgraceful Ryder CupIt is easy to poke fun at the prissy traditions of the Masters. Golfers, never mind spectators, enter a state of panic over what horrible fate may befall them should they break the rules inside Augusta National. It is preposterous in so many ways; adults consumed by fear over missteps at a golf tournament. People do not typically feel this way inside the Sistine Chapel.This year, there are reasons to be grateful for Augusta's unapologetic approach. The Masters provides a welcome break from the ear-bashing noise of the modern world. The United States is an especially fractious place. This major also offers a timely escape from the racket within golf itself. Brief serenity should be appreciated. Continue reading...
Some candidates are making public health a central part of their midterm campaigns amid Trump's war on scienceAs public health has become increasingly politicized in the US, with a particularly chaotic year under the Trump administration, some political candidates are pushing back by making public health a central part of their campaigns - and the grassroots organization Defend Public Health has ideas about how to do it.On Monday, the group launched guiding principles for campaigns to prioritize public health, called the People's Health Platform, highlighting the importance of ensuring healthcare for all, protecting and expanding sexual, reproductive, and gender-affirming healthcare, preparing for the climate crisis and the next pandemic, and taxing billionaires, among other tenets. Continue reading...
The president has boasted about cutting prices of drugs, housing, food and gasoline. It's grossly exaggerated nonsenseIn recent months, Donald Trump has made some absurd comments about inflation, saying the affordability crisis is a hoax" and I won affordability," a clumsy, questionable claim meaning that he somehow conquered inflation. Trump recognizes that affordability is a huge issue, and with his war against Iran proving to be a big political loser, he seems eager to score some political points by telling Americans that he's moving boldly to cut living costs. But as with everything Trump says, people shouldn't be tricked by his slick salesmanship.Trump has boasted about cutting prescription drug prices, housing prices, food prices and gasoline prices. All that might be great public relations for Trump, but it's grossly exaggerated nonsense. Trump's much-ballyhooed efforts to fight inflation are essentially diddlysquat. Many of them are mini efforts that have had mini effects in reducing prices. They're as meaningful as a degree from Trump University.Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labour and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues Continue reading...
Tennessee leads way but experts say offender registry could provide a false sense of security - and identify victimsWhen Amanda Martin started dating Christopher Cendroski, whose family has described him as big-hearted", she had no idea he had been arrested for domestic assault. Had she known, she said she never would become involved with him.A few months into their relationship, which began in 2011, Cendroski started beating Martin, and in May 2012, he nearly choked her to death, she said. Police arrested Cendroski and helped both Martin and her children get to a shelter. Continue reading...
Kaija Saariaho's Innocence delves into guilt, grief and anger over a phenomenon largely thought of as distinctly AmericanGun violence, particularly the high-profile incidents that take place on school campuses, are often seen as a uniquely American phenomenon, one that exemplifies the nation's deep history and complicated relationship with guns.But an opera set around a mass shooting at a Finnish international school 10 years ago approaches this topic through a global lens. Innocence, which opens at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Monday, is performed in nine different languages including English, Swedish and Spanish, and delves into themes like guilt, grief, anger and how time doesn't always heal the damage done by violence. Continue reading...
Mayor's decision to appeal court order that the city must expand its housing voucher program has angered advocates for the homelessNew York City mayor Zohran Mamdani's decision to appeal a court order that the city must expand its housing voucher program, despite his campaign pledge to implement it, has angered advocates for the homeless population.Mamdani, who must figure out how to close a $5.4bn budget deficit, explained his decision by citing the cost of the City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) program, which helps people staying in shelters or at risk of homelessness find permanent housing. Continue reading...
Market volatility caused by Middle East conflict exposes energy traders to heavy losses and rumours of insider trading at the highest levelOn the weekend that US-Israeli drones first began to rain down on Tehran, energy traders across the world's major financial centres began to redraw their strategies.When they returned to their trading desks on that March Monday morning, they found oil and gas prices spiking amid a market nightmare made real: the unprecedented shutdown of the vital trade route through the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...
An emergency motion argues that the pause on construction leaves the White House open and exposed'. Key US politics stories from Saturday 4 April at a glanceA judge's order to stop construction work on the White House ballroom poses security risks, the Trump administration argued in an emergency motion that seeks to set aside the ruling.The emergency motion argues that US district judge Richard Leon's decision has left the executive mansion open and exposed" and is threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the President and his family, and the President's staff". Continue reading...
Crimson, seen alone in Santa Monica mountains for days, gets care in Oakland zoo after mother nowhere to be foundIt was an unusual scene. A lion cub alone for days in southern California's sprawling Santa Monica mountains, emitting a noise that sounded like a cross between a purr and a light squeal, perhaps calling out for his mother.Where was his mother? Continue reading...
US National Park Service lawyers cite materials that will be installed to make heavily fortified' facilityDonald Trump's administration is arguing that a judge's order to halt construction of a $400m White House ballroom creates a security risk for the US president as his team asks a federal appeals court to pause the ruling.In a motion filed on Friday, US National Park Service (NPS) lawyers say that the federal judge's order to suspend construction of the new facility is threatening grave national-security harms to the White House, the president and his family, and the president's staff". Continue reading...
Springs fire, which had spread quickly by windy conditions, at least 45% contained on Saturday, say fire officialsCalifornia fire protection crews on Saturday were getting a handle on the wildfire that broke out the previous evening in Riverside county, fanned by high winds that quickly spread the flames to more than 4,100 acres.The Springs fire, about 64 miles (103km) east of Los Angeles, was at least 45% contained on Saturday, a fire department spokesperson said. It was 25% contained late on Friday evening. Continue reading...
Trump ordered data collection after raising concern about race being used as factor in college admissionsA federal judge on Friday halted efforts by the Trump administration to collect data that proves higher education institutions aren't considering race in admissions.The ruling from the US district court judge F Dennis Saylor IV in Boston granting the preliminary injunction follows a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general. It will only apply to public universities in plaintiffs' states. Continue reading...
Carasses wash ashore Guemes Island in creepy mystery', with authorities saying canines appear to be the same sizeOfficials are investigating after nearly two dozen dead canines washed ashore on a Washington state island, in what one local has compared to the start of a horror movie".The Skagit county sheriff's office said 21 canines had been found on the shoreline of Guemes Island, about 80 miles north of Seattle, between 26 March and Friday. Continue reading...
State department said niece and grandniece of Qassem Soleimani, killed in 2020 US drone strike, celebrated attacks against US soldiersUS federal agents have arrested the niece and grandniece of the late Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani after the Trump administration's top diplomat, Marco Rubio, revoked their lawful permanent resident status, officials said on Saturday.Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her daughter are now in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement," or ICE, the state department said in a statement. Continue reading...
by Associated Press and Guardian staff on (#74QCQ)
Matthew Rodriguez, 18, was apprehended in Pennsylvania in connection to shooting that killed Kaori Patterson-MooreA second suspect in the stray-bullet killing of a seven-month-old baby on a Brooklyn street was arrested on Friday, investigators said, two days after a shooting the New York police department (NYPD) commissioner called a tragedy that truly shocks the conscience".Matthew Rodriguez, 18, was apprehended in Pennsylvania by NYPD detectives working with US marshals, according to authorities. Continue reading...
As voters head to polls, Washington support and alleged interference from Moscow raise questions about influenceThe official announcement that JD Vance was to visit, days before Hungarians cast their ballots in a hotly contested election, was greeted by Budapest with no less than four exclamation marks and three emojis.!!Official!!" Viktor Orban's political director, Balazs Orban, wrote on social media as he confirmed the news. The White House said Vance, along with his wife Usha, will land in Hungary on Tuesday, in what is widely seen as an attempt to bolster Orban as he trails in the polls. Continue reading...
Alan Hayward James, who called himself Al Capone', admitted to rigging bids for IT contracts with PentagonA former US air force master sergeant who nicknamed himself Al Capone" has pleaded guilty to defrauding the military branch out of $37m by inflating the cost of IT contracts - and giving some of the extra money to an individual he called Godfather".Alan Hayward James, from Texas, ran a nine-year scam, beginning in April 2016, which also saw him funnel excess funds to himself, his family and his co-conspirators. Continue reading...
The former Little House on the Prairie star said husband was last person in world who would hurt a child'Melissa Gilbert has staunchly defended her husband and fellow actor Timothy Busfield in her first interview since New Mexico prosecutors charged him with child sexual abuse in early February.In part of a conversation scheduled to be broadcast on Monday on Good Morning America but circulated in advance as a preview, Gilbert told ABC host George Stephanopoulos that she believed the Emmy winner whom she married in 2013 to be the last person in the world who would hurt a child". Continue reading...
As Trump's administration aims to bring warrior culture' back to the military, young service members express anxiety and snark online over potential deploymentIf posts coming from the White House were to be believed, the US-Israel war on Iran looks something like scenes from Top Gun, Braveheart and Deadpool - or how a fifth-grade boy might imagine combat. The Trump administration has also presented Operation Epic Fury as a video game, borrowing gen Z parlance to describe the US armed forces as locked in" on the conflict.Such macho posturing squares with secretary of defense Pete Hegseth's desire to bring warrior culture" back to the military. The former Fox News host has railed against DEI, fat troops" and beardos" (troops with beards), and envisioned a military full of the right people" who fit his imposed standards of virility and masculinity. Continue reading...
Jesse Watters gave a litany of reasons why women shouldn't lead before denying he agreed. But peddling these ideas normalizes themOh dear, it looks like Jesse Watters' mother needs to give him a good talking to again. The Fox News host regularly spouts so much deliberately provocative nonsense that his mum, a liberal, has called into his show to ask him to use his voice responsibly". Instead of listening to her, however, he's told his audience of millions that men shouldn't eat soup in public because it's effeminate, shared his creepy fantasies about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's sex life, and urged America to bomb or maybe gas" the United Nations headquarters. This week, as Donald Trump (a man) presides over a disastrous, immoral, and unpopular war, Watters has been busy informing the world that women just aren't cut out to be president.What prompted this latest rant? The usual pathological desire to be noticed, I presume. And also a recent MS NOW interview with Nancy Pelosi, in which the former speaker of the House, 86, said a female US president is inevitable, but likely won't happen in her lifetime.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnistThe assault on freedom with Mehdi Hasan and Arwa Mahdawi
by Laure Boulinier, Sofia Couceiro and Boglarka Koszt on (#74Q9W)
The US president seems to have turned his attention to Cuba in recent weeks, saying that it was 'next'. Officials from both countries have reportedly been in negotiations since February however the content of the discussions remains unclear. The Guardian spoke with professor emeritus of international relations Dr Philip Brenner about what the US might really want with the Island Continue reading...
Indigenous doulas are creating support networks for mothers who are at the highest risk of pregnancy-related deathMary Sherbick found out she was pregnant at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Although she and her partner had planned it, the pandemic was anxiety-inducing and isolating. While scrolling on social media, she came across online talking circles for Alaska Native women, organized by Alaska Native Birthworkers Community (ANBC), who were pregnant or postpartum. Sherbick, who is Yupik, immediately signed up.A lot of us were also just concerned about the way that we would be treated, and some of our concerns of pain or our birth plans within a hospital setting," Sherbick said. I think a lot of the women that I talked to just were aware of the history of how Indigenous women, Indigenous people in general, have been treated, and the sterilization programs that have been done unknowingly to Indigenous people." Continue reading...
The president's son-in-law is acting as an envoy even as he looks to secure billions for his company from foreign governmentsAfter Donald Trump returned to the White House, his son-in-law and former senior adviser Jared Kushner declined to take a job in the new administration and instead planned to focus on running his Miami-based private equity firm. Kushner said he would also forgo raising more money for his company while Trump was in office, to avoid any appearance of a conflict.But since last summer, Kushner has re-emerged as a high-level peace envoy for Trump, helping broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza; steering negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine; and, most recently, playing a central role in the aborted negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran's nuclear program. Kushner still doesn't hold an official government position - he's a private citizen who has been negotiating some of the most important foreign policy agreements on behalf of the Trump administration, with a direct line to the president. Continue reading...
If the Eagles are to make a mark on their home World Cup in 2031, the hard-hitting Anthem RC lock could have a key role to playWill Sherman may be the future of US rugby, but his roots are in the game's American past. The 22-year-old standout second-row forward for Anthem Rugby Carolina in Major League Rugby is the son of Wade Sherman, a member of a champion Cal Berkeley team that included Mark Bingham, who on 11 September 2001 was one of the Flight 93 passengers who fought their hijackers and kept it from reaching Washington.There was a super old photo that my dad pulled up, and the first time I heard that story was from him," Sherman said. He was like, That guy standing to my left is an American hero.'" Continue reading...
In the fifth week of the war, Trump continues contradicting himself on its objectives and how Americans are affectedWhen Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury alongside Israel on 28 February, his administration had settled on a set of stated, and broad, objectives: destroy Iran's missiles, eliminate its navy, prevent a nuclear weapon.Over a month later those objectives have multiplied, contracted and contradicted each other. Continue reading...
The Trump administration takes pleasure in deploying dysphemism to describe the killing of IraniansOn 23 March, Donald Trump said that if things didn't go to his liking in Iran, we just keep bombing our little hearts out". A week later the US president told journalists on Air Force One: You never know with Iran because we negotiate with them and then we always have to blow them up."On 4 March, Pete Hegseth squirmed in pleasure as he described death and destruction from the sky all day long". Whatever happened to the subtle art of political euphemism? Continue reading...
The brutalisation of global norms by figures like Pete Hegseth must be seen as an ethical issue. It's a fight against chaos, and all major religions must play a roleThat combative old hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, is not much heard these days, though it was once a favourite with church congregations and school assemblies. Written in 1865 by Sabine Baring-Gould, an English clergyman and religious scholar, its belligerent refrain urges the faithful on to battle, victory and conquest: Onward, Christian soldiers / Marching as to war / With the cross of Jesus / Going on before!" Its martial tone suited the Victorian zeitgeist but it made succeeding generations uneasy (though it was still sung in my primary school in the early 1960s). Nowadays, this sort of triumphalism gives religion a bad name.Pete Hegseth, US defence secretary, and a leading Christian soldier, would certainly disagree. He probably hums it on his way to work. At a recent Christian worship service in the Pentagon - an irregular event, given the constitution's dislike of anything smacking of state religion - Hegseth, referencing Iran, prayed for overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy". Hegseth's creed is killing. He describes Iranians as religious fanatics". And he should know. His intolerant brand of evangelical Christian nationalism is extreme even by US standards - yet has Donald Trump's backing. Trump was a Presbyterian until 2020, when he abruptly declared he wasn't. God knows what he is now.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...
