New ad features audio from Trump's declaration of war and Pete Hegseth saying if you kill Americans ... we will kill you'The latest in a series of pro-Trump television ads aired using taxpayer funds in the run-up to the the midterm elections is a one-minute spot that celebrates Donald Trump's decision to go to war with Iran.The ad aired during a commercial break on Fox News on Wednesday night, according video posted online by MeidasTouch, a leftwing outlet. Continue reading...
These men's actions aren't just morally loathsome; they're politically stupid. Social science may explain the phenomenonIsrael's supporters keep proving its detractors right. Over the last couple of years, Americans from across the ideological spectrum - from Bernie Sanders to Tucker Carlson - have grown increasingly enraged by the way pro-Israel billionaires restrict Americans' free speech. So, last month, along comes the New York England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, allegedly in tandem with other stadium owners, and pushes Ed Sheeran to drop Macklemore from his US tour because the rapper uttered Free Palestine" on stage. It's hard to imagine anything more likely to intensify fury towards the Aipac class.Then Benjamin Netanyahu does something equally self-defeating. Since 2018, Israel's favorability rating among Americans has dropped by an astonishing 67 points. A plurality of Democrats with views on the subject consider Israel to be a state with segregation similar to apartheid" rather than a democracy. Yet faced with an American public that increasingly rejects Israel's self-presentation as a bastion of freedom, Benjamin Netanyahu's party has pushed to ban Arab parties, undercutting claims about Israel being a democracy for its Palestinian citizens. He's undermining his own hasbara. Continue reading...
President's outlandish and extensive conspiracy theories endanger US freedoms, health and science, experts saySince the start of his second presidency, Donald Trump has often launched outlandish conspiratorial attacks on critics and foes that mock them and label their views as hoaxes, prompting scholars and legal experts to say Trump's attacks endanger US freedoms, public health and science.Trump's extensive use of conspiracy theories is the hallmark of an authoritarian leader that has weakened trust in the coming midterm elections, dangerously ignored scientific evidence, and often pushed for prosecutions of his political enemies in ways that seriously erode civil liberties, say critics. Continue reading...
ICE-watchers get creative after the killing of Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, as Trump's immigration crackdown takes a more secretive approachMost of the time, the scene outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the small, coastal town of Scarborough, Maine, could be confused for a nature watch in Vacationland", the slogan on state license plates.People sitting in lawn chairs under a tent. Birds chirping. The sound of the breeze moving through the trees. Continue reading...
World Cup setbacks have renewed concern over America's costly, fragmented youth system. The real test is whether the urgency survives the next news cycleA few years ago, the idea that the US soccer community at large was neglecting youth soccer was met with silence or ridicule.At a May 2022 conference call announcing a new collective bargaining agreement that effectively ended the equal pay" saga, players were asked how they would build bridges with grassroots organizers who, in a fit of anger over perceived slights, nearly restored Carlos Cordeiro to US Soccer's presidency not long after he resigned under heavy pressure. They could have offered any vague platitudes about how they valued youth and amateur soccer. They fell silent. Continue reading...
The risks of AI aren't what we think they are, as a recent security incident between China and the United States revealsAmid a barrage of news stories warning about superintelligent machines rendering humanity extinct, a CNN story describing the opposite scenario - one in which the US military's reliance on brittle chatbots almost brought the US into war with China - went mostly unnoticed by the public.The biggest international AI news of the past three weeks was Anthropic engineer Jacob Coxon's resignation. According to him, OpenAI and Anthropic are racing straight towards self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives". Coxon's description of a terminator" scenario, a machine becoming much smarter than humanity and deciding to wipe us out, captured the public, journalists' and politicians' attention, stirring waves of fear-inducing, credulous reporting, and policy actions.Timnit Gebru is executive director of Dair and author of the forthcoming book Deep Unlearning: The Radicalization of a Tech Idealist, which is available for preorders now and set to publish on 16 February.Emily M Bender is professor of linguistics at the University of Washington and co-author of The AI Con. Continue reading...
It's still early in the 2026 season but a number of teams and players have found unexpected levels of success in the last few weeksLast season ended with a Super Bowl in which neither team - the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots - had been expected to participate. Before that, we had a 44-year-old grandfather returning from a four-season layoff to give the Indianapolis Colts unexpected cheer in an otherwise miserable season, while the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars rebounded from bad 2024 seasons to win their divisions.It's early to state which surprises will be the most fun to recall this time around, but here are four to watch as things progress. Continue reading...
Ukraine, Iran, Palestine and Sudan: it has so many problems to confront and fails to do so. Seen up close, it is a study in stasis and declineUN general assembly meetings are not usually riveting occasions. But this year's encapsulated a world in flux and crisis, an international law and organisation structure that is falling apart, and a humanitarian order machine running hot. What unfolded was less a gathering for resolution and resolve than a display of showboating, frustration and fractiousness.It was a snapshot for the history books of four huge destabilising conflicts for which there seems to be no means of, or interest in, resolution - Ukraine, Iran, Palestine and Sudan. Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an account of five years of Russian aggression: the staggering loss of life - hundreds of thousands killed on both sides - the porousness of the sanctions on Russia, the madness" of it all. Donald Trump once again threatened to annihilate" Iran if it did not make a deal, a promise that has now been made so many times its restating only reveals its hollowness. Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, responded in his own speech by saying that Iran has been the victim of US terrorism and aggression, and would defend itself with the utmost strength". The sole US delegation representative in the room walked out.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The candidates running to replace Gavin Newsom sparred over taxes, immigration and regulating AIXavier Becerra and Steve Hilton, the candidates running to be California's next governor, clashed Wednesday over taxes, immigration and regulating artificial intelligence in a testy debate held days before voters begin receiving their ballots in the heavily Democratic state.Hilton, the former Fox News host endorsed by Donald Trump, used the hourlong matchup, hosted by CNN, to argue that Becerra, a former congressman who served as health and human services secretary during the Biden administration, was not actively campaigning and instead taking voters for granted. Continue reading...
Suspect Benny Caldera Jr held on bond as officials say they received credible' information about Austin threatA 40-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of plotting to attack the Texas state capitol, authorities said.The Texas department of public safety said in a statement that it received credible information about an individual planning a violent attack" for Thursday in Austin. Continue reading...
Officials investigating missing persons case find bodies in remote area of Lancaster, north of Los AngelesLaw enforcement officials are looking for additional victims after two bodies were found on Tuesday in a remote area of Lancaster, California, a small city about 70 miles north of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reports.Authorities found the bodies in a shallow grave while they were investigating a missing persons case, according to KTLA. Outside of the sheriff's department investigating the discovery of the remains as a homicide, little is known about the two people who were found in the shallow grave. Continue reading...
Noem cites irreconcilable differences in filing that comes after husband Bryon Noem involved in tabloid scandalKristi Noem, who was fired by Donald Trump after a rumbustious stint as homeland security secretary, is divorcing her husband, Bryon Noem, after 34 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences".The divorce claim for settlement purposes only" was disclosed in court records filed in Hamlin county, South Dakota, the state of which Noem was previously governor. Continue reading...
Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang, both 77, charged days before Jonathan McKinsey and wife were set for hearing in divorce caseA couple in their 70s was charged with murder on Wednesday after allegedly gunning down their son-in-law at a bustling California park.Authorities allege Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, took turns firing at Jonathan McKinsey, who was in the middle of an acrimonious divorce from their daughter, Candice Jang. Continue reading...
A year after his explosive tenure at Doge, the SpaceX CEO is back in the Trump administration's good gracesPete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that Elon Musk will co-lead a government project to study the future of warfare, marking the SpaceX CEO's first return to government since he ran the chaotic, so-called department of government efficiency", or Doge. Musk will be joined by Palmer Luckey, CEO of the defense tech company Anduril, and Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House.A defense department press release on the effort, called Project Meridian, described its goal as identifying the capabilities required to achieve absolute technological dominance on the next-generation battlefield". The project will run for 120 days and culminate in an unclassified public report of its recommendations. Continue reading...
No one was injured at Children's World Early Learning Center and parents will appear in court, police saidThe parents of a Detroit-area toddler who pulled a loaded pistol out of his backpack at a daycare will face charges in the case, police said on Wednesday.In a statement, police in Canton Township said the parents would make an initial court appearance on Thursday. The Wayne county prosecutor's office declined to offer details or additional comment, saying it would wait until a judge signs off on the charges. Continue reading...
Democrats block measure they say didn't go far enough - and was bundled with poison pill' voter ID rulesThe US Senate on Wednesday blocked a Republican bill restricting stock trading by members of Congress, after Democrats refused to advance a measure they said would let lawmakers keep their portfolios and was bundled with voter ID rules they called a poison pill".The 53-47 vote fell seven short of the 60 needed to open debate on the Stop Insider Trading Act, which the Republican-controlled House passed in July. Every Democrat and independent voted no, and the failure comes five weeks before the 3 November midterms. Continue reading...
Measles outbreak in the state has now reached 39 counties, with 943 confirmed cases and 176 hospitalizationsPennsylvania has reported its fifth measles-associated death of 2026 as the state's ongoing outbreak climbs to 943 confirmed cases across 39 counties.The Pennsylvania department of health said on Wednesday that an unvaccinated Lancaster county resident who tested positive for measles had died. Health officials did not release further information about the individual, citing privacy protections. Continue reading...
Senator Jim Justice of West Virginia criticizes immigration crackdown as ranchers' associations condemn ICE activityA close political ally of Donald Trump has broken from the administration's aggressive immigration enforcement agenda and recommended it step back" to evaluate what it could do better.To get better, the first thing you got to do is admit you're doing something wrong," Jim Justice, a Republican senator of West Virginia, told Politico. And in this situation, with all that's going on and all the stuff, we probably got to step back from it and say: Maybe we're doing something wrong here or there,' and then adjust to that." Continue reading...
Steve Hilton's long-shot campaign for governor is courting Golden state voters with unapologetically populist messageSteve Hilton stands almost no chance of becoming California's next governor, but that isn't stopping him from campaigning as though he was just one step away from pulling off the impossible.The former Downing Street political adviser and Fox News host refuses to be daunted by the rancid political environment for Republican candidates this year, or by opinion polls that tell him he is lagging 20 percentage points or more behind his Democratic rival, Xavier Becerra. Continue reading...
The era of writing blank checks to international bureaucracies is over,' state department spokesperson saysDonald Trump's administration has withdrawn the United States from the Council of Europe's anti-corruption monitoring body, arguing that paying to belong to the multilateral group no longer serves US interests.The US formally notified the Strasbourg-based organization on Monday that it was leaving the Group of States against Corruption, known as Greco - the latest step in a broader effort by the administration to pull back from international bodies it regards as inefficient, overreaching, or out of step with its priorities. Continue reading...
Bear known for sitting in solitude won tournament celebrating the animals' ability to eat large amounts of fishA chunky ursine called Backpack has out gobbled a challenge from an outsized female nicknamed the Dancing Queen to waltz - or rather waddle - off with the Fat Bear Week title at Alaska's Katmai national park.Backpack, a 20-year-old quiet giant known for sitting in solitude for long periods on his rock on the Brooks river, won by barely 5,000 votes in the public tournament celebrating the brown bears' ability to eat as many fish, Alaska rangers announced. Continue reading...
The US tried to forcibly assimilate the Lenape in brutal boarding schools, but a new exhibit proves their modern-day culture is vibrant and aliveDuring the 19th century, the US government funded more than 500 Indian boarding schools" aimed at forcibly assimilating Native American children into western culture. Students were taken from their families, frequently by force, and forced to cut their hair. They were stripped of their original names, and taught to feel shame regarding their heritage and customs. Run like military academies, these institutions required children to wear uniforms and subjected them to severe physical punishment, such as solitary confinement and flogging. Richard Henry Pratt, who established the first of these schools, declared that their explicit purpose was to kill the Indian, save the man".These assimilation practices persisted for decades, during which numerous children endured physical and sexual abuse. At least 1,000 children lost their lives, though the actual casualty count is believed to be significantly higher. The US government issued no formal apology for these atrocities until 2024, when former president Joe Biden described the boarding school system as one of the most horrific chapters in American history". Continue reading...
by Stephen Starr in Dearborn, Michigan on (#78QY4)
Arab communities on both sides of the border grapple with ongoing tensions as US-Canada relations continue to sourIn Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest community of Arab Americans in the US, one industry has risen above all others in recent years: Yemeni cafes.At the forefront is Qahwah House, a powerhouse in the burgeoning Yemeni cafe world with 32 branches open across the country. Three of those are here in Dearborn, with more on the way, and they attract people from near and far. Continue reading...
Trump administration can deport immigrants to countries other than their homeland. Plus, 550lb bear returns to LA neighborhoodGood morning. The supreme court has ruled the Trump administration can resume deporting immigrants to third countries", or countries other than their homeland, without giving them any opportunity to contest their removals.The six-justice conservative majority of the high court temporarily lifted a decision by a lower court that required the administration to provide immigrants sufficient notice and the opportunity to claim fear of torture or persecution in the countries where they were being sent.What has the administration asked the supreme court to rule on about trans prisoners? The administration asked the justices to allow it to deny gender-affirming care to transgender people in federal prisons. The solicitor general, D John Sauer, wrote that gender-reassignment surgeries, hormone therapy and social accommodations such as undergarments, makeup, padding and wigs could no longer be justified."Why is the EPA union suing the administration? The union, which represents more than 8,000 workers at the Environmental Protection Agency, has filed a lawsuit against the EPA and the agency's administrator, Lee Zeldin, alleging it illegally terminated a collective bargaining agreement.Which legal battle has Trump appeared to have conceded? The president has agreed to stop fighting the disbursement of E Jean Carroll's $5m verdict in her 2023 sexual abuse and defamation civil trial against him, a procedural development as the funds had already been distributed to her.What new product has OpenAI announced? Less than 24 hours after OpenAI said it would scrap the launch of a model over safety concerns, the company debuted a whole new suite of artificial intelligence tools, including dots", agents it said were more ambitious" than ChatGPT and a whole new way to work with AI."Why is Greta Garbo making AI headlines? More than a century after her screen debut and decades after she was laid to rest, the actor has been reanimated by AI for a Swedish advert. Peter Bradshaw has given it a damning one-star review. Continue reading...
Wave nearing southern California expected to reach San Francisco Bay Area by October as it crawls toward AlaskaCommunities across California are rushing to prepare for the imminent arrival of the so-called Kelvin wave", a massive underwater band of warm water threatening to inundate swaths of the vast North American shoreline.The wave is nearing southern California and expected to reach the San Francisco Bay Area by early October, as it crawls toward Alaska. Waters could rise by a foot along the California coast, according to scientists, who have warned that this could dramatically double the 8-12in rise in sea levels already caused by climate change over the last century. Continue reading...
After switching tactics, federal agents are detaining and deporting record numbers of people from the USWhen federal agents fatally shot US citizen protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis in January during the nation's largest immigration-enforcement operation ever, it marked a turning point for the second Trump administration's mass deportation campaign.Donald Trump in his second term had sparked outrage and huge protests with federal immigration officers descending en masse to one Democratic-run city after another in what some leaders called militarized invasions". Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, then Minneapolis saw lines of masked and armored officers swaggering into town to conduct street arrests, ambushes of day workers waiting in Home Depot car parks for hire, and neighborhood sweeps. Adults and kids were whisked off to detention and protests met with aggressive deployment of chemical spray, teargas, fists and batons. The killings in Minneapolis were the culmination of what appeared to many to be a federal shock force increasingly out of control while being defended by federal leaders - and public opinion broadly turned against this violence. Continue reading...
Cross-partisan support in Washington on issues like pesticides and food additives pose a threat to the industry's bottom lineSome of the biggest food and agriculture corporations in the US are funding a campaign that pays social media influencers to combat elements of Robert F Kennedy Jr's Make America Healthy Again platform, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project.The ascension of RFK Jr to secretary of health and human services has boosted his putative campaign to end chronic illness in the US, which he believes is primarily caused by processed foods and dyes, exposure to certain chemicals, and poor farming practices, along with an overuse of what he falsely claims are dangerous vaccines. The Maha" movement blends long-running mainstream concerns about food and farm safety with conspiracy theories about everything from medicine to milk. A Maha summit" in Washington this week will feature JD Vance and several members of Trump's cabinet. Continue reading...
The Texas Senate candidate rose to power as a culture warrior. His record is a marriage of hypocrisy and cynicismKen Paxton's political career, more than that of any other Republican candidate campaigning in this cycle, charts the arc of the religious right. The most influential of its activists and donors engineered his rise as a culture warrior at each of its phases from his creation through every disgrace. His race for the Senate, the culmination of his ambition, has become not only his last stand, but also the Alamo for Christian nationalists in Texas.Paxton's rap sheet explains his Christian identity politics as a shield to distract from the liability of his own record of financial and sexual scandals scrolling back decades. The 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton, adopted by the Republican-controlled Texas house of representatives in May 2023, were double the Ten Commandments that Paxton insists should be displayed in every Texas classroom. Continue reading...
White House has labeled ads public service announcements' and has responded defiantly to criticismFederal regulators have been urged to stop the broadcast of White House advertisements promoting Donald Trump that critics say amounts to government propaganda and violate laws against using public money to promote partisan causes.Public Citizen, an advocacy group, called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to intervene and block further airing of three ads it said were designed to boost the image and character of Donald Trump" as part of the Republicans' campaign for November's midterm elections. Continue reading...
Kimya Holmes' police report over a news segment on a real-estate transaction invokes law that no longer existsA New Orleans state court judge filed a police complaint against a local CBS affiliate after it aired a segment scrutinizing a real-estate transaction in which she was involved, with the jurist invoking a section of law that no longer carries criminal penalties, according to the journalist who reported the story.The situation centering on New Orleans criminal court judge Kimya Holmes and investigative reporter David Hammer was only the latest in a series of high-profile matters pitting Louisiana journalists against members of the state's court system. Continue reading...
The quarterback is widely adored on and off the field. Whether he deserves the public spotlight is another questionThroughout the NFL's history, we've had our fair share of clown princes. Not too long ago, Rob Gronkowski was the league's court jester. That history extends back, through Pat McAfee and Chad Ochocinco, past Jared Allen and John Randle to Jim McMahon, Steve McMichael, John Riggins, Alex Karras and Billy White Shoes" Johnson.There's probably something deeply insightful to say about the need for goofballs in a sport characterized by militarized order and a seriousness that borders on self-parody, but what's important now is how we reflect on these chosen merrymakers. Continue reading...
by Presented by Annie Kelly with Louisa Loveluck; pro on (#78QQ9)
A Sierra Leonean nurse detained, handcuffed and flown to Ghana. An Iranian dissident sent to Central African Republic. A Cameroonian deported to Equatorial Guinea.This is the face of the Trump administration's policy since 2025 - striking deals with 35 countries and sending up to 25,000 migrants in the US across the world, often to places they have no connection to at all.The Guardian investigations correspondent Louisa Loveluck - as part of a consortium of journalists organised by Forbidden Stories - uncovers some of the human stories behind these deals.Today in Focus host Annie Kelly asks whether this is even legal and what happens to people once they are banished.What is Trump's third-country deportation policy and whom does it target?Banished to alien lands: Trump's secret deportation deals Continue reading...
Group of officers known as riders' in 2000s prompted longest arrangement of its kind in US historyAfter 23 years, a district judge has released the Oakland police department (OPD) from federal oversight, marking the end of the longest arrangement of this kind in US history.In the early 2000s, a group of police officers known as the riders" were exposed for offenses like planting evidence, falsifying reports and using excessive force against primarily young Black men. These actions led victims to file more than 100 civil lawsuits against the department. In 2003, as a part of the settlement of these cases, OPD was put on a federal court-ordered reform program. Continue reading...
Curtis Wilkie Beasley executed for 1995 killing of Carolyn Monfort, after US supreme court declines to interveneA 77-year-old Florida man was put to death on Tuesday for his conviction in a deadly hammer attack on a woman decades ago, becoming the 16th person executed this year in the nation's busiest death chamber.Curtis Wilkie Beasley was pronounced dead at 6.12pm following a lethal injection at the Florida state prison near Starke, authorities said. He was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery and grand theft auto in the 1995 hammer attack on Carolyn Monfort at her home south of Orlando. Continue reading...
Nine American citizens have been killed by Israeli settlers or security forces in occupied West Bank since 2022The US Senate on Tuesday evening rejected along mostly party lines a Democratic resolution that would have forced the state department to report to Congress on violence in the occupied West Bank, including the killings of nine American citizens by Israeli settlers or security forces over the last few years.The resolution, led by the Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen, would have given the state department 30 days to report to Congress on those deaths and on wider human rights conditions in the territory, including Israel's detention of Palestinian children. Continue reading...
Yellow 2120' has been driven out of other Altadena neighborhood crawlspaces, but he just keeps coming backHe's back: the 550lb bear made famous after he took up residence under an Altadena home in November 2025 is wandering the Los Angeles neighborhood again after he moved in and out of the crawlspace of another home.Yellow 2120", as the black bear has been tagged, was spotted in the crawlspace of a home on Minoru Drive on Monday. Continue reading...
US president also issues executive order officially rebranding artificial intelligence' as superintelligence'Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the heads of the largest US tech and AI companies had signed on to a morally binding" agreement to put controls on artificial intelligence. He announced the deal, called the Joint Commitment On Frontier Responsibilities, following a White House luncheon with top tech executives.It's almost like a constitution in a way, and the biggest people in the world signed that, and I signed it as president, and it really is a form of protection," Trump said. Continue reading...
Garces Perez, who was shot in his car by agents, is accused of striking officer with side mirror while trying to drive awayFederal prosecutors on Tuesday announced an assault charge against a Venezuelan delivery driver who was shot in his car by a federal immigration agent in Texas, accusing the man of striking an officer with his side mirror while trying to drive away.Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, was charged with one count of assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal officer, according to a criminal complaint. Garces Perez, whose attorney has said still has a bullet lodged in his back from the 20 September shooting, made an initial court appearance in an Austin federal court on Tuesday, according to the US attorney's office in the western district of Texas. Continue reading...
Caleb Flynn convicted of aggravated murder in shooting of Ashley Flynn, a schoolteacher and volleyball coachCaleb Flynn, the former Ohio music pastor and one-time American Idol contestant accused of killing his wife to pursue a lover, was convicted of her murder on Tuesday.As a judge read the guilty verdict, 40-year-old Flynn cried, shaking his head and closing his eyes at times. He faces up to life in prison. Continue reading...
Conservative majority temporarily lifts lower-court decision as liberal justices dissent from rulingThe Trump administration can resume quickly deporting immigrants to a third countries", or countries other than those immigrants' homeland, without giving them any opportunity to contest their removals, the supreme court ruled on Tuesday.The six-justice conservative majority of the high court temporarily lifted a lower-court decision that required the administration to provide immigrants sufficient notice and the opportunity to claim fear of torture or persecution in the countries where they are being sent. The Trump administration had claimed this stipulation had prevented it from efficiently removing aliens" from the US. Continue reading...
The verdict stems from Carroll's 2023 sexual abuse and defamation civil trial against TrumpDonald Trump has agreed to stop fighting in court the disbursement of E Jean Carroll's $5m verdict in her 2023 sexual abuse and defamation civil trial against him, a procedural development as these funds were already distributed to her.While the decision does not change anything about Carroll's receipt of the payout, its revelation effectively means that Trump will no longer oppose the monetary outcome he had long fought. Continue reading...
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