As casualties mount, those who share a home state with the deceased in Iowa, Kentucky or Ohio question the war's legalityUpon the headstones at the Dayton National Cemetery in southwest Ohio are the names of the numerous wars fallen soldiers buried here have fought in: Korea, Vietnam and Iraq.At the center of this sprawling, manicured cemetery for veterans and service members, ground staff and three machines this week have cleared space for a new grave site. It will be the place where one of the first victims of a new US conflict - the 2026 war on Iran - will be laid to rest on Friday. Continue reading...
Decision came after hearing in which Subramanyam Vedam, 64, said he didn't kill Thomas Kinser when he was 19A judge has cleared the way for the potential release of an Indian citizen who was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody last year after his Pennsylvania murder conviction was overturned following four decades in prison.The decision came the day after the four-hour hearing in which Subramanyam Vedam insisted he did not fatally shoot Thomas Kinser in 1980 and was questioned by a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lawyer. Vedam participated in the hearing remotely from the Moshannon Valley processing center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. Continue reading...
Bondi and Kristi Noem the only two cabinet members to be removed despite string of scandals involving male officialsDonald Trump has been accused of running a misogynistic administration" after making Pam Bondi the second woman to be fired from a cabinet already dominated by men.The US president dismissed the attorney general on Thursday amid mounting frustration with her performance, especially over the release of files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Continue reading...
Starmer should just admit we're being held to ransom by Trump - but instead he's making the king go on a state visitDonald Trump has suggested that the war with Iran will be over in two to three weeks. The rest of the world just shrugs. We'll believe it when we see it. The US president has said so many contradictory things over the past few weeks, it's hard to take anything that seriously. Continue reading...
If the idea was to try to shed some of the liabilities of the Epstein scandal by firing Bondi, the move seems likely to backfireIt was only a matter of time. The writing has been on the wall for months for Pam Bondi, Trump's attorney general, who was unceremoniously fired on Thursday after 14 months leading the justice department. Trump was rumored to be unhappy with Bondi; frustrated and the slowness and failures of some of her prosecutions of his political enemies, angry that she could not make the Epstein scandal go away, and disappointed by her rather wooden performances on TV.For a while, it looked like Bondi would be the first cabinet secretary that Trump fired in his second administration - something he has been much more reluctant to do since returning to office in early 2025. But in October, when she was called to testify before a Senate subcommittee, Bondi made sure to issue vicious insults to her Democratic interrogators in front of the news cameras; she made a similar performance in February at a House judiciary committee hearing, where she lobbed ad hominem attacks on Democrats, including calling Representative Jamie Raskin a washed up loser lawyer." These performances evidently endeared Bondi to Donald Trump enough that he decided to keep her around for a while; Kristi Noem, his onetime secretary of homeland security, became the first cabinet member to be fired in his second term. But the Epstein story persisted, and so did Trump's dissatisfaction with his own mounting unpopularity ahead of the November midterms. He is not capable of blaming himself, and so he looked around for someone else to punish for his own failures. Pam Bondi was there.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
by Alexander Abnos, Pablo Iglesias Maurer, and Jeff R on (#74PGZ)
Mauricio Pochettino faces several tough decisions to name a squad for the 2026 World Cup hostsA full 24 matches into the Mauricio Pochettino era, we have arrived at the moment of truth. The US men's national team's 2026 World Cup roster will be named on 26 May, and the team's two recent friendlies (a 5-2 loss to Belgium and a 2-0 loss to Portgual) have given Pochettino plenty to think about as he makes his selection.We here at the Guardian have made our picks as well - based a little on our own preference, but still within the realm of what Pochettino may do. Separately, the three of us made our 26-man rosters. Any player who we agreed on got the on the squad" designation. Anyone we differed on is listed as up for debate", with other notable exclusions listed as out of the picture". Continue reading...
A new book explores how technology and a host of maverick innovators have given rise to an exceptional crop of baseball playersIn a 1940 publicity stunt, the Cleveland Indians' flamethrowing pitcher, Bob Feller, tested which was faster: One of his own blazing deliveries, or a motorcycle. Feller's pitching won, hands down. But today, Feller's once-remarkable speed has become commonplace, even bettered, as major leaguers routinely pass triple figures on the radar gun. The secret to this arms race? The advances in pitching analytics,often authored by people without any previous baseball pedigree.That's part of the narrative of Unhittable, a new book by one such individual - Rob Friedman, more commonly known to his online followers as PitchingNinja. The book's subtitle says it all: How Technology, Mavericks and Innovators Engineered Baseball's New Era of Pitching Dominance. Continue reading...
US attorney general Pam Bondi failed to please a president fixated on prosecuting political enemies - key US politics stories from Thursday 2 April at a glanceSpring cleaning has begun at the White House.Donald Trump on Thursday fired Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, dismissing a loyalist who reshaped the justice department but still failed to please a president fixated on prosecuting political enemies and frustrated with the politically explosive release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Continue reading...
Drone-maker backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr tries to win contracts with Gulf countries protected by USA drone-maker backed by Donald Trump's two oldest sons is trying to sell to Gulf countries while they are under attack by Iran and dependent on the US military led by their father.The sales drive by Florida-based Powerus - which announced a deal last month to bring aboard Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr - positions the company to potentially benefit from a war that their father began. Continue reading...
California House members tour Otay Mesa center, which has faced allegations of poor conditions and sexual assaultsTwo California lawmakers conducted an oversight visit Thursday at ICE's Otay Mesa detention center, an immigrant detention facility that has faced allegations of overcrowding, poor conditions and sexual assaults.The visit had been previously scheduled. But congressman Mike Levin, a Democrat, told the Guardian he planned to conduct more unannounced visits following a federal court ruling that struck down the Trump administration's policy of forcing members of Congress to announce oversight visits seven days in advance. Continue reading...
Defense secretary signs memo letting members request permission to carry firearms on military installationsDefense secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo on Thursday that would allow military service members to request permission to carry their personal firearms on military installations such as bases, naval yards and recruitment centers, claiming the new policy will allow soldiers and other military personnel to defend themselves in case of an attack.While the full text of the memo has yet to be made public, it appears to loosen the current policy that allows for personnel to get permission to have their weapons on base on a case-by-case basis, and requires that they are registered with the base's authorities and stored in a secure device. Continue reading...
Attorney general was key part of effort to go after enemies but even she could not satisfy whims of mercurial presidentPam Bondi's swift dismissal on Thursday underscores a reality that has met Trump loyalists from Jeff Sessions to Kristi Noem - no amount of loyalty is enough to save oneself from being dumped by Donald Trump.Since the president assumed office last year, there have been few people more important to his effort to remake government than Bondi, his longtime friend. Continue reading...
At 17, Cooper Lutkenhaus is the youngest world champion in track and field history - and potentially USA's poster boy for LA28Fire on the boards. Slack jaws off it. Last week, I was fortunate enough to be yards away from the 17-year-old American high school student Cooper Lutkenhaus when he powered away from a strong 800m field in Torun to become the youngest world champion in track and field history. But no sooner had the applause died down that the search for superlatives began.He's like David Rudisha," said Eliott Crestan, the Belgian who took world indoor championship silver behind Lutkenhaus. In 10 or 20 years' time, I'll be able to say that I ran against him." An hour or so later, I spoke to Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows, the coaches of Keely Hodgkinson, who were just as effusive. He's phenomenal," Painter said. You look at things like that and you think: Wow. I'd love to know what he's done at his age to do that.'" Continue reading...
by Jeff Rueter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on (#74N5Z)
An international break that many expected to provide clarity has instead provided fresh reasons to doubt the tournament co-hostsRoberto Martinez has long been easy with a smile. Those moments aren't in short supply after wins like Tuesday's, when Portugal comfortably dispatched the United States 2-0 in Atlanta.That smile was on full display afterward, when he was asked for his thoughts on how the US look ahead of their home World Cup. Continue reading...
In her first print interview since release, the Palestinian immigrant says after year in custody, she sees it as her duty to denounce ICE detention in the USA Palestinian woman who was released last month after spending a year in a Texas immigration detention center told the Guardian in an exclusive interview that she sees a lot of similarities" between the treatment of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and that of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.Leqaa Kordia, who was detained by ICE following her arrest at a protest against Israel's war in Gaza, says that she will continue to speak up about the rights of Palestinians, but that she now also sees it as her duty to denounce the human tragedy" of immigration detention in the US. Continue reading...
Experts say the US believes it is entitled to resources it desires - a perspective president has supported for decadesDonald Trump said this past weekend he wants to take the oil in Iran" by seizing control of a key export hub, echoing a refrain he has returned to for over a decade.It's a sign of his disregard for international law and belief in fossil-fuel imperialism", experts say. Continue reading...
Cable signed by secretary of state Marco Rubio endorses Musk's platform by name and suggests staff work with Pentagon psychological operations unit - key US politics stories from Monday 30 March at a glanceThe United States has directed every American embassy and consulate across the world to launch coordinated campaigns against foreign propaganda and endorses Elon Musk's Twitter/X as an innovative" tool to help do it.The cable, signed by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Monday and obtained by the Guardian, also suggests embassies and consulates work alongside the US military's psychological operations unit to address the problem of rampant disinformation. It lays out a sweeping set of instructions for how embassy staff should push back against what it describes as coordinated foreign efforts to undermine American interests abroad. Continue reading...
Prosecutors investigate whether Farah Louis and Debbie Louis accepted bribes to help migrant shelter providerFederal prosecutors are investigating whether a New York City councilmember and her sister, an aide to governor Kathy Hochul, accepted bribes or kickbacks in connection with the appropriation of city funds to a migrant shelter provider, according to a copy of a search warrant obtained by the Associated Press.The warrant, signed on 19 March, seeks evidence of possible criminal violations involving councilmember Farah Louis, a Brooklyn Democrat, and Debbie Louis, who serves as Hochul's assistant secretary of New York City intergovernmental affairs. Continue reading...
Congressman Joaquin Castro calls for release of boy, Kaleth, and mother from much-criticized detention Dilley facilityA two-year-old detained in a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, is sick and not getting adequate help, said Joaquin Castro, a Democratic congressman from San Antonio. The boy, Kaleth, has a fever and is not eating the food served at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, which Castro said detainees have complained of having mold and worms.When his mother asked for help, the staff said it was all mental'," Castro wrote in a post on X. A vulnerable child at the Dilley trailer prison was suffering and ICE denied their reality and their needs. It's shameful and must stop." Continue reading...
California governor contender not accused of wrongdoing in decade-old inquiry into suspected Chinese agentThe Trump administration has reportedly been pushing to release records from an FBI investigation related to Eric Swalwell and alleged links to a Chinese agent as the Democratic congressman makes gains in the California governor's race.The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the effort", that the FBI director, Kash Patel, is pushing to release the files, even though there is no public evidence of wrongdoing on Swalwell's part. The records stem from a decade-old investigation into a suspected spy who had developed relationships with US politicians and assisted Swalwell with fundraising. Continue reading...
Security staff at the Adelanto detention center found Ramos unconscious and unresponsive in his bunkA Mexican immigrant has died at a detention center outside Los Angeles, marking at least the 14th death in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since the year began.Security staff at the Adelanto detention center found Jose Guadalupe Ramos unconscious and unresponsive in his bunk on 25 March, according to an ICE press release. Staff attempted to carry out life-saving procedures, including CPR, then called emergency services, who took Ramos to Victory Valley Global medical center in nearby Victorville. He was pronounced dead there at 9.29pm. Continue reading...
Without diplomacy or restraint, the economic shock will deepen and US soldiers may become embroiled in a quagmireThe fifth week of Donald Trump's illegal war on Iran has confirmed the absence of any overarching strategy. The US continues to hit Iranian targets while building up forces in the region. Iran continues to launch missile and drone attacks on Israel and neighbouring Gulf states. Tehran's proxies in the region have entered the fray. Its closure of the strait of Hormuz has seen oil prices shoot up and had knock-on effects already visible across fuel, fertiliser and supply chains. No amount of contradictory social media posts from MrTrump can negate the shortages felt across the world, from Asian factories to European diesel markets. The pain is likely to get worse. There is no sign of imminent US victory or Iranian collapse.This instead looks like a war of attrition. Each side can point to successes and their opponents can highlight failures. That is what sustains the conflict. The stakes extend far beyond the battlefield. The war is embedding itself in the global economy, shaping what is produced, moved and ultimately affordable. Even European ministers now admit they are losing sleep over what comes next - not just the war but its economic consequences.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Judge seems skeptical of Pentagon's restrictive protocol but did not rule on forcing compliance with an earlier orderFederal judge Paul Friedman seemed skeptical of the new press policy implemented by the Pentagon last week, calling aspects of it weird" and Kafkaesque.Friedman struck down key aspects of the previously implemented Pentagon media policy on 20 March, but at the latest hearing on Monday stopped short of ruling on a motion filed by the New York Times to force compliance of his decision. Continue reading...
Presidential decisions can mean life or death for millions around the world, that's why constitutional safeguards exist. But do they work in practice?Donald Trump's cognitive skills are amazing. So amazing! So great! So much better than any other dumb presidential contender you could mention, at least according to Trump himself, who bragged once again last week of how he had repeatedly aced what he calls a very hard test for a lot of people". (It's thought he means a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment in elderly people.)Sure, the 79-year-old leader of the free world recently interrupted a cabinet meeting in the middle of a war to ramble on at length about a conversation he supposedly had with the head of the Sharpie pen company over supplying bespoke presidential felt-tips, of which the firm said it could find no record. And made a baffling joke about Pearl Harbor during a press conference in front of an alarmed-looking Japanese prime minister. And called the strait of Hormuz the strait of Trump", before adding that that was absolutely deliberate because there are no accidents with me". But anyway, to be clear, his mental state is great. The greatest!Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Tori Mattingly told TMZ Dayton Webber would lash out' at her during four-year relationship that ended in 2025A woman who claims she was romantically involved with a quadruple-amputee cornhole champion and the man he is accused of shooting dead in a murder case grabbing national attention has spoken of dating both of them - and said the accused killer had a dark side".Tori Mattingly told TMZ in an interview published over the weekend that Dayton Webber would lash out" at her during their four-year relationship. That relationship ended in February 2025 before she dated Bradrick Wells, the alleged victim of a deadly shooting in Webber's car in suburban Washington DC on 22 March. Continue reading...
Cape Canaveral and Titusville, long ghost towns after 1969 moon landing, have witnessed space industry renaissance'Almost six decades have passed since the space coast of Florida experienced an atmosphere quite like this. On its beaches and in cities, there is an air of anticipation, excitement and anxiety to match the final days of Nasa's storied Apollo moon program.At 6.24pm ET on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, subject to adverse weather and last-minute technical hitches, four Artemis II astronauts - three Americans and one Canadian - will become the first humans to blast off on a journey to the moon since 1972. Continue reading...
To see this war as archaic, the last squawk of the Middle East hawks, is at once maddening and hopefulFrom the moment the United States and Israel attacked Iran, the news seemed incongruous with the year 2026. A war to kill the Ayatollah and overthrow the government - this was the fantasy of neoconservatives after September 11, before today's college students were born. Hadn't every president since, Donald Trump most boisterously of all, repudiated regime-change wars in the Middle East?When he announced the strikes in an overnight video, decked out in a USA ballcap, Trump evoked an even more distant era. The president barely bothered to claim that Tehran posed some kind of imminent threat. Instead, he recited the litany of misdeeds perpetrated by the Islamic Republic since it took power in 1979. Continue reading...
War is testing operating principle that has guided Trump for decades: construct a narrative, declare it to be true and relentlessly force the world to submit to itLet me say, we've won," he told a rally in Kentucky on 11 March. I think we've won," he said on the White House south lawn on 20 March. We've won this war. The war has been won," he said in the Oval Office on 24 March. We are winning so big," he promised a fundraising dinner on 25 March.Donald Trump keeps declaring victory in Iran. But saying it over and over does not make it so. While the US president insists that his military campaign in the Middle East is a historic success, the world is bracing for a conflict that continues to metastasize and could wreak havoc on the global economy. Continue reading...
If there is any consistency to Trump's policy, it is a series of frantic attempts to justify his original blunder and extricate himself from its dire consequencesDonald Trump has lost his Iran war. He is the Iranian hostage. Unlike the US embassy personnel captured as hostages for 444 days, Trump threw himself into Iranian hands. Less than a month into his short-term excursion", his stated objectives have been scattered to the winds. There is no regime change, no uprising and no access to oil wealth along the Venezuelan model. The decapitation gambit - assassinating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior Iranian leadership - has failed to destroy the regime. Despite the massacre, it is Trump who stands exposed to slings and arrows for the rashest military adventure since Custer at Little Bighorn.Iran maintains a chokehold on the strait of Hormuz and, through its narrowest passage of 21 miles, on the global economy. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecasts a spike of inflation to 4.2% in the US, a 40% increase since Trump returned to office. The stock market has dived into correction territory. Iran has also demonstrated its capacity to wreak existential destruction on the Gulf states whose rulers' delusion of their invulnerability and US protection has been shattered. I'm the opposite of desperate," Trump declared on 26 March. I don't care." Continue reading...
Younger conservatives say they are disappointed by Donald Trump's decision to launch war against Iran. Key US politics stories from 29 MarchA generational divide over the Iran war has emerged between older attendees and their political heirs at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas, as the group's leaders pleaded for unity ahead of a challenging midterm election year for Republicans.Younger conservatives spoke of disappointment and even betrayal" over Donald Trump's launch of strikes against Iran, saying that the president's actions run counter to his many pledges to oppose foreign entanglements. Continue reading...
Levi Vargas, 30, was competing in Baker to Vegas race through Mojave desert as US south-west faces extreme heatLos Angeles county sheriff's deputy Levi Vargas died on Saturday after a medical emergency while participating in an annual relay race through the Mojave desert. He was 30 years old.Vargas had been competing at the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup relay race, which follows a 120-mile (193km) course from Baker, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada, through the Mojave desert. Several law enforcement agencies send 20-runner teams annually to compete in the race. Continue reading...
Marsupial escaped from enclosure at Wisconsin's Sunshine Farm on Wednesday after he was spooked by stray dogsHow does a kangaroo escape a petting zoo?It's not the opening line to a dad joke. If you're Chesney the kangaroo, you scale an 8ft (2.5-meter) fence and go on the lam for three days, giving your keeper sleepless nights and sending residents of a small Wisconsin town on a search that would end happily on Saturday. Continue reading...
If the now six-week partial shutdown continues after the weekend, it will become the longest of any shutdownThe shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the fourth-largest agency in the US government, became the longest partial shutdown in US history on Sunday.If the now six-week partial shutdown continues after the weekend, it will also become the longest of any shutdown, surpassing the impasse late last year that dragged on for 43 days. Continue reading...
Senator's comments come amid growing divisions within the party, which he says has too small of a coalition'Cory Booker, the Democratic senator from New Jersey, renewed his calls for new leadership of the Democratic party, saying the party has failed this moment".As a whole, our party has failed this moment," Booker said on Sunday. I've called for a generational renewal, because this left-right divide is killing our country and our adversaries know it." He also said that purity tests" within the party have led to more division in the US. Continue reading...
The United States' collapse in a 5-2 loss to Belgium made clear that the gap between the sides in 2014 has yet to narrowMauricio Pochettino was literally unmoved.To his left and right, his assistants pumped their fists, clapped their hands, rose to celebrate. Not Pochettino. After Weston McKennie put the US ahead with an end run around the Belgian defense that freed him up at the far post to tap the ball past Senne Lammens in the 39th minute, Pochettino just sat there, stoically, hunched forward in his seat, two fingers to his mouth. Continue reading...
The US health secretary says he is a big fan of peptides. Many are promising drugs, but the only way to know their utility is proper clinical trialsRobert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, is a chaotic person, but his Make America Healthy Again (Maha) agenda tends to follow a predictable logic. Large-scale, mandatory public health interventions - such as childhood vaccine requirements - are generally treated with suspicion and undermined. Personal choice - to drink unpasteurised milk, for example - is to be unleashed, and unburdened by regulation. In theory, Maha promises freedom and autonomy; in practice it tends to replace the precautionary principle with exhortations for individuals to do your own research", and sidelines scientific expertise in favour of wellness" hucksters and profiteers.This is particularly obvious in Mr Kennedy's recent claims that he will open up the sale of about 14" injectable peptide drugs to the public. Peptides are molecules often used by our bodies for sending signals - so there are many kinds of peptides, and the safety and efficacy of each is a separate question. The widely used weight-loss jab" drugs are peptides but so are the toxic compounds in snake venom that dissolve living cells. MrKennedy is likely to be referring to a subset of 17 peptides restricted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2023 due to potential significant safety risks". None have been proved to be safe or effective for human use, so there is no clear argument for reversing the decision. Continue reading...
