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Democrats criticize fund to compensate for supposed persecution as slush fund' for president's allies after Trump ends lawsuit against IRS

Democrats criticize deal as a slush fund that funnels taxpayer dollars' to Trump's political allies

Kalshi announces two-year investment to National Council on Problem Gambling focused on trader health and safety'The prediction market Kalshi, which maintains it is not a gambling platform, has announced plans to give $2m to the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) as it continues to ride a nationwide surge.While prediction markets allow users to bet - or trade" - on the outcome of almost anything, from elections to sports to geopolitical events, the industry has vehemently fought efforts by state officials to regulate its platforms like those of conventional gambling giants. Continue reading...

Christian Castro charged with five counts over shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Trump immigration crackdownA Minnesota prosecutor on Monday announced charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the Trump administration's crackdown.The officer, Christian Castro, is charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the 14 January shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Hennepin county attorney Mary Moriarty said at a news conference. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Continue reading...

Health officials to take proactive measures' in response to the ongoing Ebola virus epidemic in the DRC and Uganda

About 36% of children whose parents were detained were younger than six, Brookings Institution study foundMore than 145,000 US children have likely experienced a parent being detained by immigration authorities since the start of Donald Trump's second presidency, according to a new report published by a reputed US thinkthank.The report, released Monday by the Brookings Institution, estimates that about 146,635 children who are US citizens have had a parent detained during the mass deportation campaign the Trump administration embarked on after he retook office in early January. The study further found that of those children, more than 22,000 experienced the detention of all of their co-resident parents. Continue reading...

Deal would create largest regulated US utility, serving 10 million customers as AI-driven demand for power surgesNextEra, a US energy giant, announced on Monday that it will buy Dominion Energy in a $67bn deal, creating what the companies say will be the world's largest regulated utility business.The deal comes as the appetite for energy sources has swelled with the construction of massive datacenters across the country, built largely to supply rising demand for AI. Continue reading...

Can a new trial bring justice in the case of the disgraced South Carolina lawyer whose conviction for killing his wife and son has been vacated after court clerk's misconduct?Alex Murdaugh was not in court last Wednesday when a South Carolina appeals court vacated his 2023 double-murder conviction in the latest stunning twist in a legal saga that has captivated America and the world with its southern gothic tale of murder, betrayal and financial skullduggery.Prison regulations had prevented the disgraced lawyer from watching a live stream at the high-security McCormick correctional institution. Nor were any of his relatives present, including son Buster, the only surviving member of his immediate family. Continue reading...

Other evidence found backpack must be suppressed, says judge, because McDonald's search was warrantless

US president's approval rating falls to 37% days after he said Americans' financial situation is not motivating him to broker deal with IranDonald Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest point of his second term, amid mounting frustration over the cost of living and the US-Israel war on Iran.As November's US midterm elections loom, most American voters believe Trump's decision to go to war with Iran was the wrong choice, according to polling released on Monday. Continue reading...

Ebony Parker is accused of ignoring warnings that the student brought a loaded gun to a US elementary school

Actions appear to be random,' says mayor as suspects also allegedly took aim at buildings and houses in Texas cityThree youths are in police custody after a spree of at least 10 shootings wounded four people who appeared to be targeted randomly in Austin, Texas, according to authorities.The suspects who were arrested in connection with the shootings also allegedly took aim at various buildings and houses while driving around the capital city in stolen cars, the Austin police chief, Lisa Davis, said Sunday. Before the suspects were jailed, city officials temporarily ordered people residing in a large southern section of Austin to shelter in place, an exceptional public safety measure that spoke to the indiscriminate nature of the spree. Continue reading...

Mordecai Kurz argues tech oligarchs erode democracy through monopolies - and predicts how the trend may endThe billionaires of today are unusually aggressive in their hoarding of cultural and technological influence, according to Mordecai Kurz, a Stanford economist whose research connects monopoly power with political and economic inequality. In his new book, Private Power and Democracy's Decline, publishing 19 May, he argues the US is living through an extreme version of a pattern that has repeated itself since industrialization: technological power concentrating in the hands of a few, which is eroding democracy.According to Kurz, technological moguls have long seen themselves as superior beings whose natural role is to shape society - so they have no problem disrupting the institution of democracy. During the first Gilded Age, in the late 19th century, as the US was enjoying its first ascent as an industrial powerhouse, wealthy industrialists like Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller invented all kinds of theories about human evolution", twisting the logic of social Darwinism to convince themselves that their success was a sign they had been selected by nature to influence society, Kurz explained. Now, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has suggested his technology has a mystical potential to become a transcendent good. He's also openly acknowledged it could lead to mass unemployment. Continue reading...

Also: Guilherme helps Houston lift off, Wilfried Zaha strikes back and Orlando City bide their time as Antoine Griezmann waitsThere are simple adages which help us navigate this mad world. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When it heaves a beer your way on the field at PayPal Park, you give it a hearty chug.The San Jose Earthquakes have been the season's surprise outfit, storming to the top of a competitive Western Conference in Bruce Arena's second season. In their final home fixture before the World Cup break, they stormed back against a valiant FC Dallas to find an 80th minute leveler, giving the crowd dreams of a comeback before the final whistle. Continue reading...

After being excommunicated from the GOP, Geoff Duncan is trying for a comeback on the Democratic ticketIn the Georgia governor's race, Geoff Duncan's candidacy tests American politics as much as it tests his political appeal.The former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia is a current Democratic candidate for governor, with former Biden official and Atlanta ex-mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms currently holding the lead in Tuesday's Democratic primary. A Republican is still favored to win, with billionaire Rick Jason up against the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and the lieutenant governor, Burt Jones. Continue reading...

Home care workers want the city council to end policy of 24-hour shifts for which they are paid for only 13 hoursLast month, 15 home health workers camped outside New York's city hall for six days. They refused to eat, only ending their hunger strike after securing a promise that the city council would vote on a bill to end their mandatory 24-hour workday. It's a practice workers argue is both a labor rights violation and a quiet public health crisis.Now, a month later, a council vote for the No More 24 Act still has not materialized. Workers announced on Friday that they will go on another hunger strike. Continue reading...

US president says there won't be anything left' of country if it does not reach agreement. Plus, how to become emotionally mature at any age

Proposed IRS data sharing with immigration authorities and ICE raids have made filing risky for those who are undocumentedThe Trump administration's immigration crackdown could cause the US to potentially lose up to $479bn in lost tax revenue over the the next 10 years, with enforcement deterring undocumented workers from filing their taxes this year, according to tax experts.Tax advisers say major changes, including proposed data sharing with immigration enforcement, have made filing taxes risky for undocumented immigrants. Tax benefits for immigrant parents have also been removed, further removing incentive to file taxes at all. Continue reading...

Utah's heavily Mormon population is largely opposed to all gambling, even on financial exchange platformsUtah is home to some of the strongest anti-gambling laws in the US, with vehement opposition dating back more than a century. But as prediction markets have surged - allowing users to bet on almost anything, from elections to sports to geopolitical events - the state has not escaped the nationwide boom.Its Republican leaders are fighting back, setting up a battle between one of the country's most conservative states and a rapidly growing industry that is embraced by a Republican administration in Washington - and members of the US president's own family. Continue reading...

Challenger Graham Platner may have amassed a rare kinetic energy, but the moderate conservative has served the state for almost 30 yearsFor three decades, Susan Collins has styled herself as a moderate conservative who delivers for Maine, even when it means defying Donald Trump. But as the incumbent Republican seeks a sixth term, national Democrats see her as newly vulnerable - zoning in on the state as a clear path to reclaiming the Senate.Collins, 73, will now face off against the presumptive Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, a 41-year-old marine veteran and oysterman with no national political experience and a controversial past. Despite dredged-up racist, sexist and homophobic online posts - and a now-covered-up tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol - Platner continues to amass a rare kinetic energy that has seen hundreds of Mainers flock to town halls across the state to hear his gravelly voiced excoriation of Washington. His rise ultimately forced the state's two-term governor Janet Mills to suspend her primary bid, citing dwindling financial resources. Continue reading...

Energy security comes from using local, renewable resources to power, heat and cool communities, as Ukraine is doingDonald Trump's unjustified war on Iran and the resulting global fuel crisis is a continuing reminder that true energy security and independence will continue to elude us so long as we remain dependent on fossil fuels.Whether it's wars over oil and gas resource access or attacks on fossil fuel power plants and energy grids, this reliance on finite resources only worsens a country's threat profile. News this month of Russia's deadly attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Russian drones swarming Ukrainian power stations, and Kyiv running out of time to prepare for another winter of attacks on its energy grid illustrates this urgency.The US representative Lloyd Doggett serves Texas's 37th district in the House of Representatives and is a member of the Ukraine caucus and the House sustainable energy and environment coalition. Michael Shank PhD is adjunct faculty at New York University's Center for Global Affairs, and at George Mason University's Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution Continue reading...

The final is the most expensive ticket on resale for this summer's tournaments. But there are surprising get-in prices elsewhereIt's no surprise that the most expensive World Cup resale tickets are for the final. But the next priciest is a group game between two nations who have never reached that stage.A ticket to the Colombia v Portugal group game in Miami on 27 June is the tournament's second-most expensive seat on the resale marketplace, with a cheapest asking price of $2,254 as of 17 May, according to TicketData.com, an analysis site. Continue reading...

Four crew members are safe after incident involving aircraft during weekend air show at military base in western IdahoFour crew members are safe after two navy jets collided and crashed to the ground on Sunday at an air show at Mountain Home air force base in western Idaho, officials said.The collision involved two US navy EA-18G Growlers from the Electronic Attack Squadron 129 in Whidbey Island, Washington, said Cmdr Amelia Umayam, a spokesperson for Naval Air Forces, US Pacific Fleet. Continue reading...

Senate parliamentarian ruled a proposal to fund $1bn in security additions for the White House failed to meet procedural rules. Key US politics stories from Sunday 17 May 2026 at a glanceA US Senate official on Saturday removed security funding that could be used for Donald Trump's planned $400m White House ballroom from a massive spending package, Democratic lawmakers said, imperilling Republican efforts to devote taxpayer money to the contentious project.The decision by the Senate's parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, deals a blow to Trump and his administration, which has sought the money for security purposes related to the ballroom. Continue reading...

Aaron Rai put together one of the great closing rounds - and sunk a monster putt for the ages - to finally scatter a bunched field at Aronimink

Tim Walz, the state's governor, calls blazes unpredictable and fast-moving' as dry, windy weather fuels themMinnesota's national guard has been activated to help battle wildfires burning in the northern part of the state after the department of natural resources requested additional support.Governor Tim Walz authorized the deployment by issuing an executive order that declared a peacetime emergency. Continue reading...

White House-backed event billed as One Nation Under God' criticized for blurring lines between church and stateThousands of people streamed on to the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally on Sunday billed as a rededication of our country as One Nation Under God".Against the backdrop of the Washington Monument, worship music blared from a stage that made clear the event's Christian focus. Arched stained-glass windows, set underneath grand columns resembling a federal building, depicted the nation's founders alongside a white cross. Continue reading...

As the campaign draws to a close, we looked at what each of the teams did best this season in the English top-flightWhat enriches you is the game, not the result. The result is a piece of data," the Spanish football coach Juanma Lillo once said. The birthrate goes up. Is that enriching? No. But the process that led to that? Now that's enriching."Let that serve as the thinking behind the first annual Football Style Awards, a celebration of process over results. These awards are not about who won, though they are about pieces of data. A club data scientist friend and I have spent the last year building a new football app called futi that measures not just who's good but what they're good at, based on detailed phase of play data and models that measure how teams and players play. Continue reading...

Saturday night's fight came a decade too late to be relevant. But it also provided a spectacle MMA's most powerful organization has been lackingWhen Ronda Rousey stepped into the cage for the first time in almost a decade on Saturday night to challenge fellow mixed martial arts trailblazer Gina Carano, the fight was over before it ever really began. In a flash, Rousey had Carano locked in her signature armbar, leaving her opponent little choice but to tap. The fight lasted a mere 17 seconds.I didn't really want to hurt her," Rousey said after her win. It was beautiful martial arts, that's what I think that was. It was art." Continue reading...

US president writes vote the bum out' as congressman faces close race against Trump-endorsed RepublicanWith two days to go before the next big test of Donald Trump's iron grip over his party, the president went head-to-head on Sunday with his nemesis, Thomas Massie the Kentucky congressman who is in a fight for his political life in Tuesday's Republican primary.Over an eight-hour period starting in the early hours of Sunday, Trump took to his bully pulpit on Truth Social to taunt Massie, one of very few senior Republicans who has dared to defy him. Massie is the worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country", the rant began, followed by a mid-morning exhortation to Kentucky voters to vote the bum out on Tuesday". Continue reading...

Long Island Rail Road disruptions likely to affect weekday rush hour as Kathy Hochul says I did not want a strike'The shutdown of the Long Island Rail Road, North America's largest commuter rail system, continued into a second day on Sunday after unionized workers went on strike a day earlier for the first time in three decades.The railroad, which serves New York City and its eastern suburbs, ceased operations just after midnight Friday after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job. Continue reading...

Buoyed by his removal of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, the US president is intensifying an economic stranglehold and military menaceWhile the world watched the pomp of Donald Trump's trip to Beijing, the US was turning up the pressure thousands of miles away. Its oil blockade has plunged Cuba into a humanitarian crisis, sparking nationwide blackouts that have prompted rare protests, closing schools and universities and leaving hospitals battling to treat patients. Surveillanceflightsare circling. US media reported this weekend that federal prosecutors are preparing an indictment for Raul Castro, the 94-year-old former president and brother of Fidel. MrTrump has casually observed, while bragging about the kidnapping of Venezuela's then leader NicolasMaduro in January, that Cuba is next".A military assault on Havana would be vastly more fraught for the US - even without the war on Iran - and disastrous for Cubans. Washington hopes that threats and privation will be sufficient. UN experts warn that the blockade is unlawful, puts human rights at risk and may amount to collective punishment. The government admitted on Wednesday that fuel oil had run out. Tourism has collapsed. The Canadian mining company Sherritt pulled out of a joint venture and countries have axed their contracts for Cuban doctors - a vital source of income for the island, and trained medical staff for others. Havana may hope that it can stagger on. But Mr Trump is not patient. Continue reading...

Tom Steyer has built his campaign for governor of California around affordability - he's not the only Democrat testing the party's appetite for a populist from the 1%Tom Steyer has built his campaign for governor of California around affordability - and taxing the uber-wealthy.It is perhaps an unusual message for a candidate with an estimated net worth of $2.4bn. But the hedge fund founder-turned climate activist and liberal mega-donor is pitching himself as a different kind of billionaire: one who wants people like him to pay far more in taxes. Continue reading...

China is dominating the energy transition with astonishing result, while fossil fuel fascists in the US try to turn back the clockFarewell," the flag-waving Chinese children chanted to Donald Trump as he strolled along the red carpet back to Air Force One at the end of his summit with Xi Jinping in Beijing.The US leader claimed he was leaving with a cluster of fantastic" trade deals to sell US oil, jets and soya beans to China. That has not been confirmed by his smiling host, but one thing was crystal clear from the two days of meetings: the global balance of power is shifting, from the declining petrostate in the west to the rising electrostate in the east. Continue reading...

Daniel Sikkema is accused of hiring someone to kill his husband, Brent Sikkema, amid a divorce and alleged fights over moneyIn the early morning hours of 14 January 2024, a hitman slipped into the renowned New York City gallerist Brent Sikkema's Rio de Janeiro townhouse.The alleged assassin, Alejandro Triana Prevez, grabbed a kitchen knife and traveled to Sikkema's upstairs bedroom. An altercation unfolded near the bedroom door. As Sikkema, 75, struggled for his life, Prevez stabbed him, a lawsuit filed in New York state civil court alleges. Continue reading...

The Vaillancourt fountain, an enormous sculpture in place since the 1970s, has been equally reviled and reveredIt was a surreal, fitting end for one of San Francisco's most divisive public artworks: the Vaillancourt fountain, an enormous concrete sculpture looming over Embarcadero Plaza since the 1970s, had burst into flames.The hulking fountain's angled arms were being dismantled in early May after the city voted to potentially replace it with an open, grassy park - a decision mourned by skateboarders like myself, who argued the city was losing an important piece of its skate culture and architectural heritage. Continue reading...

James Clyburn could now find his district dismantled after supreme court effectively gutted Voting Rights ActSouth Carolina has had exactly one Black representative in Congress since 1897: James Clyburn. A proposal to redraw the state's political map would dismantle the district he represents.The state's sixth congressional district starts on its southern border with Georgia, in the suburbs of Savannah, moving a hundred miles north to wind around the heart of Charleston, before cutting through Black belt farmland to the state capital of Columbia, another 115 miles away. Continue reading...

The FTC settled its case with Media Matters for America. But it doesn't have to win in court to achieve its goalsIs there something radically left" about being anti-Nazi? That was the question a judge put to the lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission, which has no good answer.This week, the FTC abruptly settled its case with Media Matters for America, a media watchdog the FTC had been investigating over its reports about pro-Nazi content running alongside ads on X. Those reports drove advertisers off the platform and prompted X owner Elon Musk to threaten a thermonuclear lawsuit". Continue reading...

Pilot program to reimburse patients for hemp-derived products could be undermined by ban passed by CongressThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently started a new pilot to reimburse patients for hemp-derived products - like CBD - but a hemp ban that Congress passed in November could derail the program.The new program will make certain Medicare and Medicaid recipients eligible for reimbursement for up to $500 worth of hemp products each year and is intended in part to evaluate whether these products could reduce their other health related costs. Continue reading...

The 2022 World Cup failed to deliver on its environmental promises. From air travel emissions to heat-related dangers, the 2026 edition will be even worseSoccer fans are increasingly watching preparations for the 2026 World Cup through their fingers. The most popular sporting event on the planet is awash in controversy, whether it's the eye-watering ticket prices, the question of Iran's participation while the president of one of the host countries threatens war crimes against it, or the role that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement may or may not play in policing the event. And yet, lost in the political pyrotechnics is a fiasco that carries as much long-term peril as any: the tournament's staggering contribution to runaway climate change.The 2026 World Cup is not only the most politically combustible tournament in modern history, but it is also on track to be the most polluting" World Cup ever, with total greenhouse gas emissions hitting nearly two times the historical average. Scientists conservatively project that the tournament will generate around 9m tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Air travel comprises approximately 7.7m tons of this carbon budget, and more than four times that of the average for tournaments held between 2010 and 2022. The researchers note that the worst-case upper estimate for air transport is about 13.7m tons of CO2. That may sound bad, but that's just because World Cup emissions have never been worse. Continue reading...

Carmakers aim to expand into UK defence sector, exploiting spending boom by Nato countriesJaguar Land Rover and General Motors are considering an expansion into UK defence via a 900m military contract, as carmakers seek to exploit a spending boom by Nato countries racing to rearm.The manufacturers are among a group of automotive firms vying to make thousands of 4x4s for the armed forces to replace an ageing fleet of Land Rovers that have been out of production since 2016. Continue reading...

Plummeting approval ratings for these three poisonous comrades-in-arms show voters are demoralised and tiring of forever wars - the west could soon breathe againFeeling depressed about the state of the world? Worried about the future? You're not alone. Pessimism about politics is the new normal among the peoples of the west. Major conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and the harms caused by right-left extremism, stagnating economies, inequality, corruption, terrorism, racism, big tech, mass extinctions and the climate crisis make for shared nightmares.Growing numbers of people simply refuse to personally engage with current events via the news media, finding them too anxiety-inducing (so they probably won't be reading this). In a Reuters Institute survey last year, 40% of respondents in about 50 countries said they sometimes or often avoid the news altogether, a rise of 29% on 2017.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...